1999 OVDCA/Ohio Caverns Touring Series Results
Saturday, April 24, 1999
Shady Bowl Speedway
DeGraff, Ohio
Eddy Gets First Win at Shady Bowl
by Shawn Sell
April 24 - Portsmouth's Jason Eddy, piloting a car owned by his uncle, Larry Janney, collected his first career dwarf car feature win in commanding fashion on April 24th at Shady Bowl Speedway near DeGraff, Ohio. Eddy, making only his second career start in a dwarf car, led all 20 laps outdistancing Parkersburg, West Virginia's, Randy Tripplett for the win.
"It was all about the car set-up," Eddy said, "that was the most important thing." Jason also credited his uncle Janney for the set-up and the opportunity to drive his car. Eddy's domination of the event started at the drop of the green flag as he and West Liberty's Keith Bailey led the field to the green. Eddy got the jump from the outside of the front row followed by Findlay's Rick Brown, Bailey and Mike Sell of Urbana. Sell found his way past Bailey on lap two as the top three started to pull away from the rest of the 10-car field.
The only caution of the event came three laps later and proved to be the turning point in the race. As Brown headed into turn two, his car became loose and spun collecting third place driver Sell and ending the night for both. With Brown and Sell headed to the pits, Bailey inherited the second position followed by defending OVDCA points champion Wayne Fitzpatrick in third and Tripplett lurking behind in the fourth position.
The standings remained the same until lap 11 when Tripplett started his march to the front by working his way past Fitzpatrick for third. Tripplett moved into second three laps later by passing Bailey, while Fitzpatrick was able to recover the third position from Bailey just a lap later.
But Eddy was not to be denied on this night as he held off all competitors at the checkered flag. Following Eddy across the line was an excited Tripplett. "We just came from the back and there were three of us jockeying for position," he said, "but the first guy just checked out. We needed a caution and if we'd gotten one, I think we would have had something for the leader." Tripplett also went on to credit his crew chief, Paul Staats, for contributing to the win. Also making the top five were Fitzpatrick, who was debuting the first dwarf truck ever run in the state of Ohio, Bailey, with a career best finish of fourth and West Liberty's Bill Hostetler. Rounding out the top ten were Max Evans, Mark Bernard, Mike Rector, Brown and Sell. In heat race action earlier in the evening, Eddy and Sell claimed victories. In the first heat Brown and Eddy brought the field to the green with Brown taking the early advantage. Eddy took the lead on lap 5 and held on for the win. Heat two paired Bailey and Hostetler on the front row. Bailey took the early lead before Steve Carter broke an oil line, dropping oil around the track and bringing out the red flag. When action resumed, Sell moved through the pack from his inside third row starting position to take the lead and the win from Bailey on lap 5. With the victory, Eddy holds the lead in the OVDCA/Ohio Caverns Touring Series points standings. Tripplett is in second place just 10 points behind, with Fitzpatrick and Bailey tied for third and Hostetler just four points behind them in fifth. The OVDCA dwarfs return to action on Friday, April 30th when they join the USAC non-winged sprints for a show at Attica Raceway Park.