Hopkins, Fisher, Holmes, Mallaber Lead 2008 Opening Day Winner's List

Multi-time Holland champ Neil Hopkins of West Falls, NY put his experience on the high banks of the Holland NASCAR Motorsports Complex to use on Saturday evening, as he notched the 40-lap NASCAR Sunoco SST Pro Modified victory at the Western New York oval. Alan Fisher of West Valley, NY took the historic first ever win in the LAMOT Late Model main, while the versatile Bobby Holmes of Lockport, NY scored the victory in the Ralph Wissing Memorial for the Casey’s TQ Midget Series.

In other action on McKinley Mall opening night, Jim Mallaber of Gowanda, NY took the win in a thrilling Carquest Charger main, Brandon Hirsch of Orchard Park, NY copped the Native Pride Pro Four go, and Jason Eck captured the honors in the Alliance Auto Recycling Figure 8 Car event.

Neil Hopkins battled with Chuck Anderson and Jon Price early in the Pro Modified race, before finally opening up a lead by the lap 10 mark. However, Anderson powered around Hopkins on a lap 19 re-start, and Justin Shepker motored into second five laps later. This change would not last long, though, because as Shepker was pressuring Anderson for the lead on lap 29, he lost the handle of his racer in turn one and made contact with Anderson, while Hopkins played “dodge ‘em” and avoided the fray to re-take the lead.

Over the final eleven laps, Hopkins opened up a gap over the field in his Schrader Industrial Sales mount and held a five car length advantage over Price at the checkers. Defending track champ Mike Fiebelkorn, Jr. placed third.

In the first ever race for the LAMOT Late Models, Alan Fisher and Nick Crassi traded the lead early on before Fisher took the point position for good on lap 4 in his Plum Crazy Racing/Native Pride/Jim Dean’s Tire Sales Monte Carlo. T.J. Johnson made a late race run at Fisher, and off the final turn pulled alongside, but fell ½ a car length short at the checkers. Crassi crossed the stripe in third.

An engine problem forced Bobby Holmes to trailer his Pro Modified early, but he came out fast in his Vince Christiano-owned TQ Midget to capture the prestigious 20 lap Ralph Wissing Memorial. Danny Lawrence and Charlie DiRosa traded the lead early in the event before the “Team Vinny” cars of Holmes and Vince Christiano, Jr. came charging to the front. Christiano and Holmes managed to race by DiRosa for the lead just before a lap 11 caution, and on the re-start, Holmes blasted to the outside to get by his teammate for the top spot. At the checkers, Holmes held a ¼ straight lead over Christiano, with Cam Barber showing strength late in the race to get by DiRosa for third.

The 30 lap Carquest Charger feature literally had a slam-bang finish. Rob Miszczak seemed to have the car to beat over the first 2/3rds of the event, but on a lap 23 re-start, Jim Mallaber powered his A-Z Transmission / Mary Joyce Permit Service Monte Carlo around Miszczak for the top spot. Late race incidents knocked challenging Miszczak and Jerry Kosmowski from contention, and opened up an opportunity for defending divisional champ Jim Loffredo. Loffredo chased Mallaber down and on the final lap pulled to the inside. As the pair exited turn four for the checkers, contact was made, and the Mallaber and Loffredo cars locked together, sliding across the finish line at a 45 degree angle, with Mallaber’s car in front, and jointly just edging a charging Bryant Burns.

2007 Holland strictly stock Hornet champ Brandon Hirsch made his move to the Native Pride Pro Four class pay off quickly. Hirsch motored his Thiel Motorsports Nissan under Nik Welshans on lap 7, and drove away to hold a straightaway lead at the lap 25 checkers in the caution-free race. Welshans and Jason Eck had a good race for second, with Welshans holding the advantage at the finish.

Earlier, Eck, the defending Figure 8 Car champ, led start-to-finish to capture the opening day victory in that division. “Mad Mike” Eckam finished a distant second, while Scott Pastorius was third in the 12-lap, caution-free race.

