Sam’s Lakeside Brewerton Wins To Alan Johnson, Tony Buffa, Brian Evenden, and Bob Bradt; Battelle Snaps Lias and Bradt Win Streak in IMCA Rainout Feature
Brewerton, NY…Alan Johnson passed leader Bob McCreadie on a lap 13 restart and went on to victory in the Sam’s Lakeside 35-lap DIRT Modified feature at Brewerton Speedway Friday night. Other winners included Tony Buffa in the ESDCA Dwarf Car feature, Bob Bradt in the scheduled IMCA feature, Brian Evenden with his first ever win in the 4-Cylinder main, and Kevin Battelle with his first Brewerton win in the rained out IMCA feature from the previous week.
Mike Hulsizer led the first lap of the DIRT Modified feature before Scott Prentice spun his Benwood Auto 47 on lap 2. Billy Decker took the lead from Hulsizer on the restart, and Hulsizer hung on to second for the next 2 circuits before Bob McCreadie and Chuck Akulis went by.
Pat Ward was moving forward with the Gypsum Wholesaler 56, and by lap 9 was in third with Alan Johnson in the Mitsubishi 1 and Akulis in the 3J in tow. A yellow for the 29 of Lance Petzoldt on lap 11 put the Kinney Drugs 9 of McCreadie on Decker’s back bumper.
The ensuing restart found McCreadie taking the lead, but his son Tim would bring out another caution one lap later when his 94 ran into problems in turn four. After a quick pit stop for repairs, Tim returned to action without losing a lap.
Alan Johnson got a good jump on Bob McCreadie when the green came back out and took control of the lead. Steve Babicek didn’t give Johnson much time to enjoy it as he got tangled up with another car and came to a halt on the back straightaway and the yellow lights were on once again with 14 laps complete.
Scott Prentice was moving quickly through the field, and as Johnson became the NGK Spark Plugs Halfway Leader on lap 18, Prentice was running 6th. Johnson, Bob McCreadie, Ward, Decker, and Chuck Bower were the top five followed by Prentice.
The race went green the rest of the way, except for a quick yellow for debris on the track with 21 in the books. Bower and Prentice tried to fight their way through the top five, with Bower picking off Decker on lap 30, and Ward on lap 31 to take third. Prentice would not show in the top five until the last lap, when he made a tremendous move out of turn four in slower traffic to go from sixth to fourth at the line.
Alan Johnson took the win, Bob McCreadie was second, Bower was third, Prentice finished fourth, and Chuck Hebing in the Excel Communications 45 ended up fifth. Decker, Jim Gabriel Jr., Tim Fuller, Tim McCreadie, and Jimmy Phelps rounded out the top ten at the end of the 35-lap grind.
In the IMCA feature that was postponed from August 18th, Oswego’s Kevin Battelle led wire to wire to win his first IMCA feature ever at Brewerton Speedway, and become the first driver other than Sean Lias and Bob Bradt to visit IMCA victory lane at Brewerton this season.
Battelle took the lead right from the start in the IMCA rainout feature from the outside of the front row. Immediately, rookies Johnny Hill and Mike Adderley moved into second and third, with Jim House and Mike Chilson rounding out the top five through the first 10 laps.
Ken Klinkowsky brought the race to a halt on lap 13 when his motor caught fire and he parked the car on the front straightaway in the infield. The red flag was thrown, the track safety team did a quick and thorough job of putting the fire out and getting the 30K removed from the track, and the race went back to green. Klinkowsky was not injured.
Battelle opened up some distance when the race restarted, but the yellow flew again for Dane Keller as his machine stopped in turn 2. He was able to rejoin the race but had to go to the back of the field.
The 29 of Battelle was on a mission, and he had the benefit of having a lapped car between himself and the duo of Hill and Adderley, who ran second and third. John Bell brought out the race’s final yellow on lap 18 when he had something break on his 133, but that didn’t deter Battelle at all as he went on to a decisive victory.
At the checkers Battelle was one happy driver in picking up the win. Hill and Adderley had their best finishes of the year as well in second and third. Carmen Vona came home fourth with Mike Chilson finishing fifth. Sean Lias and Bob Bradt, the only two feature winners in the IMCA class at Brewerton going into this event, finished sixth and seventh, respectively. Battelle was the NGK Spark Plugs Halfway Leader.
The Dwarf Car feature found Troy Van Allen leading wire to wire. Bob Garafolo began the event in second, but Wayne Younglove had his 80 working well and took over the runner up spot on lap four. The only caution of the event took place when Lee Babcock ended up in the turn two wall with his 66 as the number 7 went up on the lap counter. Van Allen was leading, followed by Younglove, Garafolo, Pat Pontello, and the 2 of Tony Buffa.
As soon as the green flag was thrown for the restart, Buffa blasted from fifth to second. He spent the rest of the event trying everything he could to chase down Van Allen’s 2x, but it was to no avail. Van Allen scored the victory, followed by Buffa, Younglove, Ken Gamlen, and Ed Lawton. Having led from green to checker, Van Allen was the NGK Spark Plugs Halfway Leader.
Todd Williamson took the lead at the outset of the 20-lap 4-Cylinder feature event, but a quick yellow for a spinning Roy French also gave officials time to get the 33 of Jim Lalone to the pits with a reported bent wheel. Before another lap was complete, Kevan Cook stopped his car on the front straightaway and caution returned
Brian Evenden challenged Williamson for the lead on the restart, and took over the top spot on lap four. Evenden found Harvey Calkins Jr. in his brand new 9jr attempting to run him down over the rest of the event, but without a yellow flag to help him Calkins had to settle for a strong second place run.
