Sprint Bandits TNT Ultimate Challenge Washed Out at Oskaloosa
by: Lonnie Wheatley

OSKALOOSA, Iowa (August 7, 2007) – Oh, what could have been, as 49 drivers from throughout the nation checked into the Southern Iowa Speedway pit area for Tuesday night's $30,000 to win Ultimate Challenge sanctioned by the O'Reilly Sprint Bandits Tour 'N Topless series.

But Mother Nature had other plans in store. Sprinkles that began at 7:30 p.m. soon blossomed into a torrential downpour that forced the cancellation of the blockbuster event. With no suitable raindate available, the event will not be made up.

Ticket holders may obtain refunds by mailing their tickets along with name and mailing address to McTwo Promotions, P.O. Box 185, Altoona IA 50009.

The O'Reilly Sprint Bandits TNT Midwest Swing resumes next Tuesday night, August 14, at Nebraska Raceway Park's I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, NE, before moving on to Mid-America Speedway in South Coffeyville, OK, on Wednesday night, Creek County Speedway in Sapulpa, OK, on Thursday night and then Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, KS, on Friday and Saturday.

Tuesday's Ultimate Challenge heat race lineups, posted before the rains hit Southern Iowa Speedway, are listed below for the most rabid of race fans to play out a fantasy version of what could have possibly been.

The Sprint Bandits format was in effect, with passing points lining up four qualifying races, thus meaning the top 24 in heat race passing points would have made the six-car invert for the qualifiers with the balance filling each qualifying race field. The top 18 in combined points from the heats and qualifiers were to advance to the "A" Main, with the balance of the 24-car feature field to be filled by the top three finishers from each of the twin "B" Mains.


Heat One:



3* Kaley Gharst – 17 Chris Windom

10 Brad Sweet – 77u Chris Urish

15 R.J. Johnson – 24 Marc Arnold

44p Shane Cottle – 4 Casey Shuman

22 Mikey Kuemper – 55 Tony Everhart



Heat Two:



11 Dustin Morgan – 81Robert Ballou

20 Levi Jones – 30 Chad Boat

21 Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. – 10T Hunter Schuerenberg

44 Dave Darland – 24h Rob Chaney

21k Cory Kruseman – 11p Dickie Gaines



Heat Three:



2h Mike Spencer – 14 Jon Stanbrough

7x Mitch Wissmiller – 29w Cole Whitt

2J Don Droud, Jr. – b4 Eric Baldaccini

17n Mat Neely – 1d Don Dawson, Sr.

71m Jesse Mack – kr14 Tyler Spath



Heat Four:



16 Lee Stark – 8k Chad Kemenah

71x J.T. Imperial – 4n Neil Shepherd

10k Tim Kaeding – 69 Jerry Coons, Jr.

21T Michael Trimble – 38 Scotty Weir

1 J.J. Yeley – 69m Mike Moore



Heat Five:



97 Bret Mellenberndt – 99 Brady Bacon

5ma Mallory Armfield – 75 Jesse Hockett

71 Damion Gardner – 21s Charles Davis, Jr.

2b Brady Short – 9 Kevin Swindell

29 Bud Kaeding



Additional information regarding the O'Reilly Sprint Bandits Tour 'N Topless series is available at www.sprintbandits.com .