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With the snow gone and off the hilltops, it was time to get back to what we all love; Dirt Racing! I made it to the season opener at Black Rock Speedway in Dundee, NY, where the DIRTcar Sportsman started their season with a 50-lap feature paying $5,000 and a Street Stock 50-lap event paying $5,000 as well. I cranked the radio up and drove; as it does get the blood flowing a bit knowing; it’s your first race of the year!
On my way to the track I was remembering all those days that I spent here on Friday nights growing up watching races from the infield in the good ole’ jeep of my dad. Those were the days, and when I got to the track, not much has changed; the best part was knowing that I was there and going to see a good night of racing. That is exactly what I got!
I walked over to the pit board and noticed that we had 56 Sportsman and 36 Street Stocks, which I thought was a good car count for being so early in the season. I talked with Dean Hoag (owner/promoter) about the car counts that they were good, and he told me: “I expected at least 70-75 cars in each division, I just don’t get it, I have a race in the fall paying half as much and get twice the cars, now I have a great purse and didn’t get what I expected.”
I’m not too sure what had to be done to get those numbers, but the car counts were fair for an early race in the spring in my opinion. The stage was set with six heats for the sportsman and four heats for the street stocks. This proved to be some great side-by-side racing.
The Sportsman heats rolled off one after the other, with no down time in between. In each heat, the top three qualified while the top two went to the redraw for the feature. Heat one saw the no. 99p of Greg Panunte take the win over Mark D’llario in the no. 08, with Brian Swarthout, a Black Rock regular in the 358-modified ranks finished third. The first caution on the track was for Styrofoam, I said to myself, “what?”
While the talk on the message boards was all about the walls being taken down, one of the major questions all night was walls or no walls. Well while sitting outside of turn two in the pit grandstands I thought it was snowing, snowing!? Yep it sure was it was snowing Styrofoam all over the place. The management took the walls out and put yuke tires in with big blocks of Styrofoam around them and as soon as a car hit them, it would send Styrofoam all over the track. I’m sure they will figure out what the best thing is to put there, but that sure was interesting seeing it for the first time.
In heat two Larry Wight driving his Gypsum Express red no. 99 to victory with a commanding lead over second place finisher Mike Bowman. Taking the final spot was Jeremy Pitcher. Other notables in the field were Russ Hefti, and Mike Button who did not qualify.
In heat three, Dan Wiesner took the checkers over Justin Wright with Billy VanPelt taking the fourth qualifying spot. VanPelt put on a heck of show starting last and moved his way up to third to get into the show. VanPelt was driving Wesley Campbell’s no. V28 Sportsman Modified.
In the fourth heat, a big mix-up happened in the early laps with the cars of Dave Yehl and Todd Town. Yehl got up and over the front tire of Towns car with his right rear. Eric Giguere ended up winning the heat with Boyd MacTavish and Matt Williamson in tow for the final qualifying spots. Donnie Lawson a regular 358-modified driver at both Blackrock and Woodhull raceway was also in the field finishing fifth two spots out, forcing him to the consi.
In heat five the no. 140 of Mark Dixon take off with a big lead over second place finisher Sammy Reakes IV in his no. 17k. Brady Fultz, defending champion for the Dirt Sportsman in 2007 at Black Rock ended up taking third, locking him into the feature. Ray Bliss attended running in Ray Smith’s no. 12z and finished just one spot out of qualifying. Ray (Bliss) is usually behind the wheel of a 358-modified, so this was just a one-race deal. Ray did mention that he would be running at both Black Rock and Woodhull with his 358-modified for the 2008 season.
Heat six was filled with many drivers that you would normally see, but I was shocked to see that Scott Prentice was in a crate sportsman running Sammy Reakes IV backup car.
He would do just fine and finish second while regular Sportsman runner Todd Henderson took the win with Jipp Ortiz finishing third. Someone else that I haven’t seen in awhile was Steve Gray, he was in Scott Scraders no. 58 and he finished fifth.
It was time for the consolation races for the Sportsman, which would have three of these to lock in the rest of the starting field. The top three finishers would get spots in the feature.
