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MIDDLETOWN, NY – On Sunday afternoon, Jeff Heotzler Sr. did the improbable, he came from a fourth place finish in his consolation event, which started him 42nd in the 46 car field, to score his first career win the in 46th Advance Auto Parts Super DIRTcar Series Eastern States 200 at the Orange County Fair Speedway.
“I’ve been waiting so long to win the (Eastern States) 200,” said Heotzler. “I told my guys earlier today that we could do it from the back but we had to be smart. I had a good car all day and that is a credit to my crew.”
In 2002, Heotzler came up just 10 laps shy of winning the event only to have an incident with a slower car negate his chances for the win. On Sunday, nothing could slow his pace toward the top prize.
“This definitely makes me feel good,” said the 50-year-old Heotzler. “I’ve had a lot of wins in my career but this is my first win in the 200. I’m glad my name is finally in the record books.”
The win paid Heotzler a whopping $20,000 and it was his first win of the season with his JPM powered Bicknell at the five-eighth mile speedway and it comes on the eve of his fourth career big-block Modified championship.
It was also a somber moment for Heotzler who dedicated the win to his late father-in-law, Winfred Pfister, who passed away on October 17.
Heotzler, driving for Mike Petruska Racing, started just two rows from the rear of the field and began making headway very early in the event. A pair of cautions on laps 54 and 60 helped him as he avoided both incidents to move his way inside the top five.
Over the course of the next 100 laps he was able to navigate his way into the runner-up position. Then, with just seven laps remaining, Billy Decker ran out of fuel handing the lead and eventually the victory to Heotzler.
Brett Hearn finished in the runner-up position securing him the overall Hoosier Tire-Sunoco Race Fuels Mr. DIRTcar Series Championship. Longtime speedway veteran, Richie Eurich, of Warwick, N.Y., finished in third.
Rick Laubach, of Quakertown, Pa., finished fourth after starting 29th and Kenny Tremont rebounded from a lap 60 incident to finish in fifth.
Matt Sheppard came home in the sixth spot after getting a flat tire on lap 126. Jimmy Phelps came back through the field after Bruce Kline got into the rear bumper of his No.98h on lap 135 spinning him on the back stretch to finish seventh. Mitch Gibbs ran a steady race and finished in eighth while Justin Haers and Ronnie Johnson completed the top ten.
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LET’S GO RACING: Brett Hearn started on the pole and quickly took the lead as the race came down to Kenny Marshall’s green flag. Hearn pulled away easily on his home turf with Danny Johnson falling in line behind him for the runner-up position.
FIRST RED FLAG: The caution came out for Frank Cozze’s left rear flat on lap six. On the restart, Kenny Stafford and Joe Morel came together with Alan Barker making contact with them rolling Lance Kenyon’s No.22g on lap 12 causing a red flag.
DASH TO THE PITS: Over the course of the next forty laps, the field would be slowed several times for minor incidents on the speedway. The caution came out on lap 48 for Alan Johnson as he slowed in turn two. This set up the first round of pit stops on lap 51 when almost everyone inside the top ten came down pit road for gas only including eventually winner Heotzler.
LAP CAR PROBLEMS: A pair of restarts were negated by incidents with lap cars. The first came on lap 54 when the leader, Rick Mill and Joe Morel came together. This incident caused a massive pile-up that blocked turns three and four causing Heotzler to quickly tuck through an opening in the wall through pit road briefly and back onto the surface at the exit of turn four.
“I saw the field start to bottleneck and the track was blocked,” stated Heotzler. “I took a hard left and passed about 10 cars because evidently they had to stop. It was nice to finally get some luck.”
The next restart, on lap 60 saw Tremont get together with Bob McGannon which brought out the red flag as the field needed to be reassembled in their proper running order. By this time, Heotzler had made his way into the top five.
SCARY MOMENT: On lap 76 the red flag came out for the third time when Rusty Smith’s throttle stuck sending him and Frank Cozze hard into the turn three wall. Smith’s car landed upside down while Cozze’s car went through the wall taking down the wall and the light pole. Both drivers were reported to be okay but taken for observation.
A LEAD CHANGE: Hearn was in front from lap 61 until lap 86 when Decker was able to get a good restart and make a move for the lead. He completed the pass as the pair raced off of turn two and down the back straightaway with Heotzler watching from the third position. They remained the top three at the halfway point.
TAKING SECOND: Heotzler took advantage of a very rare Hearn bobble to move into the runner-up spot on lap 166. Hearn went to the top of turns one and two while Heotzler moved to the inside off the second turn.
“I think I might have been the only one that could really role the bottom of the speedway,” stated Heotzler. “It looked like he (Hearn) got in a little hot and drove through the corner and I was right there to take advantage of it.”
