Shady Bowl Championship Cup Race
Saturday and Sunday, October 23rd and 24th, 1998
Shadybowl Speedway
October 23- 24, 1998 - Tommy Bowles set a new track record with a qualifying time of 13.75 seconds, then captured the A Main on the last lap coming off turn 4 , as the paved track contingent of UDRA completed their second last event of 1998.
There were 26 Dwarf Cars that came from six different states to compete, as the UDRA hosted a Regional Cup event at Shady Bowl Speedway. Vermont, New York, and New Hampshire drivers made the trip to challenge those from West Virginia, Michigan and host Ohio.
The first of three qualifing heats was captured by Tommy Bowles in #91 after a race long battle with the 911 of Rob Roney, Eric Hoffman of Wyoming, MI in #97, followed them with Jerry Olsen of Canton, MI. coming in fourth in his #007.
In the second heat, Heartland, VT's Duane Jarvis finished first with the 32 of fellow easterner Dana Dandeneau of Pleasant Valley, NY and the 111 of Randy Triplett of West Virginia close behind.
Third heat action saw Wayne Fitzpatrick of Marengo, OH, finish in front of #45, Keith Bailey from W. Liberty, OH and the 31 of Mark Bernard out of Marysville, OH.
The M-30 Dash for Cash was made up of the top six qualifiers and started the 91 of Tommy Bowles of Canton MI., 97 Eric Hoffman of Wyoming, MI, 35 Terry Hall of Pennsboro WV., #44 Mark Otting of Plainwell, MI. #47 Andy Taylor, 911 Rob Roney of Grand Blanc, MI. Tommy Bowles captured the event.
The A Main was a 20 lap event with twenty cars participating. At the start, the leader was #111Vienna, WV's Randy Triplett, followed by Bill Vargo in #5, and #97 Eric Hoffman. There was a hot battle going on between #007 of Jerry Olsen and #44, Mark Otting. On lap three Hoffman spun out on turn four and was struck by Andy Taylor, who could not avoid him. Unfortunately they were both out of the race.
The restart saw Triplett in the lead with Vargo and Otting close behind while Rob Roney moved into fourth closely followed by Terry Hall in #35. By the end of the fifth lap, Roney had the lead. Things were going smoothly when on the lap nine, Bowles went too high on turn two and started to slide across the field. Unfortunately Triplett, low on the inside of the track, could not avoid hitting him. The impact broke the left front tire off of Triplett's #111, and it came flying over the retaining wall. Fortunately, no one was hurt. Bowles was able to stay in the race but being involved in the accident, had to go to the back of the pack.
There were no real changes in the restart and most of the crowd's attention was on Bowles who was working his way up through the pack. By the end of lap 11, he had moved into 9th place when the #007, with Jerry Olsen aboard, spun out on the backstretch bringing out another caution. On the final restart, the leaders were #Roney in 911, the #5 of Bill Vargo, Terry Hall in #35, #44 Mark Otting and #111x of Bob Miller of Westerville, OH. By lap fourteen, Bowles had moved into 4th and then quickly took 2nd place. Roney held him off until the final lap when coming out of turn 4, Bowles took over the lead for good and held on to take the checkered flag.
A-Main Top Ten: Bowles, Roney, Otting, Vargo, Hall, Miller, Jarvis, Fitzpatrick, Sell, Mason.