The first event saw Rick Bellente spin going into the first turn. James Friesen took the win over Rob Knapp and Tim Currier finishing third.
In the second consi another Gypsum Express sponsored car took the win. John Pietrowicz in the no. 85 win took the win over second place finisher Donnie Lawson and Chad Chevalier was third.
One of the best races of the whole night was the third and final consolation event. Ray Bliss started on the pole took a commanding lead but after a few cautions that lead was diminishing because Daryl Hilkert was catching him. It came right down to the wire, almost a photo finish, as they came off turn four together nose to nose and Hilkert would get the win by merely inches. Bliss settled for second and Steve Gray took the last and final spot.
Feature time came around and Mark D’llario started on the pole with Larry Wight alongside. These two would switch the lead back and forth until lap eight. Rob Knapp of St. Catherines, ONT took a wild ride and flipped it right past the flag stand. All the people on the infield ran over to make sure he was ok and you heard him start the engine and back up and go to the pits, the crowd was cheering loud! Glad to see that he was all right. He tangled with Donnie Lawson. Three more cautions were to ensue, one for debris on the track, another one on lap 17 for the spinning car of Mike Bowman.
This set up a restart on lap 18, which saw Todd Henderson jump into the lead over D’llario and Wight. By the halfway point, the running order was Henderson, D’llario, Reakes IV, Wight, Giguere, Prentice, VanPelt. By lap 27 the leader, Henderson was starting to catch the back of the field and lapping cars. On Lap 31 the caution came out and Dan Wiesner broke forcing him pit-side. Donnie Lawson lost a left front tire at the same time and his night was over. Loren Lincoln was having a great run running near the top ten and had two flats a left front and a left rear around lap 42; he was able to get off the track keeping the green out.
While having an extremely large lead over D’llario, Henderson’s luck was about to end as was D’llario. While coming off of turn two, D’llario was racing Sammy Reakes IV for second place and D’llarion got his left front tire into the yuke tires and lost the whole thing, and Reakes had no where to go slamming into him. This would bring out the last and final caution leaving those two out of the race and putting fourth place runner Larry Wight into second behind Henderson. While they were taking a couple pace laps before taking the green the left rear of Todd Henderson went completely flat. For safety reasons they had to make him pit. Henderson’s misfortune was Wight’s fortune, as he would have to hold off a hard charging VanPelt who came from the 15th starting position. The youngster Larry Wight would go on to win the race with VanPelt taking second while Giguere took third. Pitcher and Prentice rounded out the top five. In post race inspection it was found that VanPelt and an illegal carburetor part and lost all points and money earned. See Full Results Below.
The Street Stocks were out next for their 50-lap that saw Nathan Peckham taking the win over Dave Pope and Bobby Boynton. With 27 cars starting the feature there were only seven cars on the lead lap with only nine cars finishing the race. Many flat tires forced driver’s pit-side throughout the event. A surprising exit on lap one saw Mike Welch in his no. 00 car out and parked it on the infield. Dave Mannise looked strong at the start and he would eventually leave the track on lap 18. Rich Sharpsteen, in a different number than last year, running the no. 5 car instead of the 83t fell a lap down earlier in the event and and was trying hard to get by Peckham, but would not be able to get his lap back. Sharpsteen was the second car across the line behind Peckham but was scored with a sixth place finish. See Full Results Below.
Overall the racing that I was able to see was a blast!! My hats off to the management as they put on a great show and never had much downtime between heats and/or consi’s. They took a short break after all the qualifying was done which gave the fans and driver a short break to get some food or drink in the concession stand. It gave me some time to talk with a few friends while almost missing the start of the feature as I waited in line to get my food. I’m not too sure how long the track will leave the Styrofoam around the tires, but I’m thinking not much longer. My opinion on the wall is simple, not too sure of the reasoning of taking it down, but I see it like this, if there is a wall, simple don’t hit it. If the wall isn’t there and the tires are there, then don’t hit them, race the track, not the things around the track.
