Toledo Speedway

Salenbien Excavating Late Model Sportsman

In a mad-dash of a race, the Salenbien Late Model Sportsman division would provide a wide dash of action to finish out the night at Toledo Speedway. What came was a story of four drivers in a lead pack, and four wild journeys to a 25-lap feature.

Kyle Worley, Howard Kelley Jr, Ron Allen, and Jim Froling would set out as the lead pack to start. Kelley Jr would get the early jump with Froling and Worley battling hard from lap 1 for second place, Ron Allen just behind.

The four cars would drive nose-to-tail for the first 7 laps, before Ron Allen would jump ahead of Kyle Worley for a move into third place.

On lap 12, Froling would jump to the outside to attempt a pass on Kelley Jr for the lead.

The first caution would come out on lap 20 (five to go!), with Kelley Jr going around from the lead after contact with Jim Froling.

Froling would take responsibility for the accident, tapping out and giving his place on track back to Kelley Jr in the #11.

On the restart, Kelley Jr would need to play defense against two drivers in unique positions - Ron Allen looking to take his 75th all-time win at Toledo in Late Model Sportsman competition, and Kyle Worley looking to take his first at Toledo. They went three wide in turns one and two, Allen jumping to the outside, and Worley jumping to the inside. Kelley would shock and hold onto the lead in the middle, just hanging on before yet another caution a lap later as Ron Allen would go around.

On the final restart of the night, Worley and Kelley would once again go side-by-side, this time with both drivers holding steady for more than a lap, each driver just barely inching ahead of the other with Kelley Jr on the inside, Worley on the outside. Kelley Jr would squeak ahead out of turn 2 with just three laps to go, and Jim Froling would take this opportunity to get back into second.

In the end, the attempts wouldn’t be enough.

In a mad dash to the checkers, Howard Kelley Jr would take the 30th Late Model Sportsman win in his career at Toledo Speedway over Jim Froling, Ron Allen, and Kyle Worley in a race that went down to the wire. George Rangel would come fifth to finish out the top five.