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What a spectacular night to end the racing season at “Ohio’s Place To Sling Dirt” as we honored this day of remembrance with a special pre-race ceremony and 9-1-1 tribute. Drivers towed in from up to 3 hours to try to get into the 30 lap showdown. We also crowned our final Point Champion and had another breathtaking crowd that witnessed a preview of the exciting racing action that will thunder through the hills surrounding Tappan Lake for many years to come. Seventy six machines made the pull to the wide oval for the final time in 09’.

Leading off the action on week #16 was the 30 lap TSMA Modified $1,000 to win main event. Leading the twenty car field down for Chief Starter Keith Decker’s green flag was heat race one and two winners Russ Dunn in the #47 and “The Batman” Scotty Peltz in the #7. On the initial start, Rex Slaughter took a wild ride as his #1X machine got into the turn two wall and barrel rolled down the back straightaway. There was a huge sigh of relief when Rex climbed from the mangled machine. The #67 of Jack Young had a lot of right side damage to his machine as well. On the restart, Peltz was able to race his way out front until his yellow #7 machine spun in turn four of the second lap and was t-boned by Young. Both drivers would have to pull pit-side with too much damage to continue. It looked as though we were going to continue last weeks caution fest into this week, But We would run the next 23 circuits under green. On the restart on lap 2, Kevin Morehouse was up front in the #28 with the #T1 of Randy Gray in second after the Peltz misfortune. “The Logger” was able to stretch out his lead to a full straightaway working the top side of the race track over the long green flag run. With the #28 way out in front, all eyes turned to the bright orange #D2 of Nolan Dalton who was working his way up to the second spot from the 9th starting position on lap #12 using the very bottom of the race track. After some great racing in the middle of the pack during that long green flag period, the Point Champion Mitch Basich in the #B55 had mechanical issues on lap twenty five bringing out our third caution. Everyone was wondering what would happen as the field was bunched up over the final five laps with Morehouse upstairs and Dalton down low. The Top 5 with five to go was Morehouse, Dalton, the #101 of Jesse Weiscarver, The #70 of Matt Aber and Gray. On the restart Morehouse was able to get a little bit of a cushion until the Aber machine experienced bad luck in turn #2 bringing out what would be our final caution with three to go. A couple weeks ago, Morehouse was able to pull into victory lane at 250 Speedway by being the master of the restarts. He needed to nail it one more time in ‘09. “The Logger” was able to get a great jump and drive off into the chilly night air and pick up the cool $1,000 prize. Following the Hanover Ohio driver in the #28 machine was Dalton, Weiscarver, Gray and Dunn rounding out the top 5 finishers in a very entertaining feature event.

Next up was the Pure Stock 15 lapper. The #43 of DJ Hores and the #26F of Rex Frohnaple, Sr. brought the field down to get underway. The #21 of Phil Wade was able to blast from his 3rd starting position into the lead off turn two of the opening circuit. As the laps clicked away, Wade was able to stretch out his lead over Hores and would be untouched as he pulled into victory lane in the caution free event. Following the Doylestown Ohio driver in the Wade Brothers Racing Sponsored #21 was Hores, Tory Gibbs, Point Champion Rich Schweitzer and Dick Aubihl.    

The 250 Speedway Late Models would again only bring four cars to the green flag with the #42 Of Matt Mallett and the black deuce of Kevin Smith on the front row. Other than the #17 of Jim Kuaigg making contact with the turn 3 wall on lap #3 and Smith spinning in turn number two on lap number nine, the race settled down and Mallett dominated. Nobody was going to touch the #42 machine who worked the top side of the race track all night long. Following the Byesville Ohio driver in the Mallett’s Concrete, Buffalo’s Bar & Grill Sponsored #42 was Smith, Jason Stewart and Kuaigg.

On to the Super Sport 15 lap main event of the evening with the Point Champion Jim Hess in the #11H and Tory Gibbs pulling double duty again in the #10 on the front row. At the drop of the green flag, Hess was able to pick up the top spot for the first two circuits until Gibbs battled back on the outside and completed the pass off turn four. Just after Gibbs took the lead, the #77R of Glen Richea was able to make the pass on Hess and move up to the second position. The top three would stay status quo thru the middle part of the event despite a few caution periods. On the final restart on lap twelve, Richea and Hess split the leader Gibbs off turn four to take back the front two positions that the duo often found themselves in all year. On this night, Richea was just too strong and was able to motor his way to another checkered flag in 2009. Following the Valley Grove West Virginia driver in the Quicktime Performance, Orum’s Auto Body of Tridelphia West Virginia Sponsored #77R was Hess, Gibbs, Billy Hilliker and Tim Fabian. Although the two drivers are fierce competitors on the speedway, they have a great respect for one another. Hess and Richea celebrated in victory lane together, posing for picture with both machines.  

The Final feature of the 2009 racing campaign was the 4 cylinder event with the #28 of Jim Orr and the #16C of Chris Seifert brought the field in for the final green flag. During the first heat race, Rex Frohnaple in the #14F had bad luck strike again and had to retire for the evening, that would hand the 2009 4 cylinder Point Title over to Seifert before he even turned a wheel. As he moved into the feature with the pressure off, he looked to be another driver that would clinch a Championship in style. Seifert was able to race out front early with Orr close in tow. After the only caution of the race flew on lap seven for the #15 of Joe Elerick who stopped on the front straightaway, Seifert was able to hold off the advances of Orr and capture another victory on the “wide oval”. Following the Quaker City Ohio driver in the Cadiz Muffler Sponsored #16C was Orr, Randy Hahn, Brandon Welker and Jamie Leslie rounding out the top 5.

Please stay tuned to 250speedway.com and ohiovalleydtr.com for all the off-season news and rumors as we look towards 2010!! It has been another successful season at 250 Speedway and we would again like to send out a SPECIAL THANK YOU to all the driver’s, teams and especially the FANS for supporting us this season. On behalf of Chief Starter Keith Decker; Corner Officials Art Zalinski and Kenny Decker; Scorers Scotty Bush, Mama Decker and Alana Decker; Pit Stewarts Terry Colletti and Sharon Black, Tech Inspector Glen Toole, Jr.; Track Photographer Gabe Pringle; Assistant Announcer / Scorer George Kail and Track Owners Kim and Dan Wagner, I’m “Hot Rod Kail, Voice of 250 Speedway wishing you a great off-season and we will see you in March!!