O'NEAL TWO FOR TWO IN SPEEDWEEK ACTION

BY: Chris Nunn

The "Back From the Dead Tour 2K2" continued last night at the Brownstown Speedway, as Martinsville, Indiana resident Don O'Neal took round number two of the UMP Indiana Late Model Speedweek. O'Neal, driving the O'Neal Wood Products, Petroff Towing, B Auto Parts, Home Team Inspection, Rayburn Chassis #71 entry, took round one at the Bloomington Speedway on Friday night, pulled into the Brownstown Speedway and started out the night setting fast time. O'Neal finished the dash in the fourth position, locking him into the fourth starting spot for the 30 lap main event. The feature would see dash winner, Greg Johnson, dart out to the early lead, with Jim Curry fighting Terry Eaglin for the second position. Curry would make his way around Eaglin on lap four for the spot. Along with Curry came O'Neal, as Donnie would get around Eaglin for third. Making his way into the top five on the low side of the track was Kevin Weaver, as he got under Steve Barnett for fifth on lap seven. The top five was pretty much spread out at this point with no major battles going on at the moment. Johnson finally caught up with lap traffic on lap 11, maneuvering his way around Rick Sowders. On lap 12, O'Neal would make his way alongside of Curry for the second position. The two would ride side by side for a couple of laps until lap 15, when O'Neal would finally get by Curry for the spot. Johnson's lead would soon start to diminish, as he would have troubles with lap traffic, allowing O'Neal and Curry to catch up. O'Neal would switch to an extremely low groove to get around lap traffic, and catch Johnson on lap 20. O'Neal would start to make advances down low for the lead on the next lap, but to no avail. Then came lap 23, going into turn one, O'Neal shot way down low and got alongside of Johnson. O'Neal would then move ahead of Johnson on lap 24 and would cruise on to the victory followed by Johnson, Curry, Weaver, Barnett, Terry Eaglin, Brad Cummings, Doug Ault, C.J. Rayburn, and Steve Godsey would round out the top ten.

Indiana Super Stock feature action saw Seymour, IN native, Rick Hines, take his Neibel powered entry to victory lane. The hardest part about the race was attempting to start it. On the first start attempt, Todd Gilpin and Stan Brown got together and spun in turn one bringing out caution number one. Attempt number two was nullified by a Mike Vest spin on the backstretch. The third time would indeed be the charm, as Mike Cawood would lead the field to turn one on a successful start. Green flag bliss would last only for two laps, as Trent Niflis would stall his ride on the frontstretch. The ensuing restart would be marred by a spin in turn two by Justin Bex. On the next restart try, Bex would replay his last lap adventures by looping it again in turn two, forcing him to be black flagged due to the two spin rule. Cawood would lead the field once again to the green flag, with Hines in tow. Behind Cawood and Hines, Rick Wolsifer was battling Gilpin for the fourth third position. This battle would be stopped due to a spin by Jason Knight in turn one. When the green flag flew once again, Hines would make a move for the lead on the low side. Cawood and Hines would ride around hounding each other until Travis Todd and David Brewer would spin in turn one. When racing resumed, so did the battle for the point. Cawood was trying everything he could to keep Hines at bay. On lap eight, Cawood's luck would turn sour, along with his car, as something broke on his ride dropping him out of the race. At the same time, Vest would loop his car in turn two bringing out another caution. Hines would take the green flag and begin to motor away from the rest of the field. Behind the leader, positions were changing throughout the top five. Keith Deppe and Paul Seymour waged war for the fourth position on lap 10. Stan Brown would join the fray and get around both cars for the spot. The runner up spot was also being contested, as Gilpin and Wolsifer duked it out on lap 11. Gilpin would take the spot a couple of laps later. Wolsifer would slide back one more spot on lap 13, as Brown would make his final pass of the night for the third position. The win was in the bag, though, for Hines as he crossed the line well ahead of Gilpin, Brown, Wolsifer, Deppe, Tom Plotz, Vest, Niflis, Seymour, and Barry Gerkin rounded out the top ten.

Jim Ruddick, of Seymour, In. took home his second feature win of the season in the Bomber division. Ruddick, driving the C & O Auto Parts, KMI Engines, Bedel Transmissions, NAPA Auto Parts, #0 entry, dashed out to the lead at the start. Behind him, two-time winner, Matt Cummings and Ray Godsey, Jr. were having their own war for the second position. Godsey would make his way around Cummings for the spot on lap four. Ruddick was starting to pull away from the field, as the caution would fly for the spun car of Randy Allen on lap seven. The green would fly again, and action would begin to pick up at the fifth position. Rob Manley would crack the top five, getting around Larry Harris on lap nine. Harris would not give up the spot too easily though, as he would shoot back around Manley on the high side down the backstretch. Manley gave it one more shot, and succeeded, as something would break on the Harris machine. Meanwhile, back up front, Godsey would start to catch Ruddick, riding the high side, as Ruddick was on the low side. Godsey would move alongside of Ruddick in the turns, looking like he was going to take the lead, but, Ruddick would pull away down the stretches. Time would eventually run out for Godsey, as Ruddick would take the checkers followed by Godsey, Cummings, Jason Combs, Willie Sallee, Manley, Chris Streeval, Kevin Applegate, Robert Walters, and Robert Green would make the top ten complete.

