Post by LMR on 09/23/12 at 2:41pm
Winchester Speedway
September 22, 2012
________________________________________
McDowell Hauls $15,000 Back to Georgia After Dominating Winchester 200
Feathers Becomes 16th LM Winner With Friday Ernie D’s Score
by Doug Watson
WINCHESTER, VA (September 22) - Chickamauga Georgia’s Dale McDowell, made his first Winchester speedway appearance of the season a good one, as he was nearly unbeatable in last Friday and Saturday’s running of the 49th annual Winchester 200.
McDowell’s stellar weekend started on Friday as he became the 15th different late model winner of the season with his win in the divisions 35-lap event that featured the top-24 drivers in qualifying. After setting fast-time in time trials over the 45-cars on hand, Austin Hubbard earned the pole to start the feature, with McDowell lining-up second. As the green was displayed, McDowell beat Hubbard into the first-turn to become the race leader, a spot he wouldn’t relinquish. As McDowell lead, Hubbard and Nick Dickson waged a furious battle for second that would last the entire event, with Hubbard prevailing at the finish as McDowell would go on to take the win and the $3500 pay day that went along with it. “This is a brand new MasterSbilt race car and it was darn near perfect tonight.” The 46-year old pilot stated. “This track was bad-fast tonight and you could move all over, but our car seemed to like the top, and that’s where we stayed.” McDowell had high praise for the refurbished Winchester facility. “Greg (Gunter) and all the staff have done a wonderful job with this place.” Said McDowell. “It sure has changed a lot since the last time I was here and the improvements are amazing.” Nick Dickson settled for third, Jason Covert was fourth and Tommy Armel rounded out the top-five.
In the 25-lap, $1025-to-win, Ernie D’s sponsored late model event for the drivers that did not make the top-24 in time trials, saw five-time Winchester track champion Bo Feathers take his first win of the season. Rusty Sites and Feathers shared the front-row to start the race. Sites darted into the race lead with Feathers in tow as the field completed the first-circuit. Sites lead would only last until lap-four as Feathers made, what would be, the winning pass on lap-five. Feathers would go on to lead the distance, for his 65th career Winchester feature win, with Sites collecting runner-up honors. “We’ve been struggling here all season.” Feathers stated. “I have to thank Preston Dietz for giving me the chance to drive his car here tonight and Ernie Davis for putting this deal together, It just shows you how much he loves racing.” Brian Booze came home third, Mark Pettyjohn was fourth with Tony Crim completing the top-five.
In Friday’s support action Mike Corbin (pure stocks), Greg Gunter (4-cyl) and Cody Sweeney (u-car) all picked-up wins. Corbin started third in the 15-lap pure stock main and wrestled the top-spot from Scotty Nelson on lap-seven and would then drive off to his fourth feature win of the season. David Kaiser was second, Nelson hung on for third, Craig Parrill was fourth with Ricky Edmonds taking fifth. Heats for the 18-cars on hand went to Nelson and Parrill. Track owner/promoter Greg Gunter came out on top in a wild 15-lap four-cylinder main. Gunter would lead every lap, but had to fend-off constant pressure from runner-up Scott McCartney to post the win. Randy Linaburg was third, Ed Gageby fourth with Stacy Crider finishing fifth. Heats for the 15-cars entered went to McCartney and Gunter. Youthful Cody Sweeney put it all together to score his first-career win in the 15-lap u-car feature. Sweeney started on the pole and would lead the distance to take the win over Kevin Pollard. Travis Carroll was third, Gene Wilson fourth with Robert Perry fifth. Heats for the 31 car field went to Sweeney, Jason Wilkins and Allen Jones.
Saturday’s action started out with two, $1000-to-win, 25-lap qualifying events for the late models with the top-12 from each event earning a starting berth in the 50-lap finale. DJ Myers was the winner of the first qualifying event, for his third win of the season. Myers shot into the lead from his second starting spot and held-off Jason Covert to score the flag-to-flag win. “The track is a lot different from the way it was last night.” Myers stated. “The car was pretty good in that race so we’ll see what we can do starting from the pole.” Austin Hubbard was third, Tyler Hershey fourth with Jamie Lathroum rounding-out the top-five.
In the second 25-lap qualifier, Dale McDowell kept his hot streak going as he pocketed another $1000 with his second win of the weekend. McDowell, who started on the pole, took the lead on lap-one and ran off and hid to take the win by a wide margin over Kenny Moreland. “This is getting to be fun.” McDowell quipped. “Again, this car is new, and the guys on the crew have done a great job with it. I couldn’t be happier.” Nick Dickson was third, 2012 Winchester track champion Kenny Pettyjohn took fourth with 2011 Winchester 200 champion Ronnie DeHaven Jr. fifth.
With qualifying complete, the stage was set for the 50-lap $8000-to-win main event, with DJ Myers and Dale McDowell sharing the front row. As the green flag flew to start the race, McDowell beat Myers into the first-turn to take command of the race. From that point on, it would be a race for second, as McDowell was the class of the field as he would lead all 50-laps to score his third win of the weekend. As McDowell lead, eventual runner-up DJ Myers got close to McDowell on several occasions in lapped traffic, but was unable to get close enough to make a bid at the lead. “This has been a great weekend.” McDowell stated as he climbed from his Team Dillon Racing, MasterSbilt no.17M in Winchester’s victory lane. “To come here this weekend with a brand new race car and win every race we were in, just shows what a great team we have in TDR racing.” Being a first-time Winchester 200 winner, earned McDowell the $2500 bonus put forth by Ernie Davis of Ernie D’s Enterprises on top of the hefty $8000 winner’s share making McDowell’s take on the weekend a cool $15,000. “That will certainly make the ride back home to Georgia pretty nice.” McDowell said with a smile. “I knew we had a good race car and it was important to beat DJ (Myers) into the first turn at the start, and we were able to do that.” Track conditions were no concern to McDowell. “I thought the track was pretty racy.” McDowell bottom-lined. “The longer the race got going the track got better and we were able to move around a little bit, but as good as our car was, I knew it would have been hard to pass. I just want to thank everyone here at the speedway for making us feel so welcome and for all the fans who came out to watch tonight.” Jason Covert came home third, Kenny Moreland was fourth with Austin Hubbard rounding out the top-five.
