VOLUNTEER FIRE AND RESCUE PERSONNEL STARS AT WOODHULL RACEWAY
I would like to start off by saying a big Thank You to all volunteer fire & rescue personnel and make special mention of Woodhull’s Volunteer staff. As the Jameson family of Arkport Cycles along with Scott & Amy Drake chose May 17 to honor volunteers by giving them free grandstand admission. We got to see some of the best in action as Street Stock driver Brandon Smith suffered a hand injury, which put the volunteers to work. They do such a phenomenal job whenever they are called upon!
Now for the racing action in ‘The Boonies’. When the 358 Modifieds took to the track for their 25 lap main event, Mike Jackson led them to the green from the pole. Jackson jumped into the lead when the flag flew, but on lap 2 Kevin Chilson spun in turn 3 brining out the 1st yellow of the night for the Mods. They shuffled into order single file, then flagman Scott Colgrove doubled them up for a picture perfect restart. On this restart, Bobby Davis snagged the lead spot when Black Rock regular Ray Dan got turned around on lap 4. They were good to go again until lap 7 when Dave Dubois, Kevin Chilson, Larry Doolittle, Steve Mullen and pole sitter Dylan Dewert danced in turns 3 & 4 sending Dewert to the pits. Mike ‘Action’ Ja! ckson led them again to the green flag when Dubois team-mate Roger Williams and Steve Hartman Jr. connected sending Hartman Jr. to the pits with heavy suspension damage & Williams to the tail of the field. At the restart, Steve Hartman Sr. grabbed the lead from Jackson; Bobby Davis worked Billy VanPelt for 3rd with Lyle Sherwood breathing down their necks. We were going good until lap 17 saw VanPelt spin over the turn 3 banking and had to start at the end of the field with just 8 laps to go. Lap 20 Lyle Sherwood beat out Bobby Davis for 3rd. Two laps later Sherwood wanted 2nd and Roger Williams was running up in 5th after starting dead last just 14 laps prior. Next we saw Jackson spin in turn 2 bringing out the final caution and creating a 2-lap dash for the boys up front. Steve Hartman Sr. had ! control coming from 13th starting position to pick up his 3rd feature win of 2003. Lyle Sherwood back this week with a borrowed motor, Bobby Davis, ‘Rocket’ Roger Williams and Billy VanPelt filled the top five spots.
The Super Stocks were up next with Ed Mills on the pole bringing them down to get the action going. On the first lap, David Wybert got around and Scott Brown had nowhere to go but into Wybert bringing out the caution before lap 1 was complete. Race Director Jerry Symonds had them go back to the original lineup except for Brown who went to the attention of his pit crew and Wybert who had to bring up the tail end. Brown’s crew got him right back out, but just behind the leader on lap 1 which put him down a lap, but being 2nd in the points battle he got some valuable track time in. With just 1 lap in the books Greg Crooker & Mick Seeley connected in turn 3 and Kyle Lefelhoc went around in turn 4 bringing out the yellow again. Glen Writenour took the lead on this resta! rt while Jason Knowles, Brett Flint and Bob Lubberts took it three wide for the number 2 spot. At the line Flint had the advantage and secured 2nd. There was also some great action going on for 4th – 6th place between Kenny Peoples Jr, Mike Hilfiger and Rich Marlatt. This neck in neck racing continued until lap 12 when points leader Larry Knowles gave in to a right rear flat sending him off turn 3 for the yellow. Brett Flint was glad to see the caution as it allowed him to get up to Writenour’s bumper. At the green, Writenour jumped right out in the lead but Flint was not going to let him out of his sight as the two took off from the rest of the field. Hilfiger, Peoples Jr. and Marlatt continued the great door-to-door rac! ing. By lap 16 Writenour & Flint had a ¾ lap lead on the field. Writenour held off Brett Flint for his 1st win in the Super Stock class after a long string of bad luck for the former Street Stock Champ. At the line Brett Flint was number 2 with Marlatt, Peoples Jr and Mike Hilfiger right behind him.
