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Mike Leone
MINERAL WELLS, W.V. (October 16) - The FASTRAK Late Model Racing Series contested their second National Event of the season at West Virginia Motor Speedway on Saturday night. The event was the finale on the inaugural Mid-Ohio Valley Touring Series and was part of the 30th annual Dirt Track World Championship for the very first time. A huge crowd turned out for action at the 5/8-mile speed plant along with 47 competitors from all over this side of the Mississippi.
Jonathan Davenport came to West Virginia on a mission. After getting taken out while leading last Saturday night in Night 2 of the Grand Nationals at Modoc (SC) Speedway, Davenport spanked the competition for his second $10,000 National Event win of the season at West Virginia Motor Speedway on Saturday. The 27-year-old Blairsville, Georgia racer won at the track back on July 10. Davenport also finished fourth in the $50,000 to-win Dirt Track World Championship event for Super Late Models earlier in the evening.
The event got off to a rough start when a multi-car accident on the backstretch of the opening lap took out five competitors for the night and saw several others pitting and returning to competition at the tail. Away from the accident, outside pole-sitter Jimmy Schiltz slammed the wall when his car wouldn't turn ending his night prematurely.
Davenport moved to the outside front row when racing resumed and quickly drove by pole-sitter Dan Angelicchio with Chip Brindle, David Smith, and Shane Hitt in tow. The race's second and final caution slowed action when Illinois racer Credence Mott got into the wall with six laps completed.
When green replaced yellow, Smith made a nice move to pass both Brindle and Angelicchio for second. Davenport slowly pulled away from the pack, while the race was on for second. Smith had trouble getting around the lapped car of Kyle Lukon, which allowed Angelicchio, 12th starting Dan Breuer, and Brindle to close in making it a four-car race for the runner-up spot. By lap 30, Hitt caught up to the pack as now five cars raced for the second spot.
With a slight nudge Smith was able to get past Lukon and opened up some breathing room until lap 41 when Angelicchio was right back on the southern star's tail. Angelicchio tried every move possible getting underneath and at times nearly alongside Smith, but just couldn't make the pass even though it appeared he was faster.
Davenport would lap up to the fourth place car at the finish in the Craig Patterson-owned, Mega Plumbing/Elite Concrete/Barry Wright Race Cars #49. South Carolina's Smith barely held on for the $5,000 second place prize. What a great night for Angelicchio, who set fast time in his group and won the first heat race and brought the Brooks Automotive Group/S&S Communications/Amy B Photography-sponsored #14 home in a fine third for a season high $3,000 winnings.
The Greensburg, Pa. 22-year-old driver has been impressive all season long in National Events as he also finished second at McKean County Raceway on June 19, 10th in the first show at WVMS, and seventh at Eldora Speedway on July 31! Angelicchio was actually the last car to arrive at the speedway as he broke down and had to have Gary Knollinger's father tow him to the speedway.
North Carolina's Breuer was fourth. Brindle was running fifth, but did a 360 spin on the final lap allowing Hitt to cross the line in fifth with Brindle dropping to sixth. Hitt started the race from 10th and was in the top five for most of the event as the Buckhannon, West Virginia racer was the second highest local finisher. Interestingly enough, the top five racers were from five different states!
David Watts had a good run coming from 14th to finish seventh. A call goes out to Joel Prosser. The New Martinsville, West Virginia racer didn't have the season he had hoped for, but certainly was impressive on Saturday night charging from the 19th starting spot to a solid eighth place finish as the third top local. Prosser did finish fifth at the last MOV event at WVMS on September 2.
Jesse Wisecarver was the hard charger of the night. Wisecarver came from eighth in his B main to finish fourth with a next-to-last lap pass of Knollinger to qualify for the feature. Wisecarver then worked his way from the 24th starting spot to a respectable ninth place finish. Seventeen-year-old Colton Flinner, a one-time Pittsburgh winner this season, improved on his 15th place WVMS finish on July 10 with a 10th place effort. Heat winners were Angelicchio, Schiltz, Smith, and Davenport. Steve Banal and Mike Faykus won the twin B mains.
Despite just missing out on making the feature, Knollinger claimed the inaugural MOV Touring Series championship. The Wheeling, West Virginia driver also finished fourth in the Northeast Touring Series points. Mike Pegher, Jr. entered the night runner-up in points, but was sidelined from an injury suffered in an accident last Saturday at Roaring Knob Motorsports Complex. The third, fourth, and fifth place point men of Kyle Thomas, Josh Holtgraver, and K.C. Burdette all failed to qualify for the feature and were unable to qualify for the feature as well.
FASTRAK Mid-Ohio Valley Late Model Touring Series Race #6 of 6 (50 laps, $10,000 to-win): 1. JONATHAN DAVENPORT (Patterson 49) 2. David Smith (11) 3. Dan Angelicchio (14) 4. Dan Breuer (B7) 5. Shane Hitt (2) 6. Chip Brindle (21B) 7. David Watts (04) 8. Joe Prosser (77) 9. Jesse Wisecarver (11) 10. Colton Flinner (75) 11. Sammy Stile (Hughes 79) 12. Bud Watson (Powell 100) 13. Kyle Lukon (1) 14. Bryan Force (31) 15. Mark Banal (Williams 8) 16. Chris Parsons (18) 17. Credence Mott (89) 18. Steve Cooke (17c) 19. Andrew Wylie (84) 20. Kenny Peeples, Jr. (32) 21. Jimmy Schiltz (24) 22. Steve Shaver (27) 23. Mike Faykus (6) 24. Steve Banal (8).
B main 1 non-qualifiers: 5. Mark Moats, Jr. (15) 6. Sonny Conley (1x1) 7. Tyler Carpenter (Watson 51) 8. Zack Dohm (115) 9. Josh Holtgraver (00) 10. Aaron Barley (28) 11. Eddie Hambrick, Jr. (45) 12. Justin Hirt (27) 13. Frankie Johnston (2) 14. Kyle Thomas (57)-DNS 15. T.J. Salango (18)-DNS 16. Tate Hughes (22c)-DNS.
B main 2 non-qualifiers: 5. Gary Knollinger (38K) 6. Ron Slavic (Meglaye 5) 7. K.C. Burdette (KC44) 8. Dan Karalagas (G1) 9. Mike Wharton (100) 10. Jacob Lash (83) 11. Nathan Harrison (95) 12. Tom Copeland (98) 13. Kevin Colston (38) 14. Kris Southern (K2) 15. Chris Meadows (33)-DNS.
Heat winners: Angelicchio, Schiltz, Smith, Davenport
B main winners: Steve Banal, Faykus
Lap leaders: Davenport (1-50)
Car count: 46
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