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(Little Valley, NY) David Scott hadn’t lost a super late model race at Little Valley Speedway since 2005, winning all five races in 2006 and the final four in 2005 at the special events only facility located in southwestern New York State, but on Saturday, June 9th the streak came to an end, as Bob Close recorded a hard-earned win. Close, from Eldred, PA, who won the late model title in 2005, had tried in vain to defeat the driver known as the “Slow Ride,” but on this night he parlayed a smooth running race car, an uncharacteristic run in the high groove, and a fortuitous restart to the improbable ending.
The race had an ominous start, as Dick Barton, the last driver to beat Scott, who was lined up fourth, suddenly pulled off the track during the parade lap with apparent mechanical woes, moving Scott from eighth to six in the starting lineup. Polesitter Mickey Wright led early, but veteran Miles Stitzinger took the point, following a lap two caution and set a blistering pace for the first ten laps, while Close and Scott staged an epic battle for third behind Wright.
A caution on lap ten for a spin by Canadian Luke Carleton set up the pivotal moment in the race. Stitzinger, Wright, Scott, and Close, who had worked his way up from tenth using an uncharacteristic high line, lined up side by side for the restart. Wright inexplicably didn’t fire at the drop of the green, allowing Close to dive in front of him into second, while Scott was stymied behind Wright. Close then worked his way past Stitzinger in turn four to take the lead taking Dave Hess with him into second.
From there Close was able to establish a lead, leaving Hess to battle with Scott for second. With Hess running Scott’s preferred high line, Scott was forced to switch to the bottom and he was never able to get past Hess. Hess was able to get within a couple car lengths of Close in the latter stages of the race, but at the line it was Close comfortably in front of Hess, with Scott close behind in third. Brent Rhebergen and Greg Oakes rounded out the top five.
An emotional Close talked about his foray to the outside, something he almost never does, and the race, noting, “It wasn’t the plan, but it sure worked good out there. I’m ecstatic. I don’t know what to say. Usually when I try to run the outside, the car is too tight and wants to push. Tonight, it didn’t matter if I got into the corner too hard; it turned every time. I don’t mind running up there if I know it’s going to turn. It was awesome tonight.”
On the pivotal lap ten restart, he added, “Whoever was on the inside (Wright) just didn’t seem to go. The guy on the outside (Stitzinger) went, and I knew I had the guy on the bottom cleared, so I just went. Then I got past Miles (Stitziner), and it was clear sailing from there.”
For his part, Scott thought he got snookered on the restart, explaining, “We were fast enough to win tonight, but the flagman let that restart go. I started third and was fifth by the time we got to the flag stand. Mickey didn’t go. I don’t know why. Then Hess got by and those two guys ran on top. I could get beside him, but I couldn’t pass him. Bob won. He earned it. We had breaks like that last year, and that’s the reason why I won. When Mickey didn’t go, it was game over.”
The 20 lap Super Stock race went to first time Little Valley winner, Jeff Chesebro from Smethport, PA, who grabbed the lead on the outside from pacesetter Ed Carley on lap thirteen. Carley had seized the point from polesitter Steve Dixon on a lap eight restart and had opened a good lead, but Chesebro was like a man on a mission, taking second from Dixon in turn two of lap thirteen and sailing by Carley on the outside in turn four of the same lap. Chesebro held the lead for the remaining laps, with Dixon, who had retaken second when Carely retired, nipping at his heels on the final lap, but never able to make a move for the lead. Defending champion Randy Hall finished third, followed by Todd Hansen and Bruce Miller to complete the top five.
Chesebro noted, “It was one of my best victories because we’ve led here so many times and had a failure, always had a mishap, like a flat tire when we were leading.” As for the key to the win, he explained, “I just rolled up top and used the heavy wet stuff. It was hooking there, and that’s what I used.”
The 20 lap E Mod Feature was won by Rich Michael from Ischua, who battled back from a lap one mishap to take the lead from Ed Carley on a lap five restart and went on to an impressive win. Randy Hall was able to keep him honest over the last few laps, closing to within two car lengths in the turns a couple of times, but never really threatened the veteran Michael, who observed, “We tried a different setup tonight, and it seemed to work. We had that restart, and I didn’t know if the top was the place to be, but I got the lead there. I figured Randy (Hall) and (Dave) Hess would be coming there, and I held them off.”
The fifteen lap street stock victor was Chris Austin from Knapp Creek, who started eleventh, hugged the bottom, took the lead from Jason Schoonmaker on lap four and never looked back. Mike Asel made his life interesting after he took second on lap five but could never get close enough to make a move, as Austin was superior on the long Little Valley straightaways. He declared, “The bottom was the secret tonight. It was the only thing I found, even in the heat race that was grippy enough. I didn’t think we had the car to beat tonight, but even a dog gets lucky once in a awhile.”
NOTES: After losing the opener to rain, this night was perfect, as evidenced by the large crowd on hand and a tidy eighty-five cars in the pits…….Drying conditions after considerable rain on Friday made for some dusty conditions during the heats, but the track crew did a great job of grooming the track during the intermission and with darkness falling, the track became very racy for the features………..It turned out to be a double dose of back luck for Scott. Not only did his late model winning streak come to an end, but he doubled in the E Mods and was involved in the early wreck while running second and went off on the hook, relegating him to a nineteenth place finish.
Late Model Finish: (30 laps) Bob Close, Dave Hess, David Scott, Brent Rhebergen, Greg Oakes, Mickey Wright, Boom Briggs, Miles Stitzinger, Kirk Bradley, Rick Isadore, Jeff Hoffman, Todd Andrews, Luke Carleton, Al Brewer, Doug Ricotta, and John Haggerty. DNS: Dick Barton. Heat winners were Briggs and Scott.
Super Stock Finish: (20 laps) Jeff Chesebro, Steve Dixon, Randy Hall, Todd Hansen, Bruce Miller, Rich Michael, Bill Holmes, Alan Wais, John Lichy, Tim Peterson, Butch Talbot, John Kemp, Jesse Qutermous, Ron Baker, Jason Tingue, Dan Dunham, Jr. Peters, Ed Carley, and Brian Crandall. Heat winners were Holmes, Hansen, and Dixon.
E Mod Finish: (20 laps) Rich Michael, Randy Hall, Ed Carley, Tim Peterson, Mike Samuelson, Kyle Bedell, John Woodward, Ryan Bright, Craig Bedell, Dave Hess, Andy Sweetland, Dan Stives, Brian Fardink, Carl Ballinger, TJ Downs, Eugene Stetson, Chad Silleman, Dana Wellington, David Scott, and Darren Tarabori. Heat winners were Peterson, Hall, and Carley.
Street Stock Finish: (15 laps) Chris Austin, Mike Asel, Jason Schoonmaker, Darren Morgan, Jason Dobson, Colton Chappius, Justin Tatlow, Adam Ashcroft, Jack Doxey, Ron Wojtowicz Jr., Brett Smith, Derrick Francis, Mike Carney, Rob Stromecki, Tim Bruce, Matt Palmer, John Williams, Lance Palmer, Ron Hebner, Allen Neamon, Tony Knoll, Adam Sixt, Pat Clark, Kelly Green, Paul Gerace, Cliff Johnson, and Lee Zimmerman. DNS Charles Silleman. Heat winners were Austin, Asel, and Morgan.
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