Sam Stoecklin
ULMA Public Relations
June 19, 2012

It was a busy weekend for several Lucas Cattle Company ULMA late model drivers with three events last weekend and three different drivers in victory lane. It all started last Friday evening when Bob Test drove to his third victory of the year at Callaway Raceways, followed up by a win from J.D. Hubert at Lucas Oil Speedway, and finally things finished up on Sunday as Jason Russell came away with the checkered flag at Double XX Speedway in California, Mo.

Even though Bob Test hasn’t competed in nearly as many events at this point of the year in comparison to years past, it doesn’t seem to be affecting his performance on the track. Test drove to his third victory of the year at Callaway Raceways in Fulton, Mo in an exciting victory in which he waited until the white-flag lap to grab the point. With most cars “cat-fishing” on the low side of the track for most of the race, Test was the lone driver to jump out of line and give the top side a chance. To everyone’s surprise, the line was there and he was able to drive on to his latest victory. Following the winner close at the line were Brandon Imhoff in second and Walt Imhoff third, his best finish of the season. Jason Russell and Todd McCoin rounded out the top five with Darren Turner and Gage Wineland also securing top-ten finishes.

Racing resumes at Callaway Raceway this Friday for another weekly program. On Friday, June 29 at the raceway, drivers will compete for an increased purse as part of the annual ULMA Triple Crown Shootout. Promoter Betty Atterberry stated she would pay $650 to win to the feature winner during the first night of the shootout. If ULMA receives the full payout for the event prior to the race date, we will send to our drivers’ email group for their information. Visit Callaway Raceways online at www.callawayraceways.com.

Competitors moved south to Lucas Oil Speedway on Saturday night for a return visit to Lucas Oil Speedway. Twenty cars raced in two heat races and the main event. Previous feature winner Jeremy Kelley of Walnut Grove, Mo experienced a frightening crash in turn one when a mechanical failure near the rear of the car sent him careening end-over-end during the second heat race. Thankfully, Kelley walked away from the crash but his car received too damaged to return for the main event. J.D. Hubert and Joe Walkenhorst claimed the heat race victories and secured the front row starting positions for the 20-lap main event.

Walkenhorst, who was looking for his first ULMA-sanctioned win, led the first four laps of the feature race before Hubert powered his way around to take the helm. However, Walkenhorst never let Hubert out of his sights the entire race distance and remained close behind, ready to pounce at the first glance of any mistake made by Hubert. Meanwhile, second-row starters Brandon Imhoff and Jason Russell stayed glued together for the initial laps in third and fourth until fourteenth-starting Jason Bodenhamer found his way inside the top five by lap eleven.

As the leaders continued to set a blistering pace, Bodenhamer’s hopes for a caution period diminished with each passing lap as Hubert led a stalking Walkenhorst in second and Bodenhamer in third. In the end, the event become the second caution-free ULMA main event this year and first at Lucas Oil Speedway. Hubert motored his way into victory lane, his first ULMA win since late June of 2011. Walkenhorst secured his best-ever ULMA finish in second. Bodenhamer advanced eleven positions to claim third with Russell also posting a top-five run. Imhoff, Tommy Cordray, Jake Williams, and Kevin Coyne posted ULMA top ten finishes. There is no ULMA-sanctioned action at the track this weekend; however, ULMA will return in a big way on Saturday, June 30 with a $1,000-to-win special event feature race as part of this year’s Triple Crown Shootout; log onto www.lucasoilspeedway.com for schedule updates and general track information.

In what will serve as a tune-up for the grand finale of the Triple Crown Shootout, ten drivers participated in ULMA’s first appearance of the year at California, Missouri’s Double XX Speedway this past Sunday night. For drivers who opted not to compete Sunday night, they allowed the drivers who did compete to benefit from competing in a two-caution race while securing solid points finishes and gained setup experience prior to the upcoming July 1 shoot out event. In the opening Buy Race Parts.com heat race, Brandon Imhoff kept his solid weekend rolling along with a convincing win over new ULMA member Joey Potter of Fulton. Potter looked strong in just his third late model start this season, likely calling upon his sprint car experience from years past at the speedway. For the Rod End Supply heat race number two, Jason Russell claimed the win over Trace Westling.

Imhoff and Russell secured the front row starting positions for the 20-lap main event and all eyes were on Imhoff, who swept both ULMA-sanctioned races last season at Kyle and Carol Wirts’ beloved speedway. From the drop of the green flag, Russell showed the way as Imhoff and Potter gave chase. A quick yellow flag flew on lap one of the main event to setup a Delaware double file restart with Russell out front over Potter and Imhoff. Initially, it looked as though Russell would go unchallenged for the duration of the race but Potter used a solid run on the low side of the track to persistently hound the leader. With each passing lap, it seemed as though the handle on Russell’s car was going south as Potter remained close. Meanwhile, after the second and final caution period waived on lap eleven, Kevin Coyne began making his way forward from his sixth starting position after initially falling to seventh at the start of the race.

