WILLIAMSON, NY…Andy
Jankowiak was finally able to put his number 57 NASCAR Weekly Modified
into victory lane last Friday at Spencer Speedway. “This feels really
good,” stated Jankowiak. “we finally got the job done.”
Jankowiak had three top fives, in eleven starts, so far this season going
into last Friday’s 35-lap feature. Jankowiak was also in the top ten,
ten times in those eleven starts.
Weekly Modified point leader Jeff Hamman was collected in an accident
during the feature run. He earned enough points to remain the divisional
point leader.
In the Street Stock 20-lapper, Don Stevens took feature win number four to
lead the way in track points. A number of past runners were on hand upping
the number of Street Stock competitors.
In the Super Sixes it was point leader Keith Butler stretching his lead
win another 20-lap feature win. “We have been working on the car all
week,” stated Butler. “The competition in this class seemed to be
improving each week.”
The 35-lap NASCAR Weekly Modified feature saw Jankowiak, who started on
the outside pole, grab the early lead with Steve Malin a close second. It
didn’t take very long for the first yellow to fly. On lap three, Ricky
Kluth seemed to have a motor give out and Phil Wehrheim slowed to a stop
on the back stretch.
A long green flag period allowed a tight battle for second to develop
between Ryan Beeman, Tony Hanbury, Kevin Timmerman and eventually Zack
Shove. Shove began charging towards the front, finally settling into third
by lap 15.
Up front Jankowiak was taking full advantage of the battle for second and
pulled out to a commanding lead.
On lap 22, something seemed to give way in the Shove car. Shove looped
around sending the fourth place car of Beeman off the third turn. Hamman,
running in sixth, had no place to go and slammed into the Shove car.
Safety crews had to transport Hamman for further observation.
When the race resumed Jankowiak was able to hold off last week’s feature
winner, Kevin Timmerman, to earn his first feature win at Spencer
Speedway. Hanbury, Buck Catalano and Daryl Lewis Jr. rounded out the top
five finishers.
“Last week we were a victim of circumstance,” commented Jankowiak in
reference to a lap 17 accident with Buck Catalano in the first turn that
saw both cars sent to the pits.
The 20-lap Street Stocks started off on a rocky foot as a first turn
yellow saw a number of cars involved in an accident including Mitchell
Wright, Dan Scott and Steve Greco.
Once underway it would be Don Stevens leading the entire 20-lap distance.
Only one additional yellow slowed the pace. On lap 13, Phil Alhart Jr.
slowed on the front stretch wand was hit by Duke Wolanski. Wolanski was
able to continue to the end of the race.
At the finish line it was Stevens followed by returning divisional
champion Jim Steffenhagen Jr. Scott, Wolanski and Wright rounded out the
top five finishers.
The Super Six 20-lap feature looked to go green-to-checkers until lap
eight when Bill Malin looped around in the fourth turn. Up front Keith
Butler led the way for all 20-laps. Skip Powers, Ryan Hillegeer, Craig
Butler and Van Grant rounded out the top five finishers.
SPENCER NOTES: Laps are on sale for both the Tour Type Modified 50-lap
feature and the NASCAR Weekly Modified 35 lap feature the August 22. A
“Lucky 15” format will be used in both races. This means a number will
be drawn for each lap between 1 and 15 to see which position will get the
lap money on that lap. Lap sponsors will be listed on both the
www.spencerspeedway.or and the www.raceny.com sites. For more information
about buying a lap you can call 716-207-2824 and ask for Lori….Mark
Cline turned his number 81 NASCAR Weekly Modified over to Matt Lees after
Lees hurt his engine in pre-race practice…The Race of Champions Tour
Type Modified race was won by Jan Leaty. For more information about this
event you can go to www.raceofchampions.net.
Spencer Speedway is located just fifteen minutes east of Rochester, NY,
along Route 104 in the Town of Williamson. Spencer Speedway is the local
“NASCAR Place to Race” for upstate New York. Points earned each week
at Spencer are counted into the national NASCAR Whelen All-American Series
championship. For more information about Spencer you can go to
www.spencerspeedway.org.
RACE OF CHAMPIONS NIGHT SUMMARY
SUPER SIXES
HEAT: K. Butler, S. Powers, C. Butler, P. Davenport, R. Hillegeer.
FEATURE (20-laps): KEITH BUTLER, Skip Powers, Ryan Hillegeer, Craig
Butler, Van Grant, Patti Davenport, Joe Bailey, Bill Malin.
