Maryville, IL — Jason Feger of Bloomington, Ill., kept his Super Late Model points lead at 10 points while Gary Cook Jr. of Deer Creek, Ill., slightly extended his Modified edge in the UMP DIRTcar Racing national points standings released on Thursday.
Feger, 31, remained ahead of two-time defending national Super Late Model champion Dennis Erb Jr. of Carpentersville, Ill., by a margin of 2,937-2,927 in races run through Sept. 14 after neither driver gained points last weekend with a finish strong enough to replace one of their top 40 points nights of the season.
Both Feger and Erb, who turns 37 on Oct. 12, entered last weekend’s prestigious UMP DIRTcar-sanctioned World 100 at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio. Feger failed to qualify for the $42,000-to-win A-Main – just his second DNQ of the 2009 season – after slapping the wall early in his heat race, while Erb won a heat and went on to finish 10th in the 100-lapper.
Just three weekends of weekly action plus the points-ending UMP DIRTcar Nationals on Oct. 9-10 at Eldora Speedway remain in the circuit’s national points race – and Feger and Erb figure to race head-to-head for the title in virtually all their remaining starts.
The Feger-Erb face-off continues this weekend, beginning on Friday night (Sept. 18) in the MARS DIRTcar Series/UMP DIRTcar ‘World 50′ at Paducah (Ky.) International Raceway. Paducah’s $5,000-to-win event will start from scratch after it was postponed by rain last month with a portion of qualifying completed.
The remainder of the weekend will see Feger and Erb competing in World of Outlaws Late Model Series programs on Saturday night (Sept. 19) at I-55 Raceway in Pevely, Mo., and Sunday night (Sept. 20) at La Salle (Ill.) Speedway. Both I-55’s Pepsi Nationals and the Best Western Illinois Fall Nationals at La Salle are co-sanctioned by UMP DIRTcar, so they offer UMP DIRTcar points and will be run using the organization’s Hoosier LM20, LM30 and LM40 compound tire rule.
Cook, meanwhile, pushed his lead in the national Modified points from 64 to 73 points with a pair of points-earning outings – a win on Sept. 13 at Quad City Speedway in East Moline, Ill., and a second-place finish on Sept. 12 at Spoon River Speedway in Canton, Ill.
The increased points advantage was the second bit of good news that Cook, 33, received this week. On Wednesday he learned very positive information regarding a medical issue that he’s been dealing with for the past year-and-a-half.
Cook finished third in the 2008 UMP DIRTcar national Modified points standings despite missing some mid-season racing time while undergoing radiation and chemotherapy treatments for an inoperable cancerous tumor that doctors found in July near his nasal passage. Doctors said just before the first of the year that the cancer had gone into remission; Cook has been getting cancer scans every three months since then and on Wednesday was informed that his latest test showed that the dead tissue continues to deteriorate, prompting doctors to move his regular cancer scans to once every six months.
Devin Gilpin of Columbus, Ind., who turns 19 on Sept. 29, used a points-scoring victory on Sept. 12 at Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway to move into a tie for second in the national Modified points standings with defending national champion Jeff Leka, 44, of Buffalo, Ill.
Bobby Dauderman of Alhambra, Ill., overtook Tait Davenport of West Paducah, Ky., for the lead in the UMP DIRTcar national Pro Late Model points standings. Dauderman holds an 11-point edge in his bid to unseat Davenport as the division’s national champion.
Other UMP DIRTcar national points leaders through Sept. 14 included Jimmy Cummins of Waterloo, Ill. (Sportsman), Chad Boone of Owensboro, Ky. (Limited Modifieds), Rick Thomas of Koehler, Ill. (Stock Cars), Bill May of Muskegon, Mich. (Factory Stocks) and Bob Zbinden of Alhambra, Ill. (Sport Compacts).
