From Larry Boos
ROSSBURG, OH (July 30) – Drama once again ruled supreme at Eldora Speedway during Saturday’s NAPA Auto Parts Sprint Car doubleheader as Justin Grant garnered his first-ever Eldora non-winged Sprint main event, while Randy Hannagan notched another NRA (National Racing Alliance) Sprint Invader victory.
Luke Hall moved from his pole starting position to take the early lead in the non-winged portion of the menu and began to check out from the field. As they moved into lapped traffic, Grant and Matt Westfall gained momentum and ground on Hall.
Westfall was the first to try one of the notorious Eldora slide jobs on the leader, but didn’t make it stick as Hall rebounded and inched forward. Two laps later, Grant was the one to try the move, and with several lapped cars quickly falling into the picture, the move was even trickier.
Unfortunately for Hall, the available space on the race track narrowed and with nowhere to go, made contact with the wall in turn four and flipped. The ended the run for a dejected Hall.
On the restart, Grant was in the lead with Westfall making a move, only to have an engine expire a couple of laps into the resumed event, leaving Grant’s next opponent third generation driver Brandon Whited.
Whited made a an effort towards the front, but there was no denying Grant as he cruised to the win over Whited, Todd Kane, Jason Holt and Matt Goodnight.
Kyle Sauder started on the outside pole of the NRA finale and looked like the race was going to be for second spot, as Sauder virtually created a new zip code for himself.
A couple of nasty flips by Ryan Myers and then Caleb Griffith kept the field tightened up, and it was the last restart that cost Sauder the race. On the previous restarts he was able to pull from the field, but with four laps to go after the Giffith incident, Hannagan outsmarted Sauder into turn one and then opened a nice margin between himself and second place to cruise to the checkered flag.
Sauder came across the line second, with Butch Schroeder, Luke Hall (doing double duty) and J. R. Stewart completed the top five.
–30—
July 30, 2011
NAPA Night
Non-winged Sprints – 18 cars
Fast Time: Justin Grant – 15.643
Heat 1 – (8 Laps)
1. 40-Justin Grant [3];2. 41-Jason Holt [2];3. 24-Landon Simon [1];4. 39-Matt Goodnight [4];5. 40h-Travis Hery [5];6. 59j-Kirk Jeffries [6]
Heat 2 – (8 Laps)
1. 54-Matt Westfall [3];2. 1-Mitch Wissmiller [1];3. 29-Kyle Wissmiller [2];4. 18-Todd Keen [4];5. 10-Aric Gentry [5];6. 7-Tim Calicoat [6]
Heat 3 – (8 Laps)
1. 34-Luke Hall [1];2. 15-Brandon Whited [3];3. 9x-Todd Kane [2];4. 23s-Kyle Simon [4];5. 14-Chad Wilson [5];6. 42-Rick Horne [6]
A Main – (25 Laps)
1. 40-Justin Grant [6];2. 15-Brandon Whited [4];3. 9x-Todd Kane [8];4. 41-Jason Holt [3];5. 39-Matt Goodnight [10];6. 24-Landon Simon [9];7. 10-Aric Gentry [14];8. 40h-Travis Hery [13];9. 18-Todd Keen [11];10. 14-Chad Wilson [15];11. 59j-Kirk Jeffries [16];12. 7-Tim Calicoat [17];13. 42-Rick Horne [18];14. 29-Kyle Wissmiller [7];15. 54-Matt Westfall [5];16. 23s-Kyle Simon [12];17. 34-Luke Hall [1];18. 1-Mitch Wissmiller [2]
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NRA Invaders – 22 cars
Fast Time: Randy Hannagan – 14.773
Heat 1 – (8 Laps)
1. 22-Randy Hannagan [6];2. 40-Caleb Helms [1];3. 28h-Hud Horton [5];4. 82-Mike Miller [2];5. 56-Ryan Myers [3];6. 27s-Beau Stewart [7];7. 49-Shawn Dancer [4];8. 10j-Jarred Delong [8]
Heat 2 – (8 Laps)
1. 1-Kyle Sauder [5];2. 22d-Dennis Yoakam [2];3. b20-Butch Schroeder [6];4. 22d-JR Stewart [4];5. 17-Jared Horstman [3];6. 11n-Ed Neumeister [1];7. 22-Ben Rutan [7]
Heat 3 – (8 Laps)
1. 00-Jim Nier [4];2. 35-Ron Blair [3];3. 12m-Caleb Griffith [2];4. 11-Tim Allison [6];5. 34-Luke Hall [5];6. 2h-Dallas Hewitt [7];7. 1-Kent Wolters [1]
A Main – (25 Laps)
1. 22-Randy Hannagan [6];2. 1-Kyle Sauder [2];3. b20-Butch Schroeder [5];4. 34-Luke Hall [1];5. 22d-JR Stewart [7];6. 17-Jared Horstman [10];7. 35-Ron Blair [11];8. 40-Caleb Helms [15];9. 00-Jim Nier [8];10. 11-Tim Allison [4];11. 49-Shawn Dancer [16];12. 22d-Dennis Yoakam [13];13. 2h-Dallas Hewitt [21];14. 1-Kent Wolters [18];15. 11n-Ed Neumeister [17];16. 12m-Caleb Griffith [14];17. 22-Ben Rutan [20];18. 28h-Hud Horton [3];19. 56-Ryan Meyer [9];20. 27s-Beau Stewart [19];21. 10j-Jarred Delong [22];22. 82-Mike Miller [12]