Dale McDowell – Jim Denhamer photo
Video Replay Determination on Birkhofer’s Win Precedes .037 Second McDowell Win
contributions from DirtonDirt.com/Todd Turner
ROSSBURG, Ohio (June 6) — Dale McDowell of Chickamauga, Ga., won Friday’s second preliminary feature for the weekend’s Dirt Late Model Dream presented by Ferris Mowers by .073 seconds over Darrell Lanigan. Compared to Brian Birkhofer’s winning margin in the first preliminary feature, McDowell’s narrow victory was a virtual blowout.
On a night with a pair of tight finishes at the legendary half-mile oval, Birkhofer and McDowell collected $5,000 victories in Twin 25-lap features leading to Saturday’s (June 7)$100,000-to-win event sanctioned by UMP DIRTcar, the richest race in Dirt Late Model racing.
“Believe me, I’m glad we won $5,000 … but it’s still about coming out and standing on that stage tomorrow night,” the 42-year-old Birkhofer, of Muscatine, Iowa, said. “I got a race car that I can keep working on and maybe try to win this big race tomorrow night. That’s all I’m thinking about.”
At the tail end of a thrilling final lap, Birkhofer’s crossover move on Rick Eckert of York, Pa., exiting turn four ended with officials ruling Birkhofer the winner by a hair after viewing and reviewing the video replay and digital photos.
Brian Birkhofer – Jim Denhamer photo
“What a race!” said Birkhofer, who led only laps 18 and 25 in the caution-free event. “It was a lot of fun.”
It took several minutes for Eldora general manager Roger Slack and race officials to determine Birkhofer was the winner, leaving Eckert disappointed after starting outside the front row and leading 23 of 25 caution-free laps.
“You hate to lose them that way,” the 48-year-old York, Pa., driver said after initially hearing that transponders scored him as the winner, “but that’s the way racing goes sometimes.”
Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark., who hung with the frontrunners the first half of the race, settled for third-place finish while polesitter Shannon Babb of Moweaqua, Ill., was fourth. Kent Robinson of Bloomington, Ind., one of Thursday’s preliminary feature winners, improved two positions from his Friday start to round out the top five.
Birkhofer’s high-side charge gave him the lead on the 18th lap, but Eckert went back ahead a lap later as the race wound down to the final circuit, when the leaders came upon traffic, forcing both drivers to swap lanes.
First, Birkhofer was held up by a slower Jimmy Mars on the backstretch, allowing Eckert to move underneath in turn three. Then Eckert, too, was held up by the slower Duane Chamberlain’s car in the low groove.
Eckert slid in front of Birkhofer exiting turn four heading for the checkers, but Birkhofer made a crossover move underneath Eckert and — barely — won the drag race to the checkers.
“I got into traffic there and I wasn’t sure how much of a lead I had,” Eckert said. “He slipped by me there one time and then he got boxed in behind a lapped car like I had got boxed in, and then I got back by him. It was a helluva race, but you just hate losing one on the last lap no matter where it’s at – especially at Eldora.”
Birkhofer, his head leaning forward at the checkers, was glad the decision went his way.
“Rick’s a helluva racer,” Birkhofer said. “He did his thing and I tried to do my thing to try and win the race. I honestly thought I had him at the line, but by transponders he had me and by video I got him I guess. I’ll take it.”
McDowell’s victory had less drama but still provided good racing in his duel with former Dream winner Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky.
McDowell pulled past the Lanigan, the race-long leader and outside front-row starter, on the backstretch of the 14th lap and led the rest of the 25-lapper.
“Everything turned out and it was our night,” McDowell said in victory lane. “I hope it’s our night tomorrow night.”
A late caution for a spinning Jason Riggs gave Lanigan one final shot at McDowell, who survived a two-lap shootout to the finish after choosing the inside lane. He outran Lanigan into turn one to fend off a final challenge for a narrow victory.
“I don’t think I would’ve been able to pass Darrell tonight if we didn’t get into traffic. It’s a whole lot easier to run second in traffic than it is to lead because you have to pick your way through. I just kind of went where he wasn’t on a whim that we could get by him, and it worked.”
