Farmer City Raceway (August 5, 2011): Joel Funk Wins Double Features, Including Controversial Street Stock Race

FARMER CITY, Ill. -- Anyone who wins two features in one night at the Farmer City Raceway can consider it a good night of driving.

But for Joel Funk, his Street Stock Division feature win required more than decent driving.

With two laps to go, A.J. Wright held what he thought was a comfortable lead. Jeff Semmons, however, had other ideas.

"I slacked off a bit because I felt like I didn't want to push it too hard," Wright said.

The slowdown proved to be a costly move, as Semmons pulled what Wright called a "banzai" move, crashing into Wright near the finish line.

The move left a huge dust bowl for the attendees in the grandstand. Since the crash occurred so close to the finish line, Farmer City Raceway officials had to look at the video replay to determine who won the race.

To the disapproval of many of the attendees, it was ruled that neither Wright nor Semmons crossed the finish line. Therefore, Funk was rewarded with the trip to victory lane.

"I was a little bit more lucky than good," Funk said. "Semmons took a chance to win the race, and I got the dumb luck out of it."

To Funk's credit, he did manage to win his second feature race without any controversy. In the Sportsman Division, he took the lead from Daniel Flessner with eight laps to go and held off a furious rally en route to the victory.

Flessner entered the race with the lead in the point standings not only in FCR's Sportsman Division, but in the UMP national point standings as well. However, that was not always the case, as he chased Dave Crawley Jr. all season long.

But Crawley Jr. blew his motor the week prior to August 5 and was absent as a result. Therefore, Flessner entered the Sportsman feature hoping to add to his lead in the point standings.

"For a while, I was having to play catch-up," Flessner said. "I've had to race really consistently to catch him. [Crawley Jr.] is a powerhouse."

Regardless of Funk's victory, Flessner still gained some insurance points.

In the Street Stock Division, meanwhile, two Dicks (Chris and Darrel Dick, that is) had a chance to gain some ground on points leader Travis Johnson.


Due to some car trouble, Johnson (No. 95, pictured above) couldn't finish the feature. Darrel Dick (No. 38, pictured below) and Chris Dick (No. 1) finished in the top five.

The Farmer City Raceway gave away a $2,000 prize to the winner of the NALMS Crate Late Models feature.

The prize went to Jerry Lierly. He beat out Nick Bauman (pictured below), who had the lead with two laps to go.

Lance Dehm, who entered August 5's races race third in the point standings of the Modifieds Division, won a long-overdue feature. But the victory didn't come without casualties.

Justin Delong, who held the lead for a few brief moments, collided while battling Jeff Leka for third place. He didn't finish the feature.

Leka, the points leader, ended up off course while in second place with less than three laps to go, but finished in the top five.

Perhaps the most horrific crash suffered in the Modifieds Division (well, in any division, anyway) on August 5 occurred in one of the heats. Alan Crowder took a nasty spill on the third turn.

He came out of it without any serious damage, but the same cannot be said about his car.

In the Hornets Division, it was a good day for Kenny Butterfield, who won the Trophy Dash as well as the first heat and the feature.