McCune Masters Mansfield for HOSS win

By Scott Stine. Jimmy McCune took advantage of lap traffic in the closing laps to score his first HOSS/Marathon victory of 2004 ahead of race-long leader Ron Koehler. Rebman Motorsports teammates Doug Berryman and Don Townsend crossed the line ahead of fifth place finisher Jerry Caryer. McCune, whose Durnwald Motorsports Tiffin Academy of Hair Design, Progress Plastics sponsored entry qualified second fastest (13.958), started on the outside of the third row and was only slowed by a lap five caution for a Sam Davis spin. The red and white 19 charged into second on lap 28 in the 30 lap contest and paced Koehler’s number 10 machine lap after lap before catching his chance to make the pass for the win

Twenty one of the HOSS pavement kings with wings were in attendance on a perfect Saturday for racing. Hot laps are not meant for dramatics but would prove to be full of such as the Buckeye Bandit Joe Rebman had major trouble on the first lap of hot laps. The Bandit’s faithful black thoroughbred 77 lost the heartbeat moments after firing off. A quick engine swap by the entire Rebman posse returned Joe to action where he rode off with fast time. (13.943) and the Indy RV Center Fast Qualifier Trophy. Travis Miniea had the brand new 82ET car on the track for the first time having finished assembly late Friday night. The bright blue and yellow Specialty Metals backed machine scalded the speedway early and later qualified at 13.988 on his first lap.

The 8 lap heat races came and went without incident as the crowd at Mansfield began to pick favorites for the evening’s feature event. The first heat race saw the 43 of Sam Davis on the front row with John Witter’s 28. At the green flag the loud pedals roared and Don Townsend came away the winner over Joe Rebman, Greg Wheeler and Witter. The second heat paired Jerry Caryer’s purple 75c and Tom Patterson in his familiar 11. Caryer rolled to the win ahead of Doug Berryman’s yellow 1R with Jimmy McCune and 4B Rick Baker just behind. The third and final heat had 77b Steve Burch up front with Roger Anderson’s 17, but at the green flag Travis Minea bolted from his sixth starting position to lead every lap and win convincingly over Michael Tarlton in the 9 and Ron Koehler.

The feature was fired off just as the sun set and Don Townsend’s 77R was on the pole with Koehler beside. Doug Berryman and Greg Wheeler’s 7 maintained row two as Travis Miniea and Jimmy McCune comprised row three, as fast qualifier Joe Rebman started inside row four with Rick Baker. At the green Ron Koehler launched from his outside front row position into the lead as Townsend, Wheeler, Berryman, Miniea, and McCune fought for spots early on. Wheeler and Miniea touched and separated before anyone else joined them and the action continued until lap five when Sam Davis spun the 43 to a halt at the bottom of turn two. Action resumed with Koehler ahead of Berryman with McCune nearby as the leaders charged through the evening breeze. McCune disposed of Berryman and turned his attention to the black number 10 of Ron Koehler. Koehler, the two time HOSS champion (2001-02) was carving up through lap traffic but McCune bided his time and with just a handful of laps to go took over the top spot and opened a small gap at the finish. The dramatic win brought emphatic cheers from the Mansfield crowd, who recognized the efforts of both McCune and Koehler as they spoke of the duel after the race.

The season points championship chase has changed after Saturday as Ron Koehler vaulted into the lead just four points ahead of sixth place finisher Rick Baker. Greg Wheeler, seventeenth Saturday after encountering last lap tire problems while running fourth is one point behind Baker.

In addition to Joe Rebman’s Indy RV Center Fast Qualifier award, Jerry Caryer received the Julian Construction Hard Charger award having finished fifth after starting eleventh. The Charger also won his heat race earlier in the evening giving Caryer a greater sense of accomplishment. Caryer was back in action after damaging his racer in the last round at racing at Plymouth Speedway. The Weld Wheel Racing award went home with Tom Paterson while Rick Baker and John Witter received the Suspension Spring Specialist awards.

This week the kings will be in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and tackle the Hawkeye Downs Speedway on Friday night. The action is all a part of the Fourth of July celebration in Cedar Rapids and promoter Jim Amstutz has gone all out to give fans the best show ever at the only pavement speedway in the state of Iowa. The Hawkeye Downs race was won last year by Ted Hines in a breathtaking thirty lap dash never seen before at the gently banked half mile. Fans travel from the surrounding states to see the only winged sprint car race on the asphalt for hundreds of miles.

For more information click on www.hossracing.com or www.hawkeyedownsspeedway.com and check out all of the thrills of the pavement kings with wings!!!!

Results 6-26-04

Qualifying: 1. 77-Joe Rebman 13.943; 2. 19-Jimmy McCune; 3. 82-Travis Minea; 4. 7-Greg Wheeler; 5. 1R-Doug Berryman; 6. 10-Ron Koehler; 7. 77R-Don Townsend; 8. 4B Rick Baker; 9. 6-Sondi Eden; 10. 27-Chris Jagger; 11. 75C-Jerry Caryer; 12. 9-Michael Tarlton; 13. 28-John Witter; 14. 11-Tom Paterson; 15. 17-Roger Anderson; 16. 43-Sam Davis; 17. 7X-Jason Kemp; 18. 77B-Steve Burch; 19. 46-Dale Wood; 20. 4-Shane Johnson; 21. 38-Ted McKibben

Heat One: 1. 77R-Townsend, 2. 77- Rebman, 3. 7-Greg Wheeler, 4. 28-Witter, 5. 27-Jagger, 6.43-Davis, 7. 46-Wood

Heat Two: 1. 75C-Caryer, 2. 1R Berryman, 3. 19-McCune, 4. 4B-Baker, 5. 11-Paterson, 6. 7X-Kemp, 7. 4-Johnson

Heat Three: 1. 82-Minea, 2. 9-Tarlton, 3. 10-Koehler, 4. 6 Eden, 5 17-Anderson, 6. 38 Ted McKibben, 7. 77B-Burch

Feature: 1. 19-McCune, 2. 10-Koehler, 3. 1R-Berryman, 4. 77R-Townsend, 5. 75C-Caryer, 6. 4B-Baker, 7. 9-Tarlton, 8. 82-Minea, 9. 6-Eden, 10. 27-Jagger, 11. 28-Witter, 12.11-Paterson, 13. 7X-Kemp, 14. 43-Davis, 15. 46-Wood, 16. 77-Rebman, 17. 7-Wheeler, 18. 4-Johnson, 19. 77B-Burch, 20. 38-McKibben, 21.17-Anderson