Lanigan settled for second with polesitter Jason Feger of Bloomington, Ill., in third. Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, Tenn., improved six positions to finish fourth and Chris Madden of Gray Court, S.C., rounded out the top five.
Race tickets and campsites for the final night (June7) of the Dirt Late Model Dream presented by Ferris Mowers, or any other exciting Eldora event, are available by going online to www.EldoraSpeedway.com. Additionally, tickets and campsites may be purchased through the Eldora offices during normal business hours by calling (937) 338-3815 or on race day.
Additionally, race fans and race teams can get behind-the-scenes access by following @EldoraSpeedway on Twitter, hitting ‘Like’ at Facebook.com/EldoraSpeedway and view video highlights at YouTube.com/EldoraSpeedwayInc. Mobile device users can access the Eldora Speedway app for the iPhone, iPad and Android which are available for download via iTunes and Google Play.
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TIME TRIALS – 1. 157-Mike Marlar [15.777]; 2. 16N-Brad Neat [15.790]; 3. 5-Don Oneal [15.792]; 4. 28C-Eddie Carrier Jr [15.815]; 5. 25Z-Mason Zeigler [15.834]; 6. 39-Tim Mccreadie [15.865]; 7. 71C-R J Conley [15.880]; 8. 6D-Jonathan Davenport [15.894]; 9. 18-Shannon Babb [15.915]; 10. 81JR-Jason Riggs [15.930]; 11. 21-Billy Moyer [15.943]; 12. 1WC-Wayne Chinn [15.946]; 13. 1E-Rick Eckert [15.958]; 14. 29-Darrell Lanigan [15.967]; 15. 21JR-Billy Moyer Jr [15.992]; 16. 5E-Brandon Overton [16.004]; 17. 81S-Brian Shirley [16.029]; 18. 17M-Dale Mcdowell [16.036]; 19. 22S-Gregg Satterlee [16.037]; 20. 25C-Shane Clanton [16.053]; 21. 12-Jason Hughes [16.104]; 22. 1H-Jason Hiett [16.105]; 23. 32-Chris Simpson [16.111]; 24. 25F-Jason Feger [16.116]; 25. 15-Steve Francis [16.128]; 26. 32P-Bobby Pierce [16.132]; 27. 00K-Randy Korte [16.141]; 28. 44M-Chris Madden [16.142]; 29. 75M-Dusty Moore [16.187]; 30. 55-Jeep Vanwormer [16.212]; 31. 15B-Brian Birkhofer [16.248]; 32. 20-Jimmy Owens [16.255]; 33. 9R-Curtis Roberts [16.284]; 34. 15H-Jon Henry [16.286]; 35. 20C-Duane Chamberlain [16.301]; 36. 3-Matt Miller [16.326]; 37. 25B-Mike Benedum [16.354]; 38. 777-Jared Landers [16.365]; 39. 99M-Devin Moran [16.382]; 40. 19R-Ryan Gustin [16.406]; 41. 14M-Morgan Bagley [16.412]; 42. 360-Michael Asberry [16.416]; 43. 18J-Chase Junghans [16.428]; 44. 0-Scott Bloomquist [16.445]; 45. 11S-Rusty Schlenk [16.447]; 46. 1B-Jeff Babcock [16.472]; 47. 