The Rockin K Logistics Big Blocks were in action on Monday Nov. 11th for Rd #4 from Kokomo Speedway. A total of 19 drivers loaded into the race server and posted a qualifying lap. Dylan DeWert Jr lead the way with a 12.844 second lap over Greg Keppel’s 12.937 with Anthony Morano in 3rd with a 12.940. So once again the qualifying times are extremely close. A surprise name that I didn’t see logged into the server was your current points leader, Kurt Ney. A driver is given 1 drop week throughout the season.
Heat #1
Jacob Schmutz would get the first of 3 heat races of the night going. Schmutz starts on pole of heat one after qualifying in the 10th position. Travis Johnson would be starting on the outside of Schmutz. Schmutz would get the jump on the field, Travis Johnson and Dylan DeWert Jr would follow in 2nd and 3rd. These 3 would break away from the rest of the field. Buddy Ware, Cody Terry, Mason Leon and Ryan Hines all had a nice battle for 4th. Ware would make contact with the inside tire on lap 5 bringing out the first caution of the night. Single file on the restart as Schmutz would get everyone back up to speed. At the end of the 8-laps it was Schmutz, Johnson and DeWert.
Heat #2
Jordan Lafon led heat #2 to green. Greg Keppel would make slight contact to the back of Matt Westfall on lap 2.
The contact would not bring out the caution but would separate the field. Dillon Kinsey would try tracking down Lafon for the win. But would not be able to, at the end of the 8-laps it was Lafon with the win, Kinsey and Matt Westfall was 3rd.
Heat #3
The final heat of the night had Tom Ostendorf and Kevin Hanley leading the way. Unfortunately, Ostendorf and Hanley made contact exciting turn 2. The result of the contact would cause Ostendorf to spin out. But no caution was flown. Samuel Bachman would take over the lead of the heat. Anthony Morano reeled in Roman Gephart after Gephart made contact with the wall with 2 to go. After a few sliders, Morano made the pass for 2nd just as they crossed the finish line.
Feature
Your heat #1 winner, Jacob Schmutz would lead the way as the drivers set to do battle for 40-laps around Kokomo Speedway. Schmutz would quickly try and move to the high side of the track. Lafon running in 2nd went to get to the low side of the track entering turn 3. Backman was on the inside of Lafon and the two would come together causing to come to stop just inside the tractor tires in turns 3 & 4. Lafon would claim the caution and move to the end of the line for the restart.
On the restart on lap-1, Schmutz went to move to the top of 1 & 2 but Travis Johnson had gotten a good jump and was on the outside of Schmutz’s right rear. With Johnson being on the outside and up against the wall the contact between the two would send Schmutz for a spin. On the other end of field, there was a little stack up that you end up with Clay Christopherson tapping the back of Gephart resulting in another spin out.
Restarting the field on lap-2 would be Johnson with Dillon Kinsey to his outside. Morano would work the bottom side of the track to try taking the lead away from Johnson. Kinsey after making contact with Matt Westfall would find himself going from 4th to battling for the lead at the end of lap-4.
At the 10-lap mark of the 40-lap feature, Johnson was leading the way, Morano 2nd, DeWert in 3rd with Kevin Hanley and Kinsey battling for 5th. Morano would make it front on lap-12 with Johnson in tow. Johnson would later tag the wall and allow DeWert was able to move into 2nd.
Lap-25 Morano still out front, DeWert still in 2nd, Johnson 3rd, Hanley 4th with Greg Keppel rounding out the top 5. We had a good run going, but lap-27 would bring out another caution. Kinsey and Lafon would stack up a little and Tom Ostendorf would make contact with the back of Lafon and causing Ostendorf to spin out. Morano would restart lap-28 with the lead.
With 10-laps to go, Matt Westfall got into the back of Johnson causing Westfall to get into fence. After all 4 wheels got back on the ground contact with the Mason Leon would bring out the yellow flag. Morano and DeWert would lead the field to green on the restart of lap-30. DeWert would get the start and move to top side and start to checkout from the rest of the field. Unfortunately, a few laps later, Buddy Ware would hop the left front of Gephart as they battled for 7th and 8th. The contact was enough to send Gephart hard into the outside wall ending the night for him. Even though this happened just behind Travis Johnson, the cars went up the track and Johnson just got clipped. Johnson at the time might have already had some car damage. This would also cause Johnson to retire from the race on lap-33.
DeWert would once again jump out to the lead on the restart. Dewert would go onto win the 40-lap feature with Morano 2nd, Hanley 3rd and Keppel in 4th. Schmutz was able to rebound from a spin on lap 1 to finish 5th.
40-Lap Feature Top 5
1)Dylan DeWert Jr
2) Anthony Morano
3) Kevin Hanley
4) Greg Keppel
5) Jacob Schmutz
Heat Race Winners
Heat #1 Jacob Schmutz
Heat #2 Jordan Lafon
Heat #3 Samuel Bachman
QuickTime Dylan DeWert Jr
Hard Charger Greg Keppel +10
Next Monday, Nov. 18th the series heads to Lucas Oil Speedway for Rd #5. Catch all the racing action on the Dirt Racing Network Facebook. If you want to get involved in the racing action…. head over to www.dirtslingersracing.com and click JOIN.
We will see you on Monday Night!!