Carrier Jr Survives Late Rally To Capture Buckeye Dirt Week Opener

(WAVERLY, OHIO) – The atmosphere was ecstatic and electric in Waverly, Ohio for the mid-week kick off Thursday night show that was the 4th Annual Buckeye Late Model Dirt Week sanctioned by the ULTIMATE Mid-Ohio Valley and Battle of the Bluegrass Super Late Model Series co-sanctioning the first race at Atomic Speedway. 32 Super Late Models rang the bell for the opening race for $3000 to win and $400 to start. When the dust settled after a full moon Thursday gala it was the #10 Eddie Carrier Jr. to survive a late charge by #71 Rod Conley and #42 Chris Garnes after the bad misfortunes for #11 Jared Hawkins to officially get the Ohio speed week into high gear.

The evening would get underway before sunset in front of a stellar crowd, #6T Tim Dohm (2014 FASTRAK World Champion) set the bar into action turning a 13.397 second lap around the 3/8th mile for VP Racing Fuels QUICKTIME Qualifying. Bad luck would hit the young lady in the #27 Kryptonite chassis of Lauren Longbrake from Columbus, OH after the brace on the right front broke causing her car to hit the yuke tire and the retaining wall in turn three, red flag would halt qualifying for ten minutes.

The field would be set with three 10 lap heat races won by #71 RJ Conley, #10 Eddie Carrier Jr. and #28 Tyler Carpenter. The top 6 fast qualifiers competed in a 8 lap MONEY Dash as $122.50 went to the driver of #11 Jared Hawkins and a racing fan in the crowd that had the winning ticket in the unique interaction for the fans to be part of the show. With the top 6 locked into the A-Main from qualifying and 12 drivers transferred from the heat races. #12 Doug Drown from Wooster, OH would suffer bad luck exiting turn three losing the left rear tire and parts flying off his car ending his evening. The remaining field would be stacked in a 12 lap last chance showdown taking the top 4 finishers. In this race we saw the return of young Lauren Longbrake that crashed out during qualifying, missed her heat race and then rallied in the B-main to just miss making the 40 lap feature by one spot. Drivers with Provisionals to be locked in suffered severe damage unable to answer the call including Drown and 3rd Heat winner Tyler Carpenter suffered engine failures ending his opportunity 9th for the feature. That allowed #511 Chris Lockhart and Longbrake to transfer into the show.

The race would get underway after the spectacular 4 wide salute with fireworks hyping the crowd ready for the green flag to unfurl, Hawkins would get the early jump on the field but Tim Dohm and the Conley’s in their Rocket chassis we’re hot on their tails in the early going. The first caution would fly when #24 James Morey spun off turn two. On the restart Hawkins would take off but go back to yellow again on lap 7 when contact happened on the restart as the #c9 Steve Casebolt from Richmond, IN stalling entering the top of turn 2. The yellow would fly again after the #71’s of Rod Conley and RJ Conley door slammed each other collecting also #32 Chad Stapleton. On the restart a sequence of more yellows would halt the action a total of 7 times during the duration of the event.

All the while Jared Hawkins would continue to sail away from the field opening up an interval of almost 5 seconds at one time and quickly maneuvering around lap traffic. The climax moment of the race was the 6th caution when #71 RJ Conley would tangle hard into the turn three wall with #6 Travis Carr, the end result was Conley protesting his position which forced series and track officials to put him on the tow truck sending him to the pit area ending his night.

