Veteran Schwartz Claims
Big Prize at VCS
By Jeffrey A. Bayless
(5/27/01)One
hundred and forty UMP Modifieds were on hand to try and claim arguably
the Midwest's most prestigious modified race of the year, the 8th Annual
David Richardson Memorial Race sponsored by Perry and Mary Ferguson of
Pride Enterprises in Covington, IN. The event ran in to the early
morning hours with the last race ending at approximately 1:30 AM, but
for any fan of UMP Modifieds a chance to see most of the areas best
drivers battle it out, with drivers coming as far away as Fort Worth,
Texas to participate, is well worth the time and money spent.
The evening
began with a hot lap session immediately followed by qualifications.
As the qualification session wore on, it became very evident that a good
draw of an early number was a huge advantage as the track quickly turned
black and dry slick. By the time the qualifications had concluded
the drivers were consistently turning laps two seconds slower than those
who got to take their qualifying runs early. When it was all said
and done Jimmy Payne had set the fast time for the night.
Then came the
task of narrowing the field to twenty six, the predetermined amount that
would start this $5,000 to win race. The first twenty positions
would be filled by the winners and runner ups from the ten fifteen
lap heat races. In the first heat race Denny Schwartz would come
from his second row starting spot to take the lead coming out of four on
the first lap and never looked back winning the race ahead of Nick Gough
to claim the pole position for the main event. The second heat saw
Michael Bradley lead flag to flag from his pole position ahead of hard
charging Matt Boknecht. Defending UMP national champion Jimmy
Owens won the third heat ahead of Wayne Brooks. The fourth heat went
to pole sitter Darryl Herbert as he held off the hard charging Todd
Gilpin, who came from the fourth row. The fifth heat saw pole
sitter Ed Shamhart pull out to a huge lead only to have the engine let
go with two laps remaining. This left the duo of Steve Picou and
Rob Timmons who had been battling for the second spot to duel it out for
the win with Picou taking the checkerds. The up and coming
youngster, Wes Steidinger shot past the front row starters from his inside
second row starting spot in the first turn and out dueled the current
UMP National point leader Chad Kinder for the win in the sixth heat.
The best finish of the night occurred in the seventh heat. The top
two of George White and Gary Cook Jr, who had been racing side by side
through lapped traffic, got tangled up with a lapped car in turn
three of the last lap and allowed John Burdette and Tim Reynolds to
shoot past for a one two finish. The eighth had the best start of
the ten heats as they went three wide at the start with current point
leader at the track Arby Burton pulling out the win ahead of defending
track champion Shane Cottle. Davey Gantt led flag to flag to claim
the ninth heat ahead of Don Kiger. The tenth and final heat race
went to Bryan Clendenen ahead of John Seets.
Now with the
first twenty positions filled, they lined up six last chance races that
would go fifteen laps with the winner going on to the main event.
Starting position in the conciliation races was very important as only
one winner came outside of the front row. That was John DeMoss who
came from the second row to make a late pass of Mike Chastain to win the
first conci. Tim O'Donnell won the second ahead of Brandon
Maxwell, Dean Vickers took the third ahead of Doug St. Myers, the fourth
went to Everette Bradham in front of Bart Richardson, Wes O'Dell
received the checkerds in the fifth conci beating Kyle Logue to the
stripe, and Dan Hamstra held off Danny Schwartz to claim the final
starting spot in the main event.
With 240 laps of
UMP Modified racing action all ready in the books, the stage was set for
the fifty lap main event. You could feel the anticipation of what
was to come as the twenty six participants circled the track in a four
wide salute to the fans as fireworks lit up the early morning sky.
The racers then realigned themselves into 13 rows of two and came around
and took the green flag. As Denny Schwartz, Michael Bradley, and
Jimmy Owens roared toward turn three Wayne Brooks looped his car in
between turns one and two aborting the first start. After they
realigned themselves into their starting positions they gave it another
shot, and this time there were no mishaps as the field cleanly made it
through the first turn as Schwartz sped away to the early lead as
Bradley and Owens battled side by side for second ahead of Darryl
Herbert and Wes Steidinger. By the third lap the top five had
sorted themselves out with Owens taking second from Bradley, however
many side by side duels were being played out back through the field.
Schwartz and Owens began to pull away from the field and Owens was
beginning to search for a way around Schwartz when a 10th lap spin by
Arby Burton brought out a caution and slowed the pack. Schwartz
got a good jump on the restart but it did not take long for Owens to
reel him back in and start showing Schwartz the nose of his car hoping
to find away around the wily veteran. Owens continued to pressure
Schwartz until a lap fifteen mishap between Tim O'Donnell and John Seets
in between turns two and three brought out the second caution. The
top two opened up a gap on the restart to once again resume their battle
for the win but by the 20th lap the next three of Bradley, Herbert, and
Steidinger had begun to reel them in. As Bradley, Herbert, and
Steidinger were slowly moving in on their tails Owens decide it was time
to turn up the heat and renewed his search for a way around Schwartz.
