Familiar Faces and a New Name in Victory Lane at 250 Speedway

On a sultry Friday evening at the end of July fans were treated with the mainstay at “Ohio’s Place to Sling Dirt”, GREAT RACING! Some repeat winners found their way to victory circle and some teams traveled in upwards of 8 hours to race with us this past weekend. The action on the track was fierce as drivers start to set themselves up for the stretch run towards the 2010 Season Championship. Sixty four drivers and another nice crowd found their way to the speedway.

The opening feature of the evening was the Pure Stock 15 lapper. On the pole in only his second time off asphalt was “The Photographer” Gabe Pringle in the Rich Schweitzer #84 and Tory Gibbs in the Mike Powell #71. Gibbs was able to get the jump and take the top spot with last week’s winner Rich Frohnaple in the #80 moving into second. As the opening laps clicked away, Gibbs was able to stretch out his lead a little bit when “The Photographer” made a nice move off turn four to regain the second spot on lap five, but threw it all away in turn one when the car snapped loose. A couple mid-race cautions would slow the field, but not Gibbs. Frohnaple had nothing for the pilot of the point leading machine as Gibbs would pick up another victory and stretch out the Powell point lead a little bit more. The top two would be followed by a pair of asphalt invaders, Rob Scott in the #62 drove a nice race to finish third and “The Photographer” would make another nice recovery and come back to finish fourth. Rounding out the top 5 behind the Port Washington, OH driver in the #71 was Shawn Woods.

Next up could possibly be the most exciting race of the evening. Heat race winners Greg Mazzoleni in the #14M and Brandon Welker in the #66 brought the field down for Chief Starter Keith Decker’s green flag. Mazzoleni was able to race out front with John Schooler in the #31 and Welker close in tow. Stuck in the middle of the pack was point leader Scott Bush and current runner-up Robert Frohnaple in the #45. On lap two the #16 of Mike Seifert and the #88H of Randy Hahn were battling for the fourth spot when the two made contact and brought out caution #1, sending Seifert to the tail and “Hondo” to the house. Thru the middle part of the race, Bush was slowly working his way up and by lap eleven he was able to take over the 4th spot when Andy Parks in the #9 lost a wheel in turn one, Frohnaple would not be able to work his way to the front. That caution would bunch up the field and would set the stage for an awesome finish. After the restart, Schooler was able to slide his way past the #14M but the final caution would come out before he got back to the start / finish line, sending the scoring back to the previous lap and giving Mazzoleni back the top spot. The final green flag flew on lap #13 and the final two laps were the craziest of the season. Bush would make his way around Welker for third and then bonsai to the outside of Schooler for second. The side-by-side duo would become a trio into turn three coming to the white flag. The three would race three-wide and handsome to the finish with Mazzoleni squeezing out the victory in a great show of skill by the top three. Following the New Philadelphia, OH driver in the R&K Supply, MFC Drilling sponsored #14M to the stripe was Schooler, Bush, Seifert and Welker rounding out the top 5.

Heat race winners Cory Conley in the #14C and Jon Sluka in the #21J brought the field to the stripe in the TSMA 20 Lap Feature. Conley, who lives about an hour away, was making his first appearance at 250 Speedway. He looked as though he was very comfortable in unchartered waters as he raced his way out front with Sluka, living up to his new nickname “The Stalker”, hot on the leaders trail. Unfortunately for Sluka, he pushed his racer a little too hard and spun his machine in turn #2 trying too hard to race down Conley. With the current point runner-up on the tail, drivers looked to try to make up some ground in the Championship fight. Ryan Thomas, owner and builder of Diamond Chassis with his wife Heather, came all the way from Martinsville Indiana (an 8 hour haul) and found his way into the second spot in his red #T9. Guys on the move were the #15 of “The Batman” Scotty Peltz and Kevin Morehouse in the #28. Peltz worked his way to 4th and “The Logger” was able to work his way around his chassis builder Thomas for second. After a couple cautions that slowed the field, one sending point leader Rob Melzer in the #23M pit side with a flat after being marred in the middle of the field and another one that ended the day for Sluka that involved at least 6 cars, things got dicey and “The Logger” decided to make his charge on Conley. The #28 continued to try, lap after lap on the bottom of the race track, with the driver of the #14C holding his ground in the middle. Just as Morehouse got his best run down the front stretch and looked as though he would make the pass, the caution waved for the #S64 of Jeremy Sluka. After the restart, Conley found another gear and set sail, leaving “The Logger” to battle it out with Thomas for the runner-up spot, in which he would hold onto. In victory lane, the winner promised a return to “The Wide Oval”. Following the Wellsburg, WVA driver in the #14C to the finish line was Morehouse, Thomas, Peltz and Bruce Takach. The hard-charger award goes to the #39S of Ronnie Schmitt who started out back in the 19 hole and fought his way up to an 8th place finish.

