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Ricky Weiss picked up the feature victory in the Late Model feature at the Baltes Classic on Sunday at Eldora Speedway.
ROSSBURG - Nearly one year ago, Canadian driver Ricky Weiss suffered heartbreak at Eldora Speedway when his car failed post-race technical inspection, stripping him of a preliminary feature win at the World 100.
After skipping the Dirt Late Model Dream in June, Weiss returned to Eldora on Sunday night and drove to a convincing victory in the 30-lap Baltes Classic DIRTCar Late Model main event that serves as a tune-up for this weekend's prestigious World 100.
It was Weiss's second win in the event that honors the founders of Eldora, but his first driving the Sniper Chassis that he has built and developed over the past couple of years.
"We know we have a really good piece here, we just haven't had any luck," Weiss said from Eldora victory lane. "My guys have been working their tails off and it is nice to reward them. We've been really fast the past couple weeks and just haven't had the finishes to show it. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come this week."
Weiss, who also won the Baltes Classic in 2019, started on the outside of the front row, drove around pole-sitter Logan Nickerson in the first two turns of the opening lap and was never seriously challenged on the way to collecting $5,000 for the win.
"Everything has changed so much with the cars the past couple of years and Hoosier has changed the tires, so there is just so much to learn about what this car needs," Weiss said. "This gives our team a lot of momentum heading into next week."
Tripp Gerrald drove a strong race and finished second ahead of Nickerson, who rounded out the podium. Jason Jameson survived a near spin on lap four while battling for the runner-up spot and finished fourth. Australian Kye Blight rounded out the top five.
James Rice, 16-year old second-generation driver Tristan Chamberlain, Tyler Carpenter, Travis Stemler and Matt Cosner completed the top 10.
Richard Stephens was the fastest qualifier of the 39-car field, turning a lap of 15.656 seconds. Heat races were won by Jameson, Tim Lance, Chamberlain and Nickerson. Nick Hoffman and Rod Conley captured the two B-mains.
Jeff Koz picked up the victory in the Modified feature race at Sunday's Baltes Classic at Eldora Speedway.
The UMP Modified feature was a thriller with Jeff Koz, looking for his first Eldora Modified win, and Brian Ruhlman, winner of a record 42 Eldora features, dueling in the closing laps of the 20-lap event.
Koz, of Lima, slid in front of Ruhlman to take the lead on lap 14. Four laps later, Ruhlman returned the tight slider and re-took the lead with two laps left. However, the two made slight contact on the second pass and a turn after taking the lead, Ruhlman's left rear tire went flat to hand the lead and the eventual win to Koz.
"Hopefully I ran him clean but I'm not sure I had him cleared and he got into me a little bit, and I apologize for that," Koz said. "We were racing for the win, and I wouldn't have expected anything different from him.
"Anytime you win here you have accomplished something," he went on. "We won here in a stock car and have been really close a couple times in the mod, but just have had some stupid stuff break or something happen. It's nice to finally get one."
Brandon Kinzer finished in second-place ahead of 22nd starter Dillon Nusbaum, Jonathan Taylor and New Bremen's Drew Charlson, who started in the 13th position.
Rounding out the top 10 were Dylan Woodling, Evan Taylor, Scottie Williams, Brad Goff and Jerry Bowersock.
Coldwater's Ryan Sutter led the first four laps of the main event but suffered mechanical issues while running in the top five and limped home to place 17th.
Rockford's Zachary Hawk suffered a flat tire and finished 20th in the feature event, while "Weasel" Phlipot dropped out of the main event in Burkettsville car owner Mike Garke's machine and was scored 21st.
Local competitors Brad Hess (St. Henry), Dustin Moore (St. Marys) and Jason Kinney (driving Celina's Mike Chrisman's car) all failed to qualify for the main event.
Pennsylvania driver Tyler Dietz dominated the 15-lap Super Stock main but was disqualified in post-race technical inspection, handing the win to Jeremy Creech. It was Creech's second win of the season.
Craig Dippman, Jeff Matheny, Shawn Valenti and Rob Trent rounded out the top five. Earnie Woodard, Nick Bowers, Tony Anderson, Adam Lantz and Robert Pardo completed the top 10.
The Late Models return this weekend for the World 100, the most prestigious event in Dirt Late Model racing. The action begins on Thursday and Friday with twin 25-lap, preliminary feature events paying $12,000 to-win before Saturday's 53rd annual World 100, paying $56,000 to the winner.
