From Limaland Motorsports Park
Lima, OH — (June 21, 2013) — The 14th Annual Run for the Rabbit brings the K & L Ready Mix NRA Sprint Invaders to Limaland Motorsports Park and with it comes a full field of talented sprint car competitors. This event serves to remember the late Travis “Rabbit” Miller who drove a sprint car at the track, most recently in the summer of 1999, before a highway accident claimed his life.
Longtime sprint car ace Tim Allison drove Miller’s #17 car, complete with identical decals from that era, as a part of the evening’s festivities. The large crowd was receptive to the effort as they stood and waived during a four-car wide salute with a parade lap prior to the 25-lap feature.
Randy Hannagan and Jared Horstman have split winning the four feature sprint car races held at that track so far this season. This evening would prove to be more of the same as the two drivers, both with Hurricane as an occasional nickname, would dominate the race.
Horstman blew past pole starter Nick Roberts in turn one of lap number two and immediately rocketed to the top of the racing surface on the cushion. Hannagan was in hot pursuit. The event was halted on lap number five as veteran Butch Schroeder encountered trouble between turns three and four as a crash ended his evening.
A couple of laps after a restart on lap 6, Hannagan was able to maneuver around Horstman as the two swapped the lead with a series of thrilling corner slide jobs. Shortly after surrendering the lead, Horstman drove his orange colored #17 machine to the infield pits with mechanical troubles.
There was a good battle for the second position between Beau Stewart and Max Stambaugh, although no one could effectively challenge the veteran Hannagan. His car owner Dennis Yoakam was holding steady with Stewart/Stambaugh and with a restart following caution on lap number twenty, it was setting up for a 1-2 finish for the Yoakam Motorsports team.
When the checkers flew, it was Randy Hannagan, Dennis Yoakam and Devon Dobie leading the field to the finish. “It’s great to get back into the winner’s circle tonight as last week I messed up in lapped traffic,” said Hannagan after his third win of the season and 12th of his Limaland career. “It’s really something for Dennis to finish right behind me and shows how good the equipment we have and what this Yoakam motorsports team is all about.”
Hannagan was also sentimental with the moment following his conquest. “This one is for my friend Jason Leffler (recently died in a racing accident) and of course Travis Miller. These were two guys that were friends and competitors to many of us.”
A pair of track champions from 2012 proved too much for the rest of the fields in both the Modifieds and Stock cars on this evening as Todd Sherman and Shawn Valenti looked invincible with their performances.
Sherman came from the outside of the fourth row to navigate through a rash of caution periods to record his win in the 20-lap K & N Modified feature. For him, the challenge was holding off UNOH Racer Kody Weisner. “The car was good even though I got the lead on the bottom, my spotter had to talk me into moving up a little bit but I didn’t really want to because Kody was really fast behind me,” said Sherman, who posted the 34th Limaland win of his career, tying Terry Hull atop the all-time list. “It’s cool to tie Terry, but I’d rather have him here. I do have his crew chief helping me and he (Hull, out with medical issues) is planning on coming back maybe towards the end of July. I look forward to having some battles with him!”
Shawn Valenti benefited with the pole starting position as the green flag was unfurled on the Budweiser Thunderstocks 15-lap feature. Although he (Valenti) never surrendered the lead, Jeff Koz, who was riding a two race winning streak, stuck to Valenti’s rear bumper and made him work for the victory.
“This is a tough group of stock cars out here and Jeff breathing down my neck made it interesting,” said Valenti following his third win of the season and 15th of his career “The race track was a little different from what it has been in the past few weeks as the cushion was clear up by the wall. I had to find a bit different way around.”
Limaland Motorsports Park returns to action on Friday, June 28, for the 31st Annual Ohio Sprint Speed Week presented by Elwer Fence. Ohio Sprint Speed Week features the UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions. Also the K&N UMP Modifieds will compete. Gates open at 5:00 p.m. with racing at 7:30 p.m.
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 2013 Limaland Motorsports Park on Facebook and Twitter.
