Erb Dominates Late Model Action While Ohio's Babcock Captures Modified Win at Pak-A-Sak UMP DIRTcar Nationals at Eldora Speedway
Rossburg,OH October 10, 2009 Dennis Erb Jr. is becoming quite fond of Eldora Speedway.
The three-time and reigning UMP DIRTcar Summer Nationals champion blistered the high-banked half-mile oval on his way to his second consecutive Pak-A-Sak UMP DIRTcar Nationals Super Late Model victory on Saturday night.
Erb, 36, of Carpentersville, Ill. started outside row two in the 40-lap A-Main but quickly garnered the second spot behind early leader Scott James of Bright, Ind. Erb inherited the lead on lap seven when James was forced pitside for a mechanical issue and then never looked back.
We were rolling around there pretty good, said Erb, who turns 37 on Oct. 12. I was trying to just float over those bumps out there.
Erb proceeded to drive his car out to over a half-straightaway lead as he made quick work of lapped traffic en route to the $5,000-to-win triumph.
It feels good to come here and win this two years in a row, said Erb. The car just worked awesome. I have to thank everyone that has helped me and everyone for sticking this one out.
Erb was followed to the line by Frank Heckenast of Orland Park, Ill., who scored a career-best finish in the event. Chad Ruhlman of Benus Point, N.Y., was third, followed by Rusty Schlenk of Jackson, Mich., and Matt Miller of Waterville, Ohio.
Newly-crowned UMP DIRTcar Late Model national Super Late Model champion Jason Feger of Bloomington, Ill., had a strong run going through the early part of the feature but saw a flat right-rear tire take him out of competition while running third. He finished 20th.
Feger, 31, posted a career year in the UMP DIRTcar Super Late Model ranks, winning 22 features, earning a third-place points finish in the month long UMP DIRTcar Summer Nationals tour (his best to date) and also registering his first career World of Outlaws Late Model Series win at Charter Raceway Park in Beaver Dam, Wis. He clinched the UMP DIRTcar national crown before even arriving for the points-season-ending event at Eldora.
Ohio native Jeff Babcock used a second-place starting spot to quickly take command of the UMP DIRTcar Modified feature and continued on to cop the 25-lap Nationals event.
Babcock never relinquished the lead throughout the A-Main. He outdistanced hard-charging Bryan Ruhlman of Clarklake, Mich., who advanced from his 11th-place starting spot to second within the first five laps of the headliner.
It feels really good to win this, Babcock said. I was really just trying to keep it off the wall because I thought there was probably someone all over me.
Brian Ruhlman settled for second place, followed by Jacob Hawkins of Fairmont, W.Va., Jeff Leka of Buffalo, Ill., and Scott Orr of Columbia City, Ind.
Gary Cook Jr. of Deer Creek, Ill., who officially claimed his first-ever UMP DIRTcar national Modified points championship on Saturday, through the field to a top-10 running spot until mechanical woes on lap 11 sent him to the sidelines.
Despite the misfortune, Cook was excited to end his run to the championship.
It was fun to be here and not have to worry about gaining any points, he said. It does feel good to be a national champion, but I'm also glad it's over.
I've had to dedicate my entire season to this, he said of his title pursuit. I've had to pass up bigger money to run for points, but next year we're going to hit the big shows and have some fun.
Just over 170 of UMP DIRTcar Racing's best rolled through the pit gates at the famed Eldora Speedway.
Fifth-six UMP DIRTcar Late Models were signed in for time trials, which saw Feger back up his new title with a quick lap of 15.250 seconds just thirty-five one-hundredths of a second off the Late Model track record.
Brian Ruhlman was the best of the 115-car UMP DIRTcar Modified field with a fast lap of 17.377 seconds just over one-tenth of a second off the division's track record. He also collected an extra $1,000 from Larry Shaw Race Cars for his effort.
The UMP DIRTcar Nationals were scheduled as a two-day show, but rain on Friday forced officials to run the entire program on Saturday.
For more information on UMP DIRTcar Racing, visit
www.dirtcar.com.
