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Springfield, IL August 23, 2011-Decatur’s Dave Crawley, Jr. started seventh and hunted down leader Wes O’Dell on the sixteenth lap to post his first ever one mile dirt track win in the 18^th Sportman National event at the Illinois State Fairgrounds on August 21.

Five time winner O’Dell managed to hang on for second barely holding off 12 year old Richard Craven of Joliet who finished a strong third.  Ashland’s Shannon Eskew was fourth with Ken Fustin fifth.

O’Dell, of Springfield, got the jump on Craven at the start as fellow five time winner Dennis Vandermeersch dropped out on the second lap.  The race was slowed by five caution flags, the most serious at the end when Wade Wiseman and Mike Pickering tangled going into turn one and Pickering hit the wall nearly head on.  Neither driver was hurt and the yellow flag and checker were displayed at the same time.

LINEUP AND RESULTS FOR FEATURE EVENT: 18^th Sportsman Nationals 8/21/11 Ill State Fair

DISTANCE:  20 miles                              TIME:  No time                               SPEED:  Yellow flag                 

P     NO       DRIVER-CAR                                                                                                        Laps      StLimeup

1      C25      Dave Crawley, Jr/Lawson’s Chevrolet                                                                 20          87

2      87        Wes O’Dell/Auto Recyclers Chevrolet                                                                20          12

3      12        Richard Craven/AWG Chevrolet                                                                         20          22x

4      11e      Shannon Eskew/Modern Paving Chevrolet                                                         20          25

5      8k        Ken Fustin/REMAX Chevrolet                                                                              20          9

6      11        Rick Roedel/Touchstone Energy Chevrolet                                                         20          11

7      V8        Jim Farley III/Jim’s Towing Chevrolet                                                                 20          C25

8      X52      Bob Sidener/Attitude Custom Paint Chevrolet                                                   20          11e

9      33        Bill Berghaus/Berghaus Racing Chevy                                                                19          X52

10    42        Travis Wallbaum/Wallbaum Chevrolet                                                              19          08

11    08        Brian Dasenbrock/A&C Sea Cruises Chevy                                                         19          8k

12    9          Mike Pickering/Dingostand Pontiac                                                                    19          07

13    104      Wade Wiseman/K&K Chevrolet                                                                          19          8j

14    8j         Lance Johnson//Johnson Trucking Chevy                                                            19          15

15    22x      Darrell Dick/BSharp-DaBar Chevy                                                                      16          V8

16    22        Tim Dick/Illini Overhead Door Chevy                                                                 12          33

17    D9        Danny Smith/Boxseat Products Chevrolet                                                          11          D9

18    22j       Tony ClintonMeineke Chevrolet                                                                         10          1

19    1          Steve Stevenson/El Flanagan Chevy                                                                    10          52

20    07        Phil Moreland/Dunn’s-State Farm Chevrolet                                                     5            22

21    7s         Ethan Schnapp/O’Connor Drywall Chevy                                                            2            B99

22    52        David Streitmatter/RJ Motorsports Chevy                                                          2            7s

23    B99      Tim Bedinger/Bedinger Racing Chevy                                                                2            5c

24    87s       David Shain/Williams Street Rods Chevrolet                                                      1            104

25    25        Dennis Vandermeersch/Jim’s Towing-Midwest Brick Chevrolet                       1            87s

26    5c        Al Crawley/Donnelly Automotive Machine Chevrolet                                        0            22j

27    15        Rick Lowe/Patrick Heating & Cooling Chevrolet                                                0            42

LAP LEADERS:  1-15 O’Dell, 16-20 Crawley

Yellow Lights:  Lap 3 52 and 33 spun in tirn 1, 52 caught fire; Lap 5 07 blew engine in turn 3; Lap 10

1 slowed in turn 4; lap 16 22x hit turn 1 wall, lap 20 9 and 104 hit turn 1 wall.