By lap 15, it was evident Russell’s car was experiencing handling issues maneuvering the tricky corners. Potter tried on several occasions to make his car stick to the low side of corner two as Russell continued struggling on entry and exit of the corners. By this time, Coyne had a battle of his own shaping up with the Westling’s as he battled Father Trace and son Alan Westling to secure the fourth position. Imhoff maintained third position the entire event as Russell eventually claimed the victory over Potter in second. Coyne finished in fourth with Trace Westling claiming fifth. Bob Test advanced from tenth to claim the sixth spot with Alan Westling, Todd McCoin, Gage Wineland, and Justin Russell rounding out the field.

In less than two weeks, ULMA drivers return to Double XX Speedway for the grand finale of the annual Triple Crown Shootout in a $750-to-win main event that is sure to bring the fans to their feet. For additional information including start times, admission prices, directions to the track and event details, be sure to check out www.xxspeedway.com.

Once again, ULMA competitors were a respectable portion of total cars on hand at the latest KC metro MLRA super late model touring race. Five ULMA members took part in the action among nineteen drivers on hand at Dennis Shrout’s Valley Speedway in Grain Valley, Mo last Friday. Even though heat races were hammer down quick on the top lane, this did not detract the ULMA competitors from giving it their all in the 40-lap main event later in the evening. Case in point was sixteenth starting Jason Bodenhamer who showed the way around the paper clip style quarter mile track with high-side moves that had fans cheering on the underdog. Bodenhamer eventually moved all the way to a fifth-place run and was the highest finishing ULMA driver in the final rundown. Kevin Coyne also advanced several positions and came away with a tenth-place run at the end of the night. Jon Binning, Joe Walkenhorst, and Jimmy Morris also represented ULMA by participating in the race, which awarded full ULMA points for participating member drivers.

ULMA returns to action at Valley Speedway on its own for another addition of ‘Fast Friday’ racing this Friday June 22. Start times, car classes, and directions to the speedway, which is located in Grain Valley, Missouri, may be found at www.valleyspeedway.com. Curiously, even though there are several drivers from the local vicinity, car counts have been low at the speedway this season. Even though at the end of last year’s season, when polled, drivers made it known that they wanted to participate at Valley Speedway. We will see who will dust off their cars, load up, and own up to their poll answers when ULMA returns to Valley Speedway again this weekend. Hopefully, more drivers will choose to compete for the normal $600-to-win first-place prize money offered up by Mr. Shrout. There are only two points-earning opportunities this weekend for ULMA drivers, Callaway Raceway and Valley Speedway, offering drivers from two separate geographical locations a chance to race.

The annual ‘Triple Crown Shootout’ is fast-approaching, an event in which drivers compete in a three-race mini points-earning series for additional prize money. Competing drivers have the following race options to garner three starts out of the four available races from Friday to Sunday. Friday, June 29th at Callaway Raceway for $650 to win; Friday, June 29th at Valley Speedway for $600 to win; Saturday, June 30th at Lucas Oil Speedway for $1,000 to win; and Sunday, July 1st at Double XX Speedway in California, Mo for $750 to win. The Double XX Speedway event is sponsored by Bonecutter Body Shop of California. Triple Crown Shootout info and entry forms are located at www.ulmaracing.com.

ULMA’s title sponsor is Lucas Cattle Company. Contingency sponsors are Rod End Supply and Buyraceparts.com. Affiliate sponsors include Imhoff Construction, Bone Cutter Body Shop, PhotoGraphics by Shelly Payne, General Fence LLC, and Midland Printing. ULMA is a proud supporter of Homes for Our Troops. To join the team, or to request an addition to ULMA’s email group, send your request to unitedlatemodelassociation@hotmail.com. Visit the association’s website for schedule of events, race history, results, points, and much more at www.ulmaracing.com or like ULMA on Facebook.

ULMA Standings:
POS CAR # NAME STARTS POINTS
1st 86 Brandon Imhoff 17 1652
2nd 2J Jason Russell 17 1645
3rd 1T Chris Cox 14 1352
4th 23Z Zeke Langley 12 1135
5th 0X Justin Russell 12 1121
6th 133 Chris Hawkins 10 1043
7th 22 Kevin Coyne 10 894
8th 7 Brett Wood 8 826
9th 8 Darren Turner 8 799
10th 99 Larry Jones 8 787

Upcoming ULMA Races:
Friday, June 22nd – Callaway Raceway
Friday, June 22nd – Valley Speedway
*Friday, June 29th – Callaway Raceway, $650 to win
*Friday, June 29th – Valley Speedway, $600 to win (normal purse)
*Saturday, June 30th – Lucas Oil Speedway, $1,000 to win
*Sunday, July 1st – Double X Speedway, California Mo, $750 to win
*Triple Crown Shootout Event