BRIAN DUMIGAN AND STEVE PAINE BIG WINNERS AT BLACK ROCK
DUNDEE, NY………Brian Dumigan took his second win of the 2002 season with a big win at the Black Rock Speedway last Friday night in the Empire Super-Sprints A-Main, and Steve Paine's quest for a fifth track title are looking better after another win in the 358 Modified division. Dale Welty took a last lap, paint swapping win over Alan Crooker in the PPG Super-Stocks, Tommy Kessler enjoyed another trip to victory lane in the Regional Pro-Trucks. In 4 Cyl. Stock racing, Karl Weichenthal took a hard earned victory over rookie in the division, Steven Ovens, in race #1 in the second race, Scott Yaw was victorious. In the Black Rock Bandits, Ray Speicher pulled down his 7th victory of the season.
The Empire Super-Sprints finally made their 2002 debute at Black Rock, and a recorder breaking event it was. ESS set a record for car counts at a regular point show with 37 Sprinters signed in. It took four heats, a C and a B main to narrow the field down to 24 starters and two provisionals. Outside pole sitter, Randy Years jumped out to the early lead as the green flag waved over the A-Main. But lap 2 saw the first yellow flag for a George Ely Spin in turn four. Dan Kaszubinski was having a problem at the other end of the speedway at the same time, as he had stopped in turn one with a badly bent nose wing. The wing was removed, and "Kaz" tried to return without it, but dropped out of the event, as did Ely. As the race resumed, Years continued to pull away from the field. He had Billy White and Brian Dumigan battling for second behind him. Years dominated the event until the 16th lap when Brian Dumigan took over the top spot. Once out in front, the Honeoye Falls, N.Y. driver was able to pull away and record his second win of the season. Canadian, Rick Wilson had a late race charge to finish second, Mike Woodring was third, fourth was Ryan Coniam and Billy White filled out the top five. Heats were won by, Ryan Coniam, Kyle Drum, Bubby Kerrick, and Rick Wilson. Tim Zimbardi won the C-main, and Doug Emery took the B-main. Bubby Kerrick won the Lane's Yamaha Dash.
In the 358 Modifieds Rookie Karl Comfort took the early lead from Donnie Lawson, and quickly began to pull away from the rest of the field. The battle now was for second between Lawson and Aaron Jacobus. But, as is usually the case, Steve Paine was on his move up through the field and was 13th by lap 7. John Moravec was also on the move and was up to third by lap 12. On the same lap, a yellow flag was displayed as Bill Deming went over the bank in turn three. At the half way mark, Comfort was still out in front, followed by, Donnie Lawson, Aaron Jacobus, John Moravec, Steve Paine, and Chuck Graham. A couple of laps later there was a jam up in turn two involving Alex Hoag, Jim Hull, Derrick Podsiadlo, and Fran Hilton. Most of the cars were able to continue. By lap 17 Paine had moved up to third. Before this lap was over, he was second and began to race with Comfort for the lead. Paine passed Comfort in turn four on lap 19, and went on to record another win at Black Rock. Karl Comfort just beat out a fast closing Charlie Donk for second, fourth was Bryon Turner, and Gil Tegg Jr. Heats were taken by Comfort, Alex Hoag, and Donnie Lawson. Stacy Jackson was the B-Main winner.
Dale Welty continues his winning ways in the PPG Super-Stocks, as he pulled off an exciting win over a vastly improving Alan Crooker. Chris McCann took the early lead and he was being chased by Eddie Mills. But it didn't take long for Welty and Crooker to get to the front of the field. Crooker was second by lap 10, and two laps later took the lead. By lap 14 Welty was second, and he set his sights on Crooker. These two staged a battle that had the fans on their feet, and on the last lap coming out of turns 3 and 4 they were bumping each other and trading paint as the checkers were in the air. Welty just inched out Crooker at the line. Eddie Mills hung on for third, fourth was Rob Conklin, and Quinn Sutherland was fifth. Heats were won by, Chris McCann, and Rob Conklin.
Tom Kessler took another win in the Regional Pro-Truck division, as he took the lead on a lap 6 re-start. Kessler was able to hold off all challenges to take the popular victory. Charging back from a lap three spin was Tom Austin, and he finished a tight second. Third went to Steve Brace who also came back from an early race spin. Fourth was Eddie Machuga, and Don Divens filled out the top five. Heats were won by, Steve Brace and Keith Austin.