SUMMARY:

LATE MODELS

FAST QUALIFIER: Don O'Neal (15.256)

DASH: Greg Johnson, Terry Eaglin, Jim Curry, Don O'Neal, Kevin Weaver, Brad Cummings, Steve Barnett, Mike Bechelli, Tim Prince

HEAT 1: Steve Barnett, Doug Ault, Jammie Wilson, Jason Setser, Cody Mahoney, Brian Wilhite, Shannon Reed

HEAT 2: Dennis Boknecht, Todd McKinney, Steve Godsey, Eddie Leviner, Rusty Schlenk, Greg Kendall, Willie Sallee, Mike Bechelli

HEAT 3: C.J. Rayburn, Tim Prince, Frankie Coomer, Rick Sowders, Jeff Simonton, Dusty Chapman, Rob Harp, Rodney Bruce

CONSI: Jason Setser, Eddie Leviner, Jeff Simonton, Rick Sowders, Cody Mahoney, Greg Kendall, Willie Sallee, Brian Wilhite, Mike Bechelli, Dusty Chapman, Rob Harp, Shannon Reed, Rusty Schlenk(DQ)

INDIANA LATE MODEL SPEEDWEEK ROUND 2: Don O'Neal, Greg Johnson, Jim Curry, Kevin Weaver, Steve Barnett, Terry Eaglin, Brad Cummings, Doug Ault, C.J. Rayburn, Steve Godsey, Tim Prince, Jeff Simonton, Jammie Wilson, Frankie Coomer, Todd McKinney, Jason Setser, Eddie Leviner, Dennis Boknecht, Cody Mahoney, Rick Sowders

SUPER STOCKS

HEAT 1: Mike Cawood, Todd Gilpin, Paul Seymour, Jason Hehman, Barry Gerkin, Mike Vest, Kyle Edwards, John Bartlett, David Woolston, Trent Niflis

HEAT 2: Rick Wolsifer, Stan Brown, Jay Deckard, Keith Deppe, C.J. Allen, Travis Todd, Deb Freisner, Brad Pinnick, Troy Clark, Carl Adrianson

HEAT 3: Rick Hines, Gary Green, Tom Plotz, Justin Bex, David Brewer, Jeremy Stierwalt, Terry Ross, Jason Knight

CONSI: Mike Vest, Trent Niflis, Troy Clark, Jason Knight, Travis Todd, Brad Pinnick, Terry Ross, Kyle Edwards, Jeremy Stierwalt, John Bartlett, Deb Friesner, Carl Adrianson, Jim Rymer

FEATURE: Rick Hines, Todd Gilpin, Stan Brown, Rick Wolsifer, Keith Deppe, Tom Plotz, Mike Vest, Trent Niflis, Paul Seymour, Barry Gerkin, C.J. Allen, Jason Knight, Troy Clark, Jason Hehman, Mike Cawood, David Brewer, Gary Green, Justin Bex, Jay Deckard, Travis Todd

BOMBERS

HEAT 1: Matt Cummings, David Ross, Kevin Applegate, Kent Wagner, Brandon Carr, Josh Turner, Tom Gonyea, Jim Pfeiffer, Gary Miller, Robert Walters

HEAT 2: Jim Ruddick, Rob Manley, Wes Tipton, Dave Lemons, John Phelps, David Brewer, Jared Brewer, Jim Swint, Roy Arney, Harlan Pate

HEAT 3: Jason Combs, Randy Allen, Rick Applegate, Dave Shelton, Danny Redding, Josh Hayes, Roger Reichenbacker, Tony Arthur, Clifton Barron, Mike Roberts

HEAT 4: Ray Godsey, Jr., Chris Streeval, Willie Sallee, Mark Smith, Paul Ortman, Dan Londeree, Dave Eagan, Kevin Wilson, John Mayer, Bobby Gardner

HEAT 5: Larry Harris, Robert Green, Glen Woods, Cody VanOsdol, David Robinson, Jimmy Phillips, Scott Keach, Greg Leitzman, Donald Parker, Chris Massey

CONSI 1: Roger Reichenbacker, Kent Wagner, Josh Hayes, Jimmy Phillips, John Mayer, Greg Leitzman, David Robinson, Jim Pfeiffer, Jared Brewer, Dave Lemons, Paul Ortman, Jim Swint, Chris Massey, Brandon Carr, Dan Londeree

CONSI 2: Robert Walters, Cody VanOsdol, Dave Eagan, Mark Smith, David Brewer, Scott Keach, Dave Shelton, Kevin Wilson, Tom Gonyea, Tony Arthur, Josh Turner, Roy Arney, Mike Roberts, Donald Parker, Danny Redding

FEATURE: Jim Ruddick, Ray Godsey, Jr., Matt Cummings, Jason Combs, Willie Sallee, Rob Manley, Chris Streeval, Kevin Applegate, Robert Walters, Robert Green, Dave Eagan, Glen Woods, Roger Reichenbacker, Kent Wagner, Rick Applegate, Josh Hayes, Cody VanOsdol, Wes Tipton, Larry Harris, Randy Allen, David Ross