The final feature of the evening was the Super Sport 15 lapper with heat race winners Glen Richea in the #77R and Kyle Warner in the #T1 on the front row. Earlier in the evening, the driver of that ol’ familiar yellow #77R machine told me that the driver on the top side of the race track had the advantage because the race track seeming like it was turning into a one groove facility. He also expressed how much it would mean for him to wrap up this championship. Well, as the story goes, sometimes you’re right and sometimes you’re wrong. The wrong was that the pole sitter got the jump and made his way out front with the #8T of last week’s winner Tim Rager following close behind (Rager also started on the bottom). The first caution flew on lap 4 for the #20 of Paul Murray who got sideways in turn one. Richea and Rager continued to battle for the race lead as the #8T looked all over for a way to get by until the second caution flew for the second place runner who lost his machine in turn three on the 8th lap, forcing him to retire from the event. That moved the #11H of Jim Hess up to battle for the top spot over the final circuits. With the #2 of current point runner-up Sam Clegg having his problems after contact with the turn two wall, that’s where the “right” comes into play. Even though there is still plenty of time left in the season, it appears that the Championship is Richea’s to lose as he was able to pull away from “Hessy” to find his way back in the winner’s circle and extend that point lead. Also, battling his way through the field in only his third time at the speedway (the previous two landed him with a couple blown engines in hot laps and zero laps in competition) “Magic Shoes” Gary Hoopingarner in the #48 found himself on the podium after starting 11th. Following the Quicktime and Orums Auto Body of Tridelphia, WVA sponsored #77R was Hess, Hoopingarner, Murray and Tom Fantin.

The Mini Wedges took to the speedway for their 8 lap feature after the 4-Cylinder heats with Brady Reed in the #15 and Noah Stewart in the #597 bringing the field in for the start. The #11H machine Of Dakota Hess was penalized 2 positions after the prelim for jumping the start after finishing second, this time the #11H timed it right and got a great start making his way out front and bringing the #4C of Charitty Bubeck and Stewart with him, dropping Reed back to fourth. On the third circuit, Reed made the pass on Stewart off turn two and while battling back the two made contact, bringing out the race’s only caution and sending Stewart to the tail. On the restart, Reed was able to work around Charitty and set his sights on the #11H. In the heat race Hess had a nice lead, only to have it evaporate going into turn three of the final circuit and allowing Reed to pick up the win. With the same scenario in place, it would be a repeat performance. Reed was able to run down Hess going into turn three and squeak by on the outside, denying Hess his first feature victory. Following the St. Clairsville, OH driver in the Dairy Queen of St. Clairsville, Tweed’s Trucking and Special Thanks To The Eaton Family sponsored #15 was Hess, Charitty Bubeck, Stewart and point leader Phillip Bubeck.
Please join us next week as we play host to the second TSMA sanctioned race of the 2010 season. In the first TSMA race, “The Batman” Scotty Peltz beat out Joe Gabrielson and Stormin’ Norman Aronhalt to pick up the $1,000 top prize. Make sure you visit 250speedway.com for all the latest news and information from “Ohio’s Place to Sling Dirt”.

-Chris “Hot Rod” Kail, Voice of 250 Speedway

Modified Heat # 1

1. 14C Corey Conley
2. T-9 Ryan Thomas
3. 4J Jim Plance
4. 65 Bruce Takach
5. 21R Randy Bauchnecht
6. 23M Rob Melzer

Modified Heat # 2

1. 21J Jon Sluka
2. 28 Kevin Morehouse
3. 15 Scotty Peltz
4. J4 Jason Graham
5. EO Mark Enos
6. O4 Mike Stringer

Modifield Heat # 3

1. 55S Rick Schmitt
2. 23S Jason Stewert
3. S64 Jeremy Sluka
4. O2 Glen Underwood
5. 13 Mark Sambuco
6. 40 Tom Moore
7. 39S Ronnie Schmitt

Super Sport Heat # 1

1. 77R Glen Richea
2. 8T Tim Rager
3. 2 Sam Clegg
4. 149 Rich Dessecker
5. 20 Paul Murray
6. 48 Gary Hoopingarner

Super Sport Heat # 2
1. T1 Kyle Warner
2. 93 Tom Fantin
3. 11H Jim Hess
4. M15 Dave Holcomb
5. 16 Chris Seifert
6. M88 Tim Fabian

