Eldora Speedway
Four Point Titles decided at UMP Championships
Feger and Hoffman Capture Featured Events          

ROSSBURG, OH (October 6) – After completing 22-races for the 172 UMP (United Midwestern Promoters) DIRTcar Modifieds and Late Models on hand, four point championships were decided in front of a loyal crowd of racing fans that braved the cold and damp conditions in an all-day marathon Saturday at Eldora Speedway.  With Jason Feger (Late Models) and Nick Hoffman (Modifieds) captured the feature events, the annual UMP National Championships found Brian Shirley (Late Models) and Devin Gilpin (Modifieds) hanging on to their points leads to claim National titles, while Joey Kramer (Modifieds) and Jeep Van Wormer (Late Models) used their runs to score coveted Eldora Speedway track titles. 

The Eldora Modified points championship came down to a dramatic finish as Kramer of Hanover, Ind., held off runner-up Rob Williams of Eaton, Ohio. As Hoffman was winning the 25-lap feature, Kramer and Williams were battling their own war, trying to grab as many points as possible. Kramer entered the race with a two-point lead over Williams. That seemed secure as Kramer started seventh in the 28-car field; while Williams needed a provisional starting position to start 26th in the line-up. Williams was in a transfer position in his preliminary heat, but was tagged from behind and crashed out in the closing laps. 

With five laps remaining in the feature, Kramer slowed in Turn 4 and directed his car to the pits with a flat tire. That put Williams two spots ahead of Kramer in the points chase and needing to pass only one car to claim the championship. But Kramer returned to the track after a quick tire change and had enough left to finish 12tt. Williams finished 15th. Two other drivers in the Modified points chase failed to make the feature. Matt Westfall entered four points out of first but tagged the wall during qualifying to end his day. Ryan Sutter, five points out of first, saw an accident end his pursuit of Kramer in the B-Feature. 

Hoffman of North Carolina, meanwhile, inherited the lead from Illinois’ Mike Harrison on the same lap that Kramer pitted. He led the final five laps. It was a tough-luck finish for Harrison after he had rocketed to a straight-away lead and dominated the first 20 laps. 

“I can’t believe this. To win the biggest race of the year at the beginning of the year and to win one of the biggest at the end of the year, it’s unreal,” said Hoffman, who also won the Gator Championship in Florida in February. “To beat the cars we did, I can’t believe it.” 

Gilpin of Columbus, Ind., maintained his overall points lead to capture the UMP national championship, aided by 35 feature wins this season. 

“It’s been a long, hard road. In 2010 we led this deal with a few weeks to go … and to finally get it done and be able to stand on this stage as champion is amazing,” Gilpin said. 

In the Late Model feature, Feger of Bloomington, Ill., held off a late-race challenge from Wayne Chinn and then Shirley to capture the 40-lapper.  Chinn had been stealing the attention of the fans with his impressive charge through the field. 

“I kept looking up at the scoreboard and was wondering who the No. 1 car (Chinn) was behind me, because there were a few of them out there. During the double file start I saw it was Wayne so I knew he must have been doing pretty good,” Feger said. “I was trying to be as good and smooth as I could. … Thanks to Feger Nation and to all the fans for braving the cold, the rain and for the ones who are still here for sticking it out. We couldn’t do it without them.” 

Feger also won the Race of Champions for the Late Models by holding off fellow Illini driver Dennis Erb Jr. in the 12-lap special event. “Any time you stand in Victory Lane at Eldora it’s a good thing,” said Feger, who was turning laps in the 15.6-second range. “I felt like I was driving a sprint car we were going around there so fast.” Nick Allen of Wheatfield, Ind., won the 12-lap modified Race of Champions by a comfortable 1.3-second margin over Harrison. 

Shirley of Chatham, Ill., finished third (behind Chinn) to win the UMP national championship for Late Models. 

