Vores Series race victory goes to Brown

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DeGRAFF – It was a strange sight at Shady Bowl Speedway on Saturday. There was no rain, no flooded parking lot, no cool winds for the first time in close to a month. The Vores front-wheel drive series headlined the night’s action.

Tom Gossar took the green flag to start the Vores feature and quickly built up a lead. Gossar looked like a sure winner until giving way to Justin Brown. The Indiana resident stayed out front and took the checkered. Local drivers Terry Eaton Jr., Justin Pope and Bo Hoelscher finished second through fourth. Chip Hitchman was fifth. Heat winners were B.J. Honious and Gossar. Hoelscher set a track record during qualifying with a 15.289 lap.

The 35-lap late model main was led into turn one by Brandon Basye, who was making his first start of the season. It only took four laps before fast qualifier Josh Smith took the lead. The Quincy driver never looked back as his Jamie Hunt Motorsports sponsored racer took the checkered. Don Mahaffey was second, Buddy Townsend was third, John Stroble was fourth and Kenny George Jr was fifth. Townsend was the dash winner with Jim Lewis Jr. taking the heat. Smith also took home the Amsoil Hard Charger award.

Jerry Stapleton of Troy pushed his Springhills Auto Parts backed open wheeler to the top spot in the 30-lap feature. The win was the first of the season for Stapleton. Mike Carroll challenged Stapleton but came up just short. Finishing third through fifth were Joe Pequignot, Logan McPherson and Shane Shirk. McPherson was the dash winner, with heat checkereds going to Buddy Townsend and Mike Schaffer. Brian Brandyberry was fast qualifier. Jason Burnside received the DeGraff Service Center Hard Charger award.

The street stock feature saw one of the wildest crashes ever at Shady Bowl. Buck Purtee was leading the event with fast qualifier Jacob Muncy trying to take the lead. On lap 14, the two made contact on the backchute. The melee sent Purtee on a wild ride that nearly saw him get upside down. Muncy hit the backchute wall hard. Muncy was transported to a local hospital and released. Both cars were heavily damaged. On the restart five time champion Rodney Roush put his M&M Head Service Chevelle out front. Josh Sage was second, with Jason Parsons third, Jake Heckman fourth and Chad Small II fifth. Sage took the dash, with Buck Purtee and Jason Parsons taking heat wins. The Ohlinger Automotive Hard Charger award was a tie between Jason Parsons and John Hicks.

The Pure Stock main saw defending champion Jason Purtee of DeGraff power his L&B Auto Repair Ford to his first win of the season. Zack Doolin saw his winning streak end as he was second. Ryan Tamburro, John Eastman and Zack Brandyberry finished out the top five. Purtee also was fast qualifier.

This Saturday, Shady Bowl will honor another of its fallen drivers with the running of the Ken Stookey Classic for street stocks. Stookey, from Springfield, was an icon in local racing, posting many feature wins. The 62-lap feature will pay $2,000. The Late Models, Modifieds, Pure Stocks, Compacts and spectator drag cars will be in action. It will also be a makeup event for the Emerson Agency Group.

Racing will start at 7 p.m.

Sunday will mark the second annual Bowl Bash demo derby.

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