Re: NRA/SOD Winged Sprints To Battle at Montpelier Sat. Augu
 

Ridenour was at Butler, as was Ryan Ruhl. Ridenour finished fourth after running near the front. Ruhl led until motor issues. Roger Campbell won. Best show I've saw at Butler this year. 21 cars. Back at home in Indiana before midnight.

Good to hear the racing was good at Butler. When I went earlier in the year I thought there were some positives in their weekly programs. Car counts have been good every week. Only under 20 once and close to 30 at times.

Re: NRA/SOD Winged Sprints To Battle at Montpelier Sat. Augu
 

I was really thinking about going over myself but opted for the Field. They had around the same car count the last time it was co-sanctioned.

BTW where was the winner from ? Just a shame that more of the SOD guys couldn't make it.

Re: NRA/SOD Winged Sprints To Battle at Montpelier Sat. Augu
 

Ontario Canada’s Mitch Brown Wins NRA/SOD Montpelier Motor Speedway Sprint Car Feature.

By Bob Buffenbarger

Montpelier, In. – (August 1, 2015) – Mitch Brown used his outside front row starting position to power to the lead from the green flag and went on to an impressive Engine Pro Sprints on Dirt presented by ARP vs K&L Ready Mix NRA Sprint Invaders win at Montpelier Motor Speedway Saturday night.

As the feature was forming, the 12R of Nick Roberts encountered trouble and took a spill in turn four, but made some hasty repairs and made it back out to start the A with a crumpled wing. Pole setter Kyle Sauder took the green for the 25 lap event and as the field came off turn two, Max Stambaugh lost power in the middle of the pack but luckily all cars were able to avoid contact. Stambaugh was finished for the night though.

A complete restart was in order and things heated up quickly with Brown and Sauder completing lap one side by side with several cars making contact behind the leaders, however the green stayed out. Brown took command early on and stretched his lead some over Sauder with Hud Horton 3rd and Tyler Moore 4th as Phil Gressman, Jared Horstman and Tim Allison were all dicing for 5th.

As the 10th lap was completed, Gressman and Horstman made contact at the stripe with Horstman spinning and bringing out the only caution of the feature. As the green appeared again the order was Brown, Horton, Sauder, Moore and Gressman. Now the 23 of Devon Dobie who started 11th was on the move and took 3rd over on lap 12.

Brown maintained the top spot as racing behind him continued to be intense with now 10th starting Shawn Dancer entering the fray and moving in on Sauder. As the white flag flew, Brown was not challenged but at the checkers it was Horton, Dobie, Dancer and Sauder all under a blanket behind Mitch Brown.

Heats for the 18 cars on hand were won by Hud Horton and Tyler Moore

Engine Pro Sprints on Dirt presented by ARP
Montpelier Motor Speedway
Montpelier, MI
Saturday August 1, 2015

Comp Cams / Lane Automotive Heat Race #1 (8 Laps): 1. 17H – Hud Horton, 2. 10 – Mitch Brown, 3. 17 – Jared Horstman, 4. 28H – Phil Gressman, 5. 6 – Max Stambaugh, 6. 23 – Devon Dobie, 7. 27 – Brad Lamberson, 8. 77 – Zane Devault, 9. 12 – Nick Roberts

Kistler Racing Products Heat Race #2 (8 Laps): 1. 12J – Tyler Moore, 2. 83 – Kyle Sauder, 3. 49T – Gregg Dalman, 4. 11 – Tim Allison, 5. 49 – Shawn Dancer, 6. 22R – Kevin Roberts, Jr., 7. 6S – J.R. Stewart, 8. 8J – Jess Stiger, 9. 7K – Kyle Pitts

Engine Pro Feature (25-Laps): 1. 10 – Mitch Brown, 2. 17H – Hud Horton, 3. 23 – Devon Dobie, 4. 49 – Shawn Dancer, 5. 83 – Kyle Sauder, 6. 6S – J.R. Stewart, 7. 11 – Tim Allison, 8. 28H – Phil Gressman, 9. 12J – Tyler Moore, 10. 27 – Brad Lamberson, 11. 17 – Jared Horstman, 12. 49T – Gregg Dalman, 13. 7K – Kyle Pitts, 14. 8J – Jess Stiger, 15. 77 – Zane DeVault, 16. 12R – Nick Roberts, 17. 22R – Kevin Roberts, Jr, 18. 6 – Max Stambaugh.


Thanks to everyone that came to the track for the NRA/SOD show. We had a tremendous fan turnout. The track was in great shape and almost the entire field were turning 12.00 laps during the feature. It was watered and worked around the clock for three consecutive days.

