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Michael Despain
BARDSTOWN, Ky. (September 20) - The O'Reilly Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar Series presented by Graphic Impressions concluded its 2008 racing season on Saturday evening at Bluegrass Speedway in Bardstown, KY and Jason Keltner of Campbellsville, KY would claim his first career series victory in the 10th Annual Kentucky's Best Racing Bluegrass 50. It would also mark the biggest career win for the second-generation racer who was the series championship runner-up and rookie of the year in 2007.
Keltner's victory made him the 11th different series winner of the season and 54th different winner in series history, coming aboard the Jeff and Eddie Harrod owned Harrod Brothers Farms/Perry's Auto Sales/Colston Paving/Central Painting sponsored Rocket Chassis, powered by a Jay Dickens Race Engine.
Bluegrass Speedway 2008 track champion Dustin Neat of Dunnville, KY would finish second in the event in his NWN Distributing/Tarter Gate Company sponsored MasterSbilt Race Car, while younger brother Brad Neat of Dunnville, KY claiming PPM Racing Products Hard Charger of the race honors, finishing third after starting 19th in the Kentucky Proud/Begley Properties sponsored MasterSbilt Race Car. Eddie Carrier, Jr. of Salt Rock, WV would finish in the fourth position behind the wheel of the Engines, Inc./Grover Race Engines sponsored Rocket Chassis, with Jordan Bland of Campbellsville, KY completing the top five in his United Steel Supply/B&W Metals sponsored MasterSbilt.
The remainder of the top ten at the finish of the 10th Annual Kentucky's Best Racing Bluegrass 50 would be Victor Lee, Dustin Linville, Joey Kramer, Zach Carney, and Eric Wells. The 50 lap event would be slowed by four caution periods, with one of those resulting in a red flag.
With the cameras of Outdoor Channel taping the action, Jason Keltner would take the lead at the start of the 50 lap, 25 mile chase, followed by Dustin Neat, Terry English, Tim Tungate, and Audie McWilliams. Joey Kramer would take fifth on lap 2, with Mike Marlar taking fifth from Kramer one tour later on lap 3. Marlar would driver past Tungate off of turn two on lap 4, while Neat and English battled for second. Kramer would reclaim a spot in the top five on lap 6, with Neat and English still contesting second in side-by-side action.
With Neat and English continuing to battle for second, Keltner would begin the lapping process on lap 13, as Tungate and Tyrel Todd went at it for the fifth position. Kramer would around Tungate and Todd in three-wide action on lap 15, with Marlar closing in on the second place battle between Neat and English. Marlar would catch and pass English for third on lap 17 as Keltner continued his torrid pace at the point, working in and out of traffic. Kramer would take fourth from English one circuit later as Keltner would make a split of Eric Wells and D.J. Wells in heavy traffic. Lap 19 would Marlar continue his charge as he would score the runner-up slot from Neat, with Todd finally winning the battle for sixth from Tungate.
As the front four remained the same, Todd inched his way forward into fourth on lap 28, but the first caution of the event would fly on lap 29 when second place running Marlar slowed in turn one with a flat right-rear tire, with fellow top five runner Terry English also pulling to the hot pit with a flat right rear tire. The attempted restart would result in disaster in chaos as contact in turn two resulted in a six car pileup that would later turn into a red flag as Tungate would get sideways and bounced around, with Larry Gray's mount also being contacted, resulting in a small fire, with the mounts of David Webb, English, Marlar, and Royce McGowan also involved and all six drivers would be finished for the evening. The next attempted restart would see Aaron Hatton go into the spin cycle and Bryant Woodcock would impact Hatton, with Hatton pulling pitside with a flat left rear tire and not returning. The next restart would also be for naught as contact in turn one would result in Tyrel Todd spinning his unit and being contacted by Audie McWilliams and Woodcock, with Todd and McWilliams done for the night.
Series officials would go to a single-file restart and action would resume, with Keltner still on the point, followed now by Dustin Neat, Brad Neat, Joey Kramer, and Eddie Carrier, Jr. Carrier, Jr. would grab the fourth spot from Kramer on lap 31 while Keltner again began to pull away from the field, with the battle for second heating up between brothers Dustin Neat and Brad Neat. Jordan Bland would move into top five past Kramer on lap 36 as the Neat brothers continued to battle for second.
By lap 40, Keltner was again in traffic, but had opened almost a full straightaway lead over second, as Dustin Neat had secured the runner-up slot at this point. As the field saw the five lap to go signal, Keltner would have opened almost a half-track lead over Dustin Neat, while Bland attempted to fend off the challenges of Victor Lee for fifth. The front five would remain the same over the final five trips, with Keltner scoring the victory over Dustin Neat, Brad Neat, Eddie Carrier, Jr., and Jordan Bland.
