Godown Wins The Showdown In New Egypt Mod Thriller
New Egypt, NJ (July 6) - Ryan Godown of Ringoes, NJ - a Modified rookie and
the track's 2001 Sportsman champion - went toe-to-toe with the best guys in
the business and came away with his first career Modified win Saturday at
New Egypt Speedway, on Grand Slam Little League Night sponsored by Mid-State
Communications.
"I can't believe it, I still can't believe it. Look who's second and third -
I just can't believe it," Godown, 27, stammered in victory lane, pointing to
the cars of Billy Pauch and Frank Cozze, which trailed him at the stripe. He
dedicated this first Modified triumph to his father, Sam, who passed away
when Ryan was 16. "I've got to thank my father up there. Hey, Dad, this
one's for you!"
Starting eighth on the grid for this 30-lap event, Godown made his presence
known early, showing third with just two laps in. Two tours later, Godown
rode around Tom Hager to take the lead and leave the rest of the field in
his dust. Using the high line as his own personal path to glory, Godown
powered around the half-mile tri-oval, having it all his way while Darren
McCaughey and Kenny Brightbill tussled for the runner-up spot. But it was
two-time track champ Billy Pauch, in the waning laps of the race, who put
the fans on their feet. When slower cars stole Godown's line in the final
five, Pauch put himself in position to strike. A master at navigating
traffic, Pauch looked to have a legitimate shot at unseating the leader. But
Godown couldn't be bullied, rising to the occasion to keep Billy behind him
and score a crowd-pleasing first-ever Modified victory in only his 15th
division start. The big guns - Pauch, Frank Cozze, Darren McCaughey and 2001
champ Keith Hoffman - trailed Godown at the finish.
Piscataway, NJ's Pete Telesco was the track's second first-time winner of
the night, holding off Mike Reutter Jr.'s advances in the 20-lap Sportsman
main to score the initial victory over Reutter, Brian Godown, Chuck Flesch
and Brian Pearson.
In his best run in a new car for 2002, George Quinlan of Brick, NJ, powered
to the fore on lap 5 and held on to record his first of the year in the
Super Stock feature. Bill Gerber, Carol Whitehouse, Al Cheney III and Rich
Page II completed the top five. Page came across the line third, but was set
back two positions for overaggressive driving; in a genuine gesture, Rich
extended a from-the-heart apology to racers and fans post-race.
The Herman's Trucking Lightning Lap Awards for fastest lap in a feature
event were won by Ryan Godown (Mods, 17.860), Pete Telesco (Sportsman,
19.595) and Mario Page (Super Stock, 19.975).
As part of the track's Grand Slam Little League Night, all Little Leaguers
in uniform were admitted free. In addition, on this baseball-themed night,
Mid-State Communications offered a $50 bonus to any heat race winner who
could bat a pitch out of the park. When only Sportsman driver Mike Lyons
could connect to win the challenge, Mid-State's Jim Potts put up an extra
$150 bonus to the first driver across the line in each division who
participated in the Batting Bonus Challenge. Darren McCaughey (Modified),
Lyons (Sportsman) and Bill Gerber (Super Stock) were in position to split
the additional $450.
Next week, July 13, Advantage Financial presents Christmas in July at New
Egypt Speedway, featuring big prizes and a big drive to benefit the U.S.M.C.
Toys for Tots drive. Big-block Mods, Sportsman and Super Stocks are on the
racing card. Gates open at 4 pm, with first race at 6. Adult admission is
$14, children 7-12 are $4, and kids 6 and under are free. For more
information, call the speedway office at (609) 758-1900.
NEW EGYPT SPEEDWAY RESULTS
7/6/02
MODIFIED RESULTS
1st Heat: 1.Tanner Jr. 2.Burley 3.Cozze 4.Koczon 5.VanGorder 6.Grosso
2nd Heat: 1.McCaughey 2.Bitner 3.Dmuchowski 4.Carberry 5.Laureno
6.Hendershot
3rd Heat: 1.Brightbill 2.Hoffman 3.Godown 4.T.Hager 5.Velenger 6.Bohn
B Main: 1.Martz 2.Pauch 3.Reppert 4.Cox 5.Keimig 6.Radd (Pt.
