June 29, 2001
Limaland Motorsports Park hosted the UMP Thunder and Lightning series today. Over 40 cars signed in for four heat races. Andy Holderman and Wes Steidinger won heats one and two. Doug started fifth in heat three and worked his way to second mid way. By then Terry Hull was long gone and there was no time to catch him. Heat four was won by the 12 of O'Connor.
The redraw for the feature set Doug fourth for the A-main. Davey Gantt and O'Connor brought the field to the green. Third starter McWilliams went into turn one extra hard and got sideways in front of Doug. Doug had the option of stopping for McWilliams and joining him at the tail, or pushing McWilliams out of the way to keep moving. Doug opted for the push being that McWilliams was beyond help so the 4S got to hang onto third when the yellow appeared. Wes Steidinger (started sixth) moved to the outside and assumed the lead at this point as Davey Gantt never got going well enough to stay up front.
On the restart, Steidinger and O'Connor led the way as the 4S went to the low groove to try and move to the front. Doug slowly worked to take over the second spot passing O'Connor as he was running up next to the wall. Steidinger was locked to the bottom and running very smooth as half way came and went. Doug was creeping up on Wes when the yellow again appeared as McWilliams again spun out in turn three. On the last restart, the 4S seemed to be a bit off as O'Connor worked his way back past Doug on the high side with a couple laps to go. Doug settled for third and the team was happy to finish with the car still in one piece! Ronnie Perrine was fourth and Terry Hull was fifth.
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