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Jeep VanWormer – Mike Ruefer photo
ROSSBURG, OH – Sept. 5, 2013 – Jeep VanWormer of Pinconning, Mich., and Shane Clanton of Zebulon, Ga., opened the newly expanded World 100 weekend with victories in Thursday night’s Twin 25-lap features at Eldora Speedway.
With the DIRTcar UMP-sanctioned event’s 112-car field split in half by time-trial results, VanWormer captured the caution-free first A-Main for odd-numbered qualifiers and Clanton added another flourish to his sparkling record at the Big E in the nightcap reserved for even-numbered qualifiers. Both drivers cashed $5,000 paychecks for their triumphs.
A fan favorite well known for his hard-charging style on the high-banked, half-mile Eldora oval, VanWormer vaulted from the third starting spot to the lead at the initial start of the first feature and never looked back. He led every lap of a race that was completed in just under seven-and-a-half minutes.
Bub McCool of Vicksburg, Miss., was able to draw within a few car lengths of VanWormer as the leader worked lapped traffic in the final circuits but didn’t make a serious bid for the top spot. The World of Outlaws Late Model Series regular settled for a career-best Eldora finish of second driving a Stapleton Motorsports car.
WoO LMS travelers Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., and Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., finished close together in third and fourth, respectively, and Matt Miller of Whitehouse, Ohio, who won two preliminary A-Features during June’s Dirt Late Model Dream weekend at Eldora, completed the top five.
Shane Clanton – Mike Ruefer photo
VanWormer, who has cut back on his normally busy racing schedule this season to focus on work commitments (Thursday night’s feature marked just his 16 th start of the season), said he hopes that his checkered flag kicks off a memorable weekend at Eldora. He has started the World 100 A-Main seven times since 2004 with a top finish of third on two occasions, in 2006 and ’08.
“I would hope so,” VanWormer said when asked if he feels his Rocket machine is capable of winning the World 100. “At least I know kind of where to go with my car a little bit. It definitely felt good tonight.”
Clanton, 36, demonstrated his Eldora acumen in the nightcap. He started seventh but was up to second behind Dustin Neat of Dunnville, Ky., when a caution flag flew on lap two. He followed Neat until another caution period, on lap seven, provided the restart opportunity that put the WoO LMS follower in front for good.
“I knew I was a little better than (Neat),” said Clanton, who assumed command as lap eight was scored. “I was just biding my time there because we went on a little softer tire than I think they did. The main thing is just getting the lead and getting clean air on the nose where it’ll stick and you don’t slide.”
Brian Birkhofer of Muscatine, Iowa, overtook Neat for second on lap 15 and restarted alongside Clanton after Neat slowed to bring out a caution flag on lap 18. But Birkhofer only briefly challenged Clanton when the green flag flew for the final time, ultimately finishing several car lengths behind the victor in second place.
Tyler Reddick, a 17-year-old native of Corning, Calif., who now resides in DuQuoin, Ill., navigated his way forward from the 16th starting spot to register a career-best Eldora finish of third. Chris Madden of Gray Court, S.C., finished fourth and 2013 DIRTcar Summer Nationals champion Brandon Sheppard of New Berlin, Ill., placed fifth.
One of just five drivers to win both the World 100 (2008) and Dirt Late Model Dream (2012) crown-jewel events at Eldora, Clanton feels good about his chances of capturing the $46,000 first-place prize awaiting Saturday night’s World 100 winner.
“We struggled the past month,” said Clanton, whose last victory was a WoO LMS A-Main on June 1 at Stateline Speedway in Busti, N.Y. “We tried a lot of different things and come back to the basic setup we won the Dream with last year. It’s working pretty good right now.
“If the car’s like that (on Saturday) I can (win the World 100). When it drives that easy, it’s easy to be aggressive with the car and make moves early in the race. I ain’t had a car since the Dream that I could do that with. Hopefully everything will keep going our way.”
Ky Harper of Tiffin, Ohio, was the fastest qualifier in Thursday night’s multi-car time trials with a lap of 16.811 seconds. But after the 23-year-old spun a ‘3’ for the heat-race inversion he failed to qualify for the A-Feature.
Among odd-number qualifiers, heat-race winners were Casey Roberts of Toccoa, Ga., McCreadie, Miller, VanWormer, Terry Phillips of Springfield, Mo., and McCool and the B-Mains were captured by Jerry Bowersock of Wapakoneta, Ohio, Mike Marlar of Winfield, Tenn., and Jacob Hawkins of Fairmont, W.Va.
