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Four local racers post wins at Shady Bowl, Ransbottom captures go kart feature

Written by Bill Tipple

Monday, 11 August 2008

Josh Smith poses with his parents after winning the Carter Lumber 75 Saturday night.

The Main Event Racing Series made its annual stop at Shady Bowl Speedway and put on a thrilling show in front of a packed house. The traveling speedsters marked the only appearance of the super late models in the '08 season. A field of 21 cars took the green flag to start the Carter Lumber 75. Series regular Gary Whipkey took the early lead in the Carter Lumber backed super and led the first 19 laps before the yellow came out when Rich Rohrer collected the frontchute wall.

Something appeared to break on his car. When racing resumed, it was short lived. Rain brought the race to a halt on lap 20.

The race was held up for about an hour as officials and compact drivers dried the track. The rain delay was bad news for Whipkey as his car would not start when the command to fire up was given. With Whipkey in the pits the lead fell to Paul Pelletier as the green came out. The Wolverine State driver stayed out front and survived minor spins and crashes involving Chad Poole, John Stroble and Brad Coons. The final yellow waved on lap 54 when Burgess White slowed on the frontchute. Once again, out front was an unlucky spot to be in as Pelletier headed to the pit area. The lead was then taken over by Quincy driver Josh Smith in the Fast Racing Engines entry. Smith, a two-time Modified champion at the Bowl, then showed the invaders a little lesson in "home cookin" as he dominated the final laps to post his first ever MERS and super late model main. It made for a very popular win both on and off the track, as Smith is a crowd favorite. Harold Fair Jr., Don Mahaffey, Don Harvey Jr. and Bud Perry rounded out the top five. The Bowl was well represented with regulars Smith, Mahaffey and Perry taking three of the top five spots.

Herb Newman

The 25 lap Modified main again saw a very popular winner, as Herb Newman of New Carlisle led all 25 laps of the NKP-Bruns General Contracting sponsored event in his Roger Winget Race Cars backed racer. The win was the first ever for Newman who has come close several times in his career but finally pulled the monkey off his back to claim top spot. Chris Parker turned in a strong performance to finish second, with Josh Smith third, Jim Lewis Jr. fourth and Chad Poole fifth. Poole was fast qualifier with a 13.83 lap.

Jerry Ellis Junior

The 20 lap Pepsi-REPA Corp Compact main once again saw DeGraff's Jerry Ellis Jr. out front in his Cabinets and More Honda when the checker flew. The win was far from easy as he and Justin Pope had a great battle before Ellis pulled off a high side pass with less than ten laps to go. Josh Sage soon passed Pope and put pressure on Ellis but ran out of laps and had to settle for second. Justin Durflinger, Jerry Ellis Sr. and Pope rounded out the top five.

Gregg Jackson

In sport stock racing Gregg Jackson of DeGraff put his Lincoln in victory lane for the first time in '08 in the Winco Industries 20. It was Jackson's 25^th career win in the same car, which is sponsored by Jackson Livestock. Mark Heath had his best finish of 08, as he was second, followed by Aaron Pippin, Rodney Roush and Richard Roush. Rodney Roush was fast qualifier with a 14.89 lap.

Mike Durflinger

The 20 lap Ludlow Wireless Detroit Iron feature saw Bellefontaine's Mike Durflinger post his first win in his Durflinger Racing Lincoln. Jeff Ellis made his Detroit Iron debut with a second place finish.

This Saturday will be the Shady Bowl Shootout for the Modifieds. The 75-lapper will pay $3,000 to win. The sport stocks, Pro-4's, Compacts, and OVDKA Dwarf cars will round out a big night of racing, which starts at seven o'clock.

Main Event Racing Series:

Carter Lumber 75: 1. Josh Smith 2. Harold Fair Jr., 3. Don Mahaffey

4. Don Harvey Jr. 5. Bud Perry 6.Jimmy Carter 7. Chris Benson 8. Doug Summers 9. Paul Pelletier 10. Joel McNight 11. Harold Fair Sr., 12. Burgess White 13. Johnny Jenkins 14. Brad Koons 15. John Stroble 16. Chad Poole 17. Gary Whipkey 18. Shawn Stansell 19. John Flynn 20. Rich Rohrer 21. Rodney Roush

Modifieds:

NKP-Bruns General Contracting 25: 1. Herb Newman 2. Chris Parker 3. Josh Smith 4. Jim Lewis, Jr. 5. Chad Poole 6. Wayne Watercutter 7. Dean Pitts 8. Rodney Roush 9. Joe Pequinot 10. Paul Henry 11. Mike Pippin 12. Steve Snapp 13. Jerry Winget 14. Bud Perry 15. Brad Yelton 16. Shane Shirk 17. Rob Yelton

COMPACTS:

Pepsi-Repa Corp 20 lap feature: 1. Jerry Ellis Jr. 2. Josh Sage 3. Justin Durflinger 4. Jerry Ellis Jr. 5. Justin Pope 6. Mark Parker 7. Brain Beach 8. Dustin Young 9. Chuck Bertschman 10. Eric Woodell 11, Roger Eaton 12. David Yoder 13. Ronnie Shoffner 14. Fred Tripplett 15. Mike Shaffer 16. Paul Goodwin 17. Alex Penny

Sport Stocks:

Fast Qualifier: Rodney Roush 14.89

Winco Industries 20: 1. Gregg Jackson 2. Mark Heath 3. Aaron Pippin 4. Rodney Roush 5. Richard Roush 6. Chad Fiessinger 7. Rex Purtee 8. Larry Adams 9. Reggie Ohlinger 10. Tim Hines 11. Jason Wells 12. Brad Worley 13. Chris Abbott 14. Chris Prater 15. Paul Fields

Detroit Iron:

20 Lap Ludlow Wireless feature: 1. Mike Durflinger 2. Jeff Ellis

In go kart racing, Bellefontaine freshman Tyler Ransbottom competed at Lil' Indy Speedway in Carrothers, Ohio on Saturday.

Ransbottom drove his Coyer Enterprise/Saylor Racing kart to a heat win and then won the 12-kart feature.

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