CATALANO
LUCKS INTO FEATUYRE WIN NUMBER TWO ON THE SEASON
By Gary M.
Spaid
WILLIAMSON,
NY…”This one worked out in my favor”, related Buck
Catalano, in the Spencer Speedway victory lane, following
his second straight NASCAR Modified feature victory of the
year.
What
Catalano was referring to was an incident on lap 20 of the
30-lap NASCAR Modified feature when the leaders hit lap
traffic. Out front was Mike Leaty, who had just passed
Buck’s son Patsy Catalano for the lead two laps earlier.
As the threesome came on lap traffic they became boxed up,
with Patsy diving low and Buck taking to the high side of
Leaty. Leaty made contact with one of the lapped cars
sending himself, Patsy and the lap car off the track.
Patsy made contact with the outside turn two wall and
Leaty ended up in the infield with the lap car.
“I don’t
know who’s fault it was,” stated Buck. “I was just
lucky.”
In SST
Modified action it was Barker, NY’s Kirk Rutherford
leading the entire 25-lap distance to record his fourth
SST feature career win at the speedway. Don Stevens won
the Street Stock 20-lap main, with Billy Semmler taking
top honors in the 15-lap Super Six race. A special
appearance of the Legend cars saw Justin Petcosky, from
Vestal, NY, claim the 15-lap feature win.
The 30-lap
NASCAR Modified feature saw Patsy Catalano take the lead
at the drop of Larry Woodruff’s green flag. Hanging
close to Patsy was Mark Tychoniewicz followed by Mike
Leaty and Todd Smith.
Leaty
began his move to the front spot on lap 14. He ducked to
the low side of Tychoniewicz, as did the next three
drivers, leaving Tychoniewicz out to dry on the high side
of the track. Leaty then passed Patsy for the lead using
the same inside move exiting the second turn that he used
on Tychoniewicz.
Leaty now
led Patsy and his father Buck by inches as the trio
entered lapped traffic on lap 20. The result of the
attempted pass on this lap traffic was referred to earlier
in this article. The end result saw Patsy done for the
night, recording a last place finish. Leaty would return
but his front end was askew and he would not be a factor
for the rest of the event.
Up front
Buck now had his hands full with Tim McMullen, who rode
Catalano’s rear bumper for the remainder of the race.
Todd Smith came home in third followed by Tychoniewicz and
T.J. Potrzebowski rounding out the top five.
“I
really love this place,” stated Catalano. He now stands
fifth place overall in all-time feature wins at the track,
with 34 NASCAR Modified features to his credit. This is
just five wins short of tying George Kent who has 39
Spencer feature wins.
The 25-lap
SST Modified feature saw 19 cars take the green flag, with
Kirk Rutherford jumping into the lead from his outside
pole starting spot. Five yellow flags would slow the race,
all for minor spins.
Up front
Dean DeMarree, Mike Florio and Jeff Hamman were all ahead
of sophomore driver Kris Meyn. On lap 15 it was reported
that Florio was showing tire smoke. Seconds later he was
sliding out of his third place running position, off the
third turn with a flat right rear. Collected in the melee
were Meyn and Terry Cheetham. Meyn would return to the
race, several laps down to the leaders.
On lap 18,
the throttle stuck on the number 96, driven by Jeff
Pringle. The Pringle car slammed into the turn one tire
barrier. Pringle was uninjured in the heavy hit.
Rutherford
would go on to take the feature win followed by Hamman,
Bill Hebing, DeMarree and T.J. Potrzebowski.
“The
crew had this car down to the bare frame as of last Monday
evening,” began Rutherford. “They performed a miracle
in getting us here tonight. We plan on running here all
year.”
The 20-lap
Street Stock race started off with a yellow flag that saw
Tommy Carino’s number 7 limp back to the pit area with a
broken tie-rod after contact in the third turn. From that
point on the race remained green as Don Stevens and Bobby
Lippa Jr. pulled away from the rest of the field and
created their own race for the lead. Following a number of
“bump-drafting” hits on Steven’s rear bumper, Lippa
Jr. was unable to complete a pass for the lead.
“Of
course I knew he was right there,” stated Stevens in
victory lane. “I were ready for him tonight and I’ll
be ready for him next week also.”
The Super
Six division was a runaway for Billy Semmler and Kris
Hillegeer. Both drivers lapped the entire field in just
15-laps. As they charged toward the finish line Hillegeer
made one last attempt to get by Semmler, but his effort
fell short at the finish line.
“I have
to thank Wilbur Buick for helping to put a new motor in
this car,” stated Semmler. “It made a lot of
difference in how the car runs.”