In the chase for the Eldora Late Model track championship, Pinconning, Michigan’s Van Wormer entered the race trailing Matt Miller of Whitehouse, Ohio, by six points. Miller stayed ahead of Van Wormer until 25 laps were in the books. That’s when Miller slowed on the track and Van Wormer gained valuable positions by finishing fifth. Miller fell to 20th after ending the race in the pits. 

Eldora Speedway returns to action with the UNOH Sprintacular on October 13 featuring the All Star Circuit of Champions, NRA Sprint Invaders and Eldora Stocks. Tickets for the Sprintacular and the inaugural Blue Collar Bash on October 26-28 are available through the speedway box office during normal business hours at (937) 338-3815 or online 24 hours a day at www.EldoraSpeedway.com. Fans can also like Eldora Speedway at Facebook.com/EldoraSpeedway and follow updates on Twitter: @EldoraSpeedway. 

UMP DIRTcar Late Model

HEAT 1 - 1. 25F-Jason Feger [4]; 2. 55-Jeep Vanwormer [2]; 3. 20C-Duane Chamberlain [6]; 4. 3S-Brian Shirley [3]; 5. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr [5]; 6. 56W-Jeff Walston [7]; 7. 75M-Dusty Moore [8]; 8. 11R-James Rice [9]; 9. RH21-Gregg Haskell [11]; 10. 53M-Hillard Miller [10]; 11. 20JB-Jerry Bowersock [1]; 

HEAT 2 - 1. 28-Dennis Erb Jr [1]; 2. 81-Scott James [3]; 3. 25Z-Mason Zeigler [2]; 4. 9R-Curtis Roberts [4]; 5. 77-Jason Mcbride [5]; 6. 1N-Casey Noonan [6]; 7. 46-Tim Rivers [7]; 8. 51-Devin Shiels [8]; 9. 10S-Scott Schmitt [11]; 10. 06-Kyle Perry [9]; 11. 13G-Andy Galgoci [10]; 

HEAT 3 - 1. 3-Matt Miller [3]; 2. 1WC-Wayne Chinn [2]; 3. 1J-Jeff Babcock [4]; 4. 49-Brian Ruhlman [1]; 5. 81JR-Jason Riggs [5]; 6. 87-Richard Neiser [6]; 7. 15A-Phil Ausra [8]; 8. 91-Adam Thrush [9]; 9. 33-Don Gordon [10]; 10. 18R-Chris Ross [DNS]; 

HEAT 4 - 1. 20H-Jacob Hawkins [6]; 2. 88-Andrew Reaume [3]; 3. 31-Nick Latham [1]; 4. 23V-Ryan Vanderveen [2]; 5. 555-Justin Coulter [5]; 6. 7L-Jason Lierly [10]; 7. X3-Chris Keller [7]; 8. 19-Chad Smith [4]; 9. 77K-Steve Kester [8]; 10. 26-Bill Lewis [9]; 

B FEATURES 1 - 1. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr [1]; 2. 1N-Casey Noonan [4]; 3. 56W-Jeff Walston [3]; 4. 46-Tim Rivers [6]; 5. 10S-Scott Schmitt [10]; 6. 75M-Dusty Moore [5]; 7. RH21-Gregg Haskell [9]; 8. 06-Kyle Perry [12]; 9. 13G-Andy Galgoci [14]; 10. 51-Devin Shiels [8]; 11. 20JB-Jerry Bowersock [13]; 12. 77-Jason Mcbride [2]; 13. 11R-James Rice [7]; 14. 53M-Hillard Miller [DNS]; 

B FEATURES 2 - 1. 555-Justin Coulter [2]; 2. 81JR-Jason Riggs [1]; 3. 87-Richard Neiser [3]; 4. 15A-Phil Ausra [5]; 5. 7L-Jason Lierly [4]; 6. 77K-Steve Kester [10]; 7. X3-Chris Keller [6]; 8. 91-Adam Thrush [7]; 9. 33-Don Gordon [9]; 10. 18R-Chris Ross [DNS]; 11. 19-Chad Smith [DNS]; 12. 26-Bill Lewis [DNS]; 

