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Hossfeld Captures RoC 100 Win |
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Rigan Takes First Late Model Feature |
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By: Lori Overdorf |
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August 24, 2008 |
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Lancaster, NY – Once again Mother Nature was an unwelcome guest at Dunn Tire Raceway Park as she made her presence known with an intense thunderstorm just two races into DTRP’s “Super Sunday Showdown”. However, the two premier races of the day were run first in the program and they produced a first time feature winner in the Late Model 50 lap event and a hometown hero taking another win at his hometrack in the Race of Champions 100 lap race. A stellar field of Bobcat of Buffalo Late Models were on hand for the event with many DTRP veterans, Lake Erie Speedway invaders, and some competitors who had never raced at the speedway before. The field was set from a previous rainout and new cars were added by a draw to the tail of the field. Dave “Doc” Rigan started from the pole position with Matt Alix, George Skora, Jeff Brown, and Scott Nurmi rounding out the rest of the top five starters. At the drop of the green it was Rigan to the lead and he immediately began building a lead on the field. Ron Nurmi, from his sixth place starting spot, moved up into to second to challenge the leader but he was no match for Rigan who was racing at a blistering speed. Also on the move through the field were Scott Skora, Bobby Weber, and George Skora. R. Nurmi meanwhile was sliding back through the field as he was passed by S. Skora and Weber by the halfway point in the race. The top five cars strung out single file but not for long as G. Skora challenged R. Nurmi for the fourth running position and Weber closed in on S. Skora for second. G. Skora took the spot from R. Nurmi but Weber did not have the same luck with S. Skora as Skora held his position. All of this happened well behind leader Rigan as he was sailing around the track. His lead suddenly vanished though as a lap 45 yellow flag appeared for a spun car. On the restart Rigan now had S. Skora, Weber, G. Skora, and R. Nurmi right on his bumper. Rigan didn’t get a very good start at the drop of the green and bobbled slightly but he recovered and pulled away from the field once again. Rigan went on to his first career feature win and also gained a guaranteed starting spot in the Late Model feature event at the Race of Champions in September at Oswego Speedway. Next up was the McGard “Mighty” Modifieds in the Race of Champions Tour 100 lap main event. Once again the field was set from a previous rainout and 27 cars were on hand to take the green flag. Leading the field to green was pole sitter Buck Catalano who was followed by Erick Rudolph, Todd Smith, Sege Fidanza, Pete Brittain, and Chuck Hossfeld. As the green flag waved, Catalano and Rudolph began a side by side battle for first place, with Catalano eventually winning the battle and Rudolph settling into second. Fidanza and Hossfeld ran hard for the third spot with Hossfeld eventually dropping back behind Fidanza. The top three of Catalano, Rudolph, and Fidanza ran single file and began pulling away from the rest of the pack. Tire management was apparent in the early goings of the race as teams looked to conserve their tires for the later stages of the race. The first yellow on lap 24 set a contingent of teams to the pits for a right rear tire change. Those going pitside included Rudolph, Hossfeld, Matt Hirschman, Dave Wollaber, Jan Leaty, Rick Kluth, and Mike Leaty. The double file restart that ensued mixed up the middle of the pack but Catalano, Fidanza, Brittain, and Billy Putney remained up front. Catalano began building a large lead on second place Fidanza as the cars with fresh tires began their charge back through the field. In just three laps Hossfeld moved from 14th to the 8th position while J. Leaty followed behind him. Hossfeld wasted no time in dispatching TJ Potrzebowski for fourth position on lap 33 and was looking to move by Putney for the third spot when contact between the two cars sent Hossfeld back to fifth. Hossfeld now had Rudolph right behind him and the two set sail for the lead, passing Potrzebowski and Putney and setting their sights on second place Fidanza. Before another pass could be made the yellow flag appeared on lap 47 and Fidanza, Putney, Potrzebowski, Daren Scherer, Brittain, and a host of others headed pitside for a pit stop. The lap 52 restart now put Hossfeld, with a fresher tire, behind Catalano who had not yet pitted. Rudolph, Hirschman, Kluth, and J. Leaty followed. On the restart Hossfeld immediately made his move and went to the outside of Catalano for the lead. Rudolph, Hirschman, and Kluth eventually followed, taking second, third, and fourth position, relegating Catalano to fifth. Hossfeld began building a lead right away as Rudolph coasted behind him in second. A heated battle for third took place as Hirschman tried protecting his position from a hard charging Kluth. The cars to watch were a bit further back though as Putney and Fidanza were charging through the field with fresh tires. By lap 73 they were up to 8th and 9th place and showing no signs of slowing down. Also on the move up front was Mike Leaty who passed Catalano for 6th and then J. Leaty for fifth position. However fresher tires prevailed over the Leaty’s as they were both passed by Putney and Fidanza after a single file restart on lap 81. Putney gained the fourth position from Kluth who was also then passed by Fidanza. Hirschman was the hard charging duo’s next target although Hirschman proved to be a hard car to pass with just ten laps remaining in the race. Fidanza made the move to the high side and passed both Putney and Hirschman to slot into the third spot. With just five laps left in the race Hossfeld was slowing slightly as his tires began to give way, but a battle for second between Rudolph and Fidanza helped him maintain a lead on the field. With two laps to go, Fidanza went high on Rudolph for second but lost the handle a bit in turn two and slotted back into third place. Hossfeld held onto the lead and took home his second win in two weeks at Dunn Tire Raceway Park. Rain once again shortened the race program. Details will be announced shortly on the rescheduled events. For more info visit www.dunntireracewaypark.com, call the track office at 716-759-6818, or contact Lori Overdorf, Director of Stock Car Events, at 716-207-2824.
RESULTS Bobcat of Buffalo Feature Finish (8/24/08): Dave Rigan, Scott Skora, Bobby Weber, Ron Nurmi, George Skora, Jeff Brown, Mark Pennell, Tommy Cloce, Richard Arndt, Lee Gill, DJ King, Rick Widmer, Frank Green, Scott Nurmi, Matt Alix, Joe Carbone, Bill Catania, Dan Habuda, Todd Hoddick Race of Champions Modified Tour Feature Finish (8/24/08): Chuck Hossfeld, Erick Rudolph, Sege Fidanza, Matt Hirschman, Billy Putney, Daren Scherer, Tom McGrath, Rick Kluth, Mike Leaty, Jan Leaty, John Markovic, Terry Cheetham, Brett Scherrer, Pete Brittain, Todd Smith, TJ Potrzebowski, Mark Tychoniewicz, Karl Hehr, Buck Catalano, Jimmy Zacharias, Chris Ridsdale, Tom Wiest, Jim Storace, Dave Wollaber, Kevin Lewis, TJ Zacharias, Matt Clemens
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