“Insane” Duane Chamberlain Takes Home $5,000 in Ted Collins Memorial
By Jaime Gregory
Vernon, IN – It was a big weekend at Twin Cities Raceway Park in beautiful Vernon, IN with two days of
racing action. Racing action kicked off on Friday, July 17 with the annual “Ted Collins Memorial” for
super late models paying $5,000 to the winner. Twenty five of the best late models rolled into the pit
area for the O’Reilly ALLSTAR Late Model sanctioned event. Bear Lake, PA’s Chub Frank would be
the one to set fast time for qualifying and draw for the invert in the heat races. Frank pulled a number
four out of the bucket and would roll off fourth in heat race number one. Heat one would see the
Buckeye Bandit, Matt Miller, of Waterville, OH come out on top followed by Duane Chamberlain, Chub
Frank, Steve Barnett, Rob Blair, Donnie Moran, Steven Godsey, Tory Collins and Joe Janowski. Heat
race number two would see the Silver Shark, Scott James, come from his fourth starting position and
take over the lead on lap eight to go on to win the heat. James was followed by Justin Rattliff, Dillion
White, Jared Hawkins, Mike Jewell, Coleby Frye, Shawn Negangard, and “Hot” Rod Conley. Heat race
number three would see young hot shoe Jason Jamison come out on top followed by John Gill, Boom
Briggs, Jared Miley, Wayne Chinn, Chad Stapleton, Tim Prince, and Derek Fisher.
After the heats were in the books, the top two out of each heat made their way to the main
grandstands to redraw for the top six starting positions. The crowd was on their feet at this time as
the driver’s pulled a Frisbee out of a bucket with a number (1-6) on it to determine the top six starting
positions. After they pulled their Frisbee, they autographed it and threw it into the crowd for one of six
lucky fans to take home. The feature field was set and it was time for fifty laps of side by side heart
pounding racing action on the 3/8 mile high banks.
Mitchell, IN’s “Modern Day Cowboy”, John Gill would set the pace as the field was set to take chief
starter Danny Ogle’s green flag. Richmond, IN’s Duane Chamberlain would pull out to the early lead
with Gill on right on his rear quarter panel. Chamberlain and Gill would remain one two, until lap
twenty two when caution number one would fly. With lapped cars moving to the tail of the field this
would give Gill one more shot on a start to take the point. Once the green flag flew, Gill would get
high up into the marbles coming out of turn number two losing five positions. This put Jamison into
second position with James right behind him and Frank on the move. At lap thirty eight, Frank would
get around both James and Jamison with all eyes set on Chamberlain.
Jamison would bring out the second caution on lap forty one with a flat tire. Two courtesy laps were
given to Jamison and he would restart shotgun in front of the lapped cars. The green flag flew one
more time giving Frank a little less distance between himself and Chamberlain followed by James and
Miller. Caution would fly one last time at lap forty eight with a spin by Jewell. With two laps remaining,
Frank only had one more chance at Chamberlain. Chamberlain held onto the lead and went on to
take his Duane Chamberlain Racing, Miracle Racing, CW Watson Excavating, SMS Racing Engines,
MAC Enterprises sponsored mount to victory lane at Twin Cities Raceway Park in the O’Reilly
ALLSTAR Late Model Series sanctioned Ted Collins Memorial. This was Chamberlain’s first win at
Twin Cities Raceway Park. It was also the first win at Twin Cities for the winner of the UMP Modified
Division, Matt Bex, and first win for the UMP Super Stock Division driver Greg Roberts.
Full story For Ted Collins Memorial
By Jaime Gregory
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