2000 Ohio Valley Dwarf Car Association Results
Saturday, September 2, 2000
Shady Bowl Speedway
DeGraff, Ohio
Coons Claims First Win
by Shawn Sell
After a tumultuous rookie campaign in 1999, Bellefontaine's Brad Coons has rebounded in a big way in 2000, with the biggest thrill of the season coming with his first career feature win in the most recent Ohio Valley Dwarf Car Association event. The former go-kart racer proved to be the class of the 12-car field as he held off 1998 rookie-of-the-year Mike Weisberg and '98 champion Wayne Fitzpatrick to take the win.
The field looked to take an early hit in the second practice session as Urbana's Mike Sell saw more bad luck come his way. After blowing up an engine during the previous event, the fourth-year driver continued to struggle with a spin out during practice. To further the frustration, Sell was hit by his teammate and son Josh Sell, which appeared to end the elder Sell's evening. However, the Sell 5 Motorsports team was able to get the car back in shape to tag the tail of the feature before pulling off after just two laps.
Bringing the field to the green at the start of the event were former OVDCA president Greg Watson, subbing for his cousin Mark Bernard in the #31 car and Weisberg. Weisberg took the early lead followed by Coons and Watson. Fitzpatrick was able to wrestle away third from Watson on lap four with current OVDCA points leader Bill Hostetler moving into fourth two laps later.
Up front, Coons took the point on lap six, a lead he would not relinquish for the remainder of the event. Attrition struck the field on the same lap, as Mount Vernon's Mike Rector was forced to the pits with unidentified mechanical problems.
On the track, the front five settled into a groove as the caution free laps ticked away. The best battle on the track was for seventh as Toledo's Jerry Davis and leading rookie-of-the-year candidate Josh Sell went at it. The 16-year old Sell worked on Davis for many laps before finally taking the position on lap 15. From there, Sell set sail for another rookie, Temperance, Michigan's Gordon Schwarz, as the race reached its latter stages. The battle was an intense one, but was cut short on the final lap of the event. With Sell running low and Schwarz high going into turn two, the two rookies came together with Schwarz going hard into the wall, with Sell connecting with the inside of the #18 Schwarz machine. Neither driver was hurt in the collision and no yellow flag flew as the leaders had already crossed the start-finish line.
At the checkered, Coons was the winner with Weisberg and Fitzpatrick in second and third. Hostetler continued his incredibly consistent season with a fourth place finish, holding off Watson in an impressive return to dwarfs. Interestingly, Hostetler was forced to enter the dwarf truck run most recently by Chad Pendleton after an oil leak in his primary car. Six through ten in the final run down was headed by Davis. Schwarz and Sell were awarded seventh and eighth after their incident, with West Liberty's Keith Bailey and newcomer Greg Thompson rounding out the top ten.
In heat race action earlier in the evening, Coons and Fitzpatrick were victorious after starting dead last in their respective events. Coons' second heat win of 2000 came ahead of Weisberg and Watson, while Fitzpatrick took his first checkered of the year over Rector and Hostetler.
The chase for the 2000 championship appears to be reaching an end after another top five run by Hostetler. The veteran driver from West Liberty needs only to appear for his heat in the next race to wrap up the championship. Coons' victory keeps him firmly in second place, although he trails Hostetler by 71 points. Despite an immeasurable amount of bad luck, Mike Sell continues to hold down third. Hot on his heels though, are Weisberg and Fitzpatrick who round out the top five. Bob Miller slips to sixth in the points with the leading rookie Josh Sell in seventh. Bernard's absence drops him to eighth place with the phenom from Tennessee, Josh Adams and Rector completing the top ten. The final event of the 2000 campaign will take place on Saturday, September 30 as the dwarfs take part in Shady Bowl's 2000 edition of the Buckeye Fall Classic.
Heat 1:1.Coons 2.Weisberg 3.Watson 4.J. Sell 5.Bailey.
Heat 2: 1.Fitzpatrick 2.Rector 3.Hostetler 4.Davis 5.Schwarz 6.Thompson
Feature: 1.Coons 2.Weisberg 3.Fitzpatrick 4.Hostetler 5.Watson 6.Davis 7.Schwarz 8.J. Sell 9.Bailey 10.Thompson 11.Rector 12.M. Sell.