Bluegrass Speedway

2221 New Haven Road

Bardstown, Kentucky  40004

Official Media Release #9 (For Immediate Release-April 27, 2008)

Mike Marlar Makes It Two Straight Spring Sizzler Wins at Bluegrass Speedway

Bardstown, KY-April 26, 2008- Mike Marlar of Winfield, TN would take the race lead on lap 18 and never look back in scoring his second straight Spring Sizzler victory in the 11^th Annual Spring Sizzler for the O’Reilly Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar Series Super Late Model division on Saturday evening at Bluegrass Speedway in Bardstown, KY.  Other feature winners included Logan Whitis of Hustonville, KY in WBRT 1320-AM Sportsman and Benji Lee of St. Joe, KY in Kentucky Cooperage Modifieds. 

The 11^th Annual Spring Sizzler O’Reilly A-main would go green with Jordan Bland jumping to the race lead, with Mike Marlar, Joey Daniel, Victor Lee, and Terry English in pursuit, after a caution on the start that saw Jason Keltner, Dustin Neat, and Ed Behn tangle in turn two.  Lee would take third from Daniel on the restart, with English also nipping at Daniel’s heels, with English garnering the four spot on lap 4.  Tyrel Todd would make his way into the top five on lap 6, while Bland was putting some distance on second place at this point.  As the field received the halfway signal, Bland would begin to catch slower traffic and carefully worked his way through the slower cars, with Marlar closing up on Bland’s rear bumper on lap 16.  Marlar would make his move two circuits later and would fire a turn three slidejob pass on Bland and have the lead at the stripe.  With Marlar beginning to pull away at this point, Lee would begin to challenge Bland for second, while Don O’Neal would battle with Terry English for fifth, before claiming the spot on lap 26.  Lee would increase his challenges of Bland and would take the second position on lap 28 and would begin to reel in Marlar, but would run out of laps, as the second generation Tennessee native would see the checkered flag first in the Steve Estes owned, Estes Race Engines/Wayne Bowen Racing Supply/Glenn Hensley Trucking/Stephens Motorsports sponsored #78 C.J. Rayburn Race Cars, Estes Race Engines powered machine to claim his second straight Spring Sizzler event victory.  Lee and Bland would be second and third, while Todd would nip O’Neal in a photo-finish for fourth.  The remainder of the top ten would be Terry English, Joey Daniel, Brad Neat, Aaron Hatton, and Joey Kramer.  In preliminary action, Don O’Neal was the Racing Optics top qualifier among 34 entries with a lap of 15.446 seconds.  Heat race checkered flags to Jordan Bland in Wayne Bowen Racing Supply heat one, Victor Lee in K&N Performance Engineering heat two, Mike Marlar in Graphic Impressions heat three, and Joey Daniel in Real Racing Wheels heat four.  The B-Main checkered flags fell to Dustin Neat and Chris Combs, with series provisionals going to Jason Keltner and Greg Johnson, while the track provisional would be Ed Behn.

In WBRT 1320-AM Sportsman action, Logan Whitis would make his first-ever visit to Bluegrass Speedway a successful one as he would lead all 15 laps of the Sportsman feature event, staving off the repeated challenges of Roger Cecil to claim the victory in his inaugural main event at the ½ mile Nelson County oval.  Whitis would score the win aboard the Back and Body Chiropractic/Chiffton Steel/Beldon’s Concrete/Polly’s II Shoe Outlet/Whited Auto Sales/B&K Tire/Atwood Brothers Detail and Tinting sponsored #12w Chevy Monte Carlo.  Cecil would score runner-up honors, with Avral Thompson, Barry Chesser, and Sam Huffer completing the top five.  Rounding out the top ten would be Daroyl Samples, Eldon Martin, Lois Campbell, Tim Lohden, and Rob Jones.  Time trials among 14 entries saw Pat Hagan as top qualifier, with the dash being won by Cecil, while Chesser would be victorious in the heat event.

