PAINE BAGS WIN; DAN MATHEWS THREE FOR THREE IN STREET STOCK OPENS
By CHRIS MARQUART
DUNDEE, NY -- A driver, no matter how good their equipment, no matter where they start, can not lead every lap. Well, there could be an exception for cars in the first few rows, but from sixth on back, patience; not speed, will win the race.
Besides, only one lap really counts: the last one.
Steve Paine led the last lap at Black Rock Speedway and the previous 13 laps after picking his way to second. Paine used six yellows in the first 10 laps to stick with the lead group and not let pole-sitter Tim Sebring run out on the field.
"You have to be fifth before you can get fourth, and fourth before you can think about third. You won’t get them all at once," Paine said after the race.
On the restarts, Paine was just nearly of getting them "all at once," taking positions off turn two and again off turn four for three laps in a row.
Paine drew a bead on Sebring’s No. 45; running him down on lap nine and making a move to the inside of turn two the next time around.
Apparently, the red No. 3 of Pete Luta didn’t know he was being lapped and began to drift down the speedway. That pinched Sebring down to the bottom and across Paine. Paine had let up, but could not avoid hitting the turn four curbing.
"That 3 car came down so I knew the 45 was coming down," Paine said. "I tried to back out of it, but I couldn’t get out enough. I didn’t hit hard, but once the rubber catches that cement, it pulls you right in."
Paine continued, but yellow flew anyway as Bobby Parrow, in his first 358-Modified feature, had a similar incident in the second turn. In his case, someone tagged him from behind and sent him around. Paine restarted on the outside of Sebring and ran off when the green flag was shown.
"The yellows didn’t really hurt me. Starting on the outside when I was second was good," Paine said. "We replaced some equipment on the car for the first time in years."
Paine put new suspension components on the rear end and new shocks.
Sebring had similar opinions of Paine’s restart.
"As much faster as he was, I wasn’t going to hold him up," Sebring said. "I could catch him on the bottom for a lap or two, then he was gone. He was running a line where I wasn’t running at all."
Sebring would have like to see single file restarts sooner, but said, in reality, it wouldn’t have had much bearing on Paine’s win.
"If he had cars to work through, I might have had a better shot," Sebring said. "The car was fast in the heat and we made some adjustment. It usually gets more slippery here in the features, so we tuned for that and came up with second. We should be a top five car here. We just haven’t had any luck."
Sebring has been in the wrong place at the wrong time on a number of occasions this season, wading up his 2002 TEO car and hampering his ability to run with the leaders.
This week, he could only watch as Paine strolled off to a big lead, taking a quarter straight away lead in his first lap at the point. Two laps later, had almost a full straight on everyone else.
Yellow flew on lap 52 for Jim Hull’s spin, but Paine sauntered away over the final 10 laps. Gil Tegg waged a fierce battle with Sebring for second, but Sebring held strong for his best finish of the year.
"Gil poked a wheel under me and I saw it was him," Sebring said. "So I put my car on the bottom and if he was faster on the outside, he could go for it. I get along real well with Tegg, so I knew he wouldn’t wreck me."
Tegg tried to drive deep into turn three, but the car would push through the apex of the corner and allow Sebring to hold the spot. Mike Jackson and Ron White rounded out the top five.
Dan Mathews, who sold his Street Stocker three weeks ago, returned with the car Friday night to win his third consecutive Street Stock Open event. He was won each of the Opens held this season. Nate Peckham had a strong run going, leading the first four laps before Mathews wrestled the lead away.
Peckham would eventually go after contact with Jeff Smith. Peckham was third and Smith was fourth as the two tangled in the second turn. Yellow flew and the field bunched behind Mathews, but they were fighting for scraps as Mathews again held strong atop the Street Stock heap. A lap 19 yellow gave the challengers one more shot, but Mathews was up to the task.
Larry Knowles took the lead of the Regional Pro Truck Main on lap 8 and proceeded to ride the rim of the speedway to his third victory in four weeks. Tommy Austin was on his heels and points leader Bob Buono took third. Knowles has been closing inch by inch on Buono in the point standings.
Dave Fultz has looked superhuman in the past four weeks of racing (a span of eight calendar weeks with rain outs), taking five straight wins in the Elmira-Ithaca Auto Paint PPG Super Stock main. Quinn Sutherland was the dragon slayer Friday night.