DIRTcar Late Models Feature Finish: (40 Laps)
Position/Driver/Started
1. Dennis Erb Jr.[4]
2. Frank Heckenast[5]
3. Chad Ruhlman[3]
4. Rusty Schlenk[1]
5. Matt Miller[12]
6. Brian Ruhlman[13]
7. Randy Korte[24]
8. Jared Landers[8]
9. Jeep Van Wormer[16]
10. Donnie Moran[9]
11. Jerry Bowersock[14]
12. Rick DeLong[7]
13. John Mason[15]
14. Jason McBride[22]
15. Austin Dillon[18]
16. Kevin Cole[17]
17. Casey Noonan[27]
18. Dona Marcoullier[20]
19. Ryan VanderVeen[26]
20. Jason Feger[6]
21. Andrew Reaume[11]
22. Jon Henry[25]
23. Wayne Chinn[10]
24. Scott James[2]
25. Dusty Moore[19]
26. Mike Mataragas[23]
27. Chris Ross[28]
28. Terry English[21]
DIRTcar Late Models - 56 Entries
Car Number/Driver/Time
Group 1 Qualifying
25
Jason Feger
15.25
49
Brian Ruhlman
15.608
11
Jerry Rice
15.617
3
Rick Delong
15.858
40wd
Dusty Moore
16.266
M14
Brandon Thirlby
16.335
8
Corey Bevard
17.07
7H
Cody Houston
17.93
33
Don Gordon
17.942
1
Andy Sprague
N/T
Group 2 Qualifying
777
Jared Landers
15.49
12
Jordan Bland
15.721
64
Jerry Bowersock
15.777
20R
Chad Ruhlman
15.795
1n
Casey Noonan
15.925
77
Jason McBride
16.149
81JR
Jason Riggs
16.465
13
Scott Baker
17.036
12s
Terry Sroufe
17.523
79
Bill Lewis
N/T
Group 3 Qualifying
99
Donnie Moran
15.529
72
John Mason
15.845
91
Rusty Schlenk
16.137
6m
Dona Marcoulliler
16.701
91
Adam Thrush
16.885
21t
Tom Treon
17.534
9Z
Jayme Zidar
N/T
b4u
Brad Eitnear
N/T
87
Richard Neiser
N/T
Group 4 Qualifying
55
Jeep VanWormer
15.395
28
Dennis Erb
15.47
1
Wayne Chinn
15.977
11
Ben Adkins
16.009
1M
Mike Mataragas
16.054
16
Shawn Negangard
16.785
21H
David Hilliker
17.12
23
Ted Loomis
17.279
RH21
Gregg Haskell
17.588
Group 5 Qualifying
00
Randy Korte
15.489
81
Kevin Cole
15.658
99JR
Frank Heckenast
15.746
88
Andrew Reaume
15.765
96
Terry English
15.951
27
Ken Hahn
17.847
33sp
Brent Colby
18.272
2c
Gregory Cooper
19.942
1
Jon Henry
N/T
Group 6 Qualifying
3
Austin Dillon
15.45
18r
Chriss Ross
15.962
83
Scott James
16.067
7m
Matt Miller
16.12
53
Lee Thomason
16.767
96t
Tanner English
16.946
23v
Ryan VanderVeen
17.279
6
Don Marcoullier
17.49
51
Dale E. Sheehy
17.896
Heat 1 Finish:
1. Jason Feger[4] 2. Rick DeLong[1] 3. Brian Ruhlman[3] 4. Dusty Moore[5] 5. Andrew Sprague[10] 6. Corey Bevard[7] 7. Don Gordon[9] 8. Cody Huston[8] 9. Brandon Thirlby[6] 10. Jerry Rice[-]
Heat 2 Finish:
1. Chad Ruhlman[1] 2. Jared Landers[4] 3. Jerry Bowersock[2] 4. Jason McBride[6] 5. Casey Noonan[5] 6. Jason Riggs[7] 7. Scott Baker[8] 8. Terry Sroufe[9] 9. Jordan Bland[3] 10. Bill Lewis[-]
Heat 3 Finish:
1. Rusty Schlenk[2] 2. Donnie Moran[4] 3. John Mason[3] 4. Dona Marcoullier[1] 5. Adam Thrush[5] 6. Jayme Zidar[7] 7. Tom Treon[6] 8. Richard Neiser[-] 9. Brad Eitniear[-]
