ROSSBURG, Ohio — 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[-]
