STEVENS, WILLS, KERWIN, SAWYER, AND BARNES COLLECT OPENING NIGHT WINS
AT RANSOMVILLE SPEEDWAY
RANSOMVILLE, NY…It may have been cold….but the die-hard race fans who attended Ransomville's season opener were treated to a terrific night of racing. The 30 lap Mighty Taco Modified feature which capped of the night kept fans on the edge of their seat the entire time. When the final checkered flew it was Brian Stevens of St. Kitts, Ontario taking top honors last. Stevens took the lead away from Chad Brachmann just before half-way in the 30 lap feature event. Todd Burley came home in second followed by Vic Coffey, Danny Johnson, and Pete Bicknell.
Rookie Chad Brachmann held the pole position by virtue of setting fast time at the test, tune, and time held the previous Sunday. Brachmann took the early lead over Stevens, Pete Bicknell, Todd Gordon, and Greg Panunte. Panunte seemed to be having handling problems as he slipped high making contact with Pete Cosco who spun as a result. Brachmann chose the outside lane for the restart and maintained the top spot while Stevens applied heavy pressure. Meanwhile DIRT hotshoes Vic Coffey, Danny Johnson, and Todd Burley were battling their way from deep in the pack.
On lap six, contact between Ricky Richner and Rick Hoctor sent them both into the turn three guardrail. The dominoe effect resulted in contact between Mark Sylvies and Danny Johnson with Sylvies also collecting the guardrail. Just before the caution flew, Stevens took over the top spot from Brachmann who ended up slipping back to fifth.
Stevens had his hands full the remaining laps as heavy pressure was applied by Vic Coffey and Todd Burley. As the laps dwindled, Stevens continued to show the way, taking the win over Burley, Coffey, Johnson, and Bicknell. Heat winners were Todd Gordon and Bicknell.
The DIRT Sportsman feature victory went to Kevin Wills of Ransomville. Randy Chrysler led the first couple of circuits before developing handling problems. As Chrysler continued to struggle in the corners, Wills was able to make the pass for the lead. Contact mid-pack on lap 5 resulted in Ray MacIver spinning in turn two. The restart found Wills maintain the lead but once again there was contact mid-field. This time it was John Hagerman who got the short end of the stick -ending up over the turn one guardrail. Hagerman was okay but the same couldn't be said for his racer.
Wills maintained the top spot over Stewart Friesen and Jeff McGinnis who battled for position. Wills collected the checkered while McGinnis used a last lap pass to take second from Friesen. Scott George and Mark Schulz rounded out the top five. Heat winners were Friesen and Wills.
Taking top honors in the Ransomville NAPA Pro Stock feature event was Scott Kerwin of Newfane, NY who was piloting his Johnny Cocco owned #7 machine. Kerwin led the entire distance and took the win by a full straight away over Jon Miller, Butch Zimmerman, Dan Mayer, and Pat McCoy. Heat winners were Zimmerman and Mayer.
The first Fish's Automotive Streetstock victory went to Cory Sawyer who led the entire distance. Jeremy Wilson captured a career high second followed by Bobby Clare, Kirk Tuttle, and Dave Jowdy. The second Fish's Automotive Streetstock win went to Don Barnes. Dave Nichols, Rick Gorhan, John Dietz, and Dave Eaton rounded out the top five. Heat winners were Jerry Condren, Derek Smith, and Jeremy Wilson.
MIGHTY TACO MODIFIED FEATURE FINISH…BRIAN STEVENS, Todd Burley, Vic Coffey, Danny Johnson, Pete Bicknell, Chad Brachmann, Tim Murdock, Don Spatarico, Todd Gordon, Pete Cosco, Sam Crogan, Rich Vinson, Robbie Krull, Luke Carleton, Mark Golding, Gene Cevaer, Russ Zimmerman, Greg Panunte, Jason Boyle, Ricky Richner, Rick Hoctor, and Mark Sylvies.
DIRT SPORTSMAN FEATURE FINISH…KEVIN WILLS, Jeff McGinnis, Stewart Friesen, Scott George, Mark Schulz, Dave Just, Randy Chrysler, Tony Purgarich, Dan Lacey, Bob Winters, Sean Kott, Chad Chevalier, Ray MacIver, Wayne Conn, Rob Kott, PJ Allen, Mark Potter, John Hagerman, John Zimmerman, and Rob Ledingham.
RANSOMVILLE NAPA PRO STOCK FEATURE FINISH…SCOTT KERWIN, Jon Miller, Butch Zimmerman, Dan Mayer, Pat McCoy, Dave Schulz, John Panattoni, Pete Stefanski, Mike Williams, Roger Chrysler, Jeff Martin, Dan Shoop, Steve Lewis, Dave Schulz, Dave Stolzenberg, Mike Ward, Joe Ignizio, and AJ Schultz.
FISH'S STREETSTOCK FEATURE FINISH #1…CORY SAWYER, Jeremy Wilson, Bobby Clare, Kirk Tuttle, Dave Jowdy, Wayne Close, Jimmy Wynes, Russ Olds, Wayne Washburn, Chris Lester, Jerry Condren, and Webb Nashwinter.
FISH'S STREETSTOCK FEATURE FINISH #2…DON BARNES, Dave Nichols, Rick Gorhan, John Dietz, Dave Eaton, Derek Smith, Digger Lester, Ken Washburn, Ben Hornquist, Eric Ben, Tim Herriven, Dan Coleman, and Martin Peunic.