Prov:Worthington)
Feature (30 laps):
1.Ryan Godown 2.Billy Pauch 3.Frank Cozze 4.Darren McCaughey 5.Keith Hoffman
6.Todd Burley 7.Kenny Brightbill 8.Tim Tanner Jr. 9.Mark Bitner 10.Donnie
Radd 11.Roger Laureno 12.Fred Dmuchowski 13.Sam Martz 14.Rick Grosso 15.Tom
Carberry 16.Tad Cox 17.Scott VanGorder 18.Mike Hendershot 19.Eddie Bohn
20.Gary Velenger 21.Bob Worthington 22.Jimmy Reppert 23.Tom Hager 24.Korey
Keimig 25.Ron Jon Koczon
DNQ: Larry McVay, Bucky Kell, Dan McMahon, Gary Hager, Mark Tranquilli,
Rocco Infante, Doug Ostwald
SPORTSMAN RESULTS
1st Heat: 1.Lyons 2.Taylor 3.Foster 4.Ploski 5.Liedl
2nd Heat: 1.Plumstead 2.Flesch 3.Godown 4.Toth 5.Kuhl
3rd Heat: 1.Wasson 2.M.Papiez 3.R.Raisner 4.Buffalino 5.Pearson
4th Heat: 1.Monk 2.Reutter 3.DeVos 4.Beamer 5.Telesco
C Main: 1.B.Tanner III
B Main: 1.Meisner 2.Scagliotta 3.Kline 4.Szwed 5.Carpenter 6.Smith 7.Apgar
8.Tanner IV (Pt. Prov: Scherer)
Feature (20 Laps):
1.Pete Telesco 2.Mike Reutter Jr. 3.Brian Godown 4.Chuck Flesch 5.Brian
Pearson 6.Mike Toth 7.Larry Kline 8.Mike Lyons 9.Matt Papiez 10.Rich
Scagliotta 11.Ken Meisner 12.G.R. Smith 13.Tommy Beamer 14.Fred Monk 15.Jim
Scherer 16.Billy Tanner IV 17.Jeff Carpenter 18.Keith Foster 19.Stan Ploski
III 20.Lee Taylor Jr. 21.Tim Apgar 22.Rick Raisner 23.Keith Plumstead
24.Todd Khul 25.Chris Wasson 26.Doug Liedl 27.Dominick Buffalino 28.Gene
DeVos 29.Joe Szwed
DNQ: (B Main): Jack Swain, Mike Mongiello, Rich McTighe, Rob Morris, Joe
Tinnes Jr., Scott Reid, Jeff Geiges, Phil McCloughan, Rick Yard, Joe Papiez,
Bill Tanner III (C Main): Stan Frankenfield Jr., Bill Raisner, Anthony
Moran, Brad Brightbill, Rob Pfister, Steve Schultz, Gene Stravinsky, Lou
Farina Sr., Dave VanDyke, Dave Hoffman, Tom Tomasko, Keith Fleming, Kevin
Keating, Rich Acolia
SUPER STOCK RESULTS
1st Heat: 1.Gerber 2.Cheney 3.Conaway 4.Coverly 5.Pfeil 6.Jm.Hewitt
2nd Heat: 1.M.Page 2.Quinlan 3.Butler 4.Jn.Hewitt 5.Reed 6.Fleming
3rd Heat: 1.Bifulco 2.Whitehouse 3.R.Gargiulo 4.R.Page 5.Dewey 6.Nixon
B Main: 1.Roveda 2.Garey 3.Saredy 4.Ellingsworth 5.Hurley 6.Vaccaro (Pt.
Prov: Miscoski)
Feature (15 laps):1.George Quinlan 2.Bill Gerber 3.Carol Whitehouse 4.Al
Cheney III 5.Rich Page II 6.Jon Hewitt 7.Pat Conaway 8.Ralph Gargiulo 9.Gary
Butler 10.Ron Coverly 11.Wayne Pfeil 12.Jim Hewitt 13.Brian Nixon 14.Kevin
Bifulco 15.Jake Roveda 16.Dan Dewey 17.Jason Saredy 18.Bill Miscoski
19.Allan Hurley 20.Joe Garey 21.Jerry Ellingsworth 22.Mario Page 23.Kory
Fleming 24.Bob Vaccaro 25.Bryan Reed
DNQ: Pete Fogarty, Chuck Barker, Chris Pidgeon, Bryan Wagner, Nick Gargiulo
Jr.