In preliminary action, Brad Neat was the Racing Optics Top Qualifier among 32 entries with a lap of 13.666 seconds. Heat race checkered flags went to Keltner in Wayne Bowen Racing Supply heat one, Dustin Neat in K&N Performance Engineering heat two, Audie McWilliams in Graphic Impressions heat three, and Tim Tungate in Real Racing Wheels heat four. Victor Lee and Dustin Linville would win the B-Main events, while Zach Carney and Shannon Thornsberry earned series provisional starts, with the track provisional going to Bryant Woodcock.
In post-race ceremonies, Victor Lee would recognized as the 2008 O'Reilly Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar Series champion and Eric Wells would be recognized as the tour's 2008 Rookie of the Year.
The O'Reilly Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar Series sanctions regional Super Late Model events at tracks in Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, and Tennessee. For more information about America's most competitive regional racing series, visit the series webpage on the world wide web at www.battleofthebluegrass.com or call the series office at (859) 762-1606 or (502) 931-5068.
O'Reilly Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar Series Super Late Model Division
Bluegrass Speedway-Bardstown, Kentucky-September 20, 2008
Racing Optics Top Qualifier- Brad Neat 14.757
Wayne Bowen Racing Supply Heat #1(Top 4 Advance)- Jason Keltner, Terry English, D.J. Wells, Tyrel Todd, Brandon Fouts, Bryant Woodcock, Jesse Lay, Brad Neat
K&N Peformance Engineering Heat #2 (Top 4 Advance)- Dustin Neat, Mike Marlar, Joey Kramer, David Webb, Victor Lee, Dusty Carver, Doodle Farris (DNS- Bob Lanter)
Graphic Impressions Heat #3 (Top 4 Advance)- Audie McWilliams, Aaron Hatton, Larry Gray, Royce McGowan, Shannon Thornsberry, Chris Combs, Rick Combs, Larry Greer
Real Racing Wheels Heat #4 (Top 4 Advance)- Tim Tungate, Jordan Bland, Eric Wells, Eddie Carrier, Jr., Dustin Linville, Lee Devasier, Zach Carney, Tim Brown
B-Main #1 (Top 2 Advance)- Victor Lee, Brad Neat, Jesse Lay, Dusty Carver, Brandon Fouts, Doodle Farris, Bryant Woodcock (DNS-Bob Lanter)
B-Main #2 (Top 2 Advance)- Dustin Linville, Chris Combs, Zach Carney, Tim Brown, Rick Combs, Lee Devasier, Shannon Thornsberry (DNS-Larry Greer)
Series Provisionals- Zach Carney, Shannon Thornsberry
Track Provisional- Bryant Woodcock
10th Annual Kentucky's Best Racing Bluegrass 50 O'Reilly A-Main- Jason Keltner, Dustin Neat, Brad Neat, Eddie Carrier, Jr., Jordan Bland, Victor Lee, Dustin Linville, Joey Kramer, Zach Carney, Eric Wells, D.J. Wells, Bryant Woodcock, Audie McWilliams, Tyrel Todd, Aaron Hatton, Terry English, Tim Tungate, David Webb, Royce McGowan, Larry Gray, Mike Marlar, Chris Combs, Shannon Thornsberry
Total Entries- 32
Lap Leaders- 1 (Jason Keltner Lap 1-50)
Cautions- 4 (lap 29, lap 29 restart-three times)
Red Flags- 1 (lap 29 initial attempted restart)
PPM Racing Products Hard Charger- Brad Neat (started 19th- finished 3rd- advanced 16 positions)
Drive Smart Kentucky Move of the Race- Jason Keltner (three wide move in traffic on lap 22)
O'Reilly Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar Series Super Late Model Point Standings (after September 20, 2008)
1. Victor Lee (Stanford, KY)- 4,372
2. Tyrel Todd (Science Hill, KY)- 3,6551
3. Tim Tungate (Campbellsville, KY)- 3,503
4. David Webb (Nicholasville, KY)- 3,428
5. Eric Wells (Hazard, KY)- 3,363 ®
6. Zach Carney (Mooresville, IN)- 3,105 ®
7. Larry Gray (Lexington, KY)- 3,080 ®
8. Chris Combs (Isom, KY)- 2,625
9. Royce McGowan (Faubush, KY)- 2,568 ®
10. Mike Jewell (Scottsburg, IN)- 2,434
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