Maryville, IL — This weekend’s Pak-A-Sak UMP DIRTcar Racing Nationals at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, will serve as a coronation for Jason Feger of Bloomington, Ill., and Gary Cook Jr. of Deer Creek, Ill.
Feger (Super Late Models) and Cook (Modifieds) head into the circuit’s points-season-ending doubleheader this weekend (Oct. 9-10) at the famed half-mile oval having already clinched their first career UMP DIRTcar national championships.
Feger, 31, secured his $20,000 title in style, rolling through last weekend’s action with three wins and a fourth-place finish. He scored consecutive victories on Oct. 2 at Tri-City Speedway in Pontoon Beach, Ill., Oct. 3 at Lincoln (Ill.) Speedway and Oct. 4 at Shepp’s Speedway in Alexander, Ill., before his streak was ended in the nightcap of the two-feature program at Shepp’s.
While pushing his 2009 UMP DIRTcar-leading Super Late Model feature win total to 22, Feger extended his national points lead from 27 to 53 points (3,026-2,973) over Dennis Erb Jr. of Carpentersville, Ill. With only Saturday night’s scheduled 40-lap UMP DIRTcar Nationals A-Main remaining for drivers to earn points, Erb can’t mathematically overcome Erb’s total and thus is resigned to seeing his two-year reign as national champion come to an end.
The 33-year-old Cook, meanwhile, did not gain any points last weekend – the Modified standings are determined using drivers’ best 30 finishes/points nights – but still ended up with an insurmountable points edge over Devin Gilpin of Columbus, Ind. Cook leads the 19-year-old Gilpin, who scored points-earning finishes of second on Oct. 2 at Tri-City Speedway and third on Oct. 3 at Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway, by 51 points (2,422-2,371) entering the $3,000-to-win extravaganza at Eldora.
Points closed last weekend for all other UMP DIRTcar divisions. No national points battle was more dramatic than the Pro Late Model class struggle, which saw Bobby Dauderman of Alhambra, Ill., unseat Tait Davenport of West Paducah, Ky., for the national crown.
Dauderman, 20, trailed the 31-year-old Davenport by 12 points entering last weekend’s crate-engine division tripleheader at Tri-City Speedway. But after the first night of action, on Oct. 1, was postponed, features the next two evenings decided the title in Dauderman’s favor by a mere seven points (2,217-2,210).
After finishing third to Davenport’s ninth in the UMP DIRTcar Pro Late Model Championship event on Oct. 2, Dauderman entered the points-season finale on Oct. 3 needing to finish at least third with Davenport behind him to secure the championship. He went on to cross the finish line in third while Davenport flashed under the checkered flag in eighth.
Dauderman later moved up to second and Davenport to seventh in the official rundown because apparent runner-up Bryan Collins was disqualified after his car owner refused to let UMP DIRTcar tech officials take his crate engine for a thorough inspection.
Other 2009 UMP DIRTcar national champions decided after last weekend’s competition included:
* Russell Eilers of Highland, Ill., who overtook Jimmy Cummins of Waterloo, Ill., for the Sportsman points lead during the season’s final weekend of points racing. He beat Clayton Perry of North Vernon, Ind., by just three points and Cummins by four markers.
* Chad Boone of Owensboro, Ky., who captured the Limited Modified title.
* Rick Thomas of Koehler, Ill., who topped the Stock Car points race by a healthy 75-point margin.
* Bill May of Muskegon, Mich. (Factory Stocks) and Bob Zbinden of Alhambra, Ill. (Sport Compacts).
All UMP DIRTcar Racing points standings remain unofficial until a complete audit of the points is completed later this month.
Log on to www.dirtcar.com for more information on UMP DIRTcar Racing and to view complete points standings for all divisions.
