DANNY JOHNSON TOPS OFF ROLLING WHEELS 200 AND WINS THE 2000
TRACK MODIFIED TRACK TITLE
ELBRIDGE, NY…A long rainy day was topped off with the running of the Paine Motorsports National 200 last Sunday at Rolling Wheels Raceway. Danny Johnson, who led Steve Paine by a mere two points in the track points battle, won the race. His victory also gave Johnson the title, along with the 1000 home track bonus points that will be factored into the overall Advance Auto Parts Mr. DIRT points championship.
Picking up the win in the 30-lap DIRT Sportsman feature was Waterloo, NY’s Matt Sheppard. Sheppard also won the sportsman track title. Racing was delayed for over an hour just as time trials came to a close. Track officials tried to keep the track raceable by bringing out the first sportsman heat race. As that race finished the rains began to fall heavier. After an hour of delay racing resumed, finishing the remaining four sportsman heats.
Tom Sears Jr., winner of the fourth heat race, took the luck of the redraw and won the pole for the National 200. He immediately grabbed the lead at the drop of the green with Bobby Varin, Danny Johnson and Tim Fuller in tow. On lap 11, Varin passed Sears for the lead, taking Johnson along with him. Johnson then passed Varin for the lead on lap 18.
The first to exit the race was Mike Colsten who looped his number 51 into the second turn infield. On lap 19 the first yellow flag flew when Tim McCreadie came to a stop in the second turn. Johnson maintained his lead on the restart. On lap 28, Jimmy Phelps, who had been on along pit stop, lost a wheel on the backstretch to bring out the yellow. Bob McCreadie, the “JE Pistons Fast Timer of the Race” pulled his Kinney Drug Stores machine into the pits with a broken rear suspension.
The worst accident of the afternoon came on lap 32, when Sears was sent sailing into the outside of the fourth turn wall. He ricocheted back across the track and was collected by Billy Decker, who slammed into the back of the disabled Sear’s machine. This set up a chain reaction that saw both A.J. Romano and Andy Bachetti go flipping through the air. Bachetti barrel rolled his machine, while Romano flopped over much easier. With the front stretch blocked with the twelve cars involved, the race was red flagged. Involved in the accident were Sears, Decker, Bachetti, Romano, Kenny Brightbill, Steve Paine, Rich Laubach, Pat Ward, Frank Jashembowski, Ron Smoker, Chuck Bower and Ronnie Johnson.
When the race resumed the pits became an extremely busy place. Six of the cars were able to return to the race without losing a lap, including Romano. When the green flag finally flew Johnson remained the leader followed by Varin, Alan Johnson, Fuller and Kenny Tremont.
On lap 41 the yellow flew when Romano looped his ill handling car. Frank Cozze , driving the THUM Racing 12T, saw his race come to abrupt end when a mechanical failure saw his car jump off the track in the second turn on lap 46. Brett Hearn, using the same strategy he used at the Lebanon Valley 200, pitted for full service, even if the pit stop came before lap 50, after which a pit stop was mandatory. He then planned on a quick pit stop after the required lap. However this strategy failed to work as the yellow remained out past lap 50. This allowed the entire field to pit under yellow.
Tim McCreadie, Ron Smoker and Tim Fuller remained on the track, using a later pit stop strategy. McCreadie led the next 49 laps, leading at the halfway point in the race. A caution on lap 101, when Tom Meier came to a stop on the backstretch, allowed McCreadie to use his strategy, pitting for fuel and a right rear tire. With the field whittled down to just 15 cars remaining, it looked as if McCreadie had made the correct call. Johnson took over as the leader when McCreadie pitted. His strategy was to remain in the lead the rest of the distance. Having pitted on lap 52, Johnson was not sure if he had the fuel to make the distance so he began to use a conservation mode of driving in the lead.
Paine had reworked himself back into second. Brett Hearn held down third with Alan Johnson fourth and Varin in fifth. During the closing laps a number of show caution periods slowed the action, all for cars stopping on the track surface. Tim McCreadie’s race ended on lap 177, when he too stopped on the track.
A final yellow on lap 185 set up a sprint to the finish. Hearn let Paine know he was serious as he passed Paine for second and set sail after Danny Johnson. Hearn was able to power off the second turn and catch Johnson, but lost his advantage through the third and fourth turns. On lap 195 he popped the birm in the fourth turn, allowing air to begin to leak from his right rear tire. This slowed him enough to drop him back to fifth in the finish order.
Johnson took the victory followed by Paine, Jack Johnson, Varin and Hearn. Paine remained the points leader entering the next race, October 8, the Eckerd 200 at Syracuse.
In the 30-lap sportsman support feature Steve Hall took the early lead with Matt Sheppard in tow. On lap two the yellow flew when Phil Vigneri, Jr. coasted to a stop in the fourth turn with a flat tire. This allowed Sheppard to take the lead on the restart. From that point on he never looked back and opened up a ten-car lead over Hall, Steve Gray, and Randy Chrysler.
