Robbie Krull Erases Demons With Dominating Win at Merrittville
(By Dave Sully)
(Photo by Monique's)
THOROLD, ON — Modified driver Robbie Krull has had more disappointments than most drivers this year, losing several races in the late stages that looked like sure wins, including last week when he had a tire go down with two laps to go in a race that he was leading by a wide margin. He finally reversed that trend on Saturday night, August 14th at Merrittville Speedway, thoroughly dominating a strong field of modifieds in the latter stages of the 35 lap feature to record his second win of the season. Krull, from Wheatfield, NY, who lost two races with a faulty coil earlier in the year, wrested the lead from Scott Wood from St Catharines on lap 24, capitalizing on lapped traffic, and then drove away to a straightaway victory in the caution free event.
Paul Ashton took the lead at the outset, outgunning Ken Winfield to the first turn from the outside pole, taking Wood, who started behind him in fourth with him into second. Krull fell in line in third. After swapping the lead with Ashton on lap 3, Wood took over on lap six and moved out to a good lead. Krull eased past Ashton into second on lap 7 and then set out after Wood, who had increased his lead in the meantime.
Krull began reeling in the No. 38 of Wood and began to apply the heat when Wood entered lapped traffic on lap 11. The top two broke away from the field as Krull continued to hone in on Wood. The two diced in traffic until lap 24, when Krull got under Wood, pinning him behind a lapped car and taking the lead on a daring move to the bottom.
Krull noted, “Scott can be tough to get by. The lapped traffic, I figured, was my best chance, so I kind of stuck her in there. I maybe shouldn’t have, but the way it’s been going, I guess it was hero or zero. It seemed like he could only run on the bottom. As soon as he got up a little, he got real loose. I knew I had to either get him on the outside before he swept out of the corner or try to get under him. I got under him and that was it. The car was real strong.”
Once he took the lead, Wood, who had a spectacular flip last week, from which he escaped unscathed, was bottled up in the same traffic and couldn’t get clear until Krull was nearly a straightaway ahead, which turned out to be the margin of victory. Wood commented, “Lap cars got in the road tonight; that’s all. We’ve got the spec head motor in. We had it in for the Monday night show. We just got trapped, and that was it.” On the performance of the spec motor, he added. “It’s very drivable. I love it for this track.”
Following Wood across the line were defending track champion, Larry Lampman Jr., Rob Pietz, and Pete Bicknell, fresh from a trip north to Granby and Frogtown for the SDS Series, which saw him return as the point leader.
(Photo by Monique's)
The 25 lap sportsman feature was a real barn burner, featuring a pitched battle between two veteran drivers, Bill Willard from St. Catharines and Adam Ferri from Pt. Colborne, who put on a dazzling display of hard but clean racing, which saw Willard ultimately prevail for his third win of the year.
Jim Ruston took the early lead, but Ferri, who started 11th, caught him on lap 4 and the two went side by side for two laps before Ferri claimed the lead on lap six. Willard, who had started 5th, slid into second behind him. From there the two separated themselves from the field and began a torrid battle for the lead. Ferri held sway through a lap 15 caution, when two cars spun in front of the leaders, but Willard got a good run on him on the restart and powered by on the outside in turn two on lap 16 to take the point. Ferri wasn’t finished, returningh the favor in turn four to reclaim the top spot. Willard was undeterred, however, and used his advantage in turn two to retake the lead for good on lap 17.
From there, Ferri had one final chance to regain the lead, when a caution flew on lap 22, but Willard kept him at bay. On lap 24 Boyd Mactavish, who had joined the party on lap 15, worked his way past Ferri to cross the line second, but post race tech discovered an illegal carburetor, and he was disqualified, moving Ferri back to second. Wayne Conn, Ruston, and Chad Chevalier rounded out the top five in the final accounting.
Willard had this to say about his race with Ferri. “It was just awesome running with
Adam. I knew that if I threw it underneath him he wouldn’t come down, or if I went up top. It was just a clean awesome race. I was faster than him in one and two. In three and four he was running the same line I wanted to run, so he was making me work up there. Finally when I got it (the lead), I was able to take his line away.”