Limaland Motorsports Park – 6/21/2013
McDonalds Dash for Cash
1. 22B-Andy Bibler; 2. 7B-Jeff Babcock; 3. 18N-Derrick Noffsinger;
4. 28-Chad Rosenbeck
K & L Ready Mix NRA Sprint Invaders
Heat 1 – (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 6-Nate Dussel; 2. 27-Beau Stewart; 3. 22H-Randy Hannagan; 4. 57-Mike Dunlap;
5. 7-Darren Long; 6. 49T-Gregg Dalman; 7. 10J-Jarrod Delong;
8. 11N-Ed Neumeister; 9. 31N-Greg Nichols
Heat 2 – (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 22D-Dennis Yoakam; 2. 23-Devon Dobie; 3. 12R-Nick Roberts; 4. 23M-Jack Miller; 5. 22R-Kevin Roberts; 6. 2-Brent Gehr; 7. 4J-Bob Gehr; 8. 28H-Hud Horton;
9. 35-Ron Blair
Heat 3 – (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 7C-Max Stambaugh; 2. 17-Jared Horstman; 3. 17M-Tim Allison;
4. 10X-Dustin Stroup; 5. 6S-Jr Stewart; 6. B20-Butch Schroeder;
7. 18-Todd Heuerman; 8. 69-Scott Curren; 9. 49-Shawn Dancer
B-Main – (10 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 49T-Gregg Dalman; 2. 18-Todd Heuerman; 3. B20-Butch Schroeder;
4. 10J-Jarrod Delong; 5. 2-Brent Gehr; 6. 4J-Bob Gehr; 7. 69-Scott Curren;
8. 11N-Ed Neumeister; 9. 28H-Hud Horton; 10. 31N-Greg Nichols; 11. 35-Ron Blair; 12. 49-Shawn Dancer
A-Main – (25 Laps) [#]-Starting Position
1. 22H-Randy Hannagan[2]; 2. 22D-Dennis Yoakam[7]; 3. 23-Devon Dobie[4];
4. 7C-Max Stambaugh[6]; 5. 27-Beau Stewart[5]; 6. 6-Nate Dussel[8];
7. 57-Mike Dunlap[10]; 8. 12R-Nick Roberts[1]; 9. 10X-Dustin Stroup[12];
10. 6S-Jr Stewart[15]; 11. 22R-Kevin Roberts[14]; 12. 7-Darren Long[13];
13. 18-Todd Heuerman[17]; 14. 10J-Jarrod Delong[19]; 15. 49T-Gregg Dalman[16];
16. 2-Brent Gehr[20]; 17. 17M-Tim Allison[9]; 18. 23M-Jack Miller[11];
19. 17-Jared Horstman[3]; 20. B20-Butch Schroeder[18]
K & N Modifieds
Heat 1 – (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 20-Kody Weisner; 2. 69-Tommy Beezley; 3. 67-Eddie Shaner;
4. OO-Dwight Niehoff; 5. 22B-Andy Bibler; 6. L5-Casey Luedeke;
7. 19B-Brandon Ordway; 8. 21S-Mike Hohlbein; 9. 7B-Jeff Babcock
Heat 2 – (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 93-Tyler Stump; 2. 5X-Jerry Bowersock; 3. 65-Todd Sherman; 4. 23J-Cory Seeling; 5. 28-Chad Rosenbeck; 6. 22T-Tony Anderson; 7. 15-Nick Katterhenry;
8. 17T-Ryan Ordway; 9. 19-Randy Ordway
Heat 3 – (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 44-Zack Schroeder; 2. 3W-Dylan Woodling; 3. 10-Jack Landis;
4. 6-David Sibberson; 5. 33-Clint Reagle; 6. 18N-Derrick Noffsinger;
7. 53-Hillard Miller; 8. 20K-Bill Keeler; 9. C4-Jason Edwards
B-Main – (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 22T-Tony Anderson; 2. 15-Nick Katterhenry; 3. 7B-Jeff Babcock;
4. L5-Casey Luedeke; 5. 18N-Derrick Noffsinger; 6. 19B-Brandon Ordway;
7. 53-Hillard Miller; 8. 21S-Mike Hohlbein; 9. 17T-Ryan Ordway;
10. 20K-Bill Keeler; 11. 19-Randy Ordway; 12. C4-Jason Edwards
A-Main – (20 Laps) [#]-Starting Position
1. 65-Todd Sherman[8]; 2. 20-Kody Weisner[7]; 3. 7B-Jeff Babcock[18];
4. 93-Tyler Stump[6]; 5. 28-Chad Rosenbeck[14]; 6. 22T-Tony Anderson[16];
7. 23J-Cory Seeling[11]; 8. 69-Tommy Beezley[4]; 9. L5-Tommy Beezley[17];
10. 15-Nick Katterhenry[15]; 11. OO-Dwight Niehoff[10]; 12. 6-David Sibberson[12]; 13. 19B-David Sibberson[19]; 14. 5X-Jerry Bowersock[3]; 15. 22B-Andy Bibler[13]; 16. 44-Zack Schroeder[5]; 17. 3W-Dylan Woodling[2];
18. 18N-Derrick Noffsinger[20]; 19. 67-Eddie Shaner[1]; 20. 10-Jack Landis[9]
Budweiser Thunderstocks
Heat 1 – (8 Laps – Top 8 Transfer)
1. 22T-Tony Anderson; 2. 16-Jeff Koz; 3. 48-Tim Cole; 4. 82-Chris Douglas;
5. 21H-Dave Hollon; 6. OOK-Tommy Klein; 7. 89-Keith Shockency;
8. O1S-Jordan Shipley
Heat 2 – (8 Laps – Top 8 Transfer)
1. 71C-Barney Craig; 2. 7C-Jordan Conover; 3. 93-Zach Gustafson;
4. 8C-Brad Conover; 5. 2-Ray Seech; 6. 19-Bill Reimund; 7. 21T-Tony Zuppardo
Heat 3 – (8 Laps – Top 8 Transfer)
1. 6-Emily Gade; 2. 7B-Shawn Valenti; 3. OOM-Bryan Martin; 4. 57S-Billy Siferd;
5. O1C-Andrew Clark; 6. 27-Frank Paladino; 7. 32-Scott Boyde Jr.
A-Main – (15 Laps) [#]-Starting Position
1. 7B-Shawn Valenti[1]; 2. 71C-Barney Craig[5]; 3. 22T-Tony Anderson[6];
4. 7C-Jordan Conover[2]; 5. 48-Tim Cole[7]; 6. 6-Emily Gade[4];
7. OOM-Bryan Martin[9]; 8. 16-Jeff Koz[3]; 9. 19-Bill Reimund[17];
10. 93-Zach Gustafson[8]; 11. 57S-Billy Siferd[12]; 12. 89-Keith Shockency[19];
13. O1S-Jordan Shipley[22]; 14. 27-Frank Paladino[18]; 15. 2-Ray Seech[14];
16. 82-Chris Douglas[10]; 17. 21T-Tony Zuppardo[20]; 18. 8C-Brad Conover[11];
19. 32-Scott Boyde Jr.[21]; 20. 21H-Dave Hollon[13]; 21. OOK-Tommy Klein[16];
22. O1C-Andrew Clark[15]