Heat 4 Finish:
1. Dennis Erb Jr.[3] 2. Wayne Chinn[2] 3. Jeep Van Wormer[4] 4. Mike Mataragas[5] 5. Shawn Negangard[6] 6. Greg Haskell[9] 7. Ben Adkins[1] 8. Ted Loomis Jr.[8] 9. Dave Hilliker[7]
Heat 5 Finish:
1. Frank Heckenast[2] 2. Andrew Reaume[1] 3. Kevin Cole[3] 4. Terry English[5] 5. Jon Henry[9] 6. Ken Hahn[6] 7. Brent Colby[7] 8. Gregory Cooper[8] 9. Randy Korte[4]
Heat 6 Finish:
1. Scott James[2] 2. Matt Miller[1] 3. Austin Dillon[4] 4. Chris Ross[3] 5. Ryan VanderVeen[7] 6. Tanner English[6] 7. Donnie Marcoullier[8] 8. Dale Sheehy[9] 9. Lee Thomason[5]
B Main 1 Finish:
1. Dusty Moore[1] 2. Jason McBride[2] 3. Casey Noonan[4] 4. Andrew Sprague[3] 5. Terry Sroufe[12] 6. Scott Baker[8] 7. Cody Huston[9] 8. Don Gordon[7] 9. Jason Riggs[6] 10. Corey Bevard[5] 11. Jordan Bland[-] 12. Brandon Thirlby[-] 13. Jerry Rice[-] 14. Bill Lewis[-]
B Main 2 Finish:
1. Dona Marcoullier[1] 2. Mike Mataragas[2] 3. Adam Thrush[3] 4. Shawn Negangard[4] 5. Jayme Zidar[5] 6. Tom Treon[7] 7. Greg Haskell[6] 8. Ben Adkins[-] 9. Richard Neiser[-] 10. Ted Loomis Jr.[-] 11. Brad Eitniear[-] 12. Dave Hilliker[-]
B Main 3 Finish:
1. Terry English[12] 2. Randy Korte[11] 3. Jon Henry[3] 4. Ryan VanderVeen[4] 5. Tanner English[6] 6. Chris Ross[2] 7. Ken Hahn[5] 8. Donnie Marcoullier[8] 9. Lee Thomason[12] 10. Dale Sheehy[10] 11. Brent Colby[7] 12. Gregory Cooper[9]
Race of Champions Finish:
1. Dennis Erb Jr.[2] 2. Jason Feger[1] 3. Randy Korte[3] 4. Frank Heckenast[4] 5. Rusty Schlenk[5] 6. Jon Henry[7] 7. Ryan VanderVeen[6]
DIRTcar UMP Modifieds Feature Finish: (25 Laps)
Position/Driver/Started
1. Jeff Babcock[2]
2. Brian Ruhlman[11]
3. Jacob Hawkins[6]
4. Jeff Leka[19]
5. Scott Orr[10]
6. Doug Adkins[12]
7. Austin Dillon[14]
8. Lance Dehm[16]
9. Todd Sherman[20]
10. John McCaul[25]
11. Devin Gilpin[28]
12. Josh Ferguson[3]
13. Mike Dirksen[9]
14. Clayton Miller[7]
15. Jared Hawkins[27]
16. Jared Landers[15]
17. Gary Cook Jr.[17]
18. Jerry Bowersock[23]
19. Nick Allen[29]
20. Ryan Thomas[4]
21. Rob Williams[21]
22. Chad Ruhlman[5]
23. Matt Huddleston[22]
24. Schuyler Nahre[24]
25. Denny Schwartz[1]
26. Mike Spatola[8]
27. Trent Young[13]
28. Danny Schwartz[18]
29. Randle Sweeney[-]
DIRTcar UMP Modifieds - 115 Entries
Car Number/Driver/Time
Group 1 Qualifying
51
Timmy Hill
17.747
15
Rich Robinson
17.97
15
Clayton Miller
18.101
26
Mike Dirksen
18.468
45P
Brian Post
18.519
70
Matt Aber
18.54
69
Tommy Beezley
18.817
11
Rob Williams
18.826
50
Tyler Weiss
19.169
13
Andy Galgoci
19.363
21
Steve Hilliker
19.425
44
J.D. Lease
19.889
31j
Ray Jackson
20.129
77
Guy Taylor
N/T
T5X
Doug Hewitt Jr.
