Ron Bennett
For The New Era
Outlaw, Super Sport
& Sportsman Dirt Late Models
Lebanon, Oregon?..July 17
Bend, Oregon driver Rob Mayea led a ?posse? of Eastern Oregon Dirt Late Models over the Cascades to Willamette Speedway on Saturday night and showed the fans that a new leader of the Outlaw Dirt Late Model gang was in town along with seven other ?High Desert? country DLM teams.
The starting line-up for the 40 lap shoot-out saw four-time Willamette Speedway champion and defending Bud I-5 champ, Bob Boyd on the pole with Bend, Oregon?s Mark Carrell alongside. Behind this speedy pair, 15 of Oregon?s finest fell into line as the 17 car field came down for starter Bill Arnold?s opening lap green flag. Boyd grabbed the lead on lap one and appeared to be heading for the ?bank? as the slicing and dicing began deep in the pack as the eight fastest from time trials began their charge to the front. Boyd quickly built a quarter-lap lead as Carrell and Steve Moore were locked in a battle in the second and third spots. The crowd of cheering fans was stunned as the high flying Bob Boyd slowly rolled to a stop on lap 19 at the back-stretch pit-entrance as the engine died in the defending champ?s potent #97. The restart on lap 20 saw Steve Moore lead the pack back to the green flag as the second-half began. At this point, Randy Boyd, Mayea, Carrell and
Trevor Glaser made up the top five, with Kevin Keeney, trophy dash winner Bruce Hipple, Rick Hazen, Scott Byrum and Gary Smith in the top-10. That mid-point yellow was the only slowdown of the fast 40 lapper. As the drivers took a deep breath and tightened their seat-belts, the green-light at the backstretch restart cone flashed on and round-two of the battle began.
Mayea passed Randy Boyd for second on lap 22 and tracked down a very fast Steve Moore for the lap lead on lap 29. The closing laps belonged to Mayea but every position behind him was not ?locked-in? until the checkered flag fell. The official finish showed Randy Boyd, Trevor Glaser, Steve Moore and Bruce Hipple in the top five, with Rick Hazen, Mark Carrell, Scott Byrum, Dan Kingsberry and Kevin Keeney scoring top 10 finishes.
The crowd seemed to know that they had just seen an Outlaw Dirt Late Model classic that will go into the record books as a race to be remembered as one of the highlights of the 2004 season.
The 25 lap Super Sport feature saw only two quick yellow flags on lap eight and lap 12 for spun cars as the 14 fastest in the ?Steel block? division put on an exciting feature race.
The current top two in that division?s point standings finished 1-2 as second place points man Ron Burchard led points leader Bob Boyd to the checkered. 2003 Super Sport rookie-of-the-year winner Todd Shandy finished a close third and Scott Byrum drove the Robbie Hoefs ?Newport Candy Shop? #57 to a fourth place finish with Willamette Speedway?s ?Fastest Senior Citizen?, Glen Hackney, finishing in 5th place.
David ?The Dominator? Cronk missed a ?clean sweep? in the Sportsman division after posting fast-time, winning the Fast 4 Dash and winning the 25 lap Sportsman feature but failing to win the Sportsman fast heat where the fastest seven Sportsman cars nearly finished as they started in the high-speed, non-stop six-lapper where Cronk started and finished last in the event. Cronk, Steve Moore, Stacey Kreger, Jim ?Mighty Mouse? Sapp and Glenn Blanton, scored top-five finishes in the Sportsman feature event.
Summary: Sportsman division.
Fast time: 16.861 ? David Cronk-Portland.
Fast Four Trophy Dash ? Cronk.
1st Heat race: 1-Gary Archer-Brownsville, 2-Billy Slover-Salem, 3-Floyd Thorp-Albany.
2nd Heat race: 1-John Cooper-Halsey, 2-Charley Anderson-Dallas, 3-Dave Fotte-Coos Bay.
3rd Heat race: 1-Lance Cronk-Portland, 2-Steve Piefer-Lebanon, 3-Sue Futral-Sweet Home.
4th Heat race: 1-Dale Holland-Portland, 2-Chris Bishop-Lebanon, 3-Taylor Dittman-Turner.
5th Heat race: 1-Brad Landers-Lebanon, 2-David Perez-Lebanon, 3-Dave Kingsberry-Lebanon.
6th Heat race: 1-Todd Cummings-Sweet Home, 2-Glenn Blanton-Dallas, 3-Jason Sommer-Lebanon.
7th Heat race: 1-Mike Wolfe-Scotts Mills, 2-Bill Tewalt-Lebanon, 3-Justin Dittman-Turner.
