9/19/2022
RacinBoys
Sobbing gets First Win of Season with Bob Maaschman Memorial Triumph at Knoxville
By Anthony Ainslie (Knoxville, IA) -- The Malvern Bank West Super Late Models West Series Point Leader joined the winner column in 2022 after a warm Sunday afternoon running of the Bob Maaschman Memorial at Knoxville Raceway.
PHOTO CREDIT: Mike Ruefer
The Maaschman Memorial race was initially scheduled to run on Saturday night, but torrential rains moved Saturday’s program to Sunday. A field of 23 cars from the Malvern Bank West Seriesmade the trip out to the famous half-mile oval at the Marion County Fairgrounds. Sunday’s feature was also the only race on the season that did not award championship points to neither the west nor east series. It was all about scoring the big $4,000 check.
The format was changed in order keep racing program going as weather was an issue. There were no heat races, so qualifying time trials were primarily used to set the lineup to the feature. Jeff Aikey was the top qualifier as the Cedar Falls, Iowa native turned a lap of 18.627 seconds.
Aikey started on the outside of the front row of the 22-lap main event as Kyle Berck sat on pole. Berck jumped to the early lead and proceeded to pull ahead while Aikey was locked into a battle with Jesse Sobbing for second. The laps clicked off the board until the halfway mark when a car came to a stop in turn three bringing out the first of the race’s two cautions.
When racing resumed, Berck continued to lead. However, Berck’s race went south in an instant as his car broke and slammed into the turn two wall as he was leading with only five laps remaining.
Sobbing inherited the lead, and from there, the Malvern, Iowa driver held off Aikey to score his first win of the season. The win was Sobbing’s sixth win of his career and his first at Knoxville Raceway since winning in a sport mod back in 2011. Aikey took second while Jason Hahne finished third. Bill Leighton Jr. was fourth, and Andy Eckrich rounded out the top five.
Only three races remain for the 2022 season. The next race is an East vs. West battle at the Davenport Speedway for the rescheduled 45th Yankee Dirt Track Classic on Saturday the 24th. The very next night, The Haulin’ with Hoker Trucking East Series makes its final visit of the year at the East Moline Speedway in East Moline, Illinois. The season will then wrap up on October 15th as the East and West tours come together to crown their champions at the I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Nebraska.
RESULTS
Bob Maschmann Memorial A Feature 1 (22 Laps): 1. 99-Jesse Sobbing[4]; 2. 77-Jeff Aikey[2]; 3. 76H-Jason Hahne[5]; 4. 24-Bill Leighton[9]; 5. 56-Andy Eckrich[8]; 6. 58-Dave Eckrich[7]; 7. 04-Tad Pospisil[6]; 8. 30-Todd Cooney[14]; 9. 52-Brian Kosiski[16]; 10. 15C-Curt Schroeder[20]; 11. 99D-Darrel DeFrance[23]; 12. 07-Matt Ryan[19]; 13. 5S-Jeff Segebart[22]; 14. 43-Derrick Stewart[12]; 15. 53-Andrew Kosiski[17]; 16. 32-Curtis Glover[18]; 17. 22-Charlie McKenna[10]; 18. 14D-Logan Duffy[21]; 19. 14-Kyle Berck[1]; 20. 1-Jake Neal[11]; 21. 26JR-Corey Zeitner[13]; 22. 25-Brad Perdue[3]; 23. 32C-Chad Holladay[15]
Malvern Bank Qualifying 1: 1. 76H-Jason Hahne, 00:18.986[3]; 2. 14-Kyle Berck, 00:19.029[10]; 3. 25-Brad Perdue, 00:19.526[11]; 4. 58-Dave Eckrich, 00:19.604[8]; 5. 24-Bill Leighton, 00:19.648[1]; 6. 1-Jake Neal, 00:19.735[7]; 7. 26JR-Corey Zeitner, 00:19.777[5]; 8. 32C-Chad Holladay, 00:20.018[2]; 9. 53-Andrew Kosiski, 00:20.131[12]; 10. 07-Matt Ryan, 00:20.426[9]; 11. 14D-Logan Duffy, 00:20.476[6]; 12. 99D-Darrel DeFrance, 00:20.763[4]
Hoker Trucking Qualifying 2: 1. 77-Jeff Aikey, 00:18.627[6]; 2. 99-Jesse Sobbing, 00:18.821[7]; 3. 04-Tad Pospisil, 00:19.040[8]; 4. 56-Andy Eckrich, 00:19.055[9]; 5. 22-Charlie McKenna, 00:19.136[5]; 6. 43-Derrick Stewart, 00:19.714[1]; 7. 30-Todd Cooney, 00:19.985[2]; 8. 52-Brian Kosiski, 00:20.023[11]; 9. 32-Curtis Glover, 00:20.239[3]; 10. 15C-Curt Schroeder, 00:20.506[10]; 11. 5S-Jeff Segebart, 00:21.231[4]
Submitted By: Kirk Elliott
