On a night that would see records fall on the famed high banks of Belleville, Kerry Madsen did not walk away from the night with his name on a speed record, but he would walk away with the big prize, an O’Reilly All Star Circuit of Champions win on the second night of Thunder through the Plains.
The record setting night began during time trials as five cars would eclipse the former track record of 14.54previously held by Paul McMahon. At the end of time trials Terry McCarl would walk away with the one lap track record now set at 14.321around the “world’s fastest half mile dirt track.” Heat races would also set 8 lap track records. First Brandon Wimmer would go out and take the record, but he only held it for a few moments as Don Droud Jr. set the mark lower to 1:57.51. Shane Stewart would come within a few tenths of that mark in heat three, but was unable to break it.
When the initial Green Flag flew on the main event Randy Hannagan and Terry McCarl battled for the lead. Coming off of Turn 4 running the high line, McCarl would grab the lead for a split second before the first caution flag of the night came out for Shane Stewart, who came to a stop in Turn 3 with mechanical woes.
This would set up a complete restart. This time McCarl would grab the lead again from pole sitter Hannagan. By Lap 2 Kerry Madsen had made his way from his sixth place starting spot to pass the 1x for the second position. Racing action would be slowed again on Lap 7 when the 2au of Todd Wanless had a tire grenade on him in the third turn. Miranda Throckmorton would also come to a stop on track. This would end Wanless’s night, but Throckmorton would continue on.
On the restart McCarl would lead with Madsen, Hannagan, Droud, and Tim Shaffer rounding out the top-5. While McCarl jetted out to the lead Droud tried to make quick work of Hannagan, but “the Hurricane” held on. Meanwhile at the front Madsen was slowly reeling in McCarl.
On Lap 13, Madsen had his eye on the top spot. He sized up McCarl and dove under him going into Turn 1. McCarl would counter on the bottom side of the track leading down the back stretch, but Madsen would take another shot on the high side in Turn 3. This time “The Madman” would make the pass stick to lead on the 14th circuit of the oval.
While Madsen drove out to a sizeable lead in clean air, the best battle on the track was between the 83 of Tim Shaffer who was in 5th and the 83r of Tim Kaeding. Kaeding would take over fifth on Lap 18 and would start picking off cars, making a charge towards the front. Kaeding would get past Droud on Lap 22 and would make quick work of Hannagan on lap 23 to take over third.
At the front Madsen had stretched out his lead in lapped traffic. With the laps in the event winding down Kaeding would run out of circuits on his quest to capture the second position. At the Checkered Flag it would be Madsen picking up the win with McCarl, Kaeding, Hannagan and Droud finishing in the top-5.
This would be Madsen’s second career All Star victory. His first came at Knoxville Raceway in 2004.It was the Australian’s first win on Belleville’s high banks. The hard charger of the race would be Rookie-of-the-Year competitor David Gravel who started 20th and would just push his way into the top-10 at the end of the event.
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