2000 Ohio Valley Dwarf Car Association Results
Saturday, August 12, 2000
Shady Bowl Speedway
DeGraff, Ohio
Adams Dominates Shady Bowl Twinbill
by Shawn Sell
It was "Old Timers Night" at Shady Bowl Speedway, as the southwest Ohio oval hosted the Ohio Valley Dwarf Car Association for double features as a result of a rainout the previous Saturday. But it probably should have been called "Josh Adams Night" as the 14-year old phenom from Whitehouse, Tennessee dominated the evening winning two features, a heat and setting a new dwarf car track record during qualifying with a lap of 13.87 seconds.
In the make-up feature from a week earlier, Mike Sell and Bill Hostetler brought the field down to the green. However, the line-up was incorrect and the yellow flew before racing could get under way. Not all drivers saw the yellow and an ensuing pileup in front of the flag stand damaged the cars of Wayne Fitzpatrick and Mike King, with only King able to continue. Once racing got underway, Adams had made his way to the front from outside row two by the end of the first lap. Hostetler held onto second with Mark Bernard right behind. Previous Shady Bowl winner Chad Pendleton and Tennessee native Doug Carrigan were on the move from the back of the pack, taking over the third and fourth positions by lap four. By lap nine, Pendleton was able to take second away from Hostetler before the inconceviable hit the Columbus-area driver on lap 12. Coming out of turn four, Pendleton went hard into the wall, heavily damaging the right front and ending the evening for Pendleton. As the pack continued to cruise during the caution, Brad Coons of Bellefontaine was forced to the infield with an overheating engine. On the restart, rookie Josh Sell got loose coming to the green, spinning and collecting the car of West Liberty's Keith Bailey, ending the evening for the latter.
As racing went back to green, Carrigan took the second position from Hostetler as he pursued Adams. Farther back in the pack, the battle for fourth was a three-car one as Mike Weisberg, Bernard and 1999 OVDCA champion Jason Eddy fought it out. Weisberg took over fourth on lap 12 with Eddy moving past Bernard a lap later. Eddy moved into the number four spot on lap 16, a spot he would not relinquish. As the checkered flag flew, Adams was out in front with Carrigan taking home runner-up honors. Rounding out the top five were Hostetler, Eddy and Weisberg. Bernard led the second half of the top ten in sixth as the last car on the lead lap. Mike Sell ran out of fuel on the last lap but hung on for seventh ahead of Bob Miller, Max Evans and Mark Jamison rounding out the top ten.
The evening's two heat races were the next order of business, with both eight-lap races having a Tennessee kind of flavor. Heat number one was paced at the beginning by Fitzpatrick who gave way to Pendleton on lap two. Pendleton led the next four counters before Adams made his move to take the lead and the win. Pendleton held on for second ahead of Fitzpatrick and Hostetler. In the second heat, Miller jumped out to an early lead with Carrigan right behind. The first lap of the event saw a culmination to a frustrating season for Mike Sell as his Suzuki motor blew on the front stretch, ending his night. On the track, Carrigan took the lead on lap two and was never really challenged as he held off Eddy, Miller and Jerry Davis for the win.
In an effort to make racing more competitive, the OVDCA elected to qualify and set the feature line-up based on times, with an invert to be drawn by the fast qualifier. After his record-breaking lap, Adams drew the number 12 pill, which inverted the top 12 qualifiers and placed Jamison and rookie Gordon Schwarz on the front row. As racing got underway, Coons jumped into the early lead after moving up to row two when Evans was unable to go because of a dead battery. The event's only caution flew on lap one as Bernard and Davis got tangled up in turn four, ending Bernard's evening. When racing finally got underway, Coons jumped into the lead with Hostetler, Carrigan, Adams and Pendleton right behind. Carrigan took over the top spot on lap five bringing Pendleton and Adams with him a lap later. The amazing three-car battle continued throughout the rest of the race, with Adams taking a lead he would never relinquish on lap nine. Also moving up through the pack was Eddy who came up to fifth by lap 12.
As the leaders began to enter lapped traffic, Pendleton was able to take advantage and moved past Carrigan on lap 13. Carrigan was finally able to clear two cars and set sail for Pendleton, passing him for second on the last lap. But both ran out of time as Adams took the checkered and won the first-ever Lucky 7 Sports Shootout. Adams was also awarded an extra $100 for taking and winning the People's Savings and Loan Challenge, by winning the feature from the tail of the field. At the conclusion of the evening's second feature, OVDCA intern Shawn Sell and Julia Smith from Lucky 7 Sports presented trophies donated by Lucky 7 to Adams, Carrigan and Pendleton for placing in the top three.
Rounding out the top five were the amazingly consistent Hostetler and the '99 champion Eddy. After leading early on, Coons settled for sixth place with Weisberg right behind. Fitzpatrick recovered from his incident in the first feature to take eighth place, with the S&D Racing team of Schwarz and Davis rounding out the top ten. With two more top five finishes, Hostetler has virtually locked up the 2000 OVDCA championship with only one event remaining. Despite a DNF in feature number one, Coons bounced back in feature two to take over second in the points with Miller chasing him. Mike Sell's blown engine dropped him to fourth with Bernard rounding out the top five. Despite missing the first two OVDCA's races of 2000, the blazingly fast Adams is sixth in the points, 20 ahead of 1998 rookie of the year Weisberg. Rounding out the top ten are the 1998 champion Fitzpatrick followed by Evans and leading rookie-of-the-year candidate Josh Sell tied for ninth.
Make-up feature from 8/5: 1.Adams 2.Carrigan 3.Hostetler 4.Eddy 5.Weisberg 6.Bernard 7.M. Sell 8.Miller 9.Evans 10.Jamison 11.J. Sell 12.King 13.Bailey 14.Coons 15.Pendleton 16.Fitzpatrick.
Heat 1: 1.Adams 2.Pendleton 3.Fitzpatrick 4.Hostetler 5.Coons 6.Bernard 7.Weisberg 8.Evans. DNS-J. Sell.
Heat 2: 1.Carrigan 2.Eddy 3.Miller 4.Davis 5.Schwarz 6.Jamison 7.Bailey 8.M. Sell.
Lucky 7 Sports Shootout: 1.Adams 2.Carrigan 3.Pendleton 4.Hostetler 5.Eddy 6.Coons 7.Weisberg 8.Fitzpatrick 9.Schwarz 10.Davis 11.Miller 12.Jamison 13.J. Sell 14.Bailey 15.Bernard. DNS-M. Sell, Evans.