Jun 28, 2009 - Charlie George Captures $5K "Chuck Gear Memorial" !

By Bob Reed

Kerens , WV . 6-27-2009.   Charlie George, Elkins, from his outside front row starting position led all 50 laps of the 9^th Annual Chuck Gear Memorial at the Elkins Speedway to capture the biggest win of his late model driving career.

Chuck Harper and George led the 24 car field to the green with George getting the jump into turn 1 followed by 3^rd starting Booper Bare, Harper, 5^th starting Tim Dohm, 4^th starting Zac Dohm, 7^th starting Jarrod Hawkins, 6^th starting Ricky Williams, 8^th starting Gary Dalton, 9^th starting Henry Hornsby and 10th starting Tim Senic.  Immediately 15^th starting Scott Peltz lost a driveshaft but got off the track into the infield on the backstaight for the first car out of the action.

Bare moved by Harper and moved in on George while Tim Dohm was all over Harper for 3^rd with Gary Dalton moving through the field.  This came to a halt on lap 6 when Skip Hare and Billy Holbert got together in turn 2 with Holbert losing a left rear wheel in the collision.  Holbert was towed off while Hare drove pitside.  This yellow spawned another  as on the restart Harper slowed coming through turns 3&4 and stopped.  After the yellow again flew he went pitside.  At this point George led Bare, Tim Dohm, Hawkins, Dalton , Zac Dohm, Williams, Senic, Meadows and Butch McGill.

On the restart George easily held off Bare but Tim Dohm was now pressuring Bare and finally got under him and passed coming through turns 3 & 4 and went to 2^nd on lap 11.  On lap 10 Williams went pitside while Zac Dohm got by Dalton .  Senic now began racing Dalton for position and got by for 6^th on lap 12.  This run came to a stop on lap 16 when Bob Gordon lost power going down the back straight and stopped in turn 3.  He was pushed pitside.  Robbie Scott also dropped out on this caution.  George now led Tim Dohm, Bare, Hawkins, Zac Dohm, Senic, Dalton , Meadows, McGill and 16^th starting Joe Loudin.

The next green flag period lasted from lap 16 through lap 34 when Zac Dohm who had been losing ground to the leaders and was now running 12th spun on his own in turn 4 bringing out caution #3.  At this point George who was maintaining a 3 to 5 car length lead over Tim Dohm led Dohm, Bare, Hawkins, Senic, Dalton, McGill, Meadows, Hornsby and Loudin.  Hornsby started 9^th but dropped as low as 15^th by lap 7 and was now fighting his way back toward the front.

At the drop of the green as on all the others Tim Dohm jumped under George going under the flag stand and into turn one but George with his super handling mount always came out of turn 2 with a 2 or 3 car length lead and was never in doubt of losing the lead.  The race now went green to the finish.  Dalton dropped out on lap 39 with a flat right rear.  In the final 16 laps 17^th starting Mike Benedum who was running 12^th at the final caution gained 4 spots over the final laps to finish 8^th.

Over the final 10 laps George maintained his 5 to 6 car length lead over Tim Dohm and seemed to be feathering the throttle some in the turns.  He finished with this lead over Tim Dohm with Bare 5 or 6 cars back in 3^rd and Hawkins on his rear bumper in 4^th with Senic charging to 5^th.  Heats were won by Hawkins, George, Dalton and Zac Dohm with Powers winning the Consi.  Quick qualifier was Ricky Williams @ 14.97.

Notes:  George said:  “My car was just super all night.  It was a little tight but over some of the bumps that seemed to help.  All of those cautions helped me as I had on soft tires and it allowed them to cool off.”  George was the only MasterSbilt car in the field and one of the few cars running American Racer tires.  This was George’s 2^nd big win at Elkins as he also won a $2000 to win Forest Festival race in the early 2000’s.

Notes:  George’s #98 LM is a MasterSbilt chassis powered by a Chevrolet engine built by Tom Rogers Racing Engines.  Sponsors are Elkins Truck Service, King’s Run Engineering PLLC, Charlie’s Auto, Muffler Works and Tom Pritt Performance & Dyno.

Notes:  The line-up for the feature came from 5 from each of the 4 heats, 2 from the Consi and 2 Provovisionals (Holbert and Poling).   The top 8 positions were determined by pill draw.  The first & second place finisher in the 4 heats drew pills for starting positions in the feature.  30 cars took time with Ricky Williams the quickest @ 14.97.  Steve Wilmoth was also in the pits but his car failed to start and he could not time or make a heat.

Notes:  24 cars started with 14 running all 50 laps.  Only 3 cautions slowed the action.  Hard charger was Mike Benedum who started 17^th and finished 8^th, a gain of 9 spots.

SUMMARY

CHUCK GEAR MEMORIAL – Charlie George, Tim Dohm, Booper Bare, Jarrod Hawkins, Tim Senic, Henry Hornsby, Butch McGill, Mike Benedum, Chris Meadows, Zack Dohm, Joe Loudin, Donnie Dotson, L.C. Powers, Richard Frazier, Gary Dalton, Jim McCloud, Robbie Scott, Bob Gordon, Ricky Williams, Chuck Harper, Skip Hare, Billy Holbert, Shawn Poling, Scott Peltz.

Ht 1 – Hawkins, Williams, Hornsby, Dotson, Benedum, Powers, Poling.

Ht 2 – George, Harper, Senic, Scott, Hare, Gordon, Holbert, Josh Coffman.

Ht 3 – Dalton , Bare, McGill, Peltz, McCloud, Ron Clevenger, Tracy Sampson.  DNS – Steve Wilmoth.

Ht 4 – Zack Dohm, Tim Dohm, Meadows, Loudin, Frazier, John Over, Scott Spade, Steve Booth.

Consi – Powers, Gordon, Holbert, Booth, Spade, Poling, Coffman, Clevenger, Over, Sampson.  DNS – Steve Wilmoth.

Qualifications: Williams 14.97; George 14.97; Dalton 15.04; Meadows 15.06; Hawkins 15.10; Harper 15.10; Bare 15.19; Zac Dohm 15.19; Hornsby 15.23; Senic 15.28; McGill 15.34; Tim Dohm 15.44; Benedum 15.46; Hare 15.49; McCloud 15.62; Over 15.66; Poling 15.69; Coffman 15.69; Peltz 15.70; Frazier 15.76; Dotson 15.77; Scott 15.78; Clevenger 15.78; Loudin 15.79; Powers 15.83; Gordon 15.91; Sampson 15.94; Spade 15.99; Booth 16.06; Holbert 16.37; Wilmoth NT .