Hannagan Grabs Memorial Cup Win At Limaland

(5/24/13) – The Memorial Day Holiday weekend has been one of the most traditional and hallowed racing weekends throughout the great history of motorsports. Limaland Motorsports Park marks the holiday with a night of racing known as the Memorial Cup. The usual large crowd gathered for a special sprint car showdown as well as action in the Modifieds and Stocks divisions.

The touring K & L Ready Mix NRA Sprint Invaders came together with the SOD (Sprints on Dirt) cars to produce a 46 car turnout for the beginning of the evening racing program. A multitude of track champions and former feature winners whittled itself down to a 21-car starting field as the green flag unfurled for the 25-lap feature.

Michigan’s Ryan Grubaugh jumped to the front at the start from his pole starting position. He headed for the high side and made it work while holding off serious challenges from veterans Randy Hannagan and Tim Allison. Hannagan, the previous week’s feature winner at the track, briefly went inside against Grubaugh. He couldn’t make a pass stick and fell back into the second position.

Later on lap number 18, Hannagan made a brilliant pass underneath Grubaugh through turns 1 and 2 to grab the lead position. “Ryan did a good job, but he was just spinning a little bit and I was starting to catch him off of turn 4,” said Hannagan in the winner’s circle reflecting on the key moment in the race. “The developing lapped traffic meant I needed to make a move. I just slid up through there and off we went.”

Hannagan wasn’t seriously threatened after he took over the race lead and rolled to a second consecutive win at the track and his 11th all-time. Ryan Grubaugh and local veteran Tim Allison followed Hannagan across the finish line, but neither threatened Hannagan’s race dominance after he took the lead.

A stacked field of K & N Modifieds rumbled to the start line for their 20-lap feature with Wapakoneta, Ohio veteran Jerry Bowersock leading the field through the opening four circuits. Bowersock had an entertaining side-by-side exchange with Aaron Scott that saw Scott eventually take over the lead on lap number 5.

By the time of a restart following a caution period through seven laps, UNOH Racer athletic motorsports team driver Kody Weisner had found himself in the runner-up position behind Aaron Scott. Weisner, a senior at the University in the High Performance Motorsport program was already a proven successful driver having won a feature at Limaland Motorsports Park previously in his collegiate career.

A tremendous duel was developing between Weisner, working the cushion on the track surface, and Scott, who seemed to prefer the inside racing position. After a pair of thrilling lead changes, Weisner took control and mastered the rest of field with a strong front-running effort for the final seven laps of the race. The Muskegon, Michigan native was quick to spread the credit for this impressive victory over a loaded field of veteran Modified drivers. “This team (UNOH students) works their tails off every week,” said Weisner. “The University, the coaches, and the guys put so much of their time into these cars. There are 25-30 states of student origins that are represented with these teams.”

The Budweiser Thunderstocks are turning into defending track champion Shawn Valenti’s private playground as he overcame an excellent field of cars to win for a second consecutive week and 9th time in the past two seasons. By the time Valenti captured the lead on lap 7 from Zach Gustafson, it was becoming clear again that the Jeff Babcock entry with Valenti behind the wheel was too much to handle for all comers.

The race saw a pair of 4-car collisions, but neither was a factor in Valenti’s stroll to another dominate win. Jordon Conover, himself a feature winner this season, finished second with UNOH Racer Anthony Flannery of Connecticut finishing out the podium top-three finishers.

“After our first night of bad luck this year, I thought we would just come back and keep trying our best and now it’s two in a row,” said Valenti. “The cushion was pretty good all the way around. Once you got up there, you were able to keep some pretty good speed.” It marked Valenti’s 14th career visit to the winner’s circle. Jordan Conover finished second with UNOH Racer Anthony Flannery taking the third finishing position.

Limaland Motorsports Park returns to action on Friday, May 31, for the Steve Brown Memorial with the Budweiser Thunderstocks. Also the Elwer Fence Sprints and the K&N UMP Modifieds will compete. Gates open at 5:00 p.m. with hot laps beginning at 6:30 p.m. Racing begins promptly at 7:30 p.m.

All the latest news and information about America’s premier quarter-mile dirt track, can be found atwww.limaland.com. You can also find 2013 Limaland Motorsports Park on Facebook and Twitter.

