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Robinson,
Taylor and Bowers top three at Baltes Classic
Robinson’s $3,000 Eldora Victory Serves at Final World 100 Tune-up
ROSSBURG, OH (August 31) – A strong World 100 tune-up victory for Kent
Robinson, a dramatic Stock Car point finale that found Nick Bowers
winning the race, but Frank Paldino stealing the thunder and a
blistering three-car Modified battle bested by Jonathan Taylor scripted
Sunday’s 7th annual Baltes Classic presented by Coors Light at Eldora
Speedway.
With the granddaddy of dirt Late Model racing, the World 100 (September
4, 5 & 6) just a few days away, Sunday’s Sunoco American Late Model
Series (ALMS) served as valuable track time for the teams and a final
opportunity to check chassis set-ups, etc.
For Robinson, the schooling required overcoming a late race battle from
the defending Eldora Late Model champion Matt Miller and a wild
three-car battle among a rising crop of young drivers – Jacob Hawkins,
Jeff Babcock and Duane Chamberlain. Apparently Robinson did
his homework well, as he completed the testing with a perfect score and
a resulting $3,000 payday.
Following a pair of early-race caution periods that slowed the pace, it
was wide open from that point forward. With the teams using
every available inch of the massive Eldora oval, Robinson was busy
staving off Miller, while the war behind them was waging.
In the early going it was Hawkins running third with Brian Ruhlman and
Scott James in tow. Babcock came on the scene by the third
tour to move into fifth and drop James back to fifth. Once
the race returned to green and remained that way, Chamberlain was on
the move and began the three-car battle that had the crowd in awe.
Swapping spots continuously, it came down to the checkered with
Robinson and Miller sweeping first and second, while Hawkins was able
to hold back Babcock and Chamberlain.
Coming into the evening, Jeff Koz had a somewhat comfortable 15-point
margin over Paul Pardo towards the season championship
title. Pretty much, all he had to do was start the race and
finish 14 spots ahead of Pardo at the end of the 15-lap chase.
Knowing the mission that needed to be accomplished, Pardo was up to the
task and jumped into the early lead, as Koz remained within the top
five; keeping Pardo in sight.
All was fine through the first five laps and that is when a storyline
that couldn’t have been written any better by the Hollywood experts
began to unfold.
Coming down to complete six laps, Koz’s car sputtered through turns
three and four and came to a near halt on the front stretch, before
being rear-ended by Robbie Phlipot. Koz limped to the pit
area as the field realigned themselves with Pardo out front and with
his first season title in sight due to Koz’s misfortune.
Only three laps later, Lady Luck turned her nose on Pardo and he too,
dropped off the pace and into the pit area. Koz had seen
this and came back on to the track several laps off the pace, but in
hopes of regaining some valuable finishing positions. It
wasn’t meant to be, he returned to the pits, but with enough points to
finish ahead of Pardo.
Enter the scene Frank Paladino. While all of this
unfolded in front of him, he drove a heads-up race to finish third
behind eventual winner Nick Bowers and Rob Trent and earned enough
tallies to give him his first-ever track championship and, at Eldora
nonetheless. A slim 2-point advantage over Koz catapulted him
into the title as Pardo slipped to fourth behind Earnie Woodard in the
final point rundown.
Knowing they had a job to do to beat that scenario, the Modified
division rose to the occasion.
Taylor powered into the early lead with his brother Evan in hot pursuit
while right behind them was a battle similar to the Late Models
earlier. Babcock and Hawkins were duking it out for third
and fourth, with Ruhlman also doing double duty and hanging in fifth
spot.
Babcock was the first to make a move, as he dispensed of Evan Taylor on
lap three to begin his challenge to Jonathan Taylor. Three
circuits later Ruhlman accomplished the same fete to set up the
three-car war that waged right up through the checkered.
Lapped traffic provided multiple challenges to the trio and set up some
wild maneuvering, yet the spots remained unchanged through the finish
as those three finished in that order. Hawkins was close behind
in fourth while Matt Westfall also passed Evan Taylor to score fifth
spot.
