PAT WARD SCORES RAIN SHORTENED BREWERTON MODIFIED VICTORY
Brewerton, NY…After Tony Buffa picked up the checkered flag in the ESDCA Dwarf Car Feature, sprinkles began to fall at Brewerton on Friday. The DIRT Modified feature made it to lap 28 before Mother Nature opened up and stopped the action, with Pat Ward getting his first Brewerton win of the year.
The IMCA feature will be made up this Friday before the night’s qualifying events, while the 4-Cylinder feature will be run as the first race event on September 1st. The Jetettes Women’s Racing feature will be run on September 8th.
There was trouble in the DIRT Modified feature before it even got started. Bob McCreadie suffered a broken lifter in the motor of the Kinney Drugs 9, and was unable to start the feature event. This was just another piece of Bob’s bad luck puzzle that is his 2000 Brewerton season.
Lance Petzoldt jumped out front at the drop of the green in the DIRT Modified feature, but Ronnie Johnson in the Coors Light 21 made a quick pass to take control on lap 2. Since Coors Light was one of the two main sponsors on the night, with the other being Magee Trailer Sales, it was appropriate that Johnson lead his first ever Brewerton feature laps.
Billy Decker ran second to Johnson with his New England Financial Services 91, with Petzoldt in third and making everyone who wanted to pass him earn the spot. A yellow flag was thrown on lap 6 when Mike Hulsizer slowed his 89, and drove to the pit area.
Chuck Hebing was hot with his Excel 45, and blasted his way to second on the restart. Lap 8 saw another quick yellow when Bill Moore’s 112 had problems in turn one, and Tim McCreadie also pitted at this time. McCreadie came back out right in front of the leaders, but slowed two laps later bringing out the race’s third yellow in the last four laps.
Johnson was still the leader, with Pat Ward now in hot pursuit. Hebing, Scott Prentice, and Decker rounded out the top five. Hebing’s car got out from underneath him, and he spun in turn one on the next lap, bunching the field again. Decker, Moore, Ryan Baye, and Petzoldt were all caught up behind Hebing and piled in gently. Only Decker was forced to the pits and out of the event.
Ward was on a mission, and on the restart he tossed his car underneath Johnson and picked off the lead. Johnson was running the high groove effectively early, but was now slowly beginning to fade. By the time Ward became the NGK Spark Plugs Halfway Leader on lap 18, the order read Ward, Prentice, Tim Fuller, Chuck Bower, and Alan Johnson, with Ronnie Johnson (no relation) having fallen to 6th.
Prentice began a furious attempt to chase down the leader, as the rain began to fall a little harder. Ward was in and out of traffic, and Prentice caught a break when Joel Thomas slowed on lap 22 and the yellow lights came on.
Ward was racing his Gypsum Wholesalers 56 for all it was worth, and now Prentice would be within striking distance. As track officials tried to fool Mother Nature, the green flag was waved and Prentice went to work on Ward. Bower had his Currier Plastics 99B up to third, with Fuller and Alan Johnson rounding out the top five.
As the leaders went down the back straightaway toward the completion of the 28th lap, Ward’s 56 clearly slid up the wet track and he bobbled, allowing Prentice to slither underneath. As the cars crossed the finish line, officials threw the yellow as the rain was now falling too rapidly to continue.
After much discussion, the race was called at that point and the win given to Ward. Officials reasoned that it was the extremely wet track conditions that caused Ward to lose control, and that the yellow was thrown for the rain and therefore scoring would be done by the previous lap’s running order.
Therefore, Ward finally had the Brewerton monkey off his back as he sat in victory lane, while a disappointed Prentice sat pitside and displayed a great deal of class as he accepted the officials’ decision without question. The final finishing order in the rain-shortened event was Ward, Prentice, Bower, Fuller, and Alan Johnson.
The ESDCA Dwarf Car feature began with the 2x of Troy Van Allen taking the early lead. Van Allen started near the front after having some bad luck in the past few weeks. Rob Garafolo ran second early, with Wayne Younglove, David Orr, and Pat Pontello in the top five.
Tony Buffa was moving through traffic quickly, and by lap four was in fourth. Van Allen’s bad luck would continue, as he lost a tire in turn four on lap 6 as the field came screaming underneath his slowing vehicle. In the mad scramble to miss the tire, Oly Johnson had nowhere to go but into it and his 76 became crippled right on the front straightaway. Both Buffa and Johnson were done for the night.
Pat Pontello got a terrific restart and moved into second behind new leader Buffa, who passed Wayne Younglove right at the drop of the green flag. Dan Boyce, last week’s feature winner, was mounting a serious charge from the rear after having to pit just prior to the green. He was in the top five by lap 8.
One lap later, however, Boyce’s run came to a sudden halt as contact with another car caused him to spin on the back straightaway. He would restart, but pitted on lap 13. Buffa pulled away from the field through the race’s middle stages, with Pontello hanging on to second. He and Wayne Younglove were putting on a show for second and third when they both went for the same groove at the same time and touched wheels. Pontello lost a couple of spots in the incident, but amazingly held on to a top five position.
Buffa was the easy victor, with Younglove finishing in second and Shawn Hort third. It was the season’s best run for both of them. Kenny Gamlen brought his 22x home in fourth, with Pontello ending up fifth. The NGK Spark Plugs Halfway Leader was Buffa.
The scheduled IMCA feature will be the first race on the Sam’s Lakeside sponsored August 25th racing card, which also will include DIRT Modifieds, IMCA Modifieds, ESDCA Dwarf Cars, and 4-Cylinders. The Junior Fan Club will have their pitside party as well, and that will feature an appearance by the Syracuse Crunch Mascot “Crunch Man” and the Crunch’s Slapshot Cage courtesy of Hubbard Racing. Gates will open at 5:30, with race time scheduled for 7:30 sharp. For more information, contact the speedway office at (315) 668-6906, or see them online at www.brewertonspeedway.com.
DIRT Modified feature finish: PAT WARD, Scott Prentice, Chuck Bower, Tim Fuller, Alan Johnson, Ron Johnson, Steve Babicek, Jim Gabriel Jr., Chuck Hebing, Ryan Baye (sb), Jeremie Corcoran, Jimmy Phelps, Chuck Akulis, Mike Hulsizer (sb), Lance Petzoldt (sb), Jim Burke, Bill Gill, Joel Thomas (sb), Billy Decker, John August (sb), Tim McCreadie. DNS: Bob McCreadie, Randy Storms, and Steve Hulsizer.
IMCA Modified feature finish: TO BE RUN ON AUGUST 25th.
ESDCA Dwarf Car feature finish: TONY BUFFA, Wayne Younglove, Shawn Hort, Ken Gamlen, Pat Pontello, Darren Forbes, Eric Crawford, Ed Lawton, Scott Nash, Bill Teliska, Steve Miller, Barry Virts, David Orr, Matt Magner, Lee Babcock, Nate Phelps, Dave Reales, Brenda Rice, Kreig Heroth, Bob McCarthy, Rob Garafolo, Dan Boyce, Troy Van Allen, and Oly Johnson.
4-CYLINDER feature finish: TO BE RUN ON SEPTEMBER 1st.
JETETTES feature finish: TO BE RUN ON SEPTEMBER 8th (points will count).