By Jimmy Dearing – Pevely, MO (April 4th, 2015) The 2015 racing season kicked off at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 with a great field of racers and an exciting night of racing. Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 added a new division for 2015, the UMP DIRTcar Pro Modifieds division joined the racing lineup.
The UMP DIRTcar Late Model division saw defending track champion Tim Manville of Highland, Illinois pace all twenty-five laps to earn the main event victory. Manville got out to a dominating lead early on but a mid-race caution would re-stack the field. That would allow Billy Laycock and Bryan Collins to challenge Manville for the lead. But as Laycock and Collins battled for the second spot, it allowed Manville to open up a comfortable lead once again and he would go on to victory. Laycock would out-duel Collins for the second spot. Scott Weber would recover from a near disaster early on in the race to finish fourth with Dave Jumper rounding out the top five. Weber’s near disaster came on a mid-race restart when Jim Moon got sideways and clipped the right rear of Weber’s machine sending him spinning down the front stretch in front of much of the field.
Josh Russell and Kenny Wallace paced the UMP DIRTcar Modified division to the green flag in their feature event and Wallace would take the early lead from his front row outside starting spot. As Wallace and Russell battled for the top spot, some drivers who started deep in the field were working their way towards the front. Dean Hoffman was picking cars off lap after lap as he charged from the fourteenth starting spot. Hoffman would dispose of Russell for the second spot with nine laps remaining. Then he began working on Wallace for the lead. As they diced through lapped traffic, Hoffman would finally move past Wallace for the top spot with four laps remaining. Hoffman would hold off Wallace the rest of the way to grab the win. Wallace would finish second with Russell taking third. Michael Long would move up from the seventh starting spot to finish fourth. Conrad Miner would pass the most cars as he charged all the way from the twenty-fifth starting spot to claim the fifth position.
Chris Soutiea paced all fifteen laps of the UMP DIRTcar/AARA Sportsman feature. But would have Troy Medley hounding him for the entire fifteen laps for the top spot. The two battled nose to tail and side by side every lap. On lap ten, defending track champion Trey Harris worked his way up to the third spot and reeled in the top two cars and made it a three-way battle for the top spot. Soutea would hold them both off for the win, despite having motor issues late in the race in which his engine was only running on seven cylinders. Medley would edge Harris for the second spot. Joe McCain would finish fourth and Matt Brucato fifth.
Although only eight UMP DIRTcar Pro Modifieds were on hand for the debut of the class, the top two put on a classic fifteen lap battle. Jason Worley and Jeff LeBaube raced side by side for the first nine laps before Worley finally got the advantage using the middle groove of the track. LeBaube would keep the pressure on Worley for the remainder of the event, but would come up short and finish second to Worley. Travis Bittle would claim the third spot while Scott Wickliffe came home fourth. Joe Geisler would round out the top five.
The UMP DIRTcar/AARA Pro 4 Stocks feature had many different plot twists over their twelve lap feature event. Ben Gregory, Joe Laws and Eldon Hemken would put on a three way battle for the lead early on, but all three would have trouble and not finish the race. Rickey Carriker and Cole Queathem would also move up to battle for the top spot, only to have issues and not finish as well. J.C. Clack took the lead on a restart with four laps remaining and thought he was on his way to victory, but he would be penalized for jumping the restart that he took the lead on when the red flag came out with just one lap remaining for the violent flip by Wes Kite. Kite would be ok. On the restart, Sean McCarty would be moved up to the top spot (after Clack’s penalty) and McCarty would hold on for the win. Anthony Sunshine would finish second with Clack taking third.
