ALAN JOHNSON WINS FOURTH DYNOMAX VICTORIA 200 AT FULTON SPEEDWAY
FULTON, NY – "AJ Slideways" Alan Johnson of Phelps won his third consecutive Dynomax Victoria 200 on Saturday at Fulton Speedway after nearly a five-hour rain delay in front of a capacity crowd on a chilly fall evening. Johnson, who started on the pole, regained his early race lead on lap 45 and never looked back enroute to the 200-lap victory, his fourth Victoria 200 main event win in five years. The Turning Stone Casino 358-Modified Super DIRT Series win for the driver of the Eric Kingsley and Jake Spraker owned No. 1j Bicknell machine was worth $20,000.
Saturday marked the 18th running of the Victoria 200, named in the honor of the late Victoria M. Benway, wife of Fulton Speedway founder Millard "Bub" Benway. The Benway family poured their hearts and souls into Fulton Speedway, and the Victoria 200 is a tribute to Victoria.
Ironically, Eric Kingsley, part car owner for Alan Johnson, was a former Promoter at Fulton Speedway under Benway in addition to being married to the Benway’s niece, Gisele. It was definitely a storybook win for the Kingsley/Spraker/Johnson team, who took on Fulton by storm in mid-June including four straight wins at the end of the point season in August.
"This is just one fantastic racecar, we couldn’t do any wrong with it," said an estatic Johnson in victory lane following his seventh feature win of the 2003 season at Fulton. "It would run high and low, just anywhere we put it."
Track conditions were extremely unusual for a Victoria 200 event at Fulton. All night and daylong heavy rains, which finally stopped for good around 3pm, made the high banks a mudhole of sorts. After several hours of grading and packing, plus ever car in the pit area helping run the track in, it was finally ready to go racing around 7:50pm.
The hard work by the track crews and drivers paid off, as the result was an extremely tacky, tabletop smooth 3/8 mile track. The groove was narrow at first, but worked its way higher and higher as the races went on, producing three and four, sometimes five wide action. Black slick spots were evident at the end of the 200, but the track still had plenty of bite everywhere.
"There was a lot of guessing going on because of the conditions tonight," said Johnson. "The track changed the whole race, but the car was second to none."
Alan Johnson and Brian McDonald paced the 46-car starting field down to the flags of Starter Dave Farney at 10:30pm with McDonald racing out to the early lead. Johnson went underneath McDonald to take the lead on lap 3 as the entire field of cars went two, three, and sometimes four wide, in what could be one of the wildest starts of any race, anywhere. Brett Hearn settled into third on lap 3 and started pressuring McDonald for second.
Just as Hearn moved into second, the first yellow of the race occurred on lap 7 as Alex Hoag had a problem in turn two with Chad Brachmann becoming stuck in the mud over there as well. On the lap 10 restart, Hearn roared into the lead sending Johnson back into second, but Johnson worked the low side of the speedway to resume his lead on lap 13. The second caution came out the same lap as Ryan Phelps and Jeff Rudalavage came together on the frontstretch, with Rudalavage suffering enough damage to become the first car out of the event.
Tim Fuller, the 2003 track champion, made his presence known on the green flag as he roared into fourth and then into third on lap 20. Matt Sheppard was also in the top five, racing with the leaders at this point as well. The third caution was on lap 20 for Alex Hoag who broke in turn two and finally retired for the evening. Sheppard took over second as they went green again, but the driver on the move appeared to be Jack Johnson as he powered from fifth to third.
On lap 27, all hell broke loose on the backstretch as several cars got pinched into the wall, causing a eight car pileup which was one of the worst wrecks in Victoria 200 history. Involved in the red flag incident were Danny O’Brien, Randy Chrysler, J.R. Hurlburt, Steve Paine, Pat Ward, Mitch Gibbs, Tim McCreadie, and Tom Kinsella. All those drivers were ok but done for the evening, with O’Brien and McCreadie appearing to suffer the most damage.