Fultz made a strong charge to second and was looking for the lead but Sutherland held the two-time defending track champion at bay to pick up his second feature win of the season. Sutherland’s last win came during the first Street Stock open, April 25.
Josh Mills giveth, and then taketh away in the 4-Cylinder main. Mills led the opening laps before Phil Yaw lumbered past in his No. 98 Mustang. Yaw held the lead, but the track came to Mills and just before half way, Mills slipped back to the point and held on for his second main of the season.
Jon Wallenbeck took the Bandit win after a two-race break from the Victory Lane ceremonies. Wallenbeck wrestled the lead from Justin Longacre, a former Tobias Slingshot standout at Paradise Speedway, with three laps remaining.
--Pit Notes--
Bryon Turner and Brian Swarthout were each black flagged for rough driving (Swarthout) and retailiation (Turner). Swarthout spun Turner through the infield and when he returned to the speedway, Turner hit Swarthout and gave him some bumper shots...Bill Deming took sixth in a Ford-powered small block modified. DIRT 358’s are powered primarily by Chevrolet motors... Jeff Smith has won both Street Stock dashes. His wife, Debbie Smith and her business, Express Yourself Embroidery, have been the sponsors of each dash... Ray Speicher celebrated a birthday with a top-five finish in the 4-Cyl class...
Coryn Farm Supply-Pepsi Night
DIRT 358-Modifieds (25 laps): Steve Paine, Tim Sebring, Gil Tegg Jr., Mike Jackson, Ron White, Bill Deming, Dave DuBois, Bobby Parrow, Jim Mahaney, Ken Johnson, Derrick Podsiadlo, Dave Yehl, Jim Hull, Alex Hoag, Pete Luta, Don Slover, Fran Hilton, Terry Hough, Mike Payne, Chuck Graham, Curt VanPelt. DNS: Stacey Jackson. DQ: Brian Swarthout, Bryon Turner.
Street Stock Open (20 laps): Dan Mathews, Jason Schoonmaker, Brian Austin, Tim Burnell, Rich Talado, Cliff Moss, Mike Holford, Mike Numeracki, Jess Pruden, Ron Richter, George Parker, Darren Phippen, Nick Dandino, Rich Sharpsteen, Jeff Smith, Don Jones, Justin Wright, Tom Fuller, Nate Peckham, Chuck Pruden, Ken Peoples, Blane Smith. DNS: Mike Minutolo.
PPG Super Stocks (20 laps): Quinn Sutherland, Dave Fultz, Rob Conklin, Bobby Teed, Carl Cleveland, John Sutryk, Joe Povoski, Ed Mills, Fred Buckley, Stevie Brace, Bill Miller, Nate Daggett, Jeff Baroody, Steve Brace, Andy Krull, Sparky Hills. DNS: Brandon Smith.
Regional Pro Trucks (20 laps): Larry Knowles, Tommy Austin, Bob Buono, Doug Buckley, Keith Austin, Keith Lane, Les Irwin, Jeff Barner, Jim Schuyler, Ron Perry, Brian Doolittle, Brian Metcalfe, Henry Taylor, Ken Houck, Serenity Sutherland.
Four-Cylinders (15 laps): Josh Mills, Phil Yaw, Terry Povoski, Mike Hughey, Ray Speicher, Jack Ayers, Karl Weichenthal, Alfred Clark, Steven Ovens, Del Cummings, Tom Postalwait, Bob Stewart, John Houck, Brian Crawford, Brooks Leach, Joe Slavin, Kevin Young, Rich Andrews, George Park Sr., Ray Cornish, Chad Ayers, Ryan Davenport, Mike Smith, Willy Grant, Jared Hill. DNS: Robert Leach.
Bandits (10 laps): Jon Wallenbeck, Car No. 84 (Name Not Available), George Park Jr., Laverne Knickerbocker III, Justin Longacre, Brady Fultz, Adam Austin, Brett Crawford, Brian Butler, Brent Ayers, Anthony Teed, Jamie Schuyler, Rich Kelly, Justin Karlnoski, C.J. Winslow, Brad Ovens, Jeremy Abbey.