LAKESIDE SPEEDWAY

Kling Gets 1st Win In Grand National, Whitney Also Gets A 1st In Factory Stock & Agler Becoming a Star In The Modified Ranks at Lakeside Speedway

Kansas City , KS - Have you heard the old saying, 'try and try again?'

Grand National racer, Darren Kling, might be the epitome of this statement.

Kling has been trying to get to victory lane for more than 5 years at Lakeside Speedway. Several runner-up and top 5 finishes have lined his resume, but it wasn't until tonight he finally broke through and raced to his first Grand National feature win.

"If I could just tell you how this felt right now," said Kling, "There has been ups and downs over the last 5 years and there has been a lot of blood, sweat and tears, but nothing can replace this feeling."

Starting from the 5th position, Kling let the race come to him instead of pushing to hard early in the race. On lap 9, Kling had moved into the top spot. The question on everyone's mind, 'could he hold on to the lead for 11 more laps?'

Once Kling took over the lead, he would only see one yellow flag the rest of the feature. Kelby Ostrander, Chad Clancy and Gary Donaldson waged a great battle behind him. This battle helped Kling get out to a comfortable lead.

Clancy, eventually, moved his way into 2nd place. He began to run down Kling with just few laps remaining. He drove the high line as hard as his car would allow him to. It wouldn't be good enough. Kling would hold on the win by a car length over Clancy.

"Lakeisde is a tough, tough class," said Kling,"Lakeside it also a tough track. I have put together some 2nd place finishes and I was beginning to feel like Michael Waltrip."

If there was one comparison to Michael Waltrip that could be made, is that Kling seemed to have everyone in the crowd at Lakeside cheering for him after getting the big win. It was announced over the pa that it was his 1st win in 5 years of trying. Instead of just the normal round of applause, the crowd stood to their feet and gave the excited driver a thrill of a lifetime.

"It was pure amazement to see all those people cheering for me. I didn't know I had that many fans, but to see them all cheering for me is what makes this all worth while," said Kling.

Clancy, backed up his win from 2 weeks ago with a runner-up finish,3rd was Steve Dibben, 4th was Chad Shaw and rounding out the top 5 was Kelby Ostrander.

The points battle took a shake up at the top spot in the Grand Nationals. Gene Claxton had motor problems for yet another night and didn't make it out for the feature. This would cost him valuable points. Gary Donaldson appeared to take over the points lead with a top 5 finish. In the post race tech inspection Donaldson's carburetor did not meet the specs of the go/no go gauges. Therefore his finish was disqualified. In the end it was last year's champion, Chad Clancy, who would leave with the points lead.

In the Factory Stock class it was also another first time winner pulling into victory lane, Brad Whitney.

Whitney has been one of those drivers too that had been close to a win, but never got over that hump to pull one in. That was until tonight.

It really never looked like it was going to be Whitney's night until things started to get interesting. Mike Busby, who was the leader for a majority of the race, looped his car down in between turns 1 and 2. The yellow flag gave the lead back to Jay Barnes. Barnes held the lead early in the race.

On the restart, Whitney didn't waste any time. He shot down to the inside of Barnes. The battle ensued. In the end, Whitney was too strong for Barnes and the rest of the field. After starting 10th in the feature he wound up finishing 1st.

"It feels good," said Whitney, "we have been trying to get one for awhile but just couldn't get it done. It seems we always had trouble. We were 2nd the first night out and had a ball joint break. I run a heating and air business and since it got hot we have been real busy. I don't get to race as much as I would like. My main goal tonight was to make it to the front and do it without hitting anyone. On the 2nd night out I took a beating on the internet and I just wanted to show people that I could win and do it cleanly."

The entire feature had to be one of the better ones of the season at Lakeside. The top 5 to 10 cars were only separated by a few seconds. Close competition gave the fans exactly what they wanted to see on this night, excellent racing.

Jason Ryun battled most of the night finishing in the 2nd spot, Nate Barnes rolled to a 3rd place finish, newcomer, Kevin Anderson, drove to a 4th place finish and Jay Barnes would finish in the 5th position.

One of the best two-man duels of the night had to be Cody Agler and Jason Bodenhammer.

Following the first two features of the night, the modified division had some shine to live up to. All this class did was put on a great race that didn't have one yellow. What it did have was a lot of movement.

Bodenhammer has been filling in for injured driver, Vic Austin. Tonight he came about as close as you can to winning the A Main event. Unfortunately, someone forgot to tell Cody Agler he wasn't suppose to win.

"This track was awesome tonight!" said Agler, "There was moisture in 3 and 4 at the start of the feature and it went dry slick and it was smooth. You could just drive it in as hard as you wanted and hang on."

Agler has had a strong sophomore season. Tonight was his 3rd win of his career in the modified division. Each of his wins, he has had to come through the field and contend with the competition to get it done. A tough feat when you know just how tough this class is and just how tough the competitors can be at Lakeside Speedway.

"It's nice to know that guys are going to respect you when you are racing," said Agler, "It makes it that much more fun. Tonight when I was battling with Jason (Bodenhammer) he gave me room when we were up by the wall. I would do it with him and I respect all the competitors in the division."

Agler and Bodenhammer battled it out for several laps, until Agler got the upper hand and drove off to win number 3 on the year.

A driver that is continuing to have a strong season is John O'Neal Jr. Tonight O'Neal finished in the 3rd position. It kept him in the top 5 in the modified standings. Another driver, Tim Karrick, also celebrated a good night. Karrick drove to a 4th place finish, but he also moved himself into the points lead in the division.

Darron Fuqua started 11th during the feature, but found himself in the 5th spot by the end of the night. A strong run for the youngster from Topeka, KS. At one point he dropped back to 14th before making his run to the front.

Racing action continues at Lakeside Speedway next Friday night.

The spectator gate opens up at 5 p.m., hot laps are at 7 p.m. and the first race goes green at 7:30 p.m.

For more information log on to www.lakesidespeedway.net.