Troyer again victorious

by Rick Conrad
For the Pharos-Tribune

July 05, 2008 12:28 am

— TWELVE MILE — On a beautiful Fourth of July holiday, with the smell of elephant ears and fresh popcorn in the air following a parade through the town of Twelve Mile, Plank Hill Park was the place to be with the 46th running of the Twelve Mile 500 Lawn Mower Race taking place.
Todd Martin won the Briggs Race and Randy Troyer won his record eighth title in winning the Modified Race as both came away as the big winners on the day.
Martin won the Briggs Race with a steady run after starting 19th on the grid by avoiding trouble and costly penalties. He completed the race with an average speed of 19.91 mph. More importantly, he did so without a single penalty being levied against him for excessive speed. Though there were no disqualifications, numerous drivers had penalties thrown against them for the speeding violations.
Finishing second behind Martin was Cole Allen who started from the sixth position. Third place went to pole-sitter John Troyer.
Kellen Homburg who had started from the third spot finished fourth ahead of Jeremy Walsh who began the race from the fifth spot in the field.
After his win Martin stated, “For the most part, this was a really clean race.”
“I knew I took the lead at about the 45th lap, I saw the leader, which was Troyer at the time, was having troubles. He got black-flagged a couple times this race. I knew I was gaining on everybody so I just stayed consistent on hitting my marks and running the same speed the whole race.”
Martin also credited quick, clean pit stops in helping him to win the race.
Though he won the Briggs race he didn’t fair as well in the Modified when he finished in 20th position. Early into the race he developed engine problems when he broke a belt and had to replace it in the pits.
Troyer, of nearby Peru, pulled out his eighth Twelve Mile win with an average winning speed of 21.70 mph. Unlike the first race, several black flags were issued to the Modified drivers with four being disqualified during the event. Troyer himself was the victim of multiple flags as was nearly every competitor in the field.
It was looking as if his eighth victory was going to have to wait until at least next year until he was able to get past Darrell Ulerick in the closing laps for the lead. Finishing in third was Joe Troyer with Cullen Ulerick and Greg Zimpleman finishing fourth and fifth, respectively.
When talking about how the race went for him, Randy Troyer said, “It was pretty smooth. They were ripping us all in right and left into the penalty box, but it wasn’t a bad race. It was pretty clean.”
Although he finished third in the Briggs race and 25th in the Modified, pole-sitter John Troyer had his share of problems during the day. After leading several laps early during the Briggs, Troyer slipped back in the pack after pitting before getting back up to finish third. In the Modified, engine problems early had him struggling throughout the race.
“There were some big packs out there that were difficult to get around and my mower died on me twice and both times it was difficult to get it started again,” John Troyer said.
During the Modified he said he developed a couple mechanical problems early and had to adjust his driving style because of it. Then on lap 52 he received his fourth and final black flag which resulted in his disqualification from the race.
“I noticed they were handing out more penalties during the second race, I should have backed off some, but I didn’t do that as well as I should have. But it was still fun,” he said.
Cindy Townsend of Logansport well summed up the feelings of the large crowd in attendance after attending her first Twelve Mile 500.
“It’s wonderful, it’s wonderful,” she said. “I’m coming back next year.”

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