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Puterbaugh bests Siscoe and Niflis for sprint win at
Lincoln Park Speedway.
By CAREY FOX
Times Sports Editor
PUTNAMVILLE - Competition finally won out over the
rains at Lincoln Park Speedway on Saturday night.
Spectators were treated to just short of 100 cars in
the pits led by a tough and talented group of
sprinters gunning for a feature win at the Putnamville
oval.
Twenty-nine sprint cars unloaded ready for battle on
Saturday, none tougher than defending track champion
Billy Puterbaugh.
There's no doubt that the Brownsburg native knows his
way around the track after dominating competition much
of the second half of last year.
But Casey Shuman got the best of him on the opening
weekend and had designs on adding to that total after
claiming his heat race ahead of the new look light
blue 1C mount of Kent Christian.
Puterbaugh also won his heat, besting Shane
Hollingsworth and Shawn Krockenberger and
Bloomington's Jon Siscoe claimed the final heat race
followed by Rex Norris III and Andrew Prather.
Hollingsworth parlayed his pole spot for the A-Main
into an early lead, but had his hands full with a very
determined following of Siscoe and Puterbaugh duking
it out behind him in the early laps.
Following an early caution for a spin by Andrew
Prather, Puterbaugh jumped to the bottom and squeezed
by Hollingsworth, leaving him to duel with Siscoe
followed by a great show between Christian and Shuman
for fifth.
Puterbaugh's tough to beat once he sets his teeth on a
lead and when Hollingsworth bobbled on a restart that
bunched several cars in turn four pushed him hack to
sixth place ahead of the rapidly advancing Critter
Malone, who had started 14th.
When the green waved following a Stephanie Tuttle
spin, Shuman set himself up top and proceeded to 'wow'
the crowd by riding the cushion to great success.
In fourth place and trying to gain the momentum off
the top to edge past Christian in third place, Shuman
got a rough ride coming off turn three, bounced nearly
straight up before hooking his right rear tire and
going over to bring out the red flag.
Though unhurt in the crash, Shuman's quest for a
repeat win had come to an end for the evening with an
18th place.
On the late re-start, Puterbaugh was able to hold off
the challenge by Siscoe followed by a strong run by
Kenny Niflis, who had made the feature off a second
place in the 'B' main. Christian placed fourth ahead
of Malone, Hollingsworth, B-main winner Eric Smith,
Brent Beauchamp, Prather and Rex Norris III.
Puterbaugh's win in the Creative Design & Embroidery,
Zorr's Eagle Creek Nursery, Lucas Oil machine should
service notice that he's back on track and gunning for
a repeat sprint championship.
Mooresville's Chris Hillman also had his eyes on
repeating as a feature winner at LPS and after winning
his heat race, looked to be in good shape.
However, David Bumgardner rolled to a second place in
the same heat race and had his own ideas about who
should take home the winner's share. Joe Whisler took
heat race number one and had a tough road, starting
from seventh in the feature.
Roy Bruce Jr. started from the inside front row
position, but it was Bumgardner who grabbed the early
lead and set a pace to run away with the event.
Bruce was left to battle with Hillman for much of the
feature with Doug McCullough, Josh Burton and Whisler
in tow.
Bumgardner hit lapped traffic and skillfully
maneuvered through traffic, putting several cars
between himself and Hillman.
Bumgardner looked ready to seal the deal in the final
lap and a half, but got a tad too high heading into
turns three and four, slipping over the bank and
losing momentum. That was the opening that Hillman
needed and he jumped on it.
Hillman shot to the lead in the Mooresville Welding,
Kay's Hardwood Floors, B.C. Chassis ride powered by a
William's Precision Engine.
The repeat victory was Hillman's, Bumgardner recovered
for third place behind Bruce followed by McCullough in
fourth and Burton in fifth. Whisler placed sixth with
Kenny Carmichael Jr., Bradley Sterrett, Tami Lawson
and Joe Jeffries rounding out the top-10.
In the UMP Modified feature, Greg Amick made his first
appearance at the track count by holding off a
determined Daryl Herbert down the stretch.
Paul Bumgardner started on the poll alongside Doug
Bryant Jr. and held the early lead.
Amick and Herbert had the side-by-side battle for
second going early on ahead of Jimmy Hayden and Travis
Shoulders trading the fourth spot back-and-forth for
several laps.