Ferri noted, “It was a good race. Me and Billy race side by side all the time. There was a big cushion in three, and I threw it in on top of the cushion and picked up a big clump of mud in the right rear. It was shaking me out of the car from then on. I was just holding on (at the end).”
(Photo by Monique's)
In other action, Rick Champigny from Welland survived a rugged 15 street stock race, which saw five cautions and a red flag mar the contest, the red flag for a violent flip by John Johnson also from Welland, on lap four as the cars were racing four wide out of turn four. Champigny took the lead just before a caution flew on lap 12. The final lap proved decisive, as seventeen year old Trevor McPherson made a determined bid for the lead, along with Mike Doolie on the final turn and spun when several cars made contact with each other. Champigny avoided contact to take the win, followed by Doolie, Kevin Kocarik, Kirk Wilson, and Rick Simons.
(Photo by Monique's)
Dave Ackler, from Gowanda, NY, scored his first win of the season, driving away from the field in the 15 lap dwarf car feature after bolting to the lead on the first lap from his fifth place starting position, Scott Billing finished a distant second.
(Photo by Monique's)
Finally, Rob Goulding came from 15th to win his third mini feature of the season. Goulding, from Pt. Colborne, needed 12 laps to tear through the field and then win going away over Paul Klager.
NOTES: There were 102 cars in the pits, one of the higher car counts of the year…..17 year old Travis Cunningham drove the spec motor house car……Former sportsman driver Bobby Davidson drove the No. 17C modified, owned and formerly driven by Pete Cosco, who has reportedly retired.
Modified Finish: (35 laps) Robbie Krull, Scott Wood, Larry Lampman Jr., Rob Pietz, Pete Bicknell, Jamie Turner, Paul Ashton, Fred Carleton, Brian Stevens, Rick Richner, Tim Jones, Rich Vinson, Todd Gordon, Tim Murdoch, Dan Miller, Ken Winfield, Chris Ricker, Bobby Davidson, Greg Wilson, Brad Gravestock, Travis Cunningham, and Gary Kruchka. Heat winners were Wood, Turner, and Krull.
Sportsman Finish: (25 laps) Bill Willard, Adam Ferri, Wayne Conn, Jim Ruston, Chad Chevalier, Martin Polhill, Mike Ward, Stan Zanchin, Doug Speice, Dennis Giancola, Tom Flannigan, Derek Lemyre, Dave Flannigan, Paul Klager, Steve Schumacher, Bill Bleich, Mike Kruchka, Paul Cunningham, Don Speice, Darren Zumpe, and Mike Bowman. Boyd Mactavish DQ. John Kaas DNS. Heat winners were Ruston, Polhill, and Willard.
Hoosier (street) Stock Finish: (15 laps) Rick Champigny, Mike Doolie, Kevin Kocarik, Kirk Wilson, Rick Simons, Graham McKay, Dave Dykstra, Ed Fargnoli, Rick Beales, Brad Sheehan, Greg Ayers, Danielle Landry, Terry Larmet, Bobby McIntire, Ron Kingsbury, Chris Schneider, Trevor McPherson, Josh Murgach, Rob Knapp, John Johnson, Dave Gifford, and Rob Murray. Heat winners were Dykstra, Sheehan, and Kocarik.
Dwarf Finish: (15 laps) Dave Ackler, Scott Billing, Chris Steele, Mark Brighton, Shawn Sliter, Justin Sharp, Kellie Mason, Wally Billing, Rick Brubacker, Dave Russell, Derek Bredin, Kory Howe, Ken Knapp, Ray Sliter, Wayne Robins, Chris Rimmen, and Dave Arnold. Heat winners were Sharp and Mason.
Mini-Stock Finish: (15) Rob Goulding, Paul Klager, Trevor Goulding, James Woods, Norm Mark, Dan Erskine, Mike Giberson, Glen Leinen, Tony Kelly, Kevin Soules, Larry Erskine, Gord Bates, Vic Mealing, Dave Small, Rob Overholt, Ron Jordan, Carey Gore, Bob Brown, Mark Swayze, and Roger Shenstone. Heat winners were Trevor Goulding and Giberson.