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HOLLAND, GREEN, AND TRIPP CLAIM FEATURE WINS ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT AT FIVE MILE POINT
BY JR KENNERUP ( FOR FIVE MILE POINT SPEEDWAY )
Kirkwood, NY … The first midweek racing action of the season took place at the Five Mile Point Speedway Wednesday night. The action packed three division show featured Justin Holland winning the 40 lap Race of Champions Dart Dirt Sportsman Tour event. While Butch Green won the 30 lap Race of Champions Dart Dirt Pure Stock Tour event and Matt Tripp won the 25 lap Lightning Cat Open.
The evening of racing was sponsored by Tracey Road Equipment and French’s / Interstate Auto Parts.
HOLLAND REBOUNDS FROM MELTDOWN
Just four days prior Justin Holland of White Lake, NY was the Five Mile Point Speedway Sportsman point leader. But following a mental meltdown on the previous Saturday night which cost Holland the point lead, a hefty fine, and a week’s vacation. Justin rebounded nicely on Wednesday night as he used his pole starting position to lead all 40 laps to win the second race in the Race of Champions Dart Dirt Sportsman Tour.
By no means was it a cake walk win for Holland who first had to hold off Jamie Batzel and a last lap turns one and two charge of current Race of Champions Dart Dirt Sportsman Tour point leader Matt Janczuk to secure the $1,000 win. Brad Alger started 12th and ended up third with Nick Rochinski finishing fourth and Jeff Leslie in fifth.
The 40 lap feature saw the top 12 starting positions redrawn by the upfront heat race finishers. This placed Justin Holland and Steve Yankowski on the front row and when the green flew to start the 40 lap feature Holland jumped into the lead. He was followed by Jamie Batzel, Frank Doty, Les Gillette, and Yankowski.
Holland was immediately challenged for the lead by Batzel, who won the previous Saturday night feature. With many eyes watching the battle for the lead 12th place starting Alger was making his move to the front as he entered fifth at the half way point.
Just before a restart on lap 27 the great run of Batzel ended as he encountered a right front flat after making contact with a lap car on the previous lap. This put Matt Janczuk and Alger right on the back bumper of Holland. Two more yellows would bunch the field up before the final five laps were run under green.
Over the final five laps it became clear that the win was going to come down to two cars, Holland and Janczuk. Janczuk was able to get underneath Holland coming out of turn four on laps 37, 38, and 39. Finally just after receiving the white flag signifying the final lap of the race Janczuk make his car stick in the bottom groove entering turns one and two. With the front two leaders now even exiting turn two a fight to the finish was going to take place and entering turn three Holland was able to open up a small advantage. Coming down to the checkers Holland was able to win by one car length over Janczuk.
Qualifying action for the 28 cars saw heat wins go to Alger, Leslie, Mike Loney, and Rochinski while Shawn Walker won the B Main.
In victory lane Holland commented on what took place four days prior. “ I made a mistake; I accept the fine, and penalty of missing one race. I apologize to the fans for my actions from Saturday night. It was totally unprofessional on my part. “
Holland continued on about the race tonight. “ I protected the line tonight. I saw Jamie under me a few times, I don’t know what happened to him and then on that last lap Matt got under me and I knew I had to get to the bottom before we got into turn three if I wanted to win this race. “
BUTCH GETS THE BETTER OF TWIN BROTHER RICH IN A GREEN FAMILY SHOWDOWN
Race number two in the Race of Champions Dart Dirt Pure Stock Tour basically came down to a race between twin brothers Butch and Rich Green. The Maine, NY racers commonly go through this battle for a feature win several times during the racing season.
On this night in the 30 lap feature fifth starting Butch got to the front first as he passed Five Mile Point Pure Stock kingpin Charlie Gilbert on lap 11. Rich who started seventh got into second past Gilbert with eight laps to go. But Rich didn’t have enough time to catch his high flying brother for the win. Gilbert slipped back to third with Shane Wolf in fourth and Norman Whittemore ending up fifth.
By the luck of the feature re draw Charlie Gilbert and Norman Whittemore brought the field to green. Gilbert the multi time track champion jumped out to the lead with an early race rash of yellow fever causing the elimination of several top runners.
Once the division got down to racing Gilbert was still in control as he was holding off Jason Rhodes. But following a lap nine restart Butch Green found the outside to his liking and he set sail for the leading duo.
In one swoop Butch Green disposed of Rhodes and Gilbert to go from third to first and take control of the race. However Butch still had one final challenger for the win and it was his twin brother.
The last 15 laps of the feature Rich Green had the fastest car as he literally came out of the middle of the pack to become a contender for the win. Rich got into second with eight laps to go and with no cautions to help his cause he ran out of laps in trying to catch his brother for the win.
Qualifying for the 31 car field saw heat wins go to Eddie McKernan, Mike Wilbur, Gene Sharpsteen, and Rich Green. The C Main was won by Eric Beach while the B Main was won by Louie Gordiner.
