Thriller on the Hill
by Ken Cunningham

MILLERSBURG OH - Sept.. 8 / 2006
Friday night at Hilltop Speedway they welcomed a full field of open competition Sprint Cars from throughout the close region along with Hilltops finest weekly racers. Hard core race fans packed the house and got exactly what they paid for
with nearly non stop high speed wheel to wheel racing excitement. Sprint cars headlined
tonights show and at the drop of the green flag Brandon Martin jumped into the early lead over Rob Chaney then expertly worked heavy traffic to complete a non stop race to the checkers
and a career first 410 Sprint feature win for Martin. What followed next was the closest race in Hilltop Speedways short history as
Eric Myers, Ryan Markham, and Scott Peltz were all within striking distance for the win and under the checered flag it was Peltz by a nose.
It seemed like a sure win for points leader Kevin Morehouse in the early stages of the Modified feature but
after a side by side battle Kyle Brown thought otherwise and powered into Victory Lane for a first Hilltop Speedway win. Pure Stock action saw a career first feature win by Denny Shear and another first Hilltop win went to J. R. Cagle in the Mini Stocks for a perfect end to the night.

Hilltop Speedway has been experiencing constant growth since the first race on May 21 of this year and already the spectator parking and pits have doubled original size. Plans are currently underway to add new grandstand seating in preparation for future shows along with many other improvements. Hilltop Speedways inaugural year has been phenomenal to say the least thanks to great race fans and great racers. Never have those two facts been more obvious than last Friday night as a standing room only crowd witnessed five premier divisions square off in this tiny arena beginning with Open Competition Sprints. John Ivy set fast time at a blistering 13.056 seconds around the 5/16ths mile dirt oval while Mark Keegan and Jason Dolic scored heat wins. Hungry for a hometown win Rob Chaney won the fast six closely followed by Brandon Martin of Attica and Jamie Martin of Orrville. After a brief intermission the cars were pushed off and quickly took their position when the green flag turned the stellar field loose. Starting outside front row Brandon Martin powered into the first corner and came out ahead of Rob Chaney for the lead he would not relinquish. Jamie Martin pulled alongside Chaney down the backstretch for second as Jason Dolic and Caleb Griffith set up a side by side battle that would last to the end. It took less than 5 laps before race cars consumed the entire track as Brandon Martin effortlessly weaved in and out of traffic. John Ivy turned up the heat and caught the second place Jamie Martin and took the point. The halfway flags were displayed with Brandon Martin firmly in the lead with John Ivy in pursuit and soon after Rob Chaney and Lee Jacobs overtaking Jamie Martin for the top five at the checkers. Jac Neville was the evenings hard charger advancing from fifteenth to seventh.

The excitement was far from over with Late Models and Modifieds up next. Rick Bond scored a Late Model heat win while Ryan Markham won the fast six. The feature event began with Eric Myers in the lead being pursued by Ryan Markham. Only a few laps in Mark Gardiner let Markham know he was on his bumper and actually got alongside for two laps. Meanwhile the # 15 of Scott Peltz pulled away from John Boyd and after a three lap battle with Gardiner caught frontrunners Markham and Myers. At the white flag it was still anybodys race with Peltz now at a slight advantage inside of Myers and down the backstretch. The final corner a blanket could cover the three contenders but it was Peltz by a bumper ahead of Myers for a first Hilltop win. The Modified feature took the green and immediately went four wide with David Hittle, Charlie Duncan, Derrick Hubbard, and Anthony Kincade out of turn two. Kevin Morehouse quickly settled into the lead but his comfort zone was soon invaded by Kyle Brown as those two would go down to the wire side by side. Close behind Norm Aronhalt was behind the wheel of his awesome Phantom 309 doing battle with Jess Hartman. A lot would change by race end but Kyle Brown charged ahead to win his first feature event at Hilltop ahead of Morehouse, Allan Baker, Charlie Duncan, and Rory Reed. Heats went to Baker and Duncan while Morehouse won the fast six.