Texas Speedzone - Veteran, rookie go back-to-back in great finish at Red River

(Wichita Falls, TX) A rookie pressed a race veteran for the checkered flag Saturday night during the Texas Super Racing Series (TSRS) late model’s Red River Speedway 75 in Wichita Falls.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 10, 2008 Contact: K-MAC Sports, 512.219.1090 MAN Racing Promotions, 512.844.3582 Veteran, rookie go back-to-back in great finish at Red River By Chuck Licata K-MAC Sports (Wichita Falls, TX) A rookie pressed a race veteran for the checkered flag Saturday night during the Texas Super Racing Series (TSRS) late model’s Red River Speedway 75 in Wichita Falls. The rookie – 14-year-old Jake Kruger (Bastrop, TX) – was challenging the veteran, John Heil (Floresville, TX), as the 75-lap race wound down at the Ľ-mile asphalt oval that is Red River Speedway. In fact, the front four in the race – Heil, Kruger, Brian Moczygemba (San Antonio) and Robert Barker (Boerne) – had put half-a-track between themselves and the fifth-place car and were running pretty tight. The veteran won this battle as Heil held on to beat Kruger to the finish line, registering his first TSRS victory of the 2008 season. Kruger, Moczygemba, Barker and Heath Stewart (Del Valle, TX) followed Heil across the finish line. Former TSRS champion Chris Schild (Leander, TX) came in sixth. He was followed across the line by Jesse Salazar (San Antonio, TX); Bobby Teer, Jr. (Comfort, TX,), 14-year-old rookie Dillon Spreen (Boerne, TX), David Rose (Wichita Falls, TX) and Joe Aramendia (San Antonio, TX, who completed 13 laps). Buddy Morgan of Wichita Falls was not able to start the race. What Heil might not have known was that Kruger – sponsored by Capitel Communications, Kruger Motorsports and TRC Race Cars – actually tagged the wall with about 20 laps to go. “We hit the wall out of Turn 4 and hit it hard,” Kruger recalled on Monday night. “Another driver told me that I hit the wall so hard my tires came off the ground! Luckily, I hit it square up with the door. I worked with (crew chief) Terry James and we took it easier on the next lap or so to make sure there was nothing wrong with the car. Once we saw there wasn’t (any problems), we went after Heil again.” Heil was able to steer his car clear of any mishaps and hung on to beat Kruger, who registered his first-ever late model race win May 17 at Houston Motorsports Park. “I felt we had a better car than he (Heil) but we couldn’t get around him,” the youngster stated. “He hugged the bottom (of the track) and ran very well on the bottom. We had to either wait for him to make a mistake or maybe one of us would cut down a tire.” Kruger added, “If we had got a run on him we might have tried (to get around him) but at the same time we weren’t going to try and bump him out of the way. That’s not how we race.” The race itself went as smooth as the Red River Speedway asphalt surface – just four caution flags were thrown and the last one came 40 laps in, meaning the TSRS field gave the near-capacity crowd a straight run to the checkered flag for the last 31 laps (after the re-start on Lap 44). Heath Stewart, who came into the race with the overall points lead, set the new track record in qualifying with a lap of 14.107 seconds then drew the #1 block to start the race on the pole. Moczygemba, who was second in points, grabbed the #2 block and started outside of Stewart on the front row. Stewart led the race through the first 24 laps – by this time, Joe Aramendia had scraped the wall and had parked his car in the pits, completing just 13 laps. Stewart appeared to have a tire go soft (a problem experienced by at least two other drivers throughout the night) and Heil, who had started third and moved into second place by Lap 10, passed him on the inside. Stewart would eventually pit to change his tire; he would pass Schild on Lap 70 for his fifth-place finish. Meantime, Heil held the lead through the next two cautions (on Laps 28 and 40) with Kruger tucked in safely in second; Moczygemba and Bobby Teer, Jr. were right behind them, followed by the rest of the field. Right after Lap 28, Kruger started making a hard charge on Heil; by Lap 37, Kruger was making some “inroads” on Heil and was threatening to pass him on the inside. But the race’s last yellow flew at Lap 40 and Heil was given a reprieve. On the race’s last restart on Lap 44, Heil led the field to the green flag, followed by Kruger, Moczygemba, Teer, Barker, Schild, Dillon Spreen, Stewart, Jesse Salazar and David Rose. But Teer realized the tire problems experienced by others at Lap 54 and fell back, getting passed by Barker for fourth and falling back four positions. Four laps later, Stewart – making his way up the field – passed Spreen for sixth place. By Lap 60, the top four – Heil, Kruger, Moczygemba and Barker – led the field by nine car lengths. They made it a half-a-track lead by Lap 64. Information on TSRS can be found at www.manracingpromotions.com. Information on Thunderhill Raceway – an ASA member track – can be found at www.thunderhillraceway.com. - 30 –