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Michael Despain
RICHMOND, Ky. (May 29) - The O'Reilly Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar Series presented by Graphic Impressions found the third time to be the charm on Friday evening at Richmond Raceway in Richmond, KY as the twice postponed event was completed and
Lee's victory was his ninth career series win and made him the first repeat winner of the 2009 season. The win came aboard the Frank Revel owned, Kentucky's Best Racing/Tim Logan Racing/Budda Bert Transmissions Sales and Service/Cash 4 Gold/Don's Marathon/ The Key Club/ADO's Auto Parts sponsored C.J. Rayburn Race Cars, Jay Dickens Race Engines powered mount. The winner's effort receives product support from American Racer, Dyer's, PPM Racing Products, Bilstein, Hypercoils, REAL Wheels, All Star Performance, Shell Fuels, Quaker State, Wiles, Outerwears, Dirtwrap, Custom Cams, and CT Marketing.
Leading rookie of the year candidate Dustin Linville of Bryantsville, KY would take second in the Barnes and Davis Family Dentistry/Linville's Finish Carpentry sponsored C.J. Rayburn Race Car, Mike Bullock Race Engines powered machine, with Tyrel Todd of Science Hill, KY claiming third in the Todd Truss Company/Todd Metals sponsored MasterSbilt Race Cars, Todd Race Engines powered ride. Michael Chilton of Salvisa, KY would score a fourth place effort in the Central Painting/Witt's Enterprises sponsored C.J. Rayburn Race Cars, Dale Meers Race Engines powered mount, while Mike Marlar of Winfield, TN would hang for the final spot in the top five in the Doors-N-More/Stephens Trucking sponsored Rocket Chassis, Estes Race Engines unit.
The remainder of the top ten at the checkered flag in the Richmond Raceway main event would be Chris Combs, PPM Racing Products Hard Charger Dustin Neat (17th to 7th), Johnny Wheeler, Jimmy Crabtree, and Bobby Carrier, Jr. The 40 lap, $3,000 to win event would be slowed by only one caution flag.
Victor Lee and Eric Wells would bring the field to the showing of the green flag, with Lee winning the battle for the top spot, with Mike Marlar going to second after Wells would make contact with the retaining wall in turn three on the opening trip, with field stacking up a bit, but all racers would continue action. With Lee and Marlar one and two, Dustin Linville would take third, Michael Chilton fourth, and Tyrel Todd would take fifth from Aaron Hatton on lap 3. Lee would start working slower traffic by lap 7, while Chilton and Todd battle for the fourth position. Lee and Marlar would work masterfully in heavy traffic at this point, even splitting slower cars on two occasions in an effort for the top spot.
The front five would remain the same until lap 14 when the only caution of the event would wave on lap 14 as Bobby Wolter, Jr. slowed on the backchute. The restart would see Lee still hold the top spot, with Todd going to fourth and Chris Combs making his way into fifth. Chilton would reclaim the fifth position from Combs on lap 16 and Lee and Marlar scooted away from the pack in an effort to settle the issue among themselves as the field saw the halfway signal with 20 laps complete.
Lee and Marlar would continue to scoot away from the pack, while Linville, Todd, and Chilton continued to maintain third through fifth. Lee would again begin to work slower traffic on lap 28 as Marlar would continue to hang about one to two cars length back from Lee's leading machine.
With Marlar appeared to be set to make a possible move on the leader, Marlar's machine would begin to develop a misfire and that would be to cause his mount to slow, allowing Lee to pull away from the field at this point. Linville would catch Marlar and take second on lap 36, with Todd and Chilton taking third and fourth as the field saw the white flag. Lee would have almost a full straightaway advantage at the drop of the checkered flag, followed by Linville, Todd, Chilton, and Marlar, who would nip Combs in a photo-finish for fifth.
In preliminary action, Eric Wells was the Racing Optics Top Qualifier among 28 entries with a lap of 15.084 seconds. Heat race checkered flags went to Wells in Wayne Bowen Racing Supply heat one, Marlar in Graphic Impressions heat two, and Lee in C.J. Rayburn Race Cars heat three. The B-Main would be scored by David Webb, with series provisional starting spots taken by D.J. Wells and Greg Johnson.
The next event for the O'Reilly Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar Series Super Late Models takes place on Saturday June 6 at 201 Speedway in Sitka, KY. The event will be a 40 lap, $3,000 to win points event.
The O'Reilly Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar Series sanctions regional Super Late Model events at tracks in Kentucky, 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
Richmond Raceway- Richmond, Kentucky-May 29, 2009
Racing Optics Top Qualifier- Eric Wells 15.084
Wayne Bowen Racing Supply Heat #1 (Top 5 Advance)- Eric Wells, Aaron Hatton, Chris Combs, Johnny Wheeler, Bobby Carrier, Jr., David Webb, D.J. Wells, Donald Barrett, Greg Johnson (DNS- Tim Tungate)
Graphic Impressions Heat #2 (Top 5 Advance)- Mike Marlar, Dustin Linville, Tyrel Todd, Jimmy Crabtree, Jason Barrett, Buzz Williams, Larry Gray, Jr., Tommy Bailey
C.J. Rayburn Race Cars Heat #3 (Top 5 Advance)- Victor Lee, Michael Chilton, Mike Jewell, Shon Flanary, Jeff Watson, Bobby Wolter, Jr., Dustin Neat, Doodle Farris, Ronnie Smith
B-Main (Top 5 Advance)- David Webb, Dustin Neat, Buzz Williams, Larry Gray, Jr., Bobby Wolter, Jr., Greg Johnson, Doodle Farris, Ronnie Smith, Donald Barrett, D.J. Wells, Tommy Bailey (DNS- David Adams, Tim Tungate)
Series Provisionals- D.J. Wells, Greg Johnson
Track Provisionals- None
Richmond Raceway REAL Racing Wheels A-Main- Victor Lee, Dustin Linville, Tyrel Todd, Michael Chilton, Mike Marlar, Chris Combs, Dustin Neat, Johnny Wheeler, Jimmy Crabtree, Bobby Carrier, Jr., Aaron Hatton, David Webb, Mike Jewell, Shon Flanary, Buzz Williams, Jeff Watson, Larry Gray, Jr., Jason Barrett, Bobby Wolter, Jr., Eric Wells, Greg Johnson, D.J. Wells
Total Entries- 28
Lap Leaders- 1 (Lee 1-40)
Cautions- 1 (lap 14)
Red Flags- None
PPM Racing Products Hard Charger- Dustin Neat (started 17th-finished 7th-advanced 10 positions)
O'Reilly Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar Series Super Late Model Point Standings (after May 29, 2009)
1. Victor Lee (Stanford, KY)- 895
2. Michael Chilton (Salvisa, KY)- 835
3. Dustin Linville (Bryantsville, KY)- 832 ®
4. Chris Combs (Isom, KY)- 722
5. David Webb (Nicholasville, KY)- 700
6. Aaron Hatton (Mount Sterling, KY)- 640
7. Dustin Neat (Dunnville, KY)- 589
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