WARM WEATHER WELCOME AT WOODHUL
by Doreen Farnum
Woodhull, NY ... Welcome back race fans! After being rained out for three weeks in a row, we are now back in the racing action at the historic high banks of Woodhull Raceway. Saturday nights racing action was much anticipated due to the rainout of the George Williams Memorial Day Trophy Races and the 40 lap Syracuse Super DIRT Week Qualifier for the 358 Modifieds.
At start time, we had 26 modifieds in the pits to participate in the nights action. This was a great showing for the modified class, which allowed us to run 3 heat qualifiers, plus a consolation. The 40-lap qualifier for Mods was a great way to kick off the nights main events. The full field of 24 cars lined up on the front straight & got out for drivers introductions and the tennis ball toss sponsored by S & W Imaging. How this works is, every car in the feature has their number on a tennis ball. After the introductions, the drivers then toss the tennis balls into the stands. The winner of the race along with the lucky fan holding the tennis ball with the winners number each t! ake home $50 from
S & W Imaging. After the toss, the drivers climbed in, tightened their belts and followed the Swartwood Trailers pace truck down the track for the green as the fans waved the field on. At the drop of the green it was Dale Welty who took off with the lead early on. Lap 7 we saw the 1st caution for Donnie Slover who spun in turns 3 & 4. On the restart, Welty thought about taking the outside line, but decided on the pole instead. This proved to be a good move for Welty as he jumped back out into the lead. Father & Son duo Don & Donnie Lawson got together in turns 3 & 4 on lap 11, bringing out the next yellow. Welty picked the high line again on this restart and that began the long stretch to the green with no other cautions. A few of the guys up there mixing it up for the top spot were Steve Hartman, Sr., Billy VanPelt & Dale Welty. Hartman Sr, took off with the lead at that point. He held it until lap 31, when Billy ‘The Kid” VanPelt took command & held it for the next 8 laps securing “The Kid” a spot in Syracuse in October. Hartman Sr. would finish 2nd, with Lyle Sherwood, Dale Welty & Stacey Jackson the top five spots.
Next on tap were the Super Stocks. They had a regular 20 lap feature on the schedule for tonight and Scott Brown starting from the outside pole position led the first lap. Mike Hilfiger & Greg Galligan weren’t going to let Brown go that easy as they made it three wide for the lead on lap 2. Hilfiger came out on top, with Larry Knowles taking advantage of the 3 wide racing to take over the 2nd spot. By lap seven, Kenny Peoples Sr. and Brett Flint joined the fun as Scott Brown joined them to take it three wide again almost the entire circuit on lap seven. Kyle Lefelhoc spun in turn two to bring out the caution on lap 8. At the restart, it was Mike Hilfiger and Larry Knowles comi! ng around nose to nose at the line. The leaders all got a little close on lap 11 and spun in turns 1 & 2, but Peoples Sr. was able to take right off into the lead from the spin They all got untangled and took off under their own power, so no caution this time. Just two laps later the caution dropped again for Greg Crooker spinning in turn 4. On this restart, Peoples Sr. took off and left Rich Marlatt, Greg Galligan & Brett Flint duke it out for the runner up spot. Crooker teammate Mike Carpella spun in turn 4 to bring out the yellow again & get a wrecker ride to the pits on lap 18. After the final restart and a 2 lap dash Kenny Peoples Sr, in the pickup truck took the checkers, Rich Marlatt won the battle for 2nd while Bret Flin! t and Greg Galligan settled in for 3rd & 4th and early leader Mike Hilfiger coming to the line in 5th.
