LIMA, Ohio – After losing the entire month of May to weather, Limaland Motorsports Park swung open the gates for the second consecutive week to great weather, a great crowd, and some fantastic racing.
Cloverdale Ohio’s Jared Horstman picked up the win in the 18th annual Run for the Rabbit in his family-owned No. 17 360 sprint car.
In other action, Taylor Cook grabbed the Northwest Physical Therapy UMP Modified feature win, and Jordan Conover picked up his second straight win in the Budweiser Thunderstocks.
Kicking off the night were the K&L Ready Mix NRA Sprint Invaders in their 25 lap A Main honoring Travis “The Rabbit” Miller. The fans were treated to a four-wide parade lap before the feature, with Horstman pulling out front to lead the field in memory of Miller, who also ran the No. 17 during his time in sprint car racing at Limaland.
Jeff Williams and Horstman would bring the field to green, with Williams leading through turns one and two, but Horstman using a slide job in turns three and four to take the lead.
The action stayed furious through the field, with Randy Hannagan making his move to second on lap two and trying to close on Horstman.
Shawn Dancer made his way to third on lap 13, but could climb no higher. Horstman got held up by lapped traffic late in the race which allowed Hannagan to close in, but the laps ran out as Horstman went wire to wire, winning over Hannagan, Dancer, Williams, and Luke Hall.
The fast time in qualifying was set by Horstman. Heat races were won by Horstman, Williams and Dancer.
In Northwest Physical Therapy UMP Modified feature action, Cook and Michael Tarlton brought the field to the green flag. Tarlton would grab the lead and hold it through multiple cautions, with a patient Cook hanging just a couple car lengths back and staying within striking distance throughout the 20 lap feature.
The final caution would wave on lap 18, and on the restart, Cook made a diving move to Tarltons inside in turns one and two, Tarlton battled back down the straight away, and battled alongside Cook for the white flag.
When the leaders came around the final time to turns three and four, Tarlton went for a slidejob with Cook crossing over and holding on to take an exciting win. Tarlton finished second, with Shane O’Connor third, Jerry Bowersock fourth and Todd Sherman fifth.
Heat races were won by Tarlton, Cook, O’Connor and Darryl Banks. The twin B-mains were won by Jeff Koz and Daniel Sanchez.
Completing the night’s action were the Bud Thunderstocks in their 15 lap feature. UNOH racer Brandon Pralley and Chris Douglas brought the field to green, with Douglas grabbing the early lead.
The caution flag would fly on laps one, three and four, keeping the field bunched up and not allowing Douglas to get away. On lap 7, Conover would challenge Douglas for the lead and would take it for good on lap eight, grabbing his second consecutive feature win.
Douglas finished second, with Tony Anderson third, Sanchez fourth, and Pralley rounding out the top five. Heat races were won by Jeff Matheny, Anderson, and Douglas.