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sprinter14
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| Joined: | Wed Aug 12th, 2009 |
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Posted: Fri Sep 18th, 2009 06:18 am |
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Sunday evening, September 13th, Wheelersburg, Ohio's Phil Harding did what only 2 other drivers have managed to do in 2009. He was able to become only the 3rd driver to back-up a win and repeat in the 2009 season. Harding won the Pete Cottontail Classic on April 11th. In fact, Harding had not been back until this past weekend's "Carl's Townhouse 30". So it is 2 wins in his last 2 appearances and 2 for 3 overall at Lunbeck in 2009.
Time Trials were paced by "Uncle" John Roush who set fast time at 7.62 over the 9 kart field, narrowly edging out Mike May who was second quick at 7.65. The field was divided into 2 heats with the top 3 inverted in each heat and the first 2 finishers moving into the dash.
Jamie Roush, who timed in only 7th quick, was able to charge from his 4th starting spot in heat #1 to claim the win over John Roush. The second heat went to 3rd starter Mike May followed by harding, Scott Salyers and Ty Roush.
The dash was lined straight up from time trials with John Roush and Mike May bringing the field to green. But it was Harding who was hungriest for the win and he charged through the field to take the win.
The B-main event found heavy hitters Jason Spillman and Jon Singleton competing. Spillman was able to get the best of Singleton with Salyers, Ty Roush and John W Roush trailing at the finish. But Singleton proved lucky in NOT beating Spillman in the "B" because the "6" pill was pulled inverting the top 6 starters.
The "Carl's Townhouse 30" was next up on the agenda and everyone was expecting yet another torrid battle between Singleton and Spillman who shared the front row. Indeed Singleton got out to the early lead and looked tough. But lurking from the 6th starting spot was Phil Harding.
The first caution was for the #77 of John Wayne Roush who tagged the frontstretch wall and dropped from competition. Singleton continued to lead after the restart, but shortly before halfway, Singleton had mechanical issues and coasted to a stop in turn 3, ending his run at the point. This turned the lead over to Spillman and the standing room only crowd began heading for the parking lot.
But another Lunbeck Warrior was on the move as Mike May on the #72M put an inside move on Spillman off turn 4 and took over the lead. May slowly began to widen the gap as the laps wore on and Spillman wound up engaged in a 3 way battle with John Roush and the hard charging Harding. Harding was finally able to get to 2nd and once clear of the battle, he began to close in on May, whose handling was clearly going away with every lap.
Harding was patient and waited for the right time to make his move and then set sail looking for his second LKA win. But it wasn't over yet, as Spillman, who had fell as far back as 5th, was now clearly on the move late! The "Lunbeck Intimidator" Spillman was able to get back to the runner-up spot late and even made the pass on Harding for the lead, but a caution would revert scoring to the last completed lap.
With a late race shootout remaining, Harding was able to hold off Spillman and Spillman, in a desperation attempt to win it off turn 4, got a little high and that allowed Jamie Roush to slip through for 2nd. Spillman was 3rd with May, Salyers and Singleton rounding out the finishers.
In victory lane, Harding was quick to thank his crew and family and said "Lunbeck Speedway is just the greatest little racetrack in the world and promoter Aaron Fry does one heck of a job with this place."
Jason Spillman was able to widen his points lead over John Roush and now only 4 races remain in the 2009 LKA points chase. The next event is the 2nd annual "Dottie Lucas Memorial" presented by SS Promotions on Sunday, September 27th. This event will have a slightly different format that the usual LKA procedure, but it will be a full points race.
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