Winning
never gets old for Darland
Matt
Westfall and Jeff Koz Complete Branson/Larson Classic Tripleheader
ROSSBURG,
OH (April 19) – Winning never seems to get old for Dave Darland. To
him, every checkered flag is as important and exciting as the
first one and Saturday’s triumph in Eldora Speedway’s Don
Branson/Jud Larson Classic was no exception.
Victory
lane was pure jubilation for the popular Walton, IN veteran as he
collected his fifth USAC (United States Auto Club) National Sprint
Car win on the venerable .500-mile clay Eldora oval and in doing so,
extended his USAC cumulative point lead. Sharing victory lane
honors with Darland were Matt Westfall in the UMP DIRTcar Modifieds
and Jeff Koz in the Stock Cars.
Getting
to the front was no easy task for fourth-place starting Darland. Pole
sitter Chase Stockon charged into the lead at the dropping of
the green flag, with Dallas Hewitt, Jerry Coons, Jr. and Darland in
tow.
Within
three laps, Stockon had built up an eight car length lead over
Hewitt, as Darland moved into third to challenge for the runner-up
position. Driving hard into turn three on the fifth circuit, Hewitt
brushed the outer wall which sent him into a series of flips and
ended his night.
The
ensuing restart set up an eight lap battle highlighted by classic
Eldora slide jobs.
Darland
slid under Stockon going into turn three, but Stockon retaliated by
diving off of turn four and ran wheel to wheel down the front stretch
with Darland before doing a slide job of his own into turn one. That
move outsmarted Darland and again Stockon began increasing his
margin over the field.
Darland
began building up his steam and coming down to complete lap ten, he
not only caught up to the leader, but tried yet another slide job
going into turn one. While this time the slide job was successful,
before the lap could be completed, another red flag appeared for a
flipping Jarrett Andretti.
That
relegated Darland back to second and set up two laps of see-saw
battling between the fast-running pair. Persistence paid off for
Darland as he executed a successful pass coming down to complete lap
13 to move out front, where he was to remain throughout the distance.
Stockon
refused to give up and kept Darland in sight as he held off all
challenges from Tracy Hines. They crossed the finish line in that
order, with Coons, Jr. and Brady Bacon completing the top five.
Westfall
had signed in to do double duty on the evening, but mechanical issues
kept his Sprint Car from competition and reduced the driving chores
on a chilly evening to his UMP DIRTcar Modified.
All
disappointments were clearly erased as he simply dominated the 18-lap
Modified feature event for his second win in a division that was
celebrating its 250th event Saturday evening.
David
Smith was turning in a strong run at the onset of the event with a
spirited challenge to Westfall, before defending champion Jerry
Bowersock came on the scene to set up a three-way battle. That
battle increased to four as soon Zach Schroeder moved forward, but
within a few laps, Westfall got hooked up and went off and running.
The
fast-paced event was all Westfall from that point on, with Bowersock
eventually moving past Smith for second, while Schroeder and Jesse
Bittlering completed the top five.
While
Jeff Koz was able to move into victory lane for his first-ever Eldora
win, he had to be getting nervous in the closing laps. Two leaders
before him fell to misfortune. First it was Paul Pardo, who led the
first seven circuits. Pardo dropped quickly to the low side of the
track to give Koz the lead he was to hold for three laps before
giving way to defending champion Barney Craig.
Craig’s
lead last for less than two laps before he made contact with the wall
in turn one to end his night prematurely.
That
put Koz back out front and was able to hold off a pair of
fast-closing runners, Chris Douglas and Andy King to grab the
checkered flag. Jordan Conover did a great job recovering from an
earlier spin to record a fourth place run, while Adam Schaeff
completed the top five.
Eldora
returns to action next Saturday evening with a tripleheader program
featuring the UMP DIRTcar Modifieds, Eldora Stock Cars and
Waynesfield-Circle Track Trucks. Ticket and event information can
be found on Eldora’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.
USAC
SPRINT
TIME
TRIALS - 1. 69-Brady Bacon [15.069]; 2. 20-Bryan Clauson [15.278]; 3.
4-Tracy Hines [15.331]; 4. 71P-Dave Darland [15.345]; 5. 10E-Jerry
Coons, Jr [15.347]; 6. 12-Robert Ballou [15.524]; 7. 22S-Dallas
Hewitt [15.619]; 8. 32-Chase Stockon [15.639]; 9. 11-Chris Windom
[15.664]; 10. 15F-Aaron Farney [15.667]; 11. 37RW-Jon Stanbrough
[15.711]; 12. 32M-Derek Hastings [15.722]; 13. 30-C.j. Leary
[15.807]; 14. 40G-Justin Grant [15.822]; 15. 18-Scotty Weir [15.830];
16. 66-Shane Cockrum [15.880]; 17. 20N-Hunter Schuerenberg [15.893];
18. 18A-Jarett Andretti [15.981]; 19. 6-Bill Rose [16.136]; 20.
