Post
and Yelton grab first-ever Eldora wins
ROSSBURG,
OH (April 27) – While Brian Post (UMP
DIRTcar Modifieds) and Logan Yelton (Waynesfield Tuff Trucks) scored
their
first career Eldora Speedway victories it was Barney Craig (Stock Cars)
picking
up where he left off from last season as Eldora Speedway finally
celebrated its
60th season opener on Saturday with some dramatic racing.
Dubbed
Saturday Night SpeedFest, it was the
historic track’s third attempt to race this season. Mother
Nature tried
to intervene again, as light rain fell several times throughout the
night, but
the teams rallied and the entire show was completed in two hours and
eight
minutes.
The
score sheets may show Post leading all 18
laps, but the replay video shows a host of drivers on his bumper the
entire
distance. Five cautions and one red flag bunched up the field
behind
Post, yet each time he was able to maintain control. The final slow
down, a red
flag, came with three laps to go as Schuyler Nahre’s front tire made
contact
with another driver’s front tire, sending him barrel flipping high in
the air
before slamming hard to the track. He walked away under his own power
but was
later transferred to Community Health Center in Coldwater, OH for
observation.
On
that last restart, Post pulled away from
Jeff Babcock and Jerry Bowersock – two veteran drivers who have a
combined 32
Modified wins between them -- down the backstretch and won by 0.748
seconds.
“This
is our first time in this car so
this is awesome to come out here and beat the best Modified drivers in
the
country,” said Post, who pumped his fist in the air in celebration
after taking
the checkered flag. “I want to thank the fans for coming out and my dad
for
believing we could win, especially here.”
Yelton
was equally excited in his Tuff Truck
victory. He wrestled the lead away from Danny Kelly after eight
completed laps,
and then fought off bumper-to-bumper, door-to-door challenges from
Jerry
Sawmiller, Roy Miller and Mike Sawmiller. Able to throw a
blanket over
those top four cars the final seven laps of the 15-lapper, Yelton
received a
bump draft push of sorts from Miller to keep him out front. Yelton then
pulled
off a veteran move in the final turn. Jerry Sawmiller pulled an Eldora
slide
job and got underneath Yelton in Turn 3, but Yelton returned the favor
and went
low in Turn 4 to beat Sawmiller to the finish line by 0.158 seconds.
“Man,
I thought he had me. I took a chance and
just dove,” Yelton said of that winning slide job. “That’s good racing
by Jerry,
by everybody. … We just got the truck put together this morning. I
couldn’t
have asked for a better night.”
In
the Stock Cars, Craig opened defense of his
2012 Eldora track title with a comfortable victory. Craig needed just
three
laps to leap from third to first, and never relinquished his lead once
he got
there. With two laps complete Craig used a slide job to take second
away from
Shawn Phillipi, then set sail for leader Chris Douglas. He caught him
on the
next lap and went high in Turns 3-4. Craig used the momentum to drag
race
Douglas to the finish line and grab first.
Craig
stretched his lead to 3.1 seconds
over the field after nine laps but a caution grouped the field behind
him.
Douglas went low on the restart and nearly got underneath Craig. But
the
momentum of running high helped Craig hold off the challenge.
“The
track was heavy, it was hammer down and I
did what I had to get it to the front,” Craig said of the win.
Eldora
Speedway returns to action with the
World of Outlaws STP Sprints on May 3-4. The Eldora Stock Cars join the
Outlaws
on Friday and the UMP DIRTcar Modifieds on Saturday. Complete event and
advance
ticket purchase information for the World of Outlaws weekend, along
with the
other exciting race events on the 2013 Eldora calendar, is available on
the
track’s websitewww.EldoraSpeedway.com.
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. The new Eldora
Speedway
app for the iPhone, iPad and Android is now available for download via
iTunes
and Google Play.
RESULTS:
UMP
DIRTcar Modifieds:
Heat
1: Aaron Orr, Jerry Bowersock,
Schuyler Nahre, Matt Westfall, Scott Bowersock, Scott Williams, Zach
Schroeder,
Tim Richardson, Steve Billenstein, Bryant Dickinson
Heat
2: Brian Post, Jesse Bitterling,
Ryan Sutter, David Treon, Brad Hess, John Phlipot, Jr., Brent Hole,
Scott Orr,
Jon Henry, Rob Williams
Heat
3: Dave Daugherty, Brandon Vaughan,
Jeff Babcock, Nick Katterhenry, Chad Rosenbeck, Donnie Miller, Mike
Dirksen,
Shane Unger, John Brooks
B-Feature:
Scott Williams, John Phlipot,
Zach Schroeder, Brent Hole, Rob Williams, Mike Dirksen, Tim Richardson,
Steve
Billenstein, Jon Henry, Donnie Miller, Shane Unger, Scott Orr, John
Brooks,
Bryant Dickinson
A-Feature:
1)Brian Post 2)Jeff Babcock 3)Jerry
Bowersock 4)Matt Westfall 5)Aaron Orr 6)Brandon Vaughan 7)Steve
Billenstein
8)Nick Katterhnery 9)David Treon 10)Mike Dirksen 11)Ryan Sutter 12)John
Phlipot, Jr. 13)Brent Hole 14)Dave Daugherty 15)Schuyler Nahre 16)Jon
Henry
17)Scott Williams 18)Jesse Bitterling 19)Scott Bowersock 20)Chad
Rosenbeck
21)Zach Schroeder 22)Rob Williams 23)Tim Richardson 24)Brad Hess
Eldora
Stock Cars:
Heat
1: Paul Pardo, Shawn Phillipi, Casey
Barr, Cody Timmerman, Anthony Goode, Wayne Williams, Alex Peace, Rodney
Lacey
Heat
2: Barney Craig, Earnie Woodard,
Eric Sandlin, Frank Paladino, Ricky Ray Dillon, Jordan Conover, Bradley
Caudill, Adam Schaeff
Heat
3: Jeremy Creech, Chris Douglas,
Brad Conover, Rob Trent, Mark Wooten, Corey Wooten, Dean Pitts
A-Feature:
1)Barney Craig 2)Jordan Conover
3)Chris Douglas 4)Shawn Phillipi 5)Casey Barr 6)Anthony Goode 7)Eric
Sandlin
8)Frank Paladino 9)Wayne Williams 10)Jeremy Creech 11)Earnie Woodard
12)Bradley
Caudill 13)Brad Conover 14)Adam Schaeff 15)Cody Timmerman 16)Dean Pitts
17)Alex
Peace 18)Rob Trent 19)Ricky Ray Dillon 20)Mark Wooten 21)Corey Wooten
22)Rodney
Lacey 23)Paul Pardo
Tuff
Trucks:
Heat
1: Mike Sawmiller, Logan Yelton,
Danny Kelly, Roy Miller, Robbie Starkey, Erik Wolleson
Heat
2: Jerry Sawmiller, Daniel Crowder,
Aaron Myers, Dylan Myers, Kenneth Osborne, Jr.
A-Feature:
1)Logan Yelton 2)Jerry
Sawmiller 3)Roy Miller 4)Mike Sawmiller 5)Daniel Crowder 6)Aaron Myers
7)Danny
Kelly 8)Erik Wolleson 9)Robbie Starkey 10)Dylan Myers 11)Kenneth
Osborne, Jr.
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