DECKER TOPS WORLD SERIES DAY ONE ACTION, ORTIZ TAKES PRO-STOCK COMBINED CHAMPIONSHIP RUN
ELBRIDGE, NY...Billy Decker, from Unadilla, NY, powered into the lead of the Turning Stone Casino Resorts 100 on lap 44 from Brett Hearn and sailed home to the $4,000 win on the first day of the Dynomax Wheels World Series of DIRT Track Racing. Jipp Ortiz maintained his point lead in the Empire Sports Network Pro-Stock Series taking the 30-lap victory by just .117 seconds over Joey Ladouceur. A special BOSS Street Stock 20-lap feature went to Russ Marsden. Greg DeChick won the 50-lap finale enduro.
Chris Shultz and Jack Johnson brought the starting field of 32 small block cars down to take the green. Johnson, who earlier set fast time of the day with a lap of 21.978 (102.375 MPH), took the early lead as Shultz quickly pulled to the outside and slowly dropped back through the field. On lap 14 he would take his number 47 into the pits.
Following Johnson were Jerry Higbie and Brett Hearn. Hearn passed Higbie on lap eight and took off to pass Johnson one lap later. Following Hearn through the openings was Decker. Decker first took Higbie and Johnson both on lap 11. Tim McCreadie, who had to run a consolation race due to being too light in time trials, was already up to ninth and charging.
The first yellow flew on lap 14 when Justin Haers slowed on the front stretch. During this yellow Higbie and Steve Paine dropped into the pits. Hears returned to take just one lap and he too dropped to the pits.
On lap 18 the second yellow flew when rookie sensation Stewart Friesen slowed in the second turn, taking his Mike Maroney number 10 to the pits.
Hearn remained to the leader with Decker in second followed by Alan Johnson, Matt Sheppard and Pat Ward. Decker pulled along side of Hearn on lap 23, but fell back into position. Early leader Jack Johnson pulled his 12a into the pits on lap 25.
For each of the next 20 laps Decker rode the inside with Hearn taking a somewhat higher line around the five-eighths mile oval. Each lap Decker would drop low entering the third turn and pull along side of Hearn. Finally on lap 44, he made the pass attempt stick.
Once ahead Decker began to pull away from Hearn, building a ten car advantage by the halfway mark of the race. Alan Johnson was now closing on Hearn each lap shaving off a tenth of a second. Decker held a four second lead by lap 75 when the yellow flew. Vic Coffey's number 32c sailed off the track's third turn and out of sight. He returned to the track once the yellow flew and took his car into the pits.
The yellow only lasted three laps but it did bunch the field together. Decker, Hearn, Alan Johnson, Tim Fuller and Jimmy Phelps made up the top five. Bob McCreadie, driving the Duce , came together with Steve Hulsizer on the front straight following a tap into the outside wall. Hulsizer's car ended up off the track in the infield and McCreadie pulled into the pits without a yellow flying.
Alan Johnson took advantage of the restart line up and passed Hearn on the backstretch on lap 84. Fuller attempted the same move the next lap, but Hearn held him off. Two laps later Fuller made the move and took third from Hearn.
The field would finish in that order Decker, Johnson and Fuller. Jimmy Phelps tried to pass Hearn over the final ten laps. He took fourth on lap 93 and held Hearn at off. Hearn ended the race in fifth. Only nine cars finished on the lead lap as only three yellows slowed the race to an average of 88.830 miles per hour.
The 30-lap Empire Sports Network Pro-Stock Combined Championship event saw John Lazore and Roger Chrysler bring the starting field of 33 cars down to take the green. Lazore shot into the lead at the drop of the green. As Chrysler fell back and found himself in a short battle with series points leader Jipp Ortiz, aboard his Josh-Comp Monte Carlo. Also moving up was Joey Ladouceur, who grabbed third on lap four, just before the first yellow flew when Chrysler tagged the front stretch wall and slowed on the track.
The restart saw Joe Santono spin on the front stretch scattering cars every which way. Involved in the melee were Tom Kuck, Bill Pascual, Bob Buno and Jody Swamp, most of all who returned to the race.
Lazore still maintained his lead followed by Ortiz, Jamie McGannon, Ladouceur, Dave Schulz and Jim Langenback. On lap 11 the yellow returned when Brian Kotarski looped on the front straight causing Jerry Holmes and Wayne Ellison to come together.
Ortiz took the lead from Lazore on lap 16 when Lazore slowed in the fourth turn with a flat tire causing a yellow. Ladouceur tried his hand at passing Ortiz on the restart but fell short tying to use a outside pass. The yellow flew for the fifth time on lap 19 when Jody Swamp slowed in the second turn.