Even-number qualifier heat wins went to Madden, Kent Robinson of Bloomington, Ind., Birkhofer, Sheppard, Dustin Neat and Jimmy Mars of Menomonie, Wis., while the B-Mains were topped by Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Ga., Jimmy Owens of Newport, Tenn., and Shannon Babb of Moweaqua, Ill.
The World 100 weekend continues on Friday night (Sept. 6) with a second preliminary night of competition. Time trials will once again split the field into two groups for heat races, B-Mains and 25-lap features that will pay $5,000 to win.
Heat races for Saturday night’s World 100 will be aligned using each driver’s best qualifying lap from time trials on Thursday and Friday, putting plenty of importance on the second round against the clock on Friday night.
Hot laps are scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m. on Friday with time trials to follow. Racing will get the green flag at 8 p.m.
Fans can obtain tickets information for the World 100 by going online to www.EldoraSpeedway.com or contacting the Eldora offices at 937-338-3815.
Fans who can’t make it to Eldora in person this weekend can still watch all the action live by purchasing the live Pay-Per-View video broadcast of all three nights of action that is available at www.EldoraSpeedway.com.
For more information on DIRTcar Racing, visit www.dirtcar.com.
Event: WORLD 100 (THURSDAY TWIN FEATURE NIGHT)
Date: September 5, 2013
UMP DIRTcar Late Model
TIME TRIALS – 1. 34-Ky Harper [16.811]; 2. 44M-Chris Madden [16.914]; 3. 7W-Ricky Weiss [16.976]; 4. 81-Randy Korte [17.125]; 5. 3-Matt Miller [17.178]; 6. 1J-Jeff Babcock [17.243]; 7. 55-Jeep Vanwormer [17.249]; 8. 72-John Mason [17.267]; 9. 360-Michael Asberry [17.363]; 10. 21-Billy Moyer [17.382]; 11. 0-Scott Bloomquist [17.384]; 12. 20H-Jacob Hawkins [17.388]; 13. 11N-Brad Neat [17.398]; 14. 71C-R J Conley [17.404]; 15. 25C-Shane Clanton [17.432]; 16. 29-Darrell Lanigan [17.454]; 17. 1DJ-Doug Drown [17.476]; 18. 5B-Mike Marlar [17.479]; 19. 71-Don Oneal [17.502]; 20. 22S-Gregg Satterlee [17.510]; 21. 25F-Jason Feger [17.602]; 22. D8-Dustin Linville [17.616]; 23. 28-Dennis Erb Jr [17.657]; 24. 20C-Duane Chamberlain [17.658]; 25. 88-Andrew Reaume [17.674]; 26. 97-Michael Chilton [17.677]; 27. 39-Tim Mccreadie [17.689]; 28. 48-Chad Ruhlman [17.695]; 29. 11D-Brian Diveley [17.697]; 30. 15B-Brian Birkhofer [17.700]; 31. 16R-Justin Ratliff [17.701]; 32. B5-Brandon Sheppard [17.708]; 33. 75P-Terry Phillips [17.717]; 34. 6-Dustin Neat [17.718]; 35. 57J-Bub Mccool [17.736]; 36. 28M-Jimmy Mars [17.742]; 37. 18-Shannon Babb [17.769]; 38. 17-Shannon Thornsberry [17.769]; 39. 25Z-Mason Zeigler [17.785]; 40. 1-Josh Richards [17.793]; 41. 44-Earl Pearson, Jr [17.801]; 42. 20-Jimmy Owens [17.838]; 43. 116-Randy Weaver [17.856]; 44. 11-Tyler Reddick [17.866]; 45. 