Published: July 07, 2008 05:58 am      

Luck of the draw shines on racers

OAKWOOD — With a new change in drawing for features, things may have opened up a bit at Vermilion County Speedway.

The top six finishers from the heats redrew for the features and that brought on some good finishes on Sunday.

The closest finish was in the pure stock class when a caution brought gave Jack Dowers a second chance.

Dowers was behind Gordon Parsons, Jr. for the entire race until the caution flag came up on the last lap when Tim Miller took a late spin.

With the whole field closer, Dowers found the way to get past Parsons for another win.

“I definitely would have lost the race if it wasn’t for the caution,” Dowers said. “I knew he was guarding the bottom of the track, so I had to make a move and get it going on the final lap.”

After Dowers and Parsons, Jr., James Buyno ended up third, Josh Troxtell was fourth and Scott Miller was fifth.

Josh Ferguson picked up his second win at UMP modifieds and it was a good end to a tough weekend.

“I didn’t finish the race at Kamp (Motor Speedway in Boswell, Ind.) last night and I lost the heat to Roger Cary,” Ferguson said. “I started the race in the second row and I was able to get to the bottom of the track and I was able to stay there.

“The car is doing very well and this gave us a boost.”

Jamey Henson was second, Ryan Cary finished third, Roger Cary was fourth and VCS points leader McKay Wenger ended up fifth.

Like Ferguson, Lee J. Hall ended his week in a good way in the street stocks, holding off brother-in-law Jerrad Krick, who made a late charge in the feature.

“Last night, I was leading and I beat myself,” Hall said. “This time I wanted to win so badly and I didn’t want anything in my way.

“I was fourth at Gas City, seventh in Boswell and first here, so the weekend ended well. I have to thank my sponsors and my wife for putting up with the three nights of racing.”

Fairmount’s Mike Pollitt also had family as the speedway and he also did not disappoint in winning his second hornets race of the season.

“I want to thank my family, including my son, for being here,” Pollitt said. “He has not seen me race in a while.”

To even get the car going, Pollitt used some new friends in his new town for some help.

“I have to thank my friends for helping me get the car together after I got it messed up,” Pollitt said. “The car was running great today.”

Dustin Cadle was second in the feature, Mike Cadle was third and Joe Reed took fourth.

In the UMP Sportsman class, Seymour, Ind.’s Jeremy Hines picked up his first VCS win in his second race at the track. Hines was third at the David Richardson Memorial race.

“I realized after the last race, we had to bring in some bigger tires,” Hines said. “I did my homework in getting ready this time.”

Hines, who usually races in at the Brownstown (Ind.) and Bloomington, Ind. speedways, is battling for the UMP national points lead.

“Traveling is something we have to do to stay in the points race,” Hines said. “In the next week, we might go to Farmer City or Fairbury raceways.”

Troy Clark was second in the race, Rick Hufford was third, Troy Overstreet was fourth and Scott Buchanan ended up fifth.

In the new quads division, two racers from Linton, Ind. were able to get some personal milestones.

Chris Blanton won his first race since a 14-year break from racing in the 450 cc class while his teammate Ryan Crane won the 400 cc race.

“I just had a few bikes around and I just wanted to get back,” Blanton said. “A friend of my named Joey Osborne, Jr. was able to tell me about the races here.”

After Blanton found out, he was able to convince Crane to race. Crane had a tough start to racing last week at VCS.

“We got out there and we started to ride and I got a little sick and I just quit for the day,” Crane said about last week. “(Blanton) asked me to ride with him and I did. … I hope I can now get more wins.”

Next week, there will be go-kart action on Friday while the UMP modified, UMP sportsman, Street stock, pure stock, hornet, and quad classes will return to the track on Sunday.