Mark Auler and Kenny Carmichael Sr. were racing
side-by-side for sixth.
On a re-start, Amick dove low off turn four and held
the momentum to edge past Bumgardner for the point
ahead of Hayden and Herbert.
Another re-start set up a wild 3-wide battle for
second spot between Bumgardner, Hayden and Herbert.
Herbert held on to claim that spot as Amick grabbed
the checkers in the Indiana Decal Company, Cross Paint
and Body, Hoosier Tire and Retreading and Ellettsville
True value sponsored machine.
He was followed by Herbert, Bumgardner, Auler, Phil
VanSant, the B-main winner, Hayden, Carmichael, Harry
Shepherd, Shoulders and Gary Hall.
In last week's bomber feature, Dustin Shoulders
claimed his first career win over Terre Haute's Lloyd
Walls. This time around, Walls bested a strong field
that included several of Paragon Speedway's best
competitors.
Walls held off an early challenge from C.J. Bryan and
Bobby Gardner to pull away for the victory.
Bryan was the runner-up ahead of Gardner, David
Wallen, Ron Wallen Sr., Ron Wallen Jr., Shoulders,
Kevin Jones, Kevin Kemp and David Daniels rounded out
the top-10.
Next week will feature a regular schedule of sprints,
modifieds, super stocks and bombers along with a
charity school bus race.
Lincoln Park Speedway
Sprint car Feature
1. Billy Puterbaugh, 2. Jon Siscoe, 3. Kenny Niflis,
4. Kent Christian, 5. Critter Malone, 6. Shane
Hollingsworth, 7. Eric Smith, 8. Brent Beauchamp, 9.
Andrew Prather, 10. Rex Norris III, 11. Shawn
Krockenberger, 12. Josh Cunningham, 13. Kenny
Carmichael Jr., 14. Jonathan Hendrick, 15. Jake Scott,
16. Stephanie Tuttle, 17. Kenny Carmichael Sr., 18.
Casey Shuman, 19. Shain Matthews, 20. Todd Kimmell
Heat winners: Billy Puterbaugh, Casey Shuman, Jon
Siscoe
B-Main winner: Eric Smith
UMP Modified Feature
1. Greg Amick, 2. Daryl Herbert, 3. Paul Bumgardner,
4. Mark Auler, 5. Phil VanSant, 6. Jimmy Hayden, 7.
Kenny Carmichael Sr., 8. Harry Shepherd, 9. Travis
Shoulders, 10. Gary Hall, 11. Doug Bryant Sr., 12.
Marlin Burns, 13. Jaymie Turner, 14. Harold Grayless,
15. Cullen Goodman, 16. Josh Edmondson, 17. Chad
Combs, 18. Wes McClara, 19. David Lawson
Heat winners: Paul Bumgardner, Doug Bryant Jr., Daryl
Herbert
B-Main winner: Phil VanSant
Super Stock Feature
1. Chris Hillman, 2. Roy Bruce Jr., 3. David
Bumgardner, 4. Doug McCullough, 5. Josh Burton, 6. Joe
Whisler, 7. Kenny Carmichael Jr., 8. Bradley Sterrett,
9. Tami Lawson, 10. Joe Jeffries, 11. Travis Heramb,
12. Rob Paris, 13. Joe Starks, 14. Scott Carrington,
15. Bob Sample, 16. David Brummet, 17. Curt Leonard,
18. Elijah Himinger, 19. Jason Clark, 20. A.J. Smith
Heat winners: Joe Whisler, Chris Hillman, Josh Burton
B-Main winner: Rob Paris
Bomber Feature
1. Lloyd Walls, 2. C.J. Bryan, 3. Bobby Gardner, 4.
David Wallen, 5. Ron Wallen Sr., 6. Ron Wallen Jr., 7.
Dustin Shoulders, 8. Kevin Jones, 9. Kevin Kemp, 10.
David Daniels, 11. Ryan Freeland, 12. Michael
Thompson, 13. Marc Yakel, 14. Sean Yakel, 15. Stacey
Shepherd, 16. Gary Long, 17. Ron Smith, 18. Brad
Neese, 19. Josh Ford
Heat winners: Lloyd Walls, Bobby Gardner
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