ROSSBURG, Ohio (Oct. 13, 2002) - Eldora Speedway closed out its season Sunday afternoon with the staging of the UMP (United Midwestern Promoters) National Championships, and for Maumee, Ohio’s Brian Ruhlman, ‘championship’ was the key word of the day. With his $10,000 victory in the 50-lap Late Model main event, Ruhlman clinched the Eldora Speedway points race, and then a second place finish in the 25-lap Modified finale wrapped up seasonal honors in that class as well. Jimmy Owens was Sunday’s Modified victor.
By virtue of his heat race win Saturday night, Ruhlman earned the favored feature starting spot at Eldora, the outside pole. He and Steve Hillard brought the 24-car field down to the green flag and once racing got underway, Ruhlman wasted little time in getting out front.
Charging into the first turn, he took with him, Greg Johnson and Bob Pierce, with Hillard dropping to fourth.
That running order remained the same through the first three circuits around the one-half mile clay oval, before Jerry Rice joined the picture to knock off Hillard for fourth place. Also on the move were Darrel Lanigan, up to 13th from 18th and Don O’Neal, up to 18th from 23rd.
The sun-baked, rubber coated track provided multiple racing grooves and the quick pace found Ruhlman into lapped traffic by the tenth tour. It was the lapped traffic that actually provided the most excitement, as Ruhlman’s cautious approach to those cars allowed the field to bunch up.
A flat right front tire on Duane Chamberlain’s machine brought out the first yellow flag on lap 17, and on the ensuing restart, Johnson tried a mini ‘slide-job’ to take the lead, but Ruhlman refuted that attempt and hung on to the lead, which he was able to increase under green flag conditions.
The lap 17 restart found the same five names among the top five, while the fans were keeping an eye on the advances of Lanigan and O’Neal, who were now up to 8th and 15th.
It would be another 15 laps before the yellow flag would appear, this time for a spinning Rick DeLong.
The yellow was a saviour for Ruhlman, as the lapped traffic was proving to be a hindrance for him. Behind the slower cars, the front four were literally under a blanket, all searching for the proper ingredient to take the quick road to the checkered flag.
By this point, Lanigan had moved up to sixth, knocking on Hillard’s door for fifth, while O’Neal was up to 7th.
As the race wore on, the storyline remained the same - green flag racing meant open roads for Ruhlman. At least - until he would approach lapped traffic. But just like magic, when lapped traffic came into the picture to frustrate Ruhlman and bunch up the field behind him, the yellow flag would appear.
Two more times that happened.
On lap 43, DeLong’s frustrating day came to an end as he stopped on turn four, and then, with two laps remaining in the race, Kris Patterson and Audie McWilliams got together on the front stretch, with Patterson getting the worse for the wear and retiring for the balance of the chase.
The two lap run for the checkered, found Ruhlman with an open road, while Pierce put a successful run on Johnson to take runner-up honors on the last lap. Following that trio across the line were Rice, crowd favorite Lanigan and Hillard. O’Neal’s run to the front produced a seventh place finish.
Jumping from victory lane into his Modified, it almost turned out to be a storybook type day for Ruhlman.
Lady Luck was riding with him, but against outside pole sitter Davey Gantt. While parading the oval before the green flag, the left front suspension assembly on Gantt’s machine broke, sending him to the pit area, and moving Ruhlman up to the same position he started the Late Model headliner in, outside pole.
As predicted, Ruhlman took off the with lead, in fact, it appeared that he may have even been in another time zone, as he literally hid from the field.
Dustin Moore, Gary Richard, Don O’Neal (also doing double duty) and John Burdett followed Ruhlman for the first few laps in the non-stop contest.
Just as in the race prior, Ruhlman encountered lapped traffic early, but his wide margin over the balance of the field, allowed him to set a more cautious pace.
However; cautious was not the key word this time.
Jimmy Owens must have watched Lanigan and O’Neal in the previous race, as he had a similar task in hand - starting deep in the field.
By lap five he was up to sixth, and by lap ten, up to fourth.
On the next lap he overtook Moore to run third behind Ruhlman and O’Neal.
The running order remained that way up to two laps from the completion of the 25-lapper, and that is when the excitement really began.
