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DALE PLANCK DESTROYS FIELD AT MERRITTVILLE SPEEDWAY DIRTCAR 358 MODIFIED SERIES EVENT
BY DAVE ROBERTS
THOROLD, ONT - Dale Planck has been a hot commodity on the local DIRTcar ovals for the past twenty seasons and has proven that he's one of the best in the northeast region. Last Saturday night's Mr. DIRTcar 358 Modified Championship Series event at Merrittville Speedway left few to argue that Planck is of superstar status. On this particular night, you might go as far to say he was even better than that.
Planck, of Cortland, NY, led every circuit of the scheduled Barons Roofing Windows and Doors "Spring Sizzler 100" and lapped every car with the exception of second place finisher Danny O'Brien of Kingston, Ont and O'Brien might've been a casualty as well if Planck might've had a few more laps. Planck finished 15.243 seconds faster than O'Brien when they crossed the finish line.
Planck was later found with an illegal part in his carburetor during post race inspection. He was fined $1000 and by the bylaws of the DIRTcar rulebook was able to keep the victory. Both DIRTcar Competition Director Cord Reed and Merrittville Speedway co-promoter Pete Bicknell said that incident gave Planck anymore of an advantage.
Planck was casual when interviewed following the event."I didn't even know I'd lapped that many cars," said Planck who picked up his second victory of the season. His first was a DIRTcar Modified victory at Volusia (FL) Speedway Park during February Speedweeks. "I knew that this car was fast when we started the feature but I didn't think that it was going to be this fast. It just might've been the best car I've ever driven."
Ironically, Planck wasn't even expecting to drive in the 2008 Mr. DIRTcar 358 Modified opener. He expected to come along for the four hour ride up to Merrittville to help in the effort of teammate Carey Terrance. However when he got to the garage on Saturday morning to pick up his ride to Thorold, he learned that he was going to be on the track as well.
"I didn't think the car was ready to go. I was surprized when I was scheduled to race. I'm sure glad I did."
Just one caution interruped the event and that was on lap eight when Merrittville regulars Travis Brawn and Tommy Flannigan were turned around in the wrong direction high up on turn two. Lance Willix II of Theresa, NY was on the pole with Planck sharing the front row from the outside position. The event lasted just 32 minutes as lapped cars pretty much stayed out of the way until the final couple of laps.
Right from the drop of the green, it was Planck with the quick way around the Merrittville oval. By the time lap 60 rolled around, Planck had lapped everyone but the top three drivers. On lap 65, it was just Planck and O'Brien on the same lap but O'Brien needed a miracle to catch the veteran Planck.
"I felt the car getting real loose with about 30 laps to go," said O'Brien of his second place finish. "Dale (Planck) was tough tonight but well take the second place finish and go home."
O'Brien picked up the evening's ride from Merrittville Speedway regular Todd Kendrick after O'Brien's motor was still at the shop getting freshened up. O'Brien finished third in overall 2007 DIRTcar 358 Modified points but claims that he'll do a race by race schedule in 2008 as long as the money holds out.
"I was hoping that we had made the right changes tonight after the heat races. Tonight, this car just drove itself," said Planck.
Planck biggest worry of the night was lapped cars. The longer the race went green, the chances of getting latched onto a lapped car was possible.
He had a couple of incidents throughout the night that certainly made him think that going the entire distance without incident wasn't possible. On lap 87, Planck got sideways on the track trying to elude a lapped car and was able to straighen it out but many onlookers felt that he was ready to turn it around. As the field completed lap 97, Planck went low into turn one and was squeezed down against the fence. It was then that he thought he was not going to make it.
"I thought it was all over then. I didn't think I was going to get out of that. There wa a lot of lapped traffic out there tonight. I was trying to look out for everything and tried to stay as low as I could. It just seemed like everyone was everywhere tonight," said Planck.
Probably the best race of the night was for third. It looked like Allanburg driver Ken Cosgrove was going to be the reciepant of the podium finish. In the late stages of the event, Chad Brachmann of Wheatfield, NY; Todd Burley of Spencerport, NY and Merrittville Speedway co-owner Pete Bicknell came into the picture. Both Brachmann and Bicknell held the third place spot as the laps winded down. Brachmann would take the position at the checkered flag followed by Burley, who started 27th and Bicknell, who began the event in 17th position.
"This was a good night for us but I could see that Dale (Planck) was in a different zip code," said Brachmann. "Our car probably could've been a little better but we left here with the car in one piece."
"You really got to give Merrittville Speedway credit," adds Brachmann. "Running a race like this so early in the season is challenging. It looked like it went very well."
Rounding out the top ten was Cosgrove, Rick Richner of Niagara Falls, NY; Larry Lampman Jr of Port Colborne, Ont; Chris Steele of Fenwick, Ont and Scott Wood of Thorold.
Heat winners were Willix; Dan Miller of St. Catharines; Planck and Richner. The consolation events were won by David Hebert of St. Damase, QUE and Travis Cunningham of Grimsby, ONT.
Planck also won the Bicknell Racing Products Award as well as the Syracuse ITT/Goulds Pumps 150 Qualifier. The Bert Hard Charger award was Todd Burley.
Defending Mr. DIRTcar 358 Modified champion Mario Clair picked up the Holley Hard Luck Award as the St-Edmund, QUE driver finished 20th.\par
A total of 38 cars attempted to qualify for the event.
The next Mr. DIRTcar 358 Modified Championship event will be on Friday, August 1st at Ransomville (NY) Speedway.
In the 40 lap Original Pizza Logs DIRTcar Sportsman feature, Mike Bowman overcame a 21st starting position to win his first of the 2008 season. Mat Williamson was second followed by James Friesen in third place. Rounding out the top five was Rob Knapp and Tyler MacPherson. All top five drivers are from St. Catharines. The event took better than 45 minutes to complete as twelve caution periods interrupted the proceedings, Heat winners were Ryan Susice of Ransomville, NY along with Brad Rouse and Justin Sharp, both of St. Catharines.