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Season Opener – 04-04-2015
Tim Manville
UMP DIRTcar Late Models
Heat 1 (8 Laps)
1. 23R-Paul Roider[2] ; 2. 0-Dewayne Kiefer[6] ; 3. 17X-Matt Santel[3] ; 4. 92W-Scott Weber[5] ; 5. 3C-Cody Conner[1] ; 6. 82-Billy Laycock[8] ; 7. 94-Austin Rettig[7] ; 8. 95-Andrew Johns[9] ; 9. 74-Tim Hancock[4] ; 10. 33-Steve Lampley[10]
Heat 2 (8 Laps)
1. 33M-Tim Manville[3] ; 2. 1-Jim Moon[4] ; 3. 24HR-Ron McQuerry[6] ; 4. 22-Darrell Moser[1] ; 5. 2J-David Jumper[8] ; 6. 7-Kenny Rumble[9] ; 7. 11Z-Bryan Collins[5] ; 8. 33C-Kevin Cole[7] ; 9. 124-John Hahler[10] ; 10. 11-Jeff Herzog[2]
Dash 1 (6 Laps)
1. 0-Dewayne Kiefer[2] ; 2. 33M-Tim Manville[1] ; 3. 1-Jim Moon[4] ; 4. 17X-Matt Santel[6] ; 5. 23R-Paul Roider[3] ; 6. 24HR-Ron McQuerry[5]
A-Main 1 (0 Laps)
1. 33M-Tim Manville[2] ; 2. 82-Billy Laycock[12] ; 3. 11Z-Bryan Collins[14] ; 4. 92W-Scott Weber[7] ; 5. 2J-David Jumper[8] ; 6. 94-Austin Rettig[13] ; 7. 95-Andrew Johns[15] ; 8. 11-Jeff Herzog[20] ; 9. 22-Darrell Moser[9] ; 10. 3C-Cody Conner[11] ; 11. 7-Kenny Rumble[10] ; 12. 17X-Matt Santel[4] ; 13. 23R-Paul Roider[5] ; 14. 74-Tim Hancock[18] ; 15. 33C-Kevin Cole[16] ; 16. 1-Jim Moon[3] ; 17. 0-Dewayne Kiefer[1] ; 18. 124-John Hahler[17] ; 19. 24HR-Ron McQuerry[6] ; 20. 33-Steve Lampley[19]
Dean Hoffman
UMP DIRTcar ModifiedsÂ
Heat 1 – (8 Laps)
1. 36W-Kenny Wallace[1] ; 2. 18L-Michael Long[3] ; 3. 12R-Tyler Ratajczyk[8] ; 4. 34-Dave Armstrong[2] ; 5. 14-Billy Smith[9] ; 6. 77-Rick Stevenson[4] ; 7. 14C-Rick Conoyer[7] ; 8. 8B-Brendan Bittle[5] ; 9. 36-Conrad Miner[6]
Heat 2 – (8 Laps)
1. 89-Bobby Bittle[2] ; 2. 7M-Mark Miner[5] ; 3. 22-Scott Anderson[1] ; 4. 87Z-Zeb Moake[4] ; 5. 1D-Dean Hoffman[6] ; 6. 16G-Rusty Griffaw[7] ; 7. 36E-Danny Ems[3] ; 8. 18-Jake Seets[9] ; 9. 6-Justin Reando[8]
Heat 3 – (8 Laps)
1. 70-Josh Russell[3] ; 2. 10X-Jim Black[7] ; 3. 01W-Derrick Black[2] ; 4. 45M-Eric Mabery[5] ; 5. 23-Darron Forrest[4] ; 6. 1A-Gary Bentley[1] ; 7. 11-Conner Wiley[8] ; 8. 99C-Kenny Cole[6]
Dash 1 – (6 Laps)
1. 70-Josh Russell[2] ; 2. 36W-Kenny Wallace[5] ; 3. 89-Bobby Bittle[3] ; 4. 12R-Tyler Ratajczyk[6] ; 5. 10X-Jim Black[1] ; 6. 7M-Mark Miner[4]
A-Main 1 – (0 Laps)