Pure Stock Heat #1

1. 84 Gabe Pringle
2. X100 Shawn Woods
3. 14 Butch Newbert

Pure Stock Heat # 2

1. 71 Tory Gibbs
2. 80 Rich Frohnapfel
3. 62 Rob Scott
4. 73 Shaun Newbert
5. 2 Dustin Warner

Compact Heat # 1

1. 14M Greg Mazzoleni
2. 88H Randy Hahn
3. K9 Bryan King
4. 15J Jason Jarrett
5. 84 Cody Krebs
6. 47 Don Rufener III
7. 7JR Brandon Mansfield

Compact Heat # 2

1. 66 Brandon Welker
2. 12F Luke Freed
3. 9 Andy Parks
4. 15 Joe Elerick
5. 12Q Bob Quaigg

Compact Heat # 3

1. 31 John Schooler
2. 16 Mike Seifert
3. 95 Scott Bush
4. 45 Robert Frohnapfel
5. 47R Don Rufener
6. 55 Tim Coen

Mini Wedge Heat # 1

1. 15 Brady Reed
2. 4C Charity Bubeck
3. 597 Noah Stewert
4. 11H Dakota Hess
5. 55 Susie Rudolph
6. 4 Phillip Bubeck

Modifield Feature

1. 14C Corey Conley Wellsburg, WV
2. 28 Kevin Morehouse Handover, OH
3. T9 Ryan Thomas Martinsville, Indiana
4. 15 Scotty Peltz Georgetown, OH
5. 65 Bruce Takach Colerain, OH
6. 4J Jim Plance Georgetown, PA
7. 21R Randy Bauchnecht Dillonvale, OH
8. 39S Ronnie Schmitt Belmont, OH
9. O2 Glen Underwood Cambridge, OH
10. 13 Mark Sambuco Mt. Pleasant, OH
11. J4 Jason Graham Adamsville, OH
12. S64 Jeremy Sluka Uhrichsville, OH
13. 21J Jon Sluka Uhrichsville, OH
14. 55S Rich Schmitt Belmont, OH
15. 40 Tim Moore Zanesville, OH
16. 23M Rob Melzer Tuscarawas, OH
17.. 23S Jason Stewert Martins Ferry, OH

Super Sport Feature

1. 77R Glen Richea Valley Grove, WV
2. 11H Jim Hess Centerville, OH
3. 48 Gary Hoopingarner Dover, OH
4. 20 Paul Murray Port Washington
5. 93 Tom Fantin Dennison, OH
6. M15 Dale Holcomb Smithfield, OH
7. 2 Sam Clegg Jacobsburg, OH
8. 149 Rich Dessecker New Philadelphia
9. 8T Tim Rager Dillonvale, OH
10. 16 Chris Seifert Quaker City, OH
11. T1 Kyle Warner Dennison, OH

Pure Stock Feature
1. 71 Tory Gibbs Port Washington
2. 80 Rich Frohnapfel Martins Ferry, OH
3. 62 Rob Scott New Philadelphia
4. 84 Gabe Pringle New Philadelphia
5. X100 Shawn Woods Bloomingdale, OH
6. 43 Deak Parsons Wheeling, WV
7. 73 Shaun Newbert Adena, OH
8. 14 Butch Newbert Adena, OH
9. 2 Dustin Warner Dennison, OH

Compact Feature

1. 14M Greg Mazzoleni New Philadelphia
2 31 John Schooler Newark, OH
3. 95 Scott Bush Massillon, OH
4. 16 Mike Seifert Quaker City, OH
5. 66 Brandon Welker Dover, OH
6. 45 Robert Frohnapfel Tridelphia, WV
7. 12F Luke Freed Dalton, OH
8. 47R Don Rufener Uhrichsville, OH
9. K9 Bryan King Newark, OH
10. 15 Joe Elerick Newcomerstown
11. 47 Don Rufener III Uhrichsville, OH
12. 84 Cody Krebs Ragersville, OH
13. 12Q Bob Quaigg Mingo Jct. OH
14. 55 Tim Coen Uhrichsville, OH
15. 7JR Brandon Mansfield Cadiz, OH
16. 9 Andy Parks Coshocton, OH
17. 15J Jason Jarrett Belmont, OH
18. 88H Randy Hahn Roswell, OH

Mini Wedge Feature

1. 15 Brady Reed St. Clairsville, OH
2. 11H Dakota Hess Centerville, OH
3. 4C Charity Bubeck Colliers, WV
4. 597 Noah Stewert Martins Ferry, OH
5. 4 Phillip Bubeck Colliers, WV
6. 55 Susie Rudolph Bridgeport, OH