Texan holds off Kyle Bronson, NASCAR heavyweights to earn first ever Gator trophy
BARBERVILLE, Fla. - Feb. 12, 2013 - Rodney Sanders dominated the opening night of the 42nd Annual UNOH DIRTcar Nationals Presented by Summit Racing Equipment Tuesday night at Volusia Speedway Park.
"We were pretty good but I think we have to get it a little better, at the end it was kind of fading away," said Sanders, of Happy, Texas. "We went out on soft tires so we could get a start and hopefully stay up front after that. First time ever here it feels good to win one because I know they're tough here. There are a lot of good cars."
Sanders, who earned his fifth victory of 2013, led 19 of the 20 laps. After losing the lead to Bronson on lap 16, Sanders wasted little time moving back to the front. Bronson, of Brandon, Fla., held on to finish second.
"He got under me with about five to go and I didn't really know where to run in three and four but then he showed me," Sanders explained. "I thought he had a better car at the end but he just jumped the cushion."
Dale Mathison of Clearwater, Minn., finished third. NASCAR veteran Ken Schrader of Concord, N.C., finished fourth and Richard Childress Racing driver Austin Dillon of Welcome, N.C., rounded out the top five.
Matt Westfall of Pleasant Hill, Ohio, Matt Cooper of McKenzie, Tenn., Dave Hess Jr. of Waterford, Pa., and Kelly Shryock of Fertile, Iowa, claimed B-Main victories and Jeff Babcock of Wayne, Ohio, won the evening's Bulrush Dash for non-qualifiers.
There were 77 DIRTcar UMP Modifieds on hand for the first of eight nights of competition. Wednesday night's racing program will feature the UNOH All-Star Circuit of Champion Sprint Cars as well as the DIRTcar UMP Modifieds.
For more information, go to www.DIRTcarNationals.com . Follow the event on Twitter @DIRTcarNats and on Facebook at facebook.com/DIRTcarNationals.
A-Main (20 Laps) - 1. Rodney Sanders ($1,000), 2. Kyle Bronson, 3. Dale Mathison, 4. Ken Schrader, 5. Austin Dillon, 6. Bryce Jewell, 7. Ivedent Lloyd, 8. Kenny Wallace, 9. Jason Beaulieu, 10. Brian Ruhlman, 11. Justin Allgaier, 12. Tyler Carpenter, 13. Matt Westfall, 14. Kelly Shryock, 15. Devin Gilpin, 16. Mike Wedelstadt, 17. Ty Dillon, 18. Brian Shaw, 19. Gary Cook Jr, 20. Dave Hess Jr, 21. Joey Galloway, 22. Kody Weisner, 23. Matt Cooper, 24. J E Stalder.
Qualifying: - 1. Jason Beaulieu, 2. Kyle Bronson, 3. Joey Galloway, 4. Dave Hess Jr, 5. Brian Shaw, 6. Ty Dillon, 7. Brian Ruhlman, 8. Kelly Shryock, 9. Austin Dillon, 10. Shon Flanary, 11. Nick Hoffman, 12. Matt Westfall, 13. Kenny Wallace, 14. Collin Thirlby, 15. David Stremme, 16. Garrett Stewart, 17. Rodney Sanders, 18. Bryce Jewell, 19. Todd Neiheiser, 20. Kyle Strickler, 21. Mitchell Opatik, 22. Ken Schrader, 23. Paul Miles, 24. Justin Marks, 25. Mike Wedelstadt, 26. Jacob Poel, 27. Bobby Malchus, 28. Tyler Carpenter, 29. Dalton Lanich, 30. Dwight Niehoff, 31. Gary Cook Jr, 32. Jeff Babcock, 33. Richard Michael Jr, 34. Donovan Lodge, 35. Dave Baldwin , 36. Scott Mooers, 37. Denny Schwartz, 38. Dale Mathison, 39. Scotty Kincaid, 40. Nick Tharp, 41. Brendan Gaughan, 42. Todd Sherman, 43. Cory Daugherty, 44. Ivedent Lloyd, 45. Kody Weisner, 46. Matt Cooper, 47. Corey Seckerson, 48. Brandon Davis, 49. Larry Burkins, 50. Joel Ortberg, 51. Tony Anderson, 52. Kevin Gummere, 53. Jeff Thomas, 54. Mitchell Galloway, 55. Jonathan Taylor, 56. Joe Carr, 57. Shaun Daugharty, 58. Justin Allgaier, 59. Devin Gilpin, 60. J E Stalder, 61. Jared Allison, 62. Nate Zimmer, 63. Jake Griffin, 64. Trey Bryant, 65. Dave Wietholder, 66. Rob Underwood, 67. Masen Big Eagle, 68. Tyler Nicely, 69. Rick Wietekamp, 70. Troy Giralmo, 71. J.R. Mason, 72. Nick Kurtz, 73. Matt Craftin, 74. Nathan Seale, 75. Carl McGowin, 76. James Smith, 77. Lonnie Wagner.
Heat 1: 1. Kenny Wallace, 2. Ivedent Lloyd, 3. Justin Allgaier, 4. Scotty Kincaid, 5. Jeff Thomas, 6. Joel Ortberg, 7. Troy Giralmo, 8. J.R. Mason, 9. Trey Bryant, 10. Masen Big Eagle.
