Stewart wins 2010 Limaland Championships, Schroeder takes NRA Crown

From Limaland Motorsports Park

The 2010 Limaland Motorsports Park racing season will go down in the record books with two of the three division titles ending in numerical ties, only to be decided by a feature wins/runner-up finishes tie-breaker formula.

The K&N UMP Modifieds points chase was between two former track champions from Indiana, Todd Sherman and Terry Hull. Sherman held a slim two-point margin entering the night’s action, but he had the pole starting position for the feature, while Terry Hull was on the outside of row four.

Casey Luedeke broke to the lead at the start, only to surrender the point on the second lap to Jerry Bowersock. Bowersock looked like a winner the previous week until a late race collision with a lapped car ended his evening. On this night, Jerry Bowersock executed an impressive pass on the inside of Luedeke on lap two and made it stick for the duration of the 20-lap event.

“We tried to do this last week and it just didn’t work out,” said Bowersock. “Tonight I felt like I should be working the bottom and try not to make any mistakes.” Jon Henry, Terry Hull, Jeff Babcock and Todd Sherman rounded out the top five finishers, but not after some exciting racing action the included the matchup of Sherman and Hull for the track championship.

Hull needed to finish ahead of Todd Sherman to have a chance for the crown and he did just that. Amazingly, Hull’s two position advantage of Sherman resulted in a numerical tie, forcing race officials to resort to the first level tie-breaker formula, feature wins. Todd Sherman had posted four on the season and Hull only three, giving Sherman the nod in the closest point’s decision imaginable.

“The feature here I saw Terry and I was nauseated, thinking this is bad and maybe I haven’t been going as hard as I should,” reflected Sherman on his first Limaland title since 2004. “This field up front was so stacked, what a battle. I have a great crew that maintains my cars really well. I’ve been disappointed before here, so this one feels good. Amazing championship battle, I can’t thank God enough!”

The closeness of a points chase became the theme also for the Sprints 25-lap encounter as both the Limaland Motorsports Park track title and touring Engine Pro/NRA Sprint Invader crown were to be decided. Butch Schroeder held a 24 point margin in the NRA points over JR Stewart, while Stewart was six points ahead of Schroeder in the Limaland points to start the evening.

Veteran Tim Allison had won the most recent Sprint car feature at Limaland two weeks earlier and had the pole starting position on this decisive night. Allison roared to the front at the start and used different racing lines of the track in holding off a number of serious challengers. At various times, Luke Hall and Kyle Sauder pressured Allison, but were not able to take the lead at any point.

“There is never a win that is easy here,” said the elated Allison of his third season win. “We didn’t win the championship, but to finish with a couple of wins late in the year and go out on top like this is almost a dream season.”

The race within a race was between Stewart and Schroeder for the respective season crowns. They were aware of each other throughout the race, with Butch Schroeder posting a defining third place result to capture the NRA crown, while Stewart would up sixth setting up a numerical tie with Schroeder for the Limaland Sprints point’s title. Both racers had two feature wins on the season, and Stewart’s two runner-up results proved to be the difference giving the Bellefontaine veteran his second consecutive track crown.

”I feel really good to win the NRA championship,” said Schroeder. “A couple of tracks I thought I might be good at I was mediocre (Eldora and KC), but I had a good year here.”

Stewart, unable to repeat as NRA champ was nonetheless pleased with another track title. “Me and Butch were running side-by-side for about the whole race and that’s the way a championship should be decided. I couldn’t be more proud of this team as they work as hard as anybody, with their effort in the shop and at the track. We had a new car this year and we kept trying stuff and obviously got it to work.”

The final Budweiser Thunderstocks feature of the year was a fitting conclusion to the season as point’s leader Tony Anderson and runner-up Jeff Koz battled each other for the win in the 15-lap race.

UNOH Racer Kody Weisner, a winner from earlier in the season, bolted to the front at the start and held the lead over Koz and Anderson for the first six circuits. Weisner, of Muskegon, Michigan, suffered a slight bobble and that’s all it took for Jeff Koz to make a pass for the lead. On the lap eight restart it was Koz, Anderson and Weisner at the front of the field.

Anderson’s points lead was not mathematically safe entering the final race, but at 48 points it would take a near perfect night for Koz and disaster for Tony Anderson to give Koz the title. The two engaged in a stirring side-by-side battle, with Koz ultimately prevailing for the second time this season and in his stock car career at Limaland.

For Bluffton’s Tony Anderson, it marked a sixth track championship. “It started to get rough out here about a month ago and I started to back off and look to win a championship, maybe more than wins,” stated Anderson. “A lot of these guys in this class have actually stepped up and made it very competitive.”

