Racing beats out Mother Nature at Dunn Tire Raceway Park

BY: Lori Overdorf

The storm was moving in towards the end of the night at Dunn Tire Raceway Park , with a fantastic lightning show to the south of the speedway, but Mother Nature held off long enough until the racing was completed, with the rain literally arriving in the final Victory Lane celebration of the night.

The night was full of action as Matt Druar recorded his first career win with a victory in the Thiel Motorsports 4 Cylinders, John Julicher Jr. charged to another win in the Able Agency Street Stocks, Erick Rudolph continued his domination of the Lorigo Insurance SST Sportsman with another visit to Victory Lane, Todd Hoddick was able to shake off some early season mishandling issues and grab the win in the Bobcat of Buffalo Late Model division, and Sege Fidanza won the 50 lap Modified main event.

Up first on Kids Day at Dunn Tire Raceway Park were the Thiel Motorsports Fast & Furious 4 Cylinders.  It was an all female front row with Kalie Clementi and Cassie McGrath leading the field to green.  The top spot would be quickly contested as Matt Druar began challenging after moving up from his fifth starting position.  Druar, the son of legendary Modified competitor Tommy Druar, took the lead on lap three.  It was not clear sailing for Druar as he had to contend with a strong challenge from Dan Roesch.  Druar won the battle and had built a distance between himself and the rest of the field when the checkered flag waved.  The win was an emotional win for Druar, whos father last visited Victory Lane in 1989.

The Able Agency Street Stocks were up next and put on quite a show for the crowd, with a race full of lead changes, three wide racing, and packs of cars racing hard.  Rick Ortwein took the lead from his pole starting position on the first lap of the feature but was immediately under heavy pressure from the rest of the field.  Matt Jurek, who had started seventh, moved up to lead the second lap.  Jureks hold on the top spot was short lived though as John Hewson, who had started twelfth, grabbed a hold of the lead.  Lap eleven saw the races final lead change as the hard charging John Julicher Jr. battled his way into the lead.  Behind him the pack of Ortwein, Jurek, Cory Gallagher, Jim Bryant, John Hewson, and Jim Stein were running in a very close pack.  Julicher was able to maintain his lead, even with two late race cautions that put the field right at his bumper.  A last lap charge by John Hewson lead to an exciting photo finish at the line, with Julicher taking the win by about two feet.

Erick Rudolph has become the dominant player in the Lorigo Insurance SST Sportsman division, as he is undefeated this season at Dunn Tire Raceway Park .  Eddie Murray started on the pole for the feature event and led the pack of nineteen cars for the first three laps.  Sherri Hogan inherited the lead on lap seven, but a yellow flag appeared and on the restart Rudolph, who had started tenth, was lined up to her outside.  At the drop of the green, Rudolph took command of the race and would not relinquish it.  As the laps clicked off, Rudolph build a lead over the field while Andy Jankowiak, Tom McGrath, Jon Price, and Jeff Price battled for second position on back.  Jankowiak and McGrath had a heated battle for second that ended on lap 20 when McGrath took sole possession of the position.  McGrath was unable to mount any kind of challenge for the leader and Rudolph cruised home to another SST Sportsman win.

Todd Hoddick has been uncharacteristically struggling this season in the Bobcat of Buffalo Late Model division.  However, the struggles seemed to have ended as Hoddick started on the pole and led every lap of the feature event to take home the win.  The race was not without challenges as Ron Nurmi, had had started to the outside of Hoddick, repeatedly looked Hoddick over, trying to find a way around the leader.  However, by the half was point of the race, Hoddick had managed to create some breathing room as Nurmi was now a car length behind him.  Further back the brothers Skora â€â€œ Rich and Scott â€â€œ battled for third and fourth position while Mark Pennell cruised in fifth.  As the laps clicked by, the cars settled into their respective running positions, and Hoddick took his first feature win of the season at Dunn Tire Raceway Park .

