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Matt
Mevert (L) and Bobby Pierce (R) celebrate in victory
lane following Saturday ‘s UMP DIRTcar Spring
Nationals presented by
Allstar Performance. Mike Campbell photo
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Pierce
duplicates father’s 1993 victory
Matt Mevert Completes an Illinois Sweep With His Win
ROSSBURG, OH (April 12) – At only 17 years of age, second generation
driver Bobby Pierce used Saturday’s UMP DIRTcar Spring Nationals win to
propel him into his second century of Late Model
wins. Joining the Oakwood, IL speedster on Eldora’s
coveted stage to celebrate win number 101 was fellow Prairie State
hotshoe Matt Mevert who earlier in the night captured the Modified leg
of the doubleheader on a night presented by Allstar Performance..
For both them, this marked their first-ever Eldora wins.
With frost still emerging as a tell-tale reminder of the brutal winter,
and winds gusting at 30 MPH, the track proved itself to be tricky while
remaining lightning fast. Pierce’s run to the front found
the teams running steadily in the 16.0 second range around the
.500-mile mile clay oval.
Dogged determination and commanding restarts played key ingredients for
Pierce, who was greeted in victory lane by the man who had captured
this event 21 years ago in 1993, Bob Pierce. Bobby had no
recollection of that ceremony as he hadn’t even been born yet.
By virtue of his second Heat race win, Pierce started on the outside
pole of the 24-car, $5,000 to win 25-lap chase, with Heat one winner
Dona Marcoullier inside of him on the pole. As the green
flag dropped, Pierce took it right to the limit by running full
throttle within inches of Eldora’s oft-intimidating concrete walls and
stealing top spot away from Marcoullier.
Several minor caution periods slowed the pace and with the double-file
restart rule, it would put the entire field back within the shadows of
Pierce. His restart approach let the field know that at 17
he was already a veteran in his own right. He would choose
the outside lane and when the green flag was unfurled to resume racing,
he would shoot off of turn 4 right down in front of the field to shut
off their momentum.
Marcoullier remained in contention as the field approached lapped
traffic, but behind them Ryan VanderVeen, Brian Ruhlman, Jeep VanWormer
and Duane Chamberlain were engaging in a see-saw battle for positioning
among the top five. VanderVeen and VanWormer eventually fell
victim to crashes which allowed Ruhlman and Chamberlain to take on
their own battle while Matt Miller soon entered the scene.
Through it all, Pierce remained undaunted and charged to his second
feature win of the weekend. Saturday’s win came at the expense of
Chamberlain, Ruhlman, Marcoullier and Miller who completed the top five.
Ruhlman was trying to salvage a disappointing run in the Modified
A-feature just moments before, wheere he appeared to be locked into the
$5,000 victory.
His pole starting position was to his liking and he made the most of it
by enduring three attempts by the 32-car field to get under green flag
conditions and opened nearly a straightaway lead over the
field. Devin Gilpin was the first to try and reel him in,
but had his hands full fending off Mevert and Jonathan Taylor and host
of others including Eldora stalwarts Jeff Babcock and Jerry Bowersock.
Ruhlman’s vast Eldora experience played right into his hand to make it
look like the balance of the 31 cars were merely racing to determine an
order behind him. Yet Mevert and Taylor had other thoughts,
with Mevert learning the Eldora track more and more with every lap.
A rare lap 16 miscue by Ruhlman and near-collission with the concrete
wall was all Mevert needed to not only knock on the door, but walk
right in. As he rallied to regain his composure, Taylor took
advantage to advance forward as well.
The slight contact was enough to drop Ruhlman somewhat off the pace
being enjoyed by Mevert and Taylor, and found team mates Matt Westfall
and Jeff Babcock now looking towards the checkered flag.
Mevert wasn’t about to be denied and took advantage of a long
green-flag run in the closing stages to score the win.
Taylor, Westfall and Babock waged a battle to the end and finished in
that order, while Chad Kinder slid up into fifth.
Eldora’s entry into its 61st season of racing will be followed by an
invasion of the USAC National Sprint Car series this Saturday night
(April 19) along with the UMP DIRTcar Modifieds and Eldora Stock Cars.