Three short yellows, lap 8, 13, and 24 kept the field bunched together. The lap 13 incident came in the third turn when John Plumb and Ron Richardson came together. On lap 24 both Kyle Wilson and Tom Juhl slowed on the track, exiting to the pits.
Sheppard easily took the victory beating Steve Gray by twenty car lengths. Justin Haers finished third followed in fourth by Hall. Randy Chrysler rounded out the top five.
The next races at Rolling Wheels take place during Super DIRT Week XXIX. On Friday, October 6, the 358-modified return, along with the Syracuse time trails for the Pro-stocks. The Pro-stocks will also run consolation races on that night. On Saturday, October 7, the Sportsman cars return for their final UFPO Sportsman race at the speedway. Joining them will be the URC-ESS sprint car challenge. Race time on both nights will be at 7:30 p.m. Note that Pro-stock time trials on Friday begin at 5:30 p.m.
DAY 2:
FLEETPRIDE WHEELS WORLD SERIES OF DIRT TRACK RACING NIGHT SUMMARY
SPORTSMAN
HEAT 1: R. Chrysler, S. Gray, W. Ellison, T. Collins Jr.
HEAT 2: S. Hall, G. Moreash, P. Vigneri Jr., J. Plumb.
HEAT 3: J. Walton, W. Decker, S. Friesen, K. Wilson.
HEAT 4: M. Sheppard, R. Swarthout, C. Brachmann, C. Shultz.
HEAT 5: K. Duryea, J. Haers, J. Spano, M. Kolka.
CONSI 1: D. VanHorn, P. Kinney, G. Doust, R. VanNeil.
CONSI 2: J. Bowman, T. Juhl, K. Wills, C. Phelps.
GUARANTEES ADDED: R. Richardson, L. Willix.
FEATURE (30-laps): MATT SHEPPARD, Steve Gray, Justin Haers, Steve Hall, Randy Chrysler, David VanHorn, Chris Shultz, Chad Brachmann, Rich Swarthout, Willy Decker, Jeff Walton, James Spano, Kevin Duryea, Garry Moreash, Tom Collins Jr., Stewart Friesen, Jim Bowman, John Plumb, Mike Kolka, Kevin Wills, Chad Phelps, Phil Vigneri Jr., Ricky VanNeil, Greg Doust, Tom Juhl, Kyle Wilson, Ron Richardson, Paul Kinney, Lance Willix, Wayne Ellison.
MODIFIED
TIME TRIALS: Bob McCreadie 21.244, Gary Tomkins 21.284, A.J. Romano 21.393, Danny Johnson 21.422, Steve Paine 21.431, Billy Decker 21.619, Tim Fuller 21.723, Brett Hearn 21.731, Tim McCreadie 21.775, Tom Sears Jr. 21.869, Kenny Brightbill 21.908, Ron Smoker 21.939, Alan Johnson 21.942, Ronnie Johnson 21.943, Jimmy Phelps 21.952, Bobby Varin 21.966, Kenny Tremont 21.989, Andy Bachetti 22.079, Frank Cozze 22.111, Jim Gabriel Jr. 22.112, Pat Ward 22.191, Rich Laubach 22.216, Mike Colsten 22.218, Jack Johnson 22.505, Chuck Bower 22.255, Jeff Brownell 22.292, Butch Tittle 22.369, Vince Vitale 22.385, Tom Hindley 22.391, Frank Jashembvowski 22.413, Steve Bottcher 22.421, Todd Milton 22.505, Ray Bliss Jr. 22.532, Dave Axton 22.546, Tommy Meier 22.586, Jimmy Horton 22.588, Vic Coffey 22.618, Jeff Heotzler 22.756, Pierre Dagenais 22.787, Ben Tucker 22.922, Mel Schrufer 24.832, Jeff Trombley NT.
HEAT 1: T. Fuller, K. Brightbill, J. Phelps, F. Cozze.
HEAT 2: B. Hearn, B. Varin, J. Gabriel Jr., J. Johnson.
HEAT 3: A. Johnson, T. McCreadie, P. Ward, C. Bower.
HEAT 4: T. Sears Jr., R. Laubach, F. Jashembowski, A. Bachetti.
EXISS DASH: STEVE PAINE, Danny Johnson, A.J. Romano, Gary Tomkins, Billy Decker, Bob McCreadie.
CONSI 1: K. Tremont, T. Meier, M. Colsten.
CONSI 2: R. Smoker, R. Johnson, T. Milton.
GUARANTEES ADDED: V. Coffey, B. Tittle
FEATURE (200-laps): DANNY JOHNSON, Steve Paine, Jack Johnson, Bobby Varin, Brett Hearn, Alan Johnson, Todd Milton, Jim Gabriel Jr., Pat Ward, Ron Smoker, Butch Tittle, Tim Fuller, Kenny Tremont, Tim McCreadie, Vic Coffey, Ronnie Johnson, A.J. Romano, Tommy Meier, Gary Tomkins, Frank Jashembowski, Rich Laubach, Frank Cozze, Jimmy Phelps, Tom Sears Jr., Billy Decker, Kenny Brightbill, Andy Bachetti, Chuck Bower, Bob McCreadie, Mike Colsten.