With the storm approaching, the McGard Modifieds took to the track for their 50 lap main event.  Starting on the front row were Dave Wollaber and Karl Hehr, while Sege Fidanza, Erick Rudolph, and Brett Scherrer rounded out the top five starters.  At the drop of the green, Hehr seemed to have some type of mechanical problem and dropped through the field, causing cars to scatter.  The race stayed green and Fidanza worked his way around Wollaber for the lead on lap one.  Wollaber lost two more positions as Billy Putney, who had started seventh, and Erick Rudolph got by him by lap six.  Putney began pressuring Fidanza for the lead, waiting for Fidanza to make the smallest mistake.  Fidanza, however, used lap cars to his advantage, creating breathing room between himself and Putney.  Further back in the field, Wilbur Hebing was on the move.  After starting fourteenth, he was up to the sixth position by lap 21.  At the halfway point of the feature event, Fidanza, Putney, and Rudolph had distanced themselves from fourth and fifth place Wollaber and McGrath, who is turn had some distance between themselves and sixth place Hebing.  Hebings day was cut short however as he developed an overheating problem and had to be parked.  With ten laps to go, the field was strung out as Fidanza and Putney had pulled away from Rudolph and Wollaber, McGrath, and Buck Catalano were about half a track behind the leader.  The race went green to checkers and Sege Fidanza led every lap to take home the win. 

Next week at Dunn Tire Raceway Park is the tracks 50^th Anniversary Celebration with the Race of Champions Asphalt Modified Tour in town for a 100 lap feature event.  In addition the Linda Tasca Memorial Street Stock 50 Lap event will be taking place.  There will also be a 25 lap event for the Super Stocks and a 50 lap event for the SST Sportsman.  Racing starts earlier than normal next week, with a 4pm start time.  For more information call 716-759-6818.

McGard Modified Feature Finish (6/21/08): Sege Fidanza, Billy Putney, Erick Rudolph, Dave Wollaber, Tom McGrath, Buck Catalano, Patsy Catalano, Chris Ridsdale, Brett Scherrer, Karl Hehr, Bill Mislin, Mark Tychoniewicz, Sean Oâ€â„¢Neill, Tom Weist, Wilbur Hebing, Dick Kluth, Rick Kluth, Kevin Lewis, Don Stevents

Lap Leaders:  Laps 1-50 Fidanza

Bobcat of Buffalo Late Model Feature Finish (6/21/08):  Todd Hoddick, Ron Nurmi, Rich Skora, Scott Skora, Mark Pennell, Richard Arndt, Rick Widmer  DQ: Matt Alix

Lap Leaders:  Laps 1-25 Hoddick

Heat Winner: Hoddick

Lorigo Insurance SST Sportsman Feature Finish (6/21/08): Erick Rudolph, Tom McGrath, Andy Jankowiak, Jon Price, Jeff Price, Tom MacLeod, Billy Putney, Craig Dolphin, Russ Gian, Frank Batista Jr., Eddie Murray, David Tedesco, Kevin Lewis, Sherri Hogan, Jerry Harding Jr., Dick Kluth, Rick Kluth, Scott Reese, Ed Schueler

Lap Leaders:  Laps 1-5 Murray ; Laps 6-7 Hogan; Laps 8-35 Rudolph

Heat Winners: Hogan, MacLeod

Able Agency Insurance Street Stock Feature Finish ( 6/21/08 ): John Julicher Jr., Jim Stein, Jim Bryant, Matt Jurek, Gary Bartella, Daryl McKay, Dave Frieder, Mike Maggiore, Kristopher Hamann, Joe Haley, Rick Ortwein, Paul Tessier, Steve Cochran, Bobby Hanel Jr., Bob Blaszak Jr., Debbie Jurek, Ed Nowak, Joe Light, Gary Denea, Scott Mutka, Cory Gallagher, Jeff Guidotti, Driver 54  DQ: John Hewson

Lap Leaders:  Lap 1 Ortwein; Lap 2 Jurek; Laps 3-10 Hewson; Laps 11-25 Julicher Jr.

Heat Winners: Gallagher, Julicher, Stein

Thiel Motorsports 4 Cylinder Feature Finish ( 6/21/08 ): Matt Druar, Tim Durfy, Tim Haniszewski Sr., Dan Roesch, Cassie McGrath, Dean Lenhart, Kalie Clementi, Tim Haniszewski Jr., Ken Hejna

Lap Leaders: Laps 102 McGrath; Laps 3-5 Druar; Lap 6 Roesch; Laps 7-20 Druar