SECOND NIGHT IN THE CAR NO PROBLEM FOR GRAVEL IN ELDORA VICTORY
David Gravel Takes Thrilling World of Outlaws Win With Westfall Capturing Modified A-Feature
ROSSBURG, OH (May 3) – For the second night in a row, Eldora Speedway’s victory lane celebration included a freshly created team as David Gravel captured the thrilling World of Outlaws (WoO) STP Sprint Car Series event in only his second night behind the wheel of the Dennis Roth owned machine Saturday night (May 3). Friday’s feature winner was Shane Stewart, who ironically was fulfilling night number two in the newly created Kyle Larson/Justin Marks entry. In the companion UMP DIRTcar Modified feature it was Matt Westfall nosing out Rob Starkey for the win.
As the 24-car field came down for the green flag to kick off the 30-lap night capper, it was Gravel on the pole with defending WoO champion Daryn Pittman outside of him. Pittman won the drag race into turn one to take the early race lead as Gravel followed in pursuit. Before two circuits could be completed, Joey Saldana pulled off an Eldora ‘slide job’ to move into second, with Gravel dropping to third.
Pittman began clicking off some torrid laps to open an eight car length lead over Saldana, but the quick pace was almost Pittman’s downfall, as by the completion of five laps the leaders began lapping cars which bunched up the leaders.
Saldana quickly moved in to challenge Pittman and that is where the excitement really began. Saldana and Gravel were sliding each other to trade positions at each end of the race track, while Kerry Madsen moved into the scene and put up a battle with Saldana to move into third behind Pittman and Gravel on lap 10.
Two laps later Madsen’s charge to the front ended as a shredded tire brought him to a stop on the race track and the event’s lone caution flag period ensued.
Back under green flag conditions, Pittman again assumed command over Gravel and Saldana as Randy Hannagan came into the battle, along with defending Kings Royal champion Brad Sweet. Pittman was on a rail and had a near 20 car-length lead until lapped traffic again came into play.
This time it was Gravel on his mark, as he played the traffic to perfection and nailed first place on lap 19. Pittman wasn’t willing to give up the lead that easily, as the duo swapped positions back and forth for the next three laps before Gravel got comfortable out front.
Behind him, things were getting interesting, as Hannagan had built up some speed and was challenging Pittman for second, in another see-saw battle that had the crowd on their feet. Paul McMahan was now moving forward and keeping score of the top five was a true challenge as positions were being swapped around the entire oval with every lap.
Literally bouncing off the wall in turns three and four was common practice among the top five during the closing laps, but with the checkered flag in the air, it was Gravel taking the .626 second victory over Pittman who in turn crossed the line .341 seconds in front of Hannagan. McMahan finished fourth with Donny Schatz, all the way from his 19th starting spot, taking home fifth.
Westfall’s second feature win of the season was achieved by holding off Rob Starkey and Jesse Bitterling through the final stages. Defending champion Jerry Bowersock finally got dialed in during the late stage s of the 18-lap contest to take home fourth while Scott Williams had his best showing of the year with a third place finish.
Eldora Speedway will sit idle next weekend, but returns to action Saturday, May 17 with the first of two Family Fun Nights slated for this year. The special $8 admission will include BOSS Sprints, UMP DIRTcar Modifieds and Eldora Stock Cars, along with a huge fireworks display.
Event details and ticket information for May 17, or any of Eldora’s other events, can be found on the track’s website www.EldoraSpeedway.com or can be obtained by calling the speedway office (937) 338-3815 during normal business hours. Additionally, race fans and race teams can get behind-the-scenes access by following @EldoraSpeedway on Twitter, hitting ‘Like’ at Facebook.com/EldoraSpeedway and view video highlights at YouTube.com/EldoraSpeedwayInc. Mobile device users can access the Eldora Speedway app for the iPhone, iPad and Android which is available for download via iTunes and Google Play.
