COMPLETES ELDORA 3-2-1 COUNTDOWN, WHILE CRAIG CONTINUES WINNING
Mobil 1 Family Fun Night Doubleheader Action Entertains Huge Crowd as Fireworks Fill the Skies
ROSSBURG, OH (May 18) – While Jerry Bowersock (UMP DIRTcar Modified) completed his 3-2-1 countdown, Barney Craig (Stock Car) remained stuck on number 1 in Saturday’s Mobil 1 Family Fun Night feature race action at Eldora Speedway.
In the three Modified events this season, veteran Bowersock (Wapakoneta, OH) finished third on opening night, second two weeks ago and then this week was the top of the class as the 25-car field went non-stop for 18 laps around the .500-mile clay oval. The checkered flag marked victory number 25 for Bowersock, moving him into third behind Scott Orr (34) and Brian Ruhlman (28).
Brent Hole charged from his outside pole position at the green flag to take the early lead, while pole-sitter Zach Schroeder followed in close pursuit. Before two laps could be completed, Bowersock had already moved from seventh to runner-up. Keeping him within site was opening night feature winner Brian Post as he chose the same line around the lightning quick track.
As Hole continued to rule top spot, Bowersock and Post soon found a new player, as quick qualifier of the night, Matt Westfall joined in to create a trio of challengers for Hole.
Lap after lap, Hole maintained control; until the half-way mark on lap nine, as Bowersock pulled off the pass that would take him to the checkered flag. One lap later Westfall inched ahead of Post, and then two laps after that got by Hole for second, but by that time Bowersock had built up an insurmountable lead; especially with no caution flag periods to slow the pace.
Bowersock used his knowledge of Eldora to master the lapped traffic, which placed three cars between himself and Westfall coming down for the checkered flag. Following them across the line were Post and Aaron Orr, who came on strong in the closing laps. Schroeder hung on for a top five finish, while Hole slipped back to sixth.
Attrition was the keyword in the Stock Car finale as only eleven of the 21 starters were around at the finish. Seven caution flags slowed the pace.
Those yellow flags may have slowed up the race, but it had no slowing effect on Craig (Lima, OH) who made it three-for-three in feature race action on the young season.
The first yellow came out before one lap could be completed, as a spin up in front of the field created a chain reaction that collected a total of seven cars. As the green unfurled one more time, it was lights out for the balance of the field, as third-place starter Craig got by Earnie Woodard and Jordan Conover down the back stretch to take the lead that he held to the finish.
Lady luck finally dealt Woodard a good hand this week. He found himself on the top end of a five-car battle that had the huge crowd cheering.
While Craig was out creating a new zip code for himself, Woodard, Jordan Conover, Jeremy Creech, Shawn Phillippi and Paul Pardo waged a wild race to determine who would follow Craig and in what order. Woodard hung on to finish ahead of Creech and Conover, as Phillippi and Pardo completed the top six.
Bowersock and Craig shared their celebration as a tremendous fireworks extravaganza filled the skies in an annual Family Fun Night tradition.
Eldora returns back to action with a rare Sunday night showing next weekend (May 26) for the four-division Johnny Appleseed Classic by Miller Lite. Tickets for that event, or any of the other remaining Eldora contests, along with campsites, may be purchased online around the clock at www.EldoraSpeedway.com or during normal business hours by calling the track office (937)338-3815.
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Event: MOBIL 1 FAMILY FUN NIGHT
Date: May 18, 2013
UMP DIRTcar MODIFIED
