SPRING VALLEY, Minn. -- After receiving one inch of rain in the past 24 hours, the crew at Deer Creek Speedway went about the task of preparing the racing surface for their season opener. It was the opener but it didn’t feel like it to many as the four week delay from Mother Nature took away some of the hype normally associated with the opening weekend.

The weather was chilly with strong winds during the afternoon which actually aided in the drying process of the pits, parking lots and racing surface. The winds calmed down during the evening hours helping in keeping the chill out of the bones quite as early in the evening for the nice crowd gathered to watch the racing action.

It actually was a very nice night on the Fastenal, Stone Machinery, McNeilus Steel night as the crowd hung around to the very end of the racing action.

With the second largest car count of the night in the EZ Fabricating USRA Modifieds, the fans saw great heat race action all night long in the popular class.

Tim Donlinger drew the front row starting spot and used it to power around the pole sitter Mike Sorensen for the lead on lap one. Donlinger powered around the top side the rest of the feature race.

Early on, Todd Scharkey was fast up top and moved up to just outside of the top five from 12th on the first lap. Kelly Shryock kept Sorensen busy early working him on the bottom side of the speedway.

Twenty-one to go and Mark Noble and Brad Waits were side by side for fourth. The first caution flew as Noble and Scharkey got together on the front stretch as Scharkey tried to get around Noble for fifth.

Donlinger again blasted away from the field with Sorensen in tow.Joey Jensen, Nate Wasmund and Bob Timm raced three wide for seventh was Ryan Gustin and Steve Wezstein raced for fifth.

The field stayed pretty much in tow for the rest of the race as Donlinger moved out to a full straight away lead as he took home the first win of the season.

Racing action resumes on Saturday, May 10, with action in all five classes at the speedway.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
USRA Casey's General Stores Weekly Racing Series
Deer Creek Speedway, Spring Valley, Minn.
Saturday, May 3, 2008

USRA MODIFIEDS

“A” Feature - Tim Donlinger, Mike Sorensen, Kelly Shryock, Brad Waits, Steve Wetzstein, Ryan Gustin, Bob Timm, Joey Jensen, Nate Wasmund, Josh Reisch, Jay Ihrke, Brad Bakken, Jeff Schluetter, Ben Anderson, Greg Jensen, Doug Hillson, Layne Meyer, Shawn Peterson, Jacob Dahle, Jason Cummins, Mark Noble, Todd Scharkey, Tom Paulson, Shaun Olson.

“B” Feature – Ihrke, Jensen, Reisch, Anderson, Joe Wernecke, Terry Timmerman, Brady Peterson, Anthony Mann, Brandon Aggen, Jerry King, Mick Glenn, Cory Crapser, Thomas Brink.

Heat 1 – Sorensen, Noble, Jensen, Paulson, Dahle, B. Peterson, Crapser, Aggen, King.

Heat 2 – Shryock, Waits, Scharkey, Schluetter, Meyer, Jensen, Brink, Reisch.

Heat 3 – Timm, Donlinger, Gustin, Hillson, S. Peterson, Anderson, Glenn, Mann.

Heat 4 – Wetzstein, Wasmund, Bakken, Cummins, Olson, Timmerman, Ihrke, Wernecke.