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 (as of Sept. 14, 2009):
Super Late Models (driver/points/races counted):
1. Jason Feger 2937 40
2. Dennis Erb Jr. 2927 40
3. Rusty Schlenk 2796 40
4. Randy Korte 2741 40
5. Steve Sheppard Jr. 2652 40
6. Ryan Unzicker 2628 40
7. Kevin Weaver 2561 40
8. Jon Henry 2468 40
9. Brandon Sheppard 2454 40
10. Eric Smith 2386 40
11. Michael Kloos 2380 40
12. Mike Hammerle 2379 40
13. Frankie Heckenast 2370 40
14. Brian Ruhlman 2316 40
15. Ed Dixon 2172 39
16. Shannon Babb 2170 37
17. Daren Friedman 2117 39
18. Joe Harlan 2117 40
19. Richie Hedrick 2071 40
20. Kyle Logue 2064 40
Modifieds (driver/points/races counted):
1. Gary Cook Jr. 2402 30
2. Devin Gilpin 2329 30
3. Jeff Leka 2329 30
4. John McCaul 2280.5 30
5. Randle Sweeney 2274 30
6. Mike Spatola 2271 30
7. Todd Sherman 2240 30
8. Kent Robinson 2235 30
9. Tim Hancock 2230 30
10. Jeff Babcock 2219 30
11. Lance Dehm 2181 30
12. Nick Allen 2149 30
13. Marc Kurth 2134 30
14. Clayton Miller 2127 30
15. Vance Wilson 2117 30
16. Marty O’Neal 2096 30
17. Clint DeMoss 2094 30
18. Doug Adkins 2077 30
19. Jeremy Nichols 2043 30
20. Bobby Bittle 1980 30
Pro Late Models (driver/points/races counted):
1. Bobby Dauderman 2182 30
2. Tait Davenport 2171 30
3. Dustin Griffin 2085 30
4. Nick Bauman 2062 30
5. Caleb Ashby 2009 30
6. Matt Liner 1867 30
7. Daniel Heck 1855 30
8. Bobby Martintoni 1797 30
9. Rylan Dagg 1756 30
10. Casey Montague 1567 30
Sportsman (driver/points/races counted):
1. Jimmy Cummins 1838 25
2. Clayton Perry 1806 25
3. Russell Eilers 1798 25
4. Greg Kimmons 1653 25
5. Brian Williams 1651 25
6. Alan Magner 1605 25
7. Troy Clark 1587 25
8. Brad Cummings 1495 25
9. Jeff Herzog 1489 25
10. Christy Georges 1467 25
Limited Modifieds (driver/points/races counted):
1. Chad Boone 1798 25
2. Jonathan Smith 1714 25
3. Scotty Oliver 1530 25
4. Jeff Brooks 1473 25
5. Jansen Morris 1446 25
6. Kyle Stolzer 1307 20
7. Shelli O’Bryan 1296 25
8. John Paul Talkington 1273 23
9. Brad McKinnon 1271 22
10. Kenny Harris 1248 21
Stock Cars (driver/points/races counted):
1. Rick Thomas 1945 25
2. David Hurst 1873 25
3. Steve Ewing 1847 25
4. Joel Funk 1810 25
5. Stacy Tretter 1806 25
6. Dave Mannise 1774 25
7. Ron Wadforth 1736 25
8. Larry Russell Jr. 1728 25
9. Jared Krick 1697 25
10. Mike Welch 1696 25
Factory Stocks (driver/points/races counted):
1. Bill May 1742 25
2. Justin Schuler 1645 25
3. Dan Wilson 1558 25
4. Paul Tenbrink 1507 25
5. Dean Rake 1475 23
6. Loren Peterson 1456 25
7. Dennis Ponder 1334 21
8. Tony Weinrick 1328 25
9. Jim Scout 1266 19
10. Chuck Smith 1258 25
Sport Compacts (driver/points/races counted):
1. Bob Zbinden 1995 25
2. Joe Reed 1984 25
3. Michael Rittenberry 1783 25
4. Eric Wisher 1778 25
5. C.J. Rector 1680 25
6. Richard Ashby 1678 25
7. Todd Meyer 1610 25
8. Eric Wilson 1596 25
9. Mark Farber 1591 25
10. Rich Mueller 1579 25