Limaland Motorsports Park – 5/24/2013

Memorial Cup

NRA – SOD Sprints

Heat 1 – (8 Laps – Top 3 Transfer)

1. 6S-Jr Stewart  2.  28H-Hud Horton  3. 35-Ron Blair  4. 27-Beau Stewart

5. 16-Ryan Ruhl  6. 46-Robert Huisken  7. 4J-Bob Gehr  8. 20A-Andy Chehowski

9. 70-James Lingar  10. 22OZ-Aaron Shaffer

Heat 2 – (8 Laps – Top 3 Transfer)

1. 11-Tim Allison  2.  2S-Kyle Sauder  3. 22R-Kevin Roberts  4. 31-Andy Teunessen

5. 23M-Jack Miller  6.  50B-Mike Burns  7. 23G-Joe Geibe  8. 83-Phil Gressman

9. 18-Todd Heuerman

Heat 3 – (8 Laps – Top 3 Transfer)

1. 22H-Randy Hannagan  2. 17-Jared Horstman  3.  9W-Brandon Wimmer

4. 23-Devon Dobie  5. 12-Don Ryder  6. 69-Scott Curren  7. 34-Jimmy Snead

8. 10JX-Chris Jones  9. 4-Eric Smith

Heat 4 – (8 Laps – Top 3 Transfer)

1. OO-Ryan Grubaugh  2. 99-Brady Bacon  3.  49T-Gregg Dalman  4. 6-Nate Dussel

5.  7C-Max Stambaugh  6. 57-Mike Dunlap  7. 22D-Dennis Yoakam

8.  16C-Greg Wheeler  9. 2-Brent Gehr

Heat 5 – Heat 5 (8 Laps – Top 3 Transfer)

1. 49-Shawn Dancer  2. 7-Darren Long  3. 10X-Dustin Stroup  4.  7K-Cole Duncan

5.   B20-Butch Schroeder  6.  2M-Dustin Daggett  7. 10J-Jarrod Delong

8.   12R-Nick Roberts  9. 2W-Chad Mcinturff

B-Main #1 – (10 Laps – Top 3 Transfer)

1. 7K-Cole Duncan  2. 27-Beau Stewart  3. 7C-Max Stambaugh  4.  2M-Dustin Daggett

5. 23-Devon Dobie  6. 22D-Dennis Yoakam  7. 18-Todd Heuerman

8. 20A-Andy Chehowski  9. 46-Robert Huisken  10. 69-Scott Curren

11. 10JX-Chris Jones  12.  23M-Jack Miller  13. 2-Brent Gehr  14.  12R-Nick Roberts

15. 23G-Joe Geibe  16.  22OZ-Aaron Shaffer

B-Main #2 – (10 Laps – Top 3 Transfer)

1. 6-Nate Dussel  2. B20-Butch Schroeder  3. 57-Mike Dunlap  4. 31-Andy Teunessen

5. 83-Phil Gressman  6. 16-Ryan Ruhl  7. 12-Don Ryder  8. 10J-Jarrod Delong

9. 16C-Greg Wheeler  10.  50B-Mike Burns  11.  4J-Bob Gehr  12. 34-Jimmy Snead

13. 70-James Lingar

A-Main – (25 Laps) [#]-Starting Position

1.   22H-Randy Hannagan[2]   2.  OO-Ryan Grubaugh[1]  3. 11-Tim Allison[3]

4.   6S-Jr Stewart[4]  5. 28H-Hud Horton[6]  6. 99-Brady Bacon[9]  7. 7-Darren Long[10]

8.   2S-Kyle Sauder[7]  9.  9W-Brandon Wimmer[13]  10. 10X-Dustin Stroup[15]

11.  7K-Cole Duncan[16]  12. 49-Shawn Dancer[5]  13. 49T-Gregg Dalman[14]

14. 17-Jared Horstman[8]  15. 27-Beau Stewart[18]  16. 35-Ron Blair[11]

17.  B20-Butch Schroeder[19]  18. 6-Nate Dussel[17]  19. 7C-Max Stambaugh[20]

20.  22R-Kevin Roberts[12]  21. 57-Mike Dunlap[21]

