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Chuck Griffith
LAKEVILLE, Ohio (May 24) - As the gates at The New Lakeville Speedway was opened on Friday night,everyone had been bleesed with weather perfect conditions for a great night of racing and the 94 drivers in attendance gave the fans one of the most exciting performances of the year in all 5 divisions on the card.
In the Lakeville Late Model first leg of the Triple Crown Series,it was evident in the three qualifying heats that the 40 lap feature was going to be one that would keep the fans standing up and the 20 drivers gave them just that.The front row saw Clint Coffman on the pole with Mike Graber on the outside of the front row.The second row was made up of Ty Myers and Kristin Flory.The first caution was shown after the first lap was recorded for Graber,Alan Baker and J.R.Gentry.All three were required to restart at the tail of the field. Coffman was at the point with Myers in behind the leader.As they got back to racing action,Kristin Flory had moved into the third spot with Benny Lester moving from 6th to be shown in fourth.The yellow was shown again on lap seven for Baker who then retired to the pits.On the restart Lester moved around K.Flory for third.Myers continued to chase Coffman up front as J.R.Gentry went to the top and ,I mean top of the multi grooved prepared racing surface from the back of the field and was on his march forward.Coffman was able to stretch a sizable lead over Myers with Lester,Mike Lonas and K. Flory racing very close.By lap 15 Coffman was in complete control of the action as the score sheet showed Myers second,Lester third,K.Flory ,then Lonas fourth.Gentry continued to pick off one at a time and on two ocassions off of turn two the competitors were racing three wide.Lap after lap,Gentry moved closer to the front of the field.A couple more caution would tighten up the field as Eric Eicholtz was working from his 16th spot along with Jason Flory coming forward from 7th.By lap 19 Gentry had positioned himself in second behind Coffman.When lap 22 was recorded,Gentry made his move on Coffman to take the lead and with some great side by side action Gentry made it stick on lap 24.The line up then was Gentry,Coffman,Myers,Lester and Jason Flory.A caution flag slowed the field on lap 29 and on the restart coming off of turn two,Coffman went to the bottom and was able to secure the lead spot for the second time in the event.In the final 10 laps of the Triple Crown event Lester and J.Flory went 3 laps fender to fender with Eicholtz coming into the three car battle.Coffman gathered in his first win at Lakeville Speedway in his Coffman Corvette,Federated Auto Parts sponsored entry over Gentry,Jason Flory,Eicholtz and Lester.
In the 25 lap A Main for the Pepsi Sprints,Kurt Jeffries blasted from the outside of the front row to take the lead at the drop of the green and led the first three laps with Chris Andrews in hot pursuit.Jeffries lost the handle entering turn one and rolled to a stop which gave the lead to Andrews.Bill Ault was maintaining a second place run from the pole starting spot with 6th place starter Cody Jacobs running third.Bryan Grove then was getting pressure from Nick Mulheim and Jason Dolick.Dolick was working from his 12 place starting spot as was Tim Hunter from 6th place Andrews was picture perfect in handling his Blue Chip sponsored sprinter as he opened up a good lead over the field.Aaron Middaugh started 10th was got into some good racing action against Dolick and Jeremy Aumend.Mulheim rolled to stop off of turn 4 on lap 16 and was done for the evening.In the fianal 9 laps of the event Andrews was not closely challenged by anyone as Hunter finished second,Jacobs was third,Dolick drove to a fourth place finish with Middaugh getting fifth.
The Hamlin Racing Engine Pure Stocks were on center stage next,and they were not going to take a back seat to the first two features when it came to excitement for the fans.24 Pure Stocks were on hand and track owner Randy Young started all 24 in the Main Event.The first two rows were Brad Channell,Billy Goerz,Ben Mott and Don Baney.Goerz led the first circuit with Channell going to the point coming off of turn two on the second time around by going to the bottom of the track.Baney at the same time was on the move as he moved to third.Goerz was overtaken by Baney on lap nine,but not without a struggle.Hud Wharton was running side by side with Todd Werntz as was Frank Oriti with Sean Cain.After a caution flag,Cain was sent to the tail and later raced back to a respectable sixth place finish.As the laps ticked off,Travis Mensching had came from 11th to join in the top five runners,however on the final lap rolled to a stop in the infield.At the finish,Channell recorded his first win of the season with Baney second,Wharton third,Oriti fourth and Goerz finishing fifth.
