"A
night to remember," that's what Josh was saying at the end of the night.
The first race of the night was the completion of the Sept. 4 Mid-American
feature, which was stopped after seven laps when competitor Mike Marden was
injured in a serious crash. Before the race was restarted, Marden spoke to the
crowd via a telephone hookup from his home, and said that he was planning on
returning to the driver's seat in time for the 2005 season. Marden, who is
expected to make a full recovery, also gave the command to restart the race.
"When he gave us the 'Gentlemen, start your engines,' it sent chills up my
spine," Josh Nelms said. "It was cool to hear his voice and
everything, and it's great to hear that he's doing okay." Nelms, meanwhile,
did more than okay himself, winning both the makeup feature and the
regularly-scheduled 40-lap season finale. "Aw we're thrilled," said
Nelms, who also clinched the division title. "Some guys would be thrilled
to win two features in a season, and we did it one night. We're ecstatic.
"This goes out to Mike Marden and his family, and all the U.S. troops that
support us on this day, 9-11. This has got to be the most memorable racing night
I'll ever have." Nelms beat out Bill Neering in the makeup feature by about
six car-lengths. Third place went to Jack Kalwasinski, while Dave Gentile Jr.,
and Jeff Cannon followed. In the 40-lapper, Nelms chased down and passed
Kalwasinski via the high groove on lap nine, and never looked back. Cannon
established himself as the runnerup on lap 24 and stayed there, while Shaun
Wiltjer had his best run of the season to edge out Keith Sterkowitz for third.
sept 11 - Quick results
(this was the make up
feature
from 9/04/04)
summary |
started
|
finished |
feature |
4th |
1st |
sept 11 - Quick results
summary |
started
|
finished |
heat |
7th |
2nd |
feature |
7th |
1st |
|
|