By Gerry Keysor
Rich Forman photo
July 21, 2017
Lima, OH
The only thing hotter than the weather was the racing at Limaland Motorsports Park on Friday night. CJ Leary won the Non Wing Sprint feature in his first ever visit to the 1/4 Mile of Thunder. Marion, Indiana’s Randy Lines grabbed the K&N Filters UMP modified feature win, and Lima’s own Justin Long won the Bud Thunderstock A Main.
Kicking off the night in the McDonalds Dash for Cash were the K&N Filters UMP Modifieds. No. 27 Frank Paladino would pick up the Dash win and $100, courtesy of the Lewis Family McDonalds of Lima and Allen County.
Kicking off feature action were the Non Wing Sprint Cars. 21 cars started the A Main with No. 30 CJ Leary and No. 74 Tony Main bringing the field to the green flag. Leary would charge to the front, with National Sprint Car Hall of Famer “The Peoples Champ” Dave Darland in the Hery Motorsports No. 40 and No. 57 Shane Cottle battling for 2nd through the first 5 laps. Darland would settle into second as the leaders hit lapped traffic on lap 7, and seemed to be setting the stage for a late race charge. Caution would wave on lap 9 for No. 24L Lee Underwood coming to astop at the top of turn 4. On the restart, Darland would stalk Leary for the next 5 laps, but Leary was able to use the momentum of the high side of the track to hold Darland at bay. The red flag would wave on lap 16 for a crash involving No. 53 Steve Little and No. 74 Drew Rader that saw Rader’s fuel tank rupture. After clean up, No 9n “The Ohio Hammer” Luke Hall made his move, throwing a slide job on Cottle for the 3rd position in turns 1 and 2, only to get squeezed into the turn 3 and 4 wall on the other end of the track, tearing the front end off his car and ending his feature. On the restart, Darland’s right rear tire lookedc to be going down, and he was doing all he could to hold on until the tire let go on lap 20 in turn 1, bringing out the caution once again, and setting up a 5 lap dash to the finish. Leary would hold on to win over Cottle, with a hard charging No. 16 Dallas Hewitt coming home 3rd, No. 99 Gage Etgen was 4th and No. 23s Kyle Simon completed the top 5. Heat races were won by Cottle, Darland and No. 74 Tony Main.
Next up were the K&N Filters UMP Modifieds for their 20 lap feature event. No. 34XX Shane O’Connor and No. 19B Brandon Ordway would lead the field to green with Ordway grabbing the lap 1 lead. Last week’s feature winner No. 17 Mikey Tarlton looked to pick up where he left off, grabbing the lead on lap 2, but cautions on laps 3 and 7 would keep the field close. No. 18 Randy Lines would throw a big slide job on lap 10 in turns one and 2, only to see Tarlton slide him back in turns 3 and 4, but Lines was able to cross over and hold the lead the next time in turns 1 and 2 and cruise to the win. No. 16 Jeff Koz would finish 2nd with Tarlton 3rd, No 95J Jerry Bowersock would be 4th and No. 19B Brandon Ordway completed the top 5. Heat races were won by No 10L Nathan Loney, No 36L Jamie Lomax, Tarlton, and Bowersock.
The Bud Thunderstocks would complete the nights racing action with their 15 lap feature event. No 7W Dan Wooten and No 22T Tony Anderson would make up the front row. Anderson would grab the early lead over Wooten, and No. 26 Justin Long getting a great start and moving to 3rd. After getting by Wooten, Long would start his challenge for the lead, running laps 5 and 6 on the high side of Anderson, side by side, but not quite able to complete the pass. On lap 7 Long got a great run off of turn 4 and dove to the inside of Anderson to grab the lead and pull away to the victory. Anderson would finish 2nd, with No. 00P Dean Pitts coming home 3rd, No. 82 Chris Douglas would be 4th, and UNOH Racer Brendcan Rassel would complete the top 5 in the UNOH No. 2
Limaland Motorsports Park roars back to life next Friday night, July 28th with the rescheduled Run for the Rabbit XVII, as part of the K&L Ready Mix Clash. The K&L Ready Mix NRA Sprint Invaders will compete for a top prize of $2000 in an event honoring the late Travis Miller of Elida OH, who was a trememndous talent in the local 360 spint car ranks. Also in action will be the K&N Filters UMP Modifieds, and Bud Thunderstocks. Nashville Recording Artists NASHVILLE CRUSH will be performing a pre race concert in the hospitality area from 5PM to 6:15PM. Don’t miss out on this great night of entertainment at Limaland Motorsports Park. For more details visit Limaland.com
Limaland Motorsports Park –
7/21/2017
UNOH 20th Anniversary Night
Non Wing Sprints
Heat 1 – (7 Laps – Top 8 Transfer)
1. 57-Shane Cottle; 2. 30-Cj Leary; 3. 9N-Luke Hall; 4. 23S-Kyle Simon; 5. 53-Steve Little; 6. 19-Matt Cooley; 7. 17-Kevin Myers
Heat 2 – (7 Laps – Top 8 Transfer)
1. 40-Dave Darland; 2. 24L-Lee Underwood; 3. 2DI-Dustin Ingle; 4. 16-Dallas Hewitt; 5. 22S-Matt Westfall; 6. 21-Travis Hery; 7. 51-Curits Muhlenkamp
Heat 3 – (7 Laps – Top 8 Transfer)
1. 74-Tony Main; 2. 99-Gage Etgen; 3. 82-Mike Miller; 4. 42-Ty Tilton; 5. 9G-Cody Gardner; 6. 74R-Drew Rader; 7. 32M-Derek Hastings
A-Main – (25 Laps) [#]-Starting Position
1. 30-Cj Leary[1]; 2. 57-Shane Cottle[4]; 3. 16-Dallas Hewitt[11]; 4. 99-Gage Etgen[6]; 5. 23S-Kyle Simon[10]; 6. 22S-Matt Westfall[14]; 7. 2DI-Dustin Ingle[8]; 8. 9G-Cody Gardner[15]; 9. 82-Mike Miller[9]; 10. 21-Travis Hery[17]; 11. 74-Tony Main[2]; 12. 42-Ty Tilton[12]; 13. 24L-Lee Underwood[5]; 14. 32M-Derek Hastings[21]; 15. 17-Kevin Myers[19]; 16. 40-Dave Darland[3]; 17. 51-Curits Muhlenkamp[20]; 18. 9N-Luke Hall[7]; 19. 74R-Drew Rader[18]; 20. 53-Steve Little[13]; 21. 19-Matt Cooley[16]