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September 18, 2004 Results

By Bret Emrick Don O?Neal of Martinsville,IN scored his third Stacker 2® Xtreme DirtCar Series main event of the season Saturday pocketing the $10,000 to win ?22nd Annual Pepsi Nationals? at I-55 Speedway in Pevely.MO. Starting ninth aboard the A1 Auto Salvage/Living Room Center No. 71 Don O?Neal Racing C.J. Rayburn Race Cars/Jay Dickens Racing Engines Chevrolet Monte Carlo, the ?Real Deal? grabbed the lead from Earl Pearson Jr. while working heavy lapped traffic in turn four on lap 18 and never looked back pulling out to a nearly 25 car length lead at the finish. Matt Miller, who led laps 11 and 12, finished in the runner-up spot with 14th starting Jimmy Mars third, 16th starting Darren Miller fourth and Pearson Jr. fifth. Rounding out the top ten finishers were Billy Drake in sixth trailed by Billy Moyer, 23rd starting Steve Shaver, Mike Marlar and Shannon Babb. ?It just seems like since we won our first race here last year we have this place figured out?, stated a very happy O?Neal. ?The move we made in lapped traffic to grab the lead was one of those things where if we didn?t go for it there was a good chance we might not have gotten the lead. Earl and Matt got trapped behind the lapped traffic and I told myself you got to make the move. It was kinda? hairy to try it but with this type of competition you either go for it or get left behind. I just need to thank Matt Angel, my new crew chief, and the rest of the guys on the crew. I never thought we?d gel together this quickly.? Pearson Jr. and Jim Morrison brought the 25 car field to the green flag with Pearson Jr. grabbing the lead off of turn two with M. Miller, Donnie Moran, Moyer and Brian Birkhofer trailing at the end of the first circuit. Three-wide and four-wide racing was taking place all over the track when the races first caution flew on lap 6 when Danny Haynes spun off of turn two. Pearson Jr. led the double-file restart back to the green flag with Miller second, Moyer third, Birkhofer fourth and O?Neal now fifth. Pearson Jr. hugged the bottom of the speedway with M. Miller running the extreme outside edge. Miller worked his way past Pearson Jr. for the lead at lap 11 but Pearson Jr. came right back at M. Miller retaking the lead on lap 13. Four laps later O?Neal shot past both Birkhofer and Moyer for third and quickly closed on M. Miller and Pearson Jr. Entering turn three, M. Miller and Pearson Jr. both got trapped behind lapped traffic allowing O?Neal to sweep past both drivers to grab the lead he would never give up. Cautions on lap 26, for a Kevin Gundaker/Jim Morrison collision in turn three, and again on lap 37 for the blown engine of Randy Korte, could not stop O?Neal as he simply overpowered the field. The $42,000 purse event, co-sanctioned by the Stacker 2® XDCS and U.M.P., attracted 40 drivers to the high-banked 1/3rd mile facility. Moran copped the RINGERS GLOVES Time Trials with a new track record of 12.803 seconds and then captured the MSD IGNITION Heat Race. Morrison copped the JE PISTONS Heat Race, M. Miller the WRISCO INDUSTRIES Heat Race and Pearson Jr. the BERT TRANSMISSION Heat Race. The SUNOCO RACE FUELS ?B? Mains were taken by Haynes and Clay Baumann while Pearson Jr. scored the YJ STINGER EXTREME ENERGY DRINK Dash. The action was captured by the cameras of Speed Channeland will be broadcast Saturday, October 30 at 3:00 p.m. EDT. The Stacker 2® Xtreme DirtCar Series and U.M.P. will co-sanction the $12,000 to win ?13th Annual Turbo Blue Racing Gasolines Illinois Fall Nationals? Sunday, September 19 at the Illinois State Fairgrounds ?Springfield Mile? in Springfield,IL. Stacker 2® Xtreme DirtCar Series Race Report For 9-18-04 Race No. 21-2004 Season "22nd Annual Pepsi Nationals" I-55 Raceway-Pevely,MO-1/3rd Mile Oval $42,000 Purse-$10,000 To Win-50 Lap Feature (co-sanctioned with U.M.P.) 41 Entries Qualifying: 1. 