Archive for the “Race Report” Category

The final points night and final race of the season for Kelsey Racing at Seymour Speedway welcomed the team to a nice night for racing.

Bill would start his night of racing in the second heat of the IMCA Stock Cars in the outside row 2 position. From this fourth place starting spot Bill would work his Wolfe chassis #0K IMCA Stock car machine towards the front and find himself in the second place position when diving into the fourth turn the car did a death slide in front of the 6 cars behind. Bill turned left but the car hit a slick spot in turn four and slid directly nose first at the wall.

The car barely missed the wall with the nose and side but the tail slapped the wall with a kiss! Bill was able to continue and the race remained under green with all cars getting by but losing momentum to the racing field was a long shot at getting the finish the team wanted. A 7th place finish would still enter the Kelsey Racing team into the feature event due to a lower car count on the final points night.

A poor finish in the heat race would present a poor starting spot in the feature event.

Bill Kelsey would start from the 20th position in the final points night A-Main feature at Seymour with a long way to go to the front. The car handled well and Bill drove a great race picking up a couple positions every couple of laps. Two cautions would happen and both times the #0K was placed in the wrong starting spots, 2 places back from where the car should have been placed.. so making up those 4 total spots added a little extra racing to reach the top 10 for the night.

Bill Kelsey #0K IMCA Stock Car Seymour Speedway 2010

A strong 7 lap race with the #77 machine with nice, clean, door to door racing closed out the season for Kelsey Racing with a 10th place finish from a 20th place starting spot.

This 10th place finish would put the 0K into a 12th position in the final points standings for the 2010 season at Seymour Speedway out of a total of 62 scored cars for the season.. although I do question the final points as "somebody" got 18 points and never even started the feature race! So the points just may change to 11th for the 0K, as the car that didn’t even start the race and got 18 points finished tied for 10th, 10 points ahead of Bill. Simple math with those 18 points gone and the 0K finishes ahead.

Kelsey Racing will hit the dirt one more time in the 2010 season at the Fall Classic at Luxemburg Speedway on September 17th & 18th for the two day show.

A very big THANK YOU goes out to all the Kelsey Racing fans and our sponsors for a great 2010 season!

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Kelsey Racing is starting to see a little bit of a trend: Strong heat race finishes, mid pack feature race finishes but a lot of learning in the process.

Following a week the Kelsey Racing team missed the set-up for the feature event, it just so happened again this week.

Starting in the 4th position in heat race #2 of the IMCA Stock Car B-Main event the action didn’t take long to get started. The green flag dropped and Bill would start making moves in his #0K machine on lap 1 but entering turn #3 Bill would take a ride off of several bumpers and receive some damage to the drivers side door rail as he was turned sideways. The caution would fly and without completing 1 lap, the field would be reset to the top of the order. The damage was minor enough to keep the car on track and back into its 4th place starting spot.

The second restart would be cleaner and the race would run from that point to the checkered flag. Bill worked his way from 4th to 3rd. From 3rd to second and would march towards the leader as the laps clicked off. The checkered flag would fly with the Kelsey Racing #0K of Bill Kelsey crossing the line in a strong second place closely behind heat race winner #31K.

The strong second place finish would yield the #0K machine a great 4th place starting position for the A-Main event.

With 2.75" of rain on Friday and a mainly overcast sky all of Saturday and high humidity Sunday, this left the Kelsey Racing team the continued question.. set the car up for tack or for dry conditions. The IMCA Stock Car race was also the last class on the card for the night, so 4 classes would have feature events before the race.

Last week the car was too tight in the A-Main and this week the team adjusted the car too loose for the feature event. Although a great starting spot of 4th welcomed the team, Bill had his hands full from the start. He did a heck of job staying clean as he was the meat in the sandwich for for at least the first 6 laps of the race running in the middle of 3 wide action. As the field spread out, Bill was able to maintain several positions with the very loose car and crossed the line in the 14th position.

With ever changing dirt track conditions, missing the set up a little bit can make a big difference from one race to the next and learning what is "too far" for adjusting the car has now been found for both loose and tight. This will help the team and Bill as the driver as we move forward from the 14th place feature finish at Seymour Speedway this Sunday.

Kelsey Racing remains in the 12th position in the points standings for IMCA Stock Cars at Seymour of the currently 61 scored cars. August 29, 2010 is the final points night for IMCA at the Seymour Speedway with racing getting underway at 6 PM sharp.

Bill Kelsey IMCA Stock Car #0K Seymour Speedway WI

Bill Kelsey Heat Race IMCA Stock Car Win August 15, 2010 at Seymour Speedway in Seymour WI (Photo)

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On a beautiful night for racing at Seymour Speedway the Kelsey Racing Team was excited to get the night underway following its first top five finish in the IMCA Stock Cars and continue those results.