Heavy lapped traffic found Ruhlman frustrated and Owens determined. After overtaking O’Neal on lap 22 to take second, Owens slid underneath Ruhlman in turn one on lap 23 to lead the field around for the final tour circuits.
The jubilant Owens made his way into victory lane, with a disappointed Ruhlman credited with second. O’Neal, Mike Marlar and Burdett completed the top five.
By virtue of his heat race win Saturday night, Ruhlman earned the favored feature starting spot at Eldora, the outside pole. He and Steve Hillard brought the 24-car field down to the green flag and once racing got underway, Ruhlman wasted little time in getting out front.
Charging into the first turn, he took with him, Greg Johnson and Bob Pierce, with Hillard dropping to fourth.
That running order remained the same through the first three circuits around the one-half mile clay oval, before Jerry Rice joined the picture to knock off Hillard for fourth place. Also on the move were Darrel Lanigan, up to 13th from 18th and Don O’Neal, up to 18th from 23rd.
The sun-baked, rubber coated track provided multiple racing grooves and the quick pace found Ruhlman into lapped traffic by the tenth tour. It was the lapped traffic that actually provided the most excitement, as Ruhlman’s cautious approach to those cars allowed the field to bunch up.
A flat right front tire on Duane Chamberlain’s machine brought out the first yellow flag on lap 17, and on the ensuing restart, Johnson tried a mini ‘slide-job’ to take the lead, but Ruhlman refuted that attempt and hung on to the lead, which he was able to increase under green flag conditions.
The lap 17 restart found the same five names among the top five, while the fans were keeping an eye on the advances of Lanigan and O’Neal, who were now up to 8th and 15th.
It would be another 15 laps before the yellow flag would appear, this time for a spinning Rick DeLong.
The yellow was a saviour for Ruhlman, as the lapped traffic was proving to be a hindrance for him. Behind the slower cars, the front four were literally under a blanket, all searching for the proper ingredient to take the quick road to the checkered flag.
By this point, Lanigan had moved up to sixth, knocking on Hillard’s door for fifth, while O’Neal was up to 7th.
As the race wore on, the storyline remained the same - green flag racing meant open roads for Ruhlman. At least - until he would approach lapped traffic. But just like magic, when lapped traffic came into the picture to frustrate Ruhlman and bunch up the field behind him, the yellow flag would appear.
Two more times that happened.
On lap 43, DeLong’s frustrating day came to an end as he stopped on turn four, and then, with two laps remaining in the race, Kris Patterson and Audie McWilliams got together on the front stretch, with Patterson getting the worse for the wear and retiring for the balance of the chase.
The two lap run for the checkered, found Ruhlman with an open road, while Pierce put a successful run on Johnson to take runner-up honors on the last lap. Following that trio across the line were Rice, crowd favorite Lanigan and Hillard. O’Neal’s run to the front produced a seventh place finish.
Jumping from victory lane into his Modified, it almost turned out to be a storybook type day for Ruhlman.
Lady Luck was riding with him, but against outside pole sitter Davey Gantt. While parading the oval before the green flag, the left front suspension assembly on Gantt’s machine broke, sending him to the pit area, and moving Ruhlman up to the same position he started the Late Model headliner in, outside pole.
As predicted, Ruhlman took off the with lead, in fact, it appeared that he may have even been in another time zone, as he literally hid from the field.
Dustin Moore, Gary Richard, Don O’Neal (also doing double duty) and John Burdett followed Ruhlman for the first few laps in the non-stop contest.
Just as in the race prior, Ruhlman encountered lapped traffic early, but his wide margin over the balance of the field, allowed him to set a more cautious pace.
However; cautious was not the key word this time.
Jimmy Owens must have watched Lanigan and O’Neal in the previous race, as he had a similar task in hand - starting deep in the field.
By lap five he was up to sixth, and by lap ten, up to fourth.
On the next lap he overtook Moore to run third behind Ruhlman and O’Neal.
The running order remained that way up to two laps from the completion of the 25-lapper, and that is when the excitement really began.
Heavy lapped traffic found Ruhlman frustrated and Owens determined. After overtaking O’Neal on lap 22 to take second, Owens slid underneath Ruhlman in turn one on lap 23 to lead the field around for the final tour circuits.
The jubilant Owens made his way into victory lane, with a disappointed Ruhlman credited with second. O’Neal, Mike Marlar and Burdett completed the top five.
