Wednesday night June 25 report from Atomic Speedway

Thanks again to Scott Wolfe, the ever-faithful report from Atomic Speedway, who has some help for this midweek action on June 25 from Brian Liskai

So, here's what happened.....

 

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio (Wednesday, June 25, 2014) – Jac Haudenschild lived up to his nickname “The Wild Child” at Atomic Speedway Wednesday night.

The Wooster, Ohio driver blasted around Dale Blaney with five laps to go and went on to score the win on night #3 of the 32nd Annual Ohio Sprint Speedweek with the University of  Northwestern Ohio All Star Circuit of Champions. Dan Ebert, Lake Shore, Minnesota claimed the AMRA Modified $1,000 win, Harley Martin, Jackson, Ohio took the Sport Mod main, his 5th of the season; and Rob Smith claimed his second Street Stock win.

More than 100 cars packed the pit area, including 62 sprint cars, the largest gathering of sprint cars at any dirt track in the USA this year.

Haudenschild used the concrete wall in turns three and four as a cushion to rim-ride to his second All Star win of 2014. It is his 28th career series victory.

“That was really fun. The track was awesome. The fastest way was around the top. I was running up there pretty high. It was a little easier running second. Dale was definitely fast but I was able to see his line and we got there at the end,” said Haudenschild beside his Destiny Racing/Rick Rogers Construction/Mondak Portables/Triple X Racing/Renegade Rentals/Champion Oil backed machine.

 “We’ve been getting better every week and hopefully we can keep it up. The car is feeling good and the guys have worked their tails off,” added Haudenschild.

For Blaney, who came into the night leading the UNOH All Star national and Ohio Region points and the 2014 Ohio Sprint Speedweek points, it was another solid night with a second place finish despite leading the first 25 laps.

“It was my mistake. I moved to the middle there a little bit. It almost felt like it was starting to lock down there in the middle and I probably ran a little too conservative there to try and stay in it. He just got a run on me there and after that he was running pretty hard. My mistake for running a little too easy in one and two and being conservative. The guys gave me a great car and I just brought it home in second. Every night we’ve been really good and put ourselves in a good position and that’s what it takes,” said Blaney beside his Kennedy Cattle/GF1 Chassis/Ti22 Performance/Penske Shocks backed #14K.

Randy Hannagan would battle with Blaney for the runner-up position the final four laps before coming home in third.

 “Car came on really good the last 10 laps. I missed that corner that one time that I didn’t need to miss it,” said Hannagan beside his Do-Si-Do/Upper Auto/Kenny’s Components backed #11n. “Ed Neumeister gives me an awesome car and my guys, Kent Karhoff and Jonathan Karhoff work their butts off for me. They make me look good.”

After the 62-car field was whittled down to the final 24 A-main starters it would be Blaney and Sheldon Haudenschild who would bring the field to the green for the 30-lap feature. Blaney would grab the lead over Sheldon Haudenschild, Cole Duncan, Jac Haudenschild, Taylor Ferns, Danny Smith, Randy Hannagan, Brady Bacon and Caleb Griffith. Jac Haudenschild would grab third on lap two.

It didn’t take the leaders long to find heavy lapped traffic by lap five but the action would grind to a halt on lap six when Cale Thomas would blow a right rear tire and get into the front stretch wall, getting upside down. On the restart Blaney pulled away slightly as the son and feather battled for second. Jac would take the runner-up spot on lap eight, bringing Duncan into third with Sheldon, Hannagan, Smith and Shane Stewart in tow.

Blaney would find lapped traffic by the 12th circuit with Haudenschild staying within striking distance while Duncan battled with Hannagan with Sheldon Haudenschild, Smith and Griffith in pursuit. Jimmy Stinson would spin to bring out the caution on lap 14 and once again hand the leaders a clear track. Blaney and Jac Haudenschild would pull away from the field and run nose to tail with Duncan, Hannagan, Sheldon Haudenschild, Smith, Griffith, Stewart and Bacon in tow. Bacon would spin in turn one on lap 21 to once again give the leaders a clean track.

