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Marlar impressively passes 19 cars to finish third

Spring Valley, MN- July 8, 2017- Chris Madden found his way to Victory Lane to claim his second World of Outlaws Craftsman® Late Model Series win of the season during the 38th Annual Gopher 50 at Deer Creek Speedway.

“We had a great car and I would like to thank my guys who worked hard this week to get this thing ready for me,” said Madden. “This win is for my crew member, Brian. His mom passed away earlier this week and he had to leave us.”

The 50-lap feature event saw three different leaders including Rodney Sanders, Devin Moran and Madden. Sanders held on to the lead for the first 22 laps of the feature before being passed by Rookie of the Year contender, Moran, who had made his way to the front from a fourth position start.

Moran held off charges from Sanders, Jimmy Mars and eventually Madden, despite multiple restarts derived from cautions- Joey Coulter with a left rear flat (lap 26), a tangle between Eric Wells, Jason Yaggy, Chris Simpson, and Nick Anvelink (lap 28), and Chad Mahder who got turned around on turn two (lap 39).

On lap 43, Moran and Madden ran door-to-door down the front stretch and into turn one. The close side-by-side action resulted in contact between the pair causing Moran to get spun around in turn two bringing out the yellow flag which ultimately sent the no.9 to the tail of the 24-car field. By the time the checkers fell, Moran had made his way to finish 17th.

“We ran the top there and got to going good and you know guys want to run the bottom and the top and I was there and I hate it for him,” said Madden.

Mars battled with Moran for most of the feature before being passed by Madden for second on lap 38.

“We were probably a third-place car there,” said Mars, who finished second in the feature. “Just kind of a bad deal there between Madden and Moran. We were going to run third and we got second I guess. We will take second and move on to the next race.”

Mike Marlar passed an impressive 19-cars to finish third in the feature at Deer Creek Speedway. Marlar has joined the Series during six races this season and has found his way to the podium four times.

“A wise guy told me today that I would finish on the podium and I don’t know how that happened after such a bad start,” said Marlar. “I would just like to thank this racetrack. This is probably the most racey track I’ve ever been to. This place is awesome and I hope [the fans] really treasure this place. This is an awesome racetrack.”

The field at Deer Creek Speedway for the 38th annual Gopher 50 was stacked with 36 Late Models and a full house of fans. The World of Outlaws Craftsman Late Model Series has an action-packed week coming up with three races in three days at Ogilvie Raceway on July 12, Hibbing Raceway on July 13, and River Cities Speedway on July 14.

Gopher 50 at Deer Creek Speedway Results:

Feature: 1. 44- Chris Madden[7]; 2. 28- Jimmy Mars[6]; 3. 157- Mike Marlar[22]; 4. 1- Brandon Sheppard[12]; 5. 18c- Chase Junghans[3]; 6. 20- Rodney Sanders[1]; 7. 1*- Chub Frank[17]; 8. 14m- Morgan Bagley[23]; 9. 99j- Frank Heckenast Jr[8]; 10. 91- Tyler Erb[5]; 11. 15- Nick Anvelink[18]; 12. 58D- A.J. Diemel[16]; 13. 18- Eric Wells[20]; 14. 7W- Ricky Weiss[13]; 15. 40B- Kyle Bronson[14]; 16. 25- Shane Clanton[10]; 17. 9- Devin Moran[4]; 18. 68- Mike Prochnow[21]; 19. 77- Jordan Yaggy[9]; 20. 7- Rick Eckert[2]; 21. 2c- Joey Coulter[24]; 22. 33x- Chad Mahder[11]; 23. 32- Chris Simpson[19]; 24. 25s- Chad Simpson[15]

Craftsman Club Non-Qualifiers Feature: 1. 98- Jason Rauen[1]; 2. 29- Spencer Diercks[2]; 3. 85- John Kaanta[2]; 4. 90- Lance Matthees[4]; 5. Tyler Bruening[12]; 6. 6m- Jeff Massingill[3]; 7. 11- Pat Doar[6]; 8. 15D- Justin Duty[10]; 10. 54- Mike Fryer[8]; 11. 44N- Darrell Nelson[5]; DNS. Jason Krohn

Last Chance Showdown 1: 1. 1*- Chub Frank[1]; 2. 32- Chris Simpson[2]; 3. 68- Mike Prochnow[5]; 4. 14m- Morgan Bagley[3]; 5. 98- Jason Rauen[8]; 6. 6m- Jeff Massingill[10]; 7. 44N- Darrell Nelson[7]; 8. 29- Spencer Diercks[4]; 9. 15D- Justin Duty[9]; 10. 7K- Jason Krohn[6]

Last Chance Showdown 2: 1. 15- Nick Anvelink[5]; 2. 18- Eric Wells[3]; 3. 157- Mike Marlar[1]; 4. 85- John Kaanta[2]; 5. 90- Lance Matthees[6]; 6. 11- Pat Doar[8]; 7. 54- Mike Fryer[7]; 8. 2c- Joey Coulter[4]; 9. 58- Dave Eckrich[9]; 10. 16T- Tyler Bruening[10]; 

Heat 1:  1. 44- Chris Madden[3]; 2. 91- Tyler Erb[1]; 3. 77- Jordan Yaggy[2]; 4. 7W- Ricky Weiss[4]; 5. 1*- Chub Frank[6]; 6. 14m- Morgan Bagley[5]; 7. 68- Mike Prochnow[7]; 8. 44N- Darrell Nelson[9]; 9. 15D- Justin Duty[8]

