WOODHULL RACEWAY FIGHTS COLD TEMPETURES WITH HOT ACTION

The on track action at Woodhull Raceway Saturday night more than made up for the cold, dreary weather that has plagued the area lately. Herbic Wright held off all challenges to pick up the Modified feature win, with Ken Peoples driving his new pickup truck into Victory lane in the Street Stocks. Rich Marlatt topped the Amateur field, and Todd Stone recorded his first ever feature win in the Four Cylinder Stocks.

Wright stepped out from his front row starting spot to lead lap one and quickly began to put some distance between himself and his competitors. The early laps saw a couple of yellow flags, with Morseman (broken drive shaft), Hough (crash), Billy Van Pelt (crash), and Bobby Sherwood (crash) all dropping from competition. Steve Hartman and Ray McClure were putting the pressure on the leader by the mid- point, but defending track champion, Steve Coots was on the move from fourteenth starting position, and was a solid fourth. Coots took over third on the fourteenth circuit, and overpowered McClure on the nineteenth lap to take the runner-up spot. A yellow flag with four laps remaining put Coots right on Wright s rear bumper, and the next three laps were wild as Steve tried everything he could think of to get around Wright. On the final lap, in turn three, Coots drove in a little too hot, the "Concrete Coupe" didn't stick like it had throughout the entire race, and Steve spun the car in front of the rest of the pack coming for the checkered flag. Wright was ahead of the action and cruised to the win, with Ray McClure regaining second, and Steve Hartman slipping through to take third. The opening night feature winner, Stacy Jackson, who started eighteenth, came home fourth, with Walt Mitchell turning a third place starting berth into a fifth place finish. Coots recovered to finish tenth.

The Street Stock class at Woodhull has been opened up to pickup trucks this year, with past track champ Ken Peoples. It didn't take long for this team to get dialed in, and by lap four Ken was battling early leader Kevin Chilson. Dave Gee, Walker, and Brian Faulkner were debating third, as the rest of the field sorted themselves out. Peoples finally got around Chilson on the tenth circuit, but Kevin didn't let the truck get too far away, as Barry Payne began to apply pressure from the third spot after contact moved Walker and Faulkner back in the pack. In the closing laps, Chilson and Payne began to close in on Peoples, but Ken held on to win his first feature in many years. Chilson held off Payne at the finish, with Scott Brown picking up fourth, and Brett Flint taking the checkered flag in fifth. Mike Hilfiger, who was mistakenly omitted from the reported top five finishers in a press release two weeks ago, had mechanical problems in his own machine during qualifying, and drove the Brian Scouten car in the feature.

Speeders around the Bath area should take note that village police officer Dave Dubois is honing his emergency vehicle driving techniques by competing at Woodhull, and the officer is rapidly becoming a force to be reckoned with. Dubois led the opening laps of the Amateur feature, and hung around in the top five throughout the twenty lap event. Rich Marlatt came from eighteenth starting spot to take over the lead, and held off Don Divens, who started twenty-first, to lead the way to the checkered flag. Rich Curreri had a steady run for third, with Dubois fourth, and Clayton McClean fifth. The Amateur feature was slowed by five yellow flags, but the competition under green was fantastic.

Multi time feature winner, and defending track champion in the Four Cylinder Stocks, Tom Stewart, has his work cut out for him this year as the increased car count in his division, and the emergence of a number of fast and talented drivers has made this a very competitive class. The group again proved that they can put on one of the best shows of the evening, as they went green to checker with only one yellow flag displayed. Todd Stone picked up his first ever feature win, with Fredericks hot on his heels throughout the main event. Stewart came from mid-pack to finish third, and Goodier grabbed fourth at the line over Ed Mills.

This week, the Amateurs will be the highlighted division, with a special to lap, $500.00 to win feature, as the remaining three classes will compete in regular distance events. Race time is 7:OOPM with spectator gates opening at 4:30. For further information, contact the track office at 607-458-5275.

Modified heat #I- BUDDY MORSEMAN over Billy Van Pelt and Don Lawson

Modified heat #2- HERBIE WRIGHT over Tom Kio, and Todd McManus

Modified heat #3- STEVE HARTMAN over Ray McClure, and Stacy Jackson

Street Stock heat # I - MARK COSTA over Dave Gee and Larry Knowles

Street Stock heat #2- SCOTT BROWN over Walker and Steve McGregor

Street Stock heat 3- KEN PEOPLES over Kevin Chilson and Brewer

Amateur heat #1 - DAVE DUBOIS over Rich Marlatt and Todd Burgess

Amateur heat 2- CLAYTON McCLEAN over Greg Young and Bud Gee

Amateur heat #3- TIGER TED MORSEMAN over Joe Orchowski and Pete Fitzsimmon

Amateur heat 4- LES SMITH over Rick Horton and Tim Schaffer

4 Cyl. heat #1 - TODD STONE over Ed Mills and Tom Stewart

4 Cyl. heat 2- TERRY FREDERICKS over Goodier and Bob Hauber

Modified Consi- BOBBY SHERWOOD

S.S. Consi- RICK RLNOSKI

Amateur Consi- RON DIVENS

MODIFIED FEATURE- Herbic Wright, Ray McClure, Steve Hartman, Stacy Jackson, Walt Mitchell, Tom Kio, Don Lawson, Lyle Sherwood, Steve Coots, Todd McManus, Steve Mullen, Chuck Kennison, Fred arm, Aaron Jacobus, Alan Willets, Dave Calaman, Roger Williams, Bill Deming, Billy Van Pelt, Bobby Sherwood, Butch harris, Te Hough, Buddy Morseman

STREET STOCK FEATURE- Ken Peoples, Kevin Chilson, Barry Payne, Scott Brown, Brett Flint, Dave Gee, Larry Knowles, J. Walker, Steve McGregor, Mike Smith

AMATEUR FEATURE- Rich Marlatt, Ron Divens, Rich Curreri, Dave Dubois, Clayton McClean, Greg Young, Pete Fitzsimmons, Rodney Sweet, Les Smith, Bob Clark

FOUR CYLINDER FEATURE- Todd Stone, To Fredericks, Tom Stewart, Goodier, Ed Mills