ROCKY OWENS WINS AT THE NEW LAKEVILLE SPEEDWAY

 

Lakeville,Oh 8/22/08

 

     Just after hot laps had been completed,I had a quick conversation with Rocky Owens as he was making his second visit to the 3/8 mile oval at Lakeville Speedway.The talk went from his past performances around the state and back to Lakeville.He said to me that racing the previous week had been a lot of fun and that he was elated to have finished in the runner up spot to Benny Lester.He had the look of a winner in his eyes and he backed that up with a hard fought victory over nineteen other drivers in the Late Model A main event.Ownes had earned the outside of the front row after finishing third in his heat race and on the redraw format was starting beside multi time winner Mike Lonas.The first two laps saw Owens go the point with Lonas glued to his back bumper.On the second lap,the first caution slowed the field and on the restart,Owen blasted away again on the bottom of the racing surface as Lonas continued to pressure the leader.After a couple more laps,Doug Drown moved in to challenge Lonas for the second spot and that war continued for several laps until Drown was able to finally clear Lonas for second place.Lap traffic then became part of the excitement with Owens showing his great ability to weave through the back markers while keeping Drown behind him.Dave Hornikel moved into the top four on lap sixteen and tried many times to pass Lonas for third,however Lonas stood to the test keeping Hornikel back in fourth place.Owens drove the final laps out front and took his first checker of the year in his Oak Stone Restoration and Hilltop Quick Lube sponsored entry.The final results were Owens,Drown,Lonas,

Hornikel with Ryan Eddleblute holding off Jason Flory for a top five finish.Point leader J.R.Gentry finished seventh to maintain a slim margin in the points battle over Lonas.Heat wins went to Eddleblute,Kristin Flory and Hornikel.

     Nick Mulheim added to his points championship run by getting his second feature win in the Pepsi Sprints as he was able to hold off a hard charging Tim Hunter in the latter stages of the finale.Cody Jacobs looked like he was the one to beat as he charged from the outside of the front row starting spot and showed the way for the first six laps with Mulheim chasing the leader and Danny Mumaw in third spot.On the following lap,Mulheim went to the lead as he made the pass on Jacobs on the top of the racing surface.Mumaw spun his sprinter in turn two to bring out the caution flag and had to restart on the tail of the field.The line up then was Mulheim,Jacobs with Aaron Middaugh in third place.The field raced that way until Middaugh was attempting to pass Jacobs in turn three and contact was made and Jacobs spun to a stop.Jacobs was sent to the tail for stopping on the track and Middaugh was charged with aggrevise driving and was also relegated to the rear.While all this is happeningTim Hunter was making some great moves through the field as he had mounted his charge to the front from starting eighth.By the lap ten mark Hunter took over third and the following lap went to second with Kurt Jefferies third and Zach Amos was fourth with Willie Keegan coming from starting twelth to be shown in fifth.As the laps wound down,Keegan moved in behind Hunter who was still in second place with Jefferies fourth and Bill Underwwod getting fifth from a tenth place start.Mumaw and Hunter grabbed the heat wins.

     Roger Drouhard went to the winner circle for his first victory of the year in the Hamlin Racing Engines Pure Stock finale.He started on the outside of the front row and was pressured the entire event by Frank Oriti and Donna Canode.In the early laps it was Jason Kodek who stayed glued to the leaders

rear bumper then Canode replacing him for second.Only one lap later Oriti arrived at the front from satrting eighth and had moved into third spot.A four car battle insued with Paul McVicker,Travis Mensching(from eleventh),Dave Haven Jr and Don Baney.Oriti then moved to the runner up spot behind Drouhard and looked as he was setting the stage to go to the point.As the racing was close between Oriti and Haven Jr,Oriti spun in turn three and Haven Jr called for agressive driving which sent both competitors to the tail.Drouhard drove to the checkered flag with Canode finishing second,McVicker getting third,Mensching fourth and Baney from ninth to a top five finish.Baney,Oriti and points leader Shaun Cains getting the heat wins

     Alan Summers made his first visit a winning one in the Mini Stock feature.He started in third place and ran there for the first few laps as Josh Hershberger and Rod Daugherty was shown out front.Some very close racing was happening between the first two drivers and on lap seven ,Daugherty took the lead.On the next lap,Summers made his move to the high side and went to the point with Hershberger second.Jeremy Hudson had satrted back in the ninth place and joined the top five on lap ten as he and Tom Ogle went a couple of laps side by side.As the checkered flag was shown,it was Summers,Daugherty,Hershberger,Hudson and Ogle.Heat wins went to points leader Jordan james,Summers and Ogle.