News and notes -- A lot of “hot action” in the TQ Midget main, as a first lap incident saw the Mike Blair mount erupt in flames, while a bit later, Jim Fleischman had to deal with a flare up in his machine … Besides Bobby Holmes trailering his Pro Mod early, Joe Eck lunched an engine in his Charger during late afternoon hot laps, and Paul Faleski had to park his TQ Midget after a practice lap brush with the turn one wall … Scary moment in the Charger main when Jerry Kosmowski had his throttle stick while running with the lead pack – Jerry locked up the brakes and bounced off of the Rob Miszczak ride before slamming the turn 3 rail – fortunately, Kosmowski emerged uninjured … In order to set opening night feature race line-ups, qualifying heats were held in all but the LAMOT Late Models and the Figure 8 Cars – beginning next Saturday, racing will revert to a features-only format.


RESULTS SUMMARY – May 24, 2008

NASCAR Sunoco SST PRO MODIFIEDS (40 laps): 1. (started 3rd) NEIL HOPKINS, 2. (2) Jon Price, 3. (5) Mike Fiebelkorn, Jr., 4. (4) Justin Shepker, 5. (7) Joe Evans, 6. (10) Jeff Ruddy, 7. (8) Don King, 8. (1) Chuck Anderson, 9. (9) Mike Stevenson, 10. (6) Tim Welshans. (Did Not Start: Bobby Holmes.) Heat Race Winners: Justin Shepker, Mike Fiebelkorn, Jr.

LAMOT LATE MODELS (15 laps): 1. (started 2nd) ALAN FISHER, 2. (4) T.J. Johnson, 3. (1) Nick Crassi, 4. (5) Jason Gwin, 5. (4) Bryce Davis. No heat races run.

Casey’s TQ MIDGET SERIES – Ralph Wissing Memorial (20 laps): 1. (started 6th) BOBBY HOLMES, 2. (11) Vince Christiano, Jr., 3. (7) Camden Barber, 4. (1) Charlie DiRosa, 5. (10) Justin Mapes, 6. (3) Danny Lawrence, 7. (2) Mark Schulz, 8. (5) Dean McConnaughy, 9. (12) Jamie Collard, 10. (14) Drew Spurback, 11. (9) A.J. Hessler, 12. (13) Jim Fleischman, 13. (4) Wayne Turnbull, 14. (8) Mike Blair. (Did Not Start: Travis Novotny, Paul Faleski.) Heat Race Winners: Danny Lawrence, Bobby Holmes.

Carquest CHARGERS (30 laps): 1. (started 4th) JIM MALLABER, 2. (7) Jim Loffredo, 3. (3) Bryant Burns, 4. (6) Greg Miszczak, 5. (1) Mark Hoch, 6. (2) Rob Miszczak, 7. (8) Matt Welshans, 8. (11) Ted Welshans, 9. (13) Mark Harsch, 10. (5) Jerry Kosmowski, 11. (10) Tom Northem, 12. (12) Shawn Lafferty, 13. (9) Mike Flaig. (Did Not Start: Joe Eck.) Heat Race Winners: Jim Mallaber, Jerry Kosmowski.

Native Pride PRO FOURS (25 laps): 1. (started 8th) BRANDON HIRSCH, 2. (5) Nik Welshans, 3. (7) Jason Eck, 4. (6) Bob Marzec, 5. (3) Chad Pusloski, 6. (4) Mike Eckam, 7. (2) J.D. Roberts, 8. (1) Michelle Roberts, 9. (9) Josh Hathaway. Heat Race Winner: Brandon Hirsch.

Alliance Auto Recycling FIGURE 8 CARS (12 laps): 1. (started 1st) JASON ECK, 2. (4) Mike Eckam, 3. (6) Scott Pastorius, 4. (2) Sean McDonald, 5. (3) Waylon Price, 6. (7) Yvonne Alianell, 7. (5) Bill Lutz. No heat races run.