1999 OVDCA/Ohio Caverns Touring Series Results
Saturday, August 21, 1999
KC Raceway
Alma, Ohio
Vallette Continues Winning Ways at KC
by Shawn Sell
Columbus' Ed Vallette, fresh off a victory at Lima two weeks ago, picked up feature win number four in an Ohio Valley Dwarf Car Association/Ohio Caverns Touring Series event at K-C Raceway near Alma, Ohio. Vallette's victory capped off a wild night of racing that saw eight different cars head to the pits with substantial damage and two drivers taken to a local hospital as a result of injuries. At the evening's outset, 28 cars from Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia filled the pits at the slick 3/8 mile, high-banked, track joining the STARS late model series as well as the 410 sprint cars for an exciting night of racing.
The unpredictable evening got off to a scary start on the first lap of the first heat when Paul Staats, a rookie from Parkersburg, West Virginia, slowed in turn one after suffering from an unidentified medical problem. The result was a pile-up involving Mark Bernard, Greg Watson, Scott Riddle and Wayne Fitzpatrick. When the dust cleared, Staats had to be removed from his car to a waiting ambulance and Bernard and Fitzpatrick were headed to the pits, Bernard with a damaged racecar and Fitzpatrick with a broken wrist. Following a lengthy delay, Vallette took the heat race win followed by Watson and Max Evans.
Bringing the field to the green for heat two were West Virginia drivers Robert Stackpole and Carl Harris. Stackpole jumped to the early lead but before a lap could be completed, Keith Bailey spun in turn four, collecting the car of rookie Larry Hubbard. On the restart Stackpole once again took control and went on to capture the win, but not without a battle from Tracy Fritter. The final heat of the evening featured a great battle between rookie Jason Eddy and Jason Glick. Glick went on to capture the checker in a photo finish, but not before rookie Matt Worls in the #1m Marvin Sweazy-owned car crashed hard into the front chute wall bringing out the only caution of the race.
On the front row for the evening's feature event were the #43 of Glick along with Evans in the #57 Ohio Caverns sponsored machine. Glick took the early lead but before a lap could be completed, the evening's second big crash occurred in turn four, involving eight of the 22 cars in the field. The melee started with Stackpole getting out of shape in the middle of the corner, spinning and collecting the cars of Eddy, Watson, Mark Jamison and Mike Weisberg. With the five cars retired to the pits, racing was set to resume. Glick once again grabbed the lead followed by Vallette. After only one lap, the yellow flag flew once again for a turn one spin by Mike Hickman.
As the field went back to green flag racing, Vallette made his move on lap 3 moving past Glick into a lead that he would never surrender. From there the battle up front turned into a three-car race with Fritter moving up to throw his hat into the mix. The pack was slowed for the third time on lap 9 as Riddle spun coming out of turn four. Three laps later, Mike Rector brought out caution number four with a spin in turn four of the already slick track. Before another lap could be completed, Ian Harris in the #6x car spun, again in turn four, again bringing out the yellow.
Turn four claimed another victim a lap later as Tom Rannoee spun, collecting Carl Harris and ending the night for the latter. Racing resumed with a tight battle up front between Vallette, Glick and Fritter. Vallette went on to take the checker followed by Fritter who moved past Glick with two laps to go to take second. Rounding out the top five behind Glick were two-time OVDCA champion Kelly Moore and West Virginia's Karl Jones. Bernard recovered from his heat race misfortune and eighth row starting position to take 6th ahead of Hickman and rookie Pete Stackhouse. Rounding out the top 10 were West Liberty's Bill Hostetler and Rector.
The misfortune suffered by many of the regular OVDCA front runners served to tighten things up in the chase for the 1999 OVDCA championship. Eddy continues to hold a comfortable lead over Watson. Watson, however saw his lead shrink to just three points over Hostetler, who put together another consistent run to retain the third position. Bernard continues to hold down fourth and is now followed by Evans who moved past Fitzpatrick, who continues to suffer from bad luck. Chasing Fitzpatrick is Mike Sell, who seems to have overcome the bad luck that has plagued him much of the season. Rounding out the top 10 behind Sell are Bailey, the ever improving Rector and dirt track specialist Fritter, who picked up his fifth top five in six tries this season. The dwarfs return to action on Saturday, August 28th, with a return visit to the dirt at Jackson Speedway.
Heat 1: Vallette, Watson, Evans, Rannoee, Riddle, Bernard, Staats, Tripplett, Fitzpatrick.
Heat 2: Stackpole, Fritter, Jamison, Hostetler, Moore, Rector, C. Harris, Hubbard, Bailey.
Heat 3: Glick, Eddy, Jones, I. Harris, Weisberg, Stackhouse, Sell, Holley, Worls, Hickman.
Feature: Vallette, Fritter, Glick, Moore, Jones, Bernard, Hickman, Stackhouse, Hostetler, Rector, I. Harris, Sell, Evans, Rannoee, Riddle, C. Harris, Holley, Eddy, Watson, Stackpole, Jamison, Weisberg.