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Victoria Weekend Mr. DIRTcar Pro Stock Win To Stefanski At Fulton
Fulton, NY – September 28, 2007 – By Tom Skibinski, DIRTcar Racing NorthEast PR Director
The Mr. DIRTcar Pro Stock Series event held annually at Fulton Speedway is traditionally referred to as the Victoria Championship. Fulton ’s full-fender season-finale has quickly evolved into the Pete Stefanski Benefit as the reigning overall Mr. DIRTcar points champion captured his third straight title race victory at the Route 57 raceway as the 22nd Victoria 200 Weekend kicked off on Friday night.
“Once the Sportsman ran it in, the track was just awesome tonight,” said Stefanski, as he stretched the points lead following his third Series win in six races run in 2007. Maybe more impressive for the Wheatfield, N.Y. driver was his sixth top-five finish in the past seven Victoria Championships, including his fourth trip to victory lane since 2001. “I owe a lot to my sponsors and to Allen and PJ Peters for giving me the motor. Its been a great year and hopefully it will get even better in the coming weeks.”
Chasing flag-to-flag leader Stefanski in the 30-lap title run were Canadian Dave Bissonnette, Fulton regulars Jason Parkhurst and Billy Clark Jr., and Stefanski’s teammate Allen Peters, himself a two-time Series race winner in ’07.
Intermittent rainfall forced track officials to delay Friday’s show for 1-1/2 hours following qualifying heats, with 38 Pro Stocks signing in for round number six in the eight-race tour. Stefanski won the first of four preliminary races to earn the pole-position start which finally took the initial green flag just after midnight. Twenty-five minutes later Stefanski was celebrating the $1,200 triumph which marked his 14th career Mr. DIRTcar Championship race victory, putting him behind only Jipp Ortiz on the all-time tour win list.
“My biggest concern tonight was with the traffic going three and four-wide in front of me,” noted Stefanski, after posting his DIRTcar NorthEast best 17th feature win of the season, his fourth coming at the 3/8-mile high-banked Fulton oval. “Once ahead my only worry was with the cars in front of me. I backed out a little at the end, I just wanted to make sure I finished, that was the only way to win.”
While Stefanski was shadowed early by “Bulldog” Bissonnette, the no. 2 Sunrise Racing-MarJon School of Beauty-San Ter Sewing Chevrolet Monte Carlo had little trouble keeping the 32-car starting field at bay the second half of the race. Four caution periods slowed the feature, with the final 22 laps run straight through under green on the ultra-smooth racing surface.
Patrick Hobbs lost a wheel in turn two to force out the first yellow flag on lap four, with Mike Martin and Adam Hunt getting caught up in the mishap. Picking up the back-up no. 27 ride of Louie Jackson to fall in 31st-place on the starting grid, Ontario, Canada traveler Roch Aubin looped all alone to incur the second caution two laps later. At the end of the ensuing lap six restart, P.J. Peters blew a right rear tire entering turn four to send his mount sideways with the field scrambling to avoid serious contact. ’06 DIRTcar Rookie of the Year Dion Oakes instigated the final slowdown when his full-body ride veered wide between turns one and two, with Dean Charbonneau and Shawn Frost tangling on the back chute in the aftermath.
Back under green Stefanski had little trouble opening up a comfortable advantage while Bissonnette and Parkhurst ran tight the remainder of the way in his rear-view. While Stefanski clung to the inside lane, his closest pursuers diced two-wide in traffic with Parkhurst taking over the runner-up position on lap 24. However, with just two laps to go, Parkhurst got boxed in behind lapped cars and Bissonnette was quick to regain second and hold on for the final circuits.
Denis Gauvreau, Chris Mackey, Scott Gribben, and rallying PJ Peters and Aubin rounded out the top-10 with Jack Terrell finishing 14th as the last to be scored on the lead lap.
Stefanski continues to pace the points standings through the initial six Mr. DIRTcar Pro Stock Series races. The next stop on the 2007 tour comes during Super DIRT Week as teams contend for top honors in the BNC Motorsports 25 on Sunday, October 7.
