By Bob Fricke, Mike Campbell photo
The 2011 Limaland Motorsports Park season will be remembered as a campaign that started late due to excessive rain in April and May. It also will be thought of as a season that produced more of the close competitive on-track action that the ¼-mile oval has seen for generations, including the past 14 years under the ownership and operation of the University of Northwestern Ohio.
A large enthusiastic crowd filled the pristine facility for the final time this season and the urgency of championships up for grabs was evident with the high speed action. The closest points chase was in the K & N UMP Modified division as two former champions, Todd Sherman and Terry Hull, were tied entering the evening’s race card.
Sherman won his heat race while Terry Hull finished fifth, giving Sherman an advantage in the feature. He also started seventh in the field with Hull starting 13th. Pole sitter Casey Luedeke has been a front runner for most of the season, although has been unable to score a win in the ultra-tough division. On this night, Luedeke led for the opening three laps until Jeff Babcock, charging from the high side, stormed past for the point position on lap four.
A mechanical problem forced Babcock off the track just two laps later, giving Casey Luedeke the lead once again. Todd Sherman was keeping pace with the leaders and found himself in the second position, behind Luedeke, for the restart on lap seven after a third caution.
Luedeke tried valiantly to hold off Sherman and secure his first win of the season, but the defending track champion beat Luedeke to the line as another caution flew. It gave Sherman the lead with just three laps remaining and was all he needed to score his fifth feature win of the season and third track division title.
“You just try to survive and win in these races and fortunately we won,” an emotional Todd Sherman told the big crowd at the Allen County Trophy presentation. “It took some patience in this race as I was watching (Jeff) Babcock to see if he was going to go to the outside. I was gonna run around the bottom and play it cautious, but I knew he was on the move so I thought man I better get up there. Chasing Casey (Luedeke) was no easy task either.”
After thanking his crew, family and sponsors, Sherman concluded, “This is ultimately about man and machine and you have to keep the car together.” Sherman also won the track Modified crowns in 2004 and last season.
Terry Hull finished fourth in the race and runner-up in the final points for a second consecutive season. Hull did win the coveted King of the Quarter Mile 10-lapper later in the evening to cash an extra $2,000 in winnings.
The Engine Pro/NRA Sprints and Limaland Motorsports Park Elwer Fence Sprints titles were up for grabs when the night began. Randy Hannagan with the NRA and Kyle Sauder with the track’s division were the point’s leader to start the night and both were successful in winning the respective titles. The action that led to the final standings was reflective of the season-long duel that those two veterans had waged against each other.
Michigan ace Dustin Daggett, with his first and only Limaland Motorsports Park appearance of the season seemed destined to make it a winning experience. The pole sitter ran the high side of the track and was able to hold off Sauder until lap 19. Sauder abandoned chasing Daggett up high and worked him to the inside, eventually producing the defining pass. “You just can’t burn your tires up,” said Sauder after posting his 4th feature win of the season. “Dustin was up there on top I just kept reeling him in. Once I got by him, I went up top and was rollin’ with my line and here we are in victory lane.’
Randy Hannagan ran with the leaders throughout the 25-lap feature and chased Sauder to the finish before settling for the runner-up position and clinching the NRA Sprint Invaders crown. “It has been a great season and I thank Dennis Yoakam and the team and our sponsors for all of the support,” said the Californian Hannagan. “It means a lot to be able to win a championship as we weren’t really anticipating this, but as the season went on it just happened. I’ve been fortunate to have run all over the country in my career and it doesn’t get any tougher than these guys here.”
In the King of the Quarter Mile race for the sprints it was Sauder and Hannagan again doing battle. The ten-lap affair saw Kyle Sauder with the lead entering the final circuit. As the two racers came off of turn four, Hannagan was sling shot on the top and Sauder on the inside. Hannagan collided with the wall just before the finish while Sauder crossed the line in the first position and captured the $3,000 prize.
The Budweiser Thunderstocks in recent weeks have been dominated by Lima’s Shawn Valenti. Championship night proved no different as Valenti took full advantage of his outside front row starting position and led for the entire 15-lap feature. It marked his third win in the past four weeks with a runner-up finish last weekend his low point of the month. “I just keep hitting my marks and getting my rhythm,” said Valenti. “The track was good up high and we just went up there against the cushion.”
Bluffton’s Tony Anderson posted a solid fourth place result and won the stocks division championship for a seventh time. “Big hats off to my crew, family, car owner and great sponsors,” said Anderson, who later took the $1,000 check by winning the King of the Quarter Mile event.