Tickets for that event, or any of the other events on Eldora’s exciting
menu may be purchased by going to the track’s website
www.EldoraSpeedway.com or by calling the track office during normal
business hours (937) 338-3815. Additionally, race fans and race
teams can get behind-the-scenes access by following @EldoraSpeedway on
Twitter, hitting ‘Like’ at Facebook.com/EldoraSpeedway and view video
highlights at YouTube.com/EldoraSpeedwayInc. Mobile device users
can access the Eldora Speedway app for the iPhone, iPad and Android
which is available for download via iTunes and Goggle Play.
UMP DIRTcar SPRING NATIONALS presented by Allstar Performance
UMP DIRTcar Late Model
TIME TRIALS - 1. 3-Matt Miller [15.706]; 2. 6M-Dona Marcoullier
[15.959]; 3. 1J-Jeff Babcock [15.865]; 4. 15J-Greg Johnson [16.365]; 5.
27S-Eric Spangler [16.383]; 6. 55-Jeep Vanwormer [15.897]; 7. 24U-Ryan
Unzicker [16.020]; 8. 20C-Duane Chamberlain [16.103]; 9. 99M-Devin
Moran [99.991]; 10. 5P-Chad Poorman [99.992]; 11. 32P-Bobby Pierce
[16.180]; 12. 23V-Ryan Vanderveen [16.332]; 13. 00K-Chris Keller
[16.603]; 14. 11S-Rusty Schlenk [16.431]; 15. 81JR-Jason Riggs
[16.576]; 16. 49-Brian Ruhlman [16.590]; 17. 20H-Jacob Hawkins [1.774];
18. 88-Andrew Reaume [16.646]; 19. 1N-Casey Noonan [16.749]; 20.
M14-Brandon Thirlby [17.063]; 21. 33S-Aaron Scott [16.949]; 22.
15A-Phil Ausra [18.543]; 23. 3G-Brian Gray [17.373]; 24. 15H-Jon Henry
[16.971]; 25. 75M-Dusty Moore [16.920]; 26. 1WC-Wayne Chinn [16.423];
27. 34R-Herb Reich [17.402]; 28. 95J-Jerry Bowersock [16.583];
HEAT 1 - 1. 6M-Dona Marcoullier [1]; 2. 55-Jeep Vanwormer [2]; 3.
1J-Jeff Babcock [3]; 4. 3-Matt Miller [4]; 5. 24U-Ryan Unzicker [5]; 6.
15J-Greg Johnson [6]; 7. 27S-Eric Spangler [7];
HEAT 2 - 1. 32P-Bobby Pierce [3]; 2. 23V-Ryan Vanderveen [2]; 3.
20C-Duane Chamberlain [4]; 4. 95J-Jerry Bowersock [1]; 5. 00K-Chris
Keller [5]; 6. 5P-Chad Poorman [DNF]; 7. 99M-Devin Moran [DNS];
HEAT 3 - 1. 49-Brian Ruhlman [2]; 2. 88-Andrew Reaume [1]; 3. 20H-Jacob
Hawkins [6]; 4. 81JR-Jason Riggs [3]; 5. 11S-Rusty Schlenk [4]; 6.
1N-Casey Noonan [5]; 7. M14-Brandon Thirlby [DNF];
HEAT 4 - 1. 75M-Dusty Moore [3]; 2. 33S-Aaron Scott [2]; 3. 15A-Phil
Ausra [7]; 4. 34R-Herb Reich [6]; 5. 3G-Brian Gray [DNF]; 6. 15H-Jon
Henry [DNF]; 7. 1WC-Wayne Chinn [DNF];
B-FEATURE - 1. 00K-Chris Keller [2]; 2. 24U-Ryan Unzicker [1]; 3.
15J-Greg Johnson [5]; 4. 11S-Rusty Schlenk [3]; 5. 1WC-Wayne Chinn
[11]; 6. 15H-Jon Henry [8]; 7. 3G-Brian Gray [4]; 8. 1N-Casey Noonan
[7]; 9. 27S-Eric Spangler [9]; 10. M14-Brandon Thirlby [DNF]; 11.