The Mini Stock A Main was up next and it would prove to be an exciting event as well.Brad Hensel had the pole and didn't waste any time in taking charge of the race.Roger Rush Sr.,from third place, mounted his charge early,however was sent tail after an early race caution flag.Henry Britton then replaced Rush in second place with Jordan James in third and Sean Rush in fourth.Britton put a lot of pressure on Hensel,but it did not affect Hensel as he maintained very smooth laps around the very fast 3/8 mile speedplant.Justin Brown put his entry into the front runners action by lap 5 along with Jeremy Lucas from starting 12th.In the latter part of the race,Britton and Sean Rush made contact with Rush stopping on the track and had to restart at the back of the field.Britton rolled to the infield on the final lap.At the checker flag time,it was Hensel,Brown,Lucas,Jordan James and Roger Rush Sr in the top five positions.
Doug Hensel collected his third feature win of the 2008 racing season in the Novice Mini Stock feature.He was chased the entire race by Brad Lawhorn,but at times was many car lengths ahead of the field.Several other races behind the leader was happening between Kevin Wright and Tim Rush along with Junior Bland and Trevor Quicksall.At the end it was Hensel,Lawhorn,Rush,Wright and Bland
SUMMARY
Late Models--Triple Crown Series
Heat 1 - Clint Coffman,Mike Lonas,Kristin Flory,Jerry WeaverJay McDougal
Heat 2 - J.R.Gentry,Jason Flory,Wes Morrison,Alan Baker,Matt Irey
Heat 3 - Benny Lester,Ty Myers,John Reasor,Mike Graber,Coby Bartrum
Triple Crown 40 Lap Feature
Coffman,Gentry,J.Flory,Eric Eicholtz,Lester,Morrison,Myers,Reasor,Bill Clapp Jr.Lonas,McDougal,Graber,
Ryan Eddleblute,Bartrum,Goob Grogg,K.Flory,Tony Cline,Baker,Irey,Weaver
Sprints
Heat 1 - Danny Mumaw,Nick Mulheim,Bryan Grove,Kurt Jeffries,Jeremy Aumend
Heat 2 - Chris Andrews,Cody Jacobs,Bill Ault,Tim Hunter,Aaron Middaugh
Feature - Andres,Hunter,Jacobs,Dolick,Middaugh,Jeffries,Ault,Aumend,Chad Levingston,Mulheim,Groves,Mumaw
Pure Stocks
Heat 1 - Frank Oriti,Billy Goerz,Todd Werntz,Brad Channell,Rich Frame
Heat 2 - Travis Mensching,Don Baney,Paul Harringer,Paul Whitten,Justin Patterson
Heat 3 - Hud Wharton,Ben Mott,Sean Cain,Dave Messinger,Mark Bee
Feature - Channell,Baney,Wharton,Oriti,Goerz,Cain,Donna Canode,Mott,Messinger,Murray Anderson,Jason Rohr,
Larry loney,Frame,John Stream,Jason Rodek,Ken Yarosh,Patterson,Werntz,Bee,Mensching,Bob Clantz,Dave Haven Jr,Whitten,Harringer
Mini Stocks
Heat 1 - Kyle Moore,Jordan James,Mark Myers,Scott Bush,Justin Carter
Heat 2 - Sean Rush,Jeremy Lucas,Roger Rush Sr,Lenny Quinn,Kurt Shultz
Heat 3 - Henry Britton,Justin Brown,Brad Hensel,Steve Quicksall,Jason King
Feature - Hensel,Brown,Lucas,Jordan James,Rush Sr,Myers,Tim Jenson,Quicksall,Cody Rinard,Bush,King,Quinn,Doug Wantz,S.Rush
Jeff James,Britton,Moore,Carter,Wayne Newberry,Robert Lapp,Shultz
Novice Mini Stocks
Heat 1 - Brad Lawhorn,Tim Rush,Kevin Wright,Steve Foley,John Bland
Heat 2 - Doug Hensel,Dustin Daugherty,Trevor Quicksall,Bill Mumaw
Feature - Hensel,Lawhorn,Rush,Wright,Bland,Quicksall,Foley,Daugherty,Mumaw,Mitchell McClure,Rod Daugherty
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