From Bob Fricke, Mike Campbell Photo
The start of the Independence Day Holiday weekend literally was filled with fireworks at Limaland Motorsports Park. The usual three division’s main events were accented with a pair of opening night feature races as the modifieds and sprints took care of some two-week old business due to weather postponements from June 18.
Bright sunshine greeted the racers and holiday throng of fans with the rare running of main events in the daylight. The Elwer Fence sprints were the first to contend with the glare of the western sky as Tipp City veteran Kent Wolters led the field to green for a 25-lap contest. He immediately took to the popular top side of the high-banked ¼ mile layout, pacing JR Stewart and Kyle Sauder through of pair of early race stoppages due to Mike Dunlap’s spin out and Mike Dussel’s flat tire.
Wolters was solidly in the lead position until a caution flag flew after 12 laps allowing track personnel to remove a pipe-like frame part jammed into the track in turn one. By the restart, Kyle Sauder had moved past 2009 track champion Stewart and was looking both high and low for an opportunity to get around Wolters.
Sauder seemed to be testing the track surface as he attempted a handful of slide-jobs primarily through turn two. It was finally on lap 22 that Kyle Sauder proved too much for Wolters, slipping past the front row starter and sole event leader to that point. From there, Sauder put the pedal down as the Archbold, Ohio ace roared to his second feature win of the season. Wolters and JR Stewart completed the podium finishers.
The Engine Pro/NRA Sprint Invaders saw Tim Hunter lead the field to green with the track a bit harder and drying after an evening of racing. Hunter clinged to the wall and stormed around the track. Butch Schroeder also chose the topside moving to the second position by the third lap. Also of note, was Mike Dussel taking to the absolute bottom of the track and clearly holding his own with Hunter and Schroeder.
Dussel was in the second position by the lap 8 and Schroeder briefly decided to follow him down low. By the tenth lap, Dussel had taken over race leadership. Kyle Sauder, who earlier won a sprints makeup feature, suffered a mechanical break on the track, forcing a red flag.
The restart on lap 15 saw Dussel continue to hug the bottom, with Tim Hunter preferring to run high on the banking. The big issue for Dussel became slower cars that naturally were also on the low side. He successfully navigated the lapped traffic and held off pole starter Hunter to snap a four year dry spell of winning at Limaland.
“It’s been a long time (2006) since winning here,” declared the former track champion Dussel. “It got harder on the low side at the end as a lot of guys were going down there. I could hear Tim Hunter on the top. I just waited for a lane, then got on the gas as hard as I could. I thank my brother for dialing this car in. Ron Hammons is the best car owner you could have.” It was Dussel’s 8th career win at Limaland Motorsports Park.
Limaland Motorsports Park 7/2/10
Elwer Fence Sprints – Postponed from 6/18/10
A-Main – (25 Laps)-Finish Position [#]
1. 7K-Kyle Sauder 2. 1W-Kent Wolters 3. 6S-Jr Stewart 4. 28H-Hud Horton 5. B20-Butch Schroeder 6. 18-Todd Heuerman 7. 7C-Tim Hunter 8. 17-Jared Horstman 9. 11-Tim Allison 10. 22D-Dennis Yoakam 11. 6Z-Zach Ames 12. 34-Luke Hall 13. 48-Tommy Kerce 14. 57-Mike Dunlap 15. 6-Mike Dussel 16. 2H-Dallas Hewitt 17. 10-Pete Ischi 18. 40-Bobby Clark 19. 35-Stuart Brubaker 20. 8K-Zach Kramer
NRA Sprints
Heat 1 – (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. B20-Butch Schroeder; 2. 22D-Dennis Yoakam; 3. 17-Jared Horstman; 4. 57-Mike Dunlap; 5. 6Z-Zach Ames; 6. 2-Brent Gehr; 7. 4J-Bob Gehr Jr.; 8. 2M-Ethan Hoy
Heat 2 – (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 11-Tim Allison; 2. 7C-Tim Hunter; 3. 34-Luke Hall; 4. 28H-Hud Horton; 5. 35-Ron Blair; 6. 48-Tommy Kerce; 7. 32M-Derek Hastings; 8. 7K-Kyle Sauder
Heat 3 – (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 18-Todd Heuerman; 2. 6-Mike Dussel; 3. 1W-Kent Wolters; 4. 6S-Jr Stewart; 5. 5W-Jeff Williams; 6. 4B-Andrew Bowsher; 7. 10J-Jarrod Delong
B-Main – (10 Laps – Top 6 Transfer)
1. 7K-Kyle Sauder; 2. 48-Tommy Kerce; 3. 2-Brent Gehr; 4. 4B-Andrew Bowsher; 5. 4J-Bob Gehr Jr.; 6. 2M-Ethan Hoy; 7. 32M-Derek Hastings; 8. 10J-Jarrod Delong
A-Main – (25 Laps) [#]-Starting Position
1. 6-Mike Dussel[6]; 2. 7C-Tim Hunter[1]; 3. B20-Butch Schroeder[5]; 4. 1W-Kent Wolters[9]; 5. 6S-Jr Stewart[12]; 6. 18-Todd Heuerman[3]; 7. 35-Ron Blair[14]; 8. 5W-Jeff Williams[13]; 9. 34-Luke Hall[8]; 10. 22D-Dennis Yoakam[2]; 11. 28H-Hud Horton[11]; 12. 57-Mike Dunlap[10]; 13. 17-Jared Horstman[7]; 14. 48-Tommy Kerce[15]; 15. 4J-Bob Gehr Jr.[20]; 16. 4B-Andrew Bowsher[17]; 17. 11-Tim Allison[4]; 18. 2-Brent Gehr[18]; 19. 2M-Ethan Hoy[19]; 20. 7K-Kyle Sauder[16]