5P-Chad Poorman [DNS]; 12. 99M-Devin Moran [DNS];
A FEATURE - 1. 32P-Bobby Pierce [2]; 2. 20C-Duane Chamberlain [10]; 3.
49-Brian Ruhlman [3]; 4. 6M-Dona Marcoullier [1]; 5. 3-Matt Miller
[13]; 6. 20H-Jacob Hawkins [11]; 7. 81JR-Jason Riggs [15]; 8.
M14-Brandon Thirlby [22]; 9. 15H-Jon Henry [23]; 10. 15A-Phil Ausra
[12]; 11. 27S-Eric Spangler [21]; 12. 34R-Herb Reich [16]; 13. 55-Jeep
Vanwormer [DNF]; 14. 88-Andrew Reaume [DNF]; 15. 00K-Chris Keller
[DNF]; 16. 1J-Jeff Babcock [DNF]; 17. 24U-Ryan Unzicker [DNF]; 18.
23V-Ryan Vanderveen [DNF]; 19. 11S-Rusty Schlenk [DNF]; 20. 15J-Greg
Johnson [DNF]; 21. 33S-Aaron Scott [DNF]; 22. 95J-Jerry Bowersock
[DNF]; 23. 1N-Casey Noonan [DNF]; 24. 75M-Dusty Moore [DNF];
UMP DIRTcar MODIFIED
C FEATURE - 1. 10-Scott Bowersock [1]; 2. 23J-Jeff Koz [5]; 3.
26L-Casey Luedeke [3]; 4. 47-Collin Thirlby [2]; 5. 79-Shane Unger [6];
6. 225-Jesse Bitterling [DNF]; 7. 51-Cody Timmerman [DNF];
B-FEATURE - 1. 05-David Smith [2]; 2. 18-Ryan Sutter [1]; 3. 5X-Tim
Richardson [10]; 4. 20-Josh Morton [12]; 5. 25SO-Scott Orr [13]; 6.
28R-Chad Rosenbeck [3]; 7. 11MH-Mike Hohlbein [8]; 8. 79-Shane Unger
[18]; 9. 28S-Scott Mackenzie [11]; 10. 3GW-Dylan Woodling [DNF]; 11.
10-Scott Bowersock [DNF]; 12. 225-Jesse Bitterling [DNF]; 13.
0A-Derrick Austin [DNF]; 14. 23J-Jeff Koz [DNF]; 15. 21T-Tom Treon
[DNF]; 16. 4J-David Treon, Jr [DNF]; 17. 7AO-Aaron Orr [DNF]; 18.
26L-Casey Luedeke [DNF]; 19. 47-Collin Thirlby [DNS]; 20. 51-Cody
Timmerman [DNS];
A FEATURE - 1. 22M-Matt Mevert [2]; 2. 5-Jonathan Taylor [4]; 3.
54-Matt Westfall [11]; 4. 7B-Jeff Babcock [9]; 5. 22S-Chad Kinder [7];
6. 5XB-Jerry Bowersock [3]; 7. K1-Jimmy Payne [8]; 8. 49-Brian Ruhlman
[1]; 9. 55S-Zach Schroeder [15]; 10. 2S-Travis Stemler [14]; 11. 69-Jim
Farris Sr. [16]; 12. 45-Nick Stroupe [12]; 13. 05-David Smith [21]; 14.
36-Brandon Vaughan [18]; 15. 5X-Tim Richardson [23]; 16. 47-Collin
Thirlby [29]; 17. 18-Ryan Sutter [22]; 18. 1SW-Scott Williams [19]; 19.
28R-Chad Rosenbeck [26]; 20. 4J-David Treon, Jr [32]; 21. 11MH-Mike
Hohlbein [27]; 22. 79-Shane Unger [28]; 23. 0A-Derrick Austin [DNF];
24. 111-Curt Spalding [DNF]; 25. 1AS-Andy Sprague [DNF]; 26. 8C-Corey
Bevard [DNF]; 27. 1G-Devin Gilpin [DNF]; 28. 7-Evan Taylor [DNF]; 29.
20-Josh Morton [DNF]; 30. 7AO-Aaron Orr [DNF]; 31. 25SO-Scott Orr
[DNF]; 32. 10BB-Bryan Barber [DNF];
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