Feature Races Postponed To Sunday Produce A Memorable Matinee
ROSSBURG, Ohio (October 8, 2017) – It may have been 16 hours later than scheduled, but Jeep Van Wormer (Pinconning, Michigan) and Nick Hoffman (Mooresville, North Carolina) scored the $5,000 victories in the rain-delayed championship events in the Allstar Performance Fall Nationals Sunday at Eldora Speedway.
The UMP Late Model feature restarted with 16-laps completed before Saturday night’s rain. Van Wormer was immediately challenged by Kent Robinson (Bloomington, Indiana) and they dueled top and bottom around the extremely racy high-banked half-mile oval.
While the lead was exchanged several times unofficially, Robinson used the low side of the speedway to officially record the lead at the flag stand on lap-18. Van Wormer rallied back on the outside and took the lead back on the following lap. They were soon joined by 2016 World 100 winner Bobby Pierce (Oakwood, Illinois) and three raced three-wide jockeying for the top-three positions.
Following a lap-27 caution flag for Jeff Berwanger’s brush with the wall (Murray City), Pierce moved around Robinson into the runner-up position and began pressuring Van Wormer for the lead.
Van Wormer was up to the challenge and held Pierce at bay over the final 12 laps to pick up his first win at Eldora since July 2015.
“It feels good to get back in victory lane here at Eldora, it’s been a while,” Van Wormer, a two-time Eldora Late Model Season Champion said on the victory stage. “We’ll never know what would have happened if it didn’t rain last night. They had harder tires on then I did last night but we changed before we started today and my guys gave me a really good car.”
Pierce held on for second-place, while Robinson finished in third-place, which secured him his first Eldora track championship.
“It ranks right up there with everything else I have accomplished in my career,” Robinson said. “When we sat down to set our goals at the beginning of the season, we made this one of our main goals. It is pretty cool to accomplish a goal you set out to achieve.”
Jon Henry (Ada) finished in fourth-place and wrapped up the Sunoco American Late Model Series season championship. Jacob Hawkins (Fairmont, West Virginia) rounded out the top-five bringing St. Henry’s Bill Dues-owned machine home in fifth-place.
Rusty Schlenk (McClure, Ohio) finished ninth to secure his second DIRTcar UMP National Championship over Ryan Unzicker (El Paso, Illinois).
Nick Hoffman grew up in Belleville, Illinois but moved to Mooresville, North Carolina at a young age and worked his way up through quarter-midgets, karts, Bandoleros and Legends Cars before turning his attention to dirt cars.
Hoffman started Friday’s show by hitting the wall in qualifying. With no time, he lined up last in his heat race and powered his way to the front taking the win. An invert of six based on qualifying time for the feature race lined him up sixth but he scored one of the four $2,000-to-win A-Features scoring valuable points towards Saturday’s tournament qualifiers.
Seeded by total points based on performance, Hoffman started the first of the four 15-lap qualifying races in 13th position, worked his way to a second-place finish behind winner Kyle Strickler (Mooresville, North Carolina) and into the redraw for the top-12 starting positions.
Drawing the fourth starting spot, Hoffman chased pole sitter Trent Young (Crofton, Kentucky) for the first six laps of the 30-lap UMP Modified Championship feature event before driving under Young in Turns 3 and 4 to take the lead. Young was not done and challenged Hoffman several times, retaking the lead before Hoffman started to pull away.
From that point forward, Hoffman, was never seriously challenged but did have a scary moment under the race’s first caution period when Nathon Loney crashed on lap 16. Hoffman’s car rolled to a stop on the frontstretch but was able to get the machine to re-fire on his own re-assumed his position at the front of the field.
It was Hoffman’s second win in the event, his first coming in 2012. He also scored his first career Late Model victory at Eldora in the season opener in April.
“It just kept wanting to stall out under those cautions and I really didn’t want to see that caution with four to go, so I just held it wide open and tried to clean it out,” Hoffman said. “My hats off to everyone here at Eldora for putting this thing on and getting us a good track to race on today.”
Former NASCAR driver David Stremme (Mooresville, North Carolina) moved from his 12th starting position to second-place at the finish while Young completed the podium finishers coming home in third-place. Kenny Wallace (Imperial, Missouri) and Taylor Cook (Huntersville, North Carolina) completed the top-five.
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regular Justin Haley (Winamac, Indiana), Josh Rice (Verona, Kentucky), Dylan Woodling (Warsaw, Indiana), Jerry Bowersock (Wapakoneta) and Ryan Sutter (Coldwater) completed the top-10.
Bowersock wrapped up his fourth career Eldora Modified championship, his first since 2013 and his fifth overall track championship.
“We didn’t win any races, which was kind of disappointing but we had a lot of top-five and top-three’s and that’s how you win a championship,” said Bowersock, who is now tied for the third most championships in Eldora’s 64 year history.
Eldora wraps up the 2017 season next Saturday night, October 14th with the “Last Call For Methanol.” The Arctic Car All Star Circuit of Champions highlights the three-division program, which also features a program for the K&L Ready Mix National Racing Alliance 360 Sprint Cars and traditional non-wing sprint cars.
