For the fifth time this season, weather played the determining
role in a scheduled racing program at the Holland Motorsports
Complex. The skies opened during a caution flag period with 24
laps complete in the NorthEast Late Model Racing Series Kayak
Pools 100 on Saturday evening, July 12th, forcing postponement of
the balance of the race. The remaining 76 laps has been
tentatively scheduled to be run on Saturday, August 30th, as a
prelude to the Late Model Budweiser 100, setting up a major day of
racing for area Late Models.
In the racing action which was completed prior to the rains moving
in, Jonathon Price of Colden, NY and Joe Evans of Holland shared
the victories in the double 40-lap mains for the NASCAR Sunoco SST
Pro Modifieds, Mark Hoch of West Seneca, NY raced to his second
consecutive Carquest Charger win, and Dave Wollaber of Lockport,
NY sped to the win in the feature race for the visiting Casey’s
TQ Midget Series. Chris Bailey, Jr. of South Park, PA scored his
first victory in 2 years in the INEX Legends event, Brandon Hirsch
of Orchard Park, NY continued his undefeated 2008 Native Pride Pro
Four streak, and Scott Pastorius of Yorkshire, NY earned his first
Alliance Auto Recycling Figure 8 Car win of the season.
Twenty-six starters took the green in the Kayak Pools 100, with
Jimmy Weller III and George Skora III engaged in a good race for
the top slot over a tight pack of racers. On lap 24, contact
between the leaders in turn three resulted in the pair getting out
of shape, triggering a major scramble behind - when the spinning
and banging had finally settled, a total of 11 cars were in some
way involved in the incident. While track crews were cleaning up
the aftermath and scorers were trying to establish the proper
running order for the re-start, Mother Nature arrived, forcing the
early curtailment to the evening. When the race resumes on the
re-scheduled date, Todd Hoddick will be leading the field to the
lap 25 green.
The NASCAR Sunoco SST Pro Modifieds led off the evening with the
rain-delayed 40 lap main event from June 21st. Chuck Anderson and
Tim Welshans battled for the lead early before Anderson finally
settled in to the top spot on lap 13. However, multi-time champ
Neil Hopkins blasted from third to first on a lap 16 re-start, and
soon found company in the form of the Price Trucking machine of
Jonathon Price, who had moved from his 12th starting spot into
second on lap 24. Price began to close on Hopkins, and used a late
race caution flag (for Anderson, who got into the front chute wall
hard on lap 37) to set up a challenge for the spot. On the
re-start, the lead pair made contact in turn one, with Hopkins
getting way out of shape and Price saving his car to grab the
lead. Before the lap was over, Hopkins and Joe Evans would get
together, bringing out another yellow, and setting up a two lap
dash to the checkers. This put Bobby Holmes in a position to
challenge Price, but Price would be up to the task, holding off
Holmes by a car length for the win. Mike Fiebelkorn, Jr. came back
from a mid-race pit visit to claim third.
In the regularly scheduled 40 lap main for the NASCAR Sunoco SST
Pro Modifieds, Jason Kline lead the first 17 circuits, until the
only caution of the race, for a Don King spin, bunched the field.
On the restart, teen-aged racer Joe Evans, who started his stock
car racing career from scratch mid-way through 2007, darted his
Price Trucking Troyer around Kline, then held off a late challenge
from Mike Fiebelkorn, Jr. to record his first ever Holland
victory. Neil
Hopkins rolled to a third place finish.
