CHICAGO WHISPERS
by Stan Kalwasinski

July 13, 2009

              Medaryville , Ind. —Jeff Leka proved why he was last year’s United Midwestern Promoters (UMP) National Modified Champion at Shadyhill Speedway Saturday night.  For the third time in four years, Leka, the Buffalo , Ill. speedster captured the track’s Firecracker 50 for the UMP open-wheel modified stock cars.

            Not the fastest car during time trials on Saturday, that honor went to Mike Spatola of Manhattan, Ill., Leka still showed true champion strategy, leading all 50 laps of the Firecracker event after starting on the inside of the front row of the 22-car field.  At one time during the race, Leka held a full straightaway lead over the second place-running Spatola only to see a late-race yellow flag erase the lead margin.

            The race’s seventh and final yellow flag appeared with 33 laps complete, setting up a battle between Leka and Spatola for the final 17 circuits.  The 18-year-old Spatola, last year’s UMP modified track champion at Kamp Motor Speedway in Boswell, stayed close to Leka during the remainder of the race, even getting alongside the leader a few times in the closing laps.  Maneuvering by a lapped car in the final two turns, Leka held off Spatola to the checkered flag by a few car lengths. 

            “We selected soft tires,” Leka said.  “I knew I could get away from them at the start.  I was hoping that there would be a bunch of yellows and there was.  I still hurt (wore out) my left rear (tire) and that’s why I had to slow down a bit.  When push came to shove and I seen him (Spatola) there, I thought we better pick up the pace and see what we had.

            “I came all the way over here and to run against these guys and win is great.  If I have to take second and go home, I sure will.  Any time (after a race) that you put a race car in the trailer and it’s still running and has all four wheels on it, that’s a win.” 

            The victory was Leka’s 10th UMP feature win of the season, getting the 43-year-old racer into a good position for another UMP title push. 

            “Last night was our 30th night of (UMP) racing,” Leka said.  “After 30 races, they (UMP) start replacing your finishes with the best 30.  We won last night and, after tonight, we should jump up into the top four or so in the national points.  We are going start the push now and see where we end up at the end of the year.  Last year, we were probably sitting on about 18 wins right about now.  We had (a total of) 30 (wins) last year.  We’ve got a lot of racing ahead of us.  We struggled at the beginning of the year, trying some different stuff.  We’re back on track now.  We’re ready to go racing.”

            Spatola, in his fourth year of UMP modified racing, grabbed fast time honors during time trials with a lap of 15.481 seconds around the quarter-mile dirt oval.  A field of 36 UMP cars was on hand for the action.

            “Jeff and I race all over the Midwest together,” Spatola said.  “We’re both racing for the national points.  I knew he was going to be tough to beat.  I knew I had to save my stuff till the end.  After the last caution, I got underneath him and pushed him.  I hoped he would get worried and start using his tires up and wear them out.  It seemed to work, but I let him get too far (into the lead) and I didn’t start going hard enough earlier.”

            Last year’s race winner Nick Allen of Wheatfield came home third in the 50 lapper with Jesse Bitterling, Todd Sherman and Charles “Bub” Patrick, last year’s UMP track champion at Shadyhill, rounding out the top six.  After a third place finish in the first heat race of the night, Bitterling and his crew swapped engines in Bitterling’s familiar No. 225.  Sherman, who calls Churubusco , Ind. home, came from his 17th starting position to finish fifth. 

            Missing the starting lineup for the 50 lap main event, Brad DeYoung of DeMotte captured the $500-to-win 20-lap “B” main event over Tom Bell and Roger Cavness, who won Shadyhill’s Firecracker event in 2003.  Besides Leka, Allen and Cavness, other Firecracker winners in the past have been Kyle Cooper in 2005, Patrick in 2004, Terry Hull in 2002 and Dan Hamstra in 2001, which was the inaugural event.  With three wins now to his credit, Leka is the race’s only multiple time winner. 

            Veteran driver Mike Kingma, who lives just outside of the town of Shelby , was the winner of the feature race for I-Mod competitors.  Kingma, bested Tim Sullivan, Jr., Mitch Bailey and Bobby Brooks.  It was the best finish of the season for young Brooks, who hails from Dyer.  21 I-Mods were in the pits Saturday.

            The address for news and comments is 9618 Cypress Ave. , Munster , Ind. 46321-3418 or e-mail to skalwasinski@yahoo.com.

END