Heat 2: 1. 9- Devin Moran[1]; 2. 99j- Frank Heckenast Jr[2]; 3. 25- Shane Clanton[4]; 4. 40B- Kyle Bronson[5]; 5. 32- Chris Simpson[3]; 6. 29- Spencer Diercks[6]; 7. 7K- Jason Krohn[8];  8. 98- Jason Rauen[7]; 9. 6m- Jeff Massingill[9]

Heat 3: 1. 18c- Chase Junghans[1]; 2. 28- Jimmy Mars[3]; 3. 33x- Chad Mahder[5]; 4. 25s- Chad Simpson[4]; 5. 157- Mike Marlar[2]; 6. 18- Eric Wells[8]; 7. 15- Nick Anvelink[6]; 8. 54- Mike Fryer[7]; 9. 58- Dave Eckrich[9]

Heat 4: 1. 20- Rodney Sanders[1]; 2. 7- Rick Eckert[4]; 3. 1- Brandon Sheppard[2]; 4. 58D- A.J. Diemel[5]; 5. 85- John Kaanta[9]; 6. 2c- Joey Coulter[7]; 7. 90- Lance Matthees[8]; 8. 11- Pat Doar[6]; 9. 16T- Tyler Bruening[3] 

Qualifying A: 1. 91- Tyler Erb, 14.632; 2. 9- Devin Moran, 14.646; 3. 77- Jordan Yaggy, 14.714; 4. 99jr- Frank Heckenast Jr, 14.716; 5. 44- Chris Madden, 14.767; 6. 32- Chris Simpson, 14.773; 7. 7W- Ricky Weiss, 14.949; 8. 25- Shane Clanton, 14.951; 9. 14m- Morgan Bagley, 14.956; 10. 40B- Kyle Bronson, 15.046; 11. 1*- Chub Frank, 15.048; 12. 29- Spencer Diercks, 15.177; 13. 68- Mike Prochnow, 15.197; 14. 98- Jason Rauen, 15.402; 15. 15D- Justin Duty, 15.445; 16. 7K- Jason Krohn, 15.452; 17. 44N- Darrell Nelson, 15.481; 18. 6m- Jeff Massingill, 16.258

Qualifying B: 1. 18c- Chase Junghans, 15.029; 2. 20- Rodney Sanders, 15.067; 3. 157- Mike Marlar, 15.214; 4. 1- Brandon Sheppard, 15.238; 5. 28- Jimmy Mars, 15.274; 6. 16T- Tyler Bruening, 15.354; 7. 25s- Chad Simpson, 15.358; 8. 7- Rick Eckert, 15.475; 9. 33x- Chad Mahder, 15.53; 10. 58D- A.J. Diemel, 15.556; 11. 15- Nick Anvelink, 15.638; 12. 11- Pat Doar, 15.714; 13. 54- Mike Fryer, 15.729; 14. 2c- Joey Coulter, 15.734; 15. 18- Eric Wells, 15.747; 16. 90- Lance Matthees, 15.751; 17. 58- Dave Eckrich, 15.919; 18. 85- John Kaanta, 16.034

CONTINGENCY WINNERS: Craftsman/Sears ($200 Cash): Chris Madden, Brandon Sheppard, Chub Frank, Morgan Bagley, Devin Moran; Craftsman/Sears ($100 Cash): Jimmy Mars; Comp Cams ($50 product certificate): Chris Madden; MSD Ignition ($50 Cash): Brandon Sheppard; Quarter Master ($100 Product Certificate):Chris Madden; Wrisco (Three Sheets of aluminum): Brandon Sheppard;  Penske Racing Shocks ($50 Product Certificate): Rodney Sanders; JE Pistons ($50 Cash): Chase Junghans; VP Racing Fuels ($50 Cash):Tyler Erb; Edelbrock ($50 Cash): Tyler Erb; Comp Cams ($50 Cash): Tyler Erb; Extended Stay America ($50 Cash): A.J. Diemel; Cometic ($50 Cash):A.J. Diemel; JRI Shocks ($50 Cash): Mike Prochnow; Superflow Dyno’s ($50 Cash): Ricky Weiss; Quartermaster ($25 Product Certificate): Shane Clanton; JE Pistons (One set of piston rings): Mike Prochnow; Quartermaster ($50 Product Certificate): Jordan Yaggy; Arizona Sport Shirts ($100 Product Certificate): Joey Coulter ; JE Pistons (One set of piston rings): Joey Coulter; MSD Ignition ($25 Cash): Brandon Sheppard.; QA-1 ($50 Cash): Tyler Erb; Rookie Bonus: Devin Moran; Bonus Bucks: Rodney Sanders

SEASON WINNERS: 
Brandon Sheppard- 8 (Whynot Motorsports Park on March 24, Farmer City Raceway on April 1, Fayetteville Motor Speedway on May 6, Wayne County Speedway on May 27, Senoia Raceway on June 3, Lernerville Speedway on June 25, Federated Auto Part Raceway at I-55 on July 1)
Shane Clanton- 3 (Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 24, Cherokee Speedway on May 6, Tazewell Speedway on June 3)
Brandon Overton- 2 (Smoky Mountain Speedway on May 13, Lernerville Speedway on June 24)
Chris Madden– 2 (Screven Motorsports Complex on Feb. 18, Deer Creek Speedway on July 8)
Rick Eckert– 1 (Screven Motorsports Complex on Feb. 17)
Don O’Neal- 1 (Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 25)
Timothy Culp- 1 (LoneStar Speedway on March 26)
Brian Shirley-1 (Farmer City Raceway on April 2)
Mike Marlar- 1 (Duck River Raceway Park on May 14)
Devin Moran-1 (Atomic Speedway on May 26)
Max Blair- 1 (McKean County Raceway on June 20)

Unofficial World of Outlaws Craftsman Late Model Series Championship Standing