The 20 lap Kentucky Cooperage Modified feature event would be a wild affair, with Freddy Garmon flipping his mount after contact with the outside retaining wall just 3 laps into the main event.  Once action resumed, Josh Lucas would settle into the early lead on the Open-Wheel main event, but would be repeatedly challenged by Benji Lee.  With the pair of former track champions dueling for the top spot, Lee would slip past Lucas around the midpoint of the event, with Jason Wheatley also working past Lucas as well.  The final caution of this event would see third place running Randy Turpin spin his mount in turn two, but would be able to continue.  The final four circuits would see Lee hold off the challenges of Wheatley and pick up the feature checkered flag in his Thompson Heat and Air/Smart Shopper/B&B Motorsports/Springfield NAPA Auto and Farm/Kirker Automotive Finishes/St. Joe Garage/Brian Ballard Motorsports sponsored #03 Bandit Race Cars, Dale Meers Performance Engines powered entry.  Wheatley would claim second, with Lucas third, while Robbie Gullion and Kelly Warren rounded out the top five.  Completing the top ten would be Joe Mattingy, Kevin Bryant, Randy Turpin, J.T. Ayers, and Jeff Stith.  Heat race assignments were determined by the pill draw among 21 entries and those checkered flags fell to Lucas and Turpin.

SUMMARY-Bluegrass Speedway-Bardstown, KY-April 26, 2008

O’Reilly Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar Series Super Late Models (34 entries)

Racing Optics Top Qualifier- Don O’Neal 15.446

Wayne Bowen Racing Supply Heat #1- Jordan Bland, Tyrel Todd, Don O’Neal, David Webb, Dustin Neat, Brad Neat, Jeff Glisson, Jamie Ferguson, Jason Keltner

K&N Performance Engineering Heat #2- Victor Lee, Terry English, Chris Wilson, Eric Wells, Cody Mahoney, Doug Smith, Anthony Ferguson, Bryant Woodcock, Tim Prince

Graphic Impressions Heat #3- Mike Marlar, Mike Jewell, Joey Kramer, D.J. Wells, Larry Gray, Arnie Fields, Royce McGowan, Shannon Thornsberry

Real Racing Wheels Heat #4- Joey Daniel, Aaron Hatton, Tim Tungate, Zach Carney, Greg Johnson, Chris Combs, Jason Durham, Ed Behn

B-Main #1- Dustin Neat, Brad Neat, Cody Mahoney, Jason Keltner, Doug Smith, Anthony Ferguson, Bryant Woodcock, Jeff Glisson, Tim Prince, Jamie Ferguson

B-Main #2- Chris Combs, Larry Gray, Greg Johnson, Jason Durham, Arnie Fields, Royce McGowan, Ed Behn, Shannon Thornsberry

Series Provisionals- Jason Keltner, Greg Johnson

Track Provisional- Ed Behn

11^th Annual Spring Sizzler O’Reilly A-Main- Mike Marlar, Victor Lee, Jordan Bland, Tyrel Todd, Don O’Neal, Terry English, Joey Daniel, Brad Neat, Aaron Hatton, Joey Kramer, Chris Wilson, Zach Carney, Tim Tungate, Dustin Neat, David Webb, Jason Keltner, Larry Gray, Chris Combs, Eric Wells, Greg Johnson, D.J. Wells, Ed Behn, Mike Jewell

WBRT 1320-AM Sportsman (14 entries)

Top Qualifier- Pat Hagan

Dash- Roger Cecil, Logan Whitis, Pat Hagan, Avral Thompson, Nathan Wells, Rob Jones

Heat- Barry Chesser, Sam Huffer, Daroyl Samples, Tim Lohden

Feature- Logan Whitis, Roger Cecil, Avral Thompson, Barry Chesser, Sam Huffer, Daroyl Samples, Eldon Martin, Lois Campbell, Tim Lohden, Rob Jones, Pat Hagan, Homer Barger, Tim Parson (DNS- Nathan Wells)

Kentucky Cooperage Modifieds (21 entries)

1^st Heat- Josh Lucas, Kevin Bryant, Kelly Warren, Dion Benningfield

2^nd Heat- Randy Turpin, Jason Wheatley, Benji Lee, Robbie Gullion