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COONS OUTSMARTS TOUGH USAC FIELD AS BITTERLING TAKES INITIAL ELDORA WIN |
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ROSSBURG, OH (April 11) It may have been a night of bone-chilling temperatures, but the action on the track Saturday night at Eldora was hot enough to warm up the massive throng of fans that braved the temperatures to see Jerry Coons, Jr. outsmart the USAC (United States Auto Club) Sprint Car field, while Jesse Bitterling followed suit in the UMP (United Midwestern Promoters) Modified finale. Originally scheduled for day number two of the Coca-Cola Spring Classic, Saturday contest actually kicked off the 2009 Eldora season as Friday’s chase fell victim to the elements. As expected, with 34 USAC National Sprint Cars on hand, the qualifying heat races were intense and competitive on one of the raciest surfaces to greet USAC in several seasons. Brad Sweet and Brady Bacon captured the first two 8-lap affairs, while the Tony Stewart team cars of Tracy Hines and Levi Jones were victorious in the final two. Stewart, with an off-NASCAR weekend was on hand the entire weekend to oversee the activity at the track he purchased from Earl Baltes in 2004. The fourth heat was marred with a vicious crash involving Darren Hagen. Hagen was removed from the car conscious but air-lifted to Miami Valley Hospital for further observation and evaluation. Although not victorious in heat race competition, Coons’ time trial run, coupled with a transfer position in his heat race lined him up in pole position for the 30-lap finale. Driving for the fabled Hoffman Racing Team, Coons felt comfortable going into the chase, but that comfort zone didn’t last long. Coons led the first lap, but before another lap could be completed, a four car crash on the back stretch brought out the red flag to halt the action. On the restart, Jones surprised Coons with an ‘Eldora slide job’ going into turn 3. Jones has able to make the slide stick and he powered into the lead, with Sweet gaining quickly on Coons. Meanwhile, another pre-race favorite, quick qualifier Dave Darland was holding steady after dropping one spot from his sixth place start position. Eleven laps into the chase, Sweet duplicated Jones’ slide job on Coons and moved into second and on the next tour of the one-half mile clay oval was about to execute the same move on Jones, when the red bunting appeared again, this time for a Damion Gardner flip on the back stretch. Gardner suffered no injuries in the melee, but the car was out for the remainder of the event. When the green reappeared, Jones, aware of Sweet’s position, protected the groove and pulled out a 4 car-length lead. Sweet rapidly reeled in Jones and before another lap could be entered into the record book, did a turn 3 slide job on Jones to become the new race leader. Coons, still holding down third must have seen the Sweet move and decided to give it a shot three tours later. The move worked and with half of the race completed, Sweet held down the top sot, while Coons was runner-up and the Stewart team cars of Jones and Hines completed the top four. Hines got by the somewhat faltering Jones on lap 17 as Sweet began to enter lapped traffic. This allowed Coons to move a little closer. Yet another red flag on lap 24, for Brett Burdette brought the field to a halt. This restart found the determined Coons doing the necessary slide job to take the lead, which he made stick. Sweet tried to return the favor on the next lap, but couldn’t get the job done. With two laps remaining Sweet was again within striking distance and with the white flag in the air, a move of desperation failed. Sweet tried a slide out of two that didn’t work and contact with the retaining wall send Sweet flipping violent. He was not hurt in the incident, but it spelled an end to his otherwise thrilling night. A steady Darland had moved into third just prior to Sweet’s flip, and with the