3 Tied going in - Brandon Eash comes out on top in the Short Season Championships By John Nuttall ROCKFORD, IL (August 18, 2002) - The Short Season Championship was on the line at the Burris Circle Tour on August 18th. Going into the event, Brandon Eash, Kris McCarty and Eric Freiberg were all tied in the points. The Short Season was a six race series that consisted of two races at each of the Burris Circle Tour tracks - Lake Geneva Raceway, Illiana Motor Speedway and Rockford Speedway. Brandon Eash, running at his home track in Rockford, took home the second place trophy for the day and bested Kris and Eric for bragging rights. Victories of Inches - The day's racing was highlighted by victories of inches in most of the feature races. Nicole Phillips, Michael Bilderback, Ben Stumpf, Mackensie Piller and Clay Kliem all took home first place trophies by crossing the finish line ahead of second place by less than the width of the line. Nicole Phillips recovered from a mishap in the first heat race to nose out Mike Slabenak, Jr. for her first feature win in the Star Champ Karts. Mechanic Jack Benson had his hands full replacing two broken spindles and a bent rear axle in enough time for Nicole to make the feature race. Aaron Phillips took the lead from the start through lap 14. But as the last lap started, Mike Slabenak took the lead and Nicole moved into second while Aaron got sideways on the front stretch. Coming down the final stretch, Nicole adjusted her carburetor for that extra boost of power and just edged out Slabenak for the win. Michael Bilderback celebrated his 11th birthday by winning the Jr. Champ feature by the width of his bumper tubing. Matt Vice, who swept the heat races jumped out to an early lead. Brian Freiberg and Bilderback fell into a draft for second and third to catch the leader midway through the race. The two racers stuck together to make the pass, leaving Vice with little room on the outside to pass. On the final lap, Michael made a pass on the backstretch; Brian re-passed on turn four, annd Michael made a great inside move to take the victory. After the checkered flag in the Jr. I class, five drivers were heading into the infield for the victory photo. On the last backstretch, Alex Stump was protecting a narrow lead from Dylan Hobbs. Ben Stumpf was lining up for the final corner and took advantage of the inside line to cross ahead of the other two to win by an inch. Tyler Middleton and Tyler Peterson crossed less than a nose cone behind the top three. The podium finish was Ben Stumpf, Dylan Hobbs, Alex Stumpf, Tyler Middleton and Tyler Peterson. Mackensie Piller and Colton Cleveneger split the heat races and in the feature, they ran side-by-side for the entire race. Mackensie held on at the end to extend her lead in the Jr. Sportsman Champs. George Clos, a newcomer to the Burris Circle Tour, got his set up right for the feature and finished strong in third place. Clay Kliem, Carly Mandarino and Trevor Raisbeck put on another great show in Jr. Yamaha. Trevor lead the race early, then Carly, then Clay, back to Trevor and in the last corner, Clay took the lead and held on for the win. Trevor, Carly and Rylee Bohlen finished second through fourth respectively. The Jr. III class is now the largest on the tour with seventeen entries this week. On the opening lap of the feature, the #08 of Adam Carlson got sideways and lost eight positions and had a long way to go to the front. Jeff Everts took the lead, and a group of six racers was vying for the second spot. Bill Hulbert got pinched to the outside, took a nasty spin, and was out of the race. After the restart, Everts was out front again, while Mason Hadley, Tanner Bohlen and Cody Wonderlick formed up in the second pack. Not to be outdone, Carlson kept his kart glued to the inside line and methodically moved up to take over second and was knocking on Everts back bumper when the race ended. Everts increased his lead in both the series class points and the overall Burris Circle Tour points race. Jake Humphrey and Rich McGill continued their season long duel swapping the lead four times during the fifteen lap Sr. Lite race. In another close finish, Humphrey won with McGill running by his side. Ryan Rockhold worked his way up from eighth place to finish third. Rounding out the top five were Jason Lingren and Matthew Riechers. The special twenty-five lap feature event for Sr. Mediums attracted a big class with Ryan Rockhold, a front runner in the Sr. Lite class, running with the Medium's today. At halfway, Ryan had a comfortable lead, Mike Fox was barely hanging on to second and Brandon Eash was right on his bumper in third. On the restart