A FEATURE - 1. 25F-Jason Feger [1]; 2. 1WC-Wayne Chinn [7]; 3. 3S-Brian Shirley [13]; 4. 88-Andrew Reaume [8]; 5. 55-Jeep Vanwormer [5]; 6. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr [17]; 7. 49-Brian Ruhlman [15]; 8. 20JB-Jerry Bowersock [25]; 9. 1N-Casey Noonan [19]; 10. 25Z-Mason Zeigler [10]; 11. 9R-Curtis Roberts [14]; 12. 1J-Jeff Babcock [11]; 13. 555-Justin Coulter [18]; 14. 28-Dennis Erb Jr [2]; 15. 10S-Scott Schmitt [23]; 16. 31-Nick Latham [12]; 17. 51-Devin Shiels [29]; 18. 33-Don Gordon [27]; 19. 81JR-Jason Riggs [20]; 20. 87-Richard Neiser [22]; 21. 3-Matt Miller [3]; 22. 20H-Jacob Hawkins [4]; 23. 81-Scott James [6]; 24. 20C-Duane Chamberlain [9]; 25. 23V-Ryan Vanderveen [16]; 26. 56W-Jeff Walston [21]; 27. 15A-Phil Ausra [24]; 28. 77-Jason Mcbride [DNS]; 29. 26-Bill Lewis [DNS]; 

RACE OF CHAMPIONS - 1. 25F-Jason Feger [2]; 2. 28-Dennis Erb Jr [6]; 3. 3S-Brian Shirley [1]; 4. 77-Jason Mcbride [7]; 5. 49-Brian Ruhlman [5]; 6. 87-Richard Neiser [4]; 7. 51-Devin Shiels [8]; 8. 10S-Scott Schmitt [3]; 

UMP DIRTcar MODIFIED

HEAT 1 - 1. 2NH-Nick Hoffman [4]; 2. 5JB-Jerry Bowersock [6]; 3. 111-Curt Spalding [1]; 4. 15R-Rich Robinson Jr [2]; 5. 45P-Brian Post [3]; 6. 05W-Dave Wietholder [7]; 7. 24-Terry Grillot [13]; 8. 188-Aaron Orr [9]; 9. 2-Jason Kinney [12]; 10. N59-Chad Evans [11]; 11. 5MC-Dave Mcwilliams [8]; 12. 11H-Pete Holt [10]; 13. 24M-Zeke Mckenzie [5]; 14. 22P-Wil Prater [16]; 15. 21F-Kevan Free [15]; 16. 3-John Bradley [DNS]; 17. 3C-Louis Clements [DNS]; 

HEAT 2 - 1. 24H-Mike Harrison [2]; 2. 40B-Kyle Bronson [4]; 3. 03-Cory Seeling [6]; 4. 5-Jonathan Taylor [1]; 5. 20KW-Kody Weisner [3]; 6. 77B-Ray Bollinger [10]; 7. 3L-Jeff Leka [8]; 8. K12-Scotty Kincaid [12]; 9. 7L-Jay Ledford [5]; 10. 7-Evan Taylor [7]; 11. 144C-Ryan Carey [15]; 12. 11R-Ed Roley [9]; 13. 15J-Jimmy Hayden [11]; 14. 43BM-Brad Mcleod [14]; 15. 77L-Darrell Lowe [17]; 16. 92-Lynn Johns [16]; 17. 177-Jackie Wilis Jr [13]; 