D-Main event: 1-Gary Archer, 2-Billy Slover, 3-Derrick Larkin-Hillsboro, 4-Floyd Thorp, 5-Anne Campbell-Dallas, 6-Christian Keeney-Sweet Home, 7-Brad Tonkin-Lebanon, 8-David Bennett-Lebanon.
C-Main event: 1-Donald Schott-Portland, 2-Dave Foote, 3-Steve Piefer, 4-John Cooper, 5-Sue Futral, 6-Paul Moses Jr.-Stayton, 7-Mike Souther-Woodburn, 8-Jim Kimball-Marion, 9-Charley Anderson, 10-Lance Cronk, 11-Dave Schoker-Lebanon.
B-Main event: 1-Dave Kingsberry, 2-Brad Landers, 3-David Perez, 4-Chris Mott-Salem, 6-Bob Trusty-Scio, 7-Taylor Dittman, 8-Darryl Blanchard-Depoe Bay, 9-Chris Bishop, 10-Kevin Campbell-Dallas, 11-Stephen Kaptur-St. Helens, 12-Shawn Benton-Mill City, 13-Dale Holland, 14-Rob Burchard-Albany.
A-Main event: 1-David Cronk, 2-Steve Moore-Scio, 3-Stacey Kreger-Albany, 4-Jim Sapp-Albany, 5-Glenn Blanton, 6-Gregg Shandy-Albany, 7-Todd Cummings, 8-Jason Sommer, 9-Zac Hales-Scio, 10-Fred Lang-Dallas, 11-Justin Dittman, 12-Mike Wolfe, 13-Bill Tewalt.
Summary; Super Sport division.
Fast time: 16.158 ? Bob Boyd-Albany.
Fast Four Trophy Dash: Ron Burchard-Philomath.
1st Heat race: 1-Jason McKerrall-Dayton, 2-Robert Steele-Castle Rock, WA., 3-James Slover-Salem.
2nd Heat race: 1-Bob Kingsberry-Lebanon, 2-Tom Pitts-Lebanon, 3-Bob Day-Lebanon.
3rd Heat race: 1-Todd Shandy-Albany, 2-Ron Burchard, 3-Dean Archer-Halsey.
B-Main event: 1-James Slover, 2-Jason McKerrall, 3-Robert Steele, 4-Bill Payne, 5-Mike Deese-Merrill.
A-Main Event: 1-Ron Burchard, 2-Todd Shandy, 3-Bob Boyd, 4-Scott Byrum, 5-Glen Hackney-Lebanon, 6-Dean Archer, 7-Bob Day, 8-Michael Day-Salem, 9-Ron Berry- Salem, 10-Tony Seeley-Salem, 11-Tom Pitts, 12-Bill Story-Jefferson, 13-Randy Barley-Albany, 14-Bob Kingsberry.
Summary: Outlaw division.
Fast time: 15.349 ? Bill Workman-Aurora.
Fast Four Trophy Dash: Bruce Hipple-Salem.
1st Heat race: 1-Frank Hazen-Bend, 2-Mike Betker-Jefferson, 3-Clint Mitchell-Redmond.
2nd Heat race: 1-Dan Kingsberry-Lebanon, 2-John Campos-Redmond, 3-Virgil Bradbury-Aumsville.
3rd Heat race: 1-Bob Boyd-Albany, 2-Kevin Keeney-Sweet Home, 3-Steve Moore-Scio.
4th Heat race: 1-Trevor Glaser-Tangent, 2-Scott Byrum-Lebanon, 3-Rob Mayea-Bend.
B-Main event: 1-Dan Kingsberry, 2-Mike Betker, 3-Frank Hazen, 4-John Campos, 5-Wayne Sturdevant-Springfield, 6-Todd Maher-Salem, 7-Billy Workman Jr., 8-Don Piefer-Lebanon, 9-Andy Breshears-Lebanon, 10-Randy Sapp-Albany, 11-Virgil Bradbury, 12-Toby Mohr-Redmond, 13-Clint Mitchell-Redmond, 14-Brad Short-Metolius, 15-Jeff Wright-Newport.
A-Main event: 1-Rob Mayea, 2-Randy Boyd-Lebanon, 3-Trevor Glaser, 4-Steve Moore, 5-Bruce Hipple, 6-Rick Hazen-Bend, 7-Mark Carrell-Redmond, 8-Scott Byrum, 9-Dan Kingsberry (B-transfer), 10-Kevin Keeney, 11-Bill Workman, 12-Gary Smith-Lebanon, 13-Josh Eyerly-Albany, 14-Glen Hackney-Lebanon, 15-Bob Boyd, 16-Justin Evans-Salem, 17-Jayme Van-Portland, 18-Mike Betker (B-transfer-DNS).