Mike Flaig and Jerry Kosmowski led the 20 car field to the green
in the 30 lap Carquest Charger main, and engaged in a terrific
battle for the top slot over the first 11 go-rounds before
Kosmowski was able to firmly grab the number one position and
opened up a lead. However, 2007 champ Jim Loffredo and previous
winner Mark Hoch were on the move, with Loffredo moving into
second from his tenth starting postion on lap 15, and Hoch moving
to third (from his 12th starting position) a lap later. Hoch
worked his way by Loffredo on the 19th lap, then set out after
Kosmowski. A lap 23 yellow for an errant wheel from the Rich
Carnes machine gave Hoch the break he was looking for, and on the
re-start, he moved around Kosmowki for the point position. Another
yellow for a three car turn two scramble two laps later gave
Loffredo the opportunity to take Kosmowski for second on that
re-start, but Loffredo was unable to chase down Hoch over the
remaining five circuits. Hoch’s SPS Temporaries Mailbu enjoyed a
three car length margin of victory over Loffredo for his second
straight win, while Loffredo continued his perfect streak of 2008
second place finishes. Kosmowski crossed the stripe in third.
Bobby Holmes looked like he was on his way to another Holland
Casey’s TQ Midget Series win in that 20 lap dash, as he powered
under Jim Fleischman on lap 8 for the top spot. Holmes' teammate
Dave Wollaber and Mike Blair also moved by Fleischman, and began a
great tussle for second, while Holmes was doing his best to try to
distance himself from that pair. However, Holmes pushed his mount
too hard out of turn four on lap 15, brushing the wall, which
forced him to back off his pace. This gave Wollaber the chance to
race his Englewood Colllsion mount under Holmes a lap later and
speed away for the victory in his first Holland visit of the year.
Blair ended a fine run in second, while Charlie DiRosa was able to
sneak by the ailing Holmes ride off the final turn for third in
the caution-free race.
Brandon Hirsch patiently worked his Thiel Motorsports/Fiebelkorn
Collision Nissan forward from the ninth starting spot to motor by
J.D. Roberts for the top spot on lap ten in the 25 lap Native
Pride Pro Four main. Once out in front, Hirsch had little trouble
to roll way for a full straightaway margin of victory in the
caution-free race. Jason Eck took his second consecutive second
place finish, while Josh Hathaway grabbed third.
Chris Bailey, Jr. last visited victory lane anywhere in 2006 in
his last visit to Holland. In the Legends car borrowed from cousin
J.P. Weisser, Bailey made a return visit to Holland on Saturday
and graced victory lane once again in the 25 lap INEX Legends
main. Bailey found room to squeeze under New Jersey driver David
Polenz on lap 11, and kept Polenz at bay for the remainder of the
race for the honors. Another New Jersey racer, George Cushman,
scored the third place finish.
Scott Pastorius went from third to first on the initial lap of the
12 lap Alliance Auto Recycling Figure 8 Car race, then held off a
second half challenge from Jason Eck to break Eck’s winning
streak in the division. “Mad Mike” Eckam crossed the line to
finish third. Scott broke a long dry spell with the win, as he had
last taken a checkered flag in 2004.
News and Notes ... The start of the Kayak Pools 100 was delayed as
track crews scrambled to repair two banks of lights in turn three
which went dark - a generator was brought in to re-power one light
bank, which provided enough light in the turn to alleviate safety
concerns ... big night for the Place family, as Holland Competiton
Director Jim Place was celebrating a birthday, while his son Jim,
now residing in Raleigh, NC, came north with his Late Model to
compete in the Kayak Pools 100 ... a few additional SST Modified
Sportsman teams paid a visit to the facility get some laps on the
high banks before the July 19th George Decker Memorial.
REUSLTS SUMMARY - July 12, 2008
NORTHEAST LATE MODEL SERIES KAYAK POOLS 100 - halted by rain on
lap 24 - will be completed on August 30th.
Late Model Heat Race Results –
Heat 1: Dave Rigan, George Skora III, Scott Skora, Mark Pennell,
Bill Matuszak, Rich Skora, Nick Crassi, Jason Petri, Richard
Arndt.
Heat 2: Chris Ross, Glenn Gault, Jr., Jimmy Weller III, Dave
Heitzhaus, Bill Catania, Mike Fiebelkorn, Jr., Troy Miller, Jeff
Brown, Matt Barndt.
Heat 3: Will Thomas, Ron Nurmi, Todd Hoddick, Tyler Brown, Tommy
Reese, Jr., Jim Place, Joe Bizzaro, Joe Carbone.