Owens almost made the pass on the 25th lap pulling along side the leader
in one and two but could not find the grip to motor past down the back
stretch. He tried once again going high on lap 27 in turns three
and four, but this time he made a rare mistake and almost lost control
and fell back into the grasp of Bradley. Owens quickly fended off
the challenges of Bradley and regrouped and by the 31st lap he had
caught Schwartz once again. Davey Gantt gave the field a break
as he brought out the third and final caution on the 32nd lap
spinning in between three and four. When the green flag
flew again, Schwartz once again pulled away, but Owens soon reeled him
in again. Action behind these two soon heated up, however as Herbert
shot past Bradley on the 34th lap and quickly separated from the
remainder of the field and set his sights on the top two.
Steidinger mounted a challenge on Bradley as well and on the 40th lap
found away around him in turn three. Steidinger soon caught the
top three and started looking for a way around Herbert. Herbert
now occupied with the advances of Steidinger allowed Schwartz and Owens
to pull away once again. Owens fell back and it appeared that
Schwartz was going to cruise to victory over the remaining few laps, but
Owens mounted a late challenge giving it his all on the last lap but was
unable to find a way around with Schwartz holding on for the win
followed by Owens, Herbert, Steidinger, and Bradley. Sixteen cars
finished this prestigious event, and as a testament to the quality of
the drivers in this event all sixteen completed the entire 50 laps.
The remaining finishers were in order John Burdette, Bryan Clendenen,
Chad Kinder, Wes O'Dell, Tim Reynolds, Dean Vickers, John DeMoss, Don
Kiger, John Seets, Nick Gough, and Davey Gantt.
Denny Schwartz,
a 21 year veteran from Ashmore, IL and an eight time track champion at
Charleston Speedway, brought a brand new Pierce chassis to the racetrack
and found himself $5,000 richer after scoring the biggest win of his
career.
Track promoter,
Bill Marietta, knowing that there were many top drivers at his track
that would not make the 26 car show decided to throw in an extra 25 lap
B Feature for the second through fifth place finishers in the six
consolation races. Only fifteen of the twenty four cars
qualified for this race decided to take a shot at the $300 to win race,
but it provided for a total of 315 green flag laps for the UMP Modifieds
on this night. With many of the areas best on hand every lap was a
quality lap. Kyle Logue jumped to the early lead and led flag
to flag coming home ahead of Danny Schwartz, John Hudson, Rocky Griffin,
Doug St. Myers, Tony Roland, Blaine Farr, Jarod Temples, Chuck Haga, and
Tim Hancock.
In other racing
action Marcus Phelps won the Super Street feature and Larry Pruitt Jr.
won the Bomber feature.
Jeffrey A. Bayless
OFFICIAL UMP RESULTS:
Heats (top
2 transfer)
#1 Denny Schwarz, Nick Gough, Mike
Chastain, Kyle Logue, Doug St. Myers
#2 Michael Bradley, Matt Boknecht,
Mark Moore, Dan Hamstra, Tim Hancock
#3 Jimmy Owens, Wayne Brooks, Dean
Vickers, John DeMoss, Jerry Danford
#4 Darryl Herbert, Todd Gilpin,
Bart Richardson, Rob Fuqua, Dusty Moore
#5 Steve Picou, Rob Timmons, Wes
O'Dell, Tony Roland, John Hudson
#6 Wes Steidinger, Chad Kinder,
Danny Schwartz, Paul White, Bryan McDaniel
#7 John Burdette, Tim Reynolds,
George White, Jarod Temples, Gary Cook Jr.
#8 Arby Burton, Shane Cottle, Tim
O'Donnell, R.J. Gall, Brian Shirley
#9 Davey Gantt, Don Kiger, Dave
Porth, Kevin Weaver, Jeff Leka
#10 Bryan Clendenen, John Seets,
Everette Bradhan, Bryan Collins, Lance Dehm
Concis (winner advances 2-5 goto B
Main)
#1 John DeMoss, Mike Chastain, John
Hudson, Kevin Weaver, Chuck Haga
#2 Tim O'Donnell, Brandon Maxwell,
Eric Smith, Tommy Burnside, Rob Fuqua
#3 Dean Vickers, Doug St.
Myers, Blaine Farr, Tony Roland, Eddie Kindred
#4 Everett Bradham, Bart
Richardson, Tim Hancock, Ryan Young, Larry Raines
#5 Wes O'Dell, Kyle Logue, Rocky
Griffin, Jared Temples, Jerry Danford
#6 Dan Hamstra, Danny Schwartz,
Dusty Moore, R.J. Gall, Lance Dehm
B-Feature 25 Lap $300 to Win
Kyle Logue, Danny Schwartz, John
Hudson, Rocky Griffin, Doug St. Myers, Tony Roland, Blaine Farr, Jarod
Temples, Chuck Haga, Tim Hancock, Ryan Young, Eddie Kindred, Eric Smith,
Dusty Moore, Roben Huffman, Rob Fuqua
David Richardson Memorial 50 Lap $5000
to Win
Denny Schwartz, Jimmy Owens, Darryl
Herbert, Wes Steidinger, Michael Bradley, John Burdette, Bryan
Clendenen, Chad Kinder, Wes O'Dell, Tim Reynolds, Dean Vickers, John
DeMoss, Don Kiger, John Seets, Nick Gough, Davey Gantt, Shane Cottle,
Matt Boknecht, Everette Bradham, Todd Gilpin, Rob Timmons, Steve Picou,
Tim O'Donnell, Arby Burton, Dan Hamstra, Wayne Brooks