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Jimmy Phelps Returns to Form at Cayuga County Fair Speedway ; Town, Rizzo, and Werner Also Take Checkers
Weedsport, NY – June 23, 2008 – By Dan Kapuscinski, Cayuga County Fair Speedway PR and Promotions Coordinator
After taking the Cayuga County Fair Speedway track title in 2007, Jimmy Phelps had been winless at the Weedsport oval in 2008. That all changed Sunday night, as Phelps used the outside lane to breeze to victory in the Currier Plastics 35-lap DIRTcar Big-Block Modified main event. The victory was worth $1,500 and is recorded as Phelps’ 9th career win on the 3/8 oval.
“I have to thank all my crew and our sponsors,” said Phelps. “I hadn’t really given them much to cheer for early in the year, but we do tonight. We really needed this. The outside came in really well, and I kind of found it by accident. Everyone else was content to stay on the bottom, but we made it work around the outside tonight and it paid off.”
Opening night winner Matt Sheppard stormed through the field for a runner-up finish ahead of Steve Paine, Chad Homan, and Ryan Bartlett in the top five.
Todd Town picked up his first career win in the DIRTcar Sportsman Modified division in a duel to the finish over Kevin Ridley. Defending Street Stock champion Nick Rizzo again found victory lane on Sunday night, as did Bill Werner in the BattleKarz.
With Phelps, Rizzo, and Werner taking victories, three of the four defending track champions found victory lane Sunday evening. Only Jeremy Pitcher in the Sportsman ranks did not grab a checkered flag.
Shannon Whaley and Jason Potter started the Currier Plastics 35-lap DIRTcar Big-Block Modified main event from the front row, with Potter getting the edge into turn one. Heat race winner Rob Bellinger was on the move from the third spot, grabbing the lead from Potter on lap-6, only to have Potter regain the lead on the following circuit.
Potter would lead the field until lap-15 when the no. 91 of Chad Homan slipped passed Bellinger and Potter to gain the top spot. However, Homan would not last long out front as Matt Sheppard and Jimmy Phelps had charged through the field to second and third from the 7th and 8th row in the starting line-up.
Homan and Sheppard were running the middle to lower part of the Speedway , as Phelps began to march to the top side. On lap-18 Phelps used his experience and know how to put the no. 99J to the outside in turn four driving around both Sheppard and Homan for the lead. Phelps would be scored as the race leader on lap-19, and immediately began to check away from the field.
The race’s only caution flew on lap-25 for a stopped Vinnie Vitale in turn two. At the restart Phelps led Sheppard, Homan, Ryan Bartlett, and Steve Paine. When the race went back to green Phelps again left the field, but the man making the moves was Paine in the no. 7x.
Paine disposed of Bartlett on the restart, and then worked by Homan on lap-32 for the third spot. Meanwhile, Phelps and Sheppard were well ahead of the field, as Phelps cruised to his first win of the season and 9th career at Cayuga County .
Homan would hold on to the fourth spot ahead of Bartlett, Alan Johnson, Ryan Phelps, Larry Wight, Steve Hulsizer, and Justin Haers in the top ten.
So far the 2008 DIRTcar Sportsman Modified season had not been too kind to the driver of the TMI no. 17t, Todd Town. Town had rolled one car out of the park in the first turn, and had not quite been able to string together a top finish. But Sunday night Town started from the pole position, and lead all 25-laps erasing any doubt that the no. 17t is one of the fastest cars at the Speedway each and every week.
Town and Justin Wright started from row one, with Town making quick work of the no. 19w into turn one. Wright hung onto second for several laps until James Spano and Kevin Ridley began to slide through the field.
Spano took the runner-up position on lap-13, eventually bringing Ridley with him on the 16th circuit. While they were on the move, Town was well out front but quickly approaching lapped traffic.