TIME TRIALS – 1. 54-Matt Westfall [17.309]; 2. 5JB-Jerry Bowersock [17.697]; 3. 188-Aaron Orr [17.717]; 4. 15-Nick Katterhenry [17.777]; 5. 45P-Brian Post [17.782]; 6. 18-Ryan Sutter [17.787]; 7. 0-Brent Hole [17.833]; 8. 55S-Zach Schroeder [17.886]; 9. 00-Dave Daughtery [17.895]; 10. 23J-Jon Henry [17.936]; 11. 36-Brandon Vaughan [18.003]; 12. 31J-John Brooks [18.081]; 13. 1SB-Steve Billenstein [18.123]; 14. 26-Mike Dirksen [18.129]; 15. 4J-David Treon, Jr [18.159]; 16. 1SW-Scott Williams [18.168]; 17. 5X-Tim Richardson [18.279]; 18. 05-David Smith [18.280]; 19. 20-Josh Morton [18.308]; 20. 52-John Phlipot, Jr [18.312]; 21. 18L-Randy Lines [18.579]; 22. 79-Shane Unger [18.788]; 23. 35-Tim Cornett [18.886]; 24. 21M-Donnie Miller [18.967]; 25. 28P-Nick Price [99.999];
HEAT 1 – 1. 54-Matt Westfall [5]; 2. 1SB-Steve Billenstein [2]; 3. 45P-Brian Post [4]; 4. 00-Dave Daughtery [3]; 5. 18L-Randy Lines [6]; 6. 28P-Nick Price [7]; 7. 5X-Tim Richardson [DNF];
HEAT 2 – 1. 5JB-Jerry Bowersock [5]; 2. 05-David Smith [1]; 3. 23J-Jon Henry [3]; 4. 26-Mike Dirksen [2]; 5. 79-Shane Unger [6]; 6. 18-Ryan Sutter [4];
HEAT 3 – 1. 4J-David Treon, Jr [2]; 2. 20-Josh Morton [1]; 3. 0-Brent Hole [4]; 4. 188-Aaron Orr [5]; 5. 35-Tim Cornett [6]; 6. 36-Brandon Vaughan [3];
HEAT 4 – 1. 1SW-Scott Williams [2]; 2. 55S-Zach Schroeder [4]; 3. 52-John Phlipot, Jr [1]; 4. 15-Nick Katterhenry [5]; 5. 31J-John Brooks [3]; 6. 21M-Donnie Miller [6];
A FEATURE – 1. 5JB-Jerry Bowersock [7]; 2. 54-Matt Westfall [8]; 3. 45P-Brian Post [4]; 4. 188-Aaron Orr [6]; 5. 55S-Zach Schroeder [1]; 6. 0-Brent Hole [2]; 7. 18-Ryan Sutter [3]; 8. 15-Nick Katterhenry [5]; 9. 23J-Jon Henry [10]; 10. 1SW-Scott Williams [16]; 11. 00-Dave Daughtery [9]; 12. 31J-John Brooks [12]; 13. 18L-Randy Lines [20]; 14. 05-David Smith [17]; 15. 20-Josh Morton [18]; 16. 1SB-Steve Billenstein [13]; 17. 36-Brandon Vaughan [11]; 18. 26-Mike Dirksen [14]; 19. 52-John Phlipot, Jr [19]; 20. 4J-David Treon, Jr [15]; 21. 5X-Tim Richardson [25]; 22. 21M-Donnie Miller [23]; 23. 79-Shane Unger [21]; 24. 35-Tim Cornett [DNF]; 25. 28P-Nick Price [DNF];
STOCK CAR
TIME TRIALS – 1. 71C-Barney Craig [19.816]; 2. 01-Earnie Woodard [19.931]; 3. 7-Jordan Conover [19.960]; 4. 00-Dean Pitts [20.002]; 5. 410-Paul Pardo [20.047]; 6. 61-Rob Trent [20.174]; 7. 8C-Brad Conover [20.453]; 8. 17-Jeremy Creech [20.505]; 9. 5G-Anthony Goode [20.615]; 10. 36-Adam Schaeff [20.880]; 11. 20-Shawn Phillipi [20.946]; 12. 51-Cody Timmerman [21.140]; 13. 23-Casey Barr [21.257]; 14. 27-Frank Paladino [21.451]; 15. 19-Wayne Williams [21.844]; 16. 65-Rodney Lacey [22.285]; 17. 7D-Dan Wooten [99.999]; 18. 53-Jan Launder [99.999]; 19. 1W-Mark Wooten [99.999]; 20. 49-Eric Sandlin [99.999]; 21. 77-Corey Wooten [99.999]; 22. 82-Chris Douglas [99.999]; 23. 58-Alex Peace [99.999];
HEAT 1 – 1. 71C-Barney Craig [5]; 2. 00-Dean Pitts [4]; 3. 36-Adam Schaeff [2]; 4. 82-Chris Douglas [8]; 5. 23-Casey Barr [1]; 6. 65-Rodney Lacey [6]; 7. 8C-Brad Conover [DNF]; 8. 1W-Mark Wooten [DNS];
HEAT 2 – 1. 20-Shawn Phillipi [2]; 2. 410-Paul Pardo [4]; 3. 7D-Dan Wooten [6]; 4. 01-Earnie Woodard [5]; 5. 27-Frank Paladino [1]; 6. 17-Jeremy Creech [3]; 7. 58-Alex Peace [DNF]; 8. 49-Eric Sandlin [DNS];
HEAT 3 – 1. 5G-Anthony Goode [3]; 2. 61-Rob Trent [4]; 3. 7-Jordan Conover [5]; 4. 19-Wayne Williams [1]; 5. 51-Cody Timmerman [DNF]; 6. 77-Corey Wooten [DNF]; 7. 53-Jan Launder [DNS];
A FEATURE – 1. 71C-Barney Craig [4]; 2. 01-Earnie Woodard [3]; 3. 17-Jeremy Creech [7]; 4. 7-Jordan Conover [2]; 5. 20-Shawn Phillipi [10]; 6. 410-Paul Pardo [5]; 7. 00-Dean Pitts [1]; 8. 82-Chris Douglas [16]; 9. 23-Casey Barr [11]; 10. 19-Wayne Williams [13]; 11. 5G-Anthony Goode [DNF]; 12. 61-Rob Trent [DNF]; 13. 65-Rodney Lacey [DNF]; 14. 58-Alex Peace [DNF]; 15. 53-Jan Launder [DNF]; 16. 36-Adam Schaeff [DNF]; 17. 27-Frank Paladino [DNF]; 18. 77-Corey Wooten [DNF]; 19. 8C-Brad Conover [DNF]; 20. 7D-Dan Wooten [DNF]; 21. 51-Cody Timmerman [DNF]; 22. 1W-Mark Wooten [DNS]; 23. 49-Eric Sandlin [DNS];