|
Elbridge, NY – July 22, 2007 – By Gary M. Spaid, Rolling Wheels Raceway Park PR
What was to have been originally a Five Star Series race, turned out to be a great night of racing at the “Fast Track,” Rolling Wheels Raceway.
“We have to reschedule the Five Star event, as it conflicted with the rescheduled Advance Auto Parts SDS race in Cornwall,” cited track manager Jack Deery early in the week. Justin Haers passed up the series race at Cornwall, stayed closer to home and took home the $1,500 first place money.
“I was a little tight at the start of the race, but as the laps went on the car seemed to loosen up,” Haers commented. “Once I saw Brachmann right next to me in the high groove, I tried the high grove and it worked well.”
In DIRTcar Sportsman Modified action it was Paul Guererri taking the 25-lap feature victory. Some 33 cars tried to qualify for this event, which started the fastest 26. A paid B-Main was run to fill in the field.
“When my tires were cold they didn’t work up top, so I tried to stay on the bottom,” Guererri stated. “I knew someone was behind me, but I never really knew how far back he was.”
The UMP Ferris Mowers Street Stocks ran an FX Caprara’s Outdoor Toys Mr. DIRT Street Stock Super Series race with 20 cars on hand. Scott Smith took the lead early in the race and came home the winner. One huge surprise was previous night’s Series winner at Can-Am Motorsports Park, Nick Rizzo, who lost an axle in his heat race and could not start the main event.
In the 35-lap DIRTcar Modified feature, Roy Bresnahan lost the lead to Justin Haers on the second lap as Haers drove high around Bresnahan in the third turn. Once out front Haers began to stretch out his lead. By lap five, Chad Brachmann was able to get by Bresnahan and take over second. Brachmann then started to run down Haers. The two leaders stretched out nearly a full straightaway advantage over Bresnahan.
Behind Bresnahan the battle was developing between Bob Henry Jr., Charlie Donk and Steve Hulsizer for fourth. On lap 17 the yellow flew when Adam Roberts spun off the backstretch. This bunched the field together. Haers was still able to remain in front of Brachmann on the restart. However the real benefactor from this restart was Hulsizer, who was able to move up to third.
During the remainder of the race Haers lead Brachmann by just two car-lengths. Brachmann held a slightly larger lead over Hulsizer. On lap 26, the yellow flew again when Russ Hefti slowed on the high side of the fourth turn.
Haers came home the winner beating Brachmann by just .713 seconds. Hulsizer, Henry and Sean Beardsley, who just barely pasted Bresnahan at the finish line, rounded out the top-five finishers.
The 25-lap DIRTcar Sportsman feature proved to be a “crash-fest” early in the event. The yellow waved twice in the first two laps. On the first lap Scott Schrader slowed and tried to exit into the pits. On the restart a multi-car tangle ensued in the first turn on the charge lap. Involved were Amanda Whitney, Dan Sellen and Joey Delacruz with Whitney’s car finished for the night.
Up front a battle was raging between John Juhl II and Jeremy Pitcher. But on the restart, third-place runner Shawn Donath made a daring three-wide charge for the lead. It would take two laps to completely finish the pass, but in the end Donath was the new race leader. He held a two-second lead over Paul Guererri by lap 10, but the yellow flew one lap later when Bob Broomfield slowed with a flat tire and John Juhl coasted to a stop. Juhl returned to the back of the pack, but was involved in a restart crash that saw him sail up on top of the inside Jersey barrier in the first turn. Also involved were Joe Williams and John Behron.
On this restart Guererri ducked low and made a pass for the lead. He too then pulled away from Donath and the rest of the field. Donath had his hands full holding off Pitcher, who would charge repeatedly at him to take second. Guererri took the victory followed by Donath, Pitcher, Chris Hile and Dan Wiesner to round out the top-five.
The 25-lap Caprara Outdoor Toy’s Street Stock Super Series finale opened with Mike Welch taking the lead from the outside-pole. The Street Stocks also had a hard time early in the race as three yellows slowed the first four circuits.
But once going these cars put on quite a show. Scott Smith jumped out to the lead on lap three and would not be headed the remainder of the event. Welch put on a late race charge at Smith, but fell short on each effort. Smith took the win followed by Welch, Kevin Boynton, Blane Smith and Dave Marcuccilli.
