IMI Motorsports Complex
Erie, Colorado, USA

Season Opener
May 2, 1998 - IMI Motorsports Complex
From: Jennifer Susich, fainche@earthlink.net

Man, is it good to be back! Welcome back to all our racers, especially Shawn "Hurricane" Hurley who is back from a racing vacation. New to the track was Chad Harris, who kicked butt his first night of speedway racing. We had 16 riders for our first race this season, and thanks to Vince "The Whiner" Wold, who lined up our racers into championship format. Many of the racers also made memorial disks for Bud Ormiston, a pioneer in Colorado Speedway.

We had five heats with four races each. The third race of the third heat witnessed "Up" Chuck Johansen dirtying his shiny new leathers when he went down in turn two. "King" Kenny Pieper took first. Race four was led by Tom "Kamikaze" Kern, an example of his great riding of the evening, until Rob "Fire" Ball passed on the finish line to win.

During the fourth heat, "King" Kenny Pieper won the first race, even as he let off the gas. Dave "Colorado Cowboy" Pieper was out front and extending his lead over Pat "The Rat" Litt in race two. Unfortunately his motor quit and Litt took first. The crowd still cheered him on, though, as he walked his bike off the track. Mike Rohr looped his bike in race three and flipped over backwards. Luckily he wasn’t hurt. "Fire" Ball won this race. Scotty O "The Gypsy" Ormiston caught the tape in race four and was pushed back a bit. But it didn’t hurt him at all as he breezed through this race for the win.

Five heats may have been a bit much for our first night back, for it was evident that our guys were worn out by their last race. Jay "Do or Die" Gruetzmacher and Don "Batman" Foster did the tango after turn one, lap one. The race was restarted but Gruetzmacher and Foster weren’t finished dancing yet and hit the dirt in turn three. Gruetzmacher was shaken up a bit but walked off the track unassisted. Dave Pieper got the gate in race two with a wheelie and a cloud of dust that his competitors never quite got out of. Hurley bit it in turn one of race three and Chad Mann toppled over him. Hurley threw out his previously injured shoulder, but Mann went unscathed. And, of course, Litt took first, again, like always, in his last race for the night, to end the evening undefeated.

1st 28 Pat "The Rat" Litt 15 points
2nd 17 Rob "Fire" Ball 14 points
3rd 11 "King" Kenny Pieper 13 points
4th 74 Tom "Kamikaze Kid" Kern 9 points
(these three tied for 4th, but Kern was the only one willing to do a run off, so he was awarded 4th)
5th 9 Scotty O "Gypsy" Ormiston 9 points
5th 3 Dave "Colorado Cowboy" Pieper 9 points
6th 14 Jay "Do or Die" Gruetzmacher 8 points
7th 21 Conn "ConnAir" Harris 7 points
8th 5 Don "Batman" Foster 6 points
9th 45 "Up"Chuck Johansen 5 points
10th 8 Shawn "Hurricane" Hurley 4 points
10th X Allen "X Man" Williams 4 points
10th 96 Chad Harris 4 points
11th 27 Mike Rohr 3 points
12th 80 "Bouncin" Bobby Richards 2 points
13th 39 Chad "I don't know my address" Mann 1 point

Thanks to ALL of our racers for being awesome and making it a fun night. Good luck the rest of the season.