NASCAR Sunoco SST PRO MODIFIEDS – rain delayed feature race from
June 21st (40 laps): 1. (started 12th) JONATHON PRICE, 2. (10)
Bobby Holmes, 3.. (7) Mike Fiebelkorn, Jr., 4. (4) Don King, 5.
(11) Jeff Ruddy, 6. (5) Joe Evans, 7. (2) Mike Stevenson, 8. (8)
Neil Hopkins, 9. (3) Chuck Anderson, 10. (6) Justin Shepker, 11.
(1) Tim Welshans, 12. (9) Jason Kline.
NASCAR Sunoco SST PRO MODIFIEDS – regularly scheduled feature
race (40 laps): 1. (started 3rd) JOE EVANS, 2. (7) Mike Fiebelkorn,
Jr., 3. (9) Neil Hopkins, 4. (11) Jonathon Price, 5. (5) Justin
Shepker, 6. (1) Jason Kline, 7. (6) Jeff Ruddy, 8. (14) Kevin
Lewis, 9. (12) Frank Batista, Jr., 10. (2) Tim Welshans, 11. (13)
Patti Pruitt, 12. (4) Mike Stevenson, 13. (8) Don King, 14. (10)
Bobby Holmes. (Did Not Start – Chuck Anderson, Jeff Price.)
Casey’s TQ MIDGET SERIES (20 laps): 1. (started 12th) DAVE
WOLLABER, 2. (6) Mike Blair, 3. (10) Charlie DiRosa, 4. (13) Bobby
Holmes, 5. (4) Jamie Collard, 6. (2) Jim Fleischman, 7. (8) Justin
Mapes, 8. (11) Dan Lawrence, 9. (15) Ryan Holland, 10. (5) Dean
McConnaughy, 11. (14) Paul Faleski, 12. (1) A.J. Hessler, 13. (3)
Wayne Turnbull, 14. (7) Johnathan Reid, 15. (9) Mark Schulz.
Carquest CHARGERS (30 laps): 1. (started 12th) MARK HOCH, 2. (10)
Jim Loffredo, 3. (2) Jerry Kosmowski, 4. (17) Joe Fetzer, 5. (8)
Tom Northem, 6. (9) Bryant Burns, 7. (11) Jim Mallaber, 8. (13) Al
Grimmer, 9. (5) Ted Welshans, 10. (19) Sean Dolan, 11. (7) Matt
Welshans, 12. (6) Shawn Lafferty, 13. (20) Chris Kline, 14. (1)
Mike Flaig, 15. (4) Donnie Aquino, 16. (15) Rich Carnes, 17. (3)
Mark Harsch, 18. (14) Paul Alberti, 19. (16) Joe Eck, 20. (18)
Jason Dieter
Native Pride PRO FOURS (25 laps): 1. (started 9th) BRANDON HIRSCH,
2. (8) Jason Eck, 3. (6) Josh Hathaway, 4. (1) J.D. Roberts, 5.
(5) Chad Pusloski, 6. (7) Nik Welshans, 7. (4) Bob Marzec, 8. (2)
Michelle Roberts, 9. (3) Mike Eckam.
INEX LEGENDS (25 laps): 1. (started 5th) CHRIS BAILEY, JR., 2. (2)
David Polenz, 3. (6) George Cushman, 4. (4) Jake Vernon, 5. (7)
Tim Hoegel, 6. (8) Brett Coon, 7. (3) Jeff Johnson, 8. (1) Jeremy
Haudricourt, 9. (9) Brett Sager.
Alliance Auto Recycling FIGURE 8 CARS (12 laps): 1. (started 3rd)
SCOTT PASTORIUS, 2. (4) Jason Eck, 3. (7) Mike Eckam, 4. (6) James
Steins, 5. (1) Waylon Price, 6. (2) Bill Lutz, 7. (5) Cassy
Newell.
|
 |
|