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KIRKWOOD, NY – Friday night’s win at Five Mile Point Speedway accomplished two things for Joey Grammes. First, it paid the Kunkletown, Pa. native $2,000 for winning the 40-lap event. Secondly, Grammes wrapped up the championship in the first ever Southern Tier Auto Racing Series between Penn Can and Five Mile Point Speedways.
“I want to dedicate all this to Roy Smith,” said Grammes. “He passed away this week and he was a very close family friend. He was a life time race fan and a legendary car owner in our area.”
For Grammes, it was his first win STARS series event, but it was enough to put him ahead of both his closest rivals Carl Nagel and Jim Crawn for the overall championship.
“I hate to win it like that with those two guys (Nagel and Crawn) both having trouble,” said Grammes. “Although I should have had the championship locked up way before we came here tonight.”
Grammes was grateful to Doug and Ann Flurer as the power plant that propelled him to the victory was partially theirs.
“We needed a motor and Doug and Ann (Flurer) let us borrow part of their motor,” said Grammes. “We took it down to our motor builder, RPM, and he put it together for us.”
Grammes started the event from the third starting position and took the lead on a lap two restart. Once in front he was challenged in the early stages by Pat Ward but held on to claim the victory at the quarter-mile.
Ward had his opportunity but the Genoa, N.Y. driver settled for the runner-up spot. Brian Weaver moved from the seventh starting position to finish in third. Mike Colsten finished the event in fourth with Nazareth, Pa. driver, JR Crouse coming from 16th starting position to complete the top five.
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TAKING THE LEAD EARLY: Scott Brady led the first circuit of the feature after starting on the outside of the front row. The caution came out one circuit later as Billy Van Pelt got into the inside backstretch wall. On the restart, Grammes dove to the inside in turns one and two to take the lead away.
ALMOST LOSING THE LEAD: Several cautions slowed the pace early with Grammes remaining the leader after each restart. On lap 10, the caution came out as Barry Readinger and James Cornell came together on the backstretch. As the caution came out, Ward was working the outside and was almost able to take the top spot away.
HELP FROM A FRIEND: Under the caution, Weaver pulled up alongside Grammes and motioned him to change his lane. On the restart, Grammes did just that forcing Ward to restart on the inside.
“Brian (Weaver) pulled alongside me during the caution and told me to go to the outside,” stated Grammes. “I was worried because I thought he was telling me I had a flat tire or something like that.”
WORKING THE TOP: Once he found the topside, Grammes kept his car there for most of the rest of the distance as both Ward and Weaver tried to close the gap. On lap 36, he reached slower traffic forcing him to deviate from the top and allowing him to work the low lane.
“The top was good but my car felt just as good on the bottom,” stated Grammes. “The car got stronger and stronger as the race went on and it made easier to get through traffic without a problem.”
MISSED OPPORTUNITY: At the finish Grammes was well in front of his next closest rival Ward. Ward had a chance to take the lead away early but a caution negated his possible pass for the lead.
“I showed him the line,” stated Ward. “I had a good car but once he (Grammes) got to the outside it was going to be tough to get by him.”
MORE GEAR: Ward attempted to run the bottom as he tried to close the distance between himself and Grammes but he was unable to do so because he was just off on the setup.
“We need a little bit more gear,” said Ward. “If we had a little bit more we probably could have made it a better race than it was.”
HELPING OUT: Weaver finished the event in third spot with his Wally Fiehl powered Bicknell ride. Although he didn’t win, he was able to benefit eventual winner Grammes by showing him which line to run.
“My car was way too tight to run the top like I needed to,” said Weaver. “I wasn’t good enough to win so I figured I would help out my friend. I wanted to see the local guy win and I knew it wasn’t going to be me.”
QUALIFYING: There were 37 cars that attempted to qualify with Darwin Green, Nagel, Chris Ostrowsky and Colsten each winning a heat race event. Two consolation events were held with Glenn Knapp and Butch Cerrulo taking the wins.
BINGHAMTON TRUCK & TIRE/BOLAND'S TOPSOIL & EXCAVATING MODIFIED FINISH: Joey Grammes, Pat Ward, Brian Weaver, Mike Colsten, JR Crouse, Brent Wilcox, Alan Rudalavage, Darwin Greene, Michael Lartz, Wade Decker, Jesse Kline, Steve Babicek, Mike Trautschold, Scott Brady, Chris Ostrowsky, Dave Jenkins, Jim Crawn, Butch Cerullo, Barry Readinger, Carl Nagel, Glenn Knapp, Jr., Roy Bresnehan, Tim Votra, Stewart Friesen, Dave Zona, James Cornell, Billy Van Pelt. DNQ: Jeremy Smith, Darin Schuler, Bobby Gunther-Walsh, JR Hurlburt, Dennis Dietrich, Billy Jenkins, Ken Titus, Joel Batzel, Dave Calaman, Dan Morden.
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