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Mt. Orab Ford Opening Night at Moler Raceway Park!!

5-6-11, Williamsburg, OH - Mother Nature finally let up and Moler Raceway Park was able to get their 5th season underway Friday night. In the Sunesis Construction Late Model division it was Chad Stapleton of Edinburgh, Indiana and Richmond, Indiana’s Duane Chamberlain claiming heat race victories and setting the line-up for the 25 lap feature event. At the drop of the green flag Rick Combs spun to bring out the caution on lap one. Once racing got underway it was Chamberlain out front with Stapleton in pursuit. The guy on the move was Marty O’Neal with 11th starting Wayne Chinn following him on the outside. On lap eight Chinn passed O’Neal and Stapleton to take over second spot. On lap eleven O’Neal had a flat tire and was forced to restart from the tail. Chamberlain seemed to take control on the restart but with four laps to go Bradford, Ohio’s Wayne Chinn would take the top position and hold on to claim the first Feature event of the 2011 season driving the Gary Engle owned West Coast Freight, Quality Electrostatic Painting, KC Robotics Rayburn chassis machine. Chamberlain finished second followed by Rick Combs, Stapleton, and O’Neal rounding out the top five positions.

In the Mt. Orab Ford Modified Division it was past track champions Devin Gilpin (’10) and Doug Adkins (’08 & ’09) taking heat race wins and starting on the front row of the feature event. At the start Gilpin jumped out front but Adkins would lead the first lap. The two drivers had a furious battle throughout with neither car more than a single car length away from the other. With three laps to go it was Gilpin taking the lead in his Impressive Racecar powered by Mike Shell Racing Engines but coming for the checkered flag off of turn four Gilpin broke the front suspension and Adkins was able to narrowly inch by Gilpin at the line to take the win in his 239 Autogroup, Echo Cleaners, Poske Performance Parts sponsored machine. Gilpin was credited with second while Scotty Kincaid had a nice run to finish third followed by Rick Curtin and Jeff Arnold.

The Big Red Book Street Stock division had a field of fifteen cars to start the season and it was the familiar machines of Bub Balsley and Jeremie Bretz taking the heat race victories. In the feature event it was Bretz and Balsley slicing through traffic trading the lead five different times in the first twelve laps before Bretz was able to take the top spot for good. Defending track champion Jeremie Bretz would take his first victory of the season in his Pendleton Truck Sales, Blakes Tire & Automotive, Weeks Wrecker Service sponsored machine. Balsley would come home second followed by Jeremy Scott, Tony Anderson, and Perry Dearing.

The Holman Motor Chevette division would finish the evening’s events and they did not disappoint. In heat race action it was Georgetown’s Miles Tarvin and Hillsboro’s Rusty Yarger claiming victories and setting the line-up. At the green Yarger jumped out front but a lap four restart allowed Tarvin to flex his muscle and take the lead and start to run away with the race. Over the last two laps Yarger kept inching closer and on the final lap between turns three and four Yarger was able to make the inside line stick and beat Tarvin to the line by about 12 inches. Yarger went to victory lane in his Northwest Transmission, Roquet Designs, Wilson’s Body Shop Sponsored machine. Tarvin came home second followed by Sean Jones, Kevin Riggs, and Derick Davis in the top five positions. MRP would like to thank everyone for a Fantastic Opening Night. Racing was Awesome and everyone was glad to finally get back at it!! Hope to see everyone next May 13th for Holman Motors Chevette Special $1000 to Win!!