Lancaster, NY – It was Spirit Night at Dunn Tire Raceway Park and Dan Roesch, Derek Wagner, Jay Mudra, John Hewson, and Craig Dolphin were cheered onto to Victory Lane by their fans in the stands.  The night also capped off the Thiel Motorsports 4 Cylinders points battle, with Matt Druar, son of the legendary Modified driver Tommy Druar, taking home his first championship.

            The night’s action began with the first of two 20 lap Thiel Motorsports 4 Cylinder features.  The field was set by the three week handicapping system and it was an all female front row as Cassie McGrath and Kalie Clementi lead the field to green.  McGrath lead the first lap but Clementi powered by her to take control of the top spot just one lap later.  Clementi held onto the lead until lap six when the hard charging Dan Roesch took over the top running position and started pulling away from the field.  By the halfway point, Roesch had a considerable lead over Tim Haniszewski Jr., Clementi, and Tim Durfy.  Matt Druar was working his way back up through the field after being sent tail for contact early in the race.  With just five laps to go Druar had managed to work his way up to the fifth spot, but the laps expired before he could challenge for any more positions.  Roesch cruised on to take his first win of the season.  With another 4 Cylinder feature scheduled for a short time later, Roesch was asked to pull a chip that would either invert the top six, eight, or ten finishers or the entire field from the first race to fill the lineup for the second race.  Roesch pulled the chip and the entire field was going to be inverted for the second feature.

            With the last place cars starting first and the first place cars starting last, the second 4 Cylinder feature was more exciting than the first.  Second place points holder Tim Haniszewski Sr. started on the pole and was hoping to rebound from his poor finish in the first feature to give Druar a run for his money for the championship.  Haniszewski Sr. however was quickly overtaken by Jesse Baker for the lead after the drop of the green flag.  Baker’s lead was short lived however as third place starter Derek Wagner rocketed into the lead.  Soon Wagner, Drew Baker, and Don Brzezowski were pulling away from fourth place Haniszewski Sr. and Druar.  Wagner set a torrid place as he cruised around the inner oval and through the field of cars.  Wagner scored an impressive win as he took home the last regular season 4 Cylinder feature win.  Tim Haniszewski Sr. was unable to rebound points wise in the second feature and Matt Druar was crowned the 2008 Thiel Motorsports 4 Cylinder Champion. 

            Next up were the always competitive Super Stocks, who often times put on the best side by side racing of the night.  Leading the field to green was polesitter JW Flagler, who was followed by Dave Johnson, Jay Mudra, Kyle Sharpe, and Jeff Merritt.  Flagler immediately took control of the lead after the drop of the green flag.  This left Johnson and Mudra to battle side by side for the second place position.  Mudra cleared Johnson and set his sights on the leader.  A yellow flag on lap five realigned the field for the restart and Flagler and Mudra re-started side by side in the front row.  Mudra took advantage of the restart and slotted into the lead ahead of Flagler on lap six and immediately began putting distance between himself and the rest of the field.  Johnson began a charge on the outside of second place Flagler and tried to make the outside groove work for his racecar. However, Flagler held his spot and Johnson was forced to slot in behind him in third running position.  At the halfway point, Mudra had a considerable lead over Flagler, Johnson, and Sharpe but a late race caution on lap 16 took away any lead Mudra had.  The yellow had been displayed for Flagler who had made contact with Johnson and both were sent tail for the incident.  This left Sharpe right on the back bumper of Mudra and on the restart Sharpe got a strong run on the leader.  Mudra however bounced back and with two laps to go regained a slight amount of breathing room over Sharpe.  Mudra held onto the lead and took home his second feature win of the season at Dunn Tire Raceway Park.

            The Able Agency Street Stocks were the next division to take to the race track and they were set for a 50 lap feature race.  After a front stretch introduction the cars roared to life at the command of Pete Tasca of Able Agency Insurance, and Jeff Guidotti, Ed Nowak, Gary Bartella, Rick Ortwein, and Kristopher Hamman led the field to the green flag.  Guidotti took control the lead  while the rest of the pack sorted themselves out.  By lap ten Guidotti held a 10 car length lead over the rest of the field including second place Ortwein, third place Scott Mutka, fourth place Matt Jurek, and fifth place Jim Bryant.  A double file restart on lap 13 changed the complexion of the race as there was now three wide racing throughout the field for position.  Guidotti once again took control of the lead and left Ortwein and Mutka to battle it out for the second spot.  Mutka cleared Ortwein, who started falling back through the field, and tried closing in on the leader Guidotti.  However, before Mutka could challenge for the lead, Bryant had closed the gap between second and third place and was now all over Mutka for the second running position.  By the halfway point of the race, Guidotti still led but he now had Bryant right behind him in second and right on his bumper.  The top six of Guidotti, Bryant, Mutka, John Julicher Jr., John Hewson, and Matt Jurek ran nose to tail, which caused major problems on lap 30 as the leaders hit lap traffic.  As Guidotti got hung up with lap traffic, Bryant slipped by and into the lead.  As the rest of the top runners followed, they tried to split around lap traffic, causing a pile up on the front stretch.  Julicher received the hardest hit and was out of the race.  After the lap 31 restart, Bryant maintained control of the lead.  However, Hewson was on a tear through the field as he vaulted from fourth to second in half a circuit around the speedway.  Hewson began to work over Bryant for the lead but Bryant was able to hang on until a restart with just ten laps to go gave Hewson just the opportunity he was looking for.  Hewson immediately jumped into the lead, relegating Bryant to second and Mutka third.  Another late race caution bunched up the field behind the leader, but Hewson had an extremely strong car and cruised to his second win in two weeks.

