He was spectacular.... Don was in the sixth heat out of six..started on front row outside with Patrick Sheltra on pole..he led from green to checkered...in the feature he started 3rd row outside next to Greg Johnson....with one lap in there was a big pile up coming out of turn two involving Hansen, Gill, Shaver, Coomes, Ratliff, and Sheltra....Ratliff and Sheltra were taken off track by wrecker.. on restart Hartman was in lead with Erb, Brady Smith , Greg Johnson and then Oneal, Francis, Pearson, Freddie Smith, England, Moran, Matt Miller, Lanigan,
caution two came out for a crash in turn four involving the #18 of Tungate and the #19 of Casebolt with 9 laps in....Tungate pulls off.... by lap nine Oneal was already in the lead with Hartman, Smith, Johnson, Erb, Pearson, Lanigan, Francis and Moran, Miller and Freddie Smith in pursuit...
with 21 laps in Oneal hit lap traffic... he passed the #25 of Neat and the #72 of Mason
Steve Francis pulls off track in lap 23...... Oneal passes another lap car #18 of Casebolt in lap 29...then disaster.... as Oneal was rounding turn one it looked like he got squeezed into the inside and hit one of the tires trying to get by lap traffic.... he was sent to the tail.... the way he had been running you knew he would be back to the front...
on restart the #75 of Bart Hartman took over the lead with Brady Smith, Greg Johnson, Lanigan, Pearson, Miller, Moran, Scott James, Erb, Drake..
by lap 37 Oneal had moved up to 10th...by lap 43 he was at 7th with Hartman leading, Johnson in second, Lanigan, Smith, Pearson, Miller......
Greg Johnson took the lead from Hartman with Lanigan in third and Oneal in fourth, Smith, Pearson, Miller and James.......Greg Johnson was looking real strong.... he led for several laps with Oneal behiind him..in lap 57 a caution came for Freddie Smith... on restart Oneal and Johnson were side by side but then the #4 pulls off to a lead.....another caution comes out for the #5e of Michael England in lap 67....another comes out in #72 of Dennis Erb....Johnson stayed out in front each time with Oneal behind him...
on the restart after Erb had brought out caution the #75 of Bart Hartman blew up...he had been giving everything he had.... he was riding on the rim all the way around that track...I thought several times he ws going to go over the burm but held on..... he ran a good race.....
On the restart after Bartman pulls off the #7 of Matt Miller shot out like a bullet passing Oneal for the second spot but was short lived when he broke something...guy in front of me said it looked like a tie rod...when Miller was coming around turn four he just started going right for the wall and Billy Drake was making his way passed Miller and almost got wedged into the wall... I don't know how he slipped through there....... Miller pulled off and then tried to return but had to leave again...
On lap 7 Oneal passes Greg Johnson and never looked back.... by lap 94 he once again got into lap traffic which was the making of a very nervous race..but he pulled it off taking the win with Brady Smith in 2nd, Greg Johnson 3rd, Earl Pearson,jr 4th and Billy Drake 5th coming up from 20th, Darrel Lanigan 6th up from 17th, Brad Neat, Scott James, Donnie Moran, John Gill and Freddy Smith...
All I got to say is AWESOME !!!!!!
**before the races started it was announced that Don Oneal had won friday nights race at Brownstown and with that win he had 42 career wins at that track.....well now it is 43.......
fastest qualifier was Earl Pearson,jr with 14.608..
heat winners were:
heat #1...Brady Smith
heat #2...Dustin Neat
heat #3..Bart Hartman
heat #4..Dennis Erb,jr
heat #5..Greg Johnson
heat #6..Don Oneal
b main... Steve Casebolt and Kerry Hansen
b main 2..Billy Drake and Tim Tungate
My hubby worked nights so did not get to the races as early as I wanted so did not have much time in the pit area... I got interviews with Kid Rocket, Matt MIller, Steve Barnett and Roger Groomer.....my good friend Cindy Snyder assisted me with taking pictures while I did interviews.... thankyou for giving me the interviews.. was great meeting all of you...
I counted 66 late model and i think about 54 modifieds..