I’m glad I can give you the fans a report on the races. The next race that I am planning on going to is either Canandaigua Practice or the opener at Woodhull Raceway. I hope to have some “Quick Quotes” for you guys and maybe a bit more detailed interviews with some drivers. I might be a little rusty as I haven’t really wrote anything for like a year, so bear with me I’ll be getting better. It feels good as I finish this as I know the racing this year is going to be great, so save your money if you have to, sell off the old stuff sitting in the garage, but what ever you do, get out of the house and go support your local dirt track, as that is what it’s all about!! Take your family and friends and have some fun.
If you haven’t been to Black Rock, one thing is the grandstands are on the front stretch and the pits are on the backstretch which means if they are racing, you have in between heats or whatever race to get back and forth. Therefore, when the feature came I was in the stands and missed interviews, as I didn’t want to lose my seat, as the grandstands give a little bit better view than those in the pits.
My overall grade of the show was a nine out of 10. I have to give this a high score as the racing was fantastic and the speed of getting the show done at a reasonable amount of time was another factor. I heard lots of talk about the cheeseburgers, I went down and got one at the concession stand at the grandstands, and I had the following. A burger on a bun, the top of the bun off to the side and I had shredded cheese, yes shredded cheese much of that you would put on a taco or in a tossed salad. This was piled up on the top of my burger, which this is something that I have never seen before, at least not at a racetrack. My burger was fine, but the idea of that just seemed weird. Other than missing my slice of cheese and got shredded cheese instead the night was fun and I’ll be sure to go back again this year in 2008!!
Full Results for the Pepsi 50’s
Mr. DIRTcar Sportsman Championship Series Race #1 – Black Rock Speedway, April 5, 2008 ‘Pepsi 50’ Event Summary
FIN STR CAR# DRIVER
1 2 99 Larry Wight/Phoenix,NY
2 15 v28 Billy VanPelt/Westfield,PA
3 4 67g Eric Giguere/Waterloo,NY
4 14 14 Jeremy Pitcher/Fulton,NY
5 3 17b Scott Prentice/Hastings,NY
6 6 99p Greg Panunte/Port Colborne,ONT
7 24 12z Ray Bliss/Warsaw,NY
8 17 70 Brady Fultz/Dundee,NY
9 11 00 Boyd MacTavish/St.Catharines,ONT
10 10 140 Mark Dixon/Durham,ONT
11 16 6 Mat Williamson/St.Catharines,ONT
12 19 52 James Friesen/St.Catharines,ONT
13 5 19w Justin Wright/Piffard,NY
14 22 2x Rob Knapp/St.Catharines,ONT
15 25 10 Tim Currier/Auburn,NY
16 26 12 Chad Chevalier/Port Colborne,ONT
17 8 18h Todd Henderson/Canandaigua,NY
18 9 17k Sammy Reakes IV/Palermo,NY
19 1 08 Mark D'Ilario/Smithville,ONT
20 21 4 Daryl Hilkert/Potter,NY
21 28 2 Loren Lincoln/South Bristol,NY
22 23 11x Donnie Lawson/Woodhull,NY
23 7 66 Dan Wiesner/Geneva,NY
24 27 58 Steve Gray/Rushville,NY
25 12 71 Mike Bowman/St.Catharines,ONT
26 30 m93 Mike Entwistle/Locke,NY
27 18 0 Jipp Ortiz/Ransomville,NY
28 20 85 John Pietrowicz/Phoenix,NY
29 31 777 Tyler McPherson/St.Catharines,ONT
30 13 14s Brian Swarthout/Beaver Dams,NY
31 29 410 Chris Hile/Syracuse,NY
DID NOT QUALIFY(25)
01-Chris Raabe/Napanee,ONT
1-Matt Smith/Canandaigua,NY
1j-Joe Dgien/Cameron Mills,NY
2k-Mike Button/Chittenango,NY
3-Laslow Hollyfeld/Weedsport,NY
3a-Fran Hilton/Waterloo,NY
3k-A.J. Kingsley/Fulton,NY
7x-Tom Flannigan/St.Catharines,ONT
8s-Justin Sharp/St.Catharines,ONT
11-Mike Mandigo/Wegatchie,NY
12x-Dan Sellen/Genoa,NY
17-Marcus Dinkins/Watkins Glen,NY
17t-Todd Town/Jordan,NY
19-Dave Yehl/Elmira,NY
19j-Tom Juhl/Weedsport,NY
20j-Tony Cowell/Woodstock,ONT
24-Brandon Sweet/Watertown,NY
26h-Luke Carleton/Port Colborne,ONT
38-Ryan Susice/Ransomville,NY
44-Russ Hefti/Elbridge,NY
62-Rick Bellante/St.Catharines,ONT
74-Matt Billings/Brockville,ONT
83x-Tim Sears Jr./Central Square,NY
84-Rick Quick/Scotia,NY
92-Adam Turner/Picton,ONT
LAP LEADERS: D'Ilario (1-7), Wight (8-9), D'Ilario (10-17), Henderson (18-48), Wight (49-50).
