Final Points Night at MRP plus King of the TQ Midgets

9-27-13 – Williamsburg, OH – On a night with 6 classes of cars racing there was a large turnout of cars and plenty of racing for all to see. In the first ever visit by the King of the TQ Midgets there was a field of 15 cars on hand and the preliminary races went to Muncie,Indiana’s Nick Speidel and Versailles, Indiana’s Shawn McIntosh. In their 20 lap feature event it was Cincinnati’s Carl Cruise out front at the start but Speidel would quickly jump to the lead on lap 5 from his fourth starting position and never look back as he would claim his first win ever at MRP. Brandon Gray would get past Cruise late for second spot while Cruise, McIntosh, and Aaron Percell would round out the top five spots in the feature.

A full field of 20 late models were on hand for the nigh’ts races and in the first heat race action it was Bethel, Ohio’s Chris Shannon holding off Bill Sheets and Rod Conley for the win while John Whitney would pass Kellen Kenneda on lap 6 to win heat race #2. In the A-main it was Whitney out front but a number of yellow flags would slow the field throughout the event. By lap 7 it was Bedford, Indiana’s Greg Johnson to the top spot with Conley in close pursuit. Lap 20 would see things take a change as some slower cars would spin in front of the leaders and Johnson would make slight contact but keep going only to suffer a flat RR tire as a result. Ethan Burgess would suffer similar fate as he had charged from seventh starting spot to fourth position only to be caught up in the incident as well. Rod Conley would restart from the lead spot but things were not finished as on the restart Joe Leach would get upside down on the backstretch. On the final restart Conley had his hands full as Whitney would make a charge on the bottom of the racetrack but come up a half a car short at the finish. Sheets would come home third with Joe Ramey and Jeremie Bretz completing the top five. Kellen Kenneda would win the Diamond Cut Lawn Care Dash.. Lil’ John Whitney, first ever Track Champion at MRP would again make Track Champion for the 2013 Race Season.

A full field of UMP Modifieds were in attendance and heat race victories went to Adam Stricker, Jimmy Lennex Jr., and Larry Pickelheimer Jr. In the 20 lap feature event it was Stricker out front with Lennex in pursuit at the green flag. Lap 7 would see a strange twist of events as Sticker would spin while leading but keep the car moving and the race staying green giving the lead to Lennex. On the next lap Chris Tolle would hit the wall in turn 2 bringing out the caution and during the caution the leader would go up in smoke and be forced out of the race. On the restart it was Dustin Webber out front in his Coyote Racecar sponsored machine with Weasel Rhoades in close pursuit. Lap fifteen would see heavy smoke out of Webber’s machine and two laps later his race would end in turn one with mechanical issues. With Rhoades now the leader and only 3 laps remaining it looked like the veteran from Winchester,Ohio would claim his first victory of the season but Aurora, Indiana’s Matt Hamilton would make the pass with 1 lap remaining and claim his 6th feature win on the season in only 10 attempts in his OTS, Schmoe’s Collision sponsored Lightning Chassis. Rhoades would come home second with Pickelheimer sealing up his first MRP track championship with his third place finish while Dave McWilliams and Davey Warnock would complete the top five spots.

In the Pure Stock Division it was once again Brandon Gibson behind the wheel of the Brewer AutoBody #0 machine and he would claim his 3rd feature win of the season in only five events. Jimmy Block would come home second with Jordan Hedger, Charles Bowman, and Jeff Dressman rounding out the top five spots. Bowman and Gibson won heat races.

It was more of the same in the Chevette division as Rusty Yarger would claim his sixth feature win of the season in his Wilson Body Shop, Northwest Transmission sponsored machine. Sean Jones would pressure Yarger for the top spot but would have to settle for second spot with Miles Tarvin, Boog Verdon, and Jerry Florence Jr completing the top five spots. Verdon and Yarger won heat races. Mike Clark would win the Diamond Cut Lawn Care trophy dash. Yarger, for the second year in a row won the MRP 2013 Track Championship.

The final event of the night was the 20 car crazy Compact feature event and there was no stopping the Dalton Gang as TJ Dalton would claim the feature win while brother Justin Dalton would clinch the 2013 MRP Track Championship. In the feature event it was Trevor Landrum and TJ Dalton out front at the start with Landrum leading the first two laps before TJ Dalton would take over the top spot. The racing for 3rd-9th position was fantastic as numerous cars would trade the spots in a very closely contested race. At the end it was TJ claiming the win with brother Justin coming home second with Landrum, Willie Butler, and Rex Smith Jr. completing the top five spots.

At the end of the night the 2013 Points Champions were determined with John Whitney Jr claiming his second career late model championship at MRP and his 13 career track championship overall. In the UMP Modifieds it was Larry Pickelheimer Jr in his L&M Performance BadFast Chassis claiming his first championship. In the Chevette Division it was once again Rusty Yarger claiming the title while Justin Dalton would claim his first title in the Crazy Compact Division. Only three more races, 10-5, 10-12 and the Coca-Cola Turkey Gobbler 40 on November 23rd (with rain date of November 30th) for the 2013 Season. MRP would like to thank all its racers. fans and crew for another great year!! – See more at: http://www.molerracewaypark.com/#sthash.WoUtx8nq.dpuf