Holmes Takes July 26th Cup Lites Debbie Graff Memorial
 Price Brothers 1-2 in Pro Mods

July 27, 2008
Third generation racer Bobby Holmes of Lockport, NY made a stirring last lap move to grab the lead and take the victory in the 60 lap Debbie Graff Memorial for the Cup Lites Series at the Holland NASCAR Motorsports Complex on Saturday evening, July 26th. In the 40 lap NASCAR Sunoco SST Pro Modified go, Jeff Price of Buffalo, NY led brother Jonathon across the line for his first Holland win of the season.

In other action at the Western New York oval, T.J. Johnson of South Wales, NY took his first LAMOT Late Model main of the year, Jerry Kosmowski of Buffalo rolled to his first win of the year in the Carquest Charger main, Brandon Hirsch of Orchard Park, NY continued his undefeated streak in the Native Pride Pro Four feature race, and Eric Brown of Holland, NY earned his first career win in the Thiel Motorsports 4-cylinder Hornet race.

Jeff Moorehouse jumped into the lead at the opening green flag of the Debbie Graff Memorial Cup Lites headliner, with Bobby Holmes and Scott Wylie quickly moving forward to engage in a torrid battle for the runner-up slot. Moorehouse opened up a substantial lead, but a pair of caution flags at the lap 36 and 37 marks closed the filed. From the lap 38 re-start onward, Moorehouse was unable to shake Holmes, who consistently tried to find a line to clear Moorehouse. As the pair raced for the white flag, the two made some contact, as Holmes managed to get his Original Pizza Logs mount alongside of Moorehouse. Exiting turn two on that final lap, Holmes pulled out in front and kept Moorehouse at bay to hold a car length margin of victory at the checkers. Wylie completed a strong run with a third place showing.

The NASCAR Sunoco SST Pro Modified feature race had a number of twists and turns, as Chuck Anderson led the early stages, only to have Jason Kline and Justin Shepker get by on a lap 5 re-start. In the meantime, Jeff Price, Jon Price, Mike Fiebelkorn, Jr., and Joe Evans were making tracks through the field to move into the top six by lap 13. A lap 15 re-start following contact between Andy Jankowiak and Jeff Ruddy resulted in Kline getting loose in turn 3, handing the lead to Shepker, with Fiebelkorn, Evans, Price, and Price following. Jeff Price hustled his Price Trucking mount to second, and after Fiebelkorn and Evans made contact to bring out a lap 20 caution, Price took Shepker on the re-start and never looked back. Jonathon Price moved into second two laps later, but could not catch his brother, as Jeff enjoyed a ˝ straightway lead at the checkers. Following second place Jonathon Price was Jankowiak, who made a nice comeback drive through the field after his early race incident and subsequent pit visit – Jankowiak just edged Fiebelkorn, who had a nice run back through the field himself, for the number three slot.

T.J. Johnson vaulted his Trank Real Estate Monte Carlo into the lead on the first lap, then held off a mid-race challenge from Mike Ticco for the win in the 15 lap LAMOT Late Model main. Ticco finished about 5 car lengths in back of Johnson, with Alan Fisher grabbing third.

Jerry Kosmowski survived an early race brush with the turn two wall to engage Tom Northem and Mark Hoch in a great race for the lead over the final 10 laps of the 30 lap Carquest Charger feature. Kosmowski managed to open up some ground over the final two laps to hold a three car length lead in his Delavan Auto Parts Olds over Northem at the checkers. Unfortunately for Northem, his carburetor did not survive post race tech inspection, so the official finishing order had two-time winner Mark Hoch in second and rookie Shawn Lafferty, in his strongest outing of the season, in third.

Brandon Hirsch needed thirteen laps to move to the front in the 25 lap Native Pride Pro Four main, working his Thiel Motorsports Nissan by Michelle Roberts for the top spot. Hirsch then had to survive a green-white-checker finish, with Nik Welshans putting on the pressure, in securing his fifth win in five starts this season. Welshans had his best run of the season to place second, while Chad Pusloski and Michelle Roberts also had their best finishes of the year, crossing the line in third and fourth.

