April30th2007

THE WEEKLY SMACK BY DJ RADANOVICH
APRIL 30TH, 2007

Once again we travelled to our home track of Midvale, the little 3/10 mile track nestled in the
foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, and it turned out to be one of the best nights of
racing I've seen there in a long, long time. Since the weather was not cooperating earlier in
the day I was wondering if we were even going to get this one in this week, but Mother
Nature finally came around and I'm glad she did.

To start the evening off there was plenty of good heat race action and there was a really
nice autograph session as well. Several of the drivers took part and the Shoney's Bear
was there as well. After the autograph session was over the first feature of the night was
the first of three Compact features. Ron Myers and Tad Grove ripped through the field but
Myers had this one covered as he brought home his first win of the season. Following
Myers to the stripe was Grove, Steven Feister, David Breehl, and Kelly McNutt.

Next out was the Advanced Auto Parts Late Models and what a race these guys put on.
Dusty Woodie and Bob Schneider, Jr. raced side by side for several laps, as Mike Miller,
John Ambrose, and top qualifier Ryan Tedesco marched their way to the front. Earlier in
the evening I heard some drivers say that rolling three dice for the invert was too much, but
it was perfect for the fans. There was action and side by side racing for most of the race
and it was truly an entertaining event from the fans view. Woodie was able to hold off Greg
Beule, Mike Miller, John Ambrose, and Ryan Tedesco for his first feature win of the year.
While the rest of the pack was coming down for the checkered, contact was made between
the #18 of Mark Willison and the #14 of William Robinson and they eventually collected the
#22 of Ron Jaberg Jr and the #55 of Darrel Dexter. Dexter took the brunt of the wreck as he
hit the wall head on just past the flag stand. No one was injured in the accident.

The next event to take the track was the second feature for the Compact division. Tammy
Ruefner was victorious as she held off a hard charging Gabe Pringle for the win. Russell
Grandison was third, followed by Michael Keefe and Jesse Page.
Next up the Tusco Net Sport Stocks and there was some pretty good racing in this race as
well until Kevin McClintock broke loose from the field and won by a considerable margin.
In victory lane McClintock said in all of his years in racing that this was the best car ever
put under him. Following McClintock to the checkered was Bill Aubihl, Nick Grubbs, Blake
Mackey who put on a great charge at the end, and Randy Smart.

Next out was the third and final Compact feature and Ryan Kopp put a move on that
reminded me of a sprint car driver. While taking a high line through turn three and gaining
momentum down the front stretch, Ryan maneuvered his way between Paul Stull and Kyle
Lawson for the feature win. Following Kopp was Pat Carnes, Tim Rodgers, Paul Stull, and
Kyle Lawson. Ryan was so happy with his win he didn't know what to say, telling me he's
new to this. Well Ryan, keep driving like you did and there will be more. Great job Ryan.
The 20 lap Midvale Speedway Pure Stock feature turned out to be a dandy as the race
reminded me of the old days when I raced in this division. Doug Higgins, who's car was
stout on the outside, passed Todd Miller for the lead, but to win he had several hard
challenges from Mike Phillips Jr. and Chester McMasters. Going into turn three, Phillips
had a strong run but wound up making contact with Higgins sending Higgins spinning and
Phillips to the tail. After that incident, Chester McMasters and Higgins raced side by side
for a majority of the race putting on the best race of the evening. After several cautions,
McMasters would put the heat on Higgins, but as the two came out of turn four sideways,
the collected their cars and while racing into turn one McMasters tried the inside of
Higgins, sending the leader spinning for the second time in the event. Like Phillips,
McMasters was sent to the tail and Higgins held off Doug Decker, Rich Schweitzer, Phillips,
Jr., and Teddy Oliver for the win. Kudos to McMasters and Higgins for a spectacular race
as the two dueled side by side for most of the race, and they raced each other clean. Good
job guys, that's what we wanna see.
In the final event of the evening Don Ruefner Jr. won the eight lap Figure Eight race
followed by Lennie Orr, Ryan Kopp, and Jim Poole.

In summary, this was a fantastic night of racing put on by the fine folks at Midvale
Speedway, and with all that went on the racing action concluded at 10:20 PM. The racing
action was great and I believe that the three dice helped this out a ton. The program went
very smooth, such as how quick cars were to get lined up and on the track, the track crew
was quick to clean up accidents, cars that spun or lost power were quick to get off the
track, and best of all, drivers who drove dirty were black flagged immediately. People don't
build cars to crash them constantly and the track management does recognize that. I
rarely give these out, but Midvale deserves an A+ for this weeks program. Good job to all.

Seventeen contestants signed up for the Midvale Fantasy Challenge and for those of you
who did, thank you very much. Some folks did not submit their picks for the week but the
results will be posted on 5/1.

Next week the Bentfenders.com crew will be at Sandusky for the MSA Super Modifieds to
and we hope to bring you the fans some great images from the racing up there. In the
meantime, SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL RACETRACK! -DJ

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