DIRTcar UMP Modifieds and Stock Cars take part in the sixth annual Eldora Dirt Derby
ROSSBURG, OH — Jul. 17-18, 2018 — The DIRTcar UMP Modifieds and DIRTcar Stock Cars were on hand as part of sixth annual Dirt Derby at Eldora Speedway (OH) with special Invitational Features on Wednesday, July 18. The same two divisions also raced a full show during the Tuesday Night Tailgate on July 17 at Eldora Speedway. While the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series headlined the two days of action at the fast half-mile high-banked dirt oval, the UMP Modifieds and Stock Cars had their chance to shine in front of their truck counterparts and an overflow crowd on hand in Rossburg, OH. Jacob Hawkins (DIRTcar UMP Modifieds) and Donnie Jeschke (DIRTcar Stock Cars) grabbed the victories.
Ray Bollinger and Dean Hoffman led the stout 31-car field to the green flag to start the $5,000-to-win Eldora Dirt Derby 20-lap Feature for the DIRTcar UMP Modifieds, with Hoffman edging Bollinger in the first corner to grab the early advantage. Three-time feature winner at Eldora in 2018, Hawkins quickly worked his way up to second from his sixth starting spot and began to challenge Hoffman for the race lead. As the halfway signal was given, Hawkins made his move and grabbed the lead under the crossed flags signal.
Taylor Cook, who won the $3,000 Tuesday Night Tailgate, was looking at a clean sweep of the Eldora Dirt Derby. He slipped past Hoffman for second and set his sights on Hawkins for the race lead in an effort to repeat their battle from the night before. Hawkins, though, was up to the challenge as he placed lapped cars and plenty of real estate between him and Cook; and in the end, Hawkins, who calls Fairmont, WV home, scored the $5,000 payday in his #13d Genesis Racing Shocks / Rocket XR1 modified.
Cook settled for second as Hoffman claimed third over David Stremme who started 10th as Kenny Wallace completed the top five. Bollinger was sixth, while Ken Schrader, Evan Taylor, Dylan Woodling (who started 17th) and former five-time Track Champion Brian Ruhlman rounded out the final top 10.
In the Tuesday Night Tailgate Feature, paying $3,000 to win, Hawkins and Tony Anderson led the 24-car field to the green flag, with Hawkins pacing the field for the first five laps. Cook, who started sixth, charged his way towards the front and went after Hawkins. The two standout competitors swapped the lead on three different occasions before Cook was finally able to get away from the pole-sitter on lap 11. While they were battling, Wallace, who started eighth, slipped past Hawkins with five laps to go and mounted a charge towards Cook.
Wallace tried every trick in his arsenal to get past Cook, but the 24-year-old Cook, originally from near-by Sylvania, OH and now residing in Stanley, NC, was up to the challenge and pocketed the $3,000 payday with his second career Feature win at Eldora in his #21 Harris Racecars entry. Wallace settled for second with Hawkins, Ruhlman and Taylor completing the top five. Schrader came home in sixth ahead of Hoffman, while Bollinger, Anderson and Stremme finished off the top 10.
Earlier on Tuesday evening in DIRTcar UMP Modified preliminaries, Wallace, Cook, Bollinger and Ruhlman won Heat Races, while five-time and defending Track Champion Jerry Bowersock scored the win in the Last Chance Showdown to transfer into the Tuesday Night Tailgate Feature.
In the 20-lap DIRTcar Stock Car Eldora Dirt Derby Feature, paying a whopping $3,000 to win, defending Track Champion Gary Rahe Jr. and Donnie Jeschke brought the field down to the green flag. Jeschke beat Rahe Jr. to the first corner to take the early lead as the rest of the field jockeyed for position behind him. On lap three, Chris Douglas, who started fifth, had worked his way up to second and slipped past Jeschke to take over the point. Though Douglas continued his lead, Jeschke never let Douglas stray too far out in front as several cautions slowed the pace.
One more caution flew with two laps to go, setting up a Green-White-Checkered finish. On the restart, Jeschke immediately began pressuring Douglas and pulled up along-side him as the white flag was displayed. Jeschke kept up his forward momentum and, as they came out of turn four for the checkered flag, Jeschke’s #99 Wright Brothers Aero entry inched out ahead of Douglas and beat him to the line by 0.111 seconds to score his first Feature win of the 2018 racing season and biggest payday of his career, worth $3,000.
Douglas settled for second ahead of Tuesday Night Tailgate winner from the night before, Paul Pardo, who started eighth. Craig Swartz was fourth, and Daniel Sanchez from 21st completed the top five. Tony Anderson finished sixth, while Dean Pitts, Nick Bowers, Andy Welch and four-time Track Champion Rob Trent finished off the top 10.
