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Michael Despain
JUNCTION CITY, Ky. (May 23) - The Battle of the Bluegrass Modified Series visited Ponderosa Speedway on Friday evening for the 4th Annual Summer Shootout and Don Adams of London, KY would walk away with the $1,500 Modified feature win and payday. In other action, Dustin Linville of Lancaster, KY would claim his first Good Neighbor Pharmacy Super Late Model feature win at "Kentucky's Baddest Bullring", while P.J. Feistritzer of Danville, KY would make it five straight wins in Kentucky National Guard Pro Late Model action, and Pat Hagan of New Haven, KY would be credited with the SkyTower Power Race Engines Sportsman feature win.
The 25 lap Good Neighbor Pharmacy Super Late Model feature would see the first start voided when contact occurred in turn three, resulting in Dustin Neat spinning his mount and complete restart would ensue. When action received the green flag, Justin Rattliff would take the race lead, with Dustin Linville, Jordan Bland, Aaron Hatton, and Dustin Neat in pursuit. Rattliff and Linville would immediately begin to pull away from the field, while Neat would begin to pressure Hatton for the fourth spot. With the lead duo working slower traffic by lap 10, Neat would slide past Hatton for the fourth position on lap 11. On lap 14, Linville would flex some muscle and begin to pressure Rattliff for the top spot as the pair began working heavy traffic, with Bland still third, Neat fourth, and Hatton holding off Joey Daniel for fifth. Lap 15 would see the lead pair side-by-side for the top spot, with Linville nosing Rattliff at the stripe for the lead on lap 16, with Daniel slipping past Hatton for fifth on same circuit. Rattliff would be credited with the lead on lap 17, as the pair continued to battle side-by-side for lead, only to have Linville reclaim the top spot one circuit later. But the race would change on lap 19 when Larry Gray, Bobby Wolter, Jr., and Miguel Coffey would tangle in turn three and second place running Rattliff would have no place to go and end in the melee as well, ending his night. After a lengthy caution period to clear the accident scene, Linville would hold the lead, with Neat, Daniel, Bland, and Johnny Wheeler now making up the top five. Wheeler would slip past Bland for fourth on lap 20, bringing Mike Jewell along into fifth. Jewell would challenge Wheeler for fourth and take the position on lap 24, but up front, it would be the 17 year old second generation racer taking the win as Linville would see the checkered flag first in the Bruce Barnes owned, Barnes Family Dentistry/Linville Finish Carpentry/Lester Grider Trucking/Budda Bert Transmission Sales and Service/BG Oil/ Cookie Monster Power Plants/Skillsaw Designs/DJ Safety/American Racer Tires sponsored #D8 C.J. Rayburn Race Cars, Jay Dickens Race Engines powered mount. Neat and Daniel would claim second and third, with Jewell and Wheeler completing the top five. Rounding out the top ten were Jordan Bland, Jeff Watson, Aaron Hatton, 22nd starting Michael Chilton (Valvoline Six-Pack Hard Charger award winner), and Jason Keltner. Linville would also be the top qualifier among 22 entries with a lap of 13.579 seconds, with Rattliff winning the dash, while Mike Jewell and Joey Daniel were heat race winners.
The start of the 25 lap, $1,500 to win Battle of the Bluegrass Modified Series A-Main would see the first two attempted starts called back after a Travis Preston spin and a Don Adams and Rocky Wilson spin. Once action got underway, Benji Lee would take the initial lead, followed by Kelly Warren, Joey Kramer, Don Adams, and Jason Wheatley. The front five remained the same until the next caution flew on lap 4 for spin by Mick Sansom in turn two. With the Delaware double-file restarts in use, Kramer would to second on lap 4, only to have Warren retake second one trip later, while Adams and Kramer would duel for third. Aaron Ogle would spin on lap 6 to draw the next caution flag and the restart would see the top five remain the same, with Adams turning up the heat on Warren for second. The next caution waved on lap 13 as J.T. Ayers saw his mount let out a large cloud on smoke on the frontchute, ending his night while he was racing in the seventh position. Adams would get by Warren on the restart and the field would complete one more circuit before Aaron Ogle would draw his second caution for a spin and turn two and see his night be finished. The restart would have Lee and Adams first and second, while Kramer would skate past Warren for fourth, with Wheatley still holding on to fifth.