18W-Eric Wells [16.506]; 48. B5-Brandon Sheppard [16.526]; 49. 40B-Kyle Bronson [16.551]; 50. 16R-Justin Ratliff [16.552]; 51. 28M-Jimmy Mars [16.623]; 52. 1V-Vic Hill [16.674]; 53. 20H-Jacob Hawkins [16.726]; 54. 19M-Josh Adkins [16.779]; 55. 1J-Davey Johnson [16.795]; 56. 28-Dennis Erb Jr [16.834]; 57. 75P-Terry Phillips [16.851]; 58. 83-Scott James [16.853]; 59. 11W-Rob Williams [16.861]; 60. 18K-Brandon Kinzer [16.917]; 61. 7R-Kent Robinson [16.944]; 62. 28P-Jeff Provinzino [16.960]; 63. 98S-Tim Sabo [17.019]; 64. 36-Matt Irey [17.119]; 65. 1N-Casey Noonan [17.184]; 66. 1W-Wendall Wallace [17.264]; 67. 31-Nick Latham [17.365]; 68. 33S-Aaron Scott [17.424]; 69. 93-Jay Johnson [17.641]; 70. 3G-Brian Gray [18.377]; 71. 44-Earl Pearson, Jr [19.126]; 72. 4C-Ernie Cordier [19.300]; 73. 23B-John Blankenship [99.999]; 74. 3C-Charlie Laplant [99.999]; 75. 71-Delmas Conley [99.999]; 76. 6-Dustin Neat [99.999]; 77. 58D-Aj Diemel [99.999];
HEAT 1 – 1. 18-Shannon Babb [2]; 2. 15-Steve Francis [4]; 3. 81S-Brian Shirley [1]; 4. 157-Mike Marlar [3]; 5. 14M-Morgan Bagley [6]; 6. 75P-Terry Phillips [8]; 7. 9R-Curtis Roberts [5]; 8. 40B-Kyle Bronson [7]; 9. 1N-Casey Noonan [9]; 10. 44-Earl Pearson, Jr [DNS];
HEAT 2 – 1. 17M-Dale Mcdowell [1]; 2. 81JR-Jason Riggs [2]; 3. 1W-Wendall Wallace [9]; 4. 23B-John Blankenship [10]; 5. 32P-Bobby Pierce [4]; 6. 15H-Jon Henry [5]; 7. 16R-Justin Ratliff [7]; 8. 83-Scott James [8]; 9. 360-Michael Asberry [DNF]; 10. 16N-Brad Neat [DNS];
HEAT 3 – 1. 21-Billy Moyer [2]; 2. 5-Don Oneal [3]; 3. 22S-Gregg Satterlee [1]; 4. 20C-Duane Chamberlain [5]; 5. 28M-Jimmy Mars [7]; 6. 00K-Randy Korte [4]; 7. 18J-Chase Junghans [6]; 8. 31-Nick Latham [9]; 9. 11W-Rob Williams [DNF]; 10. 3C-Charlie Laplant [DNS];
HEAT 5 – 1. 1E-Rick Eckert [2]; 2. 7R-Kent Robinson [8]; 3. 12-Jason Hughes [1]; 4. 25Z-Mason Zeigler [3]; 5. 75M-Dusty Moore [4]; 6. 20H-Jacob Hawkins [7]; 7. 58D-Aj Diemel [10]; 8. 11S-Rusty Schlenk [6]; 9. 25B-Mike Benedum [5]; 10. 93-Jay Johnson [9];
HEAT 6 – 1. 29-Darrell Lanigan [2]; 2. 55-Jeep Vanwormer [4]; 3. 1B-Jeff Babcock [6]; 4. 777-Jared Landers [5]; 5. 1H-Jason Hiett [1]; 6. 28P-Jeff Provinzino [8]; 7. 3G-Brian Gray [9]; 8. 19M-Josh Adkins [DNF]; 9. 39-Tim Mccreadie [DNF]; 10. 6-Dustin Neat [DNS];
HEAT 8 – 1. 25F-Jason Feger [1]; 2. 6D-Jonathan Davenport [3]; 3. 20-Jimmy Owens [4]; 4. 19R-Ryan Gustin [5]; 5. 5E-Brandon Overton [2]; 6. B5-Brandon Sheppard [6]; 7. 28-Dennis Erb Jr [7]; 8. 36-Matt Irey [8];