TO THE LEAD: As the laps clicked off, Heotzler sat in second behind Decker. Then, suddenly, on lap 193, Decker slowed unexpectedly on the back straightaway giving the lead to Heotzler.
“Billy’s (Decker) a good racer and has good equipment under him,” stated Heotzler. “I don’t know if we could have got him had he not run out of gas. I kept my car underneath me all day and had something left for him. All I can say is it would have been interesting with about five to go.”
ONE SPOT SHY: Heotzler held off Hearn for the final seven laps to score the win. Hearn, driving an Enders powered Teo Pro car, came up one spot short of defending his 2006 victory but won the Mr. DIRTcar Series Championship. He had no idea that Fuller had dropped out until there were only six laps remaining.
“I knew Fuller was having problems but I didn’t know he was out until late in the race that he pulled in,” stated Hearn. “I was happy to see that checkered flag at the end because I was a little worried after Billy (Decker) ran out of fuel because we both pitted on the same lap.”
LOSING A POSITION: Hearn’s only mistake was moving up the speedway opening the door for Heotzler to get by him in turn two. It was very similar to the way he had taken the lead the previous day during the 358-Modified portion of the weekend.
“He (Heotzler) passed me when I tried moving up the track,” commented Hearn. “When I went to the top I was trying to get a run off the corner but he filled the hole before I could get back down to the bottom.
“We came close but I think we just got beat by a faster car.”
USING AN OLD TIRE: Eurich, who started 25th, came through the field in impressive fashion using a Hoosier tire that had previously been raced on the right rear of his JPM powered Bicknell to score the third place finish. At the end of the event, that tire was virtually bald.
“We ran this tire a few laps before we got knocked out early in another race,” stated Eurich. “I felt the car changing a little bit near the end but I didn’t realize how bad the tire really was. I’m glad the race ended when it did.”
QUALIFYING: Hearn collected the WRL Construction Pole Award/Integra Shocks Fast Time Award for his lap of 21.875. There were 81 cars that attempted to qualify through six heat race events with Gibbs, Stewart Friesen, Gary Tomkins, Ryan Phelps, Jerry Higbie and Jack Johnson their respective events. Alan Johnson, Steve Paine and Mike Kolka won the consolation events.
AWARDS: Decker won $1,000 for leading lap 100 courtesy of Budweiser/Dana Distributors. The VRP Rookie of the Race went to Danny Creeden. Heotzler won the Maxwell 31st Lap Hard Charger and the Bert Hard Charger Award. Clinton Mills won the Area Auto Racing News Hard Luck Award after getting a flat tire in his consolation event while in a qualifying position. Tremont received the VRP Shocks 5th Place Bonus.
46th Advance Auto Parts Super DIRTcar Series Eastern States 200 Big-Block Modified Championship at Orange County Fair Speedway. Heotzler earned the 2007 Orange County points title without a single win before closing out the season with the biggest victory of his career that awarded him the $20,000 first-place prize.
After starting 42nd in the 46-car field, Heotzler sped past Billy Decker when his full tank ran dry on lap 193 and held off three-time defending race winner Brett Hearn in a race that was slowed by 18 caution periods and a trio of red flags. Hearn’s runner-up tally secured him the overall Hoosier Tire-Sunoco Race Fuels Mr. DIRTcar Modified Series Championship, with veteran Rich Eurich crossing the line third ahead of Pennsylvanian Rick Laubach and Captital District runner Kenny Tremont.
Advance Auto Parts Super DIRTcar Series Race #32 – Orange County Fair Speedway, Oct. 21, 2007 Eastern States 200 Championship Event Summary