81JR-Jason Riggs [17.877]; 46. 32P-Bobby Pierce [17.904]; 47. 5-Jared Landers [17.919]; 48. 3S-Brian Shirley [17.938]; 49. 101-Casey Roberts [17.957]; 50. 33M-Tim Manville [17.962]; 51. 95J-Jerry Bowersock [17.971]; 52. 49D-Jonathan Davenport [17.974]; 53. 15J-Greg Johnson [17.992]; 54. 99-Donnie Moran [17.994]; 55. 9T-Tim Isenberg [17.999]; 56. 23-John Blankenship [18.008]; 57. 28C-Eddie Carrier Jr [18.025]; 58. 17M-Dale Mcdowell [18.057]; 59. 1V-Vic Hill [18.061]; 60. 14M-Morgan Bagley [18.084]; 61. 48L-Tim Lance [18.089]; 62. 15H-Jon Henry [18.171]; 63. 14C-Henry Cooper [18.182]; 64. 7R-Kent Robinson [18.193]; 65. 15-Steve Francis [18.224]; 66. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr [18.228]; 67. 49-Brian Ruhlman [18.237]; 68. 32-Chris Simpson [18.250]; 69. 18K-Brandon Kinzer [18.252]; 70. B12-Kevin Weaver [18.260]; 71. 19-Chad Smith [18.261]; 72. 17W-Brett Wyatt [18.267]; 73. 1*-Chub Frank [18.330]; 74. 25-Chad Simpson [18.375]; 75. 11S-Ryan Sutter [18.393]; 76. 48X-Steve Lance Jr [18.494]; 77. 83-Scott James [18.499]; 78. 21M-Jason Montgomery [18.527]; 79. 93-Jay Johnson [18.591]; 80. 2-Justin Chance [18.607]; 81. 13-Jr Hotovy [18.626]; 82. 46-Tim Rivers [18.640]; 83. 66-Jody Knowles [18.657]; 84. 0D-Brad Dyer [18.658]; 85. 58-Ray Guss Jr [18.683]; 86. 1N-Casey Noonan [18.763]; 87. 89-Mike Spatola [18.774]; 88. 99M-Devin Moran [18.878]; 89. 69M-John Mayes Jr [18.894]; 90. 28W-Jeff Wolfenbarger [18.959]; 91. 91N-Jeremy Nichols [19.030]; 92. 77K-Steve Kester [19.122]; 93. 15A-Phil Ausra [19.136]; 94. 33-Don Gordon [19.339]; 95. 2R-Joe Ramey [19.385]; 96. 31-Nick Latham [19.454]; 97. 21H-Robby Hensley [19.455]; 98. 23V-Ryan Vanderveen [19.523]; 99. 3G-Brian Gray [19.668]; 100. 86C-Scott Clifford [19.724]; 101. 11W-Jeff Watson [19.752]; 102. 25S-Jason Smith [19.936]; 103. 4GH-Jeff Sloan [19.950]; 104. 23B-Jay Brunson [20.102]; 105. 98-Mason Combs [20.344]; 106. 79U-Shane Unger [20.451]; 107. 36-Matt Irey [99.100]; 108. 45H-Don Hammer [99.200]; 109. 9I-Steve Isenberg [99.300]; 110. 1Z-Doug Zartler [99.400]; 111. 03-Jim Gingery [99.500]; 112. 58X-Gary Christian [99.600];
HEAT 1 – 1. 101-Casey Roberts [5]; 2. 71C-R J Conley [2]; 3. 88-Andrew Reaume [1]; 4. 32P-Bobby Pierce [4]; 5. 34-Ky Harper [3]; 6. 1*-Chub Frank [7]; 7. 1N-Casey Noonan [8]; 8. 21H-Robby Hensley [9]; 9. 48L-Tim Lance [6]; 10. 9I-Steve Isenberg [DNS];
HEAT 2 – 1. 44M-Chris Madden [3]; 2. 25C-Shane Clanton [2]; 3. 97-Michael Chilton [1]; 4. 25-Chad Simpson [7]; 5. 89-Mike Spatola [8]; 6. 15H-Jon Henry [6]; 7. 23V-Ryan Vanderveen [9]; 8. 17-Shannon Thornsberry [DNF]; 9. 33M-Tim Manville [DNF]; 10. 1Z-Doug Zartler [DNS];
HEAT 3 – 1. 39-Tim Mccreadie [1]; 2. 29-Darrell Lanigan [2]; 3. 7W-Ricky Weiss [3]; 4. 95J-Jerry Bowersock [5]; 5. 25Z-Mason Zeigler [4]; 6. 11S-Ryan Sutter [7]; 7. 14C-Henry Cooper [6]; 8. 2-Justin Chance [8]; 9. 3G-Brian Gray [9]; 10. 03-Jim Gingery [10];