The restart saw Matt Sheppard apply serious pressure on Johnson for the lead, which he did finally take over on lap 36. Ray Hoard spun causing another yellow, just before Sheppard took the lead. Fuller again hit the rocket fuel and leaped into third as the green returned. Some great racing went on as Cozze was flying and Fuller went for the lead. Fuller led just laps 43-44, but Alan Johnson had other things on his mind as he took over the top spot on lap 46, sending Sheppard back to third.
Hearn began falling backwards, as he moved back to sixth and a glowing red right rear brake could have been the problem. Jack Johnson stopped on the track on lap 47, and continued on after the caution came out. The halfway mark of the first 100-lap segment had Johnson as the leader, followed by Fuller, Sheppard, Hearn, Coffey, Danny Johnson, Billy Decker, Cozze, and Justin Haers.
Hearn began moving forward again as he moved into third. Johnson began opening up a small lead as he began working heavy lapped traffic. Fuller closed in and peeked under looking for the lead as Cozze moved once again into the top five. Danny Johnson, Alan’s younger brother, moved into the top five at this time. Chuck Hebing spun in turn four on lap 77 bringing out the next yellow.
Stewart Friesen showed his young talents on the restart as he raced to the high side of the speedway on the cushion passing several cars. Friesen, nephew of late track promoter Alex Friesen, was well up into the top ten by this point in seventh position.
A thrilling duel began on lap 81 as the top five drivers went two and three wide at times, lasting until the checkers flew to complete the first segment. To no surprise to many, "Dr. J" Danny Johnson began operating on all circuits driving deeply into the turns throwing slidejobs to the other drivers. He swapped spots with Frank Cozze several times, until a quick yellow came for Dale Planck who broke on lap 88.
On the restart, the Doctor went right to work on Tim Fuller, sliding in front of him as they came off of turn four. The fans were on their feet as Danny was right on the rear bumper of brother Alan, who was still leading. Alan must have been spooked as Danny suddenly was there and nearly slid into the side of Alan’s car. Excitement was in the air as a heated battle ensued, with Alan barely holding the lead as the first segment ended and the 15-minute break began.
At lap 100, the running order was Alan Johnson, Danny Johnson, Tim Fuller, Frank Cozze, Brett Hearn, Billy Decker, Matt Sheppard, Stewart Friesen, Justin Haers,Vic Coffey, Andy Bachetti, Tom Sears Jr, Todd Burley, Chuck Bower, and Pete Bicknell.
When the green flag flew for the second half of the Dyomax Victoria 200, Alan resumed his lead. Decker seemed to be on the move as he took over third from Danny Johnson, who began falling backwards. Friesen brought out the first caution of the second segment with a flat right rear tire. On the restart, Fuller pulled a slidejob on Johnson out of turn four to take the led briefly, because Johnson regained the lead once again.
Cozze was running the extreme high groove of the track, keeping the rpms up, and a three car battle for the lead ensued. The ninth yellow came out on lap 115 for Brian McDonald who collected Chad Brachmann in turn two. The restart saw Alan Johnson begin to open a lead with his brother Danny falling even farther back in the field. The top five began to string themselves out somewhat.
Pete Bicknell, driving the backup Jeff Rudalavage machine, hit a marker tire in turn four, ending his night on lap 128. Coffey entered the top five as he raced into fourth at this time. Yet another three car battle for position began between Decker, Coffey, and Fuller, with Coffey taking over second. Johnson had a half-straightaway lead but it seemed that Coffey was closing in as the next few laps went on.
With just 50 laps to go in the 18th Annual Dynomax Victoria 200, Alan Johnson was the leader, followed by Coffey, Cozze, Fuller, Decker, Hearn, Sheppard, Brachmann, Haers, and Burley. Sprinkles from lake effect rain showers began falling shortly after lap 150, with Coffey right on Johnson’s rear bumper. The sprinkles (which some said was snow) appeared to become treacherous so a caution was thrown on lap 158.
The moisture ended up stopping so the green came out again on lap 160. Cozze went right to work on Fuller and took over third. Frank would then get by Coffey, who appeared to struggle on restarts. Cozze set his sights on Johnson, and caught him on lap 175, but Coffey had caught Cozze, making it a three car battle once again.
