EXIDE BATTERY FEATURES GO TO BILLY DECKER, BOB BRADT, JOHN WEST, AND PAT PONTELLO
Brewerton, NY…The sun finally smiled at the Brewerton Speedway Friday, and so did Billy Decker Bob Bradt, John West, and Pat Pontello as they were the four lucky feature winners of the Exide Batteries opening night feature events.
Scott Prentice and Alan Johnson led the DIRT Modified field down for the start of their 35-lap feature, with Prentice getting the early advantage. Bob McCreadie, starting from the fifth position, made short work of the cars in front of him and by lap five had taken the top spot with a sweeping outside to inside move off turn two.
With McCreadie now out front, the battle for second was heating up between Alan Johnson, Prentice, and Tim Fuller in the M1. Prentice was fighting a handling problem, and his 47 began to fade as the race neared its halfway point.
Several cautions slowed the pace in the early going, but McCreadie kept his Kinney Drugs 9 at the point until lap 17. As he exited turn four, his front end brushed against the inside catch tire and spun, giving the lead to defending points champion Billy Decker. Decker had charged from his 16th starting spot to take control before the race was half over.
Running second when the green flag flew for the restart was Johnson in the Mitsubishi 1, with Fuller, Tim McCreadie, and Chuck Bower rounding out the top five. On the move was Jimmy Phelps, as he was charging from deep in the field and was challenging Bower for fifth.
Bob McCreadie was methodically slicing his way back toward the front with the race winding down to the ten-to-go mark, but he ran into misfortune again with that same catch tire on lap 26 and his race ended early. Decker was well in command, with Johnson and Fuller keeping the fans on the edge of their seats in a battle for second and third.
Fuller finally asserted his position with one lap to go and settled into the runner-up spot as Decker claimed the first Modified checkered flag of the year at Brewerton. Alan Johnson finished third followed by Tim McCreadie and Ron Holmes. Sixth through tenth were Jimmy Phelps, Pat Ward, Chuck Bower, Chuck Hebing, and Scott Prentice. A strong showing of 28 Modifieds were on hand for the inaugural run of the season. Heat winners included Prentice, Johnson, and Fuller.
The ESDCA Dwarf Car feature started with Eddie Lawton taking the lead with his 17. Dan Boyce was on the move early, but his early run came to a halt when he suffered the first of two spins on lap three to bring out the yellow. Tony Buffa was in third at this point with Jay Reid and Dennis “Oly” Johnson rounding out the top five.
As the race progressed, a battle developed between Lawton and the 7 of Pat Pontello. The two battled side by side for much of the race and banged wheels a few times before Pontello finally grabbed the lead with four laps to go in the 20-lap feature.
At the checkers it was Pontello dodging slower cars to claim victory with Lawton finishing second. Oly Johnson ran a strong race to finish third followed by Scott Nash and the 80 of Wayne Younglove. A total of 22 Dwarf Cars were in attendance for the season opening event, with heats being won by Lawton, Buffa, and Pontello.
The IMCA Modified division began their season with a good mixture of familiar faces and rookies competing for the first time in the division. Bob Bradt, a veteran Street Stock racer who moved into the IMCA division several years ago, had finished second more than once but never tasted the fruits of victory in the IMCA class at the “D-Shaped DIRT Demon”.
Bradt would not be denied any longer, however, and held off a flying George Catanzano to get the proverbial monkey off his back and put himself in victory lane. It was an emotional win for Bradt, who dedicated his victory to the late John “Pops” Michaels. Michaels, a former racer and car owner and a good friend of Bradt’s, passed away last month at the age of 57.
Catanzano finished second followed by Randy Hall, Carmen Vona, and Rob Keller. There were 29 IMCA Modifieds attempted to qualify, with heat wins going to Keller, Ron O’Neil, and Randy Hall.
Rick Angle jumped out front as the 4-Cylinders took the green in the nightcap. Darik Van Epps had his 9 car in top form, and began to challenge the leader as John West watched closely from the third spot.
It appeared that nobody could stop Angle from holding the checkered flag, but an incident in the race’s closing laps left him sitting off the track as West took the lead and the victory. Second went to Van Epps, with Brian Evenden finishing third in a fine showing. Fourth went to Dave Myrto with Brett Hubbard rounding out the top five. Heats went to Jim LaLone, Chuck Powelczyk, and Angle, with 21 cars filing entries in this class for the night’s racing.
Next Week Brewerton plays host to a regular program of DIRT Modifieds, IMCA Modifieds, Dwarf Cars, and 4-Cylinders, with one-on-one spectator races filling out the evening’s card. Gates open at 5:30 with racing set for 7:30.
For more information call the speedway office at (315) 668-6906, or access the speedway web site at www.brewertonspeedway.com.
MODIFIED Finish: BILLY DECKER, Tim Fuller, Alan Johnson, Tim McCreadie, Ron Holmes (sb), Jim Phelps, Pat Ward, Chuck Bower, Chuck Hebing, Scott Prentice, Ryan Baye (sb), Roy Shields (sb), Jeremie Corcoran, Mike Hulsizer (sb), Ryan Bartlett (sb), Bob McCreadie, Roger Phelps (sb), Steve Hulsizer (sb), Jack Johnson, Joe August (sb), Steve Babcock, Jim Gabriel, Bob Bennett (sb), Jim Burke. DNS: Billy Gill. DNQ: John August (sb), Tim Clemons, Tim Vincent (sb).
IMCA Finish: BOB BRADT, George Catanzano, Randy Hall, Carmen Vona, Rob Keller, Cory Fachini, Johnny Hill, Richard Michael Jr., Dick Weiland, Dane Keller, Don Alvord, Doug McKane, John Conway, Jim House, Tony Finch, Bill Anderson, Johnny Bell, Les Hubbard, Sean Lias, Bill Anderson Jr., Ron O’Neil, Brent Matzel, Aaron Jacobs, Ken Klinkowsky. DNQ: Colleen Finch, John Matyjasik, Scott Ziprich, Jeff Cardinale, Jon Amidon, Kenny Rogers, and Dustin Geers.
DWARF Car Finish: PAT PONTELLO, Ed Lawton, Dennis “Oly” Johnson, Scott Nash, Wayne Younglove, Barry Virts, Dan Boyce, Darren Forbes, Nate Phelps, Bob Garafolo, Shawn Hort, Steve Miller, Dave Reals, Josh Peter, Bob Magner, Jay Reid, Tony Buffa, Bob McCarthy, Lee Babcock, Ken Gamlen. DNS: Brenda Rice, Brandon Phelps.
FOUR CYLINDER Finish: JOHN WEST, Darik Van Epps, Brian Evenden, Dave Myrto, Brett Hubbard, Harvey Calkins, Jim Lalone, Chris Bargabus, Roger West, Joe Bribre, Nicholas Barr, Walt Van Epps, Rick Angle, Jason Amidon, Todd Williamson, Steve Coit, Tim Koch, Chuck Powelczyk, Channie Joyner, Mark Warner, Rob Whipple. DNS: Mike Humphrey.