Ticket and event information can be found at www.EldoraSpeedway.com or by calling (937) 338-3815.
DIRTcar UMP Late Models
Qualifying 1.7R-Kent Robinson, 16.305; 2.4G-Kody Evans, 16.542; 3.24-Ryan Unzicker, 16.750; 4.15H-Jon Henry, 16.871; 5.CJ1-Rusty Schlenk, 16.945; 6.88-Andrew Reaume, 17.076; 7.20H-Jacob Hawkins, 17.098; 8.39-Hillard Miller, 17.295; 9.C9-Steve Casebolt, 17.392; 10.7B-Jeff Babcock, 17.397; 11.49-Brian Ruhlman, 17.559; 12.51-Devin Shiels, 17.630; 13.1M-Benjamin Mott, 17.671; 14.32P-Bobby Pierce, 17.940; 15.55-Jeep VanWormer, 18.067; 16.44J-Jeremy Berwanger, 18.180; 17.5N-Dustin Nobbe, 18.324; 18.95J-Jerry Bowersock, 18.359; 19.1N-Casey Noonan, 18.875; 20.79W-Troy Worrick, 19.273; 21.38H-Jake Hooker, 19.364; 22.79-Bryant Dickinson, 19.395; 23.55R-Kevin Mack, 20.105;
Heat 1, Group A – (8 Laps) 1. 55-Jeep VanWormer[3] ; 2. 32P-Bobby Pierce[4] ; 3. 44J-Jeremy Berwanger[2] ; 4. 1N-Casey Noonan[6] ; 5. 95J-Jerry Bowersock[5] ; 6. 79W-Troy Worrick[7] ; 7. 55R-Kevin Mack[8] ; 8. 5N-Dustin Nobbe[1]
Heat 2, Group B – (8 Laps) 1. C9-Steve Casebolt[1] ; 2. 15H-Jon Henry[4] ; 3. 7B-Jeff Babcock[5] ; 4. 88-Andrew Reaume[2] ; 5. CJ1-Rusty Schlenk[3] ; 6. 51-Devin Shiels[6] ; 7. 79-Bryant Dickinson[7]
Heat 3, Group C – (8 Laps) 1. 7R-Kent Robinson[4] ; 2. 20H-Jacob Hawkins[1] ; 3. 24-Ryan Unzicker[2] ; 4. 49-Brian Ruhlman[6] ; 5. 39-Hillard Miller[5] ; 6. 4G-Kody Evans[3] ; 7. 1M-Benjamin Mott[7] ; 8. 38H-Jake Hooker[8]
All Star Performance Fall Nationals Championship – (40 Laps) 1. 55-Jeep VanWormer[1] ; 2. 32P-Bobby Pierce[4] ; 3. 7R-Kent Robinson[3] ; 4. 15H-Jon Henry[5] ; 5. 20H-Jacob Hawkins[6] ; 6. C9-Steve Casebolt[2] ; 7. 88-Andrew Reaume[11] ; 8. 24-Ryan Unzicker[9] ; 9. CJ1-Rusty Schlenk[14] ; 10. 79W-Troy Worrick[16] ; 11. 39-Hillard Miller[15] ; 12. 5N-Dustin Nobbe[22] ; 13. 38H-Jake Hooker[23] ; 14. 7B-Jeff Babcock[8] ; 15. 44J-Jeremy Berwanger[7] ; 16. 79-Bryant Dickinson[20] ; 17. 1N-Casey Noonan[10] ; 18. 49-Brian Ruhlman[12] ; 19. 51-Devin Shiels[17] ; 20. 4G-Kody Evans[18] ; 21. 1M-Benjamin Mott[21] ; 22. 95J-Jerry Bowersock[13] ; 23. 55R-Kevin Mack[19]
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DIRTcar UMP Modifieds
Qualifier 1 – (8 Laps) 1. 8-Kyle Strickler[5] ; 2. 2-Nick Hoffman[13] ; 3. 87-David Mielke[1] ; 4. 18-Ryan Sutter[2] ; 5. 77B-Ray Bollinger[6] ; 6. 25N-Tyler Nicely[4] ; 7. 51G-Brandon Green[7] ; 8. 12C-Jeff Curl[11] ; 9. 2J-Troy Johnson[8] ; 10. 2M-David Mitchell[16] ; 11. 22T-Tony Anderson[12] ; 12. 11N-Gene Nicholas[14] ; 13. 67-Warren Shingleton[15] ; 14. 6B-David Baldwin [22] ; 15. 4L-Mike Learman[9] ; 16. 21-Sean Monaghan[19] ; 17. 111-Curt Spalding[3] ; 18. 71DD-Dan Davies[10] ; 19. 71D-Anthony Davis[17] ; 20. 74-Lenny Guyton[18]
