‘Kamikaze Kid’ claims Buckeye Late Model Dirt Battle
Tyler Carpenter claimed a valuable top prize of $3,000 in winning the Buckeye Late Model Dirt Battle on the Hill at Hilltop Speedway on Friday, July 24.
Friday, July 24 was a special night of racing as the Mid-Ohio Valley Ultimate Super Late Model Series put tires to track to run the Battle on the Hill as part of the fifth annual Buckeye Late Model Dirt Weeks.
Starting off the night’s events were the Newfast Motorsports trucks running a feature only, by pill draw. Nick Large and Scott Clantz, setting on the front row, would bring the field to the start of their 18-lap feature event, but their advantage would be short-lived as Dwayne Powell, working his way through the field from fifth, would take the lead.
With Powell leading, Travis Hare would begin to work his way to the front, as he would drive past Logan Duncan to take second with five laps down. But by lap 15 Powell proved to be dominant and would put nearly a half track between himself and Hare as he went on to pick up his third feature win on the season. Second went to Hare, followed by Duncan, Nick Large and Evan Large.
Making its first appearance after a few years of being absent from Hilltop, the Mid-Ohio Valley Ultimate Super Late Model Series would make the local track home for the night at the fifth annual Buckeye Dirt Weeks for the Battle on the Hill.
Fast time among competitors was Alex Ferree with a time of 13.985. Heat race winners were “Kamikaze Kid” Tyler Carpenter and David Hess, Jr. with JR Gentry picking up the win in the fast dash.
Bringing the field to the green, Gentry would take the early lead as Carpenter and Corey Conley battled it out for second. On lap three with Gentry still out front with nearly a straightaway lead, Conley would secure second over Carpenter.
Caution came out with six laps down, bunching the field back up for the restart. With the green out, racing was back under way, and Gentry would again claim the top spot and pull away from the field. However, another caution would again come out on lap 16.
Slow back to the restart, Gentry would maintain the lead as Carpenter would look to the inside of Conley for second. Lap for lap Carpenter would gain on Conley, taking second with a run off of turn four on lap 21. With second secure, Carpenter would set his sights on Gentry. Side by side the two would go down the backstretch. It would be Carpenter darting to the inside of Gentry off of turn four to take the lead on lap 25.
Moments later caution would once again come out. Back under green, Conley would battle the bumper of Gentry for second when the yellow would fly. Setting up for the restart, the green out, Carpenter would maintain his position out in front, and Conley would get the run off turn two to take second.
With 10 laps to go, Freddie Carpenter would make his presence known as he would secure third from Gentry. As the final 10 laps dwindled, Tyler Carpenter would advance his lead over the field, going on to pick up the $3,000 to win Battle on the Hill. Rounding out the top five was Conley, Freddie Carpenter, Mike Pegher and Gentry.
A full field of 18 would make up the Rigz Towing and Snyder Hot Shot Truck and Trailer modlites. Heat race winners were “Fast” Freddie Carpenter and Tracy Fritter.
A top-three redraw would place Jesse Jacobs on the pole for their feature event. Bringing the field to the green, Jacobs would take the early lead as a three-wide battle for second would ensue. Unfortunately caution would fly, forcing a complete restart for the field.
Slow, back to the green, Jacobs would again attempt to retain the lead, getting a stiff challenge from “The Toboso Bullet” Jimmy Smith. Running the high side, Smith would edge out Jacobs to take the lead with one lap in the books. Also, working their way through the field around Jacobs to claim second and third was Fritter and Freddie Carpenter.
Caution came back out with six laps down and would bunch the field up back to the green, where Smith would once again take the top spot with Fritter looking to overtake him. As Fritter worked the bumper of Smith, caution would once again come out with 10 laps down, setting up a green, white, checkered finish.
With racing back under way, Smith claimed the top spot, fending off Fritter’s charge to park it in victory lane. Third went to Freddie Carpenter, fourth to Colten Shaw and fifth to Jesse Jacobs.
Setting fast time among 18 Bugs-R-Gone modifieds was “The Batman” Scott Peltz with a time of 15.435. “The Logger” Kevin Morehouse and “The Outlaw” Jesse Wisecarver would each pick up a heat race win. Sitting on the front row after the redraw was Wisecarver and DJ Cline.
With the field set, the green was out, and it was Wisecarver taking the top spot, Cline second followed by a three-wide battle between Morehouse, Freddie Carpenter and Robin Duston for third.
With six laps down, front runner Wisecarver would begin working his way through lap traffic, advancing his lead. However, yellow would come out at the halfway mark, bunching the field up for the restart. Back under green, Wisecarver would again claim the lead as Cline would challenge from the inside. Right behind them was a side-by-side battle for third ensuing between Morehouse and Duston, a fight that would go to Morehouse on lap 13.
Looking to make a charge to the front, Rick Aukland would drive his way around competitors into the top five with his sights set on Duston. Unfortunately trouble with Aukland’s car would bring out the caution once again and send him to the tail.
Single file for the green, white, checkered finish, Wisecarver took the lead once more as Cline challenged his bumper but was unable to capitalize with a mere two laps left. Thus taking the checkers and picking up the win was Wisecarver, followed by Cline, Morehouse, Duston and Kyle Moore.