To Answers everyone's comments:

We had a dry slick track for the Midgets on July 25th because we fought issues with several pieces of equipment all week that put us behind. The day of the race every future radar projection was showing rain cells over Montpelier. We anticipated that happening and left the track in condition that could handle the brief storms. The last thing we needed was another rain out especially once we would have cost everyone money getting to the track. It didn't end up raining that day of course and the results are these posts on IOW.

Last night, we ran big features in the support divisions to save time running a modified B Main and sending guys home which caused some extra cautions during A Mains. We checkered the flagged the entire program by 10:00 which should of put the Ohio and Michigan cars and fans easily back into their home states or at home before midnight.

We had quality equipment and drivers that could put on an excellent show and they did that. From the NRA, Hannagan and Blair ran with the All-Stars at Atomic. Daggett stayed home as he is building a new house and the construction is being held up waiting for him to finish some woodwork. A few other SOD guys stayed home on the porch and that is certainly their prerogative. Those few cars would have made the car count look much better, but as long as the fans are happy and willing to pay to see it again next season, we will be happy to book it. The NRA and SOD were excellent to work with!

We aren't perfect by any stretch, but we work the hardest we can to give the best show we can each week. Thank you to anyone who posts the positives they see at ANY track on any any given weekend on Message Boards or Social Media!

Re: NRA/SOD Winged Sprints To Battle at Montpelier Sat. Augu
 

There was a couple other guys not running 360's also Rod Henning in the 31n, Williams in the 5w & Jerrod Delong in the 10j.

Henning was at the Field running mini's & non wing.

Hannagans car owner came out for the 1st time in weeks if not months last Friday at Limaland & had a car slow in front of him coming out of 2 & just tore the crap out of it.

If what if's counted there should have been around 27 cars there.

Re: NRA/SOD Winged Sprints To Battle at Montpelier Sat. Augu
 

SOD this year is hit and miss for car counts for the races in Michigan. Last race at I-96 had 21 cars. But I have been to some races this year where the numbers are mid teens. I think some of the old guard racers are not doing as many races. Some are trying 410 races. Also the more distance you get away from Michigan the less cars that travel. A side note this year the club is being run by people that have connections to other racing clubs (MTS)

Re: NRA/SOD Winged Sprints To Battle at Montpelier Sat. Augu
 

Eric blew up in hot laps Friday at I-96, so that meant no racing Saturday.

This year, in my opinion, the SOD car count has been the best since I started in 2012 (without looking at actual numbers). The quality of cars has improved throughout the field this year it seems as well.

Bottom line for Montpelier is it is so dang far for a one night show, and it's a co-sanction show. Those two things turn off lots of guys. Eric included. There's no chance of that trip making any economic sense.

As for the SOD director this year, Adrianna Irwin (SOD owner John Naida's daughter) is the director of SOD and also the sister-in-law to Joey Irwin, who runs MTS. So there is some connection, but of little if any relevance. The leadership group has been doing a fantastic job this year, with everything from responsiveness, information dissemination, social media, receiver communication and everything else. By far the best since I started. Again, in my opinion.

Adrianna is doing a great job with the SOD series. The NRA and SOD officials and drivers were both great to work with and did a nice job promoting our events.

The distance to Montpelier (we are located 100 miles from the Butler) is similar or closer to several other Indiana and Ohio stops on the SOD schedule. It wasn't any groups fault. It was just a perfect storm of sprint car racing with lots of options. We certainly don't expect guys to break their budgets or to skip tracks that give them somewhere to races weekly to jump to us just as we wouldn't expect our Midgets to do that to us.

All we wanted was a great race that fans were excited to see and the NRA and SOD delivered that for us. Our fan base was excited and purchased tickets. The bulk of our feedback was really positive and we hope we can bring something a little different next season to a state that loves their sprint car racing.

Hopefully, what is not lost that it was a great race, a young driver made the trip from Canada and ran an excellent race on a track he had never seen, and we have a Saturday night track investing heavily into the facility and ran a sprint show that didn't dilute the Saturday night tracks running non wing cars.

Thank you to the drivers and staff from the NRA and SOD and good luck the remainder of this season!

Re: NRA/SOD Winged Sprints To Battle at Montpelier Sat. Augu
 

I agree that Adrianna has done a great job with SOD this season. Was on hand for double features the Saturday prior for a series race.
My plan was actually to head to Montpelier before some issues at home made me so behind schedule that Butler was my only sprint car option. Thanks for scheduling the series and I look forward to making a return to Montpelier sometime in the future.

Jim Fisher

Re: NRA/SOD Winged Sprints To Battle at Montpelier Sat. Augu
 

September 12th for the BOSS show would be an excellent choice !!!!!