PAINE THREE FOR THREE AT BLACK ROCK SPEEDWAY
by Chris Marquart
DUNDEE, NY -- A freight train blasted its horn from deep in the shadows of Yates County; the Black Rock Speedway Express sprinted towards it's destination.
Perhaps the freight train bellowed in synch with the yellow no. 7X 358-Modified locomotive, cheering it on as it rolled to the front. Perhaps it was bemoaning the zeal with which Steve Paine - the conductor of this runaway express - was railroading the competition.
Paine charged on to his third win in as many starts at Black Rock Speedway and his fourth win in three weeks. In the final laps, Paine put distance between himself and runner-up Gil Tegg Jr., but the Black Rock Speedway officials didn't simply hand Paine the checkered flag.
Paine started 18th per weekly handicapping rules; Tegg rolled off 13th. Tegg set the car on stun and bowled right to the front. Paine was fast, but Tegg put distance on the field with 10 laps to go. Paine received a gift from the racing gods above when yellow flew, cutting any edge Tegg had built. On the restart, Paine harassed Tegg, but Tegg held strong.
"He's running good. I was gaining on him, but we only had 9 or 10 laps to go," Paine said. "It would have been close if we went caution free. On an open track it would have been tough.
"It was still close, we went from lap 15 to lap 22. I got him in the lapped cars just before the caution came out."
Paine threw his Terrell's Potato Chips-Tallmadge Tire-Advance Lubrication Specialists-Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer-Geneva Homes-The Wall 99.3-Cayuga Auto Parts TEO Pro Car hard into turns one and two and, working lapped traffic, emerged on the backstretch with the lead. Almost simultaneously, yellow flew and a la Paul Tracy's infamous pass in the Indianapolis 500 last year, the debate began: Did Paine have the lead when the yellow came out?
"I passed him almost a full lap before the caution came out," Paine said. "They called it the other way and then they changed it. I didn't make them change it. They changed it and that's how it should have been from where I saw it."
The rule is such that positions are frozen when the yellow comes out. For safety reasons, cars do not race back to the line.
"I think what happened was the flagger - I don't think - threw the yellow at the right time," Tegg said. "I'm not blaming the flagger, it just didn't seem like the lights and the flags came out simultaneously. Nobody's perfect.
"They said in the driver's meeting that when the caution comes out, where you are on the track is where they're going to line you up. From my eyes, it was a 50/50 deal. I thought I should have been up in the front spot, but I wasn't going to lose my cool over it."
Paine's car was faster in lapped traffic; he described it as "wicked" fast. Tegg was better in open track. With the restart and the laps winding down, Tegg still had a shot.
"I tried to regroup and figured that, I could get back by him," Tegg said. "I was looking ahead, trying to worry about what I was going to do if we encountered some lapped traffic."
The restart didn't work out as Tegg hoped and Paine ran off to the win.
"I got him in the lapped cars. That's the only way we got him. On an open track, I couldn't get him," Paine said. "Being faster than somebody and passing him are two different things. Once you're ahead of him, you can run your own line. That's all right, but when you're getting plugged up, it's tough."
Tegg, as bitter as he could have been over the situation, remained collected, optimistic and above all, professional.
"It's tough when things like that happen. But I've had things like that happen and it goes the other way where we had a caution come out or not come out at the right time and we'd get a win," Tegg said. "That's racing. If we can keep running in the top three, we'll be happy. Maybe next time it will fall our way."
Ron White took third ahead of Aaron Jacobus and Stacy Jackson.
Bob Buono took his first-ever Pro Truck win at Black Rock Speedway. Doug Buckley looked fast, but the hood blew off his No. 2 and he was forced pitside. He returned and looked like the fastest truck on the 4/10-mile, but was too far behind to catch the leaders.
Buono staked his claim on the lead and proceeded to curtail all challenges as Tommy Austin gave chase.
"He'll be somewhere around me all year," said Buono, a former Pro Stock racer. "The truck was pushing a little bit but I had just enough room to use up the whole track."
Larry Knowles, Serenity Sutherland and Jeff Barner - an early leader- rounded out the top five.
The non-stop action of the Street Stocks came without pause as 13 street stockers finished 20 laps without incident. When the checkers fell, Dan Mathews clawed his way to the win, beating heat winners Geoff McNally and Jeff Smith. Ever-successful Pro Stock runner Dave Mannise took fourth ahead of Cliff Moss.
Sixteen year old Josh Mills survived a last-lap restart to win the 20 lap 4-Cylinder main. A lap 19 wreck took Kevin Young and Jared Hill out of contention for the win and placed Jack Ayers and Karl Weichenthal right on Mills' rear end. Ayers pulled even in the middle of the final turn, but Mills powered off the top side of turn four to the stripe. Weichenthal looked fast, but the handling looked like it went away as the race wound down. He took third ahead of Terry Povoski and Ray Speicher.
Carl Cleveland came up short in his bid for a second-straight win. Friday, Cleveland watched Quinn Sutherland, who has been bit by racing luck through the first two weeks of the season, break through for the victory. Dave Fultz reigned in a podium finish ahead of Joe Povoski and Rob Conklin.
Jon Wallenbeck doubled up, taking his second straight win in the Bandit division. Laverne Knickerbocker III grabbed the runner-up spot for the second week in a row; George Park, Derek Mills and Brady Fultz filled out the top five.