The 12th annual King of the Quarter Mile races are 10-lap showdowns that pit the respective feature winners throughout the season against each other for thousands of dollars of additional prize money. Starting positions are determined by a random draw as young fans join in the festivities making the selections for the competing drivers.

In the Sprints King race, Mike Dussel benefitted from the outside front row starting position. The veteran campaigner from Burgoon, Ohio, took full advantage and stormed around the fast topside of the track to post the win and pocket $3,000. Hammons Motorsports teammate JR Stewart and Luke Hall finished second and third, although never really threatening Dussel for the lead.

The Modified King race was certainly the most hotly contested. Wapakoneta, Ohio driver Jerry Bowersock was leading the field and looked as thought he would add to his feature win of earlier in the evening. A restart at the race mid-point proved defining as officials penalized Bowersock for jumping on the gas too early. It appeared he went all out in turn three instead of turn four when the green flag unfurled. Bowersock was penalized one lap, giving Jeff Babcock the lead. The former track champion moved to the top and rode the cushion to the $2,000 victory with Bowersock finishing second.

The Thunderstocks King event was a battle of attrition with Keith Ralston, Tim Bowen, Jeff Koz and UNOH Racer Kody Weisner all challenging for supremacy during the 10-lap shootout. Ralston t-boned his car into wall on the backside, Bowen suffered a flat tire, while eventual winner Barney Craig was the beneficiary of Koz, Tony Anderson and Kody Weisner battling with each other. Craig takes home the $1,000 in a season that saw him compete only part time, in the latter stages of the season.

The final event of the 2010 season is the Limaland Motorsports Park Awards Banquet on Saturday, October 16 at the UNOH Event Center. For tickets and complete information call 419-998-3168 during regular business hours. All the latest news and information about America’s premier quarter-mile dirt track can be found at www.limaland.com. You can also find Limaland Motorsports Park on Facebook.

Limaland Motorsports Park – 8/27/2010
UNOH Night

K&N UMP Modifieds
Heat 1 – (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. OO-John Brooks; 2. 5X-Jerry Bowersock; 3. 74-Lenny Guyton; 4. O1-Chris Puskas; 5. 20K-Bill Keeler; 6. 28-Chad Rosenbeck; 7. 73-Jerry Hayden; 8. 65X-Steve Christman; 9. K9-Scott Gerdemen

Heat 2 – (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 22T-Tony Anderson; 2. L5-Casey Luedeke; 3. 40-Terry Hull; 4. 22B-Andy Bibler; 5. 42-Bob Baldwin; 6. 36-Kelly Bowlby; 7. 33-Clint Reagle; 8. 79-Shane Unger

Heat 3 – (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 52-Jeff Babcock; 2. 65-Todd Sherman; 3. 15H-Jon Henry; 4. 45P-Brian Post; 5. 19-Ryan Ordway; 6. 2-Andy Strait; 7. 15-Nick Katterhenry; 8. 47-Nick Rosselit

B-Main – (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 1-Andy Strait 2. 15-Nick Katterhenry 3. 36-Kelly Bowlby 4. 47-Nick Rosselit 5. 28-Chad Rosenbeck 6. 33-Clint Reagle 7. 79-Shane Unger 8. 73-Jerry Hayden 9. K9-Scott Gerdeman 10. 65X-Steve Christman

A-Main – (20 Laps)
1. 5X-Jerry Bowersock 2. 15H-Jon Henry 3. 40-Terry hull 4. 52-Jeff Babcock 5. 65-Todd Sherman 6. 45P-Brian Post 7. L5-Casey Luedeke 8. 00-John Brooks 9. 2-Andy Strait 10. 01-Chris Puskus 11. 22B-Andy Bibler 12. 42-Bob Baldwin 13. 22T-Tony Anderson 14. 15-Nick Katterhenry 16. 36-Kelly Bowlby 17. 74-Lenny Guyton 18. 19-Ryan Ordway 19. 47-Nick Rosselit 20. 28-Chad Rosenbeck

Engine Pro NRA Sprints
Heat 1 – (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 6S-Jr Stewart; 2. 5W-Jeff Williams; 3. 7K-Kyle Sauder; 4. 11-Tim Allison; 5. 35-Ron Blair; 6. 17-Jared Horstman; 7. 2-Brent Gehr; 8. 48-Tommy Kerce; 9. 2MH-Ethan Hoy; 10. 32M-Derek Hastings

Heat 2 – (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. B20-Butch Schroeder; 2. 28H-Hud Horton; 3. 34-Luke Hall; 4. 18-Todd Heuerman; 5. 22DH-Randy Hannagan; 6. 2M-Dustin Daggett; 7. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild; 8. 7C-Tim Hunter; 9. 10J-Jarrod Delong

Heat 3 – (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 6-Mike Dussel; 2. 12M-Caleb Griffith; 3. 22D-Dennis Yoakam; 4. 7-Mike Dunlap; 5. 47-Caleb Helms; 6. 1W-Kent Wolters; 7. 4B-Andrew Bowsher; 8. 6Z-Zach Ames; 9. 4J-Bob Gehr Jr.