flip, inherited the runner-up position. A last lap effort fell short for Darland, has he settled for second before Coons as Jesse Hockett, Jones and Brady Short completed the top five. Doug Adkins beat Gary Richard into turn one to take the early lead in the Modified finale, and the determined Adkins looked to be the man to beat as he powered into a commanding lead. Mark Anderson, after a strong heat race win, soon took over second spot and set his sights on Adkins, as Bitterling entered the foray by lap three Five laps of hounding Anderson paid off, as Bittlerling moved into second on lap 10. Time was beginning to a foe for Bitterling and an ally to Adkins, but with three laps remaining, Bittlering powered to the low side coming off of turn four and that momentum carried him into the lead he was to hold to the finish, to score his first-ever Eldora win. Adkins hung on for second, followed in order by Jason Wheatley, Anderson and Davey Gantt. --30-- APRIL 11, 2009 Coca-Cola Spring Classic Opening Weekend USAC National Sprints - 34 cars Fast Time: Dave Darland - 15.033 seconds Heat 1: 1. Brad Sweet 2. Chris Windom 3. Cole Whitt 4. Dave Darland 5. Bud Kaeding 6. Trey Robb 7. Mike Miller 8. Jerry Bell 9. Hunter Schuerenberg Heat 2: 1. Brady Bacon 2. Critter Malone 3. Jerry Coons Jr. 4. Bryan Clauson 5. Mike Brecht 6. Jesse Hockett 7. Blake Fitzpatrick 8. Landon Simon 9. Kevin Studley Heat 3: 1. Tracy Hines 2. Thomas Meseraull 3. Damion Gardner 4. Nic Faas 5. Matt Goodnight 6. Chad Boat 7. Casey Riggs 8. John Memmer Heat 4: 1. Levi Jones 2. Robert Ballou 3. Josh Wise 4. Brady Short 5. Jimmy Light 6. Brett Burdette 7. Darren Hagen 8. Kevin Thomas Jr. B Main : 1. Bud Kaeding 2. Jesse Hockett 3. Chad Boat 4. Trey Robb 5. Brett Burdette 6. John Memmer 7. Casey Riggs 8. Blake Fitzpatrick 9. Matt Goodnight 10. Mike Miller 11. Jimmy Light 12. Jerry Bell 13. Landon Simon 14. Kevin Studley 15. Hunter Schuerenberg 16. Kevin Thomas Jr. 17. Mike Brecht A Main : 1. Jerry Coons Jr. 2. Dave Darland 3. Jesse Hockett 4. Levi Jones 5. Brady Short 6. Robert Ballou 7. Bud Kaeding 8. Chris Windom 9. Bryan Clauson 10. Nic Faas 11. Josh Wise 12. Tracy Hines 13. Brady Bacon 14. Chad Boat 15. Brad Sweet 16. Trey Robb 17. John Memmer 18. Brett Burdette 19. Thomas Meseraull 20. Damion Gardner 21. Critter Malone ---------------------------------------------- UMP DirtCar Modifieds - 41 cars Heat 1: 1. Steve Shute 2. Tim Richardson 3. Lenny Guyton 4. Nicholas Katterhenry 5. Josh Morton 6. Josh Greber 7. Shane Unger 8. Steve Brown 9. Darryl Banks 10. David Treon Jr. 11. Justin Coulter Heat 2: 1. Mark Anderson 2. Gary Richard 3. Bob Burch 4. Jacob Hawkins 5. Brian Post 6. Todd Sherman 7. Dave Pinkerton 8. John Brooks 9. Steve Billenstein 10. Chad Thornhill 11. Jeff Babcock Heat 3: 1. Mike Roediger 2. Jesse Bitterling 3. Jerry Bowersock 4. Mike Chrisman 5. Matt Westfall 6. Mike Hohlbein 7. Ryan Sutter 8. Brent Davis 9. Ed Shaner 10. Todd Sanders 11. Rob Williams Heat 4: 1. Doug Adkins 2. Davey Gantt 3. Jason Wheatley 4. Scott Orr 5. Chad Ruhlman 6. Chad Oberson 7. David Smith 8. Shaun Smith 9. Mike Dirksen 10. Kevan Free B Main 1: 1. Brian Post 2. Todd Sherman 3. John Brooks 4. Dave Pinkerton 5. Josh Morton 6. Josh Greber 7. Shane Unger 8. Steve Brown 9. Steve Billenstein 10. Darryl Banks 11. David Treon Jr. 12. Chad Thornhill 13. Justin Coulter 14. Jeff Babcock B Main 2: 1. Chad Ruhlman 2. Chad Oberson 3. Matt Westfall 4. Kevan Free 5. Mike Dirksen 6. Mike Hohlbein 7. Shaun Smith 8. David Smith 9. Brent Davis 10. Ed Shaner 11. Ryan Sutter 12. Todd Sanders 13. Rob Williams A Main : 1. Jesse Bitterling 2. Doug Adkins 3. Jason Wheatley 4. Mark Anderson 5. Davey Gantt 6. Jacob Hawkins 7. Todd Sherman 8. Gary Richard 9. Steve Shute 10. Chad Ruhlman 11. Brian Post 12. Chad Oberson 13. Bob Burch 14. Tim Richardson 15. Jerry Bowersock 16. Kevan Free 17. Matt Westfall 18. Lenny Guyton 19. Mike Chrisman 20. Nicholas Katterhenry 21. Mike Roediger 22. Scott Orr |