CAUTIONS: 7 (lap 8, lap 10, lap 11, lap 18, lap 32, lap 33, lap 49); 1 RED FLAG (lap 8).
SYRACUSE TOWN MECHANICAL 30 QUALIFIER: Larry Wight.
HOLLEY HARD LUCK: Todd Henderson.
QUALIFYING
Heat Races (10 laps, top 3 finishers transferred to feature, top 2 went to re-draw)
#1: Panunte, D’Ilario, Swarthout, Friesen, Quick, Sears, Knapp, Kingsley, McPherson.
#2: Wight, Bowman, Pitcher, Hile, Button, Lincoln, Hefti, Currier, Turner,.
#3: Wiesner, Wright, VanPelt, Pietrowicz, Susice, Hollyfeld, Dgien, Carleton, Smith (DNS).
#4: Giguere, MacTavish, Williamson, Raabe, Lawson, Bellante, Chevalier, Yehl, Towns, Sweet.
#5: Dixon, Reakes, Fultz, Bliss, Hilkert, Flannigan, Entwistle, Cowell, Hilton.
#6: Henderson, Prentice, Ortiz, Dinkins, Gray, Juhl, Sharp, Mandigo, Billings, Sellen.
Consolation Round (15 laps, top 3 finishers transferred to feature)
#1: Friesen, Knapp, Currier, Turner, Sears, Hile, Quick, Hefti, Bellante, Kingsley (DNS).
#2: Pietrowicz, Lawson, Chevalier, Lincoln, Towns, Carleton, Hollyfeld, Raabe, Susice, Dgien, Yehl, Sweet, Smith (DNS).
#3: Hilkert, Bliss, Gray, Juhl, Dinkins, Entwistle, Mandigo, Button, Billings, Sellen, Hilton, McPherson, Sharp, Flannigan, Cowell (DNS).
Guaranteed Starters: Lincoln, Hile, Entwistle, McPherson.
Provisionals: Lincoln, Hile, Entwistle, McPherson.
“Pepsi Twin 50 #2”: Street Stock Feature Results-
NATHAN PECKHAM, Dave Pope, Bobby Boynton, Rob Parker, Mike Wilbur Jr., Rich Sharpsteen, Deryl Krebs, Dave Bellis, Matt Jilson, Adam Ashcroft, Mike Schultz, Scott Smith, Terry Potrzebowski, Chris Fisher, Chris Force, Nicole Barzee, Jeff Bridge, Teddy Pierce, Dan Matthews, Dave Mannise, Dan Mazzarese, Frank Hyatt, Mike Dandino, Tracy Buchanan, Jared Hill, Jamie Gilbert, Mike Welch.
Lap Leaders- Mannise 1-3, Fisher 4-9, Peckham 10-18, Bridge 19-23, Peckham 24-50.
Heat Winners- Sharpsteen, Mannise, Krebs, Peckham.
Consolation Winners- Bellis, Matthews.
Did Not Qualify- Carl Shetler, Kevin Knapp, Mike Wilbur, Josh Parker, Blane Smith, Ken Hamm, Jamie Batzel, George Parker, Josh Turner.
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