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David Scott Outlasts Bob Close in Little Valley LM Thriller
By Dave Sully
(Little Valley, NY) In a Super Late Model race for the ages, David Scott from Garland, PA, and Bob Close from Eldred, PA, swapped the lead at least six times in the last two dizzying laps to win the thirty-lap feature on Sunday, August 26th at Little Valley Speedway. Slide job after slide job culminated with Scott making the decisive one in the final turn of the final lap in front of a screaming capacity crowd to nail down his first Little Valley win of the season after having his nine race winning streak broken in the first race of the year. Ironically, it was Close who ended the streak.
The race was a high attrition affair as only nine of the twenty-one cars that took the green were rolling at the end, but it didn’t matter to the assembled multitude in attendance as everyone seemed to realize they had witnessed a classic auto race, which even left the two veteran drivers who authored the amazing finish in awe of what they had done.
Scott started on the pole, courtesy of the redraw, and was under immediate siege from Bemus Points’ Chad Ruhlman, who won the previous Little Valley event back in July. Scott repelled the challenge and opened a good lead, while Jeff Hoffman was able to get by Ruhlman for second.
Scott caught lapped traffic on lap ten and two laps later made contact with the No. 1F of former modified driver Adam Ferri from Pt. Colborne, Ontario, who was making his debut in a car purchased from WOO star Chub Frank earlier in the week. Ferri had hit a rut in turn one that sent him to the outside in front of the approaching Scott, who just clipped him as he squeezed to the high side and kept going. Ferri spun, and Hoffman, with nowhere to go hit Ferri as well. Unfortunately, Hoffman was through for the night. Ferri was able to continue.
Close was on the move when the race resumed, taking third behind Dutch Davies after starting seventh. He immediately went after Davies, who was applying serious pressure on Scott. On lap seventeen, Davies tried to get a run under Scott in turn one and spun, putting Close on Scott’s bumper for the restart, and relegating Davies to the rear.
Dick Barton got a great jump when the green flag flew and momentarily took second, but Close battled back to retake the position on lap nineteen. Then a quietly pivotal move occurred when Barton got past close once again as Close had a serious bobble in four that sent him careening toward the infield. He made a miraculous save to right the ship and keep going, losing only one position in an event that had disaster written all over it. Of that event, Close observed, “There was a really slick spot down in turn four. Our car was really tight on entrance, and if you got that thing at all sideways through the center of the corner, it just wanted to spin out. I was just glad that that nobody got caught up in it because it was pretty much a bone-headed move.”
On lap twenty-two a three car scrum in turn two involving Davies, Mickey Wright, and Ferri, who had a memorable debut, brought out the caution again, leaving Scott, Barton, and Close the top three. Barton got a great jump and took the lead from Close at the drop of the green, but Close stayed on the gas and retook the top spot in turn four, while behind him a five car pileup ensued involving Barton, Todd Andrews, Jason Dupont, Brent Rhebergen, and Kirk Bradley, with Andrews and Bradley going off via the hook.
Following a yellow flag on lap twenty-three, a final caution on lap twenty-five, when Dupont rolled to a stop, set up the frenetic final laps. Scott and Close lined up one-two for the resumption of the race. Close immediately executed a perfect slide job in turn one on Scott, who had trouble gaining his momentum on restarts. Scott regained the lead on the backstretch, where he was strong all night. Close retook the lead on lap twenty-seven. Then the two put on a wild display of controlled chaos, as they threw their cars in front each other in almost every turn, with the one emerging in front losing the lead in the next turn.
Not even the drivers knew how many times the lead changed in those final laps, but Scott made the final decisive pass on the final turn to take the win. Barton, who had a fine run from twelfth, finished third, followed by Ruhlman, who made a Herculean effort to stay up front running on six cylinders for most of the race, and Doug Ricotta, to complete the top five.
An emotional Scott described his feelings in Victory Lane. “We needed a win here so bad because we haven’t been able to. We’ve been good enough to win and couldn’t catch a break. (During the race) I’m running pretty good and the cautions are killing me. I tried to roll the bottom on the restarts and Bob just drove right by me. Then he goes to the top after he cleared me, so I gave him a slide job; then he gave me one. (On the final turn) I didn’t know where we were at, but I rolled down in there wide open. I was either going to wreck it or win it. One of the two.” When it was noted that they never touched in the final frantic laps, he added, “We congratulated each other three times after the race because that was pretty hairy. Bob and I have a lot of respect for each other. I knew what he was going to do, and he knew what I was going to do. We were both just racing for three grand and a trophy. So, that’s what you get.”
Close echoed Scott’s appraisal of the race, saying, “That was one of the most fun races of my career, even though we lost. It would have been nice to come out on the other side of that deal like David did. Man, that was fun. He did a slide job on me, and I did it right back. I think we should get paid double for that deal tonight.” When asked how many times he and Scott swapped the lead on the last two laps, he declared, “I don’t have a clue. I was just too busy racing with him and the last two laps flew by so fast, I couldn’t tell you how many times we passed each other.” As for race strategy, he added, “We were really good on the restarts when he didn’t have his momentum up, and we’d get beside him coming off the turns. Then once he got rolling it seemed like whoever went in low had to slide up to the cushion and lost all their momentum and whoever was in high could pass the guy back. I think if it was one more lap it might have been the other way around. It came down to who passed who when, and we were on the wrong lap.”
When it was all said and done, both drivers agreed it was one of the best if not the best races of their respective careers. The thousands of fans who witnessed it will readily attest to that.