With Hawkins still out in front Conley, Dohm and a fantastic performance by #42 Chris Garnes from Ripley, WV starting 17th in the feature to come strong to the front producing a charge to try and spoil the upset with furious racing at times four-five wide at different times around the high banked 24 degree racing surface. Also, great drives through the field was made by #12 Ryan Montgomery and #44 Mark Frazier defending Atomic Speedway super late model champion performed great drives as well. Lap 31 with 9 laps to go Hawkins would blow a right rear tire after hitting something forcing his great night to end in disappointment giving the lead to Carrier Jr. The race would commence with the final charge by Conley and Garnes making every effort to run down “The Salt Rock Express” from West Virginia. Garnes during the last sprint to the finish would drive up the cushion way on the top side to try to pull a shocking finish and was up to Conley at the checkered flag. Eddie Carrier Jr. would even run down the back marker cars again to hold off the pack as Carrier would take opening night of the 4th Annual Buckeye Late Model Dirt Week at Atomic Speedway with the crowd applauding him with a standing ovation and roaring crescendo.

VP RACING FUELS QUALIFYING RESULTS – #6t Tim Dohm 13.397, #c9 Steve Casebolt 13.542, #11 Jared Hawkins 13.560, #32 Chad Stapleton 13.588, #21H Kenny Howell 13.592, #12d Doug Drown, 13.601, #17 Shannon Thornsberry 13.658, #10 Eddie Carrier Jr. 13.678, #28 Tyler Carpenter 13.692, #12m Ryan Montgomery 13.728, #71 Delmas Conley 13.728, #23 Walker Arthur 13.775, #71c RJ Conley 13.795, #1am Austin Mills 13.824, #7mm Mike Maresca 13.885, #71R Rod Conley 13.888, #44 Mark Frazier 13.903, #21 Jason Montgomery 13.933, #42 Chris Garnes 13.961, #22 Austin Burns 14.233, #L19 Larry Holbrook 14.274, #J52 Jeromy Misel 14.356, #6c Travis Carr 14.484, #91s Blake Naylor 14.546, #27 Lauren Longbrake 14.697, #69 Jeff Warnick 14.916, #24 James Morey 15.080, #511 Chris Lockhart 15.597, #81 Josh Francis 15.741, #23m Cody Mahoney DNS #6 Gary Turner

UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS for the 4th Annual Buckeye Late Model Dirt Week Race #1 at Atomic, OH Speedway – (pending tire sample results)
1st #10 Eddie Carrier Jr., 2nd #71r Rod Conley, 3rd #42 Chris Garnes (hard charger from 17th) 4th #6t Tim Dohm, 5th #12m Ryan Montgomery, 6th #44 Mark Frazier, 7th #32 Chad Stapleton, 8th #1am Austin Mills, 9th #17 Shannon Thornsberry, 10th #27 Lauren Longbrake, 11th #L19 Larry Holbrook, 12th #J52 Jeromy Misel, 13th #11 Jared Hawkins, 14th #24 James Morey, 15th #71c RJ Conley, 16th #6c Travis Carr, 17th #21 Jason Montgomery, 18th #23 Walker Arthur, 19th #21h Kenny Howell, 20th #22 Austin Burns, 21st #91s Blake Naylor, 22nd # c9 Steve Casebolt, 23rd #511 Chris Lockhart (steel block bonus) , 24th #71 Delmas Conley

The NEXT event continues for the 4th Annual Buckeye Late Model Dirt Week Friday July 27th for a $3000 to win show paying $400 to start for Round #2 at Moler Raceway Park in Williamsburg, Ohio.

Check out the official website for the ULTIMATE Mid Ohio Valley and Battle of the Bluegrass Super Late Model Series at www.ultimatesupers.com , and continue to follow our social media networks on Facebook at ULTIMATE Mid Ohio Valley and Battle of the Bluegrass Super Late Model Series and on Twitter to get up to the minute news and details as they become available.

The ULTIMATE Mid-Ohio Valley and Battle of the Bluegrass Super Late Model Series would like to recognize their marketing partners for the 2018 season which include: American Racer Tires, Hoosier Race Tires, VP Race Fuels, VP Racing Lubricants, Dave Poske’s Performance Parts, Radical Racegear, MarTel Sign Company, Simpson, Thomas Clarke Performance, Kryptonite Racecars, FloRacing and Swift Springs.