FEATURE (200-laps):
FIN STR CAR# DRIVER LAPS
1 42 66 Jeff Heotzler/Wallkill,NY($20,000) 200
2 1 20 Brett Hearn/Sussex,NJ 200
3 25 10 Rich Eurich/Warwick,NY 200
4 29 14 Rick Laubach/Quakertown,PA 200
5 35 115 Kenny Tremont/West Sand Lake,NY 200
6 5 44s Matt Sheppard/Waterloo,NY 200
7 19 98h Jimmy Phelps/Baldwinsville,NY 200
8 8 55 Mitch Gibbs/North Norwich,NY 200
9 20 3 Justin Haers/Phelps,NY 200
10 23 2 Ronnie Johnson/Duanesburg,NY 200
11 33 7x Steve Paine/Waterloo,NY 200
12 15 11 Danny Creeden/Middletown,NY 200
13 11 99 Ryan Phelps/Fulton,NY 199
14 30 Z Butch Tittle/Saylorsburg,PA 199
15 7 32c Vic Coffey/Leicester,NY 199
16 28 88 Steve Dodd/Middletown,NY 199
17 18 17 Donnie Elliott/Middletown,NY 198
18 4 91 Billy Decker/Unadilla,NY 197
19 2 59 Bruce Kline/Bangor,PA 189
20 36 24x Greg Sleight/Hopewell Junction,NY 188
21 44 49 Billy Dunn/Watertown,NY 178
22 46 60 Kenny Stafford/Homer,NY 176
23 6 19 Tim Fuller/Edwards, NY 171
24 17 42p Pat Ward/Genoa,NY 157
25 21 24 Chris Shultz/Pawling,NY 154
26 22 5 Chuck McKee/Middletown,NY 142
27 10 84 Gary Tomkins/Clifton Springs,NY 129
28 40 21m Bob McGannon/Garnerville,NY 127
29 31 21k Randy Chrysler/Lewiston,NY 124
30 38 77x Dale Planck/Cortland,NY 111
31 13 12a Jack Johnson/Duanesburg,NY 102
32 34 25 Mike Kolka/Circleville,NY 83
33 27 20c Craig Hanson/Tribes Hill,NY 75
34 45 44 Frank Cozze/Wind Gap,PA 74
35 26 33-1/3 Tommy Meier/Waldwick,NJ 74
36 16 73 Rick Mill/New Windsor,NY 73
37 41 r2 Rusty Smith/Bethlehem,PA 72
38 39 99b Chuck Bower/Lansing,NY 67
39 12 47 Jerry Higbie/Slate Hill,NY 54
40 37 673 Joe Morel/Boonton,NJ 53
41 24 x2 Jimmy Horton/Neshanic Station,NJ 52
42 32 10s Alan Johnson/Middlesex,NY 44
43 3 27j Danny Johnson/Rochester,NY 35
44 14 71 David VanHorn/Phillipsburg,NJ 30
45 9 ofp1 Stewart Friesen/Niagara-o-t-Lake,ONT 18
46 43 22g Alan Barker/Norwich,NY 11
GATER NEWS LAP LEADERS: Hearn (1-50), Mill (51-53), Tremont (54-59), Tittle (60), Hearn (61-85), Decker (86-192), Heotzler (193-200).
TOTAL LAPS LED: 107-Decker, 75-Hearn, 8-Heotzler, 6-Tremont, 3-Mill, 1-Tittle.
CAUTIONS: 18 for 88 laps; 3 RED FLAGS (lap 12, lap 60, lap 76).
BUDWEISER/DANA DISTRIBUTORS HALFWAY (LAP 100) AWARD: Billy Decker.
VRP SHOCKS ROOKIE OF THE RACE: Danny Creeden.
MAXWELL 31st LAP HARD CHARGER: Jeff Heotzler.
BERT HARD CHARGER: Jeff Heotzler.
AREA AUTO RACING NEWS HARD LUCK AWARD: Clinton Mills.
VRP SHOCKS 5TH-PLACE BONUS: Kenny Tremont.
WLR CONSTRUCTION POLE WINNER: Brett Hearn (21.785sec/103.282mph).
INTEGRA SHOCKS FAST TIMER: Brett Hearn (21.785sec/103.282mph).
CARS ENTERED: 81.
TOTAL PURSE: $62,200.
DID NOT QUALIFY(35)
OB's-Oscar Boria/Middletown,NY
X-Ben Rizzo/Middletown,NY
Xk-Ed Kitchell/South Kingston,RI
1-Dave Werber/Brewster,NY
1j-Bobby Varin/Sharon Springs,NY
1k-Robert King/Granville,NY
1LB-Allan Kellogg/Mt.Cobb,PA
6n-Eric Palmer/Cresco,PA
7-Donnie Wilson/Ramsey,NJ
7k-Kirk Horton/Eldred,NY
9-Pierre DagenaisGatineau,QUE
9j-Johnny Guarino/Nanuet,NY
13-Brett Tonkin/Carbondale,PA
14b-Dan Barnes/Honesdale,PA
16-A.J. Romano/Johnstown,NY
17d-Danny O'Brien/Kingston,ONT
17jr.-Jeff Heotzler,Jr./Wallkill,NY
18-Sean Beardsley/Central Square,NY
21-Clinton Mills/Middletown,NY
t21-Roger Chrysler/Lewiston,NY
32-Cliff Ehrmann/Mahwah,NJ
34-Andy Bachetti/Sheffield,MA
44x-Stan Jablonka/Poughquag,NY
51-Jim VanAnden/Stormville,NY
53-Ric Hill/Lafayette,NJ
j66-Jared Petruska/Wayne,NJ
70-Eric Acquaro/New Windsor,NY
77f-Mark Flach,Jr./Coxsackie,NY
82p-Joe Puzzella/Roselle,NJ
85-Erik Nelson/Amsterdam,NY
93x-Craig Mitchell/Wappingers Falls,NY
99w-Larry Wight/Phoenix,NY
7-17-Everett Haubrich/Lafayette,NJ
923-Colin Jackson/Peckville,PA
959-Brett Graham/Kerhonkson,NY
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