            The Lorigo Insurance SST Sportsman closed out the nights action with a 50 lap feature event of their own.  Craig Dolphin was on the pole and he had Russ Gian, Steve West, Tom McGrath, and Andy Jankowiak following right behind him.  Dolphin took the early lead in the race and had Gian right on his bumper while Jankowiak and McGrath battled side by side for third.  The side by side battle got a little too close though and contact was made between Jankowiak and McGrath on lap ten.  McGrath slid through the infield and was done for the night and Jankowiak was sent tail for his involvement.  The double file restart had Dolphin on the point while Gian, Nick Cappelli, former Cup Lite driver Brian Weisenberg, and Steve West behind him.  The top four split away from the rest of the field at the drop of the green and further back Jankowiak was charging back up through the field.  By lap 20 Jankowiak had caught back up to the front four and began challenging Weisenberg for the fourth position.  By the halfway point in the feature Dolphin had a solid lead over Cappelli, Gian, Jankowiak, and Weisenberg.  Just three laps later though the yellow flag was displayed again for contact between Gian and Jankowiak.  Both were sent tail for bringing out the yellow flag and Jankowiak once again began working his way back up through the field.  Up front former multi-time track champion Nick Cappelli was applying heavy pressure to Dolphin for the lead.  However, Dolphin held his spot and remained in the top running position.  With just ten laps to go Jankowiak was back up to third and was closing quickly on Cappelli who in turn was all over the leader Dolphin.  As Jankowiak began challenging Cappelli for second, Dolphin was able to create a small bit of breathing room.  As the 50^th lap clicked off, it was Craig Dolphin across the finish line first for his first win of the season at Dunn Tire Raceway Park.

            Next week on Saturday, September 6^th at Dunn Tire Raceway Park it is Fan & Driver Appreciation Night and Championship Night for the TQ Midgets, Street Stocks, SST Sportsman, Late Models, and Modifieds.  For more information visit www.dunntireracewaypark.com or call the speedway at 716-759-6818.

 RESULTS

Thiel Motorsports Feautre #1 Finish (8/30/08): Dan Roesch, Tim Haniszewski Jr., Tim Durfy, Matt Druar, Dean Siminski, Keith Flanigan, Kalie Clementi, Drew Baker, Steffanie Sigler, Don Brzezowski, Cassie McGrath, Drew Gunther, Mike Tedesco, Derek Wagner, Jesse Baker, Tim Haniszewski Sr.  DNS: Ken Hejna

 Lap Leaders:  Lap1 McGrath; 2-5 Clementi; 6-20 Roesch

 Thiel Motorsports Feature #1 Finish (8/30/08): Derek Wagner, Jesse Baker, Don Brzezowski, Don Roesch, Tim Hanisewsk Sr., Tim Haniszewski Jr., Matt Druar, Ken Hejna, Tim Durfy, Keith Flanigan, Kalie Clementi, Dean Siminski, Steffanie Sigler, Cassie McGrath, Drew Gunther  DNS:  Drew Baker, Mike Tedesco

 Lap Leaders:  Laps 1-6 J. Baker; 7-20 Wagner

Super Stock Feature Finish (8/30/08): Jay Mudra, Kyle Sharpe, Jeff Merritt, Dave Milbrand, Tony Pangrazio, Dave Johnson, Rick Ortwein, Jay Canonico, JW Flagler, Tim Garlock  DNS: Pete Pieczynski

 Heat Winner: Flagler

 Lap Leaders:  Laps 1-5 Flagler; 6-20 Mudra

Able Agency Insurance Street Stock Feature Finish (8/30/08): John Hewson, Jim Bryant, Scott Mutka, Cory Gallagher, Jeff Guidotti, Kristopher Hamman, Mike Maggiore, Rick Ortwein, Dave Frieder, Jim Stein, Matt Jurek, Moose Rutherford, Gary Bartella, Ed Nowak, Kevin Mendel, Gary Light, Paul Tessier, Joe Light, Don DeVille, Gary Denea, Steve Cochran, Debbie Jurek, Andy Cryan, John Julicher Jr., Shane Porter, Chris Downing, Jim Ling, Joe Haley, Bob Blaszak Jr.  DNS: Mike Nash

 Heat Winners:  Guidotti, M. Jurek, Mutka

Lap Leaders:  Laps 1-31 Guidotti; 32-40 Bryant; 41-50 Hewson

Lorigo Insurance SST Sportsman Feature Finish (8/30/08): Craig Dolphin, Nick Cappelli, Andy Jankowiak, Brian Weisenberg, Kevin Lewis, Russ Gian, Steve West, Frank Batista Jr., Sherri Hogan, Tom MacLeod, Tom McGrath, David Tedesco  DNS: Jeff Price, Ed Schueler

 Heat Winners: Jankowiak, Dolphin 

Lap Leaders: Laps 1-50 Dolphin