Hoffman Light, Bitner Right in New Egypt Lidlifter
New Egypt, NJ (April 6) - The first race of the 2002 season went from sweet
to sour in a hurry for New Egypt Speedway's defending Modified champ Keith
Hoffman on Saturday. Early on, Hoffman broke the existing track record, then
went on to blitz the field in the Modified fray. But when Hoffman's car
failed to make minimum weight in post-race inspection, the $2,500 victory in
the track's Spring Lidlifter, presented by Perlmutter Family ShopRite
stores, was handed to Allentown, NJ's Mark Bitner.
"We hate to win 'em like that, but rules are rules," said Bitner, who was
driving a proven car he'd purchased from two-time track champ Billy Pauch in
the off season. "The car works great and the Bitner-built big-block ran like
nothing else."
Drawing the pole for the start, Bob Drayton led the first three rounds of
the Modified 30 before his mount quit on him. Kenny Brightbill took the
point for another three laps, and then Hoffman pounced to the fore and was
gone. It was all Hoffman right to the checker, until his car slid across the
scales, failing post-race tech. A surprisingly smooth Bitner inherited the
win, with Roger Laureno moving up to second, Darren McCaughey third, Ryan
Kerr fourth and Tom Carberry fifth.
In a close Sportsman race, Jack Swain of Mt. Laurel, NJ, edged Dominick
Buffalino to claim the eighth New Egypt win of his career. Stan Ploski III,
Chris Wasson and Chuck Flesch completed the top five.
In the Super Stock event, Ralph Gargiulo of Brick, NJ, took a new car to
victory lane to record his 12th career win at the track. Gary Butler was
second, Pat Freiberger was third, Robert Melton was fourth and George
Quinlan finished fifth.
Todd Kuhl of Doylestown, PA, kept his line and his head to best 17 other
Rookie Sportsman drivers in the initial race of the Mid-State Communications
Rookie Series. Bill Tanner IV, Fred Monk, Rich Acolia and Anthony Tramontana
followed Kuhl to the line.
The Herman's Trucking Lightning Lap Awards for fastest lap in a feature
event were won by Drayton (Mods, 17.922), Swain (Sportsman, 19.612) and
Gargiulo (Super Stock, 20.281).
137 cars completed 18 events during the program, which concluded at 8:58 pm.
Fans John Spiegel III and Lisa Gellner came out on top in the shopping cart
races, winning groceries and a $50 gift certificate to any Perlmutter Family
ShopRite superstore. ShopRite also tossed T-shirts and other giveaways into
the grandstands, and presented trophies to all race winners.
Next week, Flowers by Addalia and B98.5 radio team up at New Egypt to
present a fundraiser to benefit Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Ocean County. On
the track, the big-block Modifieds, Sportsman, Super Stocks and Rookies will
be doing the wild thing, starting at 5 p.m. Gates open at 2 p.m. 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.
4/6/02
MODIFIED RESULTS
1st Heat: 1.Tanner Jr. 2.Hoffman 3.Bitner 4.VanGorder 5.Kerr 6.Cox
2nd Heat: 1.Pauch 2.Drayton 3.Weaver 4.Martz 5.McCaughey 6.Carberry
3rd Heat: 1.Worthington 2.Laureno 3.Bohn 4.Brightbill 5.Infante 6.Kessler
B Main: 1.Godown 2.Dmuchowski 3.McAleer 4.Keimig 5.Grosso 6.Moss (Fan Prov: Hager)
Feature (30 laps):
1.Mark Bitner 2.Roger Laureno 3.Darren McCaughey 4.Ryan Kerr 5.Tom Carberry
6.Sam Martz 7.Eddie Bohn 8.Fred Dmuchowski 9.Brian Weaver 10.Bob Worthington
11.Rocco Infante 12.Rick Grosso 13.Tim Tanner Jr. 14.Tad Cox 15.Steve Moss
16.Kenny Brightbill 17.Korey Keimig 18.Ryan Godown 19.Billy Pauch 20.Mickey
Kessler 21.Mike McAleer 22.Scott VanGorder 23.Tom Hager 24.Bob Drayton 25.Keith Hoffman
DNQ: Mike Hendershot, Ritchie Rutski, Gary Velenger, John Packenham.