In 4 Cyl. Stock racing, rookie in the division, Steven Ovens looked like he was going to take his first win. He led the event and was holding off some strong challenges from Phil Yaw, Karl Weichenthal and Terry Povoski. In the closing laps, it came down to Weichenthal and Ovens, with the veteran beating the rookie to the line. Weichenthal took the win, Steven Ovens was a close second, third was Terry Povoski, fourth wen to Phil Yaw, and Mike Hughey filled out the top five.
In the 2nd 4 Cyl. Feature Scott Yaw picked up the win over Kevin Young, Gene Dupuy, Eddie Crawford, and Nezerono Tudi. Heats were won by, Steven Ovens, Ryan Davenport, Eddie Crawford, and Kevin Young.
In the Black Rock Bandits, Ray Speicher took the lead on lap 7 and went on to score his 7th win of the season. Josh Smith was second, third was Cody Marshall, fourth went to, Derek Mills, and Jamie Schuyler filled out the top five.
BATH NATIONAL BANK RACE SUMMARY:EMPIRE SUPER-SPRINTS;(20 LAPS)BRIAN DUMIGAN, Rick Wilson, Mike Woodring, Ryan Coniam, Billy White, Steve Dow, Randy Years, Bubby Kerrick, Russ Bennett, John Karklin Jr., Ray Preston, Doug Emery, Bill Coffey, Mike Stelter, Warren Alexson, Mike Young, Jeff VanDusen, Kyle Drum, Tom Taber, Rob Dietrick, George Suprick, Alain Bergeron, Don Sharp Jr., Lance Yonge, George Ely, Dan Kaszubinski.
358 MODIFIEDS;(25 LAPS);STEVE PAINE, Karl Comfort, Charlie Donk, Bryon Turner, Gil Tegg Jr., Donnie Lawson, Alex Hoag, Aaron Jacobus, Brian Swarthout, Tim Sebring, Mike Jackson, Derrick Podsiadlo, Ron Cartwright, Chuck Graham, Ron White, Gary Hotelling, Jim Roberts, John Moravec, Fran Hilton, Jim Hull, Stacy Jackson, Bill Deming, Walt Chyrywaty, Ken Johnson, Allen Willoughby.
PPG SUPER-STOCKS(20 LAPS):DALE WELTY, Alan Crooker, Eddie Mills, Rob Conklin, Quinn Sutherland(Disq.), Carl Cleveland, Rich Karlnoski, Dave Fultz, Dave DuBois, Bill Miller, Chris McCann, Bobby Teed, Sparky Hills, Jeff Hand, John Sutryk, Mark Morgan, Fred Buckley, Randy Eggleston.
REGIONAL PRO-TRUCKS(20 LAPS):TOM KESSLER, Tom Austin, Steve Brace, Eddie Machuga, Don Divens, Jeff Barner, Keith Austin, Fran Furch, Brian Metcalf, Henry Taylor, Doug Buckley, Brian Doolittle, Ron Divens.
4 CYL. STOCKS RACE #1(15 LAPS):KARL WEICHENTHAL, Steven Ovens, Terry Povoski, Phil Yaw, Mike Hughey, Jack Ayers, Ryan Davenport, Alfy Clark, Willy Grant Jr., Nathan Daggett, Skip Dean, Mike Smalley, Edgar McCloud, Tim Wolfe, Jared Hill, Jake Clancey, Trevor Bentley, Mike Buchanan.
4 CYL. STOCKS RACE #2(15 LAPS)SCOTT YAW, Kevin Young, Gene DuPuy, Eddie Crawford, Nezerono Tudi, Shawn Resue, Bob Keyes, Randy Kaufman, Jason White, Tim Povoski, Donnie Smith, Mike White, (#9M no driver listed), Mike Brace, (03X no driver listed), Brian Crawford, Josh Mills.
BLACK ROCK BANDITS(10 LAPS) RAY SPEICHER, Josh Smith, Cody Marshall, Derek Mills, Jamie Schuyler, Adam Austin, Justin Divens, Trevor Sutherland, Laverne Knickerbocker III, Andrew Jackson, Andy Wolfe, Brent Ayres, Randy McDonald, Rich Kelly, Brady Fultz.
BY DON DUNHAM, P.R. DIRECTOR