I went into the pit area and made my rounds to say hello to the friends I have made and to find out who was there........took me forever to find Don Oneal and he was parked closest to the bleachers.......duh..
I talked with Everett Bradham #1h.....Eddie Shamhart and his crew and mom and dad... they are always fun to talk with...real cut ups....... went over to my all time favorite team ..Chad Kinder and crew...Ben Stanley was there, Eric McVicar, Luke, Max Short, Will Snyder, Don Kuhl, Jamie Price , and Dennis Waggle..great group of boys !!!!
As I was leaving I saw Matt Mevert...was glad to see him back since his crash... was nice talking with him and seeing Larry.....there was another guy there that I did not catch his name... was nice talking with you too...and finding out that you come to my site ...
..Next on my list to find was Jeff and Pam Leka... it was so hot out and they had the nicest place in the whole pit area to park.... it was shady and a real nice breeze.... I was in no hurry to leave there... they are always so friendly as well as their crew..... I told Pam I was going to blame her for not getting any interviews.... lol...... Jeff says he blames her for everything too....
..... Pam gave me some names to go look for to interview...My first interview was with Marty Smith,jr...what a nice guy and he has the most adorable little boy "lil Marty"...
Next I interviewed Dane Gundaker...he was a lot of fun to talk with... has a super great personality...
then I finally got to interview Steve Picou... I use to watch him race at Mt. Vernon...glad I finally caught up with him... also a very nice guy..... then before heading to the bleachers I caught Mark Miner "mad dog".... I have a feeling if we had more time to talk I could have got some good stories out of him...enjoyed talking with him..
I then went to the bleachers to watch the B Mains...... I did not go back into the pit area until after the modified feature...... I went over and talked with Team #22 and Don Kuhl took me over by the back tire of Chad's car and showed me that it had filled up with mud... said it caused the car to start vibrating and Chad had to really fight to drive it.........Chad told me he was shaking so hard his teeth was rattleling....
I left there and went over to the late model that was lined up to go out for their feature.... I took some pictures and talked with Randy Korte, Brian Dively, Steven Unterbrink and got to talk with and interview a very interesting Ryan Little #38... He and his brother Eric both have served our country in Iraq and his team member Aaron also served in Afghanisan.... THANKYOU GUYS !!!!!
The racing was very exciting.... so many good drivers on one track....in modified you had Chad Kinder, Jeff Leka, Randle Sweeney, Bittle , Mullins, Martintoni, Harrison, Oneal, Seets , Mevert, Menser, Schwartz, Smith, Weaver, Picou, Hancock, Gouldan, Weber, Shamhart jut to name some...........they were all tough...
In the first B Main Robbie Eilers #5 and the #75 of Chad Sellers put on a good show....taking 1st and 2nd.. and Brent Mullins came up from 5th to 3rd.....top two to feature....
In second B Main not to far into the race the #51 of Timmy Hill got sideways and caused Rob Fuqua to spin out... they were both racing for first.... Fuqua had to go to the tail but Hill didnt because he kept on going....
... meantime the #71x of Eddie Shamhart just kept moving up.... he overtook the #B12 of Weaver and the #51 to take the win, Weaver 2nd and Hill 3rd..In the third B Main #26 of Blackburn and the #1h of Bradham started in front row... Oneal was in 2nd row behind Bradham..Sweeney was in 4th row inside..... Blackburn got out to an early lead with Bradham in second.... Oneal was right on the heels of Bradham ......Bradham spun out in turn 2 and had to go to the tail...... this put Blackburn and Oneal racing for first.... they put on an exciting show...and with 6 laps in Blackburn had to pull out with a flat tire.......meantime Sweeney starts pulling up... he gets around Oneal when Oneal hit the wall coming out of one but got his spot back when Bradham hit the wall in same area bringing out a caution.... Oneal takes first, Sweeney takes second andJoe Puricelli takes 3rd...****exciting race***
In the fourth B Main the #55 of Marty Smith , Jr wins with #1w of Ray Walsh taking 2nd... Chris Moore #1m crossed over 3rd.............. ***the #0 of Steve Picou had been running 2nd all the way up to the checker flag lap and pulled out with what I think they said was a blown gasket.....*** he was running really good.... Walsh had came up from 6th to take the 2nd spot
In the feature.... after Chad Kinder set fast time with 17.145 and broke the record there and then taking first in heat one in front of Scotty Weber he started on the pole of the feature..... he was looking really good.... he was racing the high side and was moving out.... looked like he was hitting the wall every time he went around turn one..................first caution came out with 6 laps in for the #182 of Sweeney and the #11 of Byerling..Byerline pulled off with a flat.....
Running order was Kinder, Hancock, Bittle, Harrison, Mevert and Menser...
by lap 9 Harrison got around Chad Kinder and never looked back....Hancock got around Kinder by lap 10... you could tell Kinder was not racing the same...
with 13 laps in it was Harrison, Hancock, Kinder, Mevert, Bittle, Leka, Weber, Martintoni, Weaver and Menser...
Harrison hits the wall but keeps going..... the #5 of Meyer pulls off in lap 19....
by lap 30 it was Harrison, Hancock, Kinder, Mever, Bittle, Weber, Leka, Weaver, Martintoni, Oneal, Miner, Shamhart, Sweeney, Picou..
Lap #35 the #22m of Mevert got around Kinder and on the last lap Mevert passed Hancock to take second....
Top five were Mike Harrison, Matt Mevert, Tim Hancock, Chad Kinder and Scott Weber....Leka finished 6th and Bittle 7th.... Eddie Shamhart finished 12th
In the late model there was one B Main....top four went to feature....Brian Dively won, Mike Shulte 2nd, Steven Unterbrink 3rd and #14 of Millerd..... the #f16 was out in front for 3 laps and then Dively got passed him for the lead and stayed there to the finish...
In the feature Babb and Billy Faust was on front row...2nd row was Melvin and Mark Faust...3rd row was Oneal and Oller, 4th row was Dauber and Moyer...5th row Zobrist and Keifer, 6th Korte and Feter, 7th Kloos and Collins, 8th was Little and Lawson, 9th was Terry Babb and Frankie Martin, 10th was Shulte and Dively, 11th Unterbrink and Meller and last was Matt Taylor and Williamson
Billy Faust gets out to an early lead with Babb in second and Melvin in third....
first caution comes out for the #15 Chris Fetter who spins out in four.... the #78 of Chad Zobrist pulls off with a flat during caution.....11 laps down ..39 to go... running order is Bill Faust, Babb, Melvin, Billy Moyer, Mark Faust.....
Babb takes the lead in lap 20....Faust is racing the highside and Babb is racing the inside.....
2nd caution comes out with 24 laps in for Ryan Dauber......he pulls off....
running order: Babb, B Faust, Melvin, Moyer, Korte....
Next caution comes out with 23 laps to go for the #14 who was going very slow and trying to get off track.... the #7 of Lawson coming around the track and having no where to go hit the tractor tire in turn two....
running order....Babb, B Faust, Melvin, Moyer, Korte, M. Faust, Collins, Oneal Oller
With 31 laps in Moyer gets around Rodney Melvin....
by lap 37 its Babb, Faust, Moyer, Melvin, Korte and Oneal
Shannon Babb is the $10,000 winner..............
great night of racing...