The scene is now set for three nights of racing that includes twin
25-lap A-Features Thursday (Sept. 4) and Friday (Sept. 5) before
Saturday’s (Sept. 6) famed 100-lap chase for the cherished globed
trophy representing a World 100 win.
Fans can purchase remaining race tickets and campsites for the World
100 — or any other exciting Eldora event — by going online to
www.EldoraSpeedway.com. Tickets and campsites may also be purchased
through the Eldora offices during normal business hours by calling
(937) 338-3815.
Additionally, race fans and race teams can get behind-the-scenes access
by following @EldoraSpeedway on Twitter, hitting ‘Like’ at
Facebook.com/EldoraSpeedway and viewing video highlights at
YouTube.com/EldoraSpeedwayInc. Mobile device users can access the
Eldora Speedway app for the iPhone, iPad and Android, which are
available for download via iTunes and Google Play.
-ES-
UMP DIRTcar Late Model
TIME TRIALS - 1. 15H-Jon Henry [15.859]; 2. 20H-Jacob Hawkins [15.891];
3. 3-Matt Miller [15.914]; 4. 1B-Jeff Babcock [15.940]; 5. 7R-Kent
Robinson [15.985]; 6. 9R-Curtis Roberts [16.112]; 7. 33-Aaron Scott
[16.117]; 8. 95J-Jerry Bowersock [16.124]; 9. 13-Jr Hotovy [16.138];
10. 49-Brian Ruhlman [16.153]; 11. 19-Chad Smith [16.205]; 12. 1N-Casey
Noonan [16.217]; 13. M14-Brandon Thirlby [16.231]; 14. 20C-Duane
Chamberlain [16.242]; 15. 83-Scott James [16.290]; 16. 1WC-Wayne Chinn
[16.339]; 17. 15S-Dan Schlieper [16.354]; 18. 3N-Ross Nicastri
[16.388]; 19. 11S-Rusty Schlenk [16.525]; 20. 10D-Curtis Deisenroth
[17.159]; 21. 3G-Brian Gray [17.180]; 22. 8A-Rob Anderzack [17.235];
23. 3A-Phil Ausra [17.352]; 24. 13P-Justin Pouley [17.516]; 25.
5*-Bryant Dickinson [17.588]; 26. 30K-Anthony Davis [18.168]; 27.
93B-Zak Blackwood [20.531]; 28. 97-Michael Chilton [99.999];
HEAT 1 - 1. 7R-Kent Robinson [4]; 2. 49-Brian Ruhlman [2]; 3. 83-Scott
James [1]; 4. 1WC-Wayne Chinn [5]; 5. 11S-Rusty Schlenk [6]; 6. 13-Jr
Hotovy [3]; 7. 3G-Brian Gray [8]; 8. 10D-Curtis Deisenroth [7]; 9.
8A-Rob Anderzack [9]; 10. 5*-Bryant Dickinson [10];
HEAT 2 - 1. 20H-Jacob Hawkins [4]; 2. 20C-Duane Chamberlain [5]; 3.
1B-Jeff Babcock [3]; 4. M14-Brandon Thirlby [1]; 5. 19-Chad Smith [2];
6. 15S-Dan Schlieper [6]; 7. 3N-Ross Nicastri [7]; 8. 13P-Justin Pouley
[8]; 9. 97-Michael Chilton [DNS];
HEAT 3 - 1. 3-Matt Miller [3]; 2. 9R-Curtis Roberts [2]; 3. 33-Aaron
Scott [1]; 4. 15H-Jon Henry [4]; 5. 95J-Jerry Bowersock [5]; 6.
1N-Casey Noonan [6]; 7. 3A-Phil Ausra [7]; 8. 93B-Zak Blackwood [9]; 9.
30K-Anthony Davis [8];
B-FEATURE - 1. 15S-Dan Schlieper [2]; 2. 13-Jr Hotovy [1]; 3. 1N-Casey
Noonan [3]; 4. 3A-Phil Ausra [6]; 5. 3N-Ross Nicastri [5]; 6. 3G-Brian
Gray [4]; 7. 10D-Curtis Deisenroth [7]; 8. 13P-Justin Pouley [8]; 9.