TRIPP GETS THE BEST OF TOUGH LIGHTNING CAT FIELD
Second generation driver Matt Tripp of Cortland, NY invaded Five Mile Point on Wednesday night and came away with the hard earned win in the 25 lap Lightning Cat Open. Tripp who started tenth took the lead on ten from Bobby Edwards and basically put it on cruise control from there to claim his first win at Five Mile Point this year. Edwards settled for second with Mark Andrus driving the second Brigham entry to a third place finish. Jeff Hayes ended up fourth with Andy Brigham racing his new car to a fifth place finish.
Bobby Edwards jumped out to the lead at the drop of the green to start the 25 lap feature. The Kirkwood Comet, Cody Decker made his presence known early in the race as he moved from sixth to second in just four laps. Decker’s strong run would end with ignition problems hampering his efforts for the remainder of the race.
Invader Nick Greist would pass Edwards for the lead on lap six only to lose it under yellow when he developed a left rear flat tire ending his race.
Edwards inherited the lead once again but this time he only held on to it for three more laps as Matt Tripp took the lead on lap ten. After the pass for the lead Tripp just simply drove away from the field to record the feature win.
Qualifying for the 22 car field saw heat wins go to Edwards and Decker.
The Race of Champions Dart Dirt Sportsman and Pure Stock Tours are sponsored by; Dart Machinery, Sunoco Race Fuels, American Racer Tires, PBM Performance Products, Total Seal Piston Rings, Dura –Bond, Competition Engineering by Moroso, Dynatech, Xceldyne, Afco, CV Products, and LA Sleeve.
COUNTER POINTS; The racing action was second to none all night long as all drivers used all available grooves for racing. Track owner and promoter Andrew Harpell decided to add the three Sportsman drivers who failed to qualify from the consi as a way in saying thank you for coming and supporting the show. All weekly Five Mile Point Sportsman racers received a 25 point bonus for showing up to race on this night. Holland was allowed to compete due to this show being a Tour race and not a weekly point show. Holland received no points from the Saturday before and from tonight and will miss one more point show along with paying a hefty fine for his actions. The Pure Stock had a C Main added due to four drivers who parked on the back straight unable to make it out for their consi on time. James Michael Friesen became the fourth member of this family to race in the history of Five Mile Point joining Stanley, Jamie, and Stewart. Passing honors in the Sportsman feature belonged to Joey Colsten who finished seventh after starting 17th. Meanwhile Louie Gordiner came from 21st to seventh in the Pure Stock feature. The strong run of Mike Loney ended in the Sportsman feature as he got caught up with a spinning Les Gillette with 15 laps to go. Ryan Stortini and James Michael Friesen both qualified through their respective heat race only to be disqualified in post race tech inspection due to a tire rule infraction. The opening lap Pure Stock feature melee curtailed the potential strong runs of Mike Wilbur, Gene Sharpsteen, Mike Coddington, Eddie McKernan, and Joe Rafferty, Jr.
RoC SPORTSMAN FINISH; Justin Holland, Matt Janczuk, Brad Alger, Nick Rochinski, Jeff Leslie, Jeremy Vunk, Joey Colsten, Mike Nagel, Jr., Jeff Crambo, Brian Puckett, Paul Rooney, Butch Klinger, Shawn Walker, James Michael Friesen, Les Gillette, Charlie Hendrickson, Jr., Ben Bushaw, Ryan Stortini, Mike Loney, Damien Reynolds, Frank Doty, Jamie Batzel, Steve Yankowski, Grant Hilfinger, Brian White, Mike Austin, Skip Pickwick. DNS; Chris Wood.
RoC PURE STOCK FINISH; Butch Green, Rich Green, Charlie Gilbert, Shane Wolf, Norman Whittemore, Earl Zimmer, Louie Gordiner, Jason Rhodes, Gene Sharpsteen, Jim Ortiz, Toby Lehr, Rich Talada, Harry Marvin, III, Eric Beach, Randy Marsh, Jonathon Carpenter, Eddie McKernan, Ray Lindquist, Tyler Yeagle, Mike Morse, Nick Robinson, Mike Coddington, Joe Rafferty, Jr., David Conklin, Jr., Mike Wilbur, Cory Bond. DNQ’S; Rob Snow, Herb Penny, Derrick Tarbox, Rich Sharpsteen, and Derrick Birdsall.
LIGHTNING CAT FINISH; Matt Tripp, Bobby Edwards, Mark Andrus, Jeff Hayes, Andy Brigham, Dave Simms, Josh Wilder, Tim Price, Dan Burnett, Dan Wood, Donald Doster, Jr., Jason Colwell, Dennis Keesler, Matt Dorvanda, Shawn Colwell, Cody Decker, Scott Watson, Travis Hayes, Nick Greist, Gary Kinnie, Kaye Brigham. DNS; Todd Stanton.
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