LIMA — Racing returned Friday night to Limaland Motorsports Park with the second annual Ron Kahle Jr Memorial Race, honoring the memory of one of the tracks biggest supporters who passed away in November of 2020.
No. 18 Todd Heuerman grabbed the Ohio Logistics NRA 360 Sprint Invader feature win. No 9PG Percy Gendreau won the Northwest Physical Therapy DIRTcar UMP Modified A Main to pick up his first ever feature win, holding off NASCAR veteran Kenny Wallace and Limaland’s winningest driver, Todd Sherman. No 4M Gabe Mueller won the Lock Sixteen Thunderstock action.
The Ohio Logistics NRA 360 Sprint Invaders kicked off feature action with No. 2s Kyle Sauder and No 6 Hud Horton leading the field to green. Caution waved right away as the No 17 of Jared Horstman got sideways in turns 1 and 2, collecting No 23 Devon Dobie, No. 22m Dan McCarron and No. 20 Alex Bright. Bright’s car tipped on its side in the pileup. He walked away unharmed. The field faced a complete restart minus the cars of McCarron and Bright, with No. 24 Kobe Allison taking off with the lead. Allison dominated the first half of the feature and was starting to slip through lapped traffic when the red flag flew for Dobie’s No. 23 as it dug in and flipped in turn 4. Dobie walked away unharmed. On the restart, Heuerman began to work on Allison for the lead. Allison’s car started bouncing through turns 1 and 2 and that was the break Heuerman needed, as the Leipsic native grabbed the lead and cruised to victory. No 11G Luke Griffith charged to second in the last 5 laps. No 7T Jake Hesson finished third with Allison hanging on to finish fourth, and No 11N Zeth Sabo completing the top 5.
Next up were the Northwest Physical Therapy DIRTcar UMP Modifieds in a 20 lap A Main. No 9PG Percy Gendreau and No 16 Jeff Koz brought the field to the green flag with Gendreau taking the early lead. On lap 2, Wallace moved past Koz for second and No 65 Todd Sherman followed Wallace to the third spot. Wallace and Sherman battled throughout the 20 lap feature, but it was Gendreau who stole the show and picked up his first career feature win. Sherman finished second, Wallace third, Koz fourth and No. 3W Dylan Woodling fnished fifth.
The Lock Sixteen Thunderstocks concluded the night’s racing action in a 15 lap A Main. No 4M Gabe Mueller brought the field to green alongside No 22T Tony Anderson. Mueller took the early advantage and had to deal with Piqua’s Nick Bowers in the No. 25 hounding him for the top spot for the entire feature. On the last lap, Bowers went for broke heading into turns 3 and 4 and got into the wall hard, falling to sixth and allowing Mueller to sail to the checkered flag, his second of the 2022 season at Limaland. No. 26 Justin Long finished second with No 87 Andy Welch third, Anderson fourth and No 72 Wayne Gibson finishing fifth.
Racing returns to Limaland Motorsports Park on Friday night as Ohio Logistics presents Leg 8 of the 40th annual Cometic Gasket Ohio Sprint Speedweek, featuring the Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Cars. Joining the All Stars will be the Northwest Physical Therapy DIRTcar UMP Modifieds. General admission for ages 16 and older is $25. Ages 11 to 15 can get in for $11. Youngsters ages 10 and under will be admitted free. Pit gates open at 4:30 p.m. Grandstand gates open at 5 p.m. Hot laps will be at 6:30 p.m. and racing at 7:30 p.m. For more information go to limaland.com.