STREET STOCKS
HEAT 1: D. Stevens, J. Steffenhagen Jr., M. Wright, B. Semmler.
HEAT 2: P. Alhart Jr., D. Wolanski, D. Scott, S. Greco.
FEATURE (20-laps): DON STEVENS, Jim Steffenhagen Jr., Dan Scott, Duke
Wolanski, Mitchell Wright, Billy Semmler, Nathan Worden, Phil Alhart Jr.,
Steve Greco.
NASCAR WEEKLY MODIFIEDS
HEAT 1: B. Catalano, S. Malin, E. Stritzel, D. Lewis Jr., P. Wehrheim.
HEAT 2: A. Jankowiak, T. Hanbury, Z. Shove, R. Beeman, R. Kluth.
FEATURE (35-laps): ANDY JANKOWIAK, Kevin Timmerman, Tony Hanbury, Buck
Catalano, Daryl Lewis Jr., Steve Malin, Matt Lees, Jeff Polaski, Fred
Taylor, Zack Shove, Ryan Beeman, Jeff Hamman, Phil Wehrheim, Erich
Stritzel, David Sedlack, Rick Kluth.
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Williamson,
NY… Anytime when there is a Modified race at the Spencer Speedway Jan
Leaty is always considered the favorite at his home town track. Friday
night was no different in the 100 lap Race of Champions Dart Asphalt
Modified Tour event.
Jan started eighth and made a pit stop under the caution on lap 32 for a
fresh right rear tire. The tire was the difference as Jan rocketed back
through the talented field to take the lead on lap 50 with an outside turn
four pass of Buck Catalano.
Once in front Jan saved his equipment for the later stages of the race and
over the final 15 laps Jan pulled away to a very popular and dominating
$3,500 feature win. Billy Putney who started third, never pitted for tires
and finished an impressive second with Jan’s son Mike ending up a strong
third.
Current RoC point leader and defending champion Pete Brittain, who started
20th ran a smart race to end up in fourth with Matt Hirschman coming from
14th to fifth at the checkers.
“ Yea we ran good tonight “ said Jan. “ We’ve been having a little
bit of a run of bad luck since we won the Race of Champions last
September. Since that race until tonight there hasn’t been a race where
I’ve been nicked up during the race. We’ve had some good finishes
during that time but at some point during those races I have had the car
nicked up. Tonight was the first since last September that we got through
the entire racing program clean. “
It’s been a struggle this year not only for Jan but also for his son
Mike. “ We needed a good finish tonight as we’ve been struggling. But
I’m happy for Mike too as he needed a good finish more than we did. “
Jan started eighth in the field of 26 and made it into the top five on lap
21. Then during a caution flag period on lap 32 Jan pitted for a new right
rear tire. Jan’s pit crew once again did excellent work as they got him
out of the pits first which placed him first on the track with a new tire.
With a new right rear sneaker on his car Jan started to work his way back
through the field. The move that essentially won the race for Jan came on
a lap 32 when Jan passed six cars in turns one and two on the outside.
After the next round of pit stops by cars in front of him on lap 40 Jan
was running fourth when the race restarted.
Jan spoke about the lap 32 restart pass where he went from 15th to ninth
in one set of turns. “ I was actually surprised that it went that good.
What happened was everybody was in a panic about the outside and I was
able to take advantage of that. They were all on the bottom jamming each
other; guys on the outside were lifting trying to get to the bottom. I
just launched it into turn one and hoped it would turn, it did and I was
able to roll by those six guys right then, that was big. “
After that move Jan used his patented outside charge to the front to get
the lead as he motored around Buck Catalano as they crossed the line to
complete the half way part of the race. In typical veteran fashion once in
front Jan saved his car and then over the final 15 laps of the feature
turned up the wick and ended up winning by a full straightaway, much to
the delight of his hometown fans.
“ That is how you win these races “ said Jan. “ You use what you
need to when you need to, if you got a good car you use up what you have
to. Luckily tonight I got to the front fairly early tonight so I saved
some rubber until the end of the race just in case someone made a run at
me late in the race with fresher rubber than me. Actually the car drove
better tonight the faster I went; it just does weird stuff when you drive
it slow. “
“ It does feel good to win at your home track “ said Jan. “ You get
up in the morning from your own bed, work around the house like I did
today. As you don’t need to get into the hauler and on the road by 8 am.
