Jason Hehman of Brownstown picked up an emotional victory on May 5 at Brownstown Speedway when the 40-year-old veteran driver won the Scott Patman Tribute race.
The fourth annual event was held in honor of Scott Patman, one of the top street stock and modified drivers in the track’s history who passed away in 2015 at the age of 57. Patman won 28 features in street stocks and 11 in modifieds during his Brownstown Hall-of-Fame career.
Hehman and Patman’s son Nathan were good friends growing up when they traveled to the races together to see their fathers race. Hehman’s father Jeff came out of retirement to run in the May 5 event.
Hehman led all 29 laps to record his ninth career win at Brownstown. Branden Carr of Scottsburg finished in second, followed by Josh Divine of Loogootee, Matt Boknecht of Seymour and Aubrey Eagan of Bedford.
Carr earned the $100 bonus for fast time from In The Fast Lane Productions, and David Brewer of Seymour won the Slimfast award for passing the most cars in the feature race. Brewer advanced 10 spots after starting 18th and finishing in eighth.
Tyler Cain of Seymour won a closely fought Indiana Late Model Series feature. Hudson O’Neal of Martinsville came over from the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series rain-postponed Ralph Latham Memorial at Florence Speedway in Union, Kentucky, and ran second to Cain. Jeremy Hines of Seymour was third, with Raymond Humphrey of Bloomington and Austin Burns of Morgantown rounded out the top five.
Matt Boknecht picked up another open wheel modified feature when the second-generation racer stayed glued to the bottom of the racetrack and finally tracked down race-leader Tyler Nicely in the waning stages of the race. Nicely then slipped over the Turn 3 and 4 banking, and that allowed Boknecht to get away for the win. Ryan Thomas of Seymour finished in second, with Jeremy Hines taking his second third-place finish of the night. Ricky Arms of Moss, Tennessee was fourth, with Bloomington’s Jordan Wever completing the top-five drivers.
Derek Clegg of Nabb won the pure stock feature race over Zachary Stalker of Heltonville, William Burton of North Vernon, Houston Roark of Dupont and Donnie Wilson of North Vernon.
Gregg O’Neill of Mooresville won his first hornet feature of the year over Brian Mitchell of Bedford, Bubby Gedling of Clarksville, Josh Hallett of Brownstown and Brian Moore of Bedford.
Brownstown is off tonight and will be back in action on May 19.
Twin Cities results
The Twin Cities Raceway Park in Vernon hosted five divisions of racing on May 5. Jim Couch of Hamilton, Ohio, won the crate late model feature event. Connor Meade of Clay City, Kentucky, in his first-ever appearance at the track was second with Mark Barber of North Vernon grabbing third-place. Elliott Despain of Campbellsville, Kentucky, was fourth, and David Bryant of Dupont came home fifth.
Troy Clark of North Vernon remained the hottest driver in the pure stock feature, racking up another feature win. Mark Bruce of Commiskey was second with Seth Hull of Versailles, Bryson Clark of North Vernon and Mark Hines of Scipio trailing the winner at the finish.
Matt Hamilton of Aurora made his first appearance of the season at Twin Cities a successful one when he won the open wheel modified feature. Trent Green of Milton, Kentucky, was second, with Wade Rookard of East Bernstadt, Kentucky, taking third. Dustin Golden of Bedford and John Trowbridge of North Vernon rounded out the top-five drivers.
Justin Patterson of North Vernon won his first hornet feature of the year over T.J. Wright of North Vernon, Jamie Caufer, Derrick Smith and Kenny Higbie.
In the UMRA midgets, it was Tate Martz of Rushville taking the feature triumph over Jason Goff of Fortville, Rick Robinson of Columbus, Joey Paxson of Shelbyville and Callie Wolsiffer-Hewitt of New Palestine.
Tonight, Twin Cities will host a special for the pure stock division. Also racing will be crate late models, hornets, super stocks and the MMSA winged mini-sprints. For more info twincitiestrack.com.
Bloomington winners
Bloomington Speedway hosted the J.B. Robinson Memorial Race for modifieds on May 4. Devin Gilpin of Columbus took off at the start of the 40-lap, $2,000-to-win special event, and he would dominate the first 11 laps of the race when he experienced mechanical issues which knocked him out of the race.
Josh Harris of Owensboro, Kentucky, would pick up the lead later in the race from Trent Young and then go on for the victory. Ryan Thomas of Seymour was second, with Young taking third. Wil Krup of Mount Carmel, Illinois, ran fourth, with Hamilton taking fifth.
Kerry Kinser of Bloomington picked up the victory in the RcaeSaver sprint car feature over Damon Fortune, John Paynter Jr. of Bloomington, Terry Arthur of Bloomington and Ethan Barrow of Unionville.
Jack Frye of Bloomington won his first super stock feature of the year over Steve Hawkins of
Bloomington, Chris Hillman of Camby, Jason Hehman of Brownstown and Steve Hollars of Bloomington.
Owen Cosman swept the top honors in the hornet division, winning the main event over Jeremy Smith, Tom Houston, Mark Gott and Leroy Sherford.
Bloomington Speedway will be back in action on Friday with a regular show of 410 non-wing sprints, RaceSaver sprints and modifieds. For further info, visit bloomingtonspeedway.com.
Lawrenceburg results
Nick Bilbee of Indianapolis won the sprint car feature on May 5 at Lawrenceburg Speedway. Kody Swanson of Indianapolis ran second, with last week’s feature winner, Dickie Gaines of Mitchell, taking third. Garrett Abrams of Rushville was fourth, and Bedford’s Braxton Cummings was fifth.
Cory Skipton of Greendale won his first-ever modified feature at the track when he edged out Josh Rice of Verona, Kentucky, at the finish. Brandon Green of Walton, Kentucky, was third, with Brad Wieck of Cincinnati and Kyle Herbert of Greensburg completing the top five.
Steve King of Versailles won his first feature at Lawrenceburg in 19 years when he claimed the pure stock feature. King’s last win at the track was in a modified on the old configuration. Don Grace finished in second behind King, with veteran Danny Eichler taking third. Mike Ackman and Dalton Smith rounded out the top five.
Tonight, Lawrenceburg hosts a regular show of sprints, modifieds, hornets and pure stocks. For more info, visit lawrenceburgspeedway.com.
This week in racing history
From 60 years ago in 1958, the Columbus 25th Street Fairgrounds hosted three divisions of racing.
Hometown driver Bobby Baker won the jalopy feature over Bearcat Chaplin, Ray Waltz, Bill Garrett; and Charlie Heitz. Bob Kinser won the stock open feature over Jim Quillen, Mike Johnson, Ted Pfeiffer and Bobby Baker. Kinser also was victorious in the open car feature.
From 30 years ago in 1988 at Twin Cities, it was Dill Whittymore taking the win in the late model division over Daryl Herbert, Jeff Herbert, Danny Eichler and Gary Barrow. Jeff Daugherty won the street stock main event over Mark Clark, Randy Petro, Rolla Millspaugh and Taulby Donnell.
Also from 1988 on this weekend, Jim Curry won the late model feature at Brownstown over C.J. Rayburn, Steve Barnett, Paul Shafer and Bob Pierce. Mark Barber took the street stock main event over Earl Plessinger, Scott Patman, Larry Harris and Tom Seadler. Ron Hoover won the bomber feature over Bob Johnson, Dave Kerr, Jay Deckard and Mike Moore.