SPORTSMAN RESULTS
Rookie Feature: 1.Todd Kuhl 2.Tanner IV 3.Monk 4.Acolia 5.Tramontana
6.Vasquez 7.Solderich 8.Thomas 9.B.Raisner 10.Crowley 11.Spiegel 12.Yard
13.Plumstead 14.Woolston Jr. 15.Lawrence (DNS) 16.Fitzsimmons (DNS) 17.Morris (DNS)
1st Heat: 1.R.Raisner 2.M.Papiez 3.Wasson 4.Swain 5.Smith
2nd Heat: 1.Reid 2.Flesch 3.Buffalino 4.Kline 5.Scagliotta
3rd Heat: 1.Godown 2.Lyons 3.Ploski III 4.Hoffman 5.Farina
4th Heat: 1.Toth 2.J.Papiez 3.Tomasko 4.Leote 5.Carpenter
1st B Main: 1.Pearson 2.Beamer 3.McCloughan 4.Apgar
2nd B Main: 1.Meisner 2.Delnero 3.Fleming 4.Tanner III
Feature (20 Laps):
1.Jack Swain 2.Dominick Buffalino 3.Stan Ploski III 4.Chris Wasson 5.Chuck
Flesch 6.Mike Lyons 7.Mike Toth 8.Tom Tomasko 9.Rich Scagliotta 10.Scott
Reid 11.G.R.Smith 12.Jeff Carpenter 13.Brian Pearson 14.Joe Papiez 15.Larry
Kline 16.Tommy Beamer 17.Keith Fleming 18.Tim Apgar 19.Phil McCloughan
20.Lou Farina 21.Darrell Delnero 22.Rick Raisner 23.Keith Plumstead 24.Bruce
Leote 25.Matt Papiez 26.Ken Meisner 27.Todd Kuhl 28.Bill Tanner III 29.Brian Godown.
DNQ: Mike Reutter Jr., Joey Tinnes, John McClelland, Jim Scherer, Mike
Mongiello III, Dave Gorbatuk, Mike Fattori, Dave Bailey, Doug Boyce, Gene
Stravinsky, Fred Monk, Anthony Tramontana, Joe Solderich, Bill Raisner, Gina
Spiegel, Keith Plumstead, Laura Lawrence, Tom Fitzsimmons, Rob Pfister, Dave
Woolston Sr., Dave Woolston Jr., Brien Ely, Rick Beavers, Christiaan Van
Schuyler, Lee Taylor Jr., Keith Foster, Jimmy Harris, Billy Tanner IV, Rich
Acolia, Nick Vasquez, Randy Thomas, Wil Crowley, Rick Yard, Robert Morris.
SUPER STOCK
1st Heat: 1.Freiberger 2.Collier 3.R.Gargiulo 4.R.Page 5.Search 6.Jm.Hewitt
2nd Heat: 1.Bauer 2.Nixon 3.Melton 4.Ormsbee (DQ) 5.Cooke 6.Bentz
3rd Heat: 1.Butler 2.Fleming 3.Conaway 4.Jn. Hewitt 5.Miscoski 6.N.Gargiulo Jr.
B Main: 1.Roveda 2.Whitehouse 3.Quinlan 4.Marra Jr. 5.Hammond 6.Guyer 7.Bifulco
Feature (15 laps):1.Ralph Gargiulo 2.Gary Butler 3.Pat Freiberger 4.Robert
Melton 5.George Quinlan 6.Mick Search 7.Weldon Collier 8.Jon Hewitt 9.Billy
Bauer 10.Carol Whitehouse 11.Brian Nixon 12.Paul Marra Jr. 13.Nick Gargiulo
Jr. 14.Pat Conaway 15.Kenny Guyer 16.Kory Fleming 17.Kevin Bifulco 18.Dan
Dewey 19.Bill Miscoski 20.Tom Bentz 21.Jake Roveda 22.Jim Hewitt 23.Kim
Cooke 24.Kenny Hammond
DNQ: Don Shipley, Mario Page, Chris Pidgeon, Kyle Pickering, Dan Dewey, Rob
Ormsbee, Bill Gerber, Jason Saredy, Al Cheney.