ERB WINS SECOND STRAIGHT AT VCS
By Jack Taylor

(8/26/01)Danville, IL. Well, it wasn't exactly the result that promoter Bill Marietta wanted to see as Vermilion County Speedway rang down the final curtain for 2001 on Sunday night racing. The stands were pretty well filled, 152 cars were in the pits for racing, and the track was in good shape after some rain and late afternoon sun.

That sounds like a promoter's dream, but not the case, as the evening wore on. After 17 preliminary races to set up the features for the five divisions of cars and a short intermission, the UMP Late Model field rolled out for their feature at 10:00 PM. Not too bad on time either, with the large group of cars on hand. The track was showing moisture again and the LM Feature should be a fast one. 

All 24 cars who took qualifying were put into the feature with Dennis Erb and Kevin Weaver sharing the front row. Erb jumped out to the lead on the green, but Weaver was right there hounding him from the start. Dan Walden held down the third spot from a vantage point about six car lengths back through the first half of the 25-lap race. Five cautions were brought out as drivers were caught up in spins on the slick surface as they tried to better their positions. On each restart, it was Erb holding off Weaver as the "Flatland Flash" tried  to wrestle the lead away from Erb. As this unfolded, there were several times when they were almost side by side with Erb controlling the bottom line and defending the lead. 

Following the fifth caution for a spinout by Mark Stetler, Weaver again was pushing Erb for the lead on the restart. Erb was not about to give it up and on the back straight they rubbed hard with Weaver's left front tire and Erb's right rear meshing enough to cause Weaver to blow a tire and spin. Well, now that's where it all started to go down hill for the promoter. The sixth and final yellow flag came out, Weaver ducked into the pits and changed his tire, which is a no-no to leave the track. Weaver was black flagged, disgruntled fans wanted officials to send Erb to the rear for causing the accident, but everyone moved up a spot on the restart with Erb still in the lead.

For the remaining ten laps of caution-free racing it was Erb clearly out front, with Roger Long, Shane Cottle, Dan Schlieper, and Jammie Wilson  battling to the finish. Schlieper had progressed through the field from a fifteenth starting spot. 

The UMP Modified feature with 22 cars was pared down from an entry of 52 drivers who visited the speedway on Sunday night. More than one of them were looking for track time to prepare for the coming weekend of UMP Thunder & Lightning racing. Champaign, IL native, Tim O'Donnell, followed Dennis Erb's plan by leading all 25 laps of the feature, but O'Donnell was never threatened as he controlled the caution-free feature. Jerry Hathaway, R.J. Gall, Denny Schwartz, and Rick Roedel finished 2-5 at the finish.

With the first two features over by 10:45, the dreaded Hornets took the track for their feature race. Midway through the feature, the second place car of Jerry Benton lost a wheel in turn two and proceeded to flip violently about six or seven times before coming to rest at the top of the track. Concern for the driver, though he climbed from the car, caused the medical personnel to exit the track for the local hospital for further tests on the driver. The Hornet feature was completed as this decision was made, but when the ambulance departed the scene, the next feature was red flagged. 

After a twenty minute delay, the Super Street feature got under way with  some very good racing as Matt Davis, Marcus Phelps, Kenny Eads,Ed Lahey, and RandyShuman battled  throughout for the win. That is the way they finished, but the tech inspectors had other ideas. All the cars in the feature were inspected in the infield and 8 of the 22 that ran the feature were disqualified for illegal set-ups. This included the winner, Davis, and Phelps was declared the winner. This also consumed some time and emotions were a little high.

One more feature to go as the Bombers rolled out at 11:40 PM. In 15 minutes they were finished as Jarrad Krick beat Joe Buyno to the line for the win. A long night, some remarkable happenings, and the Sunday nights at Danville book is closed for 2001.

SUMMARY

UMP LATE MODELS
Fast time-Jammie Wilson
 Heat 1-Dennis Erb, Shane Cottle, Jim Laws, Jammie Wilson
Heat 2-Kevin Weaver, Chuck Haga, Ryan Dauber, Juan Grino
Heat 3-Dan Walden, Roger Long, Mark Stetler, John Kresser
Feature-Erb, Long, Cottle, Dan Schlieper, Wilson, Dauber, Brian Rickey, Walden, Grino, Marvin Burton
Haga, Eddie Leviner, Shawn Toczak, Rich Hedrick, Rick Hufford, Dick Potts, Kresser, Weaver,
Stetler, Troy Overstreet, Laws, Rusty Coffman, Don Hilleary, Ed Woodard
UMP MODIFIEDS
Fast time- Don Kiger
Heat 1-Jerry Hathaway, John Hudson, Jason Lakey, Danny Schwartz
Heat 2-Tim O'Donnell, Don Kiger, Cory Rolfe, Dave Porth
Heat 3-Sean Seavers, R.J.Gall, Roger Cary, Arby Burton
Heat 4-Chuck Haga, Steve Foust, Kenny Carlson, Josh Ferguson
Heat 5-John Hollifield, Denny Schwartz, Rick Roedel, Phil VanSant
Semi 1-Porth, Dave Miller, Ferguson, Dale Hayes
Semi 2-Burton, Rob Fuqua, Aaron Ricketts, Dale Matheny
Feature-O'Donnell, Hathaway, Gall, Schwartz, Roedel, Cary, Haga, Lakey, Hudson, Kiger,
Seavers, Porth, Burton, Fuqua, Ricketts, Miller, Hollifield, Rolfe, Foust, Danny Schwartz, Ferguson
SUPER STREETS
Heat 1-Matt Davis, Kenny Eads, Chris Dick
Heat 2-Kyle Vogel, Butch Meeker, Marcus Phelps
Heat 3-Ed Lahey, Bob Webb, Jeff Watts
Semi-Tom Treadway, Joe Weathers
Feature-Phelps, Eads, Lahey, Shuman, Gene Bowling
BOMBERS
Heat 1-Jarrad Krick, Jeff Barker, Jason Turner
Heat 2-Joe Buyno, Robbie Rife, Steve Nolen
Feature- Krick, Buyno, Turner, Randy Johnson, Barker
HORNETS
Heat 1-Jerry Benton, Dustin Ingram, Abe Deavers
Heat 2-Alan Shepherd, Bob Sanders, Monte Reed
Feature- Inggram, Cates, Sanders, Shepherd, Doug Walker