I have to say that I think Tim Kietlhly does a great job as a track promoter.... that race was ran very smoothly... I always enjoy going to a race at Brownstown, In... love the track!!!
in the modified race heat winners were
heat #1...Kent Robinson....**great job Kent
Kent started on pole with the #48 of Groomer on outside..caution one comes out for the #19 who spins..caution two comes out for the #30.....Kent led green to checker with #24 of Bailey and the #48 of Groomer taking 3rd, Claycomb 4th
heat #2#113
the #113 and the #33 started on front row with the #66 and #30 of Streval 2nd row..5th row Clint DeMoss #78c and Chad Kinder #31........a caution came out for the spin of #15...Kinder started at the tail of the field and picked his way through the pace to finish 2nd behind the #113 of I think Rick Gumm.. ***great job Chad driving to front and not in your own car..***
heat #3..Matt Boknecht
the #14 and the #3 started on front line...Matt Boknecht started on third row inside..John DeMoss started 4th row inside with Jeff Leka pulling up the tail.......
a caution came out for a spin on turn one by the #88
caution two come out when the #88 went over the burm..he lost some fluid on the track
caution three comes out for the #79d of John Demoss, the #3L of Leka and the #55x... I did not see what happened but people sitting around me said that Demoss got sideways and came down and hit Leka and the #55 was collected up in incident... Demoss had to pull off with a very damaged car....**it looked as if there was a disagreement on where Jeff Leka should be... they made him go to the tail and Leka did not go... I think he was black flagged because he did go off the track... ended with Matt Boknecht taking first, #3, and #13
heat #4..Jesse Cramer....***great job Jesse
in this heat the two 5's were on front row with Plessinger and Cramer on second row, 3rd row was Denny Schwartz and #79...Hamstra ws in 4th row outside and Ryan Thomas was on tail of last row..
first caution comes out when the #39 of Plessinger was ran off the track by the #90...Plessinger came back onto the track and drove right at the car of #90.... both went off the track...
caution two came out for the 23 car who spins....the #90 returns to the track...
another caution comes out for the #23 and the #79...another caution for the #23....another caution for the #23 and the #90..90 goes off...
Jesse Cramer got out in front and took a demanding lead over the second of Dan Hampstra
heat #5..Matt Huddleston...**you were looking great
#48 and Matt Huddleston was on front row ..#12 and Nick Allen were on second row..Shelby Miles on third row.... Matt got out in front on the green and stayed there through the checker with Nick Allen crossing second and the #48 third and Shelby Miles 4th.....**
consi one Shelby Miles took the win over Ryan Thomas...both advance to feature
consi two Denny Schwartz and John Demoss advance
feature was
Kent Robinson/ #113
Boknecht/Cramer
#18/#24
Kinder/#3
Hamstra/Allen
#13/#30
#48/#79
Schwartz/Miles
Demoss/Thomas
Kent Robinson started on pole and held the lead for about four laps when the #12t of Jesse Cramer passed him..Hamstra was in third and Boknecht fourth...at lap 11 it was still Cramer but Hamstra had passed the #10 of Robinson ....Huddleston was now in 4th and Boknecht was fifth......
In lap 13 the caution came out for Jesse Cramer when he broke something in his car.... how unfortunate for him.... he was looking real good out there and I think he would have taken the checker....
with him going off Hampstra took over first with Robinson 2nd, Huddleston third, #79, Boknecht, Demoss, Kinder, Miles, Thomas and Schwartz..
Kinder pulled off with car problems in lap 18..
No one really challenged Hamstra after that.... he took the win with a #79 second and #18 of Matt Huddleston taking third, Schwartz fourth, Boknecht fifth, John Demoss sixth, Kent Robinson 7th, Shelby Miles 8th and Ryan Thomas nineth...
I ran into Jesse Cramer in the pit area and talked with him briefly.... what a nice kid... I met his new wife Sabrina....what a doll..... always enjoy running into Jesse and family...class act all the way....
On a sad note....... only a few feet away from where I was sitting a young child fell out of the bleachers...it delayed the racing while paramedics was tending the child and an ambulance came and took the child to the hospital..... my thoughts and prayers are with the child and family.... hope someone will let us know how the child is....