July
6th, 2007
RUTHERFORD, CATALANO AND HILLEGEER ALL WIN SUPPORT RACES
ON ROC NIGHT…LEATY WINS THE 100 AND ABOLD WAS ABLE TO
FOCUS
by Gary M.
Spaid
WILLIAMSON,
NY…Former track champion, Jan Leaty, was able to pick up
his first Spencer Speedway Modified feature win of the
season, taking the victory in the ROC 100 last Friday
evening. For Leaty it was his first 100-lap win at the
speedway since September of 1985. Leaty did last win