K & N UMP Modifieds

Heat 1 – (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)

1. 65-Todd Sherman  2.  5*-Jerry Bowersock  3. OO-Dwight Niehoff

4. 69-Tommy Beezley  5. 18N-Derrick Noffsinger  6.  8C-Corey Bevard

7. 33-Clint Reagle  8. 20K-Bill Keeler  9. 22T-Tony Anderson

Heat 2 – (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)

1.  5X-Jerry Bowersock  2. 54-Matt Westfall  3. F16-Jake Ruefer  4. 7B-Jeff Babcock

5.  28-Chad Rosenbeck  6. L5-Casey Luedeke  7. 46-Andrew Johnson  8. 23J-Jon Henry

9.  55M-Justin Matson

Heat 3 – (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)

1. 5-Aaron Scott  2. 20-Kody Weisner  3. 15-Jeff Hamby  4. 22B-Andy Bibler

5. 93-Tyler Stump  6. 10-Brett Miller  7. 6-David Sibberson  8. 83-Josh Kehle

B-Main – (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)

1.  L5-Casey Luedeke  2.  23J-Jon Henry  3. 22T-Tony Anderson  4. 33-Clint Reagle

5.  20K-Bill Keeler  6. 10-Brett Miller  7. 55M-Justin Matson  8.  8C-Corey Bevard

9. 6-David Sibberson 10. 46-Andrew Johnson  11. 83-Josh Kehle

A-Main – (20 Laps) [#]-Starting Position

1. 20-Kody Weisner[6]  2. 5-Aaron Scott[1]  3.  5X-Jerry Bowersock[2]

4. 65-Todd Sherman[3]  5. 7B-Jeff Babcock[11]  6. 22B-Andy Bibler[12]

7.  F16-Jake Ruefer[8]  8.  23J-Jon Henry[17]  9.  L5-Casey Luedeke[16]

10.  5*-Jerry Bowersock[2]  11. 93-Tyler Stump[15]  12. 69-Tommy Beezley[10]

13. 22T-Tony Anderson[18]  14. OO-Dwight Niehoff[7]  15.  20K-Bill Keeler[20]

16. 18N-Derrick Noffsinger[13]  17. 33-Clint Reagle[19]  18. 15-Jeff Hamby[9]

19. 54-Matt Westfall[5]  20. 28-Chad Rosenbeck[14]

Bud Thunderstocks

Heat 1 – (8 Laps – Top 8 Transfer)

1. 48-Tim Cole  2. 6-Emily Gade  3. 21H-Dave Hollon  4. 27-Frank Paladino

5. 89-Keith Shockency  6. O1S-Jordan Shipley  7. OOM-Bryan Martin

8. 82-Chris Douglas

Heat 2 – (8 Laps – Top 8 Transfer)

1.  22T-Tony Anderson  2.  8C-Brad Conover  3. 1-Anthony Flannery  4. 2-Ray Seech

5.  26-Justin Long  6. 57S-Billy Siferd  7. 22TJ-Jeff Koz

Heat 3 – (8 Laps – Top 8 Transfer)

1.   7B-Shawn Valenti  2.  7C-Jordan Conover  3. 93-Zach Gustafson  4. 19-Bill Reimund

5.   OOK-Tommy Klein  6. 32-Scott Boyde Jr.  7.  O1C-Andrew Clark

A-Main – (15 Laps) [#]-Starting Position

1.  7B-Shawn Valenti[7]  2. 7C-Jordan Conover[4]  3. 1-Anthony Flannery[2]

4.  93-Zach Gustafson[1]  5.  22T-Tony Anderson[8]  6. 82-Chris Douglas[22]

7.  OOK-Tommy Klein[15]  8. 89-Keith Shockency[13]  9. 6-Emily Gade[6]

10. 48-Tim Cole[9]  11.  8C-Brad Conover[5]  12.  O1S-Jordan Shipley[16]

13. 22TJ-Jeff Koz[20]  14.  21H-Dave Hollon[3]  15.  O1C-Andrew Clark[21]

16. 19-Bill Reimund[12]  17. 2-Ray Seech[11]  18. 27-Frank Paladino[10]

19. 32-Scott Boyde Jr.[18]