B-Main – (10 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 2M-Dustin Daggett 2. 17-Jared Horstman 3. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild 4. 7C-Tim Hunter 5. 1W-Kent Wolters 6. 4B-Andrew Bowsher 7. 10J-Jarrod Delon 8. 48-Tommy Kerce 9. 6Z-Zach Ames 10. 32M-Derek Hastings 11. 2-Brent Gehr 12. 2MH-Ethan Hoy 13. 4J-Bob Gehr Jr.

A-Main – (25 Laps)
1. 11-Tim Allison 2. 34-Luke Hall 3. B20-Butch Schroeder 4. 6-Mike Dussel 5. 7K-Kyle Sauder 6. 6S-JR Stewart 7. 28H-Hud Horton 8. 12M-Caleb Griffith 9. 7C-Tim Hunter 10. 22DH-Randy Hannagan 11. 18-Todd Heuerman 12. 35-Ron Blair 13. 17-Jared Horstman 14. 1W-Kent Wolters 15. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild 16. 7-Mike Dunlap 17. 47-Caleb Helms 18. 2M-Dustin Daggett 19. 22D-Dennis Yoakam 20. 5W-Jeff Williams

Bud Thunderstocks
Heat 1 – (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 27-Frank Paladino; 2. 22T-Tony Anderson; 3. 21H-Dave Hollon; 4. 99-Andy King; 5. 52B-Sam Bodine; 6. 5G-Anthony Goode; 7. 3-Randy Crossley; 8. 419-Chris Tressler

Heat 2 – (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 1-Kody Weisner; 2. O1W-Earnie Woodard; 3. 7B-Tim Bowen; 4. 71-Keith Ralston; 5. 19-Bill Reimund; 6. 58P-Jim Post; 7. 52G-Stacey Gazarek

Heat 3 – (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 16-Jeff Koz; 2. 88B-Zach Bowen; 3. 2K-Jason Kinney; 4. 71C-Barney Craig; 5. 5K-Karl Spoores; 6. O1-Ryan Odette; 7. 21Z-Butch Turman

B-Main – (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 58P-Jim Post; 2. 5G-Anthony Goode; 3. 52G-Stacey Gazarek; 4. 3-Randy Crossley; 5. 21Z-Butch Turman; 6. O1-Ryan Odette

A-Main – (15 Laps) [#]-Starting Position
1. 16-Jeff Koz[3]; 2. 22T-Tony Anderson[4]; 3. 27-Frank Paladino[1]; 4. 7B-Tim Bowen[8]; 5. O1W-Earnie Woodard[5]; 6. 88B-Zach Bowen[6]; 7. 58P-Jim Post[16]; 8. 21H-Dave Hollon[7]; 9. 99-Andy King[10]; 10. 2K-Jason Kinney[9]; 11. 19-Bill Reimund[14]; 12. 5G-Anthony Goode[17]; 13. 3-Randy Crossley[19]; 14. 5K-Karl Spoores[15]; 15. 1-Kody Weisner[2]; 16. 71-Keith Ralston[11]; 17. 52B-Sam Bodine[13]; 18. 52G-Stacey Gazarek[18]; 19. 71C-Barney Craig[12]; 20. 21Z-Butch Turman[20]

King of the Quarter Mile – (10 Laps)

K&N UMP Modifieds
1. 52-Jeff Babcock 2. 5X-Jerry Bowersock 3. 40-Terry Hull 4. 65-Todd Sherman
5. 15H-Jon Henry 6. 00-John Brooks 7. L5-Casey Luedeke

Elwer Fence Sprints – (10 Laps)
1. 6-Mike Dussel 2. 6S-JR Stewart 3. 34-Luke Hall 4. B20-Butch Schroeder
5. 11-Tim Allison 6. 7K-Kyle Sauder

Bud Thunderstocks – (10 Laps)
1. 71C-Barney Craig 2. 01-Kody Weisner 3. 22T-tony Anderson 4. 01W-Earnie Woodard 5. Jeff Koz 6. 7B-Tim Bowen 7. 71-Keith Ralston 8. 88-Zach Bowen