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July 6, 2009

Korte holds off Erb, Unzicker in 40-lap main event

BY MARVIN HOLMAN The Commercial-News Mon Jul 06, 2009, 02:41 AM CDT

OAKWOOD — On Sunday, no one had anything on King Kong at Vermilion County Speedway.

That is the nickname for Highland’s Randy Korte, who was able to win the annual UMP Summernational stop at VCS and hang on to his series lead.

The win was definitely not without some challenges though. Korte had to mostly deal with defending Summernational champion Dennis Erb, Jr., who was only down four points to Korte entering Sunday’s race and Ryan Unzicker.

“He (Erb) usually does a lot better than us here,” Korte said. “I knew he was coming so the only thing I did was hold my line on the track.”

Korte was behind Jeep Van Wormer earlier in the 40-lap feature. Van Wormer, who won last year in the Summernational race at VCS, held up a little before the halfway mark, giving the lead to Korte.

“I think Jeep had tires that were a little hard when you go to the bottom,” Korte said. “Me and Dennis got softer tires and it made the difference.”

The series was rained out Saturday at I-55 Raceway in Pevely, Mo., which was not a great thing for Korte.

“That is our home track and we knew Dennis usually does not do so well there,” Korte said. “So we were disheartened when the race was cancelled.”

The series takes a day off today before starting its final week of action on Tuesday at Shepps Speedway in Alexander, with stops at Spoon River Raceway in Banner on Wednesday; LaSalle Speedway on Thursday; Waynesfield Motor Sports Park in Waynesfield, Ohio on Friday and the final race on Saturday at Oakshade Raceway in Wauseon, Ohio.

“The pressure is on for sure,” Korte said. “Dennis is going to race hard and I know I will have to race hard to stay ahead of him. … We race clean and hard every time and it will be a fun finish.”

In the other races at VCS on Sunday, former VCS modified champion Denny Schwartz started in the middle of the pack in the heats but came back to win that heat and went on to win the modified feature.

In the street stock class, Rick Thomas made the most of his first trip to VCS this season, winning out in the feature.

With feature races in the area cancelled on Saturday, VCS was able to reap the harvest as racers tried to get some action in as the Fourth of July weekend came to an end.

On Saturday, it will be a regular night of racing at VCS, with the sprints, modifieds, Crate late models, street stocks and pure stocks.

Gates will open at 5 p.m. with racing starting at 7 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults and free for children under 10.

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King Kong rules VCS

Korte holds off Erb, Unzicker in 40-lap main event

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