1. 1D-Dean Hoffman[14] ; 2. 36W-Kenny Wallace[2] ; 3. 70-Josh Russell[1] ; 4. 18L-Michael Long[7] ; 5. 36-Conrad Miner[25] ; 6. 12R-Tyler Ratajczyk[4] ; 7. 16G-Rusty Griffaw[16] ; 8. 89-Bobby Bittle[3] ; 9. 14C-Rick Conoyer[20] ; 10. 87Z-Zeb Moake[13] ; 11. 10X-Jim Black[5] ; 12. 01W-Derrick Black[9] ; 13. 1A-Gary Bentley[18] ; 14. 34-Dave Armstrong[12] ; 15. 77-Rick Stevenson[17] ; 16. 8B-Brendan Bittle[23] ; 17. 23-Darron Forrest[15] ; 18. 6-Justin Reando[26] ; 19. 14-Billy Smith[10] ; 20. 11-Conner Wiley[19] ; 21. 7M-Mark Miner[6] ; 22. 99C-Kenny Cole[24] ; 23. 18-Jake Seets[22] ; 24. 45M-Eric Mabery[11] ; 25. 36E-Danny Ems[21] ; 26. 22-Scott Anderson[8]
Jason Worley
UMP DIRTcar Pro Modifieds
Heat 1 (8 Laps)
1. 29-Jeff LeBaube[1] ; 2. 66-Jason Worley[3] ; 3. 85G-Joe Geisler[2] ; 4. 89T-Travis Bittle[7] ; 5. 39-Kyle Wilde[6] ; 6. 86-Jake Robbins[4] ; 7. 22W-Scott Wickliffe[8] ; 8. 41-C.J. Springer[5]
A-Main 1 (0 Laps)
1. 66-Jason Worley[2] ; 2. 29-Jeff LeBaube[1] ; 3. 89T-Travis Bittle[3] ; 4. 22W-Scott Wickliffe[7] ; 5. 85G-Joe Geisler[4] ; 6. 39-Kyle Wilde[5] ; 7. 86-Jake Robbins[6] ; 8. 41-C.J. Springer[8]
Chris Soutiea
UMP DIRTcar / AARA Sportsman
Heat 1 (8 Laps)
1. 77-Patrick Hawkins[2] ; 2. 15B-Matt Brucato[3] ; 3. 50-Kent Nations[6] ; 4. 269-Josh Ramer[7] ; 5. 12-Wesley Hastings[1] ; 6. 27-Scott Leverich[5] ; 7. 60-Jerry Radeacker[4]
Heat 2 (8 Laps)
1. C4-Chris Soutiea[1] ; 2. 62M-Troy Medley[3] ; 3. 57-Trey Harris[2] ; 4. 192-Mark Spraul[4] ; 5. 16M-Joe McCain[6] ; 6. 71-Matt Schott[5]
A-Main 1 (0 Laps)
1. C4-Chris Soutiea[2] ; 2. 62M-Troy Medley[4] ; 3. 57-Trey Harris[7] ; 4. 16M-Joe McCain[9] ; 5. 15B-Matt Brucato[3] ; 6. 77-Patrick Hawkins[1] ; 7. 192-Mark Spraul[8] ; 8. 269-Josh Ramer[6] ; 9. 12-Wesley Hastings[10] ; 10. 71-Matt Schott[12] ; 11. 50-Kent Nations[5] ; 12. 27-Scott Leverich[11] ; 13. 60-Jerry Radeacker[13]
Sean McCarty
UMP DIRTcar / AARA Pro 4 StocksÂ
Heat 1 – (8 Laps)
1. 74-Joe Laws[1] ; 2. 81P-Robert Price[4] ; 3. 82Q-Cole Queathem[3] ; 4. 35R-Rickey Carriker[6] ; 5. 2V-Vincent Shehorn[5] ; 6. 7U-Bryan Fisher[2] ; 7. 23K-Bill Garland[7] ; 8. 25-John Massey[9] ; 9. 46-Brian Patton[8]
Heat 2 – (8 Laps)
1. 2-Ben Gregory[3] ; 2. W2-Eldon Hemken[2] ; 3. 442-Sean McCarty[6] ; 4. 7J-J.C. Clack[8] ; 5. 75-Anthony Sunshine[1] ; 6. 33-David Laws[5] ; 7. 00-Wes Kite[7] ; 8. 3C-Justin Chilton[4]
A-Main 1 – (0 Laps)
1. 442-Sean McCarty[6] ; 2. 75-Anthony Sunshine[10] ; 3. 7J-J.C. Clack[8] ; 4. 2V-Vincent Shehorn[9] ; 5. 25-John Massey[15] ; 6. 82Q-Cole Queathem[5] ; 7. 74-Joe Laws[1] ; 8. 7U-Bryan Fisher[11] ; 9. 3C-Justin Chilton[16] ; 10. 35R-Rickey Carriker[7] ; 11. 00-Wes Kite[14] ; 12. 81P-Robert Price[3] ; 13. 33-David Laws[12] ; 14. 2-Ben Gregory[2] ; 15. W2-Eldon Hemken[4] ; 16. 23K-Bill Garland[13] ; 17. 46-Brian Patton[17]
