Giant Crowd Witnesses Fast-Paced Action On Casey’s General Store’s Night

ROSSBURG, Ohio (August 12, 2017) – Jonathan Taylor held off a late race charge and Earnie Woodard dominated as each visited victory lane Saturday night at Eldora Speedway’s Casey’s General Store’s FIREWORKS Night.

Taylor of Saltsburg, Pennsylvania, was locked in a battle for the lead with his brother, Evan in the closing laps of the 20-lap DIRTcar UMP Modified Feature. As the brothers were coming to the white flag in heavy lapped traffic, third-place Dylan Woodling swung around the outside of Evan in turn four and into the runner-up spot and then immediately closed on Jonathan Taylor for the lead.

Woodling, pulled even with Jonathan Taylor racing down the backstretch and took a shot at the lead in turns three and four. Woodling attempted to dive below Jonathan Taylor and the duo nearly made contact in the middle of the turns but Taylor held on for his fifth career win at the high-banked, one-half mile clay oval.

“It sure helps to start up front but I had to work for that one,” Jonathan Taylor said. “It was tricky with the lapped cars there but they all kept their line and we were able to get by them. Evan showed me his nose a couple times so I knew he was right there. Good to see Evan in third and congrats to Dylan. We are happy to be here.”

Jerry Bowersock finished in fourth-place while Woodard, who was pulling double duty, completed the top five. Coldwater’s Ryan Sutter, Joel Dick, Brian Gray, Mike Learman and Josh Morton completed the top ten.

Tim Richardson, Jonathan Taylor and first-time Eldora modified competitor Jordan Conover won the heat races.

“This is a great place to race,” Jonathan Taylor said. “Thank you fans we could not do this without you, and a special thanks to Eldora for having us and thanks to Tony and his entire crew here. We couldn’t do it without everybody.”

The Stock Car main event paid $1,000 to-win and Woodard, of Georgetown, Kentucky wasted little time charging to the front from the eighth position. Rob Trent led the opening lap before slowing down the backstretch on lap two and jamming up the top five, forcing cars to scramble to get by. Woodard threaded his way through the melee and into second-place.

The caution flag flew the following lap when Casey Barr crashed in turn four. One lap after the ensuing restart, Woodard dove under leader Donnie Jeschke in turn four and, after briefly making contact, Woodard completed the pass and took over the race lead.

From there he was not challenged and pulled away to his second win of the season.

“The car was really hooked up tonight,” Woodard said. “I wasn’t real good up on the cushion but the track really came in for me on the bottom.”

Paul Pardo finished in the second position while Jeschke, Jeremy Creech and Gary Rahe, Jr., who was bidding for his third-consecutive win, completed the top five. Frank Paladino, Ed Hounshell, Anthony Goode, T.J. Smith and Andy Welch picked up top ten finishes.

“I looked up at the scoreboard and seen Paul was in second so I knew I had to get up on the wheel,” Woodard said.

“What a great crowd!! We have had a lot of Family Fun Nights but this looks like the biggest one yet, so thanks to everyone for coming out and supporting Eldora,” Woodard said. “Thanks to everyone here at Eldora for putting up the extra money tonight.”

The next action at Eldora will be on Sunday, September 3rd when the track honors the speedway’s founders Earl and Berneice Baltes with the running of the Baltes Classic. The tripleheader event features the Sunoco American Late Model Series racing for $3,000-to-win as in their final warmup for the next weekend’s World 100, the DIRTcar UMP Modifieds in their final warmup before October’s UMP Fall Nationals and the Eldora Stock Cars in their next to last points race of the season.

About Eldora Speedway:
Since carved from a cornfield in the natural amphitheater that existed between the Eldora Ballroom and the Wabash River by bandleader Earl Baltes in 1954, Eldora Speedway has grown to be a frontrunner in motorsports growth and stability. Baltes chose to sell the legendary high-banked clay oval to motorsports entrepreneur and NASCAR, IndyCar and USAC champion Tony Stewart in 2004. Eldora will celebrate its 64th consecutive season of racing in 2017 featuring the biggest events in short-track racing, including the: $100,000-to-win Dirt Late Model Dream Weekend by Ferris Mowers on June 8th-9th-10th; the $50,000-to-win Kings Royal Weekend on July 13th-14th-15th; the Camping World Truck Series’ Eldora Dirt Derby – NASCAR’s only race on dirt on Wednesday, July 19th; the 47th Annual World 100 Weekend on September 7th-8th-9th; and the historic 4-Crown Nationals on September 22nd and 23rd. The complete schedule for Eldora’s 64th consecutive season, including ticket and campsite information will be posted at www.EldoraSpeedway.com. Fans can get off-season access from Eldora Speedway by following @EldoraSpeedway on Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat, hitting ‘Like’ at www.facebook.com/EldoraSpeedway and adding to over 4.8-million views of exclusive video on www.youtube.com/EldoraSpeedway.