10/18/2014
Delaware International Speedway
H.J. BUNTING SCORES ONE FOR THE HOME TEAM IN SMALL BLOCK CHAMPIONSHIP
The Small Block Modifieds only compete once a year at the Delaware International Speedway and that is during the Delaware State Dirt Track Championships. Since the division was added in 1986 only two weekly racers (Ricky Elliott in 1996 and H.J. Bunting in 2005) have won the event. On Friday night of the two night Delaware Dirt Track Championships Bunting’s team made the right choices with their setup and the Milford, Del. resident drove to his second Fall Championship win.
The first half of the 50-lap Small Block main was filled with cautions mostly for single car incidents. Matt Jester started on the pole and pulled away on each restart while New Egypt racer, David Van Horn, Jr. diced with H.J. Bunting for second. Craig VonDohren held down the fourth spot and Doug Manmiller quickly worked from his eighth starting spot into fifth.
Bunting took advantage of a lap seven restart to get by Van Horn and Manmiller moved by VonDohren for fourth. Rick Laubach was flying to the front from seventh and had just pulled into third when sparks started to shower from under the car forcing him to slow and bring out the yellow on unlucky lap 13. This moved Manmiller up to the third spot behind Jester and Bunting as Van Horn got shuffled back to fifth.
Van Horn was excellent on the restarts and was back up to third in two laps and one lap later took second back from Bunting. Brad Trice was having a good run and was up to fourth and Wade Hendrickson held fifth. Just before halfway Bunting recaptured second for Van Horn and began to reel in Jester.
With 20 laps to go Jester was starting to push in the turns and Bunting was able to get underneath to take the lead. With ten laps to go Van Horn got by Jester for second and Manmiller followed into third. Von Dohren was back after pitting mid-race and was back in the top five. Van Horn closed to Bunting’s bumper but caught a tire coming off the fourth turn and got out of shape. This gave Bunting a four car length lead with five to go that he maintained to the checkered.
Bunting collected his second Small Block Modified Championship with Van Horn finishing a hard fought second. Manmiller turned in a solid run to finish in third and Von Dohren made a great comeback to take fourth. Jester ended a good run finishing in fifth. Heats were won by Jester, Van Horn and Bunting.
“We put a lot of fuel in because we didn’t know how many cautions we would have,� said Bunting. “Once I got a little of that burned off I knew I could start running a little harder. I would just like to thank Jake (Marine) and all the guys for sticking with me. It’s been a rough end of the year.�
Small Block Modified Finish: 1. H.J. Bunting; 2. David Van Horn; 3. Doug Manmiller; 4. Craig VonDohren; 5. Matt Jester; 6. Brad Trice; 7. Brad Brightbill; 8. Scott VanGorder; 9. Neal Williams; 10. Shawn Ward; 11. Ronnie Roberts; 12. Kevin Gardner; 13. Scott Hulmes; 14. Adam Weber; 15. Kevin Brady; 16. Wade Hendrickson; 17. Ryan Anderson; 18. Ray Swinehart; 19. Chris Grbac; 20. Pete Serra; 21. Kenny Pettyjohn; 22. Rick Laubach; 23. Dwayne Heck; 24. Kyle Borror; 25. Ritchie Pratt; 26. Bryan Breasure; DNS: Norman Short Jr. 