Eric Brown and Ashley Kirchberger had an intense race for the lead going in the 30 lap feature for the Thiel Motorsports Hornets, before Brown was able to grab the point position for good on lap 17. Brown’s race wasn’t over with quite yet, however, as Mae Urban, coming off her first Hornet win a week earlier, made a late race run at Brown for the lead, but Brown was able to hold on for the win. Urban had to be content with a close second place finish, while Ricky Roth worked through the field the take third, just ahead of Kirchberger.

News and Notes – Speedway officials hustled the program along, getting the entire program completed in 2 hours 45 minutes – within 15 minutes after the final checkered flag, rain was falling on the grounds … Buffalo Sports Day was celebrated at the Complex, as former Buffalo Sabres stars Rick Martin, Rene Robert, and Rob Ray, and former Buffalo Bills stars Ernie Warlick, Booker Edgerson, and Lou Piccone, met fans and signed autographs while enjoying a night at the races.


RESULTS SUMMARY – 7/26/08:

CUP LITES SERIES – Debbie Graff Memorial (60 laps): 1. (started 3rd) BOBBY HOLMES, 2. (2) Jeff Moorehouse, 3. (5) Scott Wylie, 4. (10) Nelson Rung, 5. (9) Dave Bitner, 6. (7) Dennis Tybor, 7. (4) Taylor Holdaway, 8. (12) Gary Walker, 9. (6) Jeremy Ratajczak, 10. (11) Dan Tybor, 11. (8) Jason Keen, 12. (1) Dave Whittaker. Heat Race Winners: Taylor Holdaway, Bobby Holmes.

NASCAR Sunoco SST PRO MODIFIEDS (40 laps): 1. (started 13th) JEFF PRICE, 2. (9) Jonathon Price, 3. (14) Andy Jankowiak, 4. (8) Mike Fiebelkorn, Jr., 5. (10) Joe Evans, 6. (6) Justin Shepker, 7. (2) Chuck Anderson, 8. (7) Don King, 9. (11) Patti Pruitt, 10. (1) Tim Welshans, 11. (5) Jeff Ruddy, 12. (4) Jason Kline, 13. (15) Mike Bliss, 14. (12) Dave Tedesco, 15. (3) Mike Stevenson.

LAMOT LATE MODELS (15 laps): 1. (started 4th) T.J. JOHNSON, 2. (1) Mike Ticco, 3. (5) Alan Fisher, 4. (3) Nick Crassi, 5. (2) Bryce Davis, 6. (6) Jason Gwin.

Carquest CHARGERS (30 laps): 1. (started 10th) JERRY KOSMOWSKI, 2. (12) Mark Hoch, 3. (6) Shawn Lafferty, 4. (11) Jim Loffredo, 5. (7) Matt Welshans, 6. (13) Paul Alberti, 7. (14) Joe Fetzer, 8. (15) Marty Hughes, 9. (5) Al Grimmer, 10. (1) Rich Carnes, 11. (9) Bryant Burns, 12. (3) Donnie Aquino, 13. (2) Mark Harsch, 14. (4) Ted Welshans. (DQ – Tom Northem – started 8th.)

Native Pride PRO FOURS (25 laps): 1. (started 9th ) BRANDON HIRSCH, 2. (7) Nik Welshans, 3. (4) Chad Pusloski, 4. (1) Michelle Roberts, 5. (8) Jason Eck, 6. (5) J.D. Roberts, 7. (10) James Steins, 8. (3) Bob Marzec, 9. (2) Mike Eckam, 10. (6) Josh Hathaway.

Thiel Motorsports HORNETS (30 laps): 1. (started 5th) ERIC BROWN, 2. (13) Mae Urban, 3. (17) Ricky Roth, 4. (4) Ashley Kirchberger, 5. (16) George Quintana, 6. (10) Bill Lutz, 7. (12) Frank Nellist, 8. (19) Eric Marzec, 9. (14) Jammer Mueckl, 10. (15) Jeff Szafraniec, 11. (7) Peter Hauser, 12. (9) Scott Pastorius, 13. (2) Samantha Lutz, 14. (11) Ben Russo, 15. (8) Joe Mastrocicco III, 16. (6) Butcher Palmer, 17. (1) Joe Merlino, 18. (18) Jason Adams, 19. (3) Waylon Price. (Did Not Start: Noreen Koningisor.)