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World of Outlaw Sprints
TIME TRIALS – 1. 29-Kerry Madsen [13.296]; 2. 51-Paul Mcmahan [13.383]; 3. 49-Brad Sweet [13.385]; 4. 71-Joey Saldana [13.416]; 5. 9-Daryn Pittman [13.474]; 6. 83-David Gravel [13.490]; 7. 7S-Jason Sides [13.586]; 8. 2-Shane Stewart [13.589]; 9. 40-Caleb Helms [13.596]; 10. 11N-Randy Hannagan [13.635]; 11. 53-Chris Bell [13.639]; 12. 28-Brian Paulus [13.661]; 13. 63-Chad Kemenah [13.676]; 14. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [13.708]; 15. 1-Sammy Swindell [13.713]; 16. 4-Cody Darrah [13.727]; 17. 10H-Danny Holtgraver [13.736]; 18. 1S-Logan Schuchart [13.748]; 19. 14K-Dale Blaney [13.750]; 20. 15-Donny Schatz [13.789]; 21. 9W-Jac Haudenschild [13.819]; 22. 11K-Kraig Kinser [13.827]; 23. 71MX-Paul May [13.848]; 24. 77X-Wayne Johnson [13.901]; 25. W20-Greg Wilson [13.968]; 26. 1A-Jacob Allen [13.983]; 27. 21-Dallas Hewitt [14.044]; 28. 5T-Travis Philo [14.053]; 29. 19M-Brent Marks [14.062]; 30. 55-Trey Starks [14.202]; 31. 24H-Brandon Wimmer [99.993]; 32. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild [99.994]; 33. 80-Trey Gustin [99.995];
HEAT 1 – 1. 29-Kerry Madsen [4]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz [6]; 3. 2-Shane Stewart [2]; 4. 5T-Travis Philo [8]; 5. 9-Daryn Pittman [3]; 6. 4-Cody Darrah [5]; 7. 77X-Wayne Johnson [7]; 8. 28-Brian Paulus [DNF]; 9. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild [DNS];
HEAT 2 – 1. 51-Paul McMahan [4]; 2. 63-Chad Kemenah [1]; 3. 9W-Jac Haudenschild [6]; 4. 83-David Gravel [3]; 5. 10H-Danny Holtgraver [5]; 6. 40-Caleb Helms [2]; 7. W20-Greg Wilson [7]; 8. 19M-Brent Marks [8]; 9. 24H-Brandon Wimmer [DNS];
HEAT 3 – 1. 11N-Randy Hannagan [2]; 2. 11-Steve Kinser [3]; 3. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [1]; 4. 49-Brad Sweet [4]; 5. 1S-Logan Schuchart [5]; 6. 11K-Kraig Kinser [6]; 7. 1A-Jacob Allen [7]; 8. 55-Trey Starks [8];
HEAT 4 – 1. 1-Sammy Swindell [1]; 2. 14K-Dale Blaney [5]; 3. 71-Joey Saldana [4]; 4. 53-Chris Bell [2]; 5. 7S-Jason Sides [3]; 6. 71MX-Paul May [6]; 7. 80-Trey Gustin [8]; 8. 21-Dallas Hewitt [DNF];
DASH – 1. 83-David Gravel [1]; 2. 9-Daryn Pittman [2]; 3. 71-Joey Saldana [3]; 4. 29-Kerry Madsen [6]; 5. 49-Brad Sweet [4]; 6. 1-Sammy Swindell [8];7. 11N-Randy Hannagan [7]; 8. 51-Paul McMahan [5];
B-FEATURE – 1. 4-Cody Darrah [3]; 2. 11K-Kraig Kinser [4]; 3. 77X-Wayne Johnson [6]; 4. 1A-Jacob Allen [8]; 5. 71MX-Paul May [5]; 6. 19M-Brent Marks [10]; 7. 55-Trey Starks [11]; 8. W20-Greg Wilson [7]; 9. 80-Trey Gustin [12]; 10. 40-Caleb Helms [DNF]; 11. 21-Dallas Hewitt [DNF]; 12. 28-Brian Paulus [DNS]; 13. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild [DNS]; 14. 24H-Brandon Wimmer [DNS];
A FEATURE – 1. 83-David Gravel [1]; 2. 9-Daryn Pittman [2]; 3. 11N-Randy Hannagan [7]; 4. 51-Paul McMahan [8]; 5. 15-Donny Schatz [19]; 6. 14K-Dale Blaney [18]; 7. 10H-Danny Holtgraver [16]; 8. 29-Kerry Madsen [4]; 9. 49-Brad Sweet [5]; 10. 11-Steve Kinser [9]; 11. 11K-Kraig Kinser [21]; 12. 71-Joey Saldana [3]; 13. 1S-Logan Schuchart [17]; 14. 63-Chad Kemenah [13]; 15. 2-Shane Stewart [11]; 16. 7S-Jason Sides [10]; 17. 4-Cody Darrah [15]; 18. 1-Sammy Swindell [6]; 19. 9W-Jac Haudenschild [20]; 20. 53-Chris Bell [12]; 21. 77X-Wayne Johnson [22]; 22. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [14]; 23. 5T-Travis Philo [DNF]; 24. 1A-Jacob Allen [DNF];
UMP DIRTcar MODIFIED
HEAT 1 – 1. 5XB-Jerry Bowersock [2]; 2. 54-Matt Westfall [3]; 3. 4J-David Treon, Jr [4]; 4. 23J-Jeff Koz [9]; 5. 36-Brandon Vaughan [8]; 6. 3GW-Dylan Woodling [5]; 7. 52-John Phlipot, Jr [6]; 8. 26L-Casey Luedeke [10]; 9. 79-Shane Unger [1]; 10. 51-Cody Timmerman [DNS];
HEAT 2 – 1. 4S-Rob Starkey [1]; 2. 18-Ryan Sutter [2]; 3. 1SW-Scott Williams [6]; 4. 05-David Smith [7]; 5. 5X-Tim Richardson [8]; 6. 225-Jesse Bitterling [9]; 7. 11MH-Mike Hohlbein [5]; 8. 0A-Derrick Austin [4]; 9. 21T-Tom Treon [DNF];
A FEATURE – 1. 54-Matt Westfall [2]; 2. 4S-Rob Starkey [3]; 3. 225-Jesse Bitterling [12]; 4. 5XB-Jerry Bowersock [4]; 5. 1SW-Scott Williams [6]; 6. 18-Ryan Sutter [1]; 7. 23J-Jeff Koz [7]; 8. 52-John Phlipot, Jr [13]; 9. 4J-David Treon, Jr [5]; 10. 3GW-Dylan Woodling [11]; 11. 11MH-Mike Hohlbein [14];12. 05-David Smith [8]; 13. 21T-Tom Treon [18]; 14. 26L-Casey Luedeke [15]; 15. 36-Brandon Vaughan [9]; 16. 51-Cody Timmerman [19]; 17. 0A-Derrick Austin [16]; 18. 79-Shane Unger [17]; 19. 5X-Tim Richardson [DNF];