After working around the house and relaxing a little bit when it is time
to come to the races tonight you leave and take your time getting here.
“
“The track was pretty decent and the competition was good, I’m real
happy “ concluded Jan.
“ The car stayed with us real well “ said second place finisher Billy
Putney. “ I’m real pleased with how long it lasted without putting a
tire on. Anytime you get beat by Jan, especially here you can’t be too
disappointed. We held off Mike there at the end and ran a little bit there
with Buck for a while, we’re just ecstatic to bring it home in one piece
and in the top two. “
Asked about the no pit strategy Billy commented. “ It was our plan not
to pit unless we started to fade really bad. We really didn’t fade that
bad so we decided to stay out. We made a ton of changes during practice,
tuned the car in more during the heat race, rolled the dice in the feature
and came out of it with a second, we’ll take it. “
Putney who started third moved right into the second on the opening lap.
Staying behind leader Buck Catalano who was setting a blistering pace.
Putney shocked everyone as he drove around Catalano to grab the lead on
lap 41. But three laps later Catalano appeared to use the chrome horn to
regain the lead coming out of turn four. Putney explained it was his fault
and no fault of Buck’s.
“ Buck really didn’t get into me as I changed my line there coming out
of turn four “ said Billy. “ I was actually trying to pull low to let
him by as I didn’t want to push the car that hard at that point in the
race. That was entirely my doing and I can’t blame Buck at all, as I was
running an inconsistent lane. “
Getting the bad luck monkey of his back was third place finisher Mike
Leaty. “ We’ve had a rough go of things so far this year “ said
Mike. “ This was our first RoC race we’ve finished this year and
it’s a good result. There was a lot of hard racing out there tonight. I
got to third and was hoping to get by Billy so we could make it a father
son one two, we haven’t done that before. Tried real hard to pass Billy
but he was going good and we’ll take a third tonight. “
Qualifying for the 26 car field saw heat races being won by Erick Rudolph,
TJ Potrzebowski, and Jan Leaty.
NOTES; Jeff Polaksi was in the second Rick Kluth entry. Rusty Smith saw a
very strong run end with a battery / alternator problem. Pre race favorite
Tony Hanbury had something break in the rear portion of the car which
forced the car to turn right when he wanted it to turn left. Rick Kluth
had to change the rack in the front end after the first hot lap session.
Leaking power steering fluid ended the strong run of Erick Rudolph in the
feature. After the sun set and the track cooled down there was an outside
groove which was used quite frequently during the feature. The RoC show at
Dunn Tire this Saturday has seen it starting time pushed back to 6:30
Saturday night from 4:00 Saturday afternoon.
RACE REPORT RACE OF CHAMPIONS DART ASPHALT MODIFIED TOUR RACE NUMBER 4
SPENCER 100
FINISH; Jan Leaty, Billy Putney, Mike Leaty, Pete Brittain, Matt Hirschman,
Jim Storace, Daren Scherer, Doug Reaume, Terry Cheetham, Rick Kluth, Buck
Catalano, John Markovic, Dave Wollaber, TJ Potrzebowski, Karl Hehr, Kris
Hilleger, Erick Rudolph, Tony Hanbury, Rusty Smith, Todd Smith, Tim
McMullen, Mark Tychoniewicz, Chris Risdale, Jeff Polaski, Tom Weist, Matt
Clemens.
LAP LEADERS; Catalano ( 1 – 40 ), Putney ( 41 – 43 ), Catalano ( 44
– 49 ), J. Leaty ( 50 – 100 ).
DART MACHINERY AWARD $1,200 SET OF HEADS; J. Leaty.
GATER RACING NEWS DRIVER BONUS DRAWING $500; Catalano.
HOOSIER RACING TIRE HARD CHARGER AWARD; Brittain ( 20th to 4th ).
HOOSIER RACING TIRE HARD LUCK AWARD; Hehr ( 2nd to 15th )
NEXT RoC EVENT; Saturday August 9th - Dunn Tire - 6:30 start - 50th
Anniversary Show – 100 laps - $3,500 to win.
The Race of Champions Dart Asphalt Modified Tour is sponsored by; Dart
Machinery, Gater Racing News, Hoosier Racing Tire, Sunoco Race Fuels, PBM
Performance Products, Total Seal Piston Rings, Dura – Bond, Competition
Engineering by Moroso, Dynatech, Xceldyne, Afco, CV Products, and LA
Sleeve.
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