PERFECT RACING WEATHER AT WOODHULL RACEWAY
by Doreen Farnum
Pembrook Pines Media Group was on hand along with nationally syndicated country radio personality Dakota Lee Ann Sommers for the 3rd week of Sizzlin Summer events at Woodhull Raceway. Up this week as the featured class was the Street Stocks. We also had some visiting drivers from other tracks with us to take a whirl around the high banks and a shot at some extra money.
When the 358 Modifieds took to the track for their 25 lap main event, a familiar 1a was on the front row. The 1a car belongs to Freddie Aman, but Freddie wasn’t the pilot. Behind the wheel of the loaner was Steve Hartman Jr. Steve had some major mechanical problems while leading last weeks feature & wasn’t able to get his ride race ready for this week. Dakota Lee Ann Sommers waved the green flag for the 358’s and got to feel the rush as these power plants motored on by underneath the flag stand. The race was slowed on lap 3 when the yellow was flown for debris on the track. It appeared to be someone’s muffler sitting on the front stretch. Once! they lined up again, it was all out racing as Frank Dunning took the top spot and had to work hard at keeping it. Bob Davis was hot on his tail and they swapped the top spot a couple times back & forth. Billy VanPelt revamped the chassis in his ride this week, so he wasn’t just sure how it was going to work. Well, he found out it would work just fine as on lap 9 he took the number 4 spot from Lyle Sherwood. Lap 10 he was in 3rd & lap 11 in 2nd. VanPelt ran hard, chasing the leader and by lap 13, VanPelt was right on Dunning. The 2 raced hard side by side until lap 20, when VanPelt went a little too high in turn 1 and Dunning got a little breathing room.! The only accident related yellow came out on lap 23 when Dave DuBois & Mike Jackson spun in turn 2. Dunning had his hands full on the 2 lap dash to the end as he came across the line 1st by just the dirt on his bumper. VanPelt would take home 2nd, while Lyle Sherwood got 3rd followed by Stacy Jackson & Bob Davis. Dylan Dewert was back on the track tonight after having to sit out a few weeks with a very badly damaged car due to an incident at Black Rock. Unfortunately Dewert’s evening ended as he limped into the infield on lap 18, but it was good to see Dewert back on the track.
The Super Stocks were up next and Kyle Lefelhoc led the field to the green from the pole. It was only lap 2 when starter Scott Colegrove threw the 1st yellow for the Supers as Dave Wybert spun in turn 4. On the restart Mick Seeley jumped to the lead but Mike Hilfiger spun to keep the yellow out and we reverted to the lineup of the previous lap. That didn’t deter Seeley, as he snagged the top spot again at the drop of the green. Behind him, Brett Flint got a great start and jumped up to the number 2 spot from 4th. Lap 5 was slowed for Jason Knowles when he spun in turn 2. At the line for the yellow it was Flint over Seeley by merely a fender-length. Race Director Jerry Symmonds lined them up single file with Flint out front. After racing had resumed, Jim Buck slowed fast on the backstretch due to a flat right rear. As Buck was limping around Mike Hilfiger & Mike Carpella get together in turn 4 bringing out the yellow & giving Buck a chance to shoot up to the pits for a tire change without losing a lap. Lap 10 brought Rich Marlatt charging into 2nd sending Seeley to 3rd. The 2nd flat for Buck came on lap 12 and would send him pit side to the attention of his crew. The battle for 5th was fierce between Ed Mills and Bob Lubberts, but Mills would finally get the spot on lap 15. Mark Costa! spun in turn 4 on lap 19 to tighten the pack and give them a chance to cool off their tires a bit. After the restart, something broke in the rear-end of Marlatt’s car when he was in the runner up spot. He tried to hang on but he had to retire his car for the evening when Bill Miller spun in turn 4 on lap 29. This caution proved to be a hot one for Kenny Peoples when flames began shooting out from under his pick-up truck. The Woodhull volunteer safety crew was right on the scene to extinguish the blaze, and Peoples was out of the truck without incident. After the excitement from the fire we looked up and saw Mick Seeley on the infield looking very disappointed as he had a been running strong in the top 5 all night. Another top 5 runner, Ed Mills stalled on the f! ront stretch & was unable to get it fired up again, ending his night on a bad note. That hands top 5 restart positions to Scott Brown and Greg Galligan with just 6 laps remaining in the 40-lap event. On the restart Glen Writenour came up fast and battled hard for 5th, but Galligan wasn’t giving up his 5th place ride and secured it at the line. Brett Flint was number 1 at the drop of the checkers. Incidentally, Flint won last year on Pembrook Pines Media night too. Larry Knowles followed Flint across in 2nd followed by Bob Lubberts, Scott Brown & Galligan.