63-Kody Swanson [16.137]; 21. 3R-Daron Clayton [16.260]; 22. 54-Matt
Westfall [16.264]; 23. 83-Wes Mcintyre [16.308]; 24. 15-Brandon
Whited [16.438]; 25. 9X-Rob Chaney [16.575]; 26. 48-Nathan Moore
[16.649]; 27. 82-Mike Miller [16.706]; 28. 29-Logan Jarrett [16.795];
29. 83X-Adam Cruea [17.000]; 30. 63H-Huston Hewitt [17.898]; 31.
39-Matt Goodnight [99.999];
HEAT
1 - 1. 18A-Jarett Andretti [2]; 2. 11-Chris Windom [4]; 3. 40G-Justin
Grant [3]; 4. 10E-Jerry Coons, Jr [5]; 5. 69-Brady Bacon [6]; 6.
83-Wes Mcintyre [1]; 7. 82-Mike Miller [7]; 8. 63H-Huston Hewitt
[DNS];
HEAT
2 - 1. 18-Scotty Weir [3]; 2. 20-Bryan Clauson [6]; 3. 6-Bill Rose
[2]; 4. 15-Brandon Whited [1]; 5. 15F-Aaron Farney [4]; 6. 32M-Derek
Hastings [7]; 7. 12-Robert Ballou [DNF]; 8. 39-Matt Goodnight [DNS];
HEAT
3 - 1. 4-Tracy Hines [6]; 2. 37RW-Jon Stanbrough [4]; 3. 63-Kody
Swanson [2]; 4. 22S-Dallas Hewitt [5]; 5. 66-Shane Cockrum [3]; 6.
29-Logan Jarrett [7]; 7. 9X-Rob Chaney [1];
HEAT
4 - 1. 71P-Dave Darland [6]; 2. 20N-Hunter Schuerenberg [3]; 3.
3R-Daron Clayton [2]; 4. 32-Chase Stockon [5]; 5. 30-C.j. Leary [4];
6. 48-Nathan Moore [1]; 7. 83X-Adam Cruea [DNF];
B
MAINS - 1. 69-Brady Bacon [1]; 2. 12-Robert Ballou [2]; 3. 15F-Aaron
Farney [3]; 4. 30-C.j. Leary [4]; 5. 66-Shane Cockrum [5]; 6. 83-Wes
Mcintyre [6]; 7. 82-Mike Miller [9]; 8. 29-Logan Jarrett [11]; 9.
83X-Adam Cruea [12]; 10. 48-Nathan Moore [8]; 11. 32M-Derek Hastings
[DNF]; 12. 9X-Rob Chaney [DNF]; 13. 63H-Huston Hewitt [DNF];
FEATURE
- 1. 71P-Dave Darland [4]; 2. 32-Chase Stockon [1]; 3. 4-Tracy Hines
[5]; 4. 10E-Jerry Coons, Jr [3]; 5. 69-Brady Bacon [7]; 6. 20-Bryan
Clauson [6]; 7. 37RW-Jon Stanbrough [11]; 8. 40G-Justin Grant [13];
9. 12-Robert Ballou [8]; 10. 18-Scotty Weir [14]; 11. 20N-Hunter
Schuerenberg [16]; 12. 63-Kody Swanson [19]; 13. 11-Chris Windom [9];
14. 66-Shane Cockrum [15]; 15. 3R-Daron Clayton [20]; 16. 6-Bill Rose
[18]; 17. 30-C.j. Leary [12]; 18. 83-Wes Mcintyre [21]; 19.