Qualifier 2 – (8 Laps) 1. 21C-Taylor Cook[1] ; 2. 35S-David Stremme[3] ; 3. 10Y-Trent Young[10] ; 4. 95J-Jerry Bowersock[2] ; 5. 22-Josh Harris[5] ; 6. 13H-Jacob Hawkins[6] ; 7. 20M-Josh Morton[8] ; 8. 28B-Jason Brookover[7] ; 9. 67S-Garret Stewart[9] ; 10. 51-RJ Otto[21] ; 11. 28-Mark Beard[14] ; 12. 76-Brad Smith[22] ; 13. 89-Rodney Morgan[18] ; 14. 36S-Adam Schaeff[17] ; 15. 1S-Blake Spalding[11] ; 16. 4G-Bill Griffith[19] ; 17. 44KC-KC Burdette[4]
Qualifier 3 – (8 Laps) 1. 11-Josh Rice[1] ; 2. 5-Jonathan Taylor[5] ; 3. 91-Derrick Ramey[7] ; 4. 3W-Dylan Woodling[3] ; 5. 10L-Nathon Loney[6] ; 6. 09D-Joel Dick[9] ; 7. 1-Scott Williams[14] ; 8. 01-Earnie Woodard[10] ; 9. 27-Frank Paladino[13] ; 10. 98P-Patrick Lajeunesse[16] ; 11. 44-Scott Boyd[17] ; 12. 19B-Chad Bauer[2] ; 13. 115-Mike Knepley[18] ; 14. 21S-Danny Schwartz[4] ; 15. 15-Jamie Carter[11] ; 16. 19X-Cody Bauer[12] ; 17. 16-Jeff Koz[19] ; 18. 17-Nicole Spalding[22]
Qualifier 4 – (8 Laps) 1. 99-Justin Haley[1] ; 2. 7-Evan Taylor[2] ; 3. 36W-Kenny Wallace[5] ; 4. 101-Jesse Wisecarver[3] ; 5. 36L-Jamie Lomax[4] ; 6. 7C-Jordan Conover[12] ; 7. 25w-Allen Weisser[7] ; 8. 11J-Jared Spalding[11] ; 9. 24-Zeke McKenzie[6] ; 10. 47B-Joe Brosseau[16] ; 11. 36-Brandon Vaughan[10] ; 12. 01R-Branden Rassell[8] ; 13. 28D-Jeff Deckard[15] ; 14. 71-Will Norris[9] ; 15. 69JR-Jimmy Farris[18]
Fall Harvest Pursuit- (15 Laps) 1. 21S-Danny Schwartz[7] ; 2. 1S-Blake Spalding[10] ; 3. 11N-Gene Nicholas[1] ; 4. 6B-David Baldwin [9] ; 5. 4G-Bill Griffith[13] ; 6. 36S-Adam Schaeff[6] ; 7. 71D-Anthony Davis[19] ; 8. 89-Rodney Morgan[2] ; 9. 16-Jeff Koz[16] ; 10. 67-Warren Shingleton[5] ; 11. 21-Sean Monaghan[15] ; 12. 115-Mike Knepley[3] ; 13. 74-Lenny Guyton[20]
Wabash River Challenge – (20 Laps) 1. 13H-Jacob Hawkins[2] ; 2. 25N-Tyler Nicely[1] ; 3. 7C-Jordan Conover[4] ; 4. 09D-Joel Dick[3] ; 5. 51-RJ Otto[14] ; 6. 12C-Jeff Curl[9] ; 7. 51G-Brandon Green[5] ; 8. 1-Scott Williams[7] ; 9. 28B-Jason Brookover[6] ; 10. 22T-Tony Anderson[21] ; 11. 67S-Garret Stewart[10] ; 12. 28D-Jeff Deckard[24] ; 13. 2J-Troy Johnson[13] ; 14. 28-Mark Beard[18] ; 15. 47B-Joe Brosseau[12] ; 16. 2M-David Mitchell[17] ; 17. 01-Earnie Woodard[11] ; 18. 27-Frank Paladino[15] ; 19. 98P-Patrick Lajeunesse[19] ; 20. 76-Brad Smith[22] ; 21. 01R-Branden Rassell[20] ; 22. 44-Scott Boyd[23] ; 23. 11J-Jared Spalding[8] ; 24. 36-Brandon Vaughan[16]
All Star Performance Fall Nationals Championship – (30 Laps) 1. 2-Nick Hoffman[4] ; 2. 35S-David Stremme[12] ; 3. 10Y-Trent Young[1] ; 4. 36W-Kenny Wallace[3] ; 5. 21C-Taylor Cook[8] ; 6. 99-Justin Haley[11] ; 7. 11-Josh Rice[9] ; 8. 3W-Dylan Woodling[15] ; 9. 95J-Jerry Bowersock[14] ; 10. 18-Ryan Sutter[13] ; 11. 44KC-KC Burdette[22] ; 12. 91-Derrick Ramey[5] ; 13. 87-David Mielke[7] ; 14. 36L-Jamie Lomax[20] ; 15. 25w-Allen Weisser[25] ; 16. 24-Zeke McKenzie[24] ; 17. 8-Kyle Strickler[6] ; 18. 7-Evan Taylor[10] ; 19. 10L-Nathon Loney[19] ; 20. 20M-Josh Morton[26] ; 21. 5-Jonathan Taylor[2]
Courtesy Campbell Photos & Denhamer photos