During the Tuesday Night Tailgate Feature, Pardo and Anderson, who was pulling double-duty and started on the outside of the front row for the second straight race, led the field to the green flag. Pardo jumped out ahead of Anderson on the opening lap and immediately tried to put some distance between himself and the rest of the field. Trent, who started ninth, methodically picked his way through the field and soon found himself in second.
Trent tried to close the gap on Pardo but ran out of time as the pole-sitter, Pardo, in his #410 Pardo’s Towing & Recovery machine, led all 15 laps to give the New Paris, OH driver a career-high $2,500 payday. Trent settled for second with Anderson completing the podium in third. Douglas was fourth as Swartz rounded out the top five. Pitts was sixth as Jeschke, Rahe Jr., Bowers (from 18th) and Earnie Woodard were the final top 10. In the DIRTcar Stock Cars preliminaries on Tuesday night, Jeschke, Rahe Jr., and Anderson collected the Heat Race triumphs.
Results from Eldora Speedway: July 17-18, 2018
DIRTcar UMP Modifieds – 34 Cars
Wednesday Eldora Dirt Derby Feature (20 Laps): 1. (6) 13h Jacob Hawkins, 2. (8) 21c Taylor Cook, 3. (2) 1d Dean Hoffman, 4. (10) 35 David Stremme, 5. (7) 36 Kenny Wallace, 6. (1) 77 Ray Bollinger, 7. (3) 9 Ken Schrader, 8. (4) 7t Evan Taylor, 9. (17) 3w Dylan Woodling, 10. (5) 49 Brian Ruhlman, 11. (13) 7t Jonathan Taylor, 12. (11) 20m Josh Morton, 13. (12) 3g Brian Gray, 14. (18) 16 Jeff Koz, 15. (9) 22t Tony Anderson, 16. (16) 18 Ryan Sutter, 17. (19) 36v Brandon Vaughan, 18. (20) 4l Mike Learman, 19. (14) 95j Jerry Bowersock, 20. (15) 13d David Reutimann, 21. (28) 1 Scott Williams, 22. (25) 31 Mark Anderson, 23. (23) 09d Joel Dick, 24. (26) 11h Mike Hohlbein, 25. (21) 5x Tim Richardson, 26. (27) 188 Aaron Orr, 27. (29) 88 Scott Orr, 28. (31) 36s Adam Schaeff, 29. (22) 74 Lenny Guyton, 30. (24) 7c Jordan Conover, 31. (30) 27 Frank Paladino, Did Not Start: 01 Earnie Woodard, 52 Weasel Philpot, 4 Jon Henry
Tuesday Night Tailgate Feature (20 Laps): 1. (6) 21c Taylor Cook, 2. (7) 36 Kenny Wallace, 3. (1) 13h Jacob Hawkins, 4. (4) 49 Brian Ruhlman, 5. (3) 7t Evan Taylor, 6. (9) 9 Ken Schrader, 7. (11) 1d Dean Hoffman, 8. (5) 77 Ray Bollinger, 9. (2) 22t Tony Anderson, 10. (10) 35 David Stremme, 11. (8) 20m Josh Morton, 12. (12) 3g Brian Gray, 13. (14) 5t Jonathan Taylor, 14. (17) 95j Jerry Bowersock, 15. (22) 13d David Reutimann, 16. (18) 18 Ryan Sutter, 17. (16) 3w Dylan Woodling, 18. (19) 16 Jeff Koz, 19. (13) 36v Brandon Vaughan, 20. (20) 4l Mike Learman, 21. (15) 5x Tim Richardson, 22. (21) 74 Lenny Guyton, 23. (24) 09d Joel Dick, 24. (23) 7c Jordan Conover
Last Chance Showdown (10 Laps / Top 6 Transfer): 1. (5) 95j Jerry Bowersock, 2. (4) 18 Ryan Sutter, 3. (1) 16 Jeff Koz, 4. (9) 4l Mike Learman, 5. (2) 74 Lenny Guyton, 6. (10) 13d David Reutimann, 7. (3) 7c Jordan Conover, 8. (7) 09d Joel Dick, 9. (15) 31 Mark Anderson, 10. (6) 11h Mike Hohlbein, 11. (11) 188 Aaron Orr, 12. (14) 1 Scott Williams, 13. (10) 88 Scott Orr, 14. (13) 27 Frank Paladino, 15. (12) 55s Adam Schaeff, Did Not Start: 01 Earnie Woodard, 52 Weasel Philpot, 4 Jon Henry