93B-Zak Blackwood [9]; 10. 8A-Rob Anderzack [10]; 11. 30K-Anthony Davis
[DNF]; 12. 5*-Bryant Dickinson [DNF]; 13. 97-Michael Chilton [DNS];
A FEATURE - 1. 7R-Kent Robinson [1]; 2. 3-Matt Miller [3]; 3. 20H-Jacob
Hawkins [2]; 4. 1B-Jeff Babcock [8]; 5. 20C-Duane Chamberlain [5]; 6.
49-Brian Ruhlman [4]; 7. 15H-Jon Henry [12]; 8. M14-Brandon Thirlby
[11]; 9. 11S-Rusty Schlenk [13]; 10. 83-Scott James [7]; 11. 95J-Jerry
Bowersock [15]; 12. 3A-Phil Ausra [19]; 13. 13-Jr Hotovy [17]; 14.
1N-Casey Noonan [18]; 15. 9R-Curtis Roberts [6]; 16. 15S-Dan Schlieper
[16]; 17. 33-Aaron Scott [9]; 18. 3N-Ross Nicastri [20]; 19. 10D-Curtis
Deisenroth [21]; 20. 8A-Rob Anderzack [22]; 21. 1WC-Wayne Chinn [10];
22. 19-Chad Smith [14];
UMP DIRTcar MODIFIED
HEAT 1 - 1. 11R-Josh Rice [5]; 2. 54-Matt Westfall [6]; 3. 5JB-Jerry
Bowersock [9]; 4. 4S-Rob Starkey [1]; 5. 36-Brandon Vaughan [3]; 6.
47-Collin Thirlby [10]; 7. 23J-Jeff Koz [8]; 8. 53S-Brad Simpson [7];
9. 53-Brad Johnson [4]; 10. 67S-Warren Shingleton [DNF];
HEAT 2 - 1. L5-Casey Luedeke [7]; 2. 7-Evan Taylor [5]; 3. 4K-Jason
Kinney [3]; 4. 11MH-Mike Hohlbein [9]; 5. 4J-David Treon, Jr [8]; 6.
79-Shane Unger [1]; 7. 33B-Bobby Boone [DNF]; 8. 21T-Tom Treon [DNF];
9. 75D-Gary Dunaway [DNF]; 10. T5X-Doug Hewitt Jr [DNS];
HEAT 3 - 1. 49-Brian Ruhlman [3]; 2. 20-Josh Morton [1]; 3. 13-Jacob
Hawkins [8]; 4. 1SW-Scott Williams [9]; 5. 26D-Mike Dirksen [2]; 6.
28R-Chad Rosenbeck [10]; 7. 5X-Tim Richardson [4]; 8. 10-Scott
Bowersock [DNF]; 9. 89R-Bobby Rose [DNF]; 10. 52-John Phlipot, Jr [DNS];
HEAT 4 - 1. 7B-Jeff Babcock [8]; 2. 5-Jonathan Taylor [6]; 3. 34X-Ryan
Sutter [4]; 4. 05-David Smith [1]; 5. 55S-Zach Schroeder [3]; 6.
225-Jesse Bitterling [9]; 7. 15J-Jimmy Hayden [DNS]; 8. 86-Drew Smith
[DNS]; 9. 71-Matt Chambers [DNS];
B-FEATURE 1 - 1. 36-Brandon Vaughan [1]; 2. 47-Collin Thirlby [3]; 3.
28R-Chad Rosenbeck [4]; 4. 23J-Jeff Koz [5]; 5. 5X-Tim Richardson [6];
6. 67S-Warren Shingleton [11]; 7. 53S-Brad Simpson [7]; 8. 26D-Mike
Dirksen [2]; 9. 53-Brad Johnson [9]; 10. 10-Scott Bowersock [DNS]; 11.
