TEGG NETS FOURTH AT BRS ON LAKELAND EQUIPMENT-JOHN DEERE NIGHT

By Chris Marquart

DUNDEE, NY -- Ugly weather patters hauled through the southern New York region Friday night, but they seemed to break with the lakes, forming two bands around the four-tenths mile Black Rock Speedway.

The bands, with football just around the corner, looked like uprights and Gil Tegg booted the winning field goal.

Tegg, wheeling his white No. 22 Troyer, picked up the lead on lap no. 5 and drove away from the field to notch his fourth win of the year at Black Rock Speedway and his fifth of the 2003 season.

Tegg was very fast on the top of the speedway, twice pulling to an almost-half lap lead as Steve Paine, the 2003 track points champion, battled with Bill Deming.

"I had no idea we were that far ahead," Tegg said. "I could see the No. 5 (Deming) was still second and I knew the No. 7 (Paine) was back there in third. I figured we'd be all right. We got some lapped traffic at the end, but coming out of (turn) two on the last lap, I knew we had it."

But, the confidence in securing the win took about 24 and a half of the scheduled 25 laps to build up. In the early going, Tegg's small-block modified was over heating.

"My mind was more on the gauges," Tegg admitted. "The car got real hot. It was up to 260 in the first five or six laps. I was looking at the gauges more than I was looking at the track. "

Eventually, the car's distemper subsided under the green flag conditions and the car cooled back to the 200-degree mark.

"You like to run around 200 to 220," Tegg explained. "It said 260 and I smelled a little antifreeze and I was about a second from pulling off. Then I was thinking maybe I was over reacting and let myself get worked up. Maybe it was a bad gauge. I just kept my fingers crossed.

"It's like a ghost. You always hear things that aren't there when you're up front."

After the long green run, yellow flew on lap 14 as Roger Williams looped the No. 6 in the second turn. This dissipated Tegg's straight away-plus lead and may felt that was the break Steve Paine was looking for. Paine, primed to rain on Tegg's parade, was fast on the top of the speedway, but could not solve Deming, who was having his best run of 2003.

Paine tried the inside, but could not go anywhere on the No. 5. On the restart, he was hampered by the same problems.

"There's not enough momentum (on the bottom)," Paine said. "The top had too much run. The top was so much better off. It was slick, but you could keep so much more momentum off of four. I could run all over him; we were dead even bottom to top in one and two, but he was better off four than I was."

Deming ran a fabulous race, staying on his marks and not getting rattled. Many times, at Black Rock, when Paine rolls some drivers' rear bumpers, they try to block Paine instead of driving their own race. Keeping this in mind, Deming tried to block out Paine's presence.

"I could see him, but that was it," Deming said. "I didn't want to know where he was and I didn't let him worry me. I thought Paine would get me, but I stayed in my line.

"As good as he is, if he wants you, he'll get it. I just raced my own race tonight."

Each of the top three mentioned the lack of cautions. After the lap 14 yellow period, the race stayed green. Tegg's car jumped back to 240 degrees, but cooled down at speed. The high temperatures can suck power from the engine, but it was clear that Tegg was hooked up enough to where power wouldn't be at issue.

"It didn't feel like the car had a ton of power coming off of turn two," Tegg said. "We were either really hooked up or it was down on power; I couldn't break the tires loose. I was so worried about the car overheating, but in three and four, it was better than it has been."

Deming said that the lack of yellows helped him maintain his podium run and Paine thought maybe the lap 14 caution hindered his shot at Tegg.

"I was good early," Paine said. "I was clear to fourth before the first caution (on lap 4). Under green, maybe I could have run up on him and got by, but I don't know. He was good and my car was good, just not as good as usual."

Quinn Sutherland's title hopes took a pop in the shins and Donnie Smith reaped the benefits when Sutherland, while leading, broke a left-rear wheel and was forced pit side. Smith, running second at the time, inherited the lead and swept to his first feature win of the year at Black Rock Speedway.

Steve Brace stayed close to Smith's No. 57J, but could not find a way by as the laps clicked away. Brace, who won three features in a row less than a month ago, took second ahead of Joe Povoski, Stevie Brace and Bill Miller. Sutherland was scored 13th in the final rundown; Cleveland, second in points by just two markers, was seventh. This sets up an interesting points situation going into the Bully Hill Vineyards Sprint Nationals this coming weekend. It is the final points event for the Super Stocks and Cleveland will have a 10-point spread. If Sutherland wins, Cleveland must run fourth to tie; better to win.

Larry Knowles put an exclamation point on the end of his Pro Truck season, bagging the win in the season-ending Regional Pro Truck event. Knowles had to simply start the feature to clinch the track title, but went all out in the 20-lap main. Knowles put his No. 4 Dodge on the top of the speedway and ran down Keith Lane, working past the No. 51 as Lane jumped the crown of the speedway in turn three. From there, Knowles legged out his sixth win of the year. The win also completes a sweep for Knowles; he took the Super Stock title at Woodhull Speedway last weekend.