Also on
hand for their first appearance of the year were the
Legend cars. Although the starting field was rather small,
track officials are counting on a better turnout as the
year progresses.
As for the
15-lap feature the race saw four lead changes between the
lead two cars as the race would run green-to-checkers. At
the finish line it would be Justin Petcosky finishing a
car length ahead of Jason Urso. Brad Salatino, Zach
Truesdail and Jeff Decker would round out the top five
finishers.
“This
track is like Talladega to these cars,” stated Petcosky
in victory lane, referring to the half mile oval and the
high speeds turned in by the little Legend cars. “That
was a great race with Jason (Urso).“
SPENCER
NOTES: One of the worst accidents on the evening came in
the first SST Modified heat race. The cars of Jeff Pringle
and T.J. Potrzebowski came together on the start down the
front chute and hit the wall. Newcomer Gary Walker had no
place to go. He hit the right rear on the Pringle car
which launched him into the air. He cleared both cars and
landed on all four wheels, but he was done for the night….The
third SST heat also saw the cars of Alva English and Terry
Cheetham come together on the pace lap as English was
trying to scuff in his tires. As for Cheetham it cost him
right rear wheel. His luck was not good on the night as he
would be involved in another on track incident during the
SST feature….Racing was completed by 10:18 p.m. on this
very cool May evening along Lake Ontario.
This
Friday will be the Apple-Jack Fehrenbach Memorial
featuring a full card of Super Six, Street Stock, SST
Modified and NASCAR Modified racing. Originally on the
schedule were the 4-cyclinder Supermodifieds, however due
to a conflict, that division will be rescheduled to later
this season. Race time will continue at 7 p.m., with gates
opening at 5 p.m.
Spencer
Speedway is part of the “NASCAR Nation” and the Whelen
All-American Series of speedways. The Spencer flat half
mile oval is located just fifteen minutes east of
Rochester, NY, along Route 104 in the Town of Williamson.
VP FUEL
NIGHT SUMMARY
SUPER SIX
HEAT: B.
Semmler, K. Hillegeer, P. Davenport, F. Parsons, C.
Butler.
FEATURE
(15-laps): BILLY SEMMLER, Kris Hillegeer, Patti Davenport,
Craig Butler, Frank Parsons, Cassandra Johnstone.
LEGENDS
CARS
HEAT: J.
Petcosky, J. Urso, B. Salatino, Z. Truesdail, J. Decker.
FEATURE
(15-laps): JUSTIN PETCOSKY, Jason Urso, Brad Salatino,
Zach Truesdail, Jeff Decker, Tony Hanbury (DNS)
STREET
STOCKS
HEAT: D.
Stevens, J. VanHooydonk, B. Lippa Jr., R. Corso, T. Carino
Jr.
FEATURE
(20-laps): DON STEVENS, Bobby Lippa Jr., Ryan Corso, John
VanHooydonk, Roger Worden, Willie Strusz, Jim Steffenhagen
Jr., Tommy Carino Jr.
SST
MODIFIEDS
HEAT 1: D.
DeMarree, K. Meyn, D. Lewis Jr., A. Lewis, T.J.
Potrzebowski.
HEAT 2: M.
Florio, K. Timmerman, J. Hamman, S. Malin, P. Wehrheim.
HEAT 3: K.
Rutherford, T. Cheetham, M. Lees, J. Polaski, B. Hebing.
FEATURE
(25-laps): KIRK RUTHERFORD, Jeff Hamman, Bill Hebing Jr.,
Dean DeMarree, T.J. Potrzebowski, Chris Finocchario, Kevin
Timmerman, Steve Malin, Jeff Polaski, Phil Wehrheim, Alva
English, Ryan Beeman, Kris Meyn, Matt Lees, Jeff Pringle,
Mike Florio, Terry Cheetham, Andy Lewis, Daryl Lewis Jr.,
Tommy Fecteau (DNS), Gary Walker (DNS)
NASCAR
MODIFIEDS
HEAT 1: M.
Leaty, B. Catalano, M. Tychoniewicz, E. Hawkins, T.J.
Potrzebowski.
HEAT 2: P.
Catalano, T. McMullen, T. Smith, D. DeMarree, J. Zacharias
FEATURE
(30-laps): BUCK CATALANO, Tim McMullen, Todd Smith, Mark
Tychoniewicz, T.J. Potrzebowski, Tom Kinsella, Phillip
Slater, Mike Leaty, Dean DeMarree, Eddie Hawkins, Jimmy
Zacharias, Tom Wiest, Patsy Catalano.
