ALAN JOHNSON PICKS UP THE MODIFIED WIN AT BREWERTON FRIDAY
BUFFA, LIAS, AND POWELCZYK ALSO PULL OFF VICTORIES
Brewerton, NY…Alan Johnson passed Bob McCreadie on the outside on lap 33 and went on to the victory on Pick N’ Pull Night at the Brewerton Speedway Friday. Other winners included Sean Lias, Tony Buffa, and Chuck Powelczyk.
Billy Gill took the early lead in the 35-lap DIRT Modified event and quickly put a little distance between himself and the battle for second, which consisted of the 88 of Steve Hulsizer and the 47 of Scott Prentice.
Moving from the back of the field in the early going were Bob McCreadie, Alan Johnson, and Billy Decker. By lap 11, McCreadie had worked his way into the top five with Johnson and Decker not far behind.
The race’s first yellow flew on lap 13, when McCreadie, who had just passed the 88 of Hulsizer on the outside, found himself into the side of the 45 of Chuck Hebing. Neither car stopped on the track, but Hebing’s car suffered damage on the driver’s side and he faded back out of the top ten by race’s end.
On the ensuing restart, Gill had the lead followed by Prentice, Hulsizer, Jimmy Phelps, and Alan Johnson. McCreadie still held sixth place, with Hebing, Jim Gabriel, Chuck Bower, and Tim McCreadie rounding out the top ten.
Phelps quickly showed his hand as the field went back to green and swept from fourth to second by diving down to the bottom of the track in turn two. McCreadie was still charging as well, and he shot from sixth place to be runner-up by lap 18.
Though Gill was the halfway leader, McCreadie was on a mission, putting his car underneath the 60 of Gill and out front as the lap counter turned to 19. Alan Johnson was now third, and was being followed by Phelps and Billy Decker.
The rest of the race would be run caution-free, and Johnson fought his way around Gill on lap 28, giving him just seven laps to catch McCreadie. It only took two, as McCreadie was in traffic and trying to maintain his advantage.
On lap 33, Johnson, after a couple of unsuccessful attempts to go by McCreadie on the bottom, decided to go to the top and powered around the 9 of McCreadie to take the lead. He held on for the final two circuits to put his Mitsubishi car into victory lane.
McCreadie was second, followed by Gill, Chuck Bower, and Decker. Phelps, Tim McCreadie, Gabriel, Tim Fuller in the M1, and Steve Hulsizer rounded out the top ten.
The IMCA Modifieds lined up for the Dean Hubbs Memorial event, and the 16 of Aaron Jacobs took the early lead. Bill Anderson Jr. followed behind him in second with Bill Anderson, Sr, John Bell, and Ron O’Neil rounding out the top five on the first lap.
Sean Lias was moving through the field quickly, and by lap 4 was up to fifth. The 133 of Bell took the lead as the field crossed the stripe for lap 6, and held it for just one circuit before O’Neil went to the head of the class with his 70.
The race was slowed several times through the middle laps by yellow flags, but Lias moved into second and began challenging O’Neil as Rob Keller was charging into the top three with his 21. When Scott Ziprich spun in turn two with just three laps left, it set up one final sprint to the finish in which Lias held off O’Neil and Keller for the checkered flag.
Lias took home the spoils of victory, but the night’s ceremonial winner was Dean Hubbs, for whom the race was dedicated. Hubbs was killed in IMCA Competition at Brewerton a few years back, and this event has been named in his honor ever since. His family was on hand for a special ceremony, and the pole position for the feature was left open in his honor.
O’Neil finished second, followed by Keller, John Bell, and Bob Bradt. Sixth through tenth were Carmen Vona, Bill Anderson Sr., Aaron Jacobs, Bill Anderson Jr., and Dane Keller.
The Dwarf Cars had three caution flags before lap five, but when they finally settled down Ed Lawton had his 17 out front. Ken Gamlen, Tony Buffa, Troy Van Allen, and Rob Garafolo rounded out the top five.
Gamlen passed Lawton to take control on lap 7, but just two laps later Van Allen won a round of musical chairs and was out front on lap 9. Gamlen, Lawton, Buffa, and the 1 of Scott Nash rounded out the top five at that point.
Buffa would pass Lawton to move into third on lap 15, and the deuces were wild up front as the 2x of Van Allen was leading the 22x of Gamlen and the 2 of Buffa when the yellow flag flew for debris on the track with four laps left in the 20 lap event.
