Stewart, Loney And Valenti Win Limaland Openers

(4/17/15) – The 2015 racing season at Limaland Motorsports Park began with a full house of rabid fans ready for action and under the backdrop of ideal springtime weather conditions. The Season Opening Shootout presented by Smith Boughan featured competition in all three primary divisions.

The evening main events began with the K & L Ready Mix NRA Sprint Invaders as a pair of former champions, J.R. Stewart and Hud Horton, led the field to green for their 25-lap duel.

Although Horton held the early race lead, he and Stewart were engaged in an entertaining side-by-side battle. Stewart was able to execute a clean pass underneath Horton’s #28 machine through the second turn of lap number five. It would prove to be the defining pass of the race.

There was a pair of cautions including a red flag after Matt Phillips rolled his #55 sprint car in turn three. Throughout the race, Stewart’s teammate Max Stambaugh and Limaland’s all-time leading sprint car winner Tim Allison were battling near the front. They never proved to be a threat to Stewart, as he drove seamlessly through lapped traffic. He stayed low in the corners and cleanly navigated the middle of the straight-aways.

After a final restart on lap number 22, both Allison and veteran Jared Horstman’s late race push towards Stewart were not enough. The Hammons Motorsports number 6S roared towards the first set of checkers for the new season. “My crew chief Zach Swisher did a great job with this car as it was flat flying for me tonight,” exclaimed Stewart following the race. “This marks eight years now the Ron (Hammons) has let me run one of his cars and I’m just proud to be a part of this team. I knew Tim (Allison) was behind me and I figured he would be coming hard, but my car was a rocket.” It was J.R. Stewarts’s tenth career win at the track.

The ultra-competitive K & R Modifieds saw newcomer Nathan Loney and Lima veteran Jeff Koz bring the field to green for their 20-lap feature. Loney was untouchable in the heat race earlier and never surrendered the lead in the feature as well. Although Koz and first-timer at Limaland Curt Spalding gave chase to Loney, he was able to stretch his margin over the others simply using a traditional bottom and middle of the track racing line around.

“It was a good clean race, I had a blast,” declared Loney, of Danville, Ohio. “I’m not familiar with a lot of the racers around here, but the 16 (Jeff Koz) was on me pretty good. I didn’t have any expectation coming here, but I won a race last week at Hilltop Speedway in Millersburg, so I have good confidence.” It was Loney’s first win at Limaland.
The Budweiser Thunderstocks brought the night’s drama to a conclusion with their 15-lap feature and veteran Shawn Valenti took full advantage of his outside front row starting position. Valenti has been very competitive in recent seasons and the 2015 opening night would prove no different. He and former champion Tony Anderson made the race their own personal battle.

Valenti led from the opening green flag, but a crowd pleasing final five laps developed with his efforts to hold off the hard charging Anderson. Valenti stormed around the top of the ¼-mile oval while Anderson drove hard on the inside and nearly caught Valenti. It was a nose of the car margin at the checkered flag.

“The last caution (lap 10), I was having problems taking off,” revealed Valenti after posting his 18th career feature win. “My motor was missing a little bit, but hats off to Tony and he helped make it a heckuva race for the fans. For me to be able to start the season off like this and get some momentum, it feels really good.”

Limaland Motorsports Park returns to action on Friday, April 24, with the Spring Fling featuring the K & L Ready Mix NRA Sprint Invaders. Also the K & N Filters UMP Modifieds and Budweiser Thunderstocks will compete. Gates open at 5:00 p.m. with hot laps at 6:30 p.m. Racing begins promptly at 7:30 p.m.

All the latest news and information about America’s premier quarter-mile dirt track can be found at www.limaland.com.

Limaland Motorsports Park – 4/17/2015
K & L Ready Mix Night

McDonald’s Dash (5 Laps)
1. 22T-Tony Anderson; 2. 27-Frank Paladino
3. 7C-Jordan Conover; 4. 26-Justin Long

Sprints
Heat 1 – (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 22H-Randy Hannagon, 2. 11-Tim Allison, 3. 17-Jared Horstman,
4. 10X-Dustin Stroup, 5. 31N-Rod Henning, 6. 15-Brandon Ferguson,
7. 55-Matt Phillips, 8. 12-Kody Swanson,

Heat 2 – (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 12R-Nick Roberts, 2. 28H-Hud Horton, 3. 10-Mitch Brown,
4. 35-Ron Blair, 5. 23-Devon Dobie, 6. 8J-Jess Stiger,
7. 16-Dakota Busche, 8. 12J-Tyler Moore

Heat 3 – (8 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 6M-Max Stambaugh, 2. 6S-Jr Stewart, 3. 49-Shawn Dancer
4. 83-Kyle Sauder, 5. 2M-Dustin Daggett, 6. 22R-Kevin Roberts
7. 11N-Ed Neumeister

B-Main – (10 Laps – Top 5 Transfer)
1. 22R-Kevin Roberts, 2. 12-Kody Swanson, 3. 55-Matt Phillips
4. 16-Dakota Busche, 5. 12J-Tyler Moore, 6. 15-Brandon Ferguson
7. 8J-Jess Stiger, 8. 11N-Ed Neumeister