The Street Stocks took to the track for their regular night show and it didn’t start off well for Dave Davis in his Ford. Davis was real slow on the backstretch, and went to the pits on lap 3. He was glad to see the yellow that came out for debris on the track & Davis was able to shoot back out for the restart without going down a lap. The next race lap, Henry Miracle got turned around the wrong way and Rod Mullen and Mike Williams had no where to go but into Miracle, and all 3 hopped the berm & ended up over the back bank. The rescue personnel went to work again, confirming all was well with the guys over the bank. Miracle was able to drive his car to the pits, check out the damage with his pit crew and was back out on the tra! ck without losing a lap. Williams & Mullen weren’t so lucky. Once things got going again we saw a great 3 wide battle between Dave Gee, Joe Nobriga and Bob Clark for the 2nd, 3rd & 4th places. Cliff Moss even got up in there to mix it up a bit. By lap 14, Gee and Clark were tied for 2nd at the line knocking on the door of Chuck Pruden for the lead. Pruden held onto the lead for laps 14 & 15 but Gee would get the top spot just in time to take the checkers and head to Storms Chiropractic victory lane for the 1st time this year. Gee is the 9th driver in as many weeks to win the Street Stock Feature. That shuffled Pruden back to 2nd and Clark, Moss & Geoff McNally taking the top 5.
The Mini Stocks were up for the finale of the night. The 1st lap saw Jared Hill get around in turn 4 collecting AJ Costly for the yellow. Lap 2 restart Lynn Burrell snagged the top spot as Bill VanEtten got hung up and lost the lead. Burrell wouldn’t have the lead for long this time as hot shoe youngster Josh Mills took the lead. It was just 2 laps in the books when Last Weeks Feature winner spun in turn 4 with Dennis French. We got the show started again for the fans until lap 10 saw the yellow fly again for debris. The next lap saw the caution came out for Costly and Louis Seeley when they got together in turn 4. Ray Hyer went running! past with a flat right rear. Hyer’s crew got him back out without losing a lap for the restart. Mills got the green, but couldn’t get a lap completed this time either as Jordan Dibble spun in turn 4 on the next restart attempt Chad Dickerson shot by Joe Kurtz & Ryan Davenport to grab the 2nd spot, then went by leader Mills. Mills didn’t like that, and took the top spot back on lap 18. Just as they were powering up again, Mills took the point again. Before the victory lane interview, Mills did a polish victory lap.
RESULTS
HEAT RESULTS
358 Modifieds – 20-Bob Davis, 8-Steve Harman Jr, 13x Frank Dunning
Super Stocks – 1H Randy Hilfiger, 77-Bob Lubberts, 17-Greg Galligan
Street Stocks – 23-Cliff Moss, 19-Mike Williams, 94-Dave Davis
Street Stock Consi – Bill Shea
Mini Stocks – 80-Ray Hyer, 84-Josh Mills, 46-Brian Grant
FEATURE RESULTS
358 Modifieds – 13X frank Dunning, 12-Billy VanPelt, 17-Lyell Sherwood, 1 – Stacey Jackson, 20-Bob Davis, 1a(8)-Steve Hartman Jr, 6-Roger Williams, 3k-Larry Keegan, 123-Dale Welty, 94-Bill Williams
Super Stocks – 13-Brett Flint, 4-Larry Knowles, 77-Bob Lubberts, 87-Scott Brown, 17-Greg Galligan, 15-GlenWritenour, 3-Jason Knowles, 2-Mark Costa, 11-Mike Hilfiger, 39-Mike Carpella
Street Stocks – 35-Dave Gee, 29-Chuck Pruden, 3-Bob Clark, 23-Cliff Moss, 59-Geoff McNally, 72-Joe Nobriga, 55-Ken Thomas, 40-Jeff Smith, 66-Dan Gordon, 8-Bill Shea
Mini Stocks – 84-Josh Mills, 27-Ryan Davenport, 25-Mike Buchanan, 57-Chad Dickerson, 9-Lynn Burrell, 86-Chuck Leasure, 78-Jeff Stone, 8j-Ron Divens, 81-Don Knowles, 46-Brian Grant