SUPER DIRT WEEK XXVII - DAY #5 (Sat. Oct. 10, 1998)
BICKNELL UPSETS TREMONT BID FOR THIRD STRAIGHT PROLONG 200 TRIUMPH
SYRACUSE,NY...West Sand Lake, New York driver Kenny Tremont was just eight laps away from successfully defending his Prolong Super Lubricants 200 Championship for a second time on Saturday.
Instead, it was Canadian Pete Bicknell from St. Catharines, Ontario chalking up his third career triumph in the 358-Modified portion of Super DIRT Week XXVII at the New York State Fairgrounds.
Bicknell's most recent victory on the Salt City's notorious 'Moody Mile' was worth more than $50,000 in cash and contingencies, including a complete Ford Motor awarded by Enders Racing Engines, from a total prize package in excess of $85,000. He won the Syracuse small-block showdown in 1982 when it was 20 laps in length and the following year when the distance was increased to 30 laps.
Bicknell overtook leader Tremont on the final lap 118 restart and went on to score the narrow victory by a .21-second margin as race-long drizzle continued to filter down over the Syracuse Mile.
The Prolong 200 was broadcast "live" on Empire Sports and Comcast Sportsnet to millions of viewers tuning in from across the Northeastern sector of the United States.
Sussex, N.J.'s Brett Hearn took off from second position as pole-sitter Kenny Brightbill from Sinking Spring, Pa. settled in line at the drop of the initial green flag to begin the 125-lap feature race. Hearn held the point until making his mandatory pit stop under racing conditions with 41 laps complete.
Fellow Garden State star Jimmy Horton assumed the lead role until Pennsylvanian Doug Hoffman out-jumped him on the lap 47 restart following the fourth caution period of the race. Horton regained the lead seven laps later following another yellow flag that flew for increasing precipitation and pocketed $500 from Dryden Oil for leading lap 63, the halfway mark.
Following pit stops for Horton and runner-up Jerry Higbie,Jr. on lap 90, it was Hoffman's turn to again head the 48-car field with Tremont and Eastern New York rival Billy Decker close in tow.
Electing not to pull pitside earlier for even a splash of fuel, Hoffman's tank finally went dry on lap 105 just as the leaders crossed the stripe. Tremont took advantage and sped past aboard his cousin Dennis Tremont's potent no. 21 TEO machine.
The eighth and final restart with eight circuits remaining gave Bicknell his only chance and that proved to be all he needed as his Pyroil-BRP mount dug in deep exiting the fourth turn to force the final lead change.
1991 Prolong 200 winner Decker crossed the finish line in the show position ahead of Vermont driver Hector Stratton and three-time Syracuse small-block champion Hearn. Horton rallied to secure sixth ahead of Higbie while eight-place finish Mike Perrotte was the last driver to complete the entire 200-kilometer distance.
Bechtelsville, Pa.'s Jeff Strunk won the Syracuse Frame Service 'Hard Charger' award for finishing 11th after a 46th-place start. First-year Orange County Fair(N.Y.) Speedway regular Lee Niznik from Wappingers Falls, N.Y. garnered the Empire Room Rookie of the Race prize after placing 16th, just four laps down to the winner.