52-John Phlipot, Jr [DNS]; 12. 89R-Bobby Rose [DNS];
B-FEATURE 2 - 1. 55S-Zach Schroeder [2]; 2. 225-Jesse Bitterling [4];
3. 4J-David Treon, Jr [1]; 4. 75D-Gary Dunaway [9]; 5. 79-Shane Unger
[3]; 6. 71-Matt Chambers [10]; 7. 86-Drew Smith [8]; 8. 33B-Bobby Boone
[DNS]; 9. 15J-Jimmy Hayden [DNS]; 10. 21T-Tom Treon [DNS]; 11. T5X-Doug
Hewitt Jr [DNS];
A FEATURE - 1. 5-Jonathan Taylor [1]; 2. 7B-Jeff Babcock [5]; 3.
49-Brian Ruhlman [6]; 4. 13-Jacob Hawkins [11]; 5. 54-Matt Westfall
[4]; 6. 7-Evan Taylor [3]; 7. 47-Collin Thirlby [19]; 8. 55S-Zach
Schroeder [18]; 9. 5JB-Jerry Bowersock [9]; 10. 1SW-Scott Williams
[15]; 11. 05-David Smith [16]; 12. 225-Jesse Bitterling [20]; 13.
34X-Ryan Sutter [12]; 14. 4S-Rob Starkey [13]; 15. 4K-Jason Kinney
[10]; 16. 11MH-Mike Hohlbein [14]; 17. L5-Casey Luedeke [7]; 18.
4J-David Treon, Jr [22]; 19. 75D-Gary Dunaway [24]; 20. 23J-Jeff Koz
[23]; 21. 28R-Chad Rosenbeck [21]; 22. 20-Josh Morton [2]; 23. 11R-Josh
Rice [8]; 24. 36-Brandon Vaughan [DNS];
STOCK CAR
HEAT 1 - 1. 410-Paul Pardo [5]; 2. 27-Frank Paladino [2]; 3. 25-Nick
Bowers [6]; 4. 99-Andy King [1]; 5. 7-Jordan Conover [3]; 6. 99Z-Donnie
Jeschke [9]; 7. 58-Alex Peace [8]; 8. 23-Casey Barr [4]; 9. 5W-Craig
Swartz [DNS];
HEAT 2 - 1. 61-Rob Trent [2]; 2. 82-Chris Douglas [3]; 3. 00-Dean Pitts
[4]; 4. 01-Earnie Woodard [8]; 5. 71C-Barney Craig [5]; 6. 20P-Robbie
Phlipot [6]; 7. 10FF-Kenny Brady Jr. [1]; 8. 1W-Mark Wooten [DNF];
HEAT 3 - 1. 16-Jeff Koz [8]; 2. 5G-Anthony Goode [1]; 3. 7B-Shawn
Valenti [5]; 4. 49-Eric Sandlin [4]; 5. 19-Wayne Williams [2]; 6.
55A-Brandon Archey [6]; 7. 55-Bradley Caudill [7]; 8. 9-Dave Keysor
[DNF];
A FEATURE - 1. 25-Nick Bowers [7]; 2. 61-Rob Trent [2]; 3. 27-Frank
Paladino [4]; 4. 7B-Shawn Valenti [9]; 5. 71C-Barney Craig [14]; 6.
00-Dean Pitts [8]; 7. 99Z-Donnie Jeschke [16]; 8. 5G-Anthony Goode [6];
9. 82-Chris Douglas [5]; 10. 19-Wayne Williams [15]; 11. 01-Earnie
Woodard [11]; 12. 55A-Brandon Archey [18]; 13. 7-Jordan Conover [13];
14. 23-Casey Barr [22]; 15. 55-Bradley Caudill [21]; 16. 5W-Craig
Swartz [25]; 17. 10FF-Kenny Brady Jr. [20]; 18. 99-Andy King [10]; 19.
20P-Robbie Phlipot [17]; 20. 410-Paul Pardo [3]; 21. 16-Jeff Koz [1];
22. 58-Alex Peace [19]; 23. 1W-Mark Wooten [DNS]; 24. 9-Dave Keysor
[DNS]; 25. 49-Eric Sandlin [DNS];
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