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Chuck Griffith
LAKEVILLE, Ohio (August 23) - Just after hot laps had been completed, I had a quick conversation with Rocky Owens as he was making his second visit to the 3/8 mile oval at Lakeville Speedway.The talk went from his past performances around the state and back to Lakeville.He said to me that racing the previous week had been a lot of fun and that he was elated to have finished in the runner up spot to Benny Lester.He had the look of a winner in his eyes and he backed that up with a hard fought victory over nineteen other drivers in the Late Model A main event.Owens had earned the outside of the front row after finishing third in his heat race and on the redraw format was starting beside multi time winner Mike Lonas. The first two laps saw Owens go the point with Lonas glued to his back bumper.On the second lap,the first caution slowed the field and on the restart,Owen blasted away again on the bottom of the racing surface as Lonas continued to pressure the leader.After a couple more laps,Doug Drown moved in to challenge Lonas for the second spot and that war continued for several laps until Drown was able to finally clear Lonas for second place.Lap traffic then became part of the excitement with Owens showing his great ability to weave through the back markers while keeping Drown behind him.Dave Hornikel moved into the top four on lap sixteen and tried many times to pass Lonas for third, however Lonas stood to the test keeping Hornikel back in fourth place. Owens drove the final laps out front and took his first checker of the year in his Oak Stone Restoration and Hilltop Quick Lube sponsored entry. The final results were Owens, Drown, Lonas,
SUMMARY
Late Models
Heat 1- Ryan Eddleblute, Jason Flory, Matt Irey, CobyBartrum, Mike Geiss
Heat 2- Kristin Flory, J.R.Gentry, Benny Lester, Mike Lonas, Jay McDougal
Heat 3- Dave Hornikel, Doug Drown, Rocky Owens, Jim Morey, Gary Hensel Sr
Feature- Ownes, Drown, Lonas, Hornikel, Eddleblute, Jason Flory, Gentry, Lester, Kristin Flory, Irey, Geiss, McDougal, Bartrum, Eric Eicholtz, Jamie Reed, Morey, Bruce Miller, Steve Shaffer, Hensel Sr, Skip McKinney
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