N/T
Group 2 Qualifying
137
Jared Hawkins
17.575
1G
Devin Gilpin
17.726
3
Jeff Harris
18.03
20R
Chad Ruhlman
18.082
64
Gary Cook Jr.
18.101
00
John Brooks
18.152
3B
Bob Burch
18.297
36L
Jamie Lomax
18.339
1D
Dean Hoffman
18.378
88
Scott Orr
18.472
10
Scott Bowersock
18.642
12
Brian Rick
19.072
21F
Kevan Free
19.279
23
Ryan Cripe
19.281
1
Stephen Schnaft
20.027
Group 3 Qualifying
49
Brian Ruhlman
17.377
21s
Denny Schwartz
17.71
18
Jon Henry
18.048
7R
Kent Robinson
18.312
5A
Shawn Bayliff
18.593
0J
Bryce T. Jewell
18.756
20E
Pat Ehlert
18.783
1
Curt Spalding
18.823
18M
Matt Huddleston
18.851
69
Jim Farris Sr.
18.929
77L
Darrell Lowe
18.969
88S
Alan Stipp
19.045
K67
Ian Keller
19.049
77
Mike Neighbors
19.268
4
Kyle Strichler
N/T
Group 4 Qualifying
21D
Danny Schwartz
17.852
52
Jeff Babcock
18.097
2
Nick Hoffman
18.3
7
Doug Adkins
18.425
4
Mike Chrisman
19.09
71C
Barney Craig
19.15
5X
Tim Richardson
19.266
17H
Roger Helmig
19.513
4J
David Teon Jr.
19.73
s57
Ken Smith
19.796
15
Dave Baker
20.082
3
Steve Brown
20.755
1W
Mark Wooten
21.387
5w
Eddie Shaner
N/T
Group 5 Qualifying
37
Jacob Hawkins
18.084
17
Trent Young
18.37
27
John McCaul
18.412
7
Charles Crego
18.559
11
Ed Roley
18.629
64
Gary Richard
18.63
14
Brian Lynn
18.698
8
Mike Roediger
18.864
75
Jason Cox
18.895
55
Justin Matson
19.205
17R
Nick Rosselit
19.414
225
Jesse Bitterling
19.629
15
Nick Katterhenry
20.372
00
Randy Korte
N/T
Group 6 Qualifying
3
Austin Dillon
17.996
21A
Nick Allen
18.075
2f
Josh Ferguson
18.082
18
Jerry Bowersock
18.244
5
David Smith
18.266
18
Todd Fuetz
18.826
29
Rob Penny
18.943
ZERO
Brent Hole
19.017
3L
Jeff Leka
19.058
1s
Steve Billenstein
19.634
93
Josh Greber
19.76
22C
Vance Wilson
19.913
5M
Rodney Morris
20.144
182
Randle Sweeney
N/T
Group 7 Qualifying
65
Todd Sherman
18.021
777
Jared Landers
18.036
89
Mike Spatola
18.261
33
Davey Gantt
18.474
15J
Jimmy Hayden
18.81
N59
Chad Evans
19.15
30A
John Allen
19.199
8
Troy Maraciniak
19.257
20
Jeffrey Leka
19.259
43
Brad McLead
19.407
83
Kasey Schroek
19.471
5C
Justin Coulter
19.653
53
Ben Adkins
23.531
29
Mark Kowarsch
N/T
Group 8 Qualifying
D2
Lance Dehm
18.538
21jr
Justin McCoy
18.823
2B
Darryl Banks
18.869
T9
Ryan Thomas
19.013
24
Zeke McKenzie
19.197
74
Lenny Guyton
19.259
28
Chad Rosenbeck
19.373
5W
Dan Arnolo
19.883
11H
Mike Holbein
19.916
79
Shane Unger
19.974
43
Kevin Miller
20.201
9
Bryant Dickinson