Mr. DIRTcar Pro Stock Series Race #6 – Fulton Speedway , September 28, 2007 Leaf Racewear 30 Event Summary (*Start)
1) 2-Pete Stefanski/Wheatfield,NY(1), 2) 47-Dave Bissonnette/Apple Hill,ONT(6), 3) 38-Jason Parkhurst/Oswego,NY(5), 4) 99-Billy Clark/Fulton,NY(7), 5) 88-Allen Peters/Massena,NY(9), 6) 72-Denis Gauvreau/Gatineau,QUE(4), 7) 3m-Chris Mackey/Rome,NY(2), 8) 71-Scott Gribben/Royalton,NY(23), 9) 73-P.J. Peters/Akwesasne,QUE(8), 10) 27-Roch Aubin/Alexandria,ONT, 11) 93-Dick Parkhurst/Oswego,NY(13), 12) 74x-Jim Evans Jr./Memphis,NY(17), 13) 99m-Mike Martin/Lockport,NY(29), 14) 98t-Jack Terrell/Jamesville,NY(30), 15) 26-Scott Conover/Dryden,NY(21), 16) 111-Russ Marsden/Mexico,NY(11), 17) 15f-Shawn Frost/Oneida,NY(12), 18) 188x-David Papineau/Cornwall Island,ONT, 19) 50-Scott Kocher/Waddington,NY(26), 20) 6-Stephane Lebrun/Gatineau,QUE(25), 210 81-Bret Belden/West Edmeston,NY(10), 22) 3h-Adam Hunt/Freeville,NY(28), 230 49-Bill Woodward Jr./Norfork,NY(27), 24) 66-Dale Gurnsey/Fulton,NY(22), 25) 28-Don Barnes/Gasport,NY(15), 26) 14-Mitchell Jock/Akwesasne,NY(14), 27) 48-Dion Oakes/Akwesasne,NY(18), 28) 4c-Dean Charbonneau/Clifton Park,NY(20), 29) 18-Louie Jackson/Akwesasne,NY(3), 30) ba98-Steve Johnston/Ingelside,ONT(16), 31) 05-Jocelyn Roy/St-Helene,QUE(24), 32) 15-Patrick Hobbs/Rochester,NY(19).
Lap Leader: Stefanski (1-30).
Cautions: 4 (lap 4, lap 6, lap 6, lap 8).
DID NOT QUALIFY(6)
0-Mike Vaughn/Jordan,NY
10a-A.J. Digsby/ Edmeston , NY
37w-Ricky Thompson/ Hogansburg , NY
72x-Roger Levesque/ Kingston ,ONT
99s-Rob Seavy/ Holland patent,NY
292-Chris Still/ Virgil , NY
QUALIFYING
Heat Races (8 laps, top 5 finishers transferred to feature, top 3 went to re-draw)
#1: Stefanski, J.Parkhurst, A.Peters, D.Parkhurst, Evans, Conover, Seavy, Woodward, Vaughn, Terrell.
#2: Mackey, Bissonnette, Belden, Jock, Oakes, Gribben, Lebrun, Digsby, Martin, Levesque (DNS).
#3: Jackson, Clark, Marsden, Thompson(DSQ), Barnes, Hobbs , Hunt, Papineau, Kocher, Stull.
#4: Gauvreau, PJ Peters, Frost, Johnston, Charbonneau, Gurnsey, Aubin, Roy.
Consolation Round (8 laps, top 4 finishers transferred to feature)
#1: Conover, Gribben, Lebrun, Woodward, Seavy, Terrell, Martin, Vaughn, Digby.
#2: Gurnsey, Papineau(DSQ), Roy , Kocher, Hunt, Stull, Levesque, Aubin, Thompson.
Provisionals Added: Martin, Terrell, Papineau.
UPCOMING EVENT:
The second to last race on the Mr. DIRTcar Pro Stock Series takes place at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse during Super DIRT Week XXXVI on October 7 with the running of the 25-lap BNC Motorsports Pro Stock Championship. Top full-fender teams will have to wait two more weeks before the 2007 Mr. DIRT Pro Stock Champion will be crowned at Orange County Fair Speedway during Eastern States Weekend.
2007 Mr. DIRTcar Pro Stock Series Championship Schedule
DAY-DATE LAPS TRACK LOCATION/WINNER
Sun-May 6 25 Rolling Wheels Raceway Allen Peters
Sun-Sep 2 50 Cornwall Motor Speedway Pete Stefanski
Fri-Sep 7 50 Autodrome Edelweiss Pete Stefanski
Sat-Sep 8 35 Frogtown Int’l Speedway Allen Peters
Sat-Sep 22 30 Rolling Wheels Raceway Louie Jackson
Fri-Sep 28 30 Fulton Speedway Pete Stefanski
Sun-Oct 7 25 New York State Fairgrnds Syracuse ,NY
Sun-Oct 21 25 Orange Co Fair SpeedwayMiddletown,NY
*All events subject to change.
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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