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OSKALOOSA, IA – Daryn Pittman has tried several times to win the Musco Lighting Front Row Challenge at the Southern Iowa Speedway. On Monday night he was finally able to complete that task.
“We’ve led a lot of laps here but never won this race,” stated Pittman after the win. “I’m pretty happy to get win and to get more confidence going into this week.”
Pittman, of Owasso, Okl., earned $5,000 for his efforts in the 25-lap McTwo Promotions event. He utilized a Don Ott powered Maxim in his victory.
Pittman started from the inside of the second row in the feature event. With eight laps in he took over the runner-up position. He attempted to track down the race-leader, Mark Dobmeier.
On lap 14 the red flag was displayed when Dobmeier was collected with a couple of lapped cars giving Pittman the lead. Pittman survived slower traffic at the end to secure his first victory in the prestigious event.
Tyler Walker, of Los Angeles, Cal., came home in second after starting sixth. Tim Kaeding made a last lap pass of Roger Crockett to finish in third.
Crockett, of Medford, Org., ended up finishing fourth with Jason Sowold moving from 12th to finish in fifth.
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DECLINING THE CHALLENGE: Dobmeier won the King of the Hill battle, but he declined to take the opportunity to go to the rear of the event to attempt to win $50,000. That put him on the pole for the feature and allowed him to take the lead as racing got underway.
EARLY CAUTIONS: Dobmeier continued to lead the event even after it was slowed two times for different cautions. The first caution came out with one lap complete for debris on the front straightaway. The second caution slowed the field on lap seven when Jason Johnson slowed on the back straightaway.
BIG TROUBLE: After lap seven, the field would not be slowed again until the 13th circuit when Dobmeier was collected in an accident. Toni Lutar and Mike Moore were battling at the tail of the field when they came together. They collected Dobmeier sending all three of them into the turn four wall. This handed the lead to Pittman.
“I would have liked to see a yellow before he (Dobmeier) got collected in that wreck,” said Pittman. “I’m not saying we would have won but before that we were rolling the bottom pretty nice and he was running the top. In clean air I think we were both about equal. If he didn’t get collected it would have been tough.”
TRAFFIC IS TOUGH: The rest of the event went virtually non-stop with Pittman catching the tail of the field on lap 22. He was forced to really slow his pace as he carefully navigated his way through to maintain the race lead.
“They were racing too,” said Pittman. “I wasn’t a little concerned until one of them tried to pass me back. It was my job to get through and I was struggling to get by them. I would have really liked a yellow to give me a clean track.”
WORKING TOO HARD: Walker closed in at the end of the event with his No.24T, but he did not have enough to catch Pittman for the win.
“This thing was fast tonight,” commented Walker of his ride. “This is our motor from California and it doesn’t have a lot of umph to it because it is made for the short tracks. I gave him (Pittman) everything I had, but I think I hurt my tires early trying to get by him.”
ANOTHER CALIFORNIAN: Kaeding, of San Jose, Cal., secured a third place finish after getting by Crockett on the final lap of the feature. He was able to roll the bottom and drive by Crockett for the position.
“We just got a hell of run,” stated Kaeding about his pass. “He (Crockett) bobbled off of the fourth turn and I got a heck of run on him on the front straightaway.”
TAKING THE CHALLENGE: With Dobmeier turning down the chance to win the big money, Joey Saldana jumped at the opportunity. Saldana started scratch in the 24 car field. He got as far as ninth before the red flag on lap 14. He was hit by debris in the car and complained of leg pain. He left the event for a trip to the hospital. As of last report he was okay.
QUALIFYING: Pittman set fast time with a lap of 15.863 around the spacious half-mile speedway. The three eight lap heats were won by Solwold, Jesse Hockett and Tony Bruce Jr. The B-Main was won by Bronson Maeschen.
Front Row Challenge Results (started): 1. Daryn Pittman 21 (3) 2. Tyler Walker 24T (6) 3. Tim Kaeding 83JR (9) 4. Roger Crockett 7N (2) 5. Jason Solwold 39c (12) 6. Rager Phillips 9 (7) 7. Jesse Hockett 13x (16) 8. Rob Chaney 24H (14) 9. Sam Hafertepe Jr. 15H (11) 10. Chad Hillier 5c (10) 11. Jonathan Allard 0 (13) 12. Wayne Johnson 14AJ (20) 13. Bronson Maeschen 96 (8) 14. Tony Bruce Jr. 18 (17) 15. Brock Mayes 11B (19) 16. Jake Peters 57x (23) 17. Greg Wilson w20 (4) 18. Justin Zimmerman 7K (21) 19. Tony Shilling 47T (22) 20. Mark Dobmeier 13 (1) 21. Joey Saldana 9E (24) 22. Toni Lutar 4x (15) 23. Mike Moore 69 (18) 24. Jason Johnson 19E (5)
B Main (started): 1. Bronson Maeschen (1) 2. Brock Mayes (3) 3. Mike Moore (2) 4. Justin Zimmerman (6) 5. Tony Shilling (4) 6. Jake Peters (5) / 7. Chad Meyer 4 (10) 8. Ryan Anderson 71R (8) 9. Corey Haigh 45NZ (7) 10. JT Imperial 1 (9) DNS – Eric Baldaccini B4, Bruce White 96au
Quick Time: Daryn Pittman, 15.863
King of the Hill Winner: Mark Dobmeier
All Pro Heads Foot Race Winner: Tyler Walker
Heat one (started): 1. Jason Solwold (2) 2. Tyler Walker (4) 3. Tim Kaeding (3) 4. Toni Lutar (1) 5. Daryn Pittman (6) 6. Greg Wilson (5) / 7. Jake Peters (8) 8. Mike Moore (7) 9. Chad Meyer (10) 10. Eric Baldaccini (9)
Heat two (started): 1. Jesse Hockett (1) 2. Joey Saldana (6) 3. Jonathan Allard (2) 4. Mark Dobmeier (5) 5. Wayne Johnson (8) 6. Chad Hillier (3) / 7. Bronson Maeschen (4) 8. Brock Mayes (7) 9. Ryan Anderson (9) 10. JT Imperial (10)
Heat three (started): 1. Tony Bruce Jr. (1) 2. Rob Chaney (2) 3. Jason Johnson (6) 4. Rager Phillips (4) 5. Roger Crockett (5) 6. Sam Hafertepe Jr. (3) / 7. Tony Shilling (7) 8. Justin Zimmerman (8) 9. Corey Haigh (9) DNS – Bruce White
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