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Weedsport, NY – July 1, 2007 – By Gary M. Spaid, Cayuga County Fair Speedway PR
The racing Sunday on Stafford of Auburn/Pick-N-Pull Auto Parts Night at the Cayuga County Fair Speedway proved to be one of the most exciting events of the year to date.
In the DIRTcar Modified division, Justin Haers picked up his first feature win of the year at the speedway beating multi-time feature winner Jimmy Phelps by .156 seconds. The DIRTcar Modified feature ran green-to-checkers, averaging 72.907 mph around the 3/8th mile oval. At times the cars were four-wide in the early stages of the race.
“We’ve been playing around with shocks and the general set-up of the chassis the last few weeks,” stated Haers in victory lane. “Nothing was working for us, so we went back to the original settings for this race. This is a good start to the stretch of races we have this coming, something like seven nights in nine days.”
In DIRTcar Sportsman Modified action, Jeremy Pitcher earned his second feature victory of the year at Cayuga County . “After we blew up our good motor at Canandaigua a few weeks back we put in this Crate,” Pitcher noted.
The Mod Lite cars were back on hand and Dan Williams took the 20-lap feature run by passing Tim Devendorf with just five laps remaining in the race. “What an awesome track,” he commented. “We can really get running here.”
The BattleKarz were in action with a new face in victory lane. Zak Petrie took his first Cayuga County victory. The race was red flagged once when Adam Keuer flipped his car in the fourth turn while running fifth. Keuer was not injured in the incident.
A special Soccer Mom’s Van race was also run, the “KARmagedon”. Mary Lou Stang won the five-lap race, just holding off DIRTcar Sportsman runner Beth Schneider.
The 35-lap Modified feature began with Dave Rauscher pulling away from the 23-car starting field. Running a distant second was Tom Juhl followed by Rob Bellinger and Russ Hefti. On the move were multi-time feature winners Jimmy Phelps and Danny Johnson, both starting from mid-field in 16th and 18th respectively.
Hefti would have the first run at Rauscher, not only catching Rauscher but passing him for the lead on lap 11 using the high grove. Rauscher started to fade backwards, with Haers taking second on lap 14. Once beyond the pack, Haers then started to close on Hefti. By lap 20, the two leaders were running side-by-side. Haers, using the higher line, was able to eke out a small lead one lap later.
Phelps was now turning in laps that were close to .300 second faster then the leaders. Phelps used his speed to close in on Haers and with just two laps remaining began to pressure for the lead. Phelps used the high side on the final lap, but Haers drifted high exiting the fourth turn and blocked the pass. Following these two across the finish line were Hefti, Danny Johnson and Steve Paine, who passed Rauscher on the final lap to take fifth.
“The top was pretty fast tonight but I hated to give up the bottom,” related Haers. “I saw Jimmy with one to go out of the corner of my eye and I just knew I had to go high on that last lap.”
The 25-lap DIRTcar Sportsman event showed three different lap leaders and was slowed for only two yellows, those coming out on laps three and 16. On lap three Joe Williams spun and was hit by Stewart Garrison in the second turn. On lap 16 Todd Town made contact with the car driven by newcomer Keith Hotchkiss, sending both cars spinning down the front stretch.
At the start of the race it was second-generation standout Steve Planck out in front. Planck had his hands full with Kevin Ridley who was able to inch out into the lead on lap nine as both cars were running side-by-side for a number of laps. Planck return as the leader on lap 10 and held that position until lap 18.
Following a restart on lap 17, Planck now had a new rival in the form of Jeremy Pitcher. Pitcher was using the high side of the speedway to pressure Planck and in the end his experience over the rookie paid off as Pitcher secured the lead on lap 19.
Following Pitcher across the finish line were Ridley, Planck, Mike Mahaney and Shawn Donath. “I needed that late race caution to catch Planck,” commented Pitcher. “My car really liked the outside of turns three and four.”
Tim Devendorf won the second Mod Lite heat race to sit on the outside-pole for the 20-lap feature. Devendorf quickly turned this feature starting spot into his advantage by stretching out what looked like an almost insurmountable advantage. That is until Dan Williams broke free of traffic on lap six and took off after the leader. A number of yellow flags also did not help Devendorf.
On lap 15, Williams ducked low exiting the fourth turn and passed Devendorf for the lead. Two late race yellows allowed Devendorf two shots at getting the lead back, however each time Williams proved too fast to get back by for the lead. Andrew Schartner, Adam Murphy and Jeff Barker rounded out the top-five under the checkers.