HEAT 3 - 1. 25N-Tyler Nicely [2]; 2. 2H-Brian Hayden [1]; 3. 10BB-Bryan Barber [3]; 4. D1-Lance Dehm [4]; 5. 22N-Schuyler Nahre [8]; 6. 47-Collin Thirlby [10]; 7. 31J-John Brooks [9]; 8. 90-Rick Aukland [5]; 9. 1-Scott Williams [6]; 10. 43KM-Kevin Miller [11]; 11. 10GH-Gerald Hodge [15]; 12. 4J-David Treon, Jr [13]; 13. 15-Nick Katterhenry [7]; 14. 133-Gary Ricketts [12]; 15. 3B-Bob Burch [DNS]; 16. 28B-Michael Bolyard [DNS]; 

HEAT 4 - 1. 21A-Nick Allen [4]; 2. 87-David Mielke [5]; 3. 77R-Joe Rokos [6]; 4. 116-Trent Young [8]; 5. OJ-Bryce Jewell [2]; 6. 6-Steven Pena [7]; 7. 88D-Jordan Dawford [14]; 8. 83S-Kasey Schrock [12]; 9. 8C-Corey Bevard [11]; 10. 17W-Tanner Wilson [1]; 11. 21M-Donnie Miller [10]; 12. 99-Corey Partin [9]; 13. 28R-Chad Rosenbeck [13]; 14. 00J-Joel Ortberg [3]; 15. 17A-Brian Amos [DNS]; 16. 62-Randy Shuman [DNS]; 

HEAT 5 - 1. 22M-Matt Mevert [4]; 2. 20JB-Jeff Babcock [3]; 3. 68-Steve Dixon [2]; 4. 14-Brian Lynn [6]; 5. 85-Bradley Sterrett [7]; 6. 1G-Devin Gilpin [5]; 7. 10-Scott Bowersock [12]; 8. 03L-Benji Lee [1]; 9. 36F-Jim Fletcher [10]; 10. 52-John Phlipot, Jr [11]; 11. 5X-Tim Richardson [9]; 12. 1S-Steve Billenstein [14]; 13. 4-Mike Chrisman [15]; 14. 09D-Joel Dick [13]; 15. T5X-Doug Hewitt Jr [16]; 16. 22L-Derek Losh [8]; 

HEAT 6 - 1. 49-Brian Ruhlman [3]; 2. 1AS-Andy Sprague [5]; 3. 1D-Dean Hoffman [2]; 4. 21D-Danny Schwartz [14]; 5. 18-Ryan Sutter [8]; 6. 14S-Terry Sroufe [10]; 7. 225-Jesse Bitterling [9]; 8. 67-Eddie Shaner [1]; 9. 84-Tyler Deibert [12]; 10. 3W-Dylan Woodling [11]; 11. 17N-Dillon Nusbaum [13]; 12. 11-Rob Williams [4]; 13. 166-Jimmy Westerfield [6]; 14. 12-Jeremy Rayburn [15]; 15. 1N-Dwight Niehoff [7]; 16. 53-Brad Johnson [DNS];

 HEAT 7 - 1. 77-Joey Kramer [4]; 2. 12C-Jeff Curl [3]; 3. 29-Mark Kowarsch [6]; 4. 0-Brent Hole [7]; 5. 83M-Mason Jr [5]; 6. 10H-Brad Hess [10]; 7. 22T-Tony Anderson [11]; 8. 48-Bill Wagoner [12]; 9. 33-Scott Ricketts [13]; 10. 79-Shane Unger [15]; 11. 86-Drew Smith [16]; 12. 01-Ryan Odette [2]; 13. 100-Jim Brown [8]; 14. 144K-Anthony Kinkade [9]; 15. 20W-Matt Westfall [1]; 16. 55-Clayton Smith [14]; 

HEAT 8 - 1. 7A-Doug Adkins [1]; 2. S8-Chris Stotts [6]; 3. 88-Scott Orr [3]; 4. 21S-Denny Schwartz [5]; 5. 36L-Jamie Lomax [8]; 6. 28M-Frank Marshall [7]; 7. 32Z-Nate Zimmer [9]; 8. 36-Brandon Vaughan [10]; 9. 10Y-Johnny Young [11]; 10. 25L-Josh Lolmaugh [14]; 11. 28S-Scott Mackenzie [16]; 12. 60-Mike Martin [15]; 13. 0A-Derrick Austin [13]; 14. 45-Nick Stroupe [4]; 15. 89-Bobby Bittle [2]; 16. 26-Mike Dirksen [12]; 