Excitement was in the air once again as Cozze nailed Johnson’s rear bumper heading into turn three to let him know he was there. Cozze was underneath Johnson, with lapped traffic now entering the picture, enabling Alan to once again pull away with fifteen laps to go. The twelfth and final caution of the race was for Matt Sheppard who was forced to the pits after contact with Danny Johnson.
Cozze had a scare on the restart as he almost clipped a marker tire in turn four, enabling Coffey to squeeze on by for second as they continued to battle for the position. This was all Alan Johnson needed as he started to pull away once again and claim his fourth career win in the Dynomax Victoria 200.
Second was Coffey in his best finish ever, followed by former winners Cozze and Danny Johnson. Billy Decker, Tim Fuller, Brett Hearn, Justin Haers, Andy Bachetti, Todd Burley, Chuck Bower, Scott Prentice, Ted Lamb Jr, Tom Sears Jr, and Matt Sheppard completed the top fifteen finishers. The racing was completed by 12:26am.
With the 18th Annual Dynomax Victoria 200 and the 2003 race season at Fulton Speedway now complete, attention turns towards the 2003 Fulton Speedway/Brewerton Speedway Awards Banquet set for Saturday November 8 at the world class Turning Stone Casino Resort in Verona. For more information or to purchase tickets, contact the track office at (315) 593-6531 or visit the official website at www.fultonspeedway.com.
PIT NOTES – 131 Cars and 120 drivers were entered in the event, just shy of the 138 and 125 last season. The traditional 12-lap, two qualify Modified heat wins went to Frankie Caprara, Jimmy Phelps, Justin Haers, Tim Fuller, Jeremy Smith, Ted Lamb Jr, Alan Johnson, Brett Hearn, Brian McDonald, Jack Johnson, Scott Wood, and Matt Sheppard. No time trials were run much to the delight of the fans. Consis were 10-laps in length with two cars qualifying and the winners were Chuck Bower, Mitch Gibbs, Billy Pauch, Matt DeLorenzo, Stewart Friesen, Pat Ward. Gus Schmidt Jr, returning to racing after two bad accidents earlier this season won the All-Star last chance qualifying event. The entire program - 12-heats, 6-consis, 1 all-star race, and Victoria 200 was efficienty run in four and one-half hours on the extremely cold fall evening. The event started five and a half-hours late due to heavy morning and afternoon rains, and despite extreme cold temperatures, the track crew and the drivers performed a tremendous effort to get the speedway in table top smooth tacky race shape. Alan Johnson is quickly catching up to Billy Pauch’s Victoria 200 win total of 6. Johnson’s win was the thirty-sixth of his career at Fulton Speedway.
FULTON SPEEDWAY RACE SUMMARY
TURNING STONE CASINO 358-MODIFIED SUPER DIRT SERIES
18TH ANNUAL DYNOMAX VICTORIA 200
RACE DATE: OCTOBER 4, 2003
18TH ANNUAL DYNOMAX VICTORIA 200 – ALAN JOHNSON, Vic Coffey, Frank Cozze, Danny Johnson, Billy Decker, Tim Fuller, Brett Hearn, Justin Haers, Andy Bachetti, Todd Burley, Chuck Bower, Scott Prentice, Ted Lamb Jr, Tom Sears Jr, Matt Sheppard, Chad Brachmann, Brian McDonald, Alan Shiffler Jr, Randy Chrysler, Stewart Friesen, Scott Wood, Clement Therrien, Jeremy Smith, Pete Bicknell, J.R. Hurlburt, Jimmy Phelps, Ryan Phelps, Jack Johnson, Dale Planck, Ray Hoard, Chuck Hebing, Gus Schmidt Jr, Tony Ross, Matt DeLorenzo, Billy Pauch, Kyle Wilson, Danny O’Brien, Tim McCreadie, Pierre Dagenais, Pat Ward, Mitch Gibbs, Steve Paine, Tom Kinsella, Alex Hoag, Frankie Caprara, Jeff Rudalavage.