On the restart once again Blaney and Jac Haudenschild were glued together and pulled away while Duncan was battling with Hannagan for third. Jac would execute a perfect slider on Blaney in turns three and four to take the lead with five laps to go when the red flew for a pile-up involving Christopher Bell, Danny Holtgraver and Cory Crabtree. On the restart Jac Haudenschild would continue to blast away at the extreme top edge of the track with Blaney now locked in a battle for second with Hannagan while Sheldon Haudenschild was battling with Griffith for fourth.

Jac Haudenschild would drive to the win with Blaney edging Hannagan for second while Griffith and Sheldon Haudenschild rounded out the top five.

              

In the power-packed AMRA Modified Feature, Kenny Johnson, the 5-time AMRA champ lined up against WISOTA Champ Dan Ebert as the duo led the charging star-studded line-up to the green flag. Ebert and Johnson diced in spectacular fashion with the always-present back-in-the-pack action at Atomic Speedway. Johnson, of Mineral Wells, WV is your 2014 Gibby's DTRN Modified Mid-Season Champion with 12 feature wins in what has been a Dream season already in 2014 with 12 Victories right here in our region. Johnson's bid for win #6 was short-lived, however.

In the Modified A -main there was a very bad wreck involving Dave Pinkerton, Jason Montgomery and Mark Dickson who tried to make it Three wide where three-wide would not fit. Past feature winner Jimmy Lennex was involved in the aftermath and was taken away in an ambulance, but at press time was reported to be only shaken and suffering a sore neck.

Cody Parker worked his way toward the front, along with hard-charger Rick Hensley who was on a rail from 14th to third. Rounding out the top ten were Dan Ebert, Cody Parker, Rick Hensley, Travis Dickson, K-C Burdette, Nathan Loney , John Burdette, Jason Brookover, Mark Dickson, and Brian Whiteman.

He is only sixteen, but he is a veteran in many ways. Yes, Harley Martin persevered and won his fifth Sport Mod run of the year after a side-by-side battle with another youngster Brennan Bobst. The pair of high school young guns Martin and Bobst continued to run side-by-side lap after lap  while battling for the lead! Martin prevailed for the win ahead of Brennan Bobst, Steve Noble, Allen Gulley, Harrison Hill, Rick Neace, Steve Thornsberry, John Cuckler, Derek Davidson, Mike Brust, and John Remy.

The Street Stock main provided another torrid battle, but this time Rob Smith, scoring his second win in a row, had a little easier time of it. Last week, Smith made a last lap pass to claim the win, but although working hard in holding off the charges of a solid pack, especially Jamie Adams and Dean Boyd, Smith raced on to victory.

Rounding out the line-up were Rob Smith, Jamie Adams, Dean Boyd, Justin Poling, Evan Seitz, Adam Jones, Brian McQuay, Dave Landman, Tim Cutler, Casey Barr, and Tommy Mossbarger.

              

A reminder that there will be no SATURDAY racing June 28, but that action at Atomic Continues July 3 with the "Night the Stars Come Out!" That race pays $5,000 to win in both Sprints and Late Models plus a race for the AMRA Modifieds for $750 to win. The UMP DIRTcar Summer Nationals Hell Tour rolls into Atomic July 16 for a $5,000 to win event. Some of the top super late model drivers from around the Midwest will be on hand to battle it out on the high banked three-eighths mile dirt oval.

Atomic Speedway will be near the end of the 33 race 'Hell Tour' schedule that is set over a span of just 39 days.

The Summit UMP DIRTcar Modified Nationals will also be competing on this night with one of their 30 nights of scheduled competition. Some of the top modified drivers from the Midwest will join Atomic's stellar lineup of modifieds as they compete for the $1,000 top prize.

For more information call 740-703-9749 or 740-663-4141 or visit the Atomic Speedway website at  www.atomicspeedway.net  Atomic is located 12 miles South of Chillicothe, Ohio off SR 23, two miles out Blain Highway between Chillicothe, Ohio and Waverly, Ohio at Alma.