By Michael Despain

JUNCTION CITY, Ky. -July 11, 2008- The O'Reilly Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar Series presented by Graphic Impressions made its second visit of 2008 to the Larry, Chad, and Sarah Yantz promoted Ponderosa Speedway in Junction City, KY for the 13th Annual Pete Abell Memorial and Victor Lee of Stanford, KY would win his second series at Ponderosa in 2008 as he would lead all 40 laps and picked up the $3,000 prize money, lapping up to the tenth place finisher.

Lee would start in the second position and score his fifth series win of the season in the Frank Revel owned Kentucky's Best/Budda Bert Transmissions/Junction City Quick Stop/ Tim Logan Racing/Xtreme Style Signs and Graphics/Five Star Food Mart/ADO's Auto Parts sponsored #4 C.J. Rayburn Race Car, Jay Dickens Race Engines powered machine. Lee's winning entry receives product support from American Racer Tires, Bilstein Shocks, PPM Racing Products, Custom Cams, Dyer's Top Rods, and REAL Racing Wheels.

Mike Marlar of Winfield, TN would take runner-up honors in the event in the Southern Ohil Wood/T&R Logging sponsored Rocket Chassis, while Dustin Linville of Lancaster, KY would score a third place effort in the Barnes Family Dentistry/Linville's Finish Carpentry sponsored C.J. Rayburn Race Car. Jason Keltner of Campbellsville, KY would finish fourth in the Keltner Contracting/The Rent Depot sponsored C.J. Rayburn Race Car, while Chris Combs of Isom, KY would complete the top five in the Tim Short Automotive/Combs Trucking sponsored Swartz Race Car.

The remainder of the top ten would be Tim Tungate, Michael Chilton, Tyrel Todd, Michael England, and Jeff Watson. The event would be slowed by three caution flags and took 19 minutes and 35 seconds to complete.
Victor Lee would take the lead at the drop of the green flag, with Tim Tungate, Mike Marlar, Dustin Linville, and Jason Keltner giving chase. Lee would immediately open up a nice lead, while Tungate and Marlar would begin to tussle for second. The front five would remain the same, with Lee opening an extremely large lead by lap 10, while Marlar continued to pressure Tungate for second, but would not be able to make the pass.

Lee would begin to work heavy slower traffic on lap 12, while Tungate continued to hold Marlar at bay for the number two position. By lap 15, Lee would hold almost a full straightaway lead, with five lapped cars between himself and the battle between Tungate and Marlar for second. Linville would close in on Tungate and Marlar and would join the battle for the second position by the halfway mark on lap 20.

With Lee almost three-quarters of a lap ahead of the rest of the field, the battle for second would really heat up as Tungate, Marlar, and Linville would dance three-wide for the runner-up spot, with Tungate holding on to the spot, with Linville claiming third on lap 24. Marlar would fire a slidejob on Tungate to take second on lap 27 in turn four, only to see Tungate return the favor in turn two on lap 28. Marlar would win the slidejob battle on lap 29 turn four and secure the second spot, while Tungate and Linville would wage a battle for the third position at this point on lap 30.

The first caution of the race waved on lap 36 when David Webb's machine would put down some liquid entering turn one, with Webb's evening being finished. The restart would see Linville take third from Tungate exiting turn two, with Michael Chilton pressuring Keltner for the fifth position. April Farmer would draw the next caution on lap 38 when she looped her mount exiting turn two. This restart would be called back as Eric Wells would hit the restart cone and be sent to the rear of the lead lap cars. Back underway, Keltner would pressure Tungate for third and take the spot as the field took the white flag, after Tungate clipped the turn four concrete. Lee would lead the lead to the checkered flag, followed by Marlar, Linville, Keltner, and Chris Combs, who would slip by Tungate on the final lap for fifth.

In preliminary action, Victor Lee would be the Racing Optics Top Qualifier among 32 entries with a lap of 13.821 seconds. Heat race checkered flags went to Victor Lee in Wayne Bowen Racing Supply heat one, Dustin Linville in K&N Performance Engineering heat two, Mike Marlar in Graphic Impressions heat three, and Tim Tungate in Real Racing Wheels heat four. The B-mains would be captured by Duke Whiseant and Johnny Wheeler. David Webb and Doug Smith earned series provisional starts, while track provisionals went to Jake Henry and Jesse Lay.

The next event for the Super Late Model division of the O'Reilly Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar Series will be at Bluegrass Speedway in Bardstown, KY on Saturday July 12 for the 10th Annual Kentuckiana Klash, paying $5,000 to win at the David and Anita Ferrell promoted facility.