With 5-laps to go Town was in heavy traffic which allowed both Spano and Ridley to close in. Ridley was able to work by Spano in traffic on lap-22, and set his sights on the top spot. A late race caution set up a one lap dash to the finish between Town and Ridley.
Town proved to be too much though, as he pulled away from Ridley to the line for his first career Sportsman Modified feature win.
“This has been a long time coming,” said Town. “I was in New York City early today, and wasn’t sure if I’d make it, we barely got here in time. I don’t know what else to say, this feels really good.”
Jeremy Pitcher made some late moves to come home third ahead of Spano, James Friesen, Wright, Tom Juhl, Dave Marcuccilli, Rob Richmond, and Tim Currier in the top ten.
One of the largest UMP Street Stock fields in recent memory at Cayuga County Fair Speedway saw 22 drivers take the green flag for the 20-lap main event. Dan Hoffman Sr. and Mike Vaughn brought the field to green, with Hoffman showing his muscle early on.
Nick Rizzo started 5th and by lap-4 was challenging for the race lead. On the 5th circuit Rizzo found his way by Hoffman for the top spot, which let the rest of the field know that they had better get moving.
Mike Welch and Bubba Burnell began to make quick work of the field, as they started well back in the field. Halfway through the event, Welch and Burnell had moved to 3rd and 4th and began to work the front two runners. For short time it looked as though either Welch or Burnell would have something for the top two spots, but Rizzo and Hoffman ran perfect racing lines out front.
When the checkered flag fell Rizzo led 15-laps on his way to victory over Hoffman, Burnell, Welch, and Rich Degroff.
The Pick-n-Pull Auto Parts BattleKarz 25-lap feature go was taken by Bill Werner in the new no. 63 machine. Werner took advantage of a late race tangle between Charlie Degroff and a lapped car to grab the top spot. Degroff would come home second ahead of Dave Nagldinger, James Werner, and Keith Keuer.
Next Sunday night Summit Auto and the Army National Guard present “Freedom Night” at Cayuga County Fair Speedway. A huge fireworks display will highlight the evening as the DIRTcar Big-Block Modifieds, Sportsman, UMP Street Stocks, BattleKarz, and the CNYMS Sprints take the green at 7pm.
Don’t forget Tuesday night June 24th the World of Outlaws Late Model Series heads to the Canandaigua Speedway for the very first time. Watch the best the Outlaws have to offer take on local Big-Block heroes Tim McCreadie, Vic Coffey, Tim Fuller, Billy Decker, and Danny Johnson at the Land of Legends . Reserved seats are still available for $27.
For more information on next week’s activities at the Cayuga County Fair Speedway call the DIRTcar NE Headquarters or visit www.cayugacountyfairspeedway.com.
Currier Plastics/T&K Lumber “Green Mamba Jet Car” Event Summary (6-22-08):
BattleKarz
