Anderson earns Limaland’s Steve Brown Memorial

5/30/2015

Limaland Motorsports Park

Anderson earns Limaland’s Steve Brown Memorial

(5/29/15) – For the second consecutive week, the Limaland Motorsports Park Budweiser Thunderstocks division sported a duel between the two leading point’s contenders, Elida’s Tony Anderson and Shawn Valenti of Fostoria. Almost identical to the previous Friday night, Anderson carved out a late race pass and made it stick to the checkered flag. This time it meant a fourth career win in the coveted Steve Brown Memorial and an extra $1,000 payout.

Valenti, the pole sitter, controlled the lead through a series a cautions extending to lap number 11 of the 18-lap special feature. “Shawn had the topside covered,” said Anderson. “I played around it a little side-by-side. If I was gonna win, I just drove to the middle/inside and made it work.”

It was a thrilling door panel rubbing battle between the two drivers with around five laps remaining. Anderson orchestrated the defining pass on lap sixteen and held on for a pair of late race restarts. The first with two laps and then finally a white flag restart leading to his third triumph of the season and 35th of his career at the track.

“Winning this race leaves me a little emotional,” revealed an obviously choked up Anderson on the front straight winner’s circle. “I thank the Brown family for helping me in 2001 when I was hurt. Without them I might not be racing here today.”

The K & L Ready Mix NRA Sprint Invaders 25-lap feature was a somewhat rare flag-to-flag event, although there was a pair of different leaders and edge of the seat action throughout. Similar to Anderson, eventual winner Max Stambaugh also calls Elida his town of residence, and that might suggest there is an advantage (psychological) having the race facility situated in the same community.

Veteran Jared Horstman, second to Stambaugh in NRA Sprint division point’s, blasted to the lead from his pole starting position. Horstman, searching for a first feature win this season, has a handful of podium finishes to his credit, and appeared as though this might be a breakout evening. He topped the field of 21 cars for the opening six laps using the high side of the banked racing surface.

Stambaugh stuck close with Horstman on the lead except he chose a much lower racing line around the track. He then made an impressive move that gave him the lead over Horstman rolling through turn two on lap six. Randy Hannagan soon occupied the second position and proceeded to pressure Stambaugh as they journeyed through lapped traffic.

“I figured if Horstman or Hannagan was going to beat me, they were going to have to do it on top because my car was working really well at the bottom,” said Stambaugh afterward. “This was a good race as I had to drive hard the whole time.” Notably the field of cars eventually followed Stambaugh with the lower line racing grooves. The event turned out to be caution-free with Stambaugh posting his second consecutive win on the season and strengthening his division point’s lead.

Maybe the most anticipated showdown of the night was the 20-lap finale for the K & N UMP Modifieds. NASCAR veteran Ken Schrader joined the mix with the usual cast of drivers in the highly-competitive division. Schrader has been at Limaland Motorsports Park previously and has won the feature on both occasions. On this night he won his heat race and gave every appearance he would be tough to handle in the main event.

Schrader, from Missouri, took over the lead from pole starter Ryan Sutter of Coldwater, Ohio with an outside pass on lap number three. At that point, it might be easy to believe Ken Schrader would dominate the field for the duration of the race. On this evening, point’s leader Jeff Koz had other ideas. “I thought once Schrader got out in front I wouldn’t have much for him,” admitted Koz during post race questioning.

Koz of Lima, a multiple time winner in the Stocks division, had never won a Modifieds feature in his brief career in the division. He stayed on the bottom of the track as Schrader insisted touring around near the outer wall. Koz made his crucial pass for the lead on lap number eight and held on through a restart on lap eleven and eventually took the checkered flag. Schrader never came down from the top of the track and finished fourth behind Shawn Valenti and Indiana’s Zeke McKenzie.

“We made a few changes on the car from the heat race and it was really working low on the track,” noted Koz. “This is absolutely awesome for me to finally win in this division, it’s so tough here.” He becomes the fourth different winner in Modifieds this season and qualifies for the season-ending Reineke Family of Dealerships King of the Quarter Mile races.

Limaland Motorsports Park returns to action on Friday, June 5, with the Open Wheel Shootout, featuring the visiting BOSS Wingless Sprints. Also the K & L Ready Mix NRA Sprint Invaders and the K & M UMP Modifieds will compete. Gates open at 5:00 p.m. with hot laps at 6:30 p.m. Racing begins promptly at 7:30 p.m.

