Zack Dohm battles Keith Barbara (outside) before nailing the 51-lap "King of the Bullring" main event at Tyler County Speedway. (Todd Battin) 

 

First heat winner Robbie Scott drew for the top 12 starting positions, giving Barbara the pole. The second spot fell all the way to the last driver to get his spot, which Mike Benedum gladly accepted.

Paul Wilmoth, Jr. and #17 Keith Barbara raced hard for the lead at Tyler County, but neither could keep Zack Dohm from making his way past. Barbara and Wilmoth finished second and third, respectively.. (Todd Battin)

With storms quickly approaching the area, the feature event hit the track at 9:33 PM. Barbara took the lead at the start, as third starting Dohm moved past Benedum to second. The early battle was for second as Benedum regained the spot on lap two, with Dohm taking it back on lap four, right before the first caution of the event waved for Harold Redman, Jr. Barbara chose the inside lane for the double file restart, leading as one more lap was completed before another yellow, this time for Tim Dohm running in the fifth spot.

When racing resumed, Barbara chose the inside and regained the lead over Dohm, Corey Conley, Paul Wilmoth, Jr., and Jacob Hawkins. The running order stayed the same through a lap 12 caution period for Tracie Sampson.  Hawkins, Wilmoth, and Robbie Scott picked up the chase, as the battle was on for second. Hawkins passed Dohm for second on lap 22, before the next caution on lap 23 for current UFo point leader Jared Hawkins, who had

Jacob Hawkins and #14 Corey Conley were both frontrunners at one point.  Hawkins reached as high as second in the running order before contact with Paul Wilmoth resulted in a spin. Conley held third ealy on, but faded out of contention. (Todd Battin) 

advanced from 18th into the top ten before running into problems on lap 23.

Barbara again regained control when racing resumed, again from the inside line before he moved back to the outside line of the speedway. Jacob Hawkins held second on lap 24, but Dohm took it back on lap 25. Wilmoth joined the battle for second, but he and Hawkins made contact crossing the line on lap 25. The resulting contact knocked Hawkins from the race, as he stopped on the apron of turn two for the next caution period with 26 laps complete. With lightning filling the night sky, the race had reached its halfway point to make it official if the approaching weather were to interfere.

Back to green, Barbara and Wilmoth were side-by-side on the backstretch with Barbara again able to restart on the inside and move back to the outside lane to keep his lead. Wilmoth was right there in second with Dohm, 16th starting Butch McGill, and Tim Dohm filling the top five as he was back from the tail. On lap 29, the final yellow flag of the event waved for a spin by Quinton Wyandt, who had made the main event in the lone 525 crate engine entry.

The drivers could obviously tell by the approaching lightning that there was not much time left in the race, and the final 22 laps of the race showed it. When the green flag waved, Barbara again controlled the restart as they went four wide for the lead in turns one and two. Barbara nosed ahead down the backstretch with Zack Dohm settling into second over Wilmoth, Tim Dohm, and McGill. Zack Dohm moved in to challenge Barbara for the lead, getting a nose inside of him on lap 32. Lap after lap, Barbara held the high lane with Dohm to his inside.  

The side-by-side battle caught Rick Conley to put him a lap down on lap 47.  Conley was running Barbara’s outside lane, but when they got to him both drivers swept inside of Conley to remain door-to-door in a breathtaking move.  They were again even for the lead at the two lap to go mark, but this time Dohm got a good run off of turn two and nosed ahead far enough to clear Barbara and become the new race leader.

At the checkered flag, it was Dohm getting the win by a car length over Barbara. Sixth starting Paul Wilmoth, Jr. finished third. Back from the tail of the field, Tim Dohm earned fourth and had to be proud of his son’s winning effort. Robbie Scott was fifth, with Jared Miley in sixth. With his seventh place finish, Devin Friese took over the lead in the UFo Race Championship point standings.  

Rain started to fall during the victory lane interview, and though the next race was brought out, those cars were sent back to the pits. A few minutes later, the approaching severe storm hit with a massive downpour.

	June 4 - Tyler Co. Speedway UFO 1) Zack Dohm, 2) Keith Barbara, 3) Paul Wilmoth, Jr., 4) Tim Dohm, 5) Robbie Scott, 6) Jared Miley, 7) Devin Friese, 8) Steve Weigle, 9) Quintin Wyandt, 10) Rick Conley, 11) Butch McGill, 12) Corey Conley, 13) Steve Wilmoth, 14) Mike Benedum, 15) Jacob Hawkins, 16) Alex Ferree, 17) Jared Hawkins, 18) Chad McClellan, 19) Tyler Carpenter, 20) Tracie Sampson, 21) Kyle Bates, 22) Harold Redman, Jr. Heat winners (36 3ntries): Scott, Zach Dohm, Tim Dohm, Redman; B-Main winners: Wilmoth, Jared Hawkins
Todd Battin photo