23.835
1
Schuyler Nahre
N/T
X
Jessie Snyder
N/T
Heat 1 Finish:
1. Clayton Miller[2] 2. Mike Dirksen[1] 3. Rob Williams[8] 4. Tyler Weiss[9] 5. Tommy Beezley[7] 6. Brian Post[5] 7. Andy Galgoci[10] 8. Ray Jackson[13] 9. Steven Hilliker[11] 10. Matt Aber[6] 11. Guy Taylor[14] 12. J D Lease[12] 13. Timmy Hill[4] 14. Rich Robinson Jr.[-] 15. Doug Hewitt[-]
Heat 2 Finish:
1. Chad Ruhlman[1] 2. Scott Orr[10] 3. Jared Hawkins[4] 4. Gary Cook Jr.[5] 5. Dean Hoffman[9] 6. Jamie Lomax[8] 7. Stephen Schnaft[15] 8. Scott Bowersock[11] 9. Brian Rick[12] 10. Ryan Cripe[14] 11. Kevan Free[13] 12. Devin Gilpin[3] 13. John Brooks[6] 14. Bob Burch[7] 15. Jeff Harris[-]
Heat 3 Finish:
1. Denny Schwartz[3] 2. Brian Ruhlman[4] 3. Jim Farris Sr[10] 4. Curt Spalding[8] 5. Bryce Jewell[6] 6. Matt Huddleston[9] 7. Kyle Strickler[15] 8. Alan Stipp[12] 9. Ian Keller[13] 10. Pat Ehlert[7] 11. Michael Neighbors[14] 12. Kent Robinson[1] 13. Shawn Bayliff[5] 14. Darrell Lowe[11] 15. Jon Henry[2]
Heat 4 Finish:
1. Jeff Babcock[3] 2. Doug Adkins[1] 3. Danny Schwartz[4] 4. Mike Chrisman[5] 5. Nick Hoffman[2] 6. Dave Baker[11] 7. Roger Helmig[8] 8. Tim Richardson[7] 9. David Treon Jr.[9] 10. Ken Smith[10] 11. Steve Brown[12] 12. Mark Wooten[13] 13. Barney Craig[6] 14. Ed Shaner[-]
Heat 5 Finish:
1. Jacob Hawkins[4] 2. Trent Young[3] 3. Brian Lynn[7] 4. Justin Matson[10] 5. Charles Crego[1] 6. Jesse Bitterling[12] 7. Jason Cox[9] 8. Gary Richard[6] 9. Ed Roley[5] 10. Nick Rosselit[11] 11. Mike Roediger[8] 12. John McCaul[2] 13. Nicholas Katterhenry[13] 14. Randy Korte[-]
Heat 6 Finish:
1. Josh Ferguson[2] 2. Austin Dillon[4] 3. Jeff Leka[9] 4. Jerry Bowersock[1] 5. Nick Allen[3] 6. Randle Sweeney[14] 7. Brent Hole[8] 8. Rob Penny[7] 9. Rodney Morris[13] 10. Todd Feutz[6] 11. Vance Wilson[12] 12. David Smith[5] 13. Josh Greber[11] 14. Steve Billenstein[-]
Heat 7 Finish:
1. Mike Spatola[2] 2. Jared Landers[3] 3. Todd Sherman[4] 4. Ben Adkins[13] 5. Jimmy Hayden[5] 6. Troy Marciniak[8] 7. Brad Mcleod[10] 8. Chad Evans[6] 9. Jonny Allen[7] 10. Justin Coulter[12] 11. Kasey Schrock[11] 12. Jeff Leka[9] 13. Davey Gantt[1] 14. Mark Kowarsch[-]
Heat 8 Finish:
1. Ryan Thomas[1] 2. Lance Dehm[4] 3. Schuyler Nahre[13] 4. Chad Rosenbeck[7] 5. Zeke McKenzie[5] 6. Justin Mccoy[3] 7. Dan Arnold[8] 8. Bryant Dickinson[12] 9. Kevin Miller[11] 10. Jessie Snyder[14] 11. Shane Unger[10] 12. Mike Hohlbein[9] 13. Darryl Banks[2] 14. Lenny Guyton[6]
