Bluegrass Speedway 2221 New Haven Road Bardstown

Bluegrass Speedway
2221 New Haven Road
Bardstown, Kentucky 40004

2008 Media Release #33 (For Immediate Distribution: July 12, 2008)

Marlar Makes It Pay in 10th Annual Kentuckiana Klash at Bluegrass Speedway

Bardstown, KY-July 12, 2008- Bluegrass Speedway presented the 10th Annual Kentuckiana Klash for the O’Reilly Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar Series Super Late Models on Saturday evening and Mike Marlar of Winfield, TN would become the second repeat winner of the season in Super Late Model action by claiming the $5,000 to win event. Other feature winners for the evening were Willie Edelen of Bardstown, KY in Street Stocks and Jason Wheatley of Loretto, KY would score his second straight Kentucky Cooperage Modified feature win.

Don O’Neal would take the lead at the start of the 40 lap, $5,000 to win 10th Annual Kentuckiana Klash event, followed by Dustin Neat, Kevin Claycomb, Jason Keltner, and Mike Marlar. Marlar would take fourth from Keltner on lap 2 and claim third from Claycomb on lap 3, only to have Claycomb reclaim the position one circuit later. Brad Neat would begin challenge Keltner for fifth on lap 6, but could not pull off the pass. The first caution of the race would fly on lap 9 when Scotty Earl and Eric Wells would spin in turn two. The restart would see Marlar from fourth to second, as the field would get jumbled up a bit behind race leader O’Neal exiting turn two, with Brad Neat going to fifth past Keltner. Caution would fly again on lap 10 for debris on the race surface. This restart would see Claycomb go past Marlar for second, with Brad Neat passing brother Dustin Neat for fourth. Victor Lee would begin to challenge Dustin Neat for fifth on lap 15, but could not make a pass. Marlar would slide past Claycomb for second on lap 17, but the caution would fly again one lap later as Dustin Neat would make heavy contact with the end of the turn three wall after suffering a broken tie rod, ending his evening.
Back under green, Marlar would start to challenge O’Neal for the top spot, looking beneath O’Neal at both ends of the track. The final caution of the event came on lap 21 when a battle for seventh between Tim Tungate and Jason Keltner resulted in a spin in turn two, with damage to severe to both cars for them to be able to continue. Back under green for the final time, Marlar would turn up the wick in his challenge for the race lead, with the pair trading slidejob passes on lap 25, before Marlar would claim the lead on lap 26. Marlar would begin to pull away and over the final ten circuits of the event, would open almost a full straightaway lead over O’Neal, who was receiving repeated challenges from Claycomb for the runner-up slot. Meanwhile, Lee was pressuring Brad Neat for fourth, but could not muster enough to take the spot. The front five would remain the same over the final laps, with Marlar claiming the victory aboard the Tracy Seymour owned T&R Logging/Miller’s Used Cars/Southern Ohio Wood/ Larry Strickland Logging/Team Impact Racing Decals/Wayne Bowen Racing Supply sponsored #17 Rocket Chassis, Vic Hill Race Engines powered machine. O’Neal, Claycomb, Brad Neat, and Lee would complete the top five. Rounding out the top ten were Michael England, Tyrel Todd, Joey Kramer, David Webb, and Dustin Linville. In preliminary action, Kevin Claycomb would be the Racing Optics Top Qualifier among 38 entries with a lap of 15.724 seconds. Heat race checkered flags went to Kevin Claycomb in Wayne Bowen Racing Supply heat one, Jason Keltner in K&N Performance Engineering heat two, Don O’Neal in Graphic Impressions heat three, and Dustin Neat in Real Racing Wheels heat four. Jeff Watson and Chris Combs would win the B-Main events, while Zach Carney and Larry Gray earned series provisional starts, with Bryant Woodcock earning the track provisional.