“We really wanted this win,” Smith stated. “We were content to stay high all night, but once I saw Welch on the low side, I decided I had to try the low grove also. It worked well for me.”
RWR RAMBLINGS: Strange as it may be, both the DIRTcar Modified and Sportsman last heat race winners had to draw a number to invert the start of the feature. Both times the number 8 was drawn to invert the top-eight cars from the heats….It was announced that Tony Stewart has jumped on board to help out the Donnie Mack fund. He has donated a number of gifts as well as raffle items for the special fund raiser at DeVaney’s, in Weedsport, this coming Sunday, July 29. He also donated $7,500 to the fund. Mack was injured at Cayuga County Fair Speedway over a month ago…Thirty-three Sportsman, 23 Modifieds and 20 Street Stocks were on hand for this event.
The next oval track race at Rolling Wheels comes on Monday, September 3 when Ferris Mowers presents the Advance Auto Parts Super DIRT Series Twin 50’s for DIRTcar Modifieds. Along with the Big-Blocks, a complete program of DIRTcar Sportsman and UMP Street Stocks will take to the speedway to run separate Mr. DIRT Super DIRTcar Series.
BUDWEISER/WE CARE/DIG SAFELY NIGHT SUMMARY
UMP FERRIS MOWERS STREET STOCK
HEAT 1: N. Peckham, K. Boynton, C. Chappius, B. Smith, N. Dandino.
HEAT 2: M. Welch, S. Smith, D. Marcuccilli, K. Smith, R. Hawker
FX CAPRARA’s OUTDOOR TOYS/DIG SAFELY 25: SCOTT SMITH, Mike Welch, Kevin Boynton, Blane Smith, Dave Marcuccilli, Jeremy Pitcher, Adam DePuy, Dave Mannise, Colton Chappius, Bobby Boynton, Darl Ellis Sr., Mike Schultz, Nick Dandino, Chuck Cushman Jr., Kevin Smith, Mike Dandino, Bill Thomas, Nathan Peckham, Andy Fisk (DNS), Nick Rizzo (DNS).
DIRTcar SPORTSMAN MODIFIED
HEAT 1: C. Higgins, J. Behron, C. Hile, A. Fink, J. Ortiz.
HEAT 2: D. Spatorico, J. Pitcher, S. Schrader, D. Wiesner, A. Rizzardo.
HEAT 3: P. Guererri, J. Juhl II, C. Raabe, M. Mahaney, J. Delacruz.
HEAT 4: S. Donath, J. Williams, J. Juhl, D. Sellen, A. Whitney.
B-MAIN: T. Currier, N. Guererri, J. Isabell Jr., B. Broomfield, T. Town, E. Rudolph.
WE CARE 25: PAUL GUERERRI, Shawn Donath, Jeremy Pitcher, Chris Hile, Dan Wiesner, Chris Higgins, Anthony Rizzardo, Jipp Ortiz, Alan Fink, Don Spatorico, Jeff Isabell Jr., Nick Guererri, Mike Mahaney, Tim Currier, Todd Town, Erick Rudolph, Joe Williams, Dan Sellen, Chris Raabe, John Behron, John Juhl, Bob Broomfield, John Juhl II, Joey Delacruz, Scott Schrader, Amanda Whitney.
DIRTcar BIG-BLOCK MODIFIED
HEAT 1: S. Hulsizer, D. Podsiadlo, C. Donk, C. Phelps, J. Pfeffer, Ro. Chrysler.
HEAT 2: C. Bower, C. Brachmann, R. Bresnahan, M. Bowman, V. Vitale, S. Beardsley.
HEAT 3: B. Henry Jr., J. Haers, R. Bellinger, Ra. Chrysler, R. Hefti, S. Whaley.
BUDWEISER 35: JUSTIN HAERS, Chad Brachmann, Steve Hulsizer, Bob Henry Jr., Sean Beardsley, Roy Bresnahan, Charlie Donk, Randy Chrysler, Chad Phelps, Chuck Bower, Vince Vitale, Derrick Podsiadlo, Chad Homan, Jeff Isabell, Russ Hefti, Roger Chrysler, Shannon Whaley, John Pfeffer, Mike Johnson, Mike Bowman, Adam Roberts, Brian Murphy, Rob Bellinger.
The Advance Auto Parts Super DIRTcar Series for Big-Block Modifieds 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, Rite Aid Corporation 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.
|
|