Heat 1 (8 Laps / Top 4 Transfer): 1. (3) 36 Kenny Wallace, 2. (1) 7t Evan Taylor, 3. (8) 9 Ken Schrader, 4. (4) 36v Brandon Vaughan, 5. (5) 16 Jeff Koz, 6. (7) 95j Jerry Bowersock, 7. (2) 4l Mike Learman, 8. (6) 27 Frank Paladino, 9. (9) 52 Weasel Philpot
Heat 2 (8 Laps / Top 4 Transfer): 1. (1) 21c Taylor Cook, 2. (5) 22t Tony Anderson, 3. (3) 35 David Stremme, 4. (7) 5t Jonathan Taylor, 5. (9) 13d David Reutimann, 6. (2) 74 Lenny Guyton, 7. (8) 11h Mike Hohlbein, 8. (4) 31 Mark Anderson, 9. (6) 1 Scott Williams
Heat 3 (8 Laps / Top 4 Transfer): 1. (1) 77 Ray Bollinger, 2. (2) 13h Jacob Hawkins, 3. (8) 1d Dean Hoffman, 4. (3) 5x Tim Richardson, 5. (4) 7c Jordan Conover, 6. (6) 09d Joel Dick, 7. (7) 188 Aaron Orr, 8. (5) 01 Earnie Woodard
Heat 4 (8 Laps / Top 4 Transfer): 1. (2) 49 Brian Ruhlman, 2. (1) 20m Josh Morton, 3. (5) 3g Brian Gray, 4. (7) 3w Dylan Woodling, 5. (6) 18 Ryan Sutter, 6. (8) 88 Scott Orr, 7. (3) 55s Adam Schaeff, Did Not Start: 4 Jon Henry
Qualifying: DRAW
DIRTcar Stock Cars – 21 Cars
Wednesday Eldora Dirt Derby Feature (15 Laps): 1. (2) 99j Donnie Jeschke, 2. (5) 82 Chris Douglas, 3. (8) 410 Paul Pardo, 4. (4) 5w Craig Swartz, 5. (21) 463 Daniel Sanchez, 6. (6) 22t Tony Anderson, 7. (3) 00p Dean Pitts, 8. (9) 17b Nick Bowers, 9. (11) 87 Andy Welch, 10. (7) 91 Rob Trent, 11. (1) 95 Gary Rahe Jr., 12. (13) 27 Frank Paladino, 13. (18) 1w Mark Wooten, 14. (20) 23 Casey Barr, 15. (19) 15 Drew Trick, 16. (10) 01 Earnie Woodard, 17. (14) 17c Jeremy Creech, 18. (17) 5g Anthony Goode, 19. (12) 97 Frank Harvey, 20. (15) j2 Keith Lyall, 21. (16) 11. T.J. Smith
Tuesday Night Tailgate Feature (15 Laps): 1. (1) 410 Paul Pardo, 2. (9) 91 Rob Trent, 3. (2) 22t Tony Anderson, 4. (10) 82 Chris Douglas, 5. (7) 5w Craig Swartz, 6. (6) 00p Dean Pitts, 7. (4) 99j Donnie Jeschke, 8. (3) 95 Gary Rahe Jr., 9. (18) 17b Nick Bowers, 10. (5) 01 Earnie Woodard, 11. (11) 87 Andy Welch, 12. (20) 97 Frank Harvey, 13. (14) 27 Frank Paladino, 14. (19) 17c Jeremy Creech, 15. (12) j2 Keith Lyall, 16. (8) 11 T.J. Smith, 17. (13) 5g Anthony Goode, 18. (17) 1w Mark Wooten, 19. (15) 15 Drew Trick, 20. (16) 23 Casey Barr, Did Not Start: 463 Daniel Sanchez
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. (1) 99j Donnie Jeschke, 2. (3) 410 Paul Pardo, 3. (4) 5w Craig Swartz, 4. (5) 82 Chris Douglas, 5. (7) 5g Anthony Goode, 6. (6) 463 Daniel Sanchez, 7. (2) 23 Casey Barr
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. (5) 95 Gary Rahe Jr., 2. (2) 01 Earnie Woodard, 3. (3) 11 T.J. Smith, 4. (7) 87 Andy Welch, 5. (4) 27 Frank Paladino, 6. (1) 1w Mark Wooten, 7. (6) 17c Jeremy Creech
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. (3) 22t Tony Anderson, 2. (1) 00p Dean Pitts, 3. (7) 97 Frank Harvey, 4. (6) j2 Keith Lyall, 5. (2) 15 Drew Truck, 6. (5) 91 Rob Trent, 7. (4) 17b Nick Bowers
Qualifying: DRAW