A-Main – (25 Laps) [#]-Starting Position
1. 6S-Jr Stewart[1]; 2. 11-Tim Allison[3]; 3. 17-Jared Horstman[7] 4. 6M-Max Stambaugh[4]; 5. 22H-Randy Hannagon[6]; 6. 23-Devon Dobie[14] 7. 83-Kyle Sauder[12]; 8. 10-Mitch Brown[8]; 9. 10X-Dustin Stroup[10] 10. 28H-Hud Horton[2]; 11. 35-Ron Blair[11]; 12. 22R-Kevin Roberts[16] 13. 2M-Dustin Daggett[15]; 14. 31N-Rod Henning[13]; 15. 12J-Tyler Moore[20] 16. 12R-Nick Roberts[5]; 17. 12-Kody Swanson[17]; 18. 55-Matt Phillips[18] 19. 49-Shawn Dancer[9]; 20. 16-Dakota Busche[19]

UMP Modifieds
Heat 1 – (8 Laps – Top 4 Transfer)
1. 111-Curt Spalding, 2. 3W-Dylan Woodling, 3. 17T-Michael Tarlton
4. 18-Randy Lines, 5. 20K-Bill Keeler, 6. 11H-Mike Hohlbein
7. 2B-Darryl Banks, 8. 65-Todd Sherman, 9. 17N-Dillion Nusbaum

Heat 2 – (8 Laps – Top 4 Transfer)
1. 46-Andy Bibler, 2. L5-Casey Luedeke, 3. X-Jerry Bowersock
4. 22T-Tony Adnerson, 5. 28-Chad Rosenbeck, 6. 9-Shawn Valenti
7. 57-Tyler Fitzpatrick, 8. 25-Josh Lolmaugh, 9. 69-Tommy Beezley

Heat 3 – (8 Laps – Top 4 Transfer)
1. 16-Jeff Koz, 2. 71-Joel Ortberg, 3. 4-Jason Kinney
4. 34X-Brandon Vaughan, 5. 17-Nick Felkey, 6. 19-Ryan Ordway
7. 19B-Brandon Ordway, 8. 53-Clint Reagle

Heat 4 – (8 Laps – Top 4 Transfer)
1. 10L-Nathan Loney, 2. 1-Andy Galgoci, 3. 8C-Corey Bevard
4. 24-Zeke Mckenzie, 5. 10-Scott Bowersock, 6. 23-Ryan Cripe
7. 18N-Derrick Noffsinger, 8. 8B-Scott Fitzpatric

B-Main #1 – (10 Laps – Top 2 Transfer)
1. 2B-Darryl Banks, 2. 28-Chad Rosenbeck, 3. 11H-Mike Hohlbein
4. 9-Shawn Valenti, 5. 20K-Bill Keeler, 6. 25-Josh Lolmaugh
7. 57-Tyler Fitzpatrick, 8. 65-Todd Sherman, 9. 17N-Dillion Nusbaum
10. 69-Tommy Beezley

B-Main #2 – (8 Laps – Top 2 Transfer)
1. 10-Scott Bowersock, 2. 23-Ryan Cripe, 3. 18N-Derrick Noffsinger
4. 53-Clint Reagle, 5. 19-Ryan Ordway, 6. 17-Nick Felkey
7. 19B-Brandon Ordway, 8. 8B-Scott Fitzpatric

A-Main – (20 Laps) [#]-Starting Position
1. 10L-Nathan Loney[1]; 2. 16-Jeff Koz[2]; 3. 111-Curt Spalding[4] 4. 46-Andy Bibler[3]; 5. 71-Joel Ortberg[7]; 6. 3W-Dylan Woodling[5] 7. 1-Andy Galgoci[8]; 8. L5-Casey Luedeke[6]; 9. X-Jerry Bowersock[10] 10. 4-Jason Kinney[11]; 11. 2B-Darryl Banks[17]; 12. 22T-Tony Adnerson[14] 13. 8C-Corey Bevard[12]; 14. 10-Scott Bowersock[18];
15. 28-Chad Rosenbeck[19]; 16. 23-Ryan Cripe[20];
17. 34X-Brandon Vaughan[15]; 18. 17T-Michael Tarlton[9];
19. 18-Randy Lines[13]; 20. 24-Zeke Mckenzie[16]

Stocks
Heat 1 – (8 Laps – All Advance)
1. 26-Justin Long; 2. 71-Keith Ralston; 3. 27-Frank Paladino
4. 00-Paul Norris; 5. 1-Jared Spalding; 6. 01-Austen Rayourn
7. 32-Scott Boyd Jr;

Heat 2 – (8 Laps – All Advance)
1. 22T-Tony Anderson; 2. 7C-Jordan Conover; 3. 99-Andy King
4. 89-Keith Shockency; 5. 2-Jordan Lawrence; 6. 53-Shane Aechliman
7. 22X-Rich Smith;

Heat 3 – (8 Laps – All Advance)
1. 7B-Shawn Valenti; 2. 74D-Craig Dippman; 3. OOP-Dean Pitts
4. 82-Chris Douglas; 5. 52G-Stacy Gazarek; 6. 17J-Jared Klay
7. 48-Tim Cole;

A-Main – (15 Laps) [#]-Starting Position
1. 7B-Shawn Valenti[2]; 2. 22T-Tony Anderson[3]; 3. 7C-Jordon Conover[5] 4. 27-Frank Paladino[7]; 5. 00P-Dean Pitts[9]; 6. 99-Andy King[8] 7. 74D-Craig Dippman[6]; 8. Keith Shockency[11]; 9. 82-Chris Douglas[12] 10. 1-Jared Spalding[13]; 11. 32-Scott Boyd Jr.[19]; 12. 2-Jordan Lawrence[14] 13. 53-Shane Aeschliman[17]; 14. 01-Austen Rayourn[16];
15. 52G-Stacey Gazarek[15] 16. 17J-Jared Klay[18]; 17. 00-Paul Norris[10];
18. 26-Justin Long[4] 19. 22X-Rich Smith[20]