The O'Reilly Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar Series sanctions regional Super Late Model events at tracks in Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, and Tennessee. For more information about America's most competitive regional racing series, visit the series webpage on the world wide web at www.battleofthebluegrass.com or call the series office at (859) 762-1606 or (502) 931-5068.

O'Reilly Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar Series Super Late Model Division

SUMMARY-Ponderosa Speedway-Junction City, Kentucky-July 11, 2008

Racing Optics Top Qualifier- Victor Lee 13.821

Wayne Bowen Racing Supply Heat #1 (Top 4 Advance)- Victor Lee, Jason Keltner, Michael Chilton, Aaron Hatton, Duke Whiseant, Jesse Lay, Anthony Ferguson (DNS-David Webb)

K&N Performance Engineering Heat #2 (Top 4 Advance)- Dustin Linville, Tyrel Todd, Jeff Watson, Larry Gray, Zach Carney, Doug Smith, Ed Behn, Tim Huddleston

Graphic Impressions Heat #3 (Top 4 Advance)- Mike Marlar, Chris Combs, Eric Wells, Royce McGowan, Jake Henry, Arnie Fields, Brandon Hardgrove, Brian Marksbury

Real Racing Wheels Heat #4 (Top 4 Advance)- Tim Tungate, Michael England, April Farmer, Ricky Arms, Dan Deaton, Michael Erp, Bobby Carrier, Jr., Johnny Wheeler

B-Main #1 (Top 2 Advance)- Duke Whiseant, Zach Carney, David Webb, Jesse Lay, Tim Huddleston, Ed Behn, Doug Smith, Anthony Ferguson

B-Main #2 (Top 2 Advance)- Johnny Wheeler, Arnie Fields, Brandon Hardgrove, Brian Marksbury, Jake Henry, Michael Erp (DNS- Dan Deaton, Bobby Carrier, Jr.)

Series Provisionals- David Webb, Doug Smith
Track Provisionals- Jake Henry, Jesse Lay

13th Annual Pete Abell Memorial O'Reilly A-Main- Victor Lee, Mike Marlar, Dustin Linville, Jason Keltner, Chris Combs, Tim Tungate, Michael Chilton, Tyrel Todd, Michael England, Jeff Watson, Eric Wells, Royce McGowan, Larry Gray, Zach Carney, Arnie Fields, Ricky Arms, Doug Smith, Jesse Lay, April Farmer, Duke Whiseant, David Webb, Johnny Wheeler, Jake Henry (DNS-Aaron Hatton)

Total Entries- 32
Lap Leaders- 1 (Lee 1-40)
Cautions- 3 (Lap 35, Lap 38, Lap 38 restart)
Red Flags- None
PPM Racing Products Hard Charger- Jesse Lay (Started 24th-Finished 18th-Advanced 6 positions)
DriveSmart Kentucky Move of the Race- Mike Marlar (slidejob pass for second on lap 29)
Time of Race- 19 minutes, 35 seconds

O'Reilly Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar Series Super Late Model Point Standings (after July 11, 2008)
1. Victor Lee (Stanford, KY)- 2,481
2. Tyrel Todd (Science Hill, KY)- 1,966
3. Tim Tungate (Campbellsville, KY)- 1,961
4. David Webb (Nicholasville, KY)- 1,870
5. Eric Wells (Hazard, KY)- 1,803 ®
6. Zach Carney (Mooresville, IN)- 1,772 ®
7. Larry Gray (Lexington, KY)- 1,663 ®
8. Mike Jewell (Scottsburg, IN)- 1,487
9. Arnie Fields (Flemingsburg, KY)- 1,446 ®
10. Chris Combs (Isom, KY)- 1,414

O'Reilly Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar Series Upcoming Schedule of Events:
July 12- Bluegrass Speedway (Bardstown, KY)- 10th Annual Kentuckiana Klash- $5,000 to win
July 19-Richmond Raceway (Richmond, KY)- 21st Paul "Butterball" Wooldridge Memorial- $5,000 to win
July 26-Portsmouth Raceway Park (Portsmouth, OH)- $3,000 to win
August 1- Ponderosa Speedway (Junction City, KY)- 6th Annual John Bradshaw Memorial- $5,000 to win (co-sanctioned with Independent Racing Series)
August 2- Bluegrass Speedway (Bardstown, KY)- 6th Annual My Old Kentucky Home Shootout- $5,000 to win (co-sanctioned with Independent Racing Series)

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