The Stock Cars were the third class on the card for the night with the # 0K of Bill Kelsey in heat # 2. Bill would start in the 4th position, outside row two for the 8 lap B-Main. With a pretty strong field of cars in the heat race, Bill wasted little time in turn 1 & 2 at the drop of the green and tried the squeeze move between the first three cars to fight for the lead. This didn’t work perfectly as the car bounced off a couple of them but the tires stayed up and Bill was on the move in 3rd position.

Bill would make the pass on the 3rd place car and was running a strong race in the second position. A second place would lock the Kelsey Racing Team into the A-Main and on the final lap going into turn 3, the 50x who was leading had right front tire failure and smacked the wall. A little luck never hurts and Bill was able to pass the leader in turn three on the final lap and take home his second checkered flag of the 2010 season picking up the heat race win holding off the # 55W who crossed the line second.

The heat race win would provide a 5th place starting position in the A-Main IMCA Stock Car feature event.

From the drop of the green flag for the 20 lap feature event, the team was well aware that the set up was not right under the Kelsey Racing # 0K. The car had a heavy push in nearly each corner of the race track. With Bill being so tight, the car was a handful during the race trying to keep it on the bottom groove. Not being able to hold a line, resulted in slowing down to do so and the # 0K slowly dropped positions lap after lap.

The Kelsey Racing Team doesn’t miss the set up all that often but we did tonight. Expecting the track to be drier than it was, the adjustments done to the car before the feature event resulted in a tight car that was just too much to handle to drive to the front. A 13th place finish was the result of the missed set up but you can’t have a bad night when you saw the checkered flag earlier in the night.

Knowing the mistake that was made, it will be something the team will not make again. It doesn’t take much to miss a set up and this night proved it in the feature. With the heat race win and the 4th place finish in the feature last week, we know we have the driver and the car that can drive up front!

With only 2 more IMCA points nights left at Seymour Speedway, crunch time is on to finish in the top 10 of the points for the season. Bill currently is in the 12th position, 18 points out of 10th. The next race at Seymour Speedway will be next Sunday, August 22nd at 6 PM. The final IMCA points night will be August 29 and the final race of the year at Seymour Speedway for 2010 will be September 5th. The Kelsey Racing Team will also head to the Luxemburg Speedway on September 17th & 18th for the two day Fall Classic show.

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On a night that was questionable if the races would happen due to heavy rain overnight on Saturday into Sunday and skies looking like they would open up at anytime, the races were on. Race teams packed in the track that would deliver tack for almost the entire night of racing.

The IMCA Stock Cars would be the 4th class on the card for the night at Seymour Speedway and the Kelsey Racing Team would find an outside pole starting spot in the 3rd heat race for the Stock Cars. Bill would waste little time and jump out to the lead on the very first lap. The # 0K would lead the pack for 6 of the 8 lap B-main race until a minor slip-up trying the lower line. This allows the # 55W a chance at catching Bill and making the pass happen. Bill would cross the line 2nd after a very strong run.

The second place finish would allow the Kelsey Racing Team a spot in the redraw, which would result in an outside pole starting spot for the A-main feature event.

A scary situation happened just before the IMCA Stock Car feature event during the IMCA Modified event. After a caution and as the pack of 20 cars were coming to the green flag on the restart, the # 31 street stock car pulled out of the infield area and onto the racing surface after being waved out by a track worker. The flagman waved the green flag for the mod drivers and quickly changed it back to yellow as the # 31 was seen on track. Since the mod’s are near full speed when they reach the flag stand, 16 of the 19 remaining cars on track all piled into each other in corner # 1. Cars were on top of each other, the # 54 was up on the wall but no body was injured. A lot of wrecked race cars. 10 cars total ended up in the "pile" with 6 driving away and 3 of those had damage as well.

Seymour Speedway IMCA Mod Crash

After about a 45 minute delay to remove all the smashed mod’s and a brief rain shower, it was time for the IMCA Stock Car A-main.

Bill Kelsey, starting in the # 2 position again wasted no time and was the leader coming out of turn # 2 beating the pole sitter # 26. Bill would run an awesome race during a caution free feature event and would lead for the first 15 laps of the 20 lap event. The # 55W, # 10S and # 50 cars were in hot pursuit of the lead and each of those cars slowly worked past the # 0K in the final 5 laps with Bill hot on their tails and putting up a strong fight for the lead.