B FEATURES 1 - 1. 111-Curt Spalding [1]; 2. 15R-Rich Robinson Jr [3]; 3. 20KW-Kody Weisner [6]; 4. K12-Scotty Kincaid [12]; 5. 77B-Ray Bollinger [8]; 6. 45P-Brian Post [5]; 7. 03-Cory Seeling [2]; 8. 144C-Ryan Carey [18]; 9. 11R-Ed Roley [20]; 10. N59-Chad Evans [15]; 11. 2-Jason Kinney [13]; 12. 77L-Darrell Lowe [26]; 13. 3L-Jeff Leka [10]; 14. 15J-Jimmy Hayden [22]; 15. 21F-Kevan Free [25]; 16. 5-Jonathan Taylor [4]; 17. 05W-Dave Wietholder [7]; 18. 92-Lynn Johns [27]; 19. 7L-Jay Ledford [14]; 20. 22P-Wil Prater [23]; 21. 24M-Zeke Mckenzie [9]; 22. 5MC-Dave Mcwilliams [17]; 23. 11H-Pete Holt [19]; 24. 7-Evan Taylor [16]; 25. 24-Terry Grillot [21]; 26. 3-John Bradley [DNS]; 27. 43BM-Brad Mcleod [DNS]; 28. 188-Aaron Orr [DNS]; 29. 3C-Louis Clements [DNS]; 30. 177-Jackie Wilis Jr [DNS]; 

B FEATURES 2 - 1. 10BB-Bryan Barber [1]; 2. 116-Trent Young [4]; 3. OJ-Bryce Jewell [6]; 4. 77R-Joe Rokos [2]; 5. D1-Lance Dehm [3]; 6. 22N-Schuyler Nahre [5]; 7. 1-Scott Williams [13]; 8. 8C-Corey Bevard [14]; 9. 47-Collin Thirlby [7]; 10. 00J-Joel Ortberg [28]; 11. 43KM-Kevin Miller [15]; 12. 83S-Kasey Schrock [12]; 13. 15-Nick Katterhenry [21]; 14. 88D-Jordan Dawford [10]; 15. 4J-David Treon, Jr [19]; 16. 6-Steven Pena [8]; 17. 31J-John Brooks [9]; 18. 3B-Bob Burch [DNS]; 19. 10GH-Gerald Hodge [DNS]; 20. 17A-Brian Amos [DNS]; 21. 17W-Tanner Wilson [DNS]; 22. 21M-Donnie Miller [DNS]; 23. 28B-Michael Bolyard [DNS]; 24. 28R-Chad Rosenbeck [DNS]; 25. 62-Randy Shuman [DNS]; 26. 90-Rick Aukland [DNS]; 27. 99-Corey Partin [DNS]; 28. 133-Gary Ricketts [DNS]; 

B FEATURES 3 - 1. 68-Steve Dixon [1]; 2. 1D-Dean Hoffman [2]; 3. 14-Brian Lynn [3]; 4. 10-Scott Bowersock [9]; 5. 85-Bradley Sterrett [5]; 6. 166-Jimmy Westerfield [22]; 7. 14S-Terry Sroufe [8]; 8. 225-Jesse Bitterling [10]; 9. 36F-Jim Fletcher [13]; 10. T5X-Doug Hewitt Jr [25]; 11. 1S-Steve Billenstein [19]; 12. 21D-Danny Schwartz [4]; 13. 18-Ryan Sutter [6]; 14. 84-Tyler Deibert [14]; 15. 11-Rob Williams [20]; 16. 52-John Phlipot, Jr [15]; 17. 3W-Dylan Woodling [16]; 18. 22L-Derek Losh [27]; 19. 1G-Devin Gilpin [7]; 20. 09D-Joel Dick [DNS]; 21. 03L-Benji Lee [DNS]; 22. 1N-Dwight Niehoff [DNS]; 23. 4-Mike Chrisman [DNS]; 24. 5X-Tim Richardson [DNS]; 25. 12-Jeremy Rayburn [DNS]; 26. 17N-Dillon Nusbaum [DNS]; 27. 53-Brad Johnson [DNS]; 28. 67-Eddie Shaner [DNS]; 