In the twenty lap super stock feature the race came down to a two car battle between previous Little Valley winners Randy Hall and Jeff Chesebro, after Todd Hansen broke while leading on lap eight. Chesbro, who started on the pole re-inherited the lead at that point and drove out to a seemingly commanding advantage. However, Hall, who started sixth and took second when Hansen broke, kept whittling away at the lead, catching him on lap seventeen and then executing a perfect pick, getting under Chesebro in turn one on lap eighteen, while Chesebro had to get off the gas because of two lapped cars right in front of him.
Hall went on to the win, with Chesbro holding off a late challenge from Steve Dixon, who won the previous super stock feature, to finish second, with Dixon, Rich Michael and Jon Lichy completing the top five.
Of the winning pass, Hall, from Olean, noted, “It’s a lot easier when you’re running second or third. You pretty much do the opposite of what everybody else does, and it worked to our advantage.”
The twenty lap E-Mod feature went to Rich Michael from Ishua, who prevailed in a battle, with Tim Peterson on two restarts at the end of the caution-plagued event.
Michael led early, lost the lead to Peterson on a lap six restart and then retook the top spot three laps later. Craig Bedell, John Lacki, and Quincey Turner rounded out the top five in the race, which was slowed by six yellow flags. Michael noted, “The bottom seemed to be the best line. A couple times I got up top. I passed Peterson top, so maybe that would have been just as good.”
Finally, young Adam Sixt from Sardinia won his first ever Little Valley street stock feature, coming from tenth to bull his way past former track champion Brett Smith on lap fourteen of the fifteen lapper to claim the victory. Smith, who was not pleased by the youngster’s aggressive move, was cruising to an apparently easy win when a caution on lap twelve erased a huge lead and gave young Sixt his opportunity.
Sixt, responding to the charge of body slamming Smith in turn three, observed, “
He was rubbing me down the back straightaway, so I decided I’d stick it in underneath him and he tried chopping, but I just held my line. That’s racing, I guess.”
Previous street stock winner Adam Ashcroft made a stirring charge from twenty-second to finish third in the entertaining race.
NOTES: The Racing Legends Reunion, a popular annual affair at Little Valley, was held as scheduled, despite the fact that the Empire Super Sprints, which usually headline reunion night, were replaced by the late models this year. A number of racing pioneers were in attendance. They included: Dick McCrossan from Buffalo; Butch Fleetwood from Buffalo; Vern Harriman from Cheektowaga; Jerry McDowell from New Castle, PA; Robert McDowell from New Castle; Denny Lott from New Castle; Bob Miley from Kent, Ohio; Bernie Wrona from Sagamore Hills, Ohio; Mike Seiver from Angelica; Leon Rumsehlag from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio; Fran Pezzimenti from Allegany; and Jimmy Jones from Lancaster. The group was introduced and interviewed by event coordinator, Lou Ensworth from Olean. They were also presented with Little Valley coffee mugs to honor the occasion. The group was given an enthusiastic welcome by the capacity crowd, in appreciation of their pioneering racing exploits………….The next event is a double header weekend on Friday, September 7th and Saturday September 8th. The Friday date is a rainout makeup, with the super late models heading a card which includes the super stocks, E-Mods and street stocks as well. The super stocks will be racing for $3,000 to win. On Saturday the same classes will run, plus the minis, with the super late models vying for $5,000 to win, making this the biggest weekend in Little Valley history. Racing on both days begins at 6:00, with gates opening at 3:00. Admission on Friday is $12.00, and on Saturday it’s $15. On both days those under twelve are admitted free. For more information, call 716-938-9146, or log on to littlevalleyspeedway.com.
RESULTS:
Super Late Models: (30 laps) David Scott, Bob Close, Dick Barton, Chad Ruhlman, Doug Ricotta, Mickey Wright, Al Brewer, Greg Oakes, Jason Dupont, Brent Rhebergen, Todd Andrews, Rob Ledingham, Kirk Bradley, Dutch Davies, Adam Ferri, John Lobb, Jeff Hoffman, Chad Valone, Randy Shearer, John Haggerty, and Rick Isadore. DNS: Joe Watson and Boom Briggs. Heat winners were Davies, Ruhlman, and Hoffman.
Super Stocks: (20 laps) Randy Hall, Jeff Chesebro, Steve Dixon, Rich Michael, Jon Lichy, Dave Miller, Butch Talbot, Tom Schnars, Brian Kozalski, Junior Peters, Dan Dunham, Carl Shetler, Brian Crandall, Todd Hansen, Dan Cobb, Ron Baker, and Alan Wais. DNS: JJ Mazur and John Kemp. Heat winners were Michael, Chesebro, and Dixon.
E-Mods: (20 laps) Rich Michael, Tim Peterson, Craig Bedell, John Lacki, Quincey Turner, Mike Samuelson, Tom Hagberg, Troy Carr, Jason Johns, Kevin Kohn, Justin Carlson, Brian Crandall, CS Fitzgerald, Josh Johns, Brian Fardink, Chad Silleman, Stu Burton, Ryan Bright, Ed Carley, TJ Downs, Rick Loomis, and Kyle Bedell. Heat winners were Carley, Peterson, and Michael.
Street Stocks: (15 laps) Adam Sixt, Brett Smith, Adam Ashcroft, Justin Tatlow, Chris Austin, Jason Schoonmaker, John Smallidge, Colton Chappius, Tim Bruce, Darren Morgan, Josh Wilcox, Ron Hebner, Damon Lewis, Charles Silleman, Kevin Hill, Jeremy Bucktooth, Justin Baxter, Cliff Johnson, Joe White, Derrick Francis, Rich Wojtowicz, and Rob Stromecki. DNS: Nathan Arnold and Doug Jones. Heat winners were Sixt, White, and Stromecki.
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