Markham and Hartman Take Seconds
by Ken Cunningham

Millersburg Ohio - June 25 - Good fortune smiled on "Flyin" Ryan Markham of Ashland and Jess Hartman of Zanesville after they collected their second consecutive feature wins at Hilltop Speedway. Markham powered his Late Model from fifth in the starting grid into the lead over Eric Myers as laps counted down. Jess Hartman fought off the advances of Norm Aronhalt and Kyle Brown the entire event to claim the Modified feature event. Both drivers scored feature wins at Hilltop last week. Also claiming first place monies during this Sunday afternoon event were Brad Channell in the Pure Stocks, Mark Adkins in the Mini Stocks, and Jeff Funk in the new Mini Truck division.

 

With 26 Late Models checked in Scott Peltz set fast time and a new track record while the following heats went to Corey Conley and Doug Drown. Eric Myers claimed the pole starting position by winning the fast dash but was somewhat unsure about what his new MastersBuilt car was capable of but gained a lot of confidence as he shot into the lead when the green flag dropped on the feature event. Within three laps Myers was stretching his lead over Thomas Baker and Mark Gardiner but a yellow flag soon waved with Doug Drown charged the penalty and tightened the field. One lap after the restart Baker slipped in turn two and joined Drown on the tail. Green flag racing resumed with Myers , Gardiner, Conley, Charlie Duncan, and Markham the top five but Conley lost power and retired from competition just as several cars stacked up in turn two, this time the judgement going against Clint Coffman. That would be the final caution only now Myers had Markham right on his tail followed by Gardiner and a hard charging J.R. Gentry, up from 12th. After suffering damage in a previous pileup hard charger Eric Smitley had advanced 11 positions to pass Dave Hornikel for fifth. Up front Myers and Markham ran side by side for several laps before the 5m finally cleared the CRM Colored Mulch machine of Myers for good on lap seventeen. As the race neared the end Drown had rebounded to hound both Smitley and Gentry as Rocky Owens also picked off cars one by one to join the frontrunners. Under the checkers it was Markham first with Mark Gardiner overtaking Myers by inches for second followed by Gentry, Smitley, Drown and Owens in seventh. Filling the top ten were Duncan, Hornikel, and Coffman. In Victory Lane Markham replied " These are my best friends right behind me tonight, any one of us could have won this race and I think we gave the fans a great show tonight !"

 

Although Jess Hartman lead the distance for the second week in a row, the Modified feature event was every bit as exciting. Kyle Brown stayed within striking distance of Hartman and would often pull alongside but could never complete the pass by running the low groove. Norm Aronhalt was running flat out along the high side sometimes bouncing off the the guardrail and kept constant pressure on both. The field was thinned when Rory Reed pulled of with broken steering, Tom Conley an untimely flat tire, and a front stretch crash that left Chrish Basich and Justin Morey unhurt but stacked on top of each other and out of the competition. Under the checkers it was Hartman, Brown, Aronhalt, Kevin Morehouse, and Randy Gray the top five. Not to be outdone an impressive field of Pure Stocks rolled onto the track next led by Travis Mensching and Brad Channell and the action quickly became fast and furious. An early accident occured when Todd Werntz put his incredible '57 Chevy sideways in front of the pack and was T-Boned by Tim Myers Fine '55 Chevy. Werntz continued but Myers was out with a spilled radiator. Mensching and Channell were joined by Troy Anderson and Donna Canode to make it a 4 way battle up front with the race decided under the flagstand and a surprised Channell pulled into Victory Lane. " Going into the final corner I was going to be happy with third. Just luck I picked the right line to beat these guys".

 

It was once again a pair of Adkins up front in the Holmes Tire Mini Stock feature only this time separated by a Honda driven by Travis Gray for much of the race. Andy Parks recovered from a bad start to chase down the front runners and eventually overtake Gray for third but it was Mark Adkins this weeks winner followed by Terry Adkins, Parks, Gray and Justin Brown the top five. Making their debut at Hilltop Speedway were eleven Mini Trucks. After leading several laps Brandon Craver was chased down and passed for the lead and win by Jeff Funk. Filling the top five were Tim Jensen, Jesse Combs, and Rick Jensen. All of tonights feature winners were presented trophys for their efforts by the Reverend and Mrs Reed, Hilltop Speedways official track chaplains.

 

RESULTS

Late Models:
1st Heat - Corey Conley, Charlie Duncan, Rick Armstrong
2nd Heat - Doug Drown, Dave Hornikel, J. R. Gentry
Dash - Eric Myers, Mark Gardiner, Thomas Baker, Scott Peltz, Ryan Markham, Rocky Owens
Feature - Markham, Gardiner, Eric Myers, Gentry, Eric Smitley, Drown, Owens, Duncan, Hornikel, Clint Coffman, Brad Malcuit, Ty Myers, Armstrong, Baker, Randy Scott, Conley, George Lee, Peltz

Modifeds:
1st Heat - Kevin Morehouse, Randy Gray, Rory Reed
2nd Heat - Davis Carter, Larry Kugel, Matt Bee Aber
Dash - Norm Aronhalt, Jess Hartman, Kyle Brown, Tom Conley, Chris Basich, David Hittle
Feature - Hartman, Brown, Aronhalt, Morehouse, Gray, Kugel, Jesse Wisecarver, Carter, Aber, Mark Enos, Keith Tish, Rory Reed, Bob Sims, Conley, Justin Morey, Basich, Hittle, Gary McGregor

Pure Stocks:
1st Heat - Travis Mensching, Chad Craver, Verne Siegrist
2nd Heat - Brad Channell, Dave haven Sr., John Swinehart
3rd Heat - Troy Anderson, Donna Canode, Randy Nisley
Feature - Channell, Mensching, Anderson, Canode, Haven, Craver, Nisley, Siegrist, Swinehart, Denny Shear, Fred Snyder,
Don Baney, Mike Griner, Tom Fultz, Todd Werntz, Haven, Aaron Harris, Tim Myers

Holmes Tire Mini Stocks:
1st Heat - Travis Gray, Justin Brown, Jerry Adkins
2nd Heat - Andy Parks, Mark Adkins, Rick Maffett
3rd Heat - Terry Adkins, Ed Ray, Brad Hensel
Feature - Mark Adkins, Terry Adkins, Parks, Gray Brown, Steve Miller, Jerry Adkins, Hensel, Maffett, Ray, Neil Nisley, Roger Hunt,
Rodney Lint, Brian Dawson, Matt Searls, Kevin Lint, Jeremy Lucas, Sean Rush

Mini Trucks:
1st Heat - Brandon Craver, Jesse Combs, Tom Garlick
2nd Heat - Tim Jensen, Scott Shafer, Dale Mong
Feature - Jeff Funk, Craver, Jensen, Combs, Rick Jensen, Shafer, Mong, Garlick, Tiffany Combs