Ladouceur tried to pass Ortiz again, as did Schulz as the trio went three wide exiting the fourth turn. Ladouceur proved the better taking the lead on lap 20. Three laps later Schulz spun off the first turn to bring out yet another yellow. This moved Pete Stefanski into third.
The top three again tried a three wide on lap 25, with Ortiz taking the outside line and Stefanski the low line. Ortiz proved the winner of this move. Two laps later Ladouceur retook the lead with a low side pass in the second turn.
On the final lap Ortiz pulled high in the third turn and push hard to grab the lead at the finish line by just inches over Ladouceur. Stefanski came home in third followed by Chad Homan and Lee Burnett.
The BOSS Street Stock Series was on hand for a 20-lap feature. The 42 cars on hand were whittled down to the 26 starters through a number of qualifying races including a B-Main. The top three finishers in the four heat races redrew to determine the starting line up. Mark Loveland drew the pole with Nat Peckham taking the outside pole.
On the start Loveland took the lead . Russ Marsden, who started in eighth, was quickly on the move despite two early lap yellows. On lap two the yellow flew when Chris Cunningham spun in the fourth turn. One lap later the yellow flew when fifth place runner Mike Welch spun on the back stretch and Dion Oakes slowed in the second turn.
When all of the smoke had cleared Blane Smith was the leader, on lap four followed by Loveland, Marsden and Dave Mannise. Marsden passed Loveland for second on lap six and took off after Smith. On lap seven he caught and passed Smith for the lead.
The race would remain green for the final seventeen laps. Marsden began to show signs of blue smoke coming from under his car but maintained a seven car lead over Smith. During the final ten laps Marsden actually began to lengthen his lead some over Smith.
Mike Minutolo began to move through the pack, taking eighth on lap 12. Big Mike would spin on the final lap dropping him back to a 22nd place finish. Marsden took the win followed by Smith, Mannise, Loveland and Dave Pope in fifth.
Pit Notes: Car counts for day one of the Dynomax World Series of DIRT Track Racing were impressive; 68 358-Modifieds, 60 Pro-Stocks, 42 Street Stocks and 37 Enduros, bringing the total car count to 207 cars in the pits...Twenty-five qualifying races were run followed by four feature races...Racing began at 3 pm in the afternoon and was completed by 10 p.m., giving the race fans on hand some five hours of auto racing...Pro-Stock heat winner Jim McGuigan had to leave the track early after being informned that his brother-in-law had been involved in a serious auto accident and was at Strong Hospital in Rochester...Earlier fears of hurricane Isabel were dashed when she passed through upstate NY with a whimper. The day dawned bight and sunny with a high temperature of 70, making for perfect race conditions. Day time races are not the best for race tracks as the surface turned dry and slick as the day went on causing many racers to search for the correct setup.
DYNOMAX WORLD SERIES WEEKEND DAY 1 SUMMARY
ENDURO
FEATURE (50-laps)- Top Five: GREG DeCHICK, Dan Hoffman Jr., Dan Hoffman Sr., Josh Hefti, Car 38.
STREET STOCKS
HEAT 1: D. Mannise, A. Depuy, R. Richter, D. Stolzenberg Jr., L. Lewis.
HEAT 2: R. Marsden, T. Burnell, N. Peckham, D. Atkins, B. Clark.
HEAT 3: D. Marcuccilli, M. Welch, D. Pope, E. Chapman, C. Bradley.
HEAT 4: B. Smith, M. Loveland, J. Bridge, D. Oakes, C. Terrance.
CONSI 1: C. Cunningham, N. Dandino.
CONSI 2: M. Minutolo, C. Cushman.
B-MAIN: N. Rizzo, M. Murphy.
FEATURE (20-laps): RUSS MARSDEN, Blane Smith, Dave Mannise, Mark Loveland, Dave Pope, Caleb Bradley, Dave Marcuccilli, Bill Clark, Dana Atkins, Chuck Cushman, Nick Rizzo, Carey Terrance, Leroy Lewis, Nick Dandino, Mike Welch, Chris Cunningham, Ron Richter, Adam Depuy, Mike Murphy, Nat Peckham, Tim Burnell, Mike Minutolo, Eric Chapman, Dave Stolzenberg Jr., Jeff Bridge, Dion Oakes.
PRO-STOCK
HEAT 1: J. Lazore, J. McGannon, J. Henry, B. Waters Jr.
HEAT 2: R. Chrysler, M. Williams, D. Schulz, W. Ellison.
HEAT 3: L. Burnett, J. Ladouceur, S. Kehr, C. Homan.
HEAT 4: J. Langenback, C. Morris, B. Beldon, B. Buno.