The # 55w once again had the # 0K’s number and Bill would cross the finish line in a career best finish in the IMCA Stock Cars with a 4th place finish. Shawn Wagner and his #55w took the checkered flag, closely followed by the # 10S the # 50 and # 0K. The # 26 car did pull in the claim area after the race and claimed the motor of the # 50 car.

The Kelsey Racing Team continues to get a good feel for the new car and put a great set up under it for Bill to do his magic in the drivers seat. A strong 2nd place finish in the heat race, followed up with a 4th place finish in the feature event and the team couldn’t be more happy!

Bill Kelsey & Shawn Wagner Battling for the lead at Seymour Speedway 2010

The next race will be August 15, 2010 at Seymour Speedway in Seymour Wisconsin with racing action getting under way at 6 PM sharp weather permitting. Thank you again to all of our sponsors and fans for supporting the Kelsey Racing Team and the # 0K IMCA Stock Car driven by Bill Kelsey.

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Kelsey Racing was back to racing action after 3 rain out’s in a row at Seymour Speedway. The last time the #0K machine was on the race track was back in June and with the fair next week, this means only 1 race in July.

Bill would start in the 3rd heat for the IMCA stock cars in the 4th position on the outside of row 2.

The track was already dry slick and the Kelsey Racing Team set the car up for tack, and there was little of that to find even though there has been nearly 8" of rain this month. Missing the set up didn’t help out our driver but Bill did a good job with a 4th place finish. This set the team up for the re-draw and grabbing a place in the feature event A-Main.

A fairly decent starting position towards the front was a welcome sign for Kelsey Racing at the drop of the green flag for the feature event, but once again the Kelsey Racing Team missed the mark on the set up and the car faded from the drop of the green flag.

A caution free feature allowed for not only a quick race but one that never allowed any catching up to happen. The #0K machine held about a top 10 position most of the race but crossed the line 12th by the time the checkered flag flew.

Bill Kelsey IMCA Stock Car #0K Seymour Speedway

Bill Kelsy #0K fighting for the lead in the B-Main at Seymour Speedway 7/25/2010

No Racing next week due to the fair. The next race will be August 8, 2010 at Seymour Speedway, starting at 6 PM weather permitting. Thank You again to all our fans and sponsors for your continued support!

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The 4th rain out of the season and 3rd week in a row, Seymour Speedway dirt track in Seymour Wisconsin has been rained out.

Quoting a track rep "President Dave Rihm and members of NEW DIRT have canceled tonight’s racing at Seymour due to track conditions being too wet after the heavy rains we received again this morning.

Same racing program next Sunday, July 25th. Hope to see you then.

Wendy

Secretary, NEW Dirt" 2:41 PM Sunday 7/18/2010

Light rain did fall from about 8 AM to 10:30 AM today. Partly cloudy skies and warm temps since that time.

Not much one can do with mother nature!

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The Seymour Speedway is once again rained out for July 11, 2010 and the races canceled for this week.

With all the rain this year, Seymour has been pretty lucky until recently and now things have turned sour for race teams and fans with this being the 3rd rain out of the 2010 season at Seymour. Hopefully the rain will hold off for next Sunday July 18, 2010 and races can be run at Seymour once again.

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Everybody was at the track and ready to go racing but so was the rain as it started to fall shortly after 5 PM. A 30 minute storm dumped a fair amount of rain at Seymour Speedway and would cancel the show for the night with more rain on the way. The drivers held a quick meeting as it would have taken about 30 minutes to pack in the track and go racing but the radar was green to west and moving east.

135 cars were on hand. The Kelsey Racing Team was set to start on the pole for the heat race but rain won this battle.

The late models will return next week, Sunday July 11th as will the Kelsey Racing Team weather permitting. Racing begins at 6 PM. If you were at the races on the 4th, be sure to bring your ticket stub back to the track as it remains valid for 2 weeks.

This is the 2nd rain out at Seymour Speedway for the 2010 season.

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With heavy rain once again Saturday night, racing was questionable for Sunday at Seymour Speedway but with partly sunny skies and a nice breeze most of the day, the races were on.

The IMCA Stock Cars would have 3 heat races with 10 cars each and only the top 5 would transfer into the feature event for the evening. Bill Kelsey would be in heat race 1 and have a 4th place starting position with the Stock Cars being the 4th class for the night. At the drop of the green flag into turn 1, the #0K made it 3 wide and by the time turn 2 was there, the Kelsey Racing IMCA Stock Car was in the lead and pulling away!

Bill would start pulling away from the stacked field for the next 7 laps of the 10 lap event until the #79 machine would spin in turn # 2 on his own and bring out the caution. While getting the cars lined back up for the remaining 3 laps, the skies opened up for about 10 minutes and soaked the race track. After about a 30 minute delay working the track back in, the #0K machine would start from the pole looking to bring home the first heat race win of the 2010 season.