With 10 laps remaining, Adams turned up the wick on his charge for the lead on Lee, while Kramer and Warren battled side-by-side for third. Laps 21 through 24 would see the front pair of Lee and Adams wheel-to-wheel for the lead, before Adams would pull off a slidejob pass of Lee exiting turn four to take the race lead on lap 25. Warren would continue to battle Kramer for the three slot and would drive past the series points leader for the spot on lap 27. The final three laps would see Adams pull away from Lee a bit to claim the A-Main checkered flag over Lee in the Darren Jones owned Car Care/Fast Company sponsored #66 Lightning Chassis, Roger Williams Race Engines powered machine, with Warren holding off the challenges of Kramer for third, while Wheatley would complete the top five. The remainder of the top ten would be Brandon Green, Skylar Marlar, Joe David Turner, Robbie Gullion, and Scotty Kincaid. In preliminary action, Joey Kramer was top qualifier among 23 entries with a lap time of 14.784 second. A trio of qualifying heat events would be contested with those checkered flags falling to Kelly Warren, Benji Lee, and Jason Wheatley. Jeff Johnson would claim the Valvoline Six-Pack Hard Charger award.
The Kentucky National Guard Pro Late Model feature event would only go the halfway mark, as an electrical outage occurred, putting out the track lights in turns one and two, as a result of an electrical box failure. At this point, the evening's racing action was called complete and P.J. Feistritzer would take the win to make it five straight Pro Late Model feature wins this season aboard the Big Daddy's Auto Sales/Self-Service Storage #88 C.J. Rayburn Race Car entry. Todd Coffman, Bryan Bernhardt, Gary Yeager, and Tommy Carlton completed the top five, with the remainder of the finishing order being Dylan Preston, Clarence Belcher, Jim Wilson, and Zane Morgan. Feistritzer would also win the heat. Carlton would earn the Valvoline Six-Pack Hard Charger award for this race.
With the power failure, the drivers in the SkyTower Power Race Engines Sportsman feature elected to be paid by the way they would have started the main event, thus giving Pat Hagan the checkerd flag nod for the Sportsman division behind the wheel of the Billy Holbert owned, New Haven NAPA/New Haven Car Wash/Century 21 sponsored #88 Chevy Monte Carlo. Being credited with second through fifth would be Rick King, Bartley Grant, Logan Whitis, and Troy Scott. The remainder of the running order would be Darrell Cain, Grady Moore, Jr., Bryan Montgomery, and Brian Elder. Hagan was also the heat winner.
SUMMARY-Ponderosa Speedway-Junction City, KY-May 23, 2008
Battle of the Bluegrass Modifieds (23 entries)
Top Qualifier- Joey Kramer 14.784
1st Heat- Kelly Warren, Joey Kramer, Skylar Marlar, Wayne James, Mick Sansom, Aaron Ogle, Russ Gabbert (DNS- Jeff Johnson)
2nd Heat- Benji Lee, Don Adams, Robbie Gullion, Scotty Kincaid, Travis Preston, Bobby Neal, Rocky Wilson
3rd Heat- Jason Wheatley, J.T. Ayers, Brandon Green, Joe Gray, Joe David Turner, Shawn Tolson, Ricky Lane
A-Main: Don Adams, Benji Lee, Kelly Warren, Joey Kramer, Jason Wheatley, Brandon Green, Skylar Marlar, Joe David Turner, Robbie Gullion, Scotty Kincaid, Jeff Johnson, Wayne James, Shawn Tolson, Mick Sansom, Travis Preston, Ricky Lane, Joe Gray, Rocky Wilson, Aaron Ogle, J.T. Ayers, Bobby Neal (DNS- Russ Gabbert, Brian Hash)
Good Neighbor Pharmacy Super Late Models (22 entries)
Wayne Bowen Racing Supply Top Qualifier- Dustin Linville 13.579
Dash- Justin Rattliff, Dustin Linville, Aaron Hatton, Jordan Bland, Dustin Neat, Bobby Wolter, Jr.
1st Heat- Mike Jewell, Jeff Watson, Larry Gray, Jason Keltner
2nd Heat- Joey Daniel, Johnny Wheeler, Miguel Coffey, Jerry Fuson
Feature- Dustin Linville, Dustin Neat, Joey Daniel, Mike Jewell, Johnny Wheeler, Jordan Bland, Jeff Watson, Aaron Hatton, Michael Chilton, Jason Keltner, David Webb, Jerry Fuson, Chris Ruble, Sidney Sprague, Alan Phillips, Miguel Coffey, Justin Rattliff, Bobby Wolter, Jr., Larry Gray, Bobby Carrier, Jr., Ernie Cordier, Jake Henry
Kentucky National Guard Pro Late Models (9 entries)
Heat- P.J. Feistritzer, Todd Coffman, Bryan Bernhardt, Gary Yeager
Feature- P.J. Feistritzer, Todd Coffman, Bryan Bernhardt, Gary Yeager, Tommy Carlton, Dylan Preston, Clarence Belcher, Jim Wilson, Zane Morgan
SkyTower Power Race Engines Sportsman (9 entries)
Heat- Pat Hagan, Rick King, Bartley Grant, Logan Whitis
Feature (Called Done Because of Pail Failulre0- Pat Hagan Rick King, Bartley Grant, Logan Whitis, Troy Scott, Darrell Cain, Grady Moore, Jr., Bryan Montgomery, Brian Elder
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