The Street Stocks got to see some action early on as Bill Shea got turned around under the flags stand and the wildest Street Stocks around went 4 wide along the front straight to get around Shea. Back into the racing action Dan Gordon and Butch Dibble had a good battle going for 2nd place when Geoff McNally joined in on the fun. Fast forward to lap 16, lap cars were becoming pawns as Henry Miracle, Jesse Pruden, Cliff Moss and Joe Dgien all struggled the entire way around the track to get by the lapped cars, but eventually, the ended up in the infield bringing out the caution. The next caution came out when Tom Space got sideways in turn 4 and Joe Nobriga having no where to go, got caught up in the Space machine, sending debris all around turns 3 & 4. Jerry Buckley, who had command of the field the entire way, ended up taking it pitside under this caut! ion giving up the lead to Butch Dibble with Gordon, McNally, Bob Clark and Mike Williams up there running for the top spot. When the checkered flag flew, it was Bob Clark in the #1 position followed across the line by Geoff McNally, Mike Williams, Butch Dibble and Jeff Smith.
The Mini Stocks came to the track to finish up the first night of racing at Woodhull in a month. Don Knowles jumped into the lead right from the pole and set the pace. Nate Dunning spun in turn four but kept the car going helping Flagman Scott Colgrove to keep things going without a caution. Close to the halfway mark, Knowles got caught up in lap traffic so Josh Mills took advantage of the situation and took the lead from Knowles. The next lap saw Knowles heading to the pit with heavy smoke. Leader Josh Mills got hung up in lapped traffic on lap 15 and he was forced to take it over the back bank, but did a great job of holding onto the lead. Next time around, Scott Colgrove had to throw the ! yellow due to debris scattered around the track. This caution saw 3rd place Ray Hyer, our last feature winner in the Mini Stocks head to the pits. He came back out before the green dropped again to restart the field, but had to start at the tail end of the pack with just 4 laps left in the Mini Stock main event. Hyer is 2nd in points behind race leader Josh Mills and this would have been a great opportunity to at least stay right up there in the points battle. Maybe Hyer can rally back next week and close in on Mills in the points battle.
Heat Results
358 Modifieds – 17-Alex Hoag, 88m-Mike Jackson, z8-Steve Hartman Sr,
358 Consi – 6x Dave Dubois
Super Stocks – 1H Randy Hilfiger, 11 – Mike Hilfiger
Street Stocks – 55-Ken Thomas, 8-Bill Shea, 7-Jerry Buckley
Mini Stocks – 84-Josh Mills, 46-Brian Grant, 31-Bill VanEtten
Feature Results
358 Modifieds – 12-Billy VanPelt, z8-Steve Hartman, Sr, 17-Lyle Sherwood, 123-Dale Welty, 66-Stacey Jackson, 6-Roger Williams, 20 Bob Davis, 88m Mike Jackson, 13-Kevin Chilson, 28-Dylan Dewert, 94-Billy Williams, 12B-Curt VanPelt, 8-Steve Hartman Jr., 18x-Steve Mullen, 18-Donnie Lawson, 18L-Don Lawson, 15-Cory Brewer, 6x-Dave DuBois, 7-Larry Doolittle, 17h-Alex Hoag, 88-Herb Wright, 3k-Larry Keegan
Super Stocks – 5k-Kenny Peoples Sr, 67-Rich Marlatt, 13-Brett Flint, 17-Greg Galligan, 11-Mike Hilfiger, 04jr-Jim Buck, 15-Glen Writenour, 87-Scott Brown, 22-Kyle Lefelhoc, 32-Greg Crooker
Street Stocks – 3-Bob Clark, 59-Geoff McNally, 19-Mike Williams, 52-Butch Dibble, 40-Jeff Smith, 35-David Gee, 48-Gary Archer, 8-Bill Shea, 23-Cliff Moss, 5Kjr-Kenny Peoples Jr.
Mini Stocks – 84-Josh Mills, 46-Brian Grant, 57-Chad Dickerson, 17-Joe Kurtz, 27-Ryan Davenport, 25-Mike Buchanan, 31-Bill VanEtten, 57j-Terry Povoski, 7-Dennis Erdmann, 80-Ray Hyer