West KY Dirttrack Series Round 11, Carson Park, Paducah, KY
June 27, 2003

McFadden is the Man
By Bobby Lewis

The KY Dirttrack Series made its annual trip to Paducah’s Carson Park limestone half mile under the lights of the fair. Steve Nace and crew had the track in absolutely perfect condition for the large turnout.

The first class to hit the track was the shaft drive 50cc machines who used the front straightaway to run a short track. After heats whittled the field down to 12, Nick McFadden sat on the pole. When the light flashed McFadden went to the front and never looked back lapping up into the pack on his way to the win. After a lot of jockeying for position Jace Faugno settled firmly into second over Landon Woley. Carson Anderson held on for fourth over Timothy Grief, Destin McDonald, Mason Woley and Victoria Whyback.

The best ride of the night came in the Open Amateur class as heat race winner Jeremy Anderson found himself buried in the back as the pack hit turn one. Anderson went to the cushion and picked riders off two at a time to work to the front and take the win. Jason Schlesinger put in a good ride for second over Tyler Porter, Kenny Groh and Kyle Naliborski.

Jason Goodwin was clipping the hay bales as he rode the top of the track in wide-open fashion in the Open Pro-Am class. The first start found the red flag flying as two riders went down hard coming off turn two. Aaron Ladd was out for the night with a badly battered motorcycle while everyone else regridded. Goodwin went to the top on the restart and had to hold off a late charge by Chase Sconyers to take the win. Ben Morton slid into third over Anderson, Naliborski and Kenny Groh.

Brad Furlong had followed Goodwin’s line earlier in the night and used it to top the Open Pro class. Furlong, Goodwin and Sconyers ran bar to bar for the entire race with Furlong taking the win. Coty Bowland landed in fourth after holding off Stephen Hartzel at the line.

Jeff Jones led every lap of the way in taking the Vet class win over Mike Dunaway, Dean Faulkner, Bill Gruwell and Gene Yopp. Bill Zentmyer went one-for-one in heat and main in the Senior class. He grabbed the lead down the back straight and left Yopp to hold off Dennis Porter, David Brown and Donald Durrett for second. J.T. Woods captured the Super Senior win over Clyde Modlin.

Dunaway returned in the 70 Singles class to run with the win over Dean Faulkner, Phil Elken and Nathan Curnel. Rod Hartzel used a potent Triumph to win the Heavy Vintage final over Charlie Southgate while Steve Atwell topped the lightweights.

Justin Hanna and Zach Oliffe ran wheel-to-wheel in the 200cc Amateur final. Oliffe had a better line going in but Hanna got the drive off the last corner to take the win. The Heiden boys, Jonathan and Michael would follow in order.

Jonathan came back to notch the victory in the 200 Pro-Am main after a close battle with Oliffe. Chris Ragan rode to third over Mike Heiden and Hanna.

Oliffe got the win he was looking for in the 85cc class. He nailed the start and held off Jonathan at the flag to take the win. A short distance back Cody Brown held onto third over Jake Lewis, Nikki Spore, Jesse Taber, Mike Heiden and Blake Moore.

Lewis came back to dominate the 65cc and 50cc Chain classes. Nathaniel Vowell and Dylan Lowery followed in the 6cc division while McFadden and Josh Greif chased on the 50's.

Tyler Porter made it look easy in the 250cc Amateur ranks with a runaway win. Things were definitely hot behind him as Dakota Simmons emerged from the five rider frenzy to place second over Michael Stalvey, Jordan Jenkle, Tracy Gibbs and Tony Graham. Gibbs would rebound to card a perfect night in the Trailrider class while Caleb Ballard would vastly improve from the heat race to run second. Brian Neblett held off Sean Smith, Brett Tapley and Dustin Medley for third. Simmons would sit on top of the box in the Mad Dog feature with Colby Chandler besting Jessie Hedge and April Ladd to win the Stock XR100 class.

The last race of the night was the Jimmy Greif Memorial Dash for Cash. Jimmy was a very devoted dirt track man and probably most responsible for keeping it running in the years that rider turnout was low. This race will be an annual reminder of the time he spent helping the sport to grow. When the light turned green for this four lap dash Furlong was more than ready and put in perfect laps to take the win and the money over Sconyers and Goodwin.

Race Results and Series Points