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Jeff Leka claims Ken Schrader Modified Challenge at I-55 Raceway!

Jeff Leka CLICK HERE FOR MORE PHOTOS FROM I-55 RACEWAY Pevely, MO (October 20, 2007) The 3rd Annual Ken Schrader Modified Challenge attracted ninety-eight U.M.P. DIRTcar Modifieds drivers from around the Midwest and featured some great racing action. Jeff Leka of Buffalo, Illinois, who finished second in the U.M.P. DIRTcar Modified National Point Standings in 2007, led the final thirty-two laps and claimed the victory. Leka had to change his car number before the event got started because the track didn't allow duplicate numbers. Leka added a zero behind his familiar number three and over the letter L, changing his number to 30 instead of 3L. As fate would have it, this would become Leka's 30th victory in 2007. Leka started on the pole for the main event, but it was NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace taking the lead at the drop of the green flag from the outside of the front row. Wallace kept his familiar St. Louis Cardinals sponsored #36 Impressive Race Cars chassis out front until he was slowed on lap eight with a flat right rear tire. Leka took over the top spot and kept his Hovis Racing Engines, REAL Wheels, Kirkland Carpet, BUDDA Bert Transmissions, Bypass Autobody, HPR Cars sponsored machine out front the rest of the distance. Leka's biggest challenge came from Scott Weber of Festus, Missouri. Weber was able to close in on Leka in lapped traffic as the race as the race was winding down. However, just as Weber was preparing a bid for the lead, his machine suffered a drive-shaft failure with just three laps remaining. That turned second place over to Jared Landers of Benton, Arkansas. Landers would bring his mount across the line just in front of Denny Schwartz to earn a second place finish. Denny Schwartz, the 2007 U.M.P. DIRTcar Modified National Champion, would finish in the third spot. Randle Sweeney of Clifty, Kentucky would fourth place and Bobby Bittle, the 2007 I-55 Raceway Track Champion from Smithton, Illinois, would round out the top five. Track crews reworked the racetrack just before the feature event, providing a very fast and competitive surface. Leka commented in victory lane that it was the fastest forty laps he had ever raced. Leka was joined in victory lane by chassis builder Bob Pierce of Bob Pierce Race Cars. Kenny Wallace was just wanting a few more laps. He had raced all the way back to eighth place when the checkered flag flew. I-55 Raceway would like to thank Shop 'n Save grocery stores for sponsoring this great event along with the Missouri/Illinois Dodge Dealers. This event raised a lot of money for Special Olympics. U.M.P. Modifieds - 98 Entries Heat 1 1. 30 Jeff Leka 2. 89 Bobby Bittle 3. 5 Marty Smith, Jr. 4. 780 Alan Conner 5. 810 Brad White 6. 17 Richie Biswell 7. 298 Cole Hussons 8. 13 David Lee Racer 9. 98 Pat Walsh 10. 26 Kasey Nations Heat 2 1. 37 Mark Miner 2. 288 Joe Puricelli 3. 142 Billy Smith 4. 71E Wade Ehrhardt 5. 56 Tommy Worley, Sr. 6. 129 Jeff LeBaube 7. 1B Doug Beier 8. 29L J.D. Laster 9. 688 Andy Oswald 10. 0 Todd McGraw Heat 3 1. 6 Rusty Griffaw 2. 416 Matt Goulden 3. 74 Matt Zimmerly 4. 156 Dave Thornton 5. 62 Leo Keifer 6. 414 Brad McKinnon 7. 102 Brian Richards 8. 770 George Wilson 9. 47 Tom Vogt 10. 8X James Reed DNS Heat 4 1. 15 Jerry Grither 2. 72 Brian Lynn 3. 21A Karl Adams 4. 78 Larry Hull 5. 31F Rob Fuqua 6. 114 Tim Burdel 7. 84 Larry Hill, Jr. 8. 88D Eddie Whitney 9. 35 Ralph Wiltrout 10. 411 Chris Spalding Heat 5 1. 777 Jared Landers 2. 51 John Stanton 3. 20 Robbie McClain 4. 91 Steve Copeland 5. 721 Dennis Richards 6. 377 Casey Pearson 7. 77S Bryan Singleton 8. 11J Jack Halbert 9. 24 Paul Bauman 10. 99 Jason Fletcher Heat 6 1. 59 Rich Whaley 2. 