In Street Stock action, Willie Edelen would be the man of the evening as Edelen would lead all 12 laps of this division’s feature event in claiming his third win of the season at Bluegrass Speedway. The win for Edelen would come behind the wheel of his Edelen Tire and Graphics/Walker Transmissions/George Mattingly/Wilson Brothers/Seager Enterprises sponsored #K9 Chevy Impala machine. Terry Greenwell would hold off the repeated challenges of last week’s winner Jason Priddy to score runner-up honors in the event. Roy Skaggs would garner fourth place honors at the checkered flag in the feature event, with Joe Walker completing the top five. In earlier action, Greenwell would be top qualifier among 11 entries, with Edelen also winning the dash, while Johnny Cecil would be the heat race victor.

The Kentucky Cooperage Modified main event would see Randy Turpin take the initial race lead, but Turpin would surrender the lead to Jason Wheatley on a lap 3 restart and Wheatley would never look back and would lead the remaining 18 laps of the open-wheel feature race and score the win as rain drops would start to fall as the checkered flag was displayed. The win by Wheatley would be in the seat of the Tommy and Kaylee Wheatley owned, B&W Metals/Rosewood Bar and Grill/Gootee and Mattingly Heating and Air/Central Kentucky Plumbing/Cozy Corner/VFM Manufacturing/Wheatley Tile Flooring/Wheatley Seamless Gutters/Wheatley Auto Sales/Springfield Auto and Farm/Brady Excavating/Top Notch Landscaping/Nukem Graphics/St. Joe Garage/Wayne Bowen Racing Supply sponsored #7 Hughes Racing Chassis, Mullins by Wheatley powered entry. Turpin would hold off the charges of Benji Lee to take second, with Benji Lee third, while Jeff Stith and Robbie Gullion would round out the top five. A pair of heat events would be contested, with those checkered flags going to Turpin and Gullion.

SUMMARY-Bluegrass Speedway-Bardstown, Kentucky-July 12, 2008
O’Reilly Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar Series Super Late Models (38 entries)
Racing Optics Top Qualifier- Kevin Claycomb 15.724
Wayne Bowen Racing Supply Heat #1(Top 4 Advance)- Kevin Claycomb, Brad Neat, Joey Kramer, Victor Lee, Scotty Earl, Zach Carney, Derek Fisher, April Farmer, Chad Stapleton, Bryant Woodcock
K&N Performance Engineering Heat #2 (Top 4 Advance)- Jason Keltner, David Webb, Michael England, Dustin Linville, Jeff Watson, Larry Gray, Duke Whiseant, Joe Janowski, Ed Behn (DNS-Terry English)
Graphic Impressions Heat #3 (Top 4 Advance)- Don O’Neal, Mike Marlar, Jordan Bland, Tyrel Todd, Steve Barnett, Joey Tackett, Ricky Arms, Lee Devasier, Anthony Ferguson
Real Racing Wheels Heat #4 (Top 4 Advance)- Dustin Neat, Tim Tungate, Mike Jewell, Eric Wells, Chris Combs, Aaron Hatton, Rodney Combs, Arnie Fields, Royce McGowan
B-Main #1 (Top 2 Advance)- Jeff Watson, Scotty Earl, Larry Gray, Zach Carney, Joe Janowski, April Farmer, Ed Behn, Chad Stapleton, Bryant Woodcock (DNS-Derek Fisher, Duke Whiseant, Terry English)
B-Main #2 (Top 2 Advance)- Chris Combs, Aaron Hatton, Steve Barnett, Ricky Arms, Arnie Fields, Rodney Combs, Joey Tackett, Royce McGowan, Anthony Ferguson, Lee Devasier
Series Provisionals- Zach Carney, Larry Gray
Track Provisional- Bryant Woodcock
10th Annual Kentuckiana Klash O’Reilly A-Main- Mike Marlar, Don O’Neal, Kevin Claycomb, Brad Neat, Victor Lee, Michael England, Tyrel Todd, Joey Kramer, David Webb, Dustin Linville, Mike Jewell, Jordan Bland, Chris Combs, Aaron Hatton, Larry Gray, Eric Wells, Bryant Woodcock, Jeff Watson, Zach Carney, Jason Keltner, Tim Tungate, Scotty Earl, Dustin Neat