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by JR Kennerup
Kirkwood, NY … Wednesday night was a very special night at Five Mile Point Speedway with NASCAR and all around open wheel racing driving star Kenny Schrader on hand. Kenny competed in the IMCA Modified Empire State Series event in a car prepared by current National IMCA Modified point leader Dale Caswell.
In the final point race for the South Region of the Race of Champions Dart Dirt Modified Tour. Pat Ward the current Region point leader made sure he was going to walk away with the title as he won the 75 lap feature. This was Ward’s first ever Five Mile Point feature win after coming to track to race for nearly 30 years. Stewart Friesen made a late race charge to end up second with Billy Decker in third, Jeff Strunk finished fourth, and early race leader Brian Weaver came home in fifth.
The Race of Champions Dart Dirt Sportsman Tour also had its final South Region point race on this night. Nick Rochinski dominated the 40 lap event to claim the win as he held off a fast closing Danny Tyler. Joey Colsten finished third with Michael Lartz ending up fourth, and South Region champion Mike Loney finishing fifth.
The Empire State Series for the IMCA Modifieds 25 lap feature was dominated by current IMCA Modified National Point Leader Dale Caswell. Kenny Schrader hounded Caswell, his teammate for the evening during the final ten laps but fell short at the line for the win. Kevan Cook finished third with George Catanzano in fourth and Lyle Smith in fifth.
The Lightning Cats 25 lap feature was won by Ken Underwood over Nick Greist, Jeremy Holt, Brian Backus, and Joe Vaughn.
Pat Ward and Dan Hineline brought the 27 car Modified field down to start the 75 lap $4,000 to win feature. Hineline surprised many by jumping out to the lead over Ward, Carl Nagel, Mike Colsten and Brian Weaver.
Weaver was show early in the feature as the former track champion excited the sponsor’s tower as he took their sponsored car to the lead on lap nine. By using the extreme high side of the speedway Weaver moved from fourth to the lead in just three quarters of a lap following a restart after starting eighth.
Jeff Strunk was now drawing attention as he moved from 12th to fourth by lap nine. Following a lap 11 restart Strunk got by Ward for third but Ward returned the favor on the next lap following a restart as he moved into second.
The great run of Hineline started to fade as a deflating right rear tire started to drop him back through the field on lap 13. With this taking place Strunk moved into third, Nagel to fourth and Billy Decker now took fifth.
Decker was now the man on the move as he moved into fourth on lap 23 and into third following a lap 34 restart.
With leader Weaver in heavy lap traffic at the half way point the top five cars were all within a half a straightaway of each other much to the crowd’s liking. The torrid early race pace of Weaver was starting to take its toll on his tires as his lead was shrinking the longer the race wore on.
On lap 51 Ward who for several laps prior tried to pass Weaver by going under him moved to the outside to complete the winning race pass in turn four. Decker snuck under Weaver for second just four laps later and many thought a Gypsum Express team battle was going to take place. However during the final 20 laps one other driver had something to say in the outcome of the race.
Stewart Friesen who started 11th was the story of the final 20 laps. He saved his tires and moved into fifth on lap 55 for good. One lap later Friesen moved into fourth by passing Weaver and one lap after that passed Strunk for third. With 12 laps to go Friesen got under Decker for second and set sail after leader Ward who was a full straightaway ahead.
Ward got mired in heavy lap traffic with eight laps to go and Friesen pulled to within two car lengths. However the veteran Ward negotiated lap traffic like the veteran driver he is and opened up a big enough lead with four laps to go. That move enabled Ward to protect his lead to go on and win his first career Five Mile Point Speedway feature win.
Friesen settled for second with Decker in third, Strunk ended up fourth, and Weaver holding off Danny Johnson for fifth at the checkers.
With the win Pat Ward won the South Region championship for the RoC Dart Dirt Modified Tour. Ward won two of the three races in the Region and had a 20 point lead entering the show over Kevin Bates.
Qualifying for the 28 Modifieds had heat wins go to Colsten, Decker, Hineline, and Weaver with Jack Johnson winning the consi.