Feature (25-laps): 1) 63- BILL WERNER, 2) 77- Charlie Degroff, 3) 24x- Dave Nagldinger, 4) 67- James Werner, 5) 5k- Keith Keuer, 6) 73- Les Baker, 7) k9p- Wally Dean, 8) 24- Karl Werner, 9) 9- Greg Large, 10) 1- Jeremy Werner, 11) 15- Dan Dennis, 12) 20L- Rich Tanner, 13) 47- Nick Werner, 14) 30PK- Josh Brooke, 15) 13- Barb Amadon, 16) 27x- Dave Guererri
UMP Street Stocks
Heat #1: Fisher, Hoffman Sr., Ellison, Peckham, Thomas, Hoffman Jr., Grant, Minutolo
Heat #2: Rizzo, Degroff, Burnell, Vaughn, Smith, Kowaleski, Guererri
Heat #3: Welch, Krebs, Alnutt, Woodworth, Thomas, Marvin, LaVare Jr., Rasbeck
Feature (20-laps): 1) 115- NICK RIZZO, 2) 57b- Bubba Burnell, 3) 71- Dan Hoffman Sr., 4) 00- Mike Welch, 5) 6- Rich Degroff, 6) 21a- Mark Alnutt, 7) 2- Steve Woodworth, 8) 8m- Harry Marvin III, 9) ws7- Ray Smith, 10) 37- Chris Fisher, 11) 17- Dan Hoffman Jr., 12) E4- Van Grant, 13) 11- Mike Vaughn, 14) 41- Daryl Krebs, 15) CJ1- Chris Guererri, 16) 6L- George LaVare Jr., 17) 31T- Bill Thomas, 18) 90- Nate Peckham, 19) 47- Pete Kowaleski, 20) 25- Marc Minutolo, 21) 00r- Mike Rasbeck, 22) 88x- Chuck Thomas, 23) 18- Wayne Ellison
Bud Light $25 Wheel of Fortune Bonus: 00- Mike Welch
DIRTcar Sportsman Modifieds
Heat #1: Town, Spano, Juhl, Friesen, Richmond Jr., Dinkins, Garrison, Behron, Wheeler
Heat #2: Ridley, Hilkert, Gray, Kingsley, Occhino, Hilton, Schneider, Hutchings
Heat #3: Marcuccilli, Pitcher, Currier, Entwistle, Hulsizer, Wright, Rudy
Feature (25-laps): 1) 17t- TODD TOWN, 2) 20x- Kevin Ridley, 3) 14- Jeremy Pitcher, 4) 1- James Spano, 5) 52- James Friesen, 6) 19w- Justin Wright, 7) 17d- Tom Juhl, 8) m1- Dave Marcuccilli, 9) 93- Rob Richmond Jr., 10) 10- Tim Currier, 11) 4- Daryl Hilkert, 12) 55- Matt Hulsizer, 13) 54x- Stewart Garrison, 14) 2m- John Behron, 15) m93- Mike Entwistle, 16) 11- Ben Wheeler, 17) 3- Fran Hilton, 18) 57s- Beth Schneider, 19) 3k- AJ Kingsley, 20) 29g- Steve Gray, 21) 84j- Claude Hutchings Jr., 22) 35- Jason Occhino, 23) 17- Marcus Dinkins
Currier Plastics $50 Wheel of Fortune Bonus: 17- Marcus Dinkins
DIRTcar Big-Block Modifieds
Heat #1 (6-qualify): Bellinger, Bowman, Paine, J. Phelps, Wight, Hulsizer, Haers, Vigneri, Mahaney
Heat #2: Pfeffer, R. Phelps, Homan, Whaley, Habeck, Rauscher, Tomkins, Vitale, Brownell Jr.
Heat #3: Sheppard, Dunn, Johnson, Podsiadlo, Bartlett, Potter, Ward, Fink
Consi (6-qualify): Haers, Vigneri, Fink, Ward, Mahaney, Vitale, Gary Tomkins, Jeff Brownell Jr.
Feature (35-laps): 1) 99J- JIMMY PHELPS, 2) 9s- Matt Sheppard, 3) 7x- Steve Paine, 4) 91- Chad Homan, 5) 93- Ryan Bartlett, 6) 14J- Alan Johnson, 7) 99- Ryan Phelps, 8) 99L- Larry Wight, 9) 88- Steve Hulsizer, 10) 3- Justin Haers, 11) 49- Billy Dunn, 12) 8- Rob Bellinger, 13) 44v- Phil Vigneri, 14) 44- Shannon Whaley, 15) 16- Mike Bowman, 16) 25- Paul Habeck, 17) 5- Jason Potter, 18) 29- Jeff Brownell Jr., 19) 48T- Dave Rauscher, 20) 33- Mike Mahaney, 21) 45m- Mike Ward, 22) 15- Matt Fink, 23) 56- Vinnie Vitale, 24) 21- Derrick Podsiadlo, 25) 79- John Pfeffer
Gypsum Wholesalers $100 Wheel of Fortune Bonus: 99J- Jimmy Phelps
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