All the latest news and information about America’s premier quarter-mile dirt track can be found at www.limaland.com.

Limaland Motorsports Park - 5/29/2015
Darrell & Ora Brown Night

McDonald’s Dash (5 Laps)

46-Andy Bibler; 2. 16-Jeff Koz
10-Scott Bowersock; 4. 9V-Shawn Valenti

Bud Thunderstocks
Heat 1 - (8 Laps - Top 8 Transfer)

27-Frank Paladino; 2. 22T-Tony Anderson; 3. 99-Andy King;
OOP-Dean Pitts; 5. 19-Bill Reimund; 6. 53-Shane Aeschliman;
52G-Stacey Gazarek

Heat 2 - (8 Laps - Top 8 Transfer)

7B-Shawn Valenti; 2. 7C-Jordan Conover; 3. 17J-Jarrod Klay;
32-Scott Boyd Jr.; 5. 1W-Dan Wooten; 6. 1-Alex Lacognata;
OO-Caleb Knotts

Heat 3 - (8 Laps - Top 8 Transfer)

82-Chris Douglas; 2. 2-Shayne Meadows; 3. 89-Keith Schockery;
23-Rob Trent; 5. 26-Justin Long; 6. O1-Trever Monk; 7. 1J-Jj Butler

A-Main - (15 Laps) [#]-Starting Position

22T-Tony Anderson[4]; 2. 7B-Shawn Valenti[1]; 3. 27-Frank Paladino[2];
82-Chris Douglas[3]; 5. 23-Rob Trent[12]; 6.19-Bill Reimund[13];
99-Andy King[7]; 8. 2-Shayne Meadows[6]; 9. 89-Keith Schockery[9];
1-Alex Lacognata[17]; 11. O1-Trever Monk[18]; 12.17J-Jarrod Klay[8];
1J-Jj Butler[21]; 14. 52G-Stacey Gazarek[19]; 15. 32-Scott Boyd Jr.[11];
OOP-Dean Pitts[10]; 17. 7C-Jordan Conover[5]; 18. 26-Justin Long[15];
53-Shane Aeschliman[16]; 20. OO-Caleb Knotts[20]; 21. 1W-Dan Wooten[14]

K&L Ready Mix NRA Sprints
Heat 1 - (8 Laps - Top 7 Transfer)

23-Devon Dobie; 2. 6M-Max Stambaugh; 3. 35-Ron Blair; 4. 11-Tim Allison;
6S-Jr Stewart; 6. 8J-Jess Stiger; 7. 57-Mike Dunlap

Heat 2 - (8 Laps - Top 7 Transfer)

22H-Randy Hannagon; 2. 31N-Rod Henning; 3. 83-Kyle Sauder;
12R-Nick Roberts; 5. 5W-Jeff Williams; 6. 12J-Tyler Moore;
15-Brandon Ferguson

Heat 3 - (8 Laps - Top 7 Transfer)

10X-Dustin Stroup; 2. 17-Jared Horstman; 3. 49-Shawn Dancer;
B20-Butch Schroeder; 5. 22R-Kevin Roberts; 6. 28H-Hud Horton;
27R-Kyle Locke

A-Main - (25 Laps) [#]-Starting Position

6M-Max Stambaugh[3]; 2. 22H-Randy Hannagon[5];
17-Jared Horstman[1]; 4. 10X-Dustin Stroup[4]; 5. 49-Shawn Dancer[9];
23-Devon Dobie[6]; 7. 83-Kyle Sauder[8]; 8. 6S-Jr Stewart[13];
31N-Rod Henning[2]; 10. 11-Tim Allison[10]; 11. 35-Ron Blair[7];
8J-Jess Stiger[16]; 13. 28H-Hud Horton[18]; 14. 22R-Kevin Roberts[15];
57-Mike Dunlap[19]; 16. 15-Brandon Ferguson[20]; 17. 12J-Tyler Moore[17]; 18. 27R-Kyle Locke[21]; 19. 12R-Nick Roberts[11];
B20-Butch Schroeder[12]; 21. 5W-Jeff Williams[14]

K&N UMP Modifieds
Heat 1 - (8 Laps - Top 5 Transfer)