B-FEATURE 1 – 1. 28M-Jimmy Mars [2]; 2. 75P-Terry Phillips [3]; 3. 14M-Morgan Bagley [1]; 4. 40B-Kyle Bronson [7]; 5. 9R-Curtis Roberts [5]; 6. 00K-Randy Korte [4]; 7. 18J-Chase Junghans [6]; 8. 31-Nick Latham [8]; 9. 1N-Casey Noonan [9]; 10. 11W-Rob Williams [DNF];
B-FEATURE 2 – 1. 21JR-Billy Moyer Jr [2]; 2. 20H-Jacob Hawkins [3]; 3. 25B-Mike Benedum [9]; 4. 58D-Aj Diemel [5]; 5. 11S-Rusty Schlenk [7]; 6. 75M-Dusty Moore [1]; 7. 93-Jay Johnson [11]; 8. 98S-Tim Sabo [6]; 9. 99M-Devin Moran [DNF]; 10. 4C-Ernie Cordier [DNF]; 11. 18W-Eric Wells [DNS];
B-FEATURE 3 – 1. 28C-Eddie Carrier Jr [2]; 2. 1WC-Wayne Chinn [4]; 3. 360-Michael Asberry [9]; 4. 15H-Jon Henry [3]; 5. 16R-Justin Ratliff [5]; 6. 1V-Vic Hill [6]; 7. 18K-Brandon Kinzer [10]; 8. 83-Scott James [7]; 9. 33S-Aaron Scott [8]; 10. 16N-Brad Neat [DNS]; 11. 32P-Bobby Pierce [DNS]; 12. 71-Delmas Conley [DNF];
B-FEATURE 4 – 1. 5E-Brandon Overton [2]; 2. 1H-Jason Hiett [1]; 3. 39-Tim Mccreadie [9]; 4. 28P-Jeff Provinzino [3]; 5. B5-Brandon Sheppard [4]; 6. 28-Dennis Erb Jr [6]; 7. 6-Dustin Neat [10]; 8. 19M-Josh Adkins [7]; 9. 36-Matt Irey [8]; 10. 3G-Brian Gray [5];
A FEATURE 1 – 1. 15B-Brian Birkhofer [1]; 2. 1E-Rick Eckert [2]; 3. 21-Billy Moyer [3]; 4. 18-Shannon Babb [4]; 5. 7R-Kent Robinson [7]; 6. 5-Don Oneal [6]; 7. 22S-Gregg Satterlee [10]; 8. 81S-Brian Shirley [9]; 9. 25Z-Mason Zeigler [15]; 10. 157-Mike Marlar [13]; 11. 32-Chris Simpson [12]; 12. 71C-R J Conley [8]; 13. 75P-Terry Phillips [19]; 14. 21JR-Billy Moyer Jr [18]; 15. 15-Steve Francis [5]; 16. 20H-Jacob Hawkins [20]; 17. 20C-Duane Chamberlain [14]; 18. 28M-Jimmy Mars [DNF]; 19. 12-Jason Hughes [DNF]; 20. 40B-Kyle Bronson [DNF]; 21. 14M-Morgan Bagley [DNF]; 22. 25B-Mike Benedum [DNF]; 23. 1J-Davey Johnson [DNF]; 24. 58D-Aj Diemel [DNF];
A FEATURE 2 – 1. 17M-Dale Mcdowell [4]; 2. 29-Darrell Lanigan [2]; 3. 25F-Jason Feger [1]; 4. 0-Scott Bloomquist [10]; 5. 44M-Chris Madden [6]; 6. 23B-John Blankenship [13]; 7. 6D-Jonathan Davenport [8]; 8. 55-Jeep Vanwormer [7]; 9. 3-Matt Miller [14]; 10. 28C-Eddie Carrier Jr [17]; 11. 25C-Shane Clanton [3]; 12. 1W-Wendall Wallace [9]; 13. 19R-Ryan Gustin [16]; 14. 1B-Jeff Babcock [11]; 15. 360-Michael Asberry [DNF]; 16. 5E-Brandon Overton [DNF]; 17. 39-Tim Mccreadie [DNF]; 18. 1H-Jason Hiett [DNF]; 19. 1WC-Wayne Chinn [DNF]; 20. 81JR-Jason Riggs [DNF]; 21. 777-Jared Landers [DNF]; 22. 28P-Jeff Provinzino [DNF]; 23. 15H-Jon Henry [DNF]; 24. 20-Jimmy Owens [DNF];