---Pit Notes---
Black Rock Speedway invites crew and family to join in the Knapp & Schlappi Lumber Company Victory Lane Celebrations that will soon be moving to a new location behind the grandstands in turn one. There, family and crew can celebrate their driver's big win and take photographs of the memorable evening... or evenings!!
In the interim, winner's circle will be held on the front stretch, near the start finish line. Family and crew are welcome to come congratulate their driver... Danny Johnson was on hand Friday. He took sixth in the 358-modified main... Friday night, race promoter Gary Montgomery returned to the announcer's box. Morgan Colegrove, the regular voice of Black Rock Speedway, was unable to be at the speedway Friday nigh and Montgomery filled in. The return was well received among the fans... The night offered a new treat outside of turn one in addition to Montgomery being in the announcer's booth - the new top five scoreboard stood proud and tall. The beautiful beast overlooks the first turn, counts off laps, displays the top five... Also, there was an erroneous report that Charlie Donk would not run Black Rock on a regular basis this season. The many sources from which this information came errored; Donk missed last week's race for personal reasons. Black Rock Speedway regrets the error.
Custom Homes by Hough Builders/Mountain Dew Night
DIRT 358-Modifieds (25 laps): 7x-Steve Paine, 22-Gil Tegg, 5W-Ron White, 2-Aaron Jacobus, 1-Stacy Jackson, 27J-Danny Johnson, 45-Tim Sebring, 14-Brian Swarthout, 34G-Chuck Graham, 21-Derrick Podsiadlo, Z8-Steve Hartman, 5-Bill Deming, 88M-Mike Jackson, KRS1-Rich Swarthout, 18-Donnie Lawson, 2B-Ron Cartwright Jr., 6J-Kenny Johnson, 6X-Dave DuBois, 19-Dave Yehl, 7H-Alex Hoag, 15-Terry Hough, 20-Jim Roberts, 17H-Mike Schultz, 11-Bryon Turner.
Heat winners (8 laps): 1-Stacy Jackson, 22-Gil Tegg Jr., 5W-Ron White.
B-Main winner (8 laps): Not contested.
Street Stocks (20 laps): 99-Dan Mathews, 59-Geoff McNally, 40-Jeff Smith, 8-Dave Mannise, 23-Cliff Moss, 55B-Blane Smith, 29-Chuck Pruden, 15-Glenn Whritenmour, 4G-George Parker, 27-David Pope, 90-Nate Peckham, M1-David Marcucci, 2-Jesse Pruden.
Heat winners (8 laps): 59-Geoff McNally, 40-Jeff Smith.
PPG Super Stocks (20 laps): 36-Quinn Sutherland, 22-Carl Cleveland, 70-Dave Fultz, 57J-Joe Povoski, 75X-Rob Conklin, 07-Randy Eggleston, 37-Stevie Brace, 96-Ed Mills, 45-Sparky Hills, 82-Bill Miller, 364-Fred Buckley, 96X-Brandon Smith, 11J-Jeff Ripley, 3D-Nate Daggett, 15-John Sutryk, 55X-Rich Karlnoski, 18-Andy Krall, 4JM-Steve Brace, 29-Jeff Baroody, 16-Chad Ector,
Heat winners (8 laps): 36-Quinn Sutherland, 4JM-Steve Brace, 55X-Rich Karlnoski.
Regional Pro Trucks (15 laps): 64-Bob Buono, 88A-Tommy Austin, 4-Larry Knowles, 37-Serenity Sutherland, 5-Jeff Barner, 51-Keith Lane, 1-Les Irwin, 35-Keith Austin, 2-Doug Buckley, 57J-Jim Schuyler, 7-Brian Doolittle.
Heat winners (8 laps): 88A-Tommy Austin, 2-Doug Buckley.
4-Cylinder Stocks (20 laps): 84-Josh Mills, 29-Jack Ayers, 01-Karl Weichenthal, 57J-Terry Povoski, 14-Ray Speicher, 27-Ryan Davenport, 1X-Steven Ovens, 98-Phil Yaw, 15-Mike Hughey, 36-Willy Grant Jr., 75-Brooks Leach, 11-Chad Ayers, 23-George Park, Sr., 93-Jared Hill, 61-Rich Andrews, 86-Kevin Young, 56-Bob Stewart, 5-Tyler Avery, 84S-Tom Stewart, 7J-John Houck, 80-Ray Hyer, 21-Tom Postalwait, 98A-Mike Thompson, 20-Alfy Clark, 8-Brian Crawford, 72-Raymond Cornish, 20X-Dennis French.
Heat winners (8 laps): 84-Josh Mills, 01-Karl Weichenthal, 29-Jack Ayers.
Black Rock Bandits (10 laps): 24- Jon Wallenbeck, 87-Laverne Knickerbocker III, 23-George Park, 86-Derek Mills, 11-Brent Ayers, 93-Brady Fultz, 57J-Jamie Schuyler, 98A-Adam Austin, 1X-Brad Ovens, 8-Brett Crawford, 89-Justin Longacre, 6-Anthony Teed, 61-Rich Kelly, 3-Jeremy Abbey, 07JR-Matt Eggleston.