1999 OVDCA/Ohio Caverns Touring Series Results
Friday, May 14, 1999
Limaland Motorsports Park
Lima, Ohio
Eddy Wins in Dwarfs First Trip to Lima
by Shawn Sell
Portsmouth�s Jason Eddy picked up feature win number two of 1999 in the first Ohio Valley Dwarf Car Association/Ohio Caverns Touring Series event ever held at Limaland Motorsports Park. Eddy�s victory was far from easy, as he had to hold a strong challenge from Greg Watson to take the win.
Tracy Fritter and Rick Brown brought the 14-car field to the green to start the third event of 1999 OVDCA season. Brown jumped to the early lead, but that lead was short-lived as he got out of shape coming out of turn four on the very first lap and crashed hard into the front chute wall, bringing out the first caution of the evening. As Brown retired to the infield, the #45 car of Keith Bailey stopped between turns three and four suffering from electrical problems and ending the evening early for the West Liberty driver.
On the restart, Zanesville�s Fritter took the lead followed by Eddy and Watson. Fritter led the first three laps before Eddy made a move to the outside coming out of turn two to take the lead. Watson was able to find his way around Fritter two laps later and began his pursuit of Eddy from there. On the move further back in the pack was Shilo Miller who started the event in 9th position. At the completion of the first lap, Miller had worked his way up to 6th and two laps later moved past Bill Hostetler into 5th place.
The field was slowed on lap 6 as defending OVDCA points champion Wayne Fitzpatrick spun on the front stretch, bringing out the second of the evening�s three cautions. On the restart, Eddy once again was in the lead followed by Watson and Fritter. The yellow flew again on lap 8 as Hostetler spun in turn two, sending him to the tail.
The remainder of the 15-lap race featured close racing up front and Fitzpatrick and Hostetler charging through the pack. After his lap 6 spin, Fitzpatrick wasted little time in moving through the field moving into 7th a lap after his spin and picking off Mike Sell for 5th just a lap later. At the checkered, Eddy had managed to hold off a hard charging Watson, followed by Fritter and Miller in a career best finish of 4th. Fitzpatrick rounded out the top 5 and was followed across the finish line by Sell with a strong 6th place finish. Filling out the remainder of the top 10 were Max Evans, Spence Stearns, Hostetler, who recovered from his spin to finish 9th, and Mike Stockmaster.
Heat race action earlier in the evening saw Eddy and Fritter come home with victories. In heat number one, Evans and Mike Rector brought the field to the green. But Eddy moved to the front early and pulled out to the victory by a large margin. Fitzpatrick finished second and was followed by Watson and Evans. Heat number produced a battle between pole sitter Brown and Fritter. Brown led early but conceded the win to Fritter after a late race pass. Brown held on for second and was followed across the finish line by Hostetler and Sell.
With the win, Eddy increased his lead in the OVDCA point standings to 46 over Fitzpatrick who moved past Randy Tripplett into second position. Even with the hard luck sustained by Brown, he moved into a third place tie with Hostetler. Evans follows that trio in 5th place and is trailed by Tripplett. Sell and Watson are tied for the 7th position followed by Bailey and Rector rounding out the top 10. The dwarfs return to action on Saturday, May 22 at Jackson Speedway near Jackson, Ohio.
Heat 1: Eddy, Fitzpatrick, Watson, Evans, Miller, Rector, Bailey, Stearns.
Heat 2: Fritter, Brown, Hostetler, Sell, Stockmaster, N. Glick, Weisberg.
Feature: Eddy, Watson, Fritter, Miller, Fitzpatrick, Sell, Evans, Stearns, Hostetler, Stockmaster, Rector, N. Glick, Brown, Bailey. dns- Weisberg.