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BREWERTON, NY – On Friday night, Tom Sears Jr. of Clay, N.Y., did something he hasn’t done in 17-years, he won a DIRTcar Modified feature event at Brewerton Speedway. The last time Sears tamed the “D-Shaped Dirt Demon,” he was 19-years-old behind the wheel of a Street Stock.
“This is a very special win for me,” said Sears after his fourth career Modified win. “There are some great guys that race here, including the guy who finished second, and any time you can get a win here it’s special.”
Kenny Stafford, of Homer, N.Y., took the lead from pole-sitter, Matt Fink, as the race got underway. Stafford paced the field for the first three circuits until Sears dove to the inside in turn two to grab to top spot away.
Sears held the lead until last week’s winner, Jimmy Phelps, brought out the caution with problems aboard his Troyer ride on lap 10. On the restart, Stafford worked the outside lane to take back the race lead off of the fourth corner.
“I shouldn’t have restarted on the bottom,” said Sears. “He (Stafford) showed me a different line that I hadn’t tried and it was definitely faster.”
Sears took note and on lap 16 he got his chance show Stafford what he learned. Stafford chose to go low on the restart while Sears used the outside lane. The pair battled into turn one and raced along side on another down the backstretch with Sears gaining the advantage into turn three and ultimately the lead off of turn four.
“I knew the top in one and two wasn’t good because I tried getting the lead back their earlier and just lost ground,” stated Sears. “On the last restart he went low in three and I knew the top-side was the quicker way around I was able to get a good run and get the lead back.”
Upon resuming command of the event, Sears was pressured one final time in the closing laps as Alan Johnson made a run on the leader. Johnson showed Sears the nose of his car several times off of turn four but couldn’t get by.
“I got a little nervous when I saw Alan (Johnson) there,” said Sears. “He’s one of the best in the business and he usually finds a way to win.”
Johnson, of Phelps, N.Y., settled for the runner-up spot in his Morrison powered Bicknell.
“I was just hoping he was going to slip up,” stated Johnson. “It was a fruitless effort for me to try and get by. I could show him the nose but that was about it.”
Johnson, who started tenth, worked his way patiently to the front using the high-side of speedway after struggling last Friday night.
“We had a lot of problems last week,” stated Johnson. “This week we went back to the basics on the car and we got it running a lot better but we still have some things to get worked out.”
Pennsylvania’s Jim Witko finished in the third spot after starting on the outside the eighth row.
“I busted the front end on the last restart,” said Witko. “The car was really good early and I could run with Sears but once I broke I just wanted to hang on and get a solid finish.”
Willy Decker, of Vernon, N.Y., finished in fourth with Chuck Bower of Lancing, N.Y. completing the top five.
In other action, Dan Williams won his second ESDCA Mod-Lite 20-lap feature of the year; Dale Caswell captured the 20-lap IMCA Modified feature; Claude Hutchings Jr. captured top honors in the 15-lap 4-Cylinder Super Stock event.
Brewerton Bits
Heat races for the 27 cars in the pit area were won by Dan Vauter, Sears and Mike Bowman.
Two of last week’s top three finishers did not qualify through their heat race events as both Phelps and Kevin Bates were sidelined with flat tires.
Steve Hulsizer had his night ended on lap four of the feature event as Bowman and Vauter came together slowing the field of off turn two. Hulsizer made contact with an implement tire on the inside of the speedway trying to avoid the incident breaking the front end.
Scott Prentice was also involved with the same tire severely breaking the rear of his no. 47.
Jeff Isabel had his night ended early as he had motor trouble that forced him to load up and not start the feature.
The night’s program was delayed for almost 20 minutes after a fire started in a vehicle in the parking lot. Track safety crews responded but were forced to wait until local fire crews arrived to put out the flames.
DIRTcar Modifieds (35-Laps) – TOM SEARS JR., Alan Johnson, Jim Witko Jr., Willy Decker, Chuck Bower, Kenny Stafford, Tim Sears, Dan Vauter, Kevin Bates, Chad Phelps, Michael Prentice, Russ Hefti, Kyle Lewis, Mike Bowman, Tom Juhl Jr., Matt Fink, Rick Rogala, Jimmy Phelps, Roy Bresnahan, Scott Prentice, Steve Hulsizer, Tony Buffa Jr., Tim Kerr.
IMCA Modifieds (20-Laps) – DALE CASWELL, Kevan Cook, Pete Anderson, Tony Finch, Greg Kimball, J.J. Courcy, Coleen Finch, Bill Anderson, Calvin Painter, Les Hubbard, Bill Anderson Jr., Steve Coit, Tim Hearne, Johnny Bell, Ricky Orton, Mike Jones, Rob Keller Jr., Rich Riggs, Bob Ridgeway.
ESDCA Mod Lites (20-Laps) – DAN WILLIAMS, Doug Williams, Lowell Zehr, Matt Magner, Tim Devendorf, Andrew Schartner, Dave Trytek, Rocco Leone, Justin Crisafulli, Mike Isabell, Mike Virginia, Gary Schug, Luke Lonergan, Jeff Barker, Jamie King, Keith Hotchkiss, Mike Mullen, Brenda Rice, Rich Rainville, Tommy Felicia, Lisa Thomas, Terry Latham, Mike Rainville, Chuck DeMott, Jeff Blackburn, Jeff Herbert, Frank Sobotka, Tod Simons, Ken Gamlen, Kelly Skinner.
4-Cylinder Super Stocks (15-Laps) – CLAUDE HUTCHINGS JR., Matt Wetterer, Aron Backus, Chad Dupra, John West, Chris Kranz, Lorraine Powelczyk, Steve Randall, Jessica Herbert, Chuck Powelczyk, Sam Carista, Sam Curcie, Matt Fay, Eric Kranz.
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