From the drop of the green on lap 7, Bill was getting heavy preasure from the #36 machine of J.R. Karcz but was able to hold him off and take the checkered flag.

IMCA Stock Car Driver Bill Kelsey #0K Seymour Speedway Heat Winnner

This was the first heat race win for Bill Kelsey in the IMCA Stock Cars for the 2010 season and the new Wolfe chassis.

The heat race win would give the Kelsey Racing Team a 7th place starting spot for the A-Main. At the drop of the Green for the feature, Bill looked strong and ready to move forward towards the lead but on lap 1, in turn 3 that all changed quickly off the bumper of the 21X car behind Bill and the #0K machine spun around and would not re-fire. The yellow would fly but sadly Bill did not receive his 7th place starting position back as would normally happen when you are spun out by somebody else. Oddly enough, the 21X headed to pit lane with a flat right front tire.

This dropped Bill all the way back to about the 18th starting spot but since the spin happened on lap 1, there was time to improve the finishing position for the night.

Bill was on a mission after being spun and was picking off about a car a lap from deep in the field most of the time and would work his way up to 9th position by the time the checkered flag would fly for the #55 machine.

A very strong night of racing for the Kelsey Racing Team and Bill did an outstanding job driving the car to a heat race win and recovering from an early spin that was not his fault in the feature to bring home a top 10 finish. To see all the results for the IMCA Stock Car class for the week, you can see the race results here.

The #0K and driver Bill Kelsey currently sit in the 16th position in points, 126 points out of the lead and only 26 points from the 9th position. Currently, 52 cars have points at Seymour Speedway in the IMCA Stock Car class.

Racing action returns next week on Sunday the 4th Of July at Seymour Speedway. Racing starts at 6PM and the Late Models will also be on the card for their second appearance of the season at Seymour Speedway. Be sure to stop down after the races and say hi to the team. Thank you very much again to all the great sponsors of the #0k Kelsey Racing Team!

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After a week off due to a rain out, the Kelsey Racing Team was back in action at the dirt oval of Seymour Speedway in Seymour Wisconsin. The IMCA Stock Cars would be the 3rd class to run for the night with Bill Kelsey in the 3rd of 4 heats starting on the inside row of # 2.

A slow start by the #39 machine that started on the pole pushed the #0K IMCA Stock Car back to around 6th place right from the start and made the challenge of finishing in the top 4 an uphill battle to qualify for the feature event. With a mix of tack and dry slick track, it was a challenge for drivers and crews to find a good set up for the car and the driver to find a line that worked with the set up.

Although Bill picked up a spot after the slow start, the #0K machine would cross the line in the 5th position and not qualify for the feature. This would put Bill in one of two consy races for the night to qualify for the IMCA Stock Car A-Main feature event.

Consy race #1 and Bill Kelsey would start P2 (outside pole).

It didn’t take Bill long to put the Kelsey Racing machine in P1 and keep it there for all 10 laps and pick up the first checkered flag for the new 2010 car.

Some more quick pit work by the crew got the car ready for the 20 car IMCA Stock Car feature event.

With qualifying into the main event with the consy, the feature starting spot is always in the back of the field and tonight was no different with a 17th starting spot. As the cars roared to the green flag, Bill would start roaring forward picking up a position here and there each and every lap moving forward.

An amazing 3 car battle for the lead for the remaining laps had people on their feet. The #77, #55 and #50 cars were 3 wide for the at least 4-6 laps, changing leaders almost every corner. The #77 held the lead for the majority of the race and what looked like a photo finish, the #55 Shawn Wagner nipped the #77 right at the line to pick up the win, the 5th feature win for the #55 at Seymour this year.

Bill Kelsey in the #0K machine would cross the line in the 11th position just missing out on a top10, picking up 6 spots from the drop of the green to the checkered but passing many more than 6. A good strong night for Kelsey Racing. The driver was in 3 races for the night getting some more needed seat time in the new car and at the end of racing the car was loaded on the trailer with no damage.

Bill Kelsey, Seymour Speedway victory lane 2010 in IMCA Stock Car #0K

First Consy Win In IMCA Stock Car for 2010! Bill Kelsey Driver of the #0K

To view more photos from the night or to purchase some photos, checkout DanLewisPhoto.net . You can see photos for the nights racing at Seymour Speedway for 6/20/2010 here.

The next race is Sunday June 27, 2010 at Seymour Speedway weather permitting, with a start time of 6 PM.

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