HEAT 4 – 1. 7R-Kent Robinson [6]; 2. 48-Chad Ruhlman [1]; 3. 81-Randy Korte [3]; 4. 49D-Jonathan Davenport [5]; 5. 1-Josh Richards [4]; 6. 48X-Steve Lance Jr [7]; 7. 1DJ-Doug Drown [2]; 8. 99M-Devin Moran [8]; 9. 58X-Gary Christian [10]; 10. 86C-Scott Clifford [9];
HEAT 5 – 1. 3-Matt Miller [3]; 2. 15J-Greg Johnson [5]; 3. 15-Steve Francis [6]; 4. 5B-Mike Marlar [2]; 5. 44-Earl Pearson, Jr [4]; 6. 11D-Brian Diveley [1]; 7. 11W-Jeff Watson [9]; 8. 69M-John Mayes Jr [DNF]; 9. 83-Scott James [DNF];
HEAT 6 – 1. 15B-Brian Birkhofer [1]; 2. 71-Don Oneal [2]; 3. 99-Donnie Moran [5]; 4. 20-Jimmy Owens [4]; 5. 1J-Jeff Babcock [3]; 6. 21M-Jason Montgomery [7]; 7. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr [6]; 8. 25S-Jason Smith [9]; 9. 28W-Jeff Wolfenbarger [8];
HEAT 7 – 1. 55-Jeep Vanwormer [3]; 2. 22S-Gregg Satterlee [2]; 3. 116-Randy Weaver [4]; 4. 16R-Justin Ratliff [1]; 5. 49-Brian Ruhlman [6]; 6. 93-Jay Johnson [7]; 7. 9T-Tim Isenberg [5]; 8. 91N-Jeremy Nichols [8]; 9. 4GH-Jeff Sloan [DNF];
HEAT 8 – 1. B5-Brandon Sheppard [1]; 2. 23-John Blankenship [5]; 3. 11-Tyler Reddick [4]; 4. 0-Scott Bloomquist [2]; 5. 72-John Mason [3]; 6. 32-Chris Simpson [6]; 7. 13-Jr Hotovy [7]; 8. 77K-Steve Kester [8]; 9. 23B-Jay Brunson [DNF];
HEAT 9 – 1. 75P-Terry Phillips [1]; 2. 25F-Jason Feger [2]; 3. 28C-Eddie Carrier Jr [5]; 4. 360-Michael Asberry [3]; 5. 18K-Brandon Kinzer [6]; 6. 46-Tim Rivers [7]; 7. 15A-Phil Ausra [8]; 8. 81JR-Jason Riggs [4]; 9. 98-Mason Combs [DNF];
HEAT 10 – 1. 6-Dustin Neat [1]; 2. 21-Billy Moyer [3]; 3. 17M-Dale Mcdowell [5]; 4. D8-Dustin Linville [2]; 5. 18-Shannon Babb [4]; 6. B12-Kevin Weaver [6]; 7. 66-Jody Knowles [7]; 8. 33-Don Gordon [8]; 9. 79U-Shane Unger [DNF];
HEAT 11 – 1. 57J-Bub Mccool [1]; 2. 5-Jared Landers [4]; 3. 28-Dennis Erb Jr [2]; 4. 20H-Jacob Hawkins [3]; 5. 19-Chad Smith [6]; 6. 1V-Vic Hill [5]; 7. 2R-Joe Ramey [8]; 8. 0D-Brad Dyer [7]; 9. 36-Matt Irey [9];
HEAT 12 – 1. 28M-Jimmy Mars [1]; 2. 11N-Brad Neat [3]; 3. 20C-Duane Chamberlain [2]; 4. 3S-Brian Shirley [4]; 5. 14M-Morgan Bagley [5]; 6. 17W-Brett Wyatt [6]; 7. 31-Nick Latham [8]; 8. 58-Ray Guss Jr [7]; 9. 45H-Don Hammer [DNS];
B-FEATURE 1 – 1. 95J-Jerry Bowersock [2]; 2. 32P-Bobby Pierce [1]; 3. 25Z-Mason Zeigler [4]; 4. 11S-Ryan Sutter [6]; 5. 48L-Tim Lance [11]; 6. 14C-Henry Cooper [8]; 7. 21H-Robby Hensley [9]; 8. 2-Justin Chance [10]; 9. 3G-Brian Gray [12]; 10. 03-Jim Gingery [14]; 11. 1N-Casey Noonan [DNF]; 12. 34-Ky Harper [DNF]; 13. 1*-Chub Frank [DNF]; 14. 9I-Steve Isenberg [DNS];