Heat 2: 1. Mike Wedelstadt, 2. Brian Ruhlman, 3. Matt Westfall, 4. Bobby Malchus, 5. Richard Michael Jr, 6. Denny Schwartz, 7. Corey Seckerson, 8. Jake Griffin, 9. Scott Mooers, 10. Tyler Nicely.
Heat 3: 1. Rodney Sanders, 2. Gary Cook Jr, 3. Matt Cooper, 4. Devin Gilpin, 5. Jeff Babcock, 6. Todd Sherman, 7. Nathan Seale, 8. Joe Carr, 9. Nick Hoffman, DNS. Lonnie Wagner.
Heat 4: 1. Ken Schrader, 2. Bryce Jewell, 3. Matt Craftin, 4. Tony Anderson, 5. Nick Kurtz, 6. Kyle Strickler, 7. Shaun Daugharty, 8. Brandon Davis, 9. Rob Underwood, DNS. Kevin Gummere.
Heat 5: 1. Kyle Bronson, 2. Ty Dillon, 3. Garrett Stewart, 4. Dave Hess Jr, 5. Paul Miles, 6. Brendan Gaughan, 7. Dave Wietholder, 8. Cory Daugherty, 9. Dwight Niehoff, 10. Nate Zimmer.
Heat 6: 1. Dale Mathison, 2. Tyler Carpenter, 3. J E Stalder, 4. Todd Neiheiser, 5. Jared Allison, 6. Mitchell Galloway, 7. Carl McGowin, 8. Jacob Poel, DNS. James Smith.
Heat 7: 1. Austin Dillon, 2. Brian Shaw, 3. Kelly Shryock, 4. Joey Galloway, 5. Shon Flanary, 6. Justin Marks, 7. Jonathan Taylor, 8. Mitchell Opatik, 9. David Stremme.
Heat 8: 1. Jason Beaulieu, 2. Kody Weisner, 3. Dave Baldwin , 4. Larry Burkins, 5. Dalton Lanich, 6. Rick Wietekamp, 7. Collin Thirlby, 8. Donovan Lodge, 9. Nick Tharp.
B-Main 1: 1. Matt Westfall, 2. Justin Allgaier, 3. Richard Michael Jr, 4. Corey Seckerson, 5. Bobby Malchus, 6. Tyler Nicely, 7. Denny Schwartz, 8. Joel Ortberg, 9. Jeff Thomas, 10. Jake Griffin, 11. Scott Mooers, 12. J.R. Mason, 13. Troy Giralmo, 14. Masen Big Eagle, 15. Scotty Kincaid, DNS. Trey Bryant.
B-Main 2: 1. Matt Cooper, 2. Devin Gilpin, 3. Jeff Babcock, 4. Nick Hoffman, 5. Todd Sherman, 6. Shaun Daugharty, 7. Tony Anderson, 8. Nick Kurtz, 9. Rob Underwood, 10. Brandon Davis, 11. Nathan Seale, 12. Kevin Gummere, 13. Matt Craftin, DNS. Kyle Strickler, DNS. Joe Carr, DNS. Lonnie Wagner.
B-Main 3: 1. Dave Hess Jr, 2. J E Stalder, 3. Todd Neiheiser, 4. Cory Daugherty, 5. Paul Miles, 6. Dave Wietholder, 7. Nate Zimmer, 8. Garrett Stewart, 9. Brendan Gaughan, 10. Jared Allison, 11. Mitchell Galloway, 12. Carl McGowin, DNS. Jacob Poel, DNS. Dwight Niehoff, DNS. James Smith.
B-Main 4: 1. Kelly Shryock, 2. Joey Galloway, 3. Dave Baldwin , 4. Shon Flanary, 5. Larry Burkins, 6. Justin Marks, 7. Jonathan Taylor, 8. Rick Wietekamp, 9. Dalton Lanich, 10. Donovan Lodge, 11. Mitchell Opatik, 12. Collin Thirlby, 13. David Stremme, 14. Nick Tharp, 15. Jake Griffin.
BulRush Dash: 1. Jeff Babcock, 2. Richard Michael Jr, 3. Cory Daugherty, 4. Todd Sherman, 5. Bobby Malchus, 6. Nick Hoffman, 7. Tyler Nicely, 8. Shon Flanary, 9. Dave Wietholder, 10. Justin Marks, DNS. Todd Neiheiser, DNS. Dave Baldwin , DNS. Corey Seckerson, DNS. Paul Miles, DNS. Larry Burkins, DNS. Shaun Daugharty.
The DIRTcar UMP Modified portion of the University of Northwestern Ohio DIRTcar Nationals by Summit Racing Equipment is brought to fans by several sponsors and partners including Summit Racing Equipment, Hoosier Racing Tires, Chevy Performance, University of Northwestern Ohio, Arizona Sports Shirts, Auto Meter, Bell Helmets, Beyea Custom Headers, Bilstein Shocks, Cool Shirts, Dominator Race Products, Fast Shafts, FK Rod Ends, Fragola Performance Systems, Impact Race Products, Intercomp, Landrum Springs, Racing Electronics, Vicci, KSE Racing Products, MSD Ignition, QA1, Quarter Master, Schoenfeld, XS Power Racing Batteries, VP Racing Fuels, and Wrisco Aluminum.