In the 25 lap Hoosier Stocks feature, Dolf McCready of St. Catharines was the winner followed by Rob Murray, also of St. Catharines. Rounding out the top five was Jeff Dayman of Welland followed by Cody MacPherson and Mike Dooley, both of St. Catharines. Heat winners were McCready, Dayman and Kirk Wilson of Port Robinson, Ont.
MERRITTVILLE NOTES: Despite a cool night and rains coming throughout the region earlier in the day, a good crowd was on hand for the 57th season opener...The 38 DIRTcar 358 Modifieds were joined in with 29 DIRTcar Original Pizza Logs Sportsman and 22 Hoosier Stocks. Merrittville will have a five division program this Saturday beginning at 7pm sharp...The night's sponsor, Baron Roofing Windows and Doors, put an additional $2300 in bonus money into the three division program. Dale Planck took home $4500 while both Bowman and McCready cashed out at the end of the night with nearly $1000...The modified event was similar to the 2007 Advance Auto Parts Super DIRTcar Modified Series event at Merrittville where Danny Johnson was the dominate winner and just one caution period was placed in the books
Mr. DIRTcar 358-Modified Championship Series Race #1 – Merrittville Speedway, April 26, 2008 Baron Roofing Windows and Doors ‘Spring Sizzler 100’ Event Summary
FIN STR CAR# DRIVER
1 2 66 Dale Planck/Cortland,NY ($4,500)
2 6 55 Danny O'Brien/Kingston,ONT
3 13 3b Chad Brachmann/Sanborn,NY
4 27 5 Todd Burley/Spencerport,NY
5 17 42 Pete Bicknell/St.Catharines,ONT
6 7 9 Ken Cosgrove/Allanburg,ONT
7 10 26 Rick Richner/Niagara Falls,NY
8 *14 23L Larry Lampman,Jr./Port Colborne,ONT
9 5 80 Chris Steele/Fenwick,ONT
10 23 38 Scott Wood/Thorold,ONT
11 3 28 Scott Kerwin/Newfane,NY
12 20 37 Kyle Jacobs/Hogansburg,NY
13 21 1h David Hebert/St. Damase,QUE
14 9 15j Tim Jones/Sanborn,NY
15 29 99 Larry Wight/Phoenix,NY
16 4 00 Boyd MacTavish/Ransomville,NY
17 8 56 Dereck Lemyre/Hamilton,ONT
18 24 66x Carey Terrance/Akwesasne,NY
19 1 16 Lance Willix II/Theresa,NY
20 26 22c Mario Clair/St-Edmond,QUE
21 25 111 Kevin Wills/Ransomville,NY
22 11 26g Scott George/Wilson,NY
23 31 9s Mark Smoke/Akwesasne,NY
24 15 23 Laurent Ladouceur/Alexandria,ONT
25 28 22e Eric Gauvreau/Chelsea,QUE
26 19 108 Bill Bleich/Port Robinson,ONT
27 32 1f Fred Carleton/Niagara-o-t-Lake,ONT
28 16 123 Robbie Krull/Cambria,NY
29 18 5jr. Travis Braun/Jordan Station,ONT
30 30 72 Tommy Flannigan/St.Catharines,ONT
31 22 91 Travis Cunningham/Grimsby,ONT
DNS 12 22 Dan Miller/St.Catharines,ONT
EVENT SUMMARY:
GATER NEWS LAP LEADER: Planck (1-100).
CAUTIONS: 1 (lap 9).
HEAT WINNERS: Willix, Miller, Planck, Richner.
CONSI WINNERS: Hebert, Cunningham.
BICKNELL RACING PRODUCTS WINNER AWARD: Dale Planck.
SYRACUSE ITT/GOULDS PUMPS 150 QUALIFIER: Dale Planck.
HALFWAY LEADER: Dale Planck.
BERT HARD CHARGER: Todd Burley.
HOLLEY HARD LUCK: Mario Clair.
PENSKE POWER POSITION (10th): Scott Wood.
TOTAL PURSE: $20,450.
CARS ENTERED: 38.
NEXT EVENT: Ransomville Speedway - August 1, 2008.
DID NOT QUALIFY(7)
1-Todd Gordon/St.Catharines,ONT
1f-Fred Carleton/Niagara-o-t-Lake,ONT
1p-Darren Peters/Ft. Erie,ONT
16w-Derek Wutzke/Fenwick,ONT
31-George Bosse/St.Catharines,ONT
37s-Andrew Sittler/St.Catharines,ONT
44-Brian Stevens/St.Catharines,ONT
QUALIFYING
Heat Races (10 laps, top 5 finishers transferred to feature, top 3 went to re-draw)
#1: Willix, MacTavish, Cosgrove, Brachmann, Bicknell, Wood, Wills, Hebert, Bosse, Carleton.
#2: Miller, Jones, Steele, Lampman, Braun, Wight, Peters, Gordon, Burley.
#3: Planck, Lemyre, Kerwin, Ladouceur, Bleich, Gauvreau, Clair, Terrance, Sittler.
#4: Richner, O’Brien, George, Krull, Jacobs, Cunningham, Stevens, Smoke, Wutzke, Flannigan.
Consolation Round (10 laps, top 5 finishers transferred to feature)
#1: Hebert, Wood, Wills, Burley, Wight, Carleton, Gordon, Peters, Bosse.
#2: Cunningham, Terrance, Clair, Gauvreau, Flannigan, Smoke, Sittler, Wutzke, Stevens.
Provisional: Smoke.
Added: Carleton.
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