El Paso, Texas (January 24, 2014) West Virginia’s John Blankenship has had a fast race car the last two weeks. Blankenship has also had his share of bad luck. Blankenship was fastest in time trials on two occasions at Tucson International Raceway’s Winter Extreme but he was unable to parlay that success into a win in Arizona. But it seems Blankenship turned a corner during Friday’s Battle at the Border opener at El Paso Speedway Park in El Paso, Texas. Blankenship set the tone by again qualifying fastest overall and picking up a heat race win. Blankenship redrew the fifth starting position to start inside of the third row for the 30 lap feature. “We had a really fast car. But starting fifth in a 30 lap race makes it tough for sure. If that yellow didn’t come out I am not sure I would have been able to catch Billy (Moyer)” Blankenship said.

Moyer took control early on by blasting past inside pole-sitter Mason Zeigler on the opening lap and then stretched his lead to a full straightaway. Moyer diced his way through lap traffic and was able to maintain his lead as the event approached the halfway point. But Moyer’s huge lead was erased when the yellow flag waved for a spun Kent Robinson in turn two. Blankenship had moved by Zeigler for second and set after Moyer at the drop of the green flag. Blankenship immediately went to work on Moyer pulling even to the inside of the 21 on several occasions. Blankenship made it count on lap 17 as he pulled ahead of Moyer exiting turn four.

From there it was all Blankenship as he simply ran off and hid from the rest of the field. The only challenges to Blankenship’s lead came in the form of heavy lap traffic. On more than one occasion Blankenship had to make a daring three wide move or thread the needle to move by the lappers. But Blankenship persevered and drove away for the $3000 victory. “The bottom was really good for me on that restart. I knew that our car was really fast and if I did my job we had a really good shot to win. We had some tight squeezes with the lap cars there. A couple of times I tried to lift and ease by them but when I did I picked up a push. So I just had to run hard and get through there.” Blankenship added.

The NDRL drivers will continue with Round #2 of Battle at the Border on Saturday, January 25th when they will be battling for $5000. For more information on the National Dirt Racing League visit www.thendrl.com where you can find a complete schedule and much more. You can also keep up with the NDRL via Twitter at @the_NDRL and you can also “Like” the National Dirt Racing League’s fan page on Facebook.

El Paso Speedway Park
NDRL Battle on the Border
January 24, 2014

Feature
1 23 John Blankenship Williamson, WV $3,000
2 21 Billy Moyer Batesville, AR
3 25Z Mason Zeigler Chalk Hill, PA
4 58 A.J. Diemel Elk Mound, WI
5 19 Tim Fuller Watertown, NY
6 43 Garrett Alberson Las Cruces, NM
7 28 Jimmy Mars Menomonie, WI
8 21JR Billy Moyer, Jr Batesville, AR
9 24 Rick Ortega Las Cruces, NM
10 98D Dave Deetz Las Cruces, NM
11 14 Sean Bray Tucson, AZ
12 85J Steve Francis, Jr Rio Rancho, NM
13 72 Jeff Whyman Los Lunas, NM
14 75 Terry Phillips Springfield, MO
15 19R Ryan Gustin Marshalltown, IA
16 111 Max Blair Titusville, PA
17 56 Tony Jackson, Jr Lebanon, MO
18 27 Nick Bartels El Segundo, CA
19 7K Jason Krohn Slayton, MN
20 86 Kyle Beard Trumann, AR
21 7R Kent Robinson Bloomington, IN
22 19T William Thomas Phenix City, AL
23 911 Cliff Hansen El Paso, TX
DNS 33 David Karst Casper, WY

Heat #1
1 21 Billy Moyer Batesville, AR
2 21JR Billy Moyer, Jr Batesville, AR
3 7R Kent Robinson Bloomington, IN
4 75 Terry Phillips Springfield, MO
5 24 Rick Ortega Las Cruces, NM
6 56 Tony Jackson, Jr Lebanon, MO
7 14 Sean Bray Tucson, AZ
8 85J Steve Francis, Jr Rio Rancho, NM

Heat #2
1 25Z Mason Zeigler Chalk Hill, PA
2 19R Ryan Gustin Marshalltown, IA
3 43 Garrett Alberson Las Cruces, NM
4 19 Tim Fuller Watertown, NY
5 7K Jason Krohn Slayton, MN
6 98D Dave Deetz Las Cruces, NM
7 72 Jeff Whyman Los Lunas, NM
8 911 Cliff Hansen El Paso, TX

Heat #3
1 23 John Blankenship Williamson, WV
2 111 Max Blair Titusville, PA
3 19T William Thomas Phenix City, AL
4 58 A.J. Diemel Elk Mound, WI
5 28 Jimmy Mars Menomonie, WI
6 86 Kyle Beard Trumann, AR
7 33 David Karst Casper, WY
8 27 Nick Bartels El Segundo, CA

First group: Billy Moyer (21), Batesville, Ark., 15.776 Billy Moyer Jr. (21jr), Batesville, Ark., 16.082 Kent Robinson (7r), Bloomington, Ind., 16.102 Terry Phillips (75), Springfield, Mo., 16.378 Tony Jackson Jr. (56), Lebanon, Mo., 16.886 Sean Bray (14), Tucson, Ariz., 17.408 Rick Ortega (24), Las Cruces, N.M., 17.443 Steve Francis Jr. (85jr), Rio Rancho, N.M., 17.659

Second group: Mason Zeigler (25z), Chalk Hill, Pa., 15.751 Ryan Gustin (19r), Marshalltown, Iowa, 15.81 Garrett Alberson (43), Las Cruces, N.M., 15.879 Tim Fuller (19), Watertown, N.Y., 16.051 Jason Krohn (7k), Slayton, Minn., 16.193 Dave Deetz (98D), Las Cruces, N.M., 17.024 Jeff Whyman (72), Los Lunas, N.M., 17.717 Cliff Hansen (911), El Paso, Texas, 19.124

Third group: John Blankenship (23), Williamson, W.Va., 15.261 Max Blair (111), Titusville, Pa., 15.776 Kyle Beard (86), Trumann, Ark., 15.978 William Thomas (19), Phenix City, Ala., 16.117 Jimmy Mars (28), Menomonie, Wis., 16.21 A.J. Diemel (58), Elk Mound, Wis., 16.405 David Karst (33), Casper, Wyo., 16.45 Nick Bartels (27), El Segundo, Calif., no time

For more information on the National Dirt Racing League including a complete 2014 schedule point your web browsers over to www.thendrl.com You can also keep up with all the latest up-to-the-minute news by following the NDRL on Twitter at @The_NDRL and you can also find us on Facebook located at https://www.facebook.com/nationaldirtracingleague If you have further questions or needs you can also contact NDRL Series Director Kelley Carlton at kcarlton@thendrl.com or call (864) 871-1442.

Official NDRL 2014 Sponsors:
Hoosier Racing Tires, VP Race Fuels, Arizona Sport Shirts, Keyser Manufacturing, Schaeffer’s Racing Oil and Lubricants, Capital Race Cars, Rocket Chassis, AR Bodies, C&R Racing Inc., DirtonDirt.com, Bell, DirtWrap, Genesis Shocks, CV Products, Jason Dietsch Trailer Sales, JRi Shocks, and JNJ Motorsports Media.

The list of 2014 partners continues to grow, if you have questions or comments or if you are interested in becoming a sponsor of the NDRL contact Series Director Kelley Carlton at (864) 871-1442 / kcarlton@thendrl.com or NDRL Marketing Director Jason Babyak at (602) 647-0649 / jbabyak@thendrl.com.