B FEATURES 4 - 1. 88-Scott Orr [2]; 2. 21S-Denny Schwartz [4]; 3. 29-Mark Kowarsch [1]; 4. 28M-Frank Marshall [8]; 5. 32Z-Nate Zimmer [10]; 6. 0-Brent Hole [3]; 7. 36-Brandon Vaughan [12]; 8. 83M-Mason Jr [5]; 9. 01-Ryan Odette [19]; 10. 22T-Tony Anderson [9]; 11. 60-Mike Martin [20]; 12. 86-Drew Smith [17]; 13. 33-Scott Ricketts [13]; 14. 48-Bill Wagoner [11]; 15. 0A-Derrick Austin [22]; 16. 10H-Brad Hess [7]; 17. 79-Shane Unger [15]; 18. 25L-Josh Lolmaugh [16]; 19. 36L-Jamie Lomax [6]; 20. 10Y-Johnny Young [DNS]; 21. 20W-Matt Westfall [DNS]; 22. 26-Mike Dirksen [DNS]; 23. 28S-Scott Mackenzie [DNS]; 24. 45-Nick Stroupe [DNS]; 25. 55-Clayton Smith [DNS]; 26. 89-Bobby Bittle [DNS]; 27. 100-Jim Brown [DNS]; 28. 144K-Anthony Kinkade [DNS]; 

A FEATURE - 1. 2NH-Nick Hoffman [1]; 2. 87-David Mielke [12]; 3. 20JB-Jeff Babcock [13]; 4. 22M-Matt Mevert [5]; 5. 49-Brian Ruhlman [6]; 6. 1AS-Andy Sprague [14]; 7. 40B-Kyle Bronson [10]; 8. 116-Trent Young [22]; 9. 88-Scott Orr [20]; 10. 15R-Rich Robinson Jr [21]; 11. 68-Steve Dixon [19]; 12. 77-Joey Kramer [7]; 13. 111-Curt Spalding [17]; 14. 45P-Brian Post [28]; 15. 11-Rob Williams [26]; 16. 5JB-Jerry Bowersock [9]; 17. 24H-Mike Harrison [2]; 18. 2H-Brian Hayden [11]; 19. 21S-Denny Schwartz [24]; 20. 10BB-Bryan Barber [18]; 21. 12C-Jeff Curl [15]; 22. 21A-Nick Allen [4]; 23. 25N-Tyler Nicely [3]; 24. S8-Chris Stotts [16]; 25. 7A-Doug Adkins [8]; 26. 1G-Devin Gilpin [25]; 27. 36L-Jamie Lomax [27]; 28. 1D-Dean Hoffman [23]; 

RACE OF CHAMPIONS - 1. 21A-Nick Allen [2]; 2. 24H-Mike Harrison [3]; 3. 87-David Mielke [11]; 4. 22M-Matt Mevert [13]; 5. 77B-Ray Bollinger [10]; 6. 36L-Jamie Lomax [4]; 7. 7A-Doug Adkins [8]; 8. 22L-Derek Losh [14]; 9. 05W-Dave Wietholder [7]; 10. 77-Joey Kramer [6]; 11. 116-Trent Young [5]; 12. 12-Jeremy Rayburn [9]; 13. 40B-Kyle Bronson [12]; 14. 1G-Devin Gilpin [1];