The Street Stocks took to the track to put on yet another great show as Phil Hall led the first lap from the pole. Butch Dibble had the lead on lap 2 by just a bumper over Hall. By lap 4 Mike Williams and Dan Gordon were battling for the top spot when Hall drove over the back straight to bring out the 1st caution for the Street Stocks. Williams led the field to the restart but Gordon shot past him when the green dropped and checked out on the field. Cliff Moss, Joe Nobriga and Geoff McNally had a 3 wide fight going for 5th place when on lap 9 Gordon’s car just quit running coming out of turn 4 giving Williams the lead again. When they got back around to the front stretch, the entire field came up on Joe Dgien who was pointing in the wrong direction right at the start/finish line. Henry Miracle went inside to take the lead on the restart but Williams didn’t give up. They had a great battle going on when Joe Nobriga came along and took over the 2nd spot from Williams. By lap 18 Geoff McNally got in on the action at the front. But this night belonged to Henry Miracle. Henry has been racing for at least 14 years and this was his first feature win. Miracle lived up to his name as a few years back he was seriously wounded in a hunting accident. Miracle had a miraculous recovery and is now back doing what he loves and it sure paid off for him this week. Nobriga, Williams, McNally and Cliff Moss followed Miracle across the line.!
The last event of the Arkport Cycles evening was the Mini Stock main event. Anyone who left before this race missed a great show as these guys raced flag to flag with no caution. AJ Costly led the field to the green but Dennis Erdmann would take the top spot to lead lap 1. Costly wanted it back so; he took it to lead laps 2 & 3. Costly slowed a little on lap 4 so Chad Dickerson took advantage of it and brought Ray Hyer right along with him. Lap 8 saw Black Rock regular Alfred Clark spin in turn 4, but he got it straightened out on his own and we continued racing. Hyer got the top spot and took off a bit from Dickerson. Lap 15 brought the leaders into some lapped traffic but even then Hyer held onto his great lead. Dickerson and Terry Povoski used the lap traffic to fight for 2nd and Povoski won that battle so Dickerson would have to settle for 3rd followed by Josh Mills and AJ Costly. I think it’s worth mentioning again that this was a fantastic flag to flag race to finish off the evening.
Its well worth mentioning again that Woodhull Raceway always puts safety first. The 358 Modifieds and Super Stocks are mandated to have 1-way radios in their car so race director Jerry Symonds can alert them of danger on the track and also help settle questionable restart positions. 2003 is the first year for this requirement in the Street Stock class. All drivers must have their radios by July 1 to continue racing. Anyone questioning this requirement would have had those doubts erased during the Street Stock feature when Joe Dgien was facing backwards under the flag stand. Symonds was instantly on the radio and it was very clear who had the radios installed already. Luckily everyone avoided Dgien but there were definitely a few tense ! moments.
Feature Results
358 Modifieds – z8-Steve Hartman Sr., 17-Lyle Sherwood, 20-Bobby Davis, 6-Roger Williams, 12-Billy VanPelt, 18L-Don Lawson, 13-Kevin Chilson, 6x-Dave Dubois, 18-Donnie Lawson, 7-Larry Doolittle
Super Stocks – 15-Glen Writenour, 13-Brett Flint, 67-Rich Marlatt, 5k-Kenny Peoples Sr., 11-Mike Hilfiger, 3-Jason Knowles, 17-Greg Galligan, 04-Jim Buck, 32-Greg Crooker, 77-Bob Lubberts
Street Stocks – 5-Henry Miracle, 72-Joe Nobriga, 19-Mike Williams, 59-Geoff McNally, 23-Cliff Moss, 3-Bob Clark, 94-Dave Davis, 35-David Gee, 5kjr-Kenny Peoples Jr., 29-Chuck Pruden
Mini Stocks – 80-Ray Hyer, 57j-Terry Povoski, 57-Chad Dickerson, 84-Josh Mills, 40-AJ Costly, 7-Dennis Erdmann, 5-Jordan Dibble, 86-Kevin Young, 27-Ryan Davenport, 20-Dennis French