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HOGANSBURG, NY – On Wednesday night at the Frogtown International Speedway, things didn’t exactly start off as well as they ended for Dale Planck.
Planck, of Homer, N.Y., took the lead in his heat race only to have a water pump gasket break forcing him to pull his borrowed ride into the pit area. The crew worked hard and got the problem fixed allowing him to start 24th in the feature event.
Planck worked his way through the field and passed Danny Johnson to win the first ever Mohawk Nations Cup 75-lap feature event which was worth a hefty $3,000.
“I can’t thank Alan Jacobs and his entire team enough for this one,” said Planck in victory lane. “Nate Lazore and Al Smoke worked hard to get the car ready for the feature and things couldn’t have ended any better for us tonight.”
Johnson went on to finish in the runner-up position negating any chance of winning the Triple Crown Challenge which would have been worth an additional $2,000. Clement Therrien came home in third followed by Brian McDonald and Eric Gauvrea.
Perry Francis, of Akwesasne, captured the lead from his pole starting position on the opening lap of the event. A spot he was able to hold for only one lap when Johnson motored his Troyer no. 1 down to the inside in turn three to secure the lead.
As Johnson set a torrid pace out in front, Planck was busy negotiating his way through the field using mostly the bottom off of turn two to do most of his passing.
“Every time I come here I use the same line,” said Planck. “I run a little lower in turns one and two and it allows me to stay connected the track. If you get too far outside you lose traction and spin the tires. This is what happened to a lot of guys allowing me to get by on the bottom.”
On lap 21, Melvin Rush brought out the caution on the back straightaway with Planck now in the runner-up spot after passing both Francis and Therrien one lap prior.
On the restart, Planck once again went to the inside lane in turns one and two and on the back straightaway he completed to the pass of Johnson to lead lap 22.
“He (Johnson) left the bottom open and I was really good down there,” commented Planck. “I got a really good run off of the bottom of turn two and got the lead from him.”
After taking the lead from Johnson, Planck opened up a sizeable advantage until he found himself in lapped traffic on lap 33.
Then, on the 40th lap, it appeared that Johnson had taken the lead back from Planck when the caution flag came out. As a result, Johnson was placed behind Planck because officials reverted to the last scored lap.
“I got really luck on that one,” said Planck. “There was a lapped car on the bottom that broke my momentum and I wasn’t able to get off of turn two like I had been prior to that. He (Johnson) drove by me on the outside and I thought I was in trouble because I didn’t know if I was going to be able to get him back.”
With Planck back out in front, his final challenge came on lap 65 when the no. 71 of Delbert LeGrow spun on the back straightaway bringing out the caution. This forced Planck to hold off Johnson for one final restart.
“I was really nervous on that last restart,” said Planck. “I got to the front really fast and wasn’t sure how much tire I had left. I was just hoping I didn’t seal it over or anything like that.”
The race resumed on lap 71 with Planck leading the final four laps to secure his first Frogtown victory of the season.
Johnson was extremely disappointed with the second place finish but happy to bring the car home in one piece for the second consecutive night.
“We had a really good car and just got beat,” said Johnson. “It must have been exciting for the fans because Dale (Planck) and I had a really good race.”
Johnson night almost had the same tale as Planck’s after he slowed at the end of his heat race event causing him to barely win.
“I have no idea how we won that heat race,” commented the Rochester, N.Y. driver. “We had an ignition wire break on the last lap and I had no power from turn three to the finish.”
Clement Therrien, of Victoriaville, Que., finished in third after starting the event in the seventh position.
“To me and my crew this is like a win,” stated Therrien through an interpreter. “We got beat by two of the best in our sport and for us this is like a victory.”
In other action, Allan Peters captured the 35-lap UMP DIRT Pro Stock feature event worth $750; Claudia Tarbell won the 15-lap Bandit feature.
Frogtown Facts
Thirty cars attempted to qualify through four heat races events with Francis, Dan Jalbert, Johnson and Jeff Marshall each winning their respective events.
In the Bandit feature event, Corey Jalbert took a hard ride in turn four on the final lap. The right rear tire came off his no. 90 Chevy Cavalier sending him flipping eight times in turn four. He was cut out of the car and transported to a local hospital. He was later flown to Ottawa and will receive surgery for a broken vertebra in his neck.
Mohawk Nations Cup Modified Feature (75 laps): Dale Planck, Danny Johnson, Clement Therrien, Brian McDonald, Eric Gauvreau, Dave Heaslip, Alan Jacobs, Carey Terrance, John Lazore, Perry Francis, Roy Delormier, Kyle Jacobs, Delbert LeGrow, Billy Cook, Jamie Martin, Jeff Marshall, Brad Shova, Mark Smoke, Robbie Grant, Randy Connors, Roy Tarbell, Lance Willix, Melvin Rush, Dan Jalbert, Jeff Sykes, Steve Jeffrey Jr., Tom Jock Jr. Josh Brockway, Kevin Fetterly, DNS: Tammy Jalbert
Mohawk Nations Cup UMP DIRT Pro Stock Feature (35 laps): Allan Peters, Pete Stefanski, Louie Jackson, Joey Ladouceur, Denis Gauvreau, Dave Bissonnette, Roch Aubin, John Yandoh Jr., Clayton Benedict, Ricky Thompson, Stephane Lebrun, David Papineau, Billy Woodward Jr., PJ Peters, Travis Back, Dion Oakes, Jody Swamp, Gordon Laffin, Scott Kocher, Steve Johnson
4-Cylinder Bandit Feature (15 laps): Claudia Tarbell, Ronnie Tyo, Ricky Deshane, Ryan Helm, Fred Weaver, Mike Benedict, Tammy Rogers, Corey Jalbert, Terry LaMay, Joey Foster, Scott Mere, Brad Fish, Leland Green, Randy Whiting, DNS: Chris Castell
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