Hess Tops Wallace, Schrader, Bowyer to Reclaim DIRTcar UMP Modified Spotlight

Barberville, FL – Feb. 3, 2010 – Two years ago Dave Hess Jr. was crowned an All-Star at the DIRTcar Nationals By University of Northwestern Ohio. On Wednesday night’s opener to the 39^th annual running of the traditional event at Volusia Speedway Park, Hess rekindled those memories to top a star-studded DIRTcar UMP Modified main event.

Hess managed to hold off a field that included Kenny Wallace, Ken Schrader, Clint Bowyer, Austin Dillon, Ty Dillon and Jared Landers, who dominated last year’s event.

“The track was real fast so I think everyone’s car felt great,” said Hess, of Waterford, Pa. “I didn’t want to look back, there were a lot of great cars throughout the field.”

Hess used a front row starting spot to stake his claim on the top spot just as University of Northwestern Ohio driver Todd Sherman went barrel-rolling up and along the Turn 3 wall. Sherman would walk away from the vicious wreck. Hess was strong on every restart, keeping the hard-charging superstars behind him over the final 19 laps.

“We’ve had real good cars, right out of the box,” Hess said. “I just hope we can keep everything going.”

Withstanding challenges from the likes of Jon Henry, of Ada, Ohio, and Tommy Seets, of Alton, Ill., Hess would prove too strong late in the going, stretching his lead to over five car-lengths as the checkerd flag waved.

Along with 42 All Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Cars, there were 74 DIRTcar UMP Modifieds signed in on Wednesday night on the opening night of the 39^th DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH, delayed a day by Tuesday’s rain. Terry Hull, of Columbia City, Ind., ran the fastest lap in group qualifying with a time of 19.983 seconds around the Volusia Speedway Park half-mile oval.

Heat race action saw Henry make quick work of a heat race filled with NASCAR names. Henry led Bowyer, Austin Dillon and Wallace to the line for the first heat win. Heat two was witness to eventual winner Hess beating the likes of former DIRTcar UMP Modified National Champion Denny Schwartz, of Ashmore, Ill., and younger Team Dillon driver, Ty Dillon of Welcome, NC.

Tommy Seets, of Alton, Ill., showed Dale Mathison, of Clearwater, Minn., and Ken Schrader of Fenton, Mo., the quick line for a Heat 3 victory, while Ben Adkins, of West Portsmouth, Ohio, dominated the action during Heat 4. Derek Groomer, of Bloomington, Ill., outdistanced Scotty Kincaid, of Rising Sun, Ind., and Jamie Lomax of Lake Village, Ind., in Heat 5. UNOH driver Todd Sherman, of Churubusco, Ind., would claim Heat 6 over Jeremy Kerzman, of Gray Eagle, Minn., and teammate Terry Hull.

Jared Landers, of Batesville, Ark., one year removed from winning 5 of 7 features at the DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH, had to fight his way to the first B-Main win. David McWilliams, of Union, KY., would claim B-Main 2 and Jason Hughes, of Westville, Okla., would capture B-Main 3 to set the 28-car field.

DIRTcar Nationals By University of Northwestern Ohio Statistical Report: DIRTcar UMP Modifieds

74 Entries

Qualifying

1. Terry Hull, 2. Randy Hall, 3. Rob Underwood, 4. Kenny Wallace, 5. Clint Bowyer, 6. Scotty Kincaid, 7. Kenny Schrader, 8. Derek Groomer, 9. Wayne Hammond, 10. Dave Hess Jr, 11. Jamie Lomax, 12. Todd Sherman, 13. Jason Schill, 14. Jon Henry, 15. Jason Hughes, 16. John McCall, 17. Denny Schwartz, 18. Ron Barker, 19. Scott Martin, 20. Tommy Seets, 21. Devin Gilpin, 22. Jeremy Kerzman, 23. Ben Adkins, 24. Jacob Hawkins, 25. Jared Landers, 26. Chad Evans, 27. Jammie Wilson, 28. Ty Dillon, 29. David McWilliams, 30. Dale Mathison, 31. Peyton Taylor, 32. Garrett Stewart, 33. Joe Carr, 34. Jesse Stovall, 35. Paul DeGoey, 36. Bob Gierke, 37. Bob Broking, 38. Scott Green, 39. Rick Cannata, 40. Steven Pfeifer, 41. Greg Socha, 42. Curt Myers, 43. Riley Herman, 44. Ben Ledgerwood, 45. Austin Dillon, 46. Jim Ransom, 47. Schuyler Nahre, 48. Jared Hawkins, 49. Stormy Scott, 50. Kyle Bronson, 51. Shane Sabraski, 52. Todd Neiheiser, 53. Tony Anderson, 54. Jeff Babcock, 55. Darrell George, 56. Jeremy Newberry, 57. Shawn Holliday, 58. J.E. Stalder, 59. Roger Moser, 60. Thomas Sigler, 61. Paul Miles, 62. Gary Brooks, 63. Justin Houston, 64. Michael Davis, 65. Justin Matson, 66. Tom Hagberg, 67. Zach Patterson, 68. Jeff Thomas, 69. Stephen Schnapf, 70. Mike Spatola, 71. Duane Dale, 72. Dave Wietholder, 73. Buzzie Reutimann, 74. Dave Baldwin