The Sportsman feature found Joey Colsten and Nick Rochinski bring the field to green after some of the original starters were not in line when the feature was called to the post. Rochinski jumped out to the lead in the 40 lap $1,000 to win feature followed by Colsten, Danny Tyler, 14 year old Larry Wight, and Jamie Batzel. Wight impressively moved in to third on the next lap with tenth place starter Danny Creeden now moving into fifth.
After a restart on lap ten for the spun car of Creeden a major shuffle took place on the restart behind the leading duo of Rochinski and Colsten. Tyler moved into third with Mike Loney now in fourth and Michael Lartz in fifth. Loney and Lartz would exchange fourth and fifth four times over the next 13 laps in a crowd pleasing battle.
Tyler slipped under Colsten for second with eight laps to go and the seemingly big lead of Rochinski was starting to dwindle thanks in part to Tyler. The third generation racer who grew up on bull ring type tracks reeled in Rochinski to be within striking distance when the two to go signal was given.
Rochinski started to change his racing line that was so successful throughout the entire race and it almost cost him. As coming down for the checkers Tyler got under Rochinski but fell three quarters of a car length short at the line. Colsten finished third with Lartz and Loney taking fourth and fifth respectively.
With the fifth place finish Mike Loney was able to win the RoC Dart Dirt Sportsman South Region championship by just three points over Danny Creeden. Coming into the race Creeden and Kyle Weiss were tied in points with Loney in third just one point behind. The spin by Creeden on lap ten cost him the title while Weiss who was running as high as sixth had a right front flat on lap 25 ending his title hopes.
Qualifying for the 18 Sportsman saw heat wins go to Colsten and Wight.
The Empire State Series IMCA Modified 25 lap feature saw an early race rash of yellow fever with six cautions coming out in the first eight laps. During the first eight laps all eyes were on two drivers, Dale Caswell and his teammate for the night Kenny Schrader. Caswell who started fourth had the lead by lap three. Meanwhile Schrader was fighting his way to the front after starting ninth and was up to fourth by lap eight.
With Caswell comfortably in front all eyes were focused on Schrader now. Kenny moved into third on lap nine and after a tussle with Mark Griffin finally moved into second on lap 11.
Many in attendance wanted to see if Schrader had anything for Caswell as three restarts took place over the final 12 laps of the feature. But each time the high flying Caswell took off after the green came out leaving Schrader searching for a way around him.
In the end Caswell won by two car lengths over Schrader who stated that “ he just wanted to get a chance to lean on the leader to see if he had anything for him. “ Kevan Cook came back from an early race spin to claim a hard earned third with George Catanzano repeating the Cook feat as he came back from and early race spin to finish fourth. Lyle Smith wound up fifth after a mad scramble took place on the last lap with the slowing car of Griffin.
Qualifying for the 24 IMCA Modifieds saw heat wins go to Banks, Roberts, and Stolarcyk.
GARY’S U – PULL – IT / RoC DART DIRT MODIFIED FEATURE FINISH; Pat Ward, Stewart Friesen, Billy Decker, Jeff Strunk, Brian Weaver, Danny Johnson, Ronnie Johnson, Jerry Higbie, Jr., Jack Johnson, Joey Grammes, Carl Nagel, Jeremy Smith, Eric Palmer, James Cornell, Kevin Bates, Bobby Trapper, Darwin Greene, Kenny Titus, Chris Ostrowsky, Glenn Knapp, Jr., Dan Hineline, Brian Malcolm, Tommy McGurrin, Jesse Kline, Mike Colsten, Jim Crawn, Joel Batzel. DNS; Rob Fairweather.
GARY’S U – PULL – IT RoC DART SPORTSMAN FEATURE FINISH; Nick Rochinski, Danny Tyler, Joey Colsten, Michael Lartz, Mike Loney, Larry Wight, Danny Creeden, Butch Klinger, Andy Stout, Kyle Weiss, Chance Spoonhower, Jerry Tonti, Brian Puckett, Justin Holland, Les Gillette, Jamie Batzel. DNS; Brad Grim, Josh Pursell.
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