UMP DIRTcar Racing National Points Standings (Super Late Models & Modifieds as of Oct. 5; unofficial final points for all other divisions):
Super Late Models (driver/points/races counted):
1. Jason Feger 3026 40
2. Dennis Erb Jr. 2973 40
3. Rusty Schlenk 2913 40
4. Randy Korte 2818 40
5. Steve Sheppard Jr. 2776 40
6. Ryan Unzicker 2709 40
7. Kevin Weaver 2611 40
8. Jon Henry 2581 40
9. Michael Kloos 2540 40
10. Brandon Sheppard 2522 40
11. Frankie Heckenast 2501 40
12. Eric Smith 2477 40
13. Brian Ruhlman 2474 40
14. Mike Hammerle 2424 40
15. Ed Dixon 2309 40
16. Kyle Logue 2278 40
17. Joe Harlan 2222 40
18. Mark Voigt 2212 40
19. Shannon Babb 2170 37
20. Daren Friedman 2117 39
Modifieds (driver/points/races counted):
1. Gary Cook Jr. 2422 30
2. Devin Gilpin 2371 30
3. Jeff Leka 2338 30
4. John McCaul 2285.5 30
5. Mike Spatola 2281 30
6. Randle Sweeney 2279 30
7. Todd Sherman 2273 30
8. Jeff Babcock 2269 30
9. Kent Robinson 2248 30
10. Tim Hancock 2244 30
11. Nick Allen 2221 30
12. Lance Dehm 2219 30
13. Marc Kurth 2164 30
14. Marty O’Neal 2162 30
15. Clayton Miller 2154 30
16. Vance Wilson 2132 30
17. Doug Adkins 2126 30
18. Clint DeMoss 2103 30
19. Jeremy Nichols 2087 30
20. Vince Cooper 2052 30
Pro Late Models (driver/points/races counted):
1. Bobby Dauderman 2217 30
2. Tait Davenport 2210 30
3. Dustin Griffin 2109 30
4. Nick Bauman 2084 30
5. Caleb Ashby 2074 30
6. Matt Liner 1950 30
7. Daniel Heck 1931 30
8. Josh Harris 1865 30
9. Bobby Martintoni 1825 30
10. Cary King 1812 30
Sportsman (driver/points/races counted):
1. Russell Eilers 1852 25
2. Clayton Perry 1849 25
3. Jimmy Cummins 1848 25
4. Alan Magner 1757 25
5. Greg Kimmons 1683 25
6. Brian Williams 1661 25
7. Troy Clark 1604 25
8. Joey Ladouceur 1576 22
9. Christy Georges 1533 25
10. Brad Cummings 1524 25
Limited Modifieds (driver/points/races counted):
1. Chad Boone 1821 25
2. Jonathan Smith 1800 25
3. Scotty Oliver 1643 25
4. Jansen Morris 1613 25
5. Jeff Brooks 1509 25
6. John Paul Talkington 1418 25
7. Josh Tyler 1362 25
8. Chad Sweeney 1355 25
9. Justin Riley 1341 25
10. Shelli O’Bryan 1333 25
Stock Cars (driver/points/races counted):
1. Rick Thomas 1964 25
2. David Hurst 1889 25
3. Steve Ewing 1873 25
4. Joel Funk 1871 25
5. Stacy Tretter 1806 25
6. Dave Mannise 1787 25
7. Ron Wadforth 1742 25
8. Larry Russell Jr. 1741 25
9. Mike Welch 1731 25
10. Jerrad Krick 1730 25
Factory Stocks (driver/points/races counted):
1. Bill May 1777 25
2. Justin Schuler 1676 25
3. Dean Rake 1625 25
4. Dan Wilson 1614 25
5. Dennis Ponder 1536 24
6. Paul Tenbrink 1526 25
7. Loren Peterson 1503 25
8. Tony Weinrick 1448 25
9. Jim Scout 1351 20
10. Randy Deitzel 1289 24
Sport Compacts (driver/points/races counted):
1. Bob Zbinden 2011 25
2. Joe Reed 1984 25
3. Michael Rittenberry 1796 25
4. Richard Ashby 1794 25
5. Eric Wisher 1790 25
6. C.J. Rector 1713 25
7. Todd Meyer 1675 25
8. Evan Taylor 1642 25
9. Mark Farber 1618 25
10. James Hankins 1615 25
