Press Release by Brandon DePew
Labor Day Weekend Finishes out the ’08 Season at AMS
Angola Motor Speedway
August 30 & 31, 2008
(Fremont, Indiana)


The final two events of the 2008 season took place over the Labor Day weekend at the Angola Motor Speedway. Saturday was Pizza Hut Night at the races and also the final night of the Napa Season Championship Series for all four regular divisions. The Budweiser Super Late Models were first out of the gate for their final feature event of the season. Brent Jack held a slim lead in the point battle over Jeff Parr going in to the night, but a big pile up on the first lap of the race ended Parr’s night and any hope of winning the championship. Jasper Case and Fred Elkins made contact on lap 2 allowing Jack Landis and Brent Jack to take the top two spots. The battle was on from there as Landis and Jack battled lap after lap for the top spot. In the end Landis would prevail once again picking up another feature win, Brent Jack would hold on to second and take the championship title for the second straight year. Fast qualifier Craig Everage took the third spot, Joe Ellert was fourth, and Fred Elkins came home fifth. Landis and Brian Jack were the heat winners.

The 25 lap Superior Auto Modified feature was up next as Rick Coe and Brad Springer would bring the field down for the green flag. Springer jumped out front on lap one but Coe and Erik Shaeffer stayed close behind. Shaeffer was sitting second in the point standings behind Darwin Wolfe, but he would need a miracle to take the title away from Wolfe. Springer slowly pulled away from the field and it was smooth sailing as he picked up another win at AMS. Coe, Tim Burkett, Erik Shaeffer, and Jason Timmerman all had top five finishes. Darwin Wolfe held on to 6th spot and was the championship winner in the Superior Auto Modified division. Springer and Tom Blackburn took home heat wins.

The Great Lakes Supercup Series made their first ever appearance at AMS Saturday night and these ½ scale cars put on a great show for the fans. Jeff Gerline had a great start and grabbed the early lead in the 20 lap feature. Scott Phillips and former Nascar driver Morris Randall were in hot pursuit and it was a three car battle to the finish. Phillips and Gerline would swap the top spot back and forth numerous times before Phillips finally made the pass stick and took the checkers, Gerline held on to 2nd, Randall was 3rd, Morgan Baird 4th, and Trent Jenson 5th. Randall and Tim Phillips were the heat winners.

It was another all Henderson show in the Jonny on the Spot Street Stock feature as Zach Henderson dominated once again making it three straight victories. His cousin Robby would battle back from a broken Transmission in practice to finish in the runner up position. This sealed the deal for Robby who would be your Jonny on the Spot Street Stock Champion for 2008.

Heat wins went to Brent Dirrim and Brandon Pulver.

The Final race of the night was the most anticipated one as Logan Parker and Clif Bennett came in to the night tied for the point lead and this left no room for error by either driver. Taylor Oberlin jumped out front in the opening laps and looked very impressive early. A freight train led by Zach Sipe, Jason Weaver and Parker closed in on Oberlin by lap 7. A three wide move by Parker off of turn two gave him the top spot with Sipe and Weaver right behind. After early trouble Bennett made a furious charge toward the front but he couldn’t quite get to Parker. Parker would hold off Jason Weaver and take his car to Tri State Line-X Victory Lane to celebrate a feature and a championship victory. Kedrin Holliday was a close 3rd, Bennett 4th, and Taylor Oberlin 5th. Oberlin and Bennett won the heats.

Sunday Evening was an Open Wheel Spectacular at AMS as 32 Awesome HOSS Sprints made the trip to Angola for their only appearance of the season. 20 of the best Sprint car drivers around started the 30 lap A-Main. Doug Berryman was the pole sitter and jumped out to a huge lead early in the race. Fast qualifier Jeff Bloom was caught up in an early accident and was unable to return to action. Jimmy McCune charged through the field and grabbed second at the halfway point. McCune was running out of time to catch the leader when Berryman suddenly pulled to the infield with 9 laps to go. McCune never looked back from there and picked up his 6th HOSS feature win in ’08. Veteran Hank Lower had a great 2nd place finish, Geoff Kaiser was 3rd, Mike Astauskas 4th, and Eddie Kelley finished 5th. Greg Wheeler was the B-Main winner, as Berryman, Sam Davis, Jeff Banyas, and Scott O’Conner were the HOSS heat winners.

Next up was the 40 lap “Fall Brawl” for the Street Stocks as Jeff Snyder and “Hacksaw” Frank Snedaker brought the field down for the green flag. Jerry Carpenter would make the move around Snyder to lead lap one with Justin Oberlin following him into second spot. Zach Henderson was looking strong once again riding the top groove into 3rd position 7 laps into the race. Z. Henderson would use that same outside line to get by Oberlin and Carpenter and set sail from there as he made it a weekend sweep in the street stock division. Dave Jordan had a good run to finish second; Shawn Bonar was third, Robby Henderson fourth, and Jamie Garrett fifth. The heats went to Oberlin and Jordan.

Justin Kazmar was on the pole for the O’Reilly USA Modified Series 50 lap event and he refused to relinquish that top spot. Kazmar had Scott Coe and Jeff Weston all over his back bumper for all 50 laps but neither driver could get off the corners as well as Kazmar to make the pass. Kazmar would hold on for his first win of the season after running strong several times and coming up short. The other top five finishers were Coe, Weston, Jason Timmerman, and Steve Minich Jr. Timmerman was the Dash winner, Chris Neuenschwander won the heat, and Dan Frazier took the last chance race.

The final race of the season was the always exciting mini stock outlaw feature event. Jason Weaver would be the early leader, but Michael Mast made the move under Weaver 10 laps into the 25 lap race. Mast would take over and hold on through several restarts to pick up the win. Weaver, Shane Eldridge, Clif Bennett, and Francis Fairchild would all pick up top five finishes. Zach Sipe and Eldridge were the heat winners.

Another great season of racing has come to an end already but next year will be here in no time. A big thank you to all the fans and drivers who supported the Angola Motor Speedway in 2008 and hope to see everyone back at the track again next season. As always visit AngolaMotorSpeedway.com for information on next season and banquet dates.