1999 OVDCA/Ohio Caverns Touring Series Results
Saturday, June 19, 1999
Shady Bowl Speedway
DeGraff, Ohio
Vallette Claims Victory at Shady Bowl
by Shawn Sell
Ed Vallette of Columbus captured his first win of the year in dominating fashion in an Ohio Valley Dwarf Car Association/Ohio Caverns Touring Series event at Shady Bowl. Vallette picked up right where he left off last September at the 3/10 mile oval in only his second appearance of the 1999 season. Vallette was also victorious in the final two OVDCA races at Shady Bowl last fall.
Bringing the field to the green for the start of the event were 1998 points champion Wayne Fitzpatrick, along with Findlay�s Rick Brown in the #5B car. Fitzpatrick jumped to the early lead at the drop of the green with rookie Jason Eddy and Vallette close behind. Vallette started his march to the front on lap 2 by taking the second position from Eddy and streaked past Fitzpatrick into the lead just a lap later.
After a lap 4 pass of Fitzpatrick by Eddy, the 15-car field of dwarfs ran 11 laps of caution-free racing, with relatively few passes throughout the field. Up front the five-car pack of Vallette, Eddy, Fitzpatrick, Brown and Mike Weisberg drove off from the rest of the field. Further back in the pack, the battle for sixth place between Urbana�s Mike Sell and Parkersburg, West Virginia�s Randy Tripplett shaped up as the closest battle on the track. Sell held the position for the majority of the race before Tripplett moved past him on lap 12. As the leaders crossed the finish line, rookie Brad Coons, in a car previously owned by Bill Hostetler, suffered a blown motor in the first dwarf car start for the Bellefontaine, Ohio driver.
At the checkered, Vallette was the man out front with the rest of the top 5 just as they had run throughout the race. Eddy came home second followed by Fitzpatrick in third, Brown and Weisberg. The remainder of the top 10 consisted of Tripplett, Sell, Greg Watson, Keith Bailey and Max Evans.
As was the case in the feature, Vallette and Eddy proved to be the cars to beat in heat race action. Heat number one saw Eddy hold off the challenges of Fitzpatrick, Brown and Tripplett to take the victory. In the evening�s second heat, Vallette came from the rear of the field to take the victory. Sell was able to work his way past Evans to come home second, followed by Evans and Weisberg.
With another strong run to his credit, Eddy continues to lead the OVDCA point standings followed by Fitzpatrick and Watson. The top 5 run by Brown coupled with the blown engine sustained by Hostetler in the heat race, propelled Brown into the fourth position. Hostetler slipped into fifth place followed by Evans, Bernard and Tripplett. Sell climbed back into the top 10 after taking a week off, with Bailey rounding out the top 10. The dwarfs return to action at Attica Raceway Park on Friday, June 25 for their second appearance of the year at the 1/3-mile clay oval.
Heat 1: Eddy, Fitzpatrick, Brown, Tripplett, Bernard, Rector, Davis, Coons, Miller.
Heat 2: Vallette, Sell, Evans, Weisberg, Bailey, Watson, Barnes, Hosteteler.
Feature: Vallette, Eddy, Fitzpatrick, Brown, Weisberg, Tripplett, Sell, Watson, Bailey, Evans, Bernard, Rector, Davis, Coons, Miller. dns-Hostetler, Barnes.