CCFS NOTES: This week proves to be a busy one at Cayuga County as the annual Fair is set to start on Wednesday night. On Thursday the UMP/DIRTcar Street Stocks return to action with a special Fair Championship race plus a complete program of Mod Lites and Outlaw Sliders added. …Friday will see the Pick-N-Pull Auto Parts Independence 201-lap BattleKarz Championship enduro…On Saturday the Fair Demolition Derby takes place followed on Sunday by Twin Sportsman features, Mini Sprints and Fireworks.
Cayuga County fair Speedway www.cayugacountyfairspeedway.com is located just off exit 40 of the New York State Thruway, along Route 31 just east of the Village of Weedsport , NY. For additional schedule information, please contact the DIRTcar NorthEast Office (315/834-6606) during normal business hours or log into www.superdirtcarseries.com anytime to find out more about the entire circuit.
Race time on Sunday evening is 7 p.m. sharp.
STAFFORD OF AUBURN FREEDOM NIGHT/PICK-N-PULL AUTO PARTS/TRUE VALUE HARDWARE NIGHT SUMMARY
BATTLEKARZ
FEATURE (25-laps): ZAK PETRIE, Nick Werner, Bill Werner, Karl Werner, Keith Keuer, Barb Amadon, Dave Guererri, Kyle Wilkins, Dave Nageldinger, Kale Wilkins, Adam Keuer, James Werner, Jeremy Werner.
SOCCER MOM’S KARMAGEDDON
FEATURE: MARY LOU STANG, Beth Schneider, Amanda Taber, Leslie Planck, Jamie Jenks.
MOD LITE
HEAT 1:A. Schartner, K. Gamlen, T. Felicia, R. Rainville, J. Barker.
HEAT 2: T. Devendorf, J. Crisafulli, D. Williams, M. Hay, M. Rainville.
FEATURE (20-laps): DAN WILLIAMS, Tim Devendorf, Andrew Schartner, Adam Murphy, Jeff Barker, Adam Leslie, Mike Hay, Rich Rainville, Justin Crisafulli, Matt Rainville, Tom Felicia, Brenda Rice, Mark Brighton, Mike Virginia, Ken Gamlen.
DIRTcar SPORTSMAN MODIFIED
HEAT 1: S. Planck, J. Juhl, J. Pitcher, J. Williams, A. Steiner, S. Donath , T. Town.
HEAT 2: A. Fink, K. Ridley, D. Sellen, T. Currier, J. Juhl II, M. Mahaney, J. Pontello.
FEATURE (25-laps): JEREMY PITCHER, Kevin Ridley, Steve Planck, Mike Mahaney, Shawn Donath, Tim Currier, Joe Williams, Jeff Isabell Jr., John Juhl, Anthony Steiner, John Juhl II, Dan Sellen, Jesse Pontello, Earl Rudy, Keith Hotchkiss, Stewart Garrison, Todd Town, A.J. Lewis, Bruce DeWick, Alan Fink.
DIRTcar BIG-BLOCK MODIFIED
HEAT 1: T. Juhl, S. Paine, J. Phelps, S. Beardsley, V. Vitale, J. Potter.
HEAT 2: J. Haers, R. Bartlett, B. Weaver, D. Johnson, D. Rauscher, B. Dunn.
HEAT 3: R. Hefti, C. Homan, R. Bellinger, D. Podsiadlo, J. Isabell, M. Bowman.
FEATURE (35-laps): JUSTIN HAERS, Jimmy Phelps, Russ Hefti, Danny Johnson, Steve Paine, Dave Rauscher, Billy Dunn, Tom Juhl, Chad Homan, Brian Weaver, Rob Bellinger, Joe Beyea, Sean Beardsley, Derrick Podsiadlo, Ryan Bartlett, Joe Isabell, John Pfeffer, Mike Bowman, Jason Potter, Roy Shields, Adam Roberts, Vince Vitale, Tyler Bartlett.
The DIRTcar Advance Auto Parts Modified Series is brought to fans across the Northeast by several sponsors and partners, including series sponsors Advance Auto Parts, Hoosier Racing Tire and Sunoco Race Fuels. Promotional partners include AMB i.t., F.X. Caprara Car Companies and the University of Northwestern Ohio and the contingency sponsors are Bert Transmission, Bicknell Racing Products, Bilstein Shocks, Brodix Cylinder Heads, Integra Shocks, MSD Ignitions, Miller Electric Manufacturing Company and Wrisco Industries.
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