|
Stines returns to victory lane at Lincoln Park Speedway.
By CAREY FOX
Times Sports Editor
PUTNAMVILLE - Bobby Stines is no stranger to the
Lincoln Park Speedway clay, owning a track
championship from 2003 and posting a feature victory
earlier this season in limited trips to the
Putnamville oval.
On Saturday night he returned in style, winning his
heat race comfortably and then wiring a field that
included several 2007 winners as well as Dickie Gaines
and Hud Cone.
In the A-Main, Todd Kimmell started on the pole, but
Stines sat right next to him and wasted little time in
flexing his muscle, cruising out to a solid advantage
from the green flag. Hud Cone gave chase from a
distance and it was just a handful of laps before the
leaders found themselves right on some of the back
markers.
Stines nearly made a disastrous mistake when, in
trying to pass Jared Harris, made contact and spun.
However, the veteran made an excellent save in
throttling through the spin to maintain his momentum
as the caution came out for the stopped car of Harris.
Since he did not come to a stop, Stines maintained the
top spot on the restart.
As the green fell once more, Stines pulled away again
and left the fight to Robbie Rice and Cone for second
and Kimmell was charged with holding off Andrew
Prather and Puterbaugh.
With his eyes set on challenging for the front,
Puterbaugh slipped under Kimmell and Prather followed
a lap later. Kent Christian was also running up in the
lead pack when he and Puterbaugh made contact.
Christian was able to make the save, but the loss of
momentum dropped him back to 10th.
Cone's night came to a conclusion a bit too early when
he hit the re-start cone near the end of the feature.
Track rules would have sent him to restart from the
back so he decided to head to the pits. With him out
of the race, Puterbaugh slipped ahead of Rice as the
laps dwindled. Rice was able to maintain third place
to stay close in the points race as Prather took
fourth and Kimmell stayed in fifth. Thomas Meseraull
was sixth ahead of Kenny Carmichael Jr., Casey Shuman,
Christian and Eric Smith.
Shelby Miles has been having a whale of a season
through the middle of August and this weekend was a
perfect snapshot.
After posting a UMP Modified victory at Bloomington
Speedway on Friday, he made a rare trip to Putnamville
and gathered up the winner's share at LPS as well.
The Bloomington native was able to pilot the O'Neal
Wood Products, Lucas Oil, White River Co-op machine to
a heat victory that set him up for a feature start
from the pole.
He didn't waste the opportunity, leading wire-to-wire
despite a very spirited challenge from Matt Bex who is
no stranger to victory lane at Lincoln Park either.
Already a two-time winner at LPS, Bex kept Miles in
his cross hairs throughout the main event in an
attempt to reel him in. Harry Shepherd had his hands
full holding on to a spot ahead of Paul Bumgardner
during the early stages. Bumgardner was trying all
angles early on to get the jump on Shepherd to no
avail.
Meanwhile, Travis Shoulders slipped up through the
field from his 12th starting spot to get to within
fifth at the end and Bumgardner was finally able to
get by Shepherd for third before the checkered flag.
In the final laps, Bex used lapped traffic to get one
last chance on Miles, setting him up for a pass
attempt. However, Miles anticipated the move and
crossed over on Bex who tried a slide job for the
lead. Miles checked up and kept his momentum to keep
the top spot and the victory.
Rick Fulford took sixth ahead of Al Flick, Chris
Brewer, Dan Lewellen and Phil VanSant.
Fillmore's Curt Leonard won his second super stock
feature of the season, holding off David Bumgardner
off a late restart, reversing last week's results when
Bumgardner won and Leonard lost a powersteering belt
and slipped back in the field late.
On Saturday, Leonard started up front and stayed there
through some early cautions, one that saw Doug
McCullough drop from the second spot to back in the
field. Leonard's Kyle Clearwater built motor gave him
all the horsepower he needed on this night in the
Therese Cunningham Insurance, Spiker Excavating, Black
Diamond machine. Kenny Carmichael Jr. now has a very
narrow 618 to 617 season points lead after finishing
third ahead of Jeff Starks and Mike Wright Jr. Joe
Whisler moved up to take sixth ahead of Ritchie
Hawkins, Tony Erdly, Mark Dickerson and McCullough in
10th.
Ben Williams of Clayton, Ind. has had quite a season
in 2007 and continued that on Saturday, scoring his
fourth feature win of the year ahead of Doug Dunagan
and Lloyd Walls.
The win moves him within 622 to 616 points to Walls
for the season and Brazil's Chad Nolte lost some
ground after a pileup early in the race ended several
drivers' nights, including Nolte.
The most serious damage was that caused when Ron
Wallen Jr. and Marlin Burns made hard contact in turn
two. The impact sent Wallen to Putnam County Hospital
to be checked out further. All thoughts are with
Wallen and his family for a quick recovery.
After a restart, Williams kept his lead for the win as
Ron Smith moved up to fourth ahead of Stacey Shepherd,
Stan Sandusky, Robert Hogan, David Wallen, Larry
Shelley Jr. and Bill Brewer.
Next week will be a regular card of Sprints, UMP
Modifieds, Super Stocks and Bombers.
Lincoln Park Speedway
Sprint Car Feature
1. Bobby Stines, 2. Billy Puterbaugh, 3. Robbie Rice,
4. Andrew Prather, 5. Todd Kimmell, 6. Thomas
Meseraull, 7. Kenny Carmichael JR., 8. Casey Shuman,
9. Kent Christian, 10. Eric Smith, 11. Troy Link, 12.
Danny Pollock, 13. Kevin Studley, 14. Derek O'Dell,
15. Stephanie Tuttle, 16. Derek Williams, 17. Hud
Cone, 18. Josh Clemons, 19. Jared Harris, 20. Dickie
Gaine, 21. Danny Williams Jr.
1. Shelby Miles, 2. Matt Bex, 3. Paul Bumgardner, 4.
Harry Shepherd, 5. Travis Shoulders, 6. Rick Fulford,
7. Al Flick, 8. Chris Brewer, 9. Dan Lewellen, 10.
Phil VanSant, 11. Gary Hall, 12. Jeremy Edmondson, 13.
Don Grant, 14. Tom Black, 15. Bradley Sterrett, 16.
Brian Kempf, 17. Jeremy Vanesky, 18. John Gurley, 19.
Kenny Carmichael SR., 20. Josh Edmondson
Super Stock Feature
1. Curt Leonard, 2. David Bumgardner, 3. Kenny
Carmichael JR., 4. Jeff Starks, 5. Mike Wright JR., 6.
Joe Whisler, 7. Ritchie Hawkins, 8. Tony Erdly, 9.
Mark Dickerson, 10. Doug McCullough, 11. Larry Rowley
JR., 12. Joe Starks,13. Stefan Latham, 14. Bob Farris,
15. Jacob Wright, 16. Michael Beatty, 17. Paul Wright,
18. Larry Raines, 19. Carlos Bumgardner SR., 20. Larry
Eveland, 21. Kris Starks, 22. Larry Prouse III
Bomber Feature
1. Ben Williams, 2. Doug Dunagan, 3. Lloyd Walls, 4.
Ron Smith, 5. Stacey Shepherd, 6. Stan Sandusky, 7.
Robert Hogan, 8. David Wallen, 9. Larry Shelley JR.,
10. Bill Brewer, 11. Ron Wallen SR., 12. Gary Long,
13. Brandon Dunogan, 14. Ron Wallen JR., 15. Darrell
Richardson, 16. Chad Nolte, 17. Marlin Burns, 18.
Dustin Colvin, 19. David Daniels, 20. Justin Cary
|
|