36 Kenny Wallace 3. 12 Dan Bimson 4. 10X Jesse Snyder 5. 68 Ronnie Scott 6. 50 Scott White 7. 18 Matt Dotson 8. 46 Dave Wibbenmeyer 9. 100 Todd Ferber 10. 22 Bob Waterhouse Heat 7 1. 4J Scott Weber 2. 711 Ed Roley 3. 166 Brian Worley 4. 111 Dane Gundaker 5. 19 Chris Simmerman 6. 83 Mark Enk 7. 126 Gary Blackburn, Jr. 8. 321 Adam Parmeley 9. 14 Rick Conoyer 10. 4O Bobby Regot Heat 8 1. 07 Kenny Mudd 2. 222 Matt Mevert 3. 28 Mike Haas 4. 25 Brett Korves 5. 57 Parker Williams 6. 41 Larry Hull 7. 3 Lou Driemeier 8. 33 Thomas Lomelino 9. 131 Mitch Parmeley 10. 999 Robbie Helms Heat 9 1. 121 Denny Schwartz 2. 48 Bobby Martintoni 3. 55 Jimmy Westerfield 4. 311 Leroy Haney 5. 221 Danny Schwartz 6. 95 Doug Wood 7. 155 Chris Smith 8. 27 Ethan Schnapp 9. 45 Lee Pruitt Heat 10 1. 90 Tim Hancock 2. 182 Randle Sweeney 3. 260 J.D. Beal 4. 859 Travis Howell 5. 61 Gary Archambault 6. 297 John Campbell 7. 9 John Coultas 8. 70 Tommie Seets, Jr. 9. 87 Danny Odell C Main 1 - Top 3 advance to B main 1 1. 142 Billy Smith 2. 31F Rob Fuqua 3. 17 Richie Biswell 4. 377 Casey Pearson 5. 156 Dave Thornton 6. 26 Kasey Nations 7. 56 Tommy Worley, Sr. 8. 721 Dennis Richards 9. 411 Chris Spalding 10. 29L J.D. Laster 11. 84 Larry Hill, Jr. 12. 810 Brad White 13. 688 Andy Oswald 14. 414 Brad McKinnon 15. 11J Jack Halbert C Main 2 - Top 3 advance to B main 1 1. 91 Steve Copeland 2. 780 Alan Conner 3. 114 Tim Burdel 4. 62 Leo Keifer 5. 24 Paul Bauman 6. 129 Jeff LeBaube 7. 98 Pat Walsh 8. 21A Karl Adams 9. 1B Doug Beier 10. 88D Eddie Whitney 11. 298 Cole Hussons 12. 47 Tom Vogt 13. 99 Jason Fletcher 14. 13 David Lee Racer 15. 0 Todd McGraw C Main 3 - Top 3 advance to B main 2 1. 221 Danny Schwartz 2. 311 Leroy Haney 3. 859 Travis Howell 4. 18 Matt Dotson 5. 95 Doug Wood 6. 14 Rick Conoyer 7. 27 Ethan Schnapp 8. 260 J.D. Beal 9. 50 Scott White 10. 999 Robbie Helms 11. 61 Gary Archambault 12. 46 Dave Wibbenmeyer 13. 155 Chris Smith C Main 4 - Top 3 advance to B main 2 1. 19 Chris Simmerman 2. 126 Gary Blackburn, Jr. 3. 111 Dane Gundaker 4. 68 Ronnie Scott 5. 25 Brett Korves 6. 87 Danny Odell 7. 131 Mitch Parmeley 8. 40 Bobby Regot 9. 3 Lou Driemeier 10. 57 Parker Williams 11. 9 John Coultas 12. 83 Mark Enk 13. 297 John Campbell B Main 1 - Top 10 are the inside row of the A Main 1. 30 Jeff Leka 2. 777 Jared Landers 3. 37 Mark Miner 4. 72 Brian Lynn 5. 89 Bobby Bittle 6. 15 Jerry Grither 7. 416 Matt Goulden 8. 5 Marty Smith, Jr. 9. 6 Rusty Griffaw 10. 288 Joe Puricelli 11. 142 Billy Smith 12. 31F Rob Fuqua 13. 74 Matt Zimmerly 14. 114 Tim Burdel 15. 51 John Stanton 16. 780 Alan Conner 17. 71E Wade Ehrhardt 18. 20 Robbie McClain 19. 17 Richie Biswell 20. 78 Larry Hull 21. 91 Steve Copeland B Main 2 - Top 10 are the outside row of the A Main 1. 36 Kenny Wallace 2. 4J Scott Weber 3. 121 Denny Schwartz 4. 90 Tim Hancock 5. 182 Randle Sweeney 6. 48 Bobby Martintoni 7. 55 Jimmy Westerfield 8. 166 Brian Worley 9. 221 Danny Schwartz 10. 126 Gary Blackburn 11. 711 Ed Roley 12. 311 Leroy Haney 13. 28 Mike Haas 14. 10X Jesse Snyder 15. 12 Dan Bimson 16. 59 Rich Whaley 17. 19 Chris Simmerman 18. 111 Dane Gundaker 19. 859 Travis Howell 20. 07 Kenny Mudd 21. 222 Matt Mevert Feature 1. 30 Jeff Leka 2. 777 Jared Landers 3. 121 Denny Schwartz 4. 182 Randle Sweeney 5. 89 Bobby Bittle 6. 166 Brian Worley 7. 55 Jimmy Westerfield 8. 36 Kenny Wallace 9. 48 Bobby Martintoni 10. 5 Marty Smith, Jr. 11. 6 Rusty Griffaw 12. 126 Gary Blackburn, Jr. 13. 31F Rob Fuqua UMP Point Provisional 14. 15 Jerry Grither 15. 288 Joe Puricelli 16. 95 Doug Wood Track Point Provisional 17. 4J Scott Weber 18. 416 Matt Goulden 19. 37 Mark Miner 20. 221 Danny Schwartz 21. 72 Brian Lynn 22. 859 Travis Howell Provisional 23. 90 Tim Hancock 24. 100 Todd Ferber Provisional

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