B Main 1 Finish:
1. Gary Cook Jr.[4] 2. Rob Williams[1] 3. Timmy Hill[21] 4. Jamie Lomax[8] 5. Tommy Beezley[5] 6. John Brooks[22] 7. Ryan Cripe[16] 8. Andy Galgoci[9] 9. Ray Jackson[11] 10. Kevan Free[18] 11. Scott Bowersock[12] 12. Stephen Schnaft[10] 13. Brian Post[7] 14. Devin Gilpin[20] 15. J D Lease[19] 16. Jared Hawkins[2] 17. Dean Hoffman[6] 18. Brian Rick[14] 19. Tyler Weiss[-] 20. Steven Hilliker[-] 21. Matt Aber[-] 22. Guy Taylor[-] 23. Rich Robinson Jr.[-] 24. Bob Burch[-]
B Main 2 Finish:
1. Danny Schwartz[2] 2. Matt Huddleston[7] 3. Curt Spalding[3] 4. Jim Farris Sr[1] 5. Mike Chrisman[4] 6. Alan Stipp[11] 7. Dave Baker[8] 8. Ken Smith[16] 9. Pat Ehlert[15] 10. Kyle Strickler[9] 11. Ian Keller[13] 12. Barney Craig[22] 13. Mark Wooten[20] 14. Tim Richardson[12] 15. Bryce Jewell[5] 16. David Treon Jr.[14] 17. Nick Hoffman[6] 18. Roger Helmig[10] 19. Steve Brown[18] 20. Darrell Lowe[23] 21. Michael Neighbors[-] 22. Shawn Bayliff[-] 23. Kent Robinson[-] 24. Ed Shaner[-]
B Main 3 Finish:
1. Jeff Leka[2] 2. Jerry Bowersock[4] 3. Brian Lynn[1] 4. Justin Matson[3] 5. Nick Allen[6] 6. Jesse Bitterling[7] 7. John McCaul[19] 8. Jason Cox[9] 9. Brent Hole[10] 10. Rob Penny[12] 11. Gary Richard[11] 12. Charles Crego[5] 13. Rodney Morris[14] 14. Todd Feutz[16] 15. Vance Wilson[18] 16. Randle Sweeney[-] 17. Ed Roley[-] 18. Nick Rosselit[-] 19. Mike Roediger[-] 20. David Smith[-] 21. Nicholas Katterhenry[-] 22. Josh Greber[-] 23. Randy Korte[-] 24. Steve Billenstein[-]
B Main 4 Finish:
1. Todd Sherman[1] 2. Schuyler Nahre[2] 3. Jimmy Hayden[5] 4. Troy Marciniak[7] 5. Dan Arnold[10] 6. Justin Coulter[15] 7. Chad Evans[11] 8. Mike Hohlbein[20] 9. Jessie Snyder[16] 10. Kevin Miller[14] 11. Ben Adkins[3] 12. Brad Mcleod[9] 13. Justin Mccoy[8] 14. Bryant Dickinson[12] 15. Jonny Allen[13] 16. Lenny Guyton[24] 17. Kasey Schrock[17] 18. Shane Unger[18] 19. Jeff Leka[19] 20. Chad Rosenbeck[4] 21. Zeke McKenzie[6] 22. Davey Gantt[-] 23. Darryl Banks[22] 24. Mark Kowarsch[-]
Race of Champions Finish:
1. Brian Ruhlman[1] 2. Devin Gilpin[2] 3. Todd Sherman[4] 4. Mike Spatola[7] 5. Jeff Babcock[5] 6. Gary Cook Jr.[6] 7. Trent Young[8] 8. John McCaul[10] 9. Dean Hoffman[9] 10. Vance Wilson[14] 11. Tyler Weiss[13] 12. Rich Robinson Jr.[3] 13. Brian Post[-] 14. Lance Dehm[-] 15. Randle Sweeney[-]