     David Hinton got his first win in the Classic Cruiser feature.Point leader Charlie Dawson took second with Bob Fry gathering in third,Kenny Yarosh was fourth and Mike Finger taking fifth.Mason Radcliff was a heat winner as was Fry.

     The Mini Stock Novice and the Mini Truck feature was postponed due to curfew and will be ran on Friday August 29th.Mini Truck heats went to Dave Giaugue and Dave Caskey.Mitchell Ling got the heat win in the Mini Novice division.

 

                                                                                        SUMMARY

 

Late Models

 

Heat 1- Ryan Eddleblute,Jason Flory,Matt Irey,CobyBartrum,Mike Geiss

Heat 2- Kristin Flory,J.R.Gentry,Benny Lester,Mike Lonas,Jay McDougal

Heat 3- Dave Hornikel,Doug Drown,Rocky Owens,Jim Morey,Gary Hensel Sr

Feature- Ownes,Drown,Lonas,Hornikel,Eddleblute,Jason Flory,Gentry,Lester,Kristin Flory,Irey,Geiss,McDougal,Bartrum

             Eric Eicholtz,Jamie Reed,Morey,Bruce Miller,Steve Shaffer,Hensel Sr,Skip McKinney

 

Sprints

 

Heat1- Danny Mumaw,Aaron Middaugh,Dean Jacobs,Zach Ames,Jeremy Shambaugh

Heat2- Tim Hunter,Cody Jacobs,Nick Mulheim,Kurt Jefferies,Bill Underwood

Feature- Mulheim,Hunter,Willie Keegan,Jefferies,Underwood,Mumaw,Ames,Chad Levingston,Cody Jacobs,Shambaugh,

              Jeremy Aumend,Sean Hubler,Butch Beasley,Scott Curren Middaugh,Dean Jacobs

 

Pure Stocks

 

Heat 1- Don Baney,Jason Kodek,Murray Anderson,Aaron Harris,James Arms

Heat 2- Frank Oriti,Dave Haven Jr,Travis Mensching,Paul McVicker,Ben Mott

Heat 3- Shaun Cains,Donna Canode,Roger Drouhard,Justin Patterson,Larry Loney

Feature- Drouhard,Canode,McVicker,Mensching,Baney,Cains,Mott,Loney,Arms,Harris,John Stream,Oriti,Heath Jessup

              Mark Bee,Haven Jr,Kodek,Anderson,Patterson

 

Mini Stocks

 

Heat 1- Jordan James,Dustin Cyrus,Lenny Quinn,Jeremy Hudson,Dale Beckett

Heat 2- Alan Summers,Doug Hensel,Josh Hershberger,Rod Daugherty,Keith Rush

Heat 3- Tom Ogle,Sean Rush,Bobby Stamper,Glen Elliott Jr,Roger Rush Sr

Feature- Summers,Daugherty,Hershberger,Hudson,Ogle,Sean Rush,Cyrus,Josh Robinson,Doug Hensel,Stamper,

              Mike Snyder,Kyle McAfee,Keith Rush,Don Clay,Quinn,Jeff James,,Elliott Jr,Jordan James,E.M.Duncan

              Beckett,Kyle Moore

 

Classic Cruisers

 

Heat 1- Mason Radcliff,Charlie Dawson,Bill Miller,Cody Radcliff,David Radcliff

Heat 2- Bob Fry,Steve Quicksall,Mike Finger,David Hinton,Brad Hensel

Feature- Dave Hinton,Dawson,Fry,Ken Yarosh,Finger,Cody Radcliff,Mason Radcliff,Quicksall,David Radcliff,Bill Higdon Jr,

              Miller,Brad Hensel

 

Mini Stock Novice

 

Heat 1- Mitchell Ling,Trevor Quicksall,Kyle Moore,Cody Rush,Steve Foley

Feature--Rescheduled for August 29th

 

Mini Trucks

 

Heat 1- DaveGiauge,Jesse Combs,Travis Leyda,John Large,Tim McCluskey

Heat 2- Dave Caskey,Brandon Craver,Todd Gallion,Tim Mabry,George Mozingo

Feature- Rescheduled for August 29th