Saturday results
Late Model qualifier #1 top-12 (25-laps)
1. DJ Myers 2. Jason Covert 3. Austin Hubbard 4. Tyler Hershey 5. Jamie Lathroum 6. Booper Bare 7. Brad Omps 8. Roy Deese Jr. 9. Jerry Bard 10. Andy Fries 11. Frankie Plessinger 12. Brian Booze
Late Model qualifier #2 top-12 (25-laps)
1. Dale McDowell 2. Kenny Moreland 3. Nick Dickson 4. Kenny Pettyjohn 5. Ronnie DeHaven Jr. 6. Joe Leavell 7. Mark Pettyjohn 8. CS Fitzgerald 9. Tommy Armel 10. Gary Stuhler 11. Devin Friese 12. Tony Crim
Late Model A-main (50-laps)
1. Dale McDowell 2. DJ Myers 3. Jason Covert 4. Kenny Moreland 5. Austin Hubbard 6. Ronnie DeHaven Jr. 7. Mark Pettyjohn 8. Nick Dickson 9. Booper Bare 10. CS Fitzgerald 11. Andy Fries 12. Joe Leavell 13. Devin Friese 14. Brad Omps 15. Brian Booze 16. Kenny Pettyjohn 17. Tommy Armel 18. Frankie Plessinger 19. Gary Stuhler 20. Jerry Bard 21. Tony Crim 22. Tyler Hershey 23. Jamie Lathroum 24. Roy Deese Jr. DNQ- Trever Feathers, Dale Hollidge, Tim Burkholder, Scott Rhodes, Rusty Sites, Kyle Hardy, Keith Jackson, Jeremy Miller, Ernie Millon, David Pettyjohn, Brian Tavenner, Bo Feathers, Richard Jarvis Jr., Mike Lupfer, Tom Decker, Gerald Davis, Kris Eaton, Jimmy Richards, Brad Ritter, Sean Dawson, Jonathon DeHaven.
Limited Late Model feature finish
1. Tanner Kerr 2. Andy Anderson 3. Kyle Lear 4. Brad Ritter 5. Charlie Schaffer 6. Jonathon DeHaven 7. Keith Walls 8. Justin Weaver 9. Mike Walls 10.James Lichliter 11. Chad Myers 12. Tyler Emory 13. Travis Stickley 14. Kris Holliday 15. Richard Walls 16. Dominic DeFino 17. Bubby Tharp Jr. 18. Robbie Emory 19. Bubby Dillman 20. Jacob Burdette 21. Don Woodruff 22. Dallas Richards 23. Joey Strosnider 24. Jim O’Hara 25. Kris Eaton 26. Ernie Shirley 27. Tom Chaffins
Enduro Stock feature finish
1. “Krazy” Kenny Thomas 2. Jim DeArmitt 3. Jamie Mills 4. Danny Holmes 5. Gary Proctor 6. Joe Rodgers 7. Rodney Miner
U-Car feature finish
1. Kevin Oates 2. Travis Carroll 3. Michael Webb 4. Steve Fadeley 5. Gene Wilson 6. Brenda Alexander 7. Steve Katz 8. Michael Pfaff 9. Robert Wilson 10. Randy Wilkins 11. Alan Dice 12. Allen Jones 13. Theo Funk 14. Brian Lederhouse 15. David Lock 16. David Funk Jr. 17. Brian Skelly 18. Ricky Runion 19. Ken Attkins 20. Charles Crum 21. Jeffrey Budwash 22. Robert Perry 23. Ronnie Bolstridge 24. Sean Williams 25. Jason Wilkins 26. Gary Wilson 27. William Poston 28. Cody Sweeney
Friday results
Late Model feature finish (35-laps)
1. Dale McDowell 2. Austin Hubbard 3. Nick Dickson 4. Jason Covert 5. Tommy Armel 6. Booper Bare 7. Roy Deese Jr. 8. Tyler Hershey 9. Kenny Pettyjohn 10. Dale Hollidge 11. Richard Jarvis Jr. 12. Jamie Lathroum 13. Kenny Moreland 14. Joe Leavell 15. Keith Jackson 16. Mike Lupfer 17. Jerry Bard 18. Brian Tavenner 19. CS Fitzgerald 20. Trever Feathers 21. Gary Stuhler 22. Jeremy Miller 23. Ronnie DeHaven Jr. 24. DJ Myers
Late Model feature finish (25-laps)
1. Bo Feathers 2. Rusty Sites 3. Brian Booze 4. Mark Pettyjohn 5. Tony Crim 6. Devin Friese 7. Brad Ritter 8. Brad Omps 9. Scott Rhodes 10. Andy Fries 11. Gerald Davis 12. Kris Eaton 13. Tom Decker 14. Kyle Hardy 15. Jimmy Richards 16. Tim Burkholder 17. Ernie Millon 18. Sean Dawson 19. Frankie Plessinger 20. Jonathon DeHaven 21. David Pettyjohn (DNS)