after a yellow flag, Fox jumped out in the lead, and he and Rockhold swapped the lead a few times. Soon it was a shoot-out with the top three karts racing side-by-side. On the final lap, Rockhold made the final pass stick, Eash moved into second and Mike Fox finished third. Dean Daul took home his the feature trophy in 4-Cycle Sportsman class. Sean Duncanson made it a close race coming in second and Joe Chiapetta, recovering from heart surgery two weeks ago, finished in third. Mike James won the Yamaha feature and Regan Vehring took home the prize money in F-200. The Burris Circle Tour returns to Illiana Motor Speedway, September 1st where Jeff Everts will defend his title in the 6th Annual Gold Runner Race. Practice starts at 11:00 a.m., with racing at Noon. RESULTS (8/18/2002): Star Champ Kart: 1.) #14 Nicole Phillips, Sycamore, IL 2.) #15 Mike Slabenak, Jr., Cicero, IL 3.) #7 Jacob Finney, Sycamore, IL 4.) #33 Sarah Breeden 5.) #11 Jim Maher, Downers Grove, IL 6.) #18 Aaron Phillips, Sycamore, IL 7.) #20 Dan Breeden Jr. Champ Kart: 1.) #2b Michael Bilderback, S. Beloit, IL 2.) #33 Brian Freiberg, Lockport, IL 3.) #22 Matt Vice, Woodale, IL 4.) #8 Mickey Kudlicki, Glendale Heights, IL 5.) #2 Matt Scott , St. Charles, IL 6.) #38 Ryan Marshall, Kanasasville, WI 7.) #3 Alex Clubb, Morris, IL 8.) #49 Jeremie Johnson, Kankakee, IL Jr. I Lite (Purple): 1.) #10 Ben Stumpf, Menasha, WI 2.) #62 Dylan Hobbs, Sterling, IL 3.) #6 Alex Stumpf, Menasha, WI 4.) #71 Tyler Middleton, E. Hazel Crest, IL 5.) #16 Tyler Peterson, Lake Gevena, WI 6.) #88 Nick Beinlich 7.) #17 Ross Kenseth, Little Chute, WI 8.) #12 Brett Adams, West Chicago, IL 9.) #15 Patrick McCarty, Kankakee, IL 10.) #87 Aaron Katzenberg, Pell Lake, WI 11.) #47 Cody Daul, Shiocton, WI 12.) #3 Matt Schultz, Steger, IL 13.) #7 Bryan Deutsch, Burlington, WI 14.) #90 Andrew Hintt, Poplar Grove, IL Jr. Sportsman Champ Kart: 1.) #24 Mackenzie Piller, Dixon, IL 2.) #3 Colton Clevenger, Cherry Valley, IL 3.) #11 George Clos 4.) #24b Dylan Barbosa, Yorkville, IL 5.) #9 Jessica Kudlicki, Glendale Heights, IL 6.) #23 Jake Thorne, Male Pack, IL Jr. Yamaha: 1.) #57 Clay Kliem, Elgin, IL 2.) #19 Trevor Raisbeck, Madison, WI 3.) #9 Carly Mandarino, Glen Ellyn, IL 4.) #24 Rylee Bohlen, Hortonville, WI 5.) #55 Clint Kliem, Elgin, IL Jr. III Lite (Gold): 1.) #7 Jeff Everts, Channahon, IL 2.) #08 Adam Carlson, Lisle, IL 3.) #8 Mason Hadley, Channahon, IL 4.) #18 Tanner Bohlen, Hortenville, WI 5.) #7A Matthew Atkinson, Morris, IL 6.) #19 Nick Chiapetta, Downers Grove, IL 7.) #20 Peter Byrne, Shullsburg, WI 8.) #2 Nick Miller, Freeport, IL 9.) #24 Jimmy Johnson, Lincolnshire, IL 10.) #10 Cody Wonderlick 11.) #88 Billy Hulbert, Chanahon, IL 12.) #94 Michael Terrafino, Berkely, IL 13.) # 82 Tommy Colson 14.) #2b Jimmy Sivia 15.) #88j Garrett Jones 16.) #17 Zach Axlen, Sheboygan, WI Sr. Medium: 1.) # 52 Ryan Rockhold, Tremont, IL 2.) #36 Brandon Eash, Rockford, IL 3.) #15 Mike Fox, Momence, IL 4.) #5b Jessie Fox, Momence, IL 5.) #96 Joe Veyette, Indianapolis, IL 6.) #8 Kris McCarty, Kankakee, IL 7.) #98 Chris Lishamer, Elgin, IL 8.) #27 Randy Jones, Rockford, IL 9.) #5 Eric Freiberg, Lockport, IL 10.) #36x Scott Mayborne, Belvidere, IL 11.) #55 Amy Ghislain, Twin Lakes, WI 12.) #2 Mike Hall Sr. Lite: 1.) #63 Jacob Humphrey, Lake Geneva, WI 2.) #19 Richard McGill, Chicago, IL 3.) #52 Ryan Rockhold, Tremont, IL 4.) #30 Jason Lindgren, Madison, WI 5.) #5 Matt Riechers 6.) #44 Joey Johnson, Slinger, WI 7.) #23 Ricky Johnson, Lincolnshire, IL 8.) #21 Shane Morrissey, Cuba City, WI 9.) #36 Brandon Eash, Rockford, IL 10.) #28 Steve Rex, Lockport, IL 11.) #3 Mike Kann, Arlington Heights, IL 12.) #86 Joe Moser, Elkhorn, WI F200-OHV: 1.) #76 Regan Vehring, Milwaukee, WI 2.) #34 William Huck, Jr 3.) #12 Tiffany Wester, Hampshire, IL 4 Cycle Sportsman: 1.) #46 Dean Daul, Shiocton, WI 2.) #8D Sean Duncanson, DePere, WI 3.) #28 Joe Chiapetta, Downers Grove, IL 4.) #007 Denise Kruse, Bridgeview, IL 5.) #33 William Merritt 6.) #37 Grant Greenfield 7.) #81 J.J. Adams, Wonder Lake, IL 8.) #4 Rob Blake, Glen Ellyn, IL 9.) #08 Dale Weter, River Grove, IL 10.) #98 Ken Lishamer, Elgin, IL Yamaha Sportsman Lite: 1.) #8J Mike James, Saukville, WI 2.) #56 Joe Kliem, Elgin, IL Kid Kart Participants: #8 Eric Hannemann, Lansing, IL #96 Austin Hintt, Poplar Grove, IL #76 Travis Sabata #29 Kyle Holden #36 Trevor Kelley, Janesville, WI #48 Blaz Daul, Shicoton, WI #8D Caylie Duncanson, DePere, WI # 7 Jacob Bandaly, Villa Park, IL #1 Joseph Mandarino, Glen Ellyn, IL #33 Michael Jessup, Lemont, IL #5 Jordan Jagielski, Burlington, WI #20 Nicholas Bandaly, Villa Park, IL Visit the Burris Circle Tour's website Here!