1999 OVDCA/Ohio Caverns Touring Series Results
Friday, June 25, 1999
Attica Raceway Park
Attica, Ohio
Coen Winner of OVDCA Event at Attica
by Shawn Sell
Deerfield Speedway regular Larry Coen, making his first Ohio Valley Dwarf Car Association appearance, made the most of his visit to Attica Raceway Park, by capturing wins in heat and feature action. Coen�s victory was overshadowed, though, by a wreck on lap 13 of the feature that brought the race to an early end. Findlay�s Rick Brown, running alone in the back of the pack two laps from the finish, sustained a broken axle heading into turn one. The broken part spun the car sideways, followed by a serious of barrel rolls before the car came to a stop on the top of the track�s first turn. Upon arrival by the safety crew, Brown was found to have a mild concussion, along with a serious hand injury that ultimately led to the loss of Brown�s left thumb. Based on the serious damage to both car and driver, track officials declared the race complete, giving the win to Coen.
Coen�s victory was not easy, as he had to overcome strong runs by Mark Bernard and Greg Watson. Bernard took advantage of his front row starting spot and led much of the race before being overtaken by Coen. By the conclusion of the event, Watson had also found his way around his cousin Bernard to take second with Bernard settling for third. Rounding out the top 5 were series points leader Jason Eddy and dirt-track specialist Tracy Fritter. 1998 OVDCA champion Wayne Fitzpatrick put together another consistent run with a 6th place finish, followed by Bill Hostetler and Mike Weisberg. Rookie Pete Stackhouse, in his first ever dwarf car race, came home 9th, with Max Evans rounding out the top 10.
The first of the evening�s three heats was won by Coen with Eddy in second and Brown in third. Heat two saw Watson take the early lead and hang on for the win ahead of Hostetler and Evans. The evening�s final heat saw Fritter move up from his last row starting spot to take the checker first ahead of Bernard and Fitzpatrick.
Eddy remains in the lead in the OVDCA point standings ahead of Fitzpatrick and Watson. Brown, fourth in the points coming into the Attica event, fell to 7th after his devastating accident. Hostetler assumed the fourth spot with Bernard moving past Evans into 5th spot. Rounding out the series top 10 are Evans, Brown, Bailey in 8th, Sell and Fritter. The dwarfs return to action on July 10 at Shady Bowl for the first event in the Ohio Caverns Cup Asphalt Series.
Heat 1: Coen, Eddy, Brown, Stockmaster, Rector, Davis.
Heat 2: Watson, Hostetler, Evans, Denis, Stackhouse, Weisberg.
Heat 3: Fritter, Bernard, Fitzpatrick, Bailey, O�Dell, Sell.
Feature: Coen, Watson, Bernard, Eddy, Fritter, Fitzpatrick, Hostetler, Weisberg, Stackhouse, Evans, Bailey, Stockmaster, Rector, Davis, O�Dell, Sell, Brown, Denis.