Rossburg, OH — Thunderstorms swept over Eldora Speedway after the completion of heat-race action on Saturday night, forcing officials to postpone the remainder of the DIRTcar Racing-sanctioned ‘Dream XVI’ event.
The C-Main, B-Main and 100-lap DIRTcar Late Model feature paying $100,000 to win is tentatively set to be run on the weekend’s advertised raindate of Sun., June 13, but a final decision will be made at 8 a.m. on Sunday.
“In the interest of safety for our fans and competitors, we had to postpone the remainder of tonight’s program,” said Eldora Speedway general manager Larry Boos. “We will decide in the morning whether the weather will allow us to go ahead as planned with racing on Sunday.”
Boos said if conditions are suitable for racing on Sunday, the track’s tentative plan is to clear the grounds at 10 a.m. and then immediately readmit all spectators. A time schedule for the day would be announced in the morning.
Saturday night’s six 15-lap heats were completed before the rain became too heavy for racing to continue. The heats beat the weather after an initial light burst of precipitation red-flagged the fifth heat with three laps left.
Heat winners were Casey Roberts of Toccoa, Ga., Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Ga., Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., Brandon Kinzer of Allen, Ky., Ray Cook of Brasstown, N.C., and Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark.
Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., who was the fastest qualifier in Friday’s 104-car time-trial session, moved up from the fifth starting spot in the first heat to finish third and transfer to the Dream XVI. He is scheduled to start 18th in the 100-lapper.
NASCAR star/Eldora owner Tony Stewart was unable to parlay his second-fastest time-trial lap into heat-race success, dropping out of the second prelim on lap three. He has the 19th starting spot in the Dream thanks to a fast-time provisional, but he won’t be able to run the event if it is contested on Sunday afternoon due to his Sprint Cup commitment at Michigan International Speedway.
The second fast-time provisional was claimed by Jeep VanWormer of Pinconning, Mich., who was eliminated from action after slapping the turn-two wall on the opening circuit of the third heat.
The latest information on the status of the Dream XVI can be obtained on Sunday morning by visiting www.eldoraspeedway.com or calling the track office at 937-338-3815.
For more information on DIRTcar Racing, visit www.dirtcar.com.
Heat 1 Finish: 1. Casey Roberts[3]; 2. Dan Schlieper[1]; 3. Tim McCreadie[5]; 4. Bub Mccool[8]; 5. Chris Madden[4]; 6. Jackie Boggs[2]; 7. Curtis Roberts[7]; 8. Jason Feger[11]; 9. Donnie Moran[18]; 10. Jeremy Payne[9]; 11. Jack Sullivan[10]; 12. Jerry Bowersock[15]; 13. Jacob Hawkins[14]; 14. Dave Hartman[17]; 15. Lee Davasier[16]; 16. Brent Kreke[12]; 17. Kent Robinson[13]
Heat 2 Finish: 1. Jonathan Davenport[2]; 2. Steve Casebolt[3]; 3. Darrell Lanigan[6]; 4. Dale McDowell[4]; 5. Earl Pearson Jr.[8]; 6. Dennis Erb Jr.[12]; 7. Doug Drown[9]; 8. Shanon Buckingham[16]; 9. Jay Johnson[7]; 10. Justin Rattliff[13]; 11. Keith Berner[11]; 12. Gregg Satterlee[1]; 13. Tony Stewart[5]; 14. Scott James[10]; 15. Scott Orr[14]; 16. Jason Jameson[15]
Heat 3 Finish : 1. Steve Francis[2]; 2. Brian Birkhofer[1]; 3. Brady Smith[10]; 4. Brad Neat[4]; 5. Brian Shirley[3]; 6. Bart Hartman[9]; 7. Don O’Neal[14]; 8. Brett Wyatt[7]; 9. Keith Foss[11]; 10. Robby Hensley[15]; 11. Christopher Brown[13]; 12. Shannon Thornsberry[16]; 13. Jerry Rice[12]; 14. Chris Ferguson[8]; 15. Bryant Dickinson[17]; 16. Jeep Van Wormer[5]; 17. Eddie Carrier Jr.[6]
Heat 4 Finish: 1. Brandon Kinzer[1]; 2. Shane Clanton[5]; 3. Josh Richards[11]; 4. Dustin Neat[2]; 5. Will Vaught[4]; 6. Terry Phillips[7]; 7. Zack Dohm[13]; 8. Jon Henry[12]; 9. Wayne Chinn[15]; 10. Billy Moyer Jr[3]; 11. Ryan VanderVeen[16]; 12. John Mason[14]; 13. Keith Kennedy[17]; 14. Austin Hubbard[9]; 15. Ben Adkins[6]; 16. Chris Wall[8]; 17. Jimmy Mars[10]
Heat 5 Finish: 1. Ray Cook[4]; 2. John Blankenship[6]; 3. Jimmy Owens[5]; 4. JR Hotovy[1]; 5. Shannon Babb[7]; 6. Tony Knowles[9]; 7. Brian Ruhlman[10]; 8. Wayne Maffett Jr.[14]; 9. John Henderson[8]; 10. Nick Marolf[12]; 11. Nick Fronapfel[16]; 12. Frank Heckenast[2]; 13. Tim Dohm[3]; 14. Cliff Morrow[17]; 15. Josh Williams[13]; 16. Tim Sabo[15]
Heat 6 Finish: 1. Billy Moyer[1]; 2. Scott Bloomquist[4]; 3. Mike Marlar[2]; 4. Matt Miller[3]; 5. Chad Simpson[5]; 6. Chub Frank[7]; 7. Eric Wells[14]; 8. Vic Hill[6]; 9. Clint Smith[8]; 10. Eric Jacobsen[11]; 11. Jared Landers[13]; 12. Aaron Ridley[9]; 13. Jeff Larson[12]; 14. Andrew Reaume[16]; 15. Casey Noonan[15]; 16. Tommy Klein[16]