B-FEATURE 2 – 1. 49D-Jonathan Davenport [2]; 2. 1-Josh Richards [4]; 3. 25-Chad Simpson [1]; 4. 89-Mike Spatola [3]; 5. 1DJ-Doug Drown [8]; 6. 15H-Jon Henry [5]; 7. 33M-Tim Manville [11]; 8. 99M-Devin Moran [10]; 9. 23V-Ryan Vanderveen [7]; 10. 17-Shannon Thornsberry [9]; 11. 58X-Gary Christian [12]; 12. 86C-Scott Clifford [DNF]; 13. 48X-Steve Lance Jr [DNF]; 14. 1Z-Doug Zartler [DNS];
B-FEATURE 3 – 1. 5B-Mike Marlar [1]; 2. 16R-Justin Ratliff [2]; 3. 44-Earl Pearson, Jr [3]; 4. 49-Brian Ruhlman [4]; 5. 11D-Brian Diveley [5]; 6. 9T-Tim Isenberg [8]; 7. 11W-Jeff Watson [7]; 8. 4GH-Jeff Sloan [12]; 9. 93-Jay Johnson [6]; 10. 69M-John Mayes Jr [9]; 11. 91N-Jeremy Nichols [10]; 12. 83-Scott James [DNS];
B-FEATURE 4 – 1. 20-Jimmy Owens [1]; 2. 0-Scott Bloomquist [2]; 3. 1J-Jeff Babcock [3]; 4. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr [7]; 5. 21M-Jason Montgomery [5]; 6. 32-Chris Simpson [6]; 7. 72-John Mason [4]; 8. 25S-Jason Smith [9]; 9. 13-Jr Hotovy [8]; 10. 77K-Steve Kester [10]; 11. 23B-Jay Brunson [12]; 12. 28W-Jeff Wolfenbarger [DNF];
B-FEATURE 5 – 1. 20H-Jacob Hawkins [2]; 2. 46-Tim Rivers [5]; 3. 15A-Phil Ausra [7]; 4. 18K-Brandon Kinzer [3]; 5. 19-Chad Smith [4]; 6. 1V-Vic Hill [6]; 7. 36-Matt Irey [12]; 8. 2R-Joe Ramey [8]; 9. 0D-Brad Dyer [10]; 10. 360-Michael Asberry [DNF]; 11. 98-Mason Combs [DNF]; 12. 81JR-Jason Riggs [DNS];
B-FEATURE 6 – 1. 18-Shannon Babb [3]; 2. D8-Dustin Linville [1]; 3. 14M-Morgan Bagley [4]; 4. 66-Jody Knowles [7]; 5. 17W-Brett Wyatt [6]; 6. 58-Ray Guss Jr [10]; 7. 33-Don Gordon [9]; 8. 79U-Shane Unger [11]; 9. 3S-Brian Shirley [DNS]; 10. B12-Kevin Weaver [DNS]; 11. 31-Nick Latham [DNS]; 12. 45H-Don Hammer [DNS];
A FEATURE 1 – 1. 55-Jeep Vanwormer [3]; 2. 57J-Bub Mccool [1]; 3. 39-Tim Mccreadie [5]; 4. 29-Darrell Lanigan [8]; 5. 3-Matt Miller [4]; 6. 71C-R J Conley [7]; 7. 22S-Gregg Satterlee [10]; 8. 25F-Jason Feger [11]; 9. 88-Andrew Reaume [13]; 10. 28C-Eddie Carrier Jr [17]; 11. 75P-Terry Phillips [2]; 12. 5B-Mike Marlar [20]; 13. 15J-Greg Johnson [9]; 14. 101-Casey Roberts [6]; 15. 7W-Ricky Weiss [14]; 16. 5-Jared Landers [12]; 17. 15-Steve Francis [15]; 18. 116-Randy Weaver [16]; 19. 32P-Bobby Pierce [22]; 20. 20H-Jacob Hawkins [21]; 21. 95J-Jerry Bowersock [19]; 22. 28-Dennis Erb Jr [18]; 23. 16R-Justin Ratliff [DNF]; 24. 46-Tim Rivers [DNF];
A FEATURE 2 – 1. 25C-Shane Clanton [7]; 2. 15B-Brian Birkhofer [4]; 3. 11-Tyler Reddick [16]; 4. 44M-Chris Madden [6]; 5. B5-Brandon Sheppard [3]; 6. 23-John Blankenship [10]; 7. 17M-Dale Mcdowell [17]; 8. 71-Don Oneal [9]; 9. 49D-Jonathan Davenport [19]; 10. 18-Shannon Babb [21]; 11. 1-Josh Richards [22]; 12. 11N-Brad Neat [12]; 13. 97-Michael Chilton [13]; 14. 20C-Duane Chamberlain [18]; 15. 48-Chad Ruhlman [8]; 16. 99-Donnie Moran [15]; 17. 0-Scott Bloomquist [23]; 18. 6-Dustin Neat [DNF]; 19. D8-Dustin Linville [DNF]; 20. 20-Jimmy Owens [DNF]; 21. 21-Billy Moyer [DNF]; 22. 7R-Kent Robinson [DNF]; 23. 28M-Jimmy Mars [DNF]; 24. 81-Randy Korte [DNF];
