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(In the photo from left to right) • David Budres (2011 Car Owner Champion) • Fred Teer • Ray Search (2011 Driver Champion and Rookie of the Year) • Bruce Field Photo By Phil Rider Photography

ROOKIES READY TO RUMBLE IN 2012 By Zach Tasker The 2012 Illini Racing Series season is shaping up to be a classic one, partly because of all the new faces that will be at the track. The current crop of rookies will be looking to repeat last years success of the rookie of the year-Ray Seach, who also went on to win the overall championship. One of these new faces in the series is Mike Anderson driving for series stalwart SETracing. If that name sounds familiar it should, Mike is the brother of last years STARS National Midget champion Jim Anderson. Mike Anderson has spent the past few years racing in the Dwarf Car division at Grundy County Speedway. He is the 2010 UMARA Dwarf Car champion. The driver of the Merlins 200000 mile shop/Hot Rod Barn/Rowe Chemical #7 took part in the IRS preseason test at Kankakee County Speedway on April 29. Anderson came away pleased with his track time "It feels pretty good, the is the first time Ive run on dirt, you can pretty much say ever, I used to race go karts on dirt but the track was more of a pavement track because it was compressed like pavement." Anderson has realistic expectations for the upcoming season "I'm just looking to have some fun, its all about getting comfortable in a car, that's the first thing. You cant go out there and win a race just because of what you have done in the past. The number one thing is just finding that comfort level and being competitive." Anderson says he has no pressure carrying on his famous last name "A lot of people didn't really know me too much, they know my brother, they knew my dad, the family, but I kind of stayed away from racing for a long time. I played music and played in bands, then I got a call from the late Bob Thompson to race a dwarf car for him and I haven't looked back. I'm looking forward to the transition to a midget and I'm very happy to be with SETracing and Roger Engstrom. They do a heck of a job. They have a shop they work out of, you can probably find them any time of day, every day of the week." Another former Grundy County Speedway dwarf car competitor that is making his IRS debut is the driver of the #79 Eric Pershey. Pershey ironically was also making his first ever foray onto a dirt track during the Kankakee test session. "So far its been pretty smooth, smoother than I thought having never run dirt at all yet." Pershey knows consistency will be key this year "I'm going to try to make all of the races this year and I think as long as I attend all the races and stay out of big crashes week after week you will be in the race for rookie of the year and its going to come down to the end of the year who shows how good they are and how comfortable they become" Pershey pointed out that his car currently has no sponsorship and any help would be appreciated for the team. Someone who literally has zero racing experience before climbing aboard an IRS midget will be the driver of the #2, Andrew Henning. Henning is currently a student at Indiana University- Purdue University-Indianapolis (IUPUI) enrolled in the motorsports engineering program. "The motorsports engineering program at IUPUI is just like a mechanical engineering program but it takes out some of the theoretical classes and adds in some of the actual classes you need to be on an IndyCar team. The opportunities are there in Indianapolis and its a really great program. Im only a freshman but I look forward to being in it for the rest of the 3 years. " Henning says he was attracted to the series because of how affordable it is to race "My dads been looking for a nice sportsman club to get in. Something nice that is an entry level class and he found this because its the racing with talent and not money. It seems like a real level headed series and nothing too crazy." Henning says realistically he would be happy if he finishes a feature this year in the top 5. "I have to say a big thanks to my Grandpa Al, he has put countless hours into the car and I can't thank him enough." Another rookie in the IRS started his racing the traditional way, in Karts. Jason Allen will drive the Beyta Gear Services #8 owned by Charles Schultz "The plan is to get rookie of the year but you can never know with how racing goes. We are just planning on trying to make every race and complete every lap and we will see what happens from there." Allen had problems at the preseason test at Kankakee and never got to turn a full lap "Unfortunately we haven't been getting the laps today that we would like, at first we were having fuel pump problems with 2 cylinders firing and now we are thinking its an ignition problem. We are having trouble getting it to fire, but its better for this to happen on practice day than on race day." Allen is a 2 time champion at Sugar River Raceway, the former kart track than current NASCAR and former IndyCar driver Danica Patrick cut her teeth at. These are just a few of the rookies looking to make waves in the IRS this year, but you know the strong veterans of the series will be looking to shut them out of victory lane. There is one more preseason test day Saturday May 19 at Grundy County Speedway. The season begins Saturday June 2 also at Grundy County Speedway. For more information about the Illini Racing Series visit www.illiniracing.com or search "Illini Racing Series" on Facebook.