15-Brandon Whited [DNF]; 20. 15F-Aaron Farney [DNF]; 21. 29-Logan
Jarrett [DNF]; 22. 18A-Jarett Andretti [DNF]; 23. 22S-Dallas Hewitt
[DNF];
UMP
DIRTcar MODIFIED
HEAT
1 - 1. 05-David Smith [2]; 2. 225-Jesse Bitterling [9]; 3. 10-Scott
Bowersock [1]; 4. 22T-Tony Anderson [3]; 5. 36-Brandon Vaughan [5];
6. 28R-Chad Rosenbeck [6]; 7. 21T-Tom Treon [8]; 8. 4J-David Treon,
Jr [DNF]; 9. 51-Cody Timmerman [DNF];
HEAT
2 - 1. 5JB-Jerry Bowersock [7]; 2. 55S-Zach Schroeder [1]; 3. 52-John
Phlipot, Jr [2]; 4. 1SW-Scott Williams [3]; 5. 26L-Casey Luedeke [5];
6. 18-Ryan Sutter [6]; 7. 0A-Derrick Austin [8]; 8. 79-Shane Unger
[4];
HEAT
3 - 1. 54-Matt Westfall [4]; 2. 23J-Jeff Koz [1]; 3. 4S-Rob Starkey
[5]; 4. 3GW-Dylan Woodling [8]; 5. 91-Adam Thrush [3]; 6. 5X-Tim
Richardson [6]; 7. 11MH-Mike Hohlbein [2]; 8. 20-Josh Morton [DNF];
A
FEATURE - 1. 54-Matt Westfall [1]; 2. 5JB-Jerry Bowersock [2]; 3.
05-David Smith [3]; 4. 55S-Zach Schroeder [5]; 5. 225-Jesse
Bitterling [4]; 6. 10-Scott Bowersock [7]; 7. 4S-Rob Starkey [9]; 8.
23J-Jeff Koz [6]; 9. 36-Brandon Vaughan [13]; 10. 28R-Chad Rosenbeck
[16]; 11. 91-Adam Thrush [15]; 12. 18-Ryan Sutter [17]; 13. 22T-Tony
Anderson [10]; 14. 5X-Tim Richardson [18]; 15. 11MH-Mike Hohlbein
[21]; 16. 0A-Derrick Austin [20]; 17. 21T-Tom Treon [19]; 18.
79-Shane Unger [23]; 19. 4J-David Treon, Jr [DNF]; 20. 52-John
Phlipot, Jr [DNF]; 21. 26L-Casey Luedeke [DNF]; 22. 20-Josh Morton
[DNF]; 23. 3GW-Dylan Woodling [DNF]; 24. 1SW-Scott Williams [DNS];
25. 51-Cody Timmerman [DNS];
STOCK
CAR
HEAT
1 - 1. 16-Jeff Koz [4]; 2. 61-Rob Trent [7]; 3. 71C-Barney Craig [6];
4. 82-Chris Douglas [8]; 5. 01-Earnie Woodard [1]; 6. 49-Eric Sandlin
[2]; 7. 55A-Brandon Archey [DNF]; 8. 7D-Dan Wooten [DNF]; 9. 1B-Kenny
Brady Jr. [DNF];
HEAT
2 - 1. 410-Paul Pardo [8]; 2. 7-Jordan Conover [1]; 3. 99-Andy King
[9]; 4. 36-Adam Schaeff [6]; 5. 27-Frank Paladino [5]; 6. 20P-Robbie
Phlipot [3]; 7. 19-Wayne Williams [7]; 8. 23-Casey Barr [4]; 9.
98R-Wilbert Ramey [DNS];
HEAT
3 - 1. 22T-Tony Anderson [1]; 2. 5G-Anthony Goode [6]; 3. 00-Dean
Pitts [2]; 4. 58-Alex Peace [5]; 5. 68MC-Rob Love [DNF]; 6. 51H-Jay
Huber [DNF]; 7. 501-Emily Gade [DNS]; 8. 28D-Tracy Dunaway Jr. [DNS];
A
FEATURE - 1. 16-Jeff Koz [1]; 2. 82-Chris Douglas [10]; 3. 99-Andy
King [8]; 4. 7-Jordan Conover [5]; 5. 36-Adam Schaeff [11]; 6.
27-Frank Paladino [14]; 7. 01-Earnie Woodard [13]; 8. 19-Wayne
Williams [20]; 9. 49-Eric Sandlin [16]; 10. 58-Alex Peace [12]; 11.
68MC-Rob Love [15]; 12. 5G-Anthony Goode [6]; 13. 22T-Tony Anderson
[DNF]; 14. 1B-Kenny Brady Jr. [25]; 15. 71C-Barney Craig [DNF]; 16.
20P-Robbie Phlipot [DNF]; 17. 410-Paul Pardo [DNF]; 18. 61-Rob Trent
[DNF]; 19. 00-Dean Pitts [DNS]; 20. 51H-Jay Huber [DNS]; 21.
55A-Brandon Archey [DNS]; 22. 501-Emily Gade [DNS]; 23. 7D-Dan Wooten
[DNS]; 24. 23-Casey Barr [DNS]; 25. 28D-Tracy Dunaway Jr. [DNS]; 26.
98R-Wilbert Ramey [DNS];
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