The stage was set for final bonsai run to the checkers, and the action got a little too heavy on the final lap as Buffa and Gamlen came together while fighting for second and third. Buffa was shaken but otherwise ok, and Gamlen also escaped injury.
At the finish line it was Van Allen followed by Lawton, Carl Crawford, Barry Virts, and Scott Nash. Sixth through tenth were Wayne Younglove, Shawn Hort, Jay Reid, Steve Miller, and Joe Garafolo.
In the 4-Cylinder feature Mark Warner led the first four circuits before being overtaken by the 17 of Chuck Powelczyk. Warner would eventually be black flagged when officials found his machine to be over the decibel limit, apparently suffering from a faulty muffler.
Powelczyk led the rest of the distance, defeating Rick Angle, Jim LaLone, Roger West, and Harvey Calkins, Jr. for the victory. Sixth through tenth were Brian Evenden, Tim Koch, Dave Mirto, Jason Amidon, and Chris Bargabos.
Sportscaster Rob King from WTVH-5 TV in Syracuse was on hand for a special challenge race with IMCA driver Rob Keller. The special 5-lap event will be shown as part of King’s “I Challenge Rob” segment on his 6pm sportscast Tuesday, May 30.
The next race at Brewerton is Friday, June 2nd. Burdick Dodge will sponsor the night’s events, which feature the DIRT Modifieds, Dwarf Cars, IMCA Modifieds, and 4-Cylinders plus Bus Races. It is also poster night, so fans 14 and under are encouraged to draw posters of their favorite driver, and a panel of judges will award prizes for their three favorite choices.
Gates will open at 5:30 on Friday, June 2nd, with race time scheduled for 7:30. For more information, contact the speedway office at 315-668-6906, or find them online at www.brewertonspeedway.com.
MODIFIEDS – ALAN JOHNSON, Bob McCreadie, Bill Gill, Chuck Bower, Billy Decker, Jimmy Phelps, Tim McCreadie, Jim Gabriel Jr., Tim Fuller, Steve Hulsizer, Scott Prentice, Pat Ward, Ryan Baye, Chuck Hebing, Ron Holmes, Mike Hulsizer, Tim Clemens, Steve Babicek, Frank Doll, Bob Bennett, Jeremy Corcoran. NGK Spark Plugs Halfway leader – Billy Gill. Heat winners – Corcoran, Bower, Prentice.
IMCA – SEAN LIAS, Ron O’Neil, Rob Keller, John Bell, Bob Bradt, Carmen Vona, Bill Anderson Sr., Aaron Jacobs, Bill Anderson Jr., Dane Keller, Les Hubbard, Mike Chilson, George Valenti, Johnny Hill, Dick Weiland, John Matyjasik, Don Alvord, Colleen Finch, Jeff Cardinale, Tony Finch, Scott Ziprich, Kevin Battelle, Jon Amidon, Doug McKane, John Conway. NGK Spark Plugs Halfway Leader – Ron O’Neil. Heat winners – O’Neil, Lias, Bell.
DWARF – TROY VAN ALLEN, Ed Lawton, Carl Crawford, Barry Virts, Scott Nash, Wayne Younglove, Shawn Hort, Jay Reid, Steve Miller, Joe Garafolo, Tony Buffa, Ken Gamlen, Mark Weigelt, David Orr, Dave Reals, Bob Magner, Lee Babcock, Rob Garafolo, Tod Simons, Pat Pontello, Bill Teliska, Eric Crawford, Dan Boyce, Nate Phelps, Dennis Johnson, Darren Forbes. NGK Spark Plugs Halfway Leader – Troy Van Allen. Heat Winners – Simons, Pontello, Gamlen.
4-Cylinders – CHUCK POWELCZYK, Rick Angle, Jim LaLone, Roger West Sr., Harvey Caulkins, Jr., Brian Evenden, Tim Koch, Dave Mirto, Jason Amidon, Chris Bargabos, Mike Lewis, Brett Hubbard, Jim Olin, Ray Chittenden, Russ Cusson, Kevan Cook, Keith Coit, Bob Whipple, Mark Warner, Joe Green, John West. NGK Spark Plugs Halfway Leader – Chuck Powelczyk. Heat winners – Warner, LaLone, Angle.