At the stripe it was Evenden winning the first feature of his career, and celebrating in victory lane as each of his fellow competitors drove by and gave him the “thumbs up” in celebration of his accomplishment. Calkins put on a powerful performance for second, with Joe Briere working his way to third and Williamson falling to fourth at the end. Fifth went to Roger West, Sr. Evenden was the NGK Spark Plugs Halfway Leader.
The regularly scheduled IMCA feature got off to a rocky start as a jingle in turn one involved several cars. Rookie Mike Adderley, fresh off his third place run in the rained out feature earlier in the evening, took the lead on the restart and put a little bit of distance between himself and second place Jim House. House spun on lap four, leaving Johnny Hill, who was second in the earlier feature to try and challenge Adderley. Ron O’Neill, Bob Bradt, and Ken Klinkowsky filled the top five at this point.
Hill got shuffled a bit over the next couple of laps, and was in fourth when a three car tangle involving Bill Anderson Sr, Dane Keller, and Don Alvord resulted in damage to all of the cars and brought out a yellow flag. Adderley, a former Kart racer from Watertown, NY, would hold on to the lead through lap 10, becoming the NGK Spark Plugs Halfway Leader. As 11 went up on the lapboard, Bradt drove under the 22 out of turn two and took command.
A couple of minor spins slowed the field for short instances, but in the end it was Bradt maintaining the lead and taking his 7th win of the season at the “D-shaped dirt demon.” Sean Lias worked his way through traffic to take second, with Ron O’Neill beating out Adderley for third. Fifth went to the 30K of Ken Klinkowsky, who had suffered a small fire in the engine area of his car in the first IMCA feature. It was an nice recovery for Klinkowsky, as he ran very well in the second event.
The next race at Brewerton is Team Service night on Friday, September 1st. This is the final night of points racing, so four drivers will go home as champions of their respective divisions at the end of the features. Chuck Bower will look for his first Brewerton DIRT Modified track title, going in with a narrow lead over Alan Johnson in the Beachy Motorsports entry. Bob Bradt will try for his first IMCA Modified track championship, Tony Buffa has the Dwarf Car title in his sights, and Jim LaLone and Roger West were nip and tuck in the 4-Cylinder division.
DIRT Modifieds, IMCA Modifieds, ESDCA Dwarf Cars, and 4-Cylinders are all on the card along with the ever popular bus races. Gates will open at 5:30, with race time scheduled for 7:30. For more information, contact the Brewerton Speedway office at (315) 668-6906 or see them online at www.brewertonspeedway.com.
DIRT MODIFIEDS: ALAN JOHNSON, Bob McCreadie, Chuck Bower, Pat Ward, Scott Prentice, Chuck Bower, Billy Decker, Jim Gabriel Jr., Tim Fuller, Tim McCreadie, Jimmy Phelps, Chuck Akulis, Ryan Baye, Ron Johnson, Jeremie Corcoran, Mike Hulsizer, Lance Petzoldt, Joel Thomas, Jim Burke, Bill Gill, and Steve Babicek.
IMCA MODIFIEDS (from 8/18): KEVIN BATTELLE, Johnny Hill, Mike Adderley, Carmen Vona, Mike Chilson, Sean Lias, Bob Bradt, Les Hubbard, Ron O’Neill, Dick Weiland, John Matyjasik, Jim House, Bill Anderson, John Hickman, Jeff Cardinale, Jon Amidon, Colleen Finch, John Bell, Tony Finch, Dustin Geers, Dane Keller, Ken Klinkowsky, Scott Ziprich. DNS: Rob Chadduck.
IMCA MODIFIEDS (regular main): BOB BRADT, Sean Lias, Ron O’Neill, Mike Adderley, Ken Klinkowsky, Kevin Battelle, Johnny Hill, Dane Keller, John Matyjasik, Bill Anderson, Jr., Carmen Vona, Dick Weiland, Les Hubbard, Dustin Geers, Jeff Cardinale, Colleen Finch, Scott Ziprich, John Hickman, Ken Rogers, Doug McKane, Jon Amidon, Jim House, Tony Finch, Aaron Jacobs, Don Alvord, Bill Anderson, and Mike Chilson. DNS: John Bell.
ESDCA DWARF CARS: TROY VAN ALLEN, Tony Buffa, Wayne Younglove, Ken Gamlen, Ed Lawton, Scott Nash, Pat Pontello, Shawn Hort, Rob Garafolo, Oly Johnson, Bill Teliska, Carl Crawford Jr., Matt Magner, Steve Miller, David Orr, Eric Crawford, Nate Phelps, Dave Reales, Kreig Heroth, Bob McCarthy, Darren Forbes, Kelly Skinner, Lee Babcock, and Brenda Rice. DNS: Barry Virts, Joe Garafolo.
4-CYLINDERS: BRIAN EVENDEN, Harvey Calkins Jr., Joe Briere, Todd Williamson, Roger West, Dave Myrto, Mike Lewis, Tim Koch, Roy French, John West, Kevan Cook, Chris Bargabos, Jason Amidon, Nicholas Barr, Roger Olschewske, Steve Coit, Mike Humphrey, and Jim LaLone. DNS: Darrick Van Epps.