Heat 1. 1. Jon Henry, 2. Clint Bowyer, 3. Austin Dillon, 4. Kenny Wallace, 5. Scott Green, 6. Kyle Bronson, 7. Justin Houston, 8. Michael Davis, 9. Dave Wietholder, 10. Buzzie Reutimann, 11. Paul Miles, 12. Thomas Sigler, DNS. Dave Baldwin

Heat 2. 1. Dave Hess Jr, 2. Denny Schwartz, 3. Ty Dillon, 4. Jared Landers, 5. Greg Socha, 6. Bob Broking, 7. Jeremy Newberry, 8. Duane Dale, 9. Tom Hagberg, 10. Devin Gilpin, 11. Jacob Hawkins, 12. Schuyler Nahre, DNS. Garrett Stewart

Heat 3. 1. Tommy Seets, 2. Dale Mathison, 3. Kenny Schrader, 4. Steven Pfeifer, 5. Peyton Taylor, 6. Jesse Stovall, 7. Tony Anderson, 8. Jeff Babcock, 9. Rob Underwood, 10. Ben Ledgerwood, 11. Todd Neiheiser, DNS. Mike Spatola

Heat 4. 1. Ben Adkins, 2. Ron Barker, 3. Wayne Hammond, 4. David McWilliams, 5. J.E. Stalder, 6. Shane Sabraski, 7. Jim Ransom, 8. Chad Evans, 9. Bob Gierke, 10. Stormy Scott, 11. Roger Moser, DNS. Gary Brooks

Heat 5. 1. Derek Groomer, 2. Scotty Kincaid, 3. Jamie Lomax, 4. Jason Hughes, 5. Scott Martin, 6. Jason Schill, 7. Justin Matson, 8. Darrell George, 9. Zach Patterson, 10. Shawn Holliday, 11. Randy Hall, 12. John McCaul

Heat 6. 1. Todd Sherman, 2. Jeremy Kerzman, 3. Terry Hull, 4. Curt Myers, 5. Joe Carr, 6. Jared Hawkins, 7. Stephen Schnapf, 8. Jeff Thomas, 9. Riley Herman, 10. Jammie Wilson, 11. Rick Cannata, 12. Paul DeGoey

B-Main 1. 1. Jared Landers, 2. Kenny Wallace, 3. Scott Green, 4. Kyle Bronson, 5. Bob Broking, 6. Buzzie Reutimann, 7. Thomas Sigler, 8. Tom Hagberg, 9. Justin Houston, 10. Jeremy Newberry, 11. Greg Socha, 12. Duane Dale, 13. Michael Davis, 14. Dave Wietholder, 15. Devin Gilpin, 16. Jacob Hawkins, 17. Paul Miles, 18. Schuyler Nahre, 19. Dave Baldwin, 20. Garrett Stewart

B-Main 2. , 1. David McWilliams, 2. Steven Pfeifer, 3. J.E. Stalder, 4. Jesse Stovall, 5. Peyton Taylor, 6. Tony Anderson, 7. Shane Sabraski, 8. Jeff Babcock, 9. Jim Ransom, 10. Ben Ledgerwood, 11. Bob Gierke, 12. Chad Evans, 13. Roger Moser, DNS. Todd Neiheiser, DNS. Mike Spatola, DNS. Gary Brooks, DNS. Rob Underwood, DNS. Stormy Scott

B-Main 3. 1. Jason Hughes, 2. Scott Martin, 3. Curt Myers, 4. Justin Matson, 5. Jared Hawkins, 6. Jammie Wilson, 7. Joe Carr, 8. John McCaul, 9. Shawn Holliday, 10. Rick Cannata, 11. Jason Schill, 12. Darrell George, 13. Jeff Thomas, 14. Stephen Schnapf, 15. Riley Herman, 16. Zach Patterson, DNS. Randy Hall, DNS. Paul DeGoey

A-Main (20 Laps) 1. Dave Hess Jr, 2. Tommy Seets, 3. Jason Hughes, 4. Austin Dillon, 5. Kenny Wallace, 6. Kenny Schrader, 7. Jared Landers, 8. Dale Mathison, 9. Scott Green, 10. Jeremy Kerzaman, 11. Wayne Hammond, 12. Jon Henry, 13. J.E. Stalder, 14. Steven Pfeifer, 15. Clint Bowyer, 16. Curt Myers, 17. Denny Schwartz, 18. Scott Martin, 19. David McWilliams, 20. Ben Adkins, 21. Ty Dillon, 22. Jason Schill, 23. Jamie Lomax, 24. Scotty Kincaid, 25. Ron Barker, 26. Terry Hull, 27. Derek Groomer, 28. Todd Sherman

The 39^th Annual DIRTcar Nationals is brought to you by the University of Northwestern Ohio. The University of Northwestern Ohio is the Official Education Provider of DIRTcar Racing. UNOH can deliver strong progressive academics, with flexible scheduling at an affordable price. The choice of a university at which to study is a major decision. Your future as a productive professional and a responsible citizen can be greatly enhanced by that decision. Students at UHOH will become critical thinkers, will become communicators, will have the most current technology and will experience small class sizes taught by knowledgeable faculty with real working experience. For more information visit UNOH at www.unoh.edu.