Terry Povoski helped his cause in the 4-cylinder division, notching win no. 4 of 2003 in the night's 20-lap feature. Povoski out lasted the field as one by one, the lead cars fell out while Povoski, the division point leader, moved up the proverbial ladder. First, Tom Postalwait hopped the turn two berm, giving the lead to Ray Speicher. The caution-plagued main was then turned over to Jack Ayers on a restart, but the handle fell out of the No. 29. Phil Yaw took over and was chasing his second win in as many weeks when Povoski swept to the lead with six tours remaining. Yaw backed up to third behind Josh Mills; Mike Hughey and Willy Grant Jr. filled out the top five.

Povoski had an 85-point edge coming into the night. The win basically clinches the title as only 60 points can be gained if he does not race next week. With two features, Povoski's now 107-point edge will hold up as he will likely start both events. With that, at best, Alfy Clark can gain 40 points in each feature but will not over come the deficit.

Justin Longacre went the distance in the 10-lap bandit main. Longacre, a graduate of the slingshot ranks at Paradise Speedway, has been fast all year, but was left to settle for scraps as Laverne Knickerbocker and Jon Wallenbeck collected most of the season's wins. Friday, Knickerbocker had a rough go and Wallenbeck spun out, leaving Jamie Schuyler to try and knock Longacre off his game. He was up to Schuyler's challenge and notched the win. Wallenbeck takes the division title, having won eight features.

A field of 14 ladies started the 10-lap night-capper. Nicola Knickerbocker drove right around the top six cars to lead the first lap and jaunted away with her second win in a row. Chris Putman was collected in a turn one fracas, restarted last and powered back to second in the Terry Povoski 4-Cylinder.

---Pit Notes---

Tegg said the he hopes to run at least two more events this year, an upcoming race at Little Valley Speedway (Little Valley, NY) and the Victoria 200 at Fulton Speedway in Fulton, NY... Carl Cleveland wheeled Skip Starkey's No. 6X, a 358-Modified usually driven by Dave DuBois in a hot lap session between the 4-Cylinder and Ladies's feature. Initial reports are that Cleveland is considering a jump to the Modifieds. He must first finish this points battle with Quinn Sutherland... Coming into the night, third through sixth in Modified points were separated by just nine markers... Steve Perry made one of his limited Regional Pro Truck starts Friday night. He was wheeling a truck formerly driven and owned by Eddie Machuga. In 2002, the truck saw victory lane a division-high five times...

--Lakeland Equipment-John Deere Feature Results---

DIRT 358-Modifieds (25 laps): Gil Tegg, Bill Deming, Steve Paine, Stacy Jackson, Alex Hoag, Chuck Graham, Dave DuBois, Tim Sebring, Bobby Parrow, Brian Swarthout, Bryon Turner, Aaron Jacobus, Ron White, Derrick Podsiadlo, Mike Jackson, Roger Williams, Steve Swarthout, Allen Willoughby, Don Slover, Mike Schultz, Fran Hilton.

Lap leaders: B.Deming 1-4; G.Tegg 5-25.

Heat winners: A.Hoag, T.Sebring, S.Paine.

PPG Super Stocks (20 laps): Donnie Smith, Steve Brace, Joe Povoski, Stevie Brace, Bill Miller, Lee Burnett, Carl Cleveland, Ed Mills, John Sutryk, Bobby Teed, Nate Daggett, Andy Krall, Quinn Sutherland, Sparky Hills, Mike VanDyke, Dave Fultz, Brandon Smith, Chris McCann, Rob Conklin.

Lap leaders: J.Povoski 1-4, Q.Sutherland 5-13, D.Smith 14-20.

Heat winners: Q.Sutherland, D.Smith.

Regional Pro Trucks (20 laps): Larry Knowles, Steve Perry, Keith Lane, Tommy Austin, Ron Divens, Brian Doolittle, Doug Buckley, Jim Schuyler, Bob Buono, Keith Austin, Serenity Sutherland, Brian Metcalf, Jeff Barner, Les Irwin, Charlie Berch.

Lap leaders: K.Lane 1-6, L.Knowles 7-20.

Heat winners: B.Doolittle, J.Schuyler.

Four Cylinders (20 laps): Terry Povoski, Josh Mills, Phil Yaw, Mike Hughey, Willy Grant Jr., Rich Sharpsteen, Jon Wallenbeck, Brooks Leach, Tom Postalwait, Alfy Clark, Steven Ovens, Ray Speicher, Ryan Davenport, Laverne Knickerbocker III, Jared Hill, George Park Sr., Mike Smith, Ray Cornish, Ray Hyer, Jack Ayers, Skip Dean, Kevin Teed, Justin Longacre, Karl Weichenthal, Shawn Resue, Brian Crawford.

Lap leaders: T.Postalwait 1-2, R.Speicher 3, J.Ayers 4-6, P.Yaw 7-13, T.Povoski 14-20.

Heat winners: M.Hughey, P.Yaw, A.Clark, J.Mills.

Bandits (10 laps): Justin Longacre, Jamie Schuyler, Brian Butler, Brad Ovens, Brent Ayers, Brady Fultz, LaVerne Knickerbocker III, George Park Jr., Derek Mills, Jon Wallenbeck, Brett Crawford, Rich Kelly, C.J. Winslow, Jeremy Abbey, Anthony Teed.

Lap leaders: J.Longacre 1-7; J.Schuyler 8; J.Longacre 9-10.