| hoveround
March 11, 2012
11:43:19 PM
Entry #: 3878655
| The 4th Annual Micah J. Aumen Invitational Race For the Cure Busch Cup Memorial Open lived up to its billing as 11 brave souls vied for eternal glory. But in the end it was a newcomer to the series who took home the top prize as Dan Shafer swept both the prelim and the main event Monday night. In the opening race, Shafer moved past front row starters Scott Meckley and Kevin Tracey early in the event. Meckley caught up to Shafer in lapped traffic but could not get past him. Meckley settled for second, with Jeremiah Gillin and Tracey completing the top four. The rest of the finishing order could not be determined as the other seven drivers never made it back to the finish line and instead parked their cars near the water slide. After a brief hiatus for repairs to the cars and the track, the drivers headed out for the main event. As most of the drivers walked calmly onto the track while waiving to their adoring fans, Shafer instead made a b-line for the same car he had in the opener, running faster than he ever has while running the bases for the New Oxford Twins and nearly trampling poor Jordan Arnold in the process. "I may not be smart, but I ain't dumb," said Shafer later about his strategy. Despite starting near the back of the field Shafer quickly maneuvered his way to the front. Gillin and fellow front row starter Kevin Green looked like a modern day Malachi Brothers (google it), but they were no match for Shafer in his Tucks Medicated Pads sponsored number 5. Davey Zaminski, who dominated the field in each of the first two weeks of racing, wasn't much of a factor on this night, as he wanted to set a good example for all the young children and baseball trainers in the crowd. Tracey was looking at a solid finish, but he wrecked violently in turn one, leaving him sitting amid a smoldering pile of utter destruction. Alex Emlet, piloting the Mike and Ike's number 24, was also making his way through the field, but he was struck down when Matt Martin threw his hat at him. Charlie Werner, driving the Spandex Tuxedo number 33, couldn't find the gas at the start and gave a frustrated Larry Baumgardner no other choice but to try to ram him out of the way. The move backfired on Baumgardner, who instead was relegated to next-to-last place. Meckley brought up the rear in his Nik-L-Nip (google it) number 26, as his second-place run in the prelim just took too much out of the octogenarian racer. Both Meckley and Baumgardner tried last-ditch efforts at wrecking Shafer, but he just laughed at their feeble attempts to slow him down. At the finish line it was Shafer by a lengthy margin over Green, with Gillin grabbing third place again and Arnold settling for fourth. Post-race video replays showed Shafer leaving his car holding an allen wrench, which is illegal under current MJAIRFtCBCMO rules. But since race director Aumen was half a world away, there was no one there to levy a fine or otherwise dole out an appropriate ass-kicking.
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