Story by Bill Blumer photos by Jeff Wilcenski
Missouri's Brad Loyet made it four straight feature wins at Angell Park Speedway, as he took the Firecracker 25. The main event saw Jason Dull and Aaron Fiscus lead the field to the green. It was a drag race between the two down the backstretch, where Fiscus won the battle into the third turn. From here Fiscus paced the field for the next five laps until Loyet slid under him in turn-four. With that, Fiscus got his car high and in trying to gain control, headed down toward the inner guardrail, as the field came toward him. Chad DeSelle did an excellent job as he swung high, just narrowly missing Fiscus.

The restart had Loyet in front followed by Scott Hatton, DeSelle, Mike Hess and Matt Smith. Hatton stuck to Loyet when racing resumed, but Loyet quickly put distance between the two. On the tenth lap, Hatton rode against the turn-four wall and appeared to be stuck in that cycle, but just as the yellow came out, he freed himself and continued on, as if all was well. The next restart had Hess in second and Hatton in third.

But, it was more of the same as Loyet got no initial jump on Hess, but freed himself from Hess in short order. With eight to go, Eric Johnson spun in front of the leaders. Loyet got by without issue, but similar to the earlier DeSelle maneuver. Hess just missed a bad wreck as he wheeled around Johnson.

In the end, Loyet survived two more yellows, including a near flip by David Budres, to score the win. Hess and Hatton ran an entertaining race as Hatton proved there were two grooves in trying to beat Hess, as Hess stayed on the cushion and Hatton had the huggy pole. In the end Hess prevailed for the runner up spot, followed by Hatton, DeSelle and Smith.

Asked by emcee Dennis Thompson, what he thought of Angell Park Speedway, Loyet told the fans, what several drivers learned on the night, "It will bite you if you run it wrong."

In other action, Fiscus took the low line for the first heat only to have rookie Courtney Erfurth wheeled around him on the high side in turn-two. On the third lap, Fiscus again went low on her at the line, but Erfurth again fought him off. On the next lap, in the fourth corner Erfurth jumped the cushion, but gathered it quickly enough that Fiscus couldn't capitalize. In the end Erfurth became one of the most popular winners this year as she cruised to a five length victory over Fiscus, who had five lengths between himself and Hess.

In the Victory Lane interview Erfurth told the crowd, "I used to be one of you sitting up there dreaming of this." Asked about the race she admitted, "It was kind of intimidating seeing Aaron," on the bottom line. Lastly, asked if she'd like to come back, she quickly replied, "I've been here since I was three weeks old, I'll come back here every day of the week!"

Hatton was the fast timer on the night and won the Dash. Smith won the qualifying race and Bubba Altig won the second heat.

A special race, with over 750 donated dollars was run, dubbed the "Firecracker Shootout." Nine cars raced with the winner taking $250, $250 going to a random draw of the drivers participating and the balance shared among the rest. Scott Hatton won the race and now is the race record holder for the fastest nine lap race at Angell Park Speedway.

At the end of the event, fans were treated to a fireworks display sponsored by Evergreen State Bank.

Next Sunday Badger and the Illini Racing Series will be in action. In a twist, the IRS has put a $300 bounty on Kurt Mayhew and anyone who can beat him in the feature will take home the bounty money.