IPOWER DASHes Into Lake Erie Speedway

            North East, PA ( June 5, 2004 ) - The IPOWER DASH Series flew into Lake Erie Speedway on Saturday night for a special 150 lap event.  Fans enjoyed some great racing, and an on-track autograph session with all of the IPOWER Series drivers, despite the unseasonably cool weather.

            The IPOWER DASH Series 150 lap feature was an exciting special feature race, taken by the #24 of Johnny "Bandit" Chapman, from Stoney Point , North Carolina .  The #97 of David "Outlaw" Hutto started on the pole with a fast time of 15.842 seconds.  There was trouble early, as the hood of the #75 of Eric "Lightning" Wilson flew up onto the windshield of his car, causing him to drive blind for several laps, until pole-sitter Hutto and the #11 John "Blade II" McClurg spun in turn three.   On lap eleven, the #2 car of Scott Weaver, who posted the fastest practice time earlier in the day, took over the lead, and Hutto came roaring back from his earlier spin to take over third spot.  The DASH cars settled down for a bit after that, with Chapman running neck and neck with Weaver for the lead, and Hutto a close third.  In turn three, on lap 35, Chapman dove under Weaver to take the lead, which he never relinquished again.  Shortly after that, the #10 of Danny "Joker" Bagwell also got under the #2 with a nice move to take over second.  Caution slowed the field on lap 58, bunching all the cars back up for some side by side racing action.  On the restart, Weaver's car misfired, sending Weaver from the top three to near the rear of the field.  Weaver began battling back, and then the mid-point caution came on lap 78, allowing the field to come in and pit. 

            After the restart, Weaver started maneuvering again, getting back up to fourth on lap 87, taking the spot in turn one from Hutto.  The race continued up front for second, with Bagwell and the #9 of Ned "Nitro" Combs, fighting for second, with Chapman holding down the lead.  On lap 118, Combs and the #37 of Brandon "Blade" Ward made contact on the front stretch, bringing out another caution.  At lap 123, the field was red-flagged for oil down on the track.  After the spill was cleaned, the cars were set for a 19 lap shootout to the finish.  When several warm-up laps were complete, the green dropped, and the drivers were anxious to get back to racing.  So anxious in fact, that the pole-sitter Hutto and the #55 of Matt "Screaming Eagle" Barnes crashed in turn two, slowing the field down with 10 laps to go.

            IPOWER's race policy is to never let a race finish under caution, so after a delay to clean up debris from the wreck, the shootout took place with four laps remaining.  When the green flag fell, it was Chapman who continued his night-long dominance, taking home the trophy in Gatorade Victory Lane .

            The Quality Markets Bandolero feature was a tight affair.  The #98 of Grant Kirik and the #17 of Chris Bailey, Jr tangled for the lead for almost the entire race.  Kirik looked to be in control, but with two laps remaining, Bailey took advantage of some slower traffic, moving to the lead and taking the victory, his third of the season.  Kirik finished second, and the #8 of Justin Hines came home third.  Bailey, Kirik, and Hines are also first, second, and third in Bandolero points this season, matching their finishing orders.

            The Pepsi Legends was a three man show on Saturday night, featuring the #14x of Eric Hammill, the #66 of Rodney Harrower, and the #9 of Larry Occhibone.  All three men fought for the lead for almost the entire 25 laps, with Hammill and Harrower going side by side for laps at a time, with Occhibone right on their bumpers.  After some great back and forth action, that saw neither driver able to take a definitive lead, Hammill made his move with 7 laps to go. Hammill finally was able to take sole posession of the front spot on the backstretch and was able to take home the checkered flag.

            The Jensen's Target Collision Figure 8's rounded out the night at Lake Erie Speedway with some good action.  The drivers started on opposite sides of the track, and there were several near-hits.  In the end, the #66 of Bob Morgan overcame some apparent mechanical troubles to take home his first victory of the 2004 season.

IPOWER Jam Time Qualifying Times (Car #, Car Name, Time)

1. 97 David Hutto "Outlaw" 15.842

2. 2 Scott Weaver "Slingshot" 15.900

3. 24 Johnny Chapman "Bandit" 15.940

4. 17 Mike Watts "Maxim" 15.893

5. 10 Danny Bagwell "Joker" 16.072

6. 9 Ned Combs "Nitro" 16.110

7. 37 Brandon Ward "Blade" 16.123

8. 11 John McClurg "Blade II" 16.146

9. 75 Eric Wilson "Lightning" 16.163

10. 55 Matt Barnes " Screaming Eagle" 16.405

11. 99 Robert Bruce "Bad to the Bone" 16.408

12. 7 Alan Powell "Big Fun" 16.525

13. 01 Ray Paprota "Pioneer" 16.637

14. 48 Richard Callihan "Empty Pockets" 17.483

Quality Markets Bandoleros Heat

Heat One

1. 17 Chris Bailey, Jr.

2. 98 Grant Kirik

3. 42 Nathan Rodgers

4. 34x Jesse Downes

5. 7 Michael Earley

6. 32x Michaela Downes

Heat Two

1. 3 Jesse Helsley

2. 8 Justin Hines

3. F18 Eric Redmond

4. 71 James Paul Weisser

5. 12 Patrick Lyden

Pepsi Legends Heat

Heat One

1. 14x Eric Hammill

2. 66 Rodney Harrower

3. 38w Dan Weaver

4. 19 Tim Hoegel

5. 1 Steve Fabin

6. 46 Steve Kunz

Heat Two

1. 9 Larry Occhibone

2. 35 Ken Jackson

3. 76 Dennis Shilling

4. 9h Ed Hoegel

5. 50 Russ Garrison

6. 22 Bill Lyden

Jensen's Target Collision Figure 8 Heat

Heat One

1. 1 Don Prischak

2. 66 Bob Morgan

3. 8 Mike Kernohan

4. 0 Dan Prischak

IPOWER DASH Series Feature Results

1. 24 Johnny Chapman "Bandit" 

2. 10 Danny Bagwell "Joker" 

3. 2 Scott Weaver "Slingshot"

4. 17 Mike Watts "Maxim"

5. 37 Brandon Ward "Blade"

6. 99 Robert Bruce "Bad to the Bone"

7. 9 Ned Combs "Nitro"

8. 7 Alan Powell "Big Fun"

9. 97 David Hutto "Outlaw"

10. 55 Matt Barnes " Screaming Eagle"

11. 48 Richard Callihan "Empty Pockets"

12. 11 John McClurg "Blade II"

13. 01 Ray Paprota "Pioneer"

14. 75 Eric Wilson "Lightning"

Quality Markets Bandoleros Feature

1. 17 Chris Bailey, Jr.

2. 98 Grant Kirik

3. 8 Justin Hines

4. F18 Eric Redmond

5. 42 Nathan Rodgers

6. 71 James Paul Weisser

7. 34x Jesse Downes

8. 3 Jesse Helsley

9. 32x Michaela Downes

10. 7 Michael Earley

11. 12 Patrick Lyden

Pepsi Legends Feature

1. 14x Eric Hammill

2. 66 Rodney Harrower

3. 9 Larry Occhibone

4. 35 Ken Jackson

5. 1 Steve Fabin

6. 38w Dan Weaver

7. 19 Tim Hoegel

8. 9h Ed Hoegel

9. 76 Dennis Shilling

10. 50 Russ Garrison

11. 46 Steve Kunz

12. 22 Bill Lyden

Jensen's Target Collision Figure 8 Feature

1. 66 Bob Morgan

2. 8 Mike Kernohan

3. 0 Dan Prischak

4. 1 Don Prischak