The final event of the 2011 season is the Limaland Motorsports Park Awards Banquet on Saturday, November 19 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
Limaland Motorsports Park – 8/26/2011
K&N UMP Modifieds
Heat 1 – (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. OO-Kody Weisner 2. 22B-Andy Bibler 3. L5-Casey Luedeke
4. 69-Tommy Beezley 5. 40-Terry Hull 6. 15-Nick Katterhenry
7. OOB-John Brooks 8. 2-Travis Fleshman 9. 55-Jack Landis
Heat 2 – (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 5X-Jerry Bowersock 2. 555-Jeff Babcock 3. 1-Chris Puskas
4. 22T-Tony Anderson 5. 47-Nick Rosselit 6. 555C-Justin Coulter
7. 28-Shaun Smith 8. 65X-Steve Chrisman 9. O4-Bill Griffith
Heat 3 – (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 65-Todd Sherman 2. 45P-Brain Post 3. 20K-Bill Keeler 4. 33-Clint Reagle
5. 19-Ryan Ordway 6. M1G-Gabe Twining 7. 47E-Jim Ekland
8. 18N-Derrick Noffsinger
B-Main – (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 15-Nick Katterhenry 2. 28-Shaun Smith 3. OOB-John Brooks
4. 555C-Justin Coulter 5. 18N-Derrick Noffsinger 6. 55-Jack Landis
7. 2-Travis Fleshman 8. 47E-Jim Ekland 9. O4-Bill Griffith 10. M1G-Gabe Twining
11. 65X-Steve Chrisman
A-Main – (20 Laps) [#]-Starting Position
1. 65-Todd Sherman[5] 2. L5-Casey Luedeke[1] 3. 5X-Jerry Bowersock[6]
4. 40-Terry Hull[13] 5. OO-Kody Weisner[7] 6. 22T-Tony Anderson[11]
7. 28-Shaun Smith[17] 8. 69-Tommy Beezley[10] 9. 20K-Bill Keeler[9]
10. 15-Nick Katterhenry[16] 11. 47-Nick Rosselit[14] 12. OOB-John Brooks[18]
13. 19-Ryan Ordway[15] 14. 18N-Derrick Noffsinger[20] 15. 555C-Justin Coulter[19]
16. 555-Jeff Babcock[3] 17. 45P-Brain Post[2] 18. 1-Chris Puskas[8]
19. 33-Clint Reagle[12] 20. 22B-Andy Bibler[4]
Bud Thunderstocks
Heat 1 – (8 Laps – Top 8 Transfer)
1. 22T-Tony Anderson 2. 1-Matthew Custer 3. 3-Randy Crossley
4. 5K-Karl Spoores 5. 62-Kevin Gossard 6. 71-Keith Ralston 7. 27F-BJ Francis
8. 99-Andy King
Heat 2 – (8 Laps – Top 8 Transfer)
1. 16-Jeff Koz 2. 71C-Barney Craig 3. O1-Josh Ulrich 4. 58P-Jim Post
5. 7W-Dan Wooten 6. 26-Justin Long 7. 2-Jason Adair 8. 89-Keith Shockency
Heat 3 – (8 Laps – Top 8 Transfer)
1. 7B-Shawn Valenti 2. 7BS-Jeff Babcock 3. 52B-Sam Bodine 4. 82-Chris Douglas
5. 27-Frank Paladino 6. 74D-Craig Dippman 7. 21Z-Pete Zuppardo
A-Main – (15 Laps) [#]-Starting Position
1. 7B-Shawn Valenti[2] 2. 16-Jeff Koz[3] 3. 7BS-Jeff Babcock[6]
4. 22T-Tony Anderson[4] 5. 74D-Craig Dippman[18] 6. 71-Keith Ralston[16]
7. 71C-Barney Craig[5] 8. 82-Chris Douglas[12] 9. 26-Justin Long[17]
10. 3-Randy Crossley[7] 11. 1-Matthew Custer[1] 12. 89-Keith Shockency[23]
13. 58P-Jim Post[11] 14. 21Z-Pete Zuppardo[21] 15. 62-Kevin Gossard[13]
16. O1-Josh Ulrich[8] 17. 27-Frank Paladino[15] 18. 2-Jason Adair[20]
19. 52B-Sam Bodine[9] 20. 5K-Karl Spoores[10] 21. 7W-Dan Wooten[14]
22. 99-Andy King[22]
Engine Pro NRA Sprint Invaders
Heat 1 – (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 7K-Kyle Sauder 2. 22H-Randy Hannagan 3. 40-Caleb Helms 4. 17-Jared Horstman
5. 49T-Gregg Dalman
Heat 2 – (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 6S-JR Stewart 2. 7C-Tim Hunter 3. 11-Tim Allison 4. 11N-Ed Neumeister
5. 27-Beau Stewart
Heat 3 – (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 82-Mike Miller 2. 2MD-Dustin Daggett 3. 34-Luke Hall 4. 2M-Matt Westfall
5. B20-Butch Schroeder
B-Main – (10 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 22D-Dennis Yoakam 2. 8D-Dylan Cisney 3. 35-Ron Blair 4. 49-Shawn Dancer
5. 5M-Max Stambaugh
A-Main – (25 Laps) [#]-Starting Position
1. 7K-Kyle Sauder[6] 2. 22H-Randy Hannagan[3] 3. 6S-JR Stewart[5]
4. 2MD-Dustin Daggett[1} 5. 7C-Tim Hunter[2] 6. 49T-Greg Dalman[13]
7. 17-Jared Horstman[10] 8. 22D-Dennis Yoakam[16] 9. 2M-Matt Westfall[12]
10. 5M-Max Stambaugh[20] 11. 34-Luke Hall[9] 12. B20-Butch Schroeder[15]
13. 82-Mike Miller[4] 14. 11-Tim Allison[8] 15. 49-Shawn Dancer[19]
16. 35-Ron Blair[18] 17. 27-Beau Stewart[14] 18. 8D-Dylan Cisney[17]
19. 11N-Ed Neumeister[11] 20. 40-Caleb Helms[7]
King of the Quarter Mile – (10 Laps)
Stocks
1. 22T-Tony Anderson 2. 16-Jeff Koz 3. 71C-Barney Craig 4. 7B-Shawn Valenti
5. 71-Keith Ralston
Sprints
1. 7K-Kyle Sauder 2. 49T-Greg Dalman 3. 22H-Randy Hannagan
4. B20-Butch Schroeder 5. 11-Tim Allison
Modifieds
1. 40-Terry Hull 2. 65-Todd Sherman 3. 69-Tommy Beezley 4. 5X-Jerry Bowersock
5. 00-Kody Weisner 6. Cory Seeling