HEAT 5: J. McGuigan, M. Therrien, J. Santono, P. Hobbs.
HEAT 6: J. Ortiz, B. Henke, K. Smith, J. Mottoshiski.
CONSI 1: J. Clark, B. Pascual.
CONSI 2: J. Holmes, E. Grauveau.
CONSI 3: T. Kuck, S. Govertsen.
FEATURE (30-laps): JIPP ORTIZ, Joey Ladouceur, Pete Stefanski, Chad Homan, Lee Burnett, Jamie McGannon, Buddy Henke, Mike Williams, James Henry, Jeremy Clark, Marc Therrien, John Lazore, Scott Govertsen, Jim Langenback, Dennis Grauveau, Tom Kuck, Joe Mottoshiski, Patrick Hobbs, Bill Pascual, Roger Chrysler, Jerry Holmes, Dave Schulz, Brett Beldon, Brian Kotarski, Jody Swamp, Bob Waters Jr., Chris Morris, Kevin Smith, Steve Devos, Wayne Ellison, Bob Buno, Joe Santono, Scott Kehr.
358-MODIFIED
TIME TRIALS: Jack Johnson 21.978 (102.375 MPH), Pete Bicknell 21.992, Alan Johnson 21.998, Billy Decker 22.088, Mike Adderley 22.213, Steve Paine 22.245, Dale Planck 22.264, Jimmy Phelps 22.268, Brian McDonald 22.269, Matt Sheppard 22.360, Stewart Friesen 22.392, Jerry Higbie 22.433, Ryan Phelps 22.450, Chris Shultz 22.461, Pat Ward 22.467, Jason Barney 22.595, Tim Burnett 22.602, Todd Burley 22.604, Bob McCreadie 22.693, Vic Coffey 22.708, Justin Haers 22.744, Danny Johnson 22.796, Brett Hearn 22.805, Ted Lamb Jr. 22.848, Chad Brachmann 22.856, Paul Kinney 22.889, Perry Francis 22.891, Chris Ostrowsky 22.914, Pierre Dagenais 22.934, Scott Ferrier 22.945, Mike Schane 22.949, Alan Shiffler 22.961, Don Spatorico 22.977, Dave VanHorn Jr. 22.979, Tim Fuller 23.066, Ron Cartwright Jr. 23.067, Mike Bliss 23.070, Ben Bushaw 23.088, Steve Hulsizer 23.093, Matt DeLorenzo 23.102, Mitch Gibbs 23.128, Jerry Pennock Jr. 23.147, Ryan Baye 23.149, Todd Stewart 23.174, Eric Gauvreau 23.175, Rich Swarthout 23.182, Todd Milton 23.199, Rick Richner 23.218, Brian Malcom 23.222, Chuck Bower 23.257, Randy Chrysler 23.322, Tom Barron 23.324, Mike Ward 23.348, Dave Reilly 23.352, Eldon Payne Jr. 23.378, Dave Rauscher 23.405, Kevin Crave 23.747, Tom Juhl 23.759, Alex Hoag 23.832, Denny Young Jr. 23.854, Jim Lazore 24.350, Derrick Podsiadlo 24.633, Don Slover 25.844,Tim McCreadie(dq)22.019, Ron Cartwright Sr.(dq)23.594, Ronnie Johnson NT, Ron White NT, Donnie Wetmore Jr. NT
HEAT 1: A. Johnson, P. Ward, S. Hulsizer.
HEAT 2: B. Decker, M. Sheppard, J. Barney.
HEAT 3: S. Friesen, B. Hearn, T. Fuller.
HEAT 4: J. Higbie, S. Paine, T. Burley.
HEAT 5: D. Planck, B. McCreadie, R. Baye.
HEAT 6: J. Phelps, C. Shultz, V. Coffey.
CONSI 1: J. Haers, R. Chrysler.
CONSI 2: D. Johnson, C. Brachmann.
CONSI 3: T. McCreadie, C. Bower.
FEATURE (100-laps): BILLY DECKER, Alan Johnson, T. Fuller, Jimmy Phelps, Brett Hearn, Tim McCreadie, Matt Sheppard, Pat Ward, Dale Planck, Chad Brachmann, Todd Burley, Pete Bicknell, Danny Johnson, Ryan Baye, Jerry Higbie, Pierre Dagenais, Alex Hoag, Steve Hulsizer, Bob McCreadie, Vic Coffey, Chuck Bower, Ron White, Randy Chrysler, Stewart Friesen, Ted Lamb Jr., Ryan Phelps, Mitch Gibbs, Jack Johnson, Justin Haers, Steve Paine, Chris Shultz, Jason Barney.