99 Donnie Moran - 12.803 New Track Record 2. Mike Marlar 3. Justin Allgaier 4. Darren Miller 5. Billy Moyer 6. Jim Morrison MSD IGNITION Heat Race (10 Laps ? Top 4 Finishers Advance To Feature): Moran, Moyer, O?Neal, Faust, Haynes, Carrier Jr., Shaver, Jumper, Conley, Paule JE PISTONS Heat Race (10 Laps ? Top 4 Finishers Advance To Feature): Morrison, Birkhofer, Marlar, Mars, Gundaker, Provenzano, Van Wormer, Laycock, McQuerry, Dixon WRISCO INDUSTRIES Heat Race (10 Laps ? Top 4 Finishers Advance To Feature): M. Miller, Babb, Korte, Mason, Baumann, Johns, Allgaier, Oller, Pense, Shive BERT TRANSMISSON Heat Race (10 Laps ? Top 4 Finishers Advance To Feature): Pearson Jr., Taylor, Drake, D. Miller, Shirley, Cook, Clanton, Sebree, Whaley, Tretten SUNOCO RACE FUELS ?B? Main # 1 (12 Laps ? Top 4 Finishers Advance To Feature): Haynes, Carrier Jr., Gundaker, Provenzano, Jumper, Shaver, McQuerry, Van Wormer, Laycock, Dixon, Conley, Paule SUNOCO RACE FUELS ?B? Main # 2 (12 Laps ? Top 4 Finishers Advance To Feature): Baumann, Cook, Oller, Clanton, Allgaier, Shirley, Johns, Pense, Shive, Tretten, Sebree, Whaley YJ STINGER EXTREME ENERGY DRINK Dash ( 4 Laps ? Finish Determines First Two Rows Of Feature): Pearson Jr., Morrison, Moran, M. Miller Feature: 1. 71 Don O'Neal 2. 7 Matt Miller 3. 28 Jimmy Mars 4. 32D Darren Miller 5. 1 Earl Pearson, Jr. 6. 9 Billy Drake 7. 21 Billy Moyer 8. 0 Steve Shaver 9. 157 Mike Marlar 10. 18 Shannon Babb 11. 28 Eddie Carrier, Jr. 12. 53 Ray Cook 13. 67 Mark Oller 14. 99 Donnie Moran 15. 15B Brian Birkhofer 16. 25 Shane Clanton 17. 3L Matt Taylor 18. 72 John Mason 19. 77 Clay Baumann 20. 26 Billy Faust 21. 00 Randy Korte 22. 11 Kevin Gundaker 23. 47 Danny Haynes 24. 85 Jim Morrison 25. 50 Ed Dixon U.M.P. Modifieds - 40 Entries Heat 1: 1. 11D Brian Dively 2. 21M Steve Myers 3. 12 Tom Ratajczyk 4. 51 John Hoffman Heat 2: 1. 11G Matt Goulden 2. 88 Joe Puricelli 3. 59 Rich Whaley 4. 45M Eric Mabery Heat 3: 1. C6 Ray Wagner 2. 20N Bob Newberry 3. 12 Mark Schaefer 4. 9S Tom Seets Heat 4: 1. 17 Jim Shereck 2. 89 Bobby Bittle 3. 66 Chris Hall 4. 9W Doug Wood Heat 5: 1. 44 Tim Hancock 2. X11 Brian Shirley 3. 56 Kevin Epperson 4. C4 Chris Soutiea Dash: 1. 11D Brian Dively 2. 11G Matt Goulden 3. 17 Jim Shereck 4. 44 Tim Hancock Semi #1: 1. 7 Mark Miner 2. 8 Chad Naylor 3. 117 Dan Schlup 4. 26 Jeff Horst 5. 14K Loren Knox 6. 10 Brad White 7. 62K Leo Kiefer 8. 0 J.D. Campbell 9. 31P Mitch Parmeley 10. 8X James Reed Semi #2: 1. 87 Gary Haynes 2. 87 Wes O'Dell 3. 44 Mark Stanfill 4. 41 Larry Hull 5. B27 Bob Bizzelli 6. 7Z Matt Zimmerly 7. N1 Gary Archambault 8. 13S Tray Wampler 9. 13D Dan Walters 10. 2F Todd Ferber Feature: 1. 17 Jim Shereck 2. 44 Tim Hancock 3. 12 Tom Rataczyk 4. X11 Brian Shirley 5. 89 Bobby Bittle 6. 9W Doug Wood 7. 11D Brian Dively 8. 11G Matt Goulden 9. 59 Rich Whaley 10. 56 Kevin Epperson 11. 88 Joe Puricelli 12. 20N Bob Newberry 13. 66 Chris Hall 14. 12 Mark Scheafer 15. 87 Gary Haynes 16. C6 Ray Wagner 17. 9S Tom Seets 18. 117 Dan Schlup 19. 8 Chad Naylor 20. 51 John Hoffman 21. C4 Chris Soutiea 22. 21M Steve Myers 23. 7 Mark Miner 24. 87 Wes O'Dell A.A.R.A. Sportsman - 30 Entries Heat 1: 1. 55 Jason Keller 2. 3P Bob Prince 3. 86 Doug Kim 4. 411 Marty Heck Heat 2: 1. 8 Ed Lowry 2. 00 Scott Stuppy 3. 991 Chuck Adams 4. 66 Darren Holland Heat 3: 1. 36 Bob Schmidt 2. 62 Troy Medley 3. 155 Chris Smith 4. 31 Ricky Horton Dash: 1. 36 Bob Schmidt 2. 8 Ed Lowry 3. 3P Bob Prince 4. 62 Troy Medley Semi: 1. 21 Brad McKinnon 2. 30 Mike Nicholson 3. 28 Sam Worley 4. 311 Brian Shubirg 5. 43 Mike Harris 6. 100 D.J. Griffaw 7. 92 Jim Abshier 8. 77 Randy Kueker 9. 58 Jeff Barker 10. 18 Buddy Lowry 11. 105 Matt Hancock DNS. 99 Robbie Hoffman Feature: 1. 12 Troy Naeger 2. 36 Bob Schmidt 3. 31 Ricky Horton 4. 62 Troy Medley 5. 00 Scott Stuppy 6. 24 Paul Bauman 7. 22 Paul Belken, Jr. 8. 8 Ed Lowry 9. 66 Darren Holland 10. 155 Chris Smith 11. 30 Mike Nicholson 12. 86 Doug Kim 13. 3P Bob Prince 14. 311 Brian Shubirg 15. 991 Chuck Adams 16. 27 Nathan Walsh 17. 43 Mike Harris 18. 100 D.J. Griffaw 19. 46 Greg Stumbaugh 20. 28 Sam Worley 21. 69 Mark Hunter 22. 411 Marty Heck 23. 21 Brad McKinnon 24. 55 Jason Keller

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