2000 Ohio Valley Dwarf Car Association Results
Saturday, September 30, 2000
Shady Bowl Speedway
DeGraff, Ohio
Pendleton Prevails in Early Morning Affair
by Shawn Sell
Chad Pendleton, once again piloting the Bill Hostetler-owned dwarf truck, prevailed over the toughest field of dwarfs this season in a race that saw the checkered flag fall at exactly 4:00 am. The late night came as a result of eight classes on the Shady Bowl schedule and a late start. Pendleton's victory came over 31 other drivers as a large contingent from the neighboring Midwest Classic Racers club increased the dwarf field.
Bringing the field down for the green were Pendleton and 1998 rookie-of-the-year Mike Weisberg. Pendleton took the early lead with West Liberty's Bill Hostetler taking over second on lap two as Rob Roney of Grand Blanc, Michigan moved into third a lap later. The first caution of the event flew on lap two as Michigan's Craig Curtis spun coming into turn one.
The complexion of the race changed drastically on lap five, as Hostetler, who had placed in the top five in every event coming in, broke an axle in turn one, spinning out and being forced to the infield for his first DNF of the year. That gave second place to Roney, with Weisberg third, Jon Wylie fourth and 1998 OVDCA champion Wayne Fitzpatrick rounding out the top five.
Lap seven produced caution flag number three as Mike Stuart spun in turn four. A lap later, Weisberg dropped three positions as Wylie, Fitzpatrick and John Barnard all found their way around the Cleveland-area driver. Up front on lap 10, Roney finally found his way around Pendleton to take the lead. On the same lap, Marysville's Mark Bernard and Michigan's Tom Silva got together in turn four, with Bernard being forced to retire for the evening.
As the leaders began entering lapped traffic, the slower cars became a significant factor. Coming off of turn four on lap 16, Roney went low behind two lapped cars, while Pendleton went high, sweeping around all three cars to take a lead that he would not relinquish. The evening's final caution flew on lap 17 when Barnard, running fifth at the time, spun in turn four and retired to the pits.
At the checkered, Pendleton had held off the Michigan duo of Roney and Wylie, with Fitzpatrick and Weisberg rounding out the top five. Chasing Weisberg, was Jeff Slayton, rookie Gordon Schwarz, who made a frantic drive through the field after starting last to finish seventh, Mike Mcmanman, Mike Rector and Ron Phillips rounding out the top ten.
Due to the large number of cars, the OVDCA's first B-Main took to the track earlier in the evening. Rookie Josh Sell was slated to start on the pole, but had his oil pan plug fall out just before the green. However, due to the long delay to clean up the track and the helpful hand of an unidentified fellow racer, Sell was able to get back on the track. Sell wasted little time taking advantage of his second chance, as he jumped into the early lead. As the caution-free laps ticked away, Sell began opening up an advantage over the rest of the field. At the conclusion of the 10-lap affair, the Urbana resident found himself in victory lane for the first time ever. Taking the remainder of the transfer spots to the A-Main were Rod Kaufman, Mark Jamison, Curtis and Schwarz.
Roney dominated the evening's first heat race as he led all eight laps from the pole to hold off Fitzpatrick and Bernard for the win. Taking the final two transfer spots were Stuart and Mcmanman. Heat number two was paced at the beginning by the 14-year old phenom from Tennessee, Josh Adams. Adams had his hands full, however, as Pendleton gave him all he could handle. On the last lap, however, Adams slowed dramatically due to a blown engine, enabling Pendleton to move ahead for the win. Following the race, Adams was also disqualified for failure to weigh, despite his second place finish. That moved Wylie into the number two spot for the heat, with Hostetler and Slayton trailing him. Phillips moved into the final transfer spot, after the Adams disqualification. Heat number three was all Barnard, as the Michigan driver led all eight laps from the pole position. Schwarz ran second early, before falling off the pace with mechanical problems, giving second to Silva. Weisberg moved around Silva on lap four to take second with Rector taking fourth at the finish. Max Evans grabbed the final transfer spot from the heat.
Despite his worst finish of the year, Hostetler still easily wrapped up the 2000 OVDCA championship. Hostetler's closest competition, Brad Coons of Bellefontaine missed the season finale and trailed the leader by 100 points. Top five finishes for Weisberg and Fitzpatrick moved them into third and fourth in the final standings, with only four points separating the two drivers. Urbana's Mike Sell had his frustrating season come to an end with more problems in practice. However, Sell still was able to finish in fifth in the points, some 41 points behind Fitzpatrick. Just 10 points behind Sell, was 2000 OVDCA rookie-of-the-year and son of Mike, Josh Sell. The 16-year old's continued improvement throughout the year, enabled him to take the rookie title and finish six points ahead of Bernard in the final standings. Three points behind Bernard, was Westerville's Bob Miller, with Rector just three points behind Miller. Rounding out the top ten was another rookie, Schwarz, just 25 points out of ninth position. The 2000 OVDCA schedule is now complete, with the annual banquet honoring the top drivers still upcoming at a date and location to be determined.
Heat 1:1.Roney 2.Fitzpatrick 4.Bernard 5.Stuart 6.Mcmanman 7.Sell 8.Jamison 9.Bailey 10.Thompson 11.Reardon.
Heat 2: 1.Pendleton 2.Wylie 3.Hostetler 4.Slayton 5.Phillips 6.Curtis 7.King 8.Napier 9.Adams.
Heat 3: 1.Barnard 2.Weisberg 3.Silva 4.Rector 5.Evans 6.Kaufman 7.Holcomb 8.Davis 9.Schwarz 10.Ausmus.
B-Main: 1.Sell 2.Kaufman 3.Jamison 4.Curtis 5.Schwarz 6.Napier 7.Holcomb 8.Davis 9.Ausmus 10.King 11.Bailey.
Feature: 1.Pendleton 2.Roney 3.Wylie 4.Fitzpatrick 5.Weisberg 6.Slayton 7.Schwarz 8.Mcmanman 9.Rector 10.Phillips 11.Curtis 12.Evans 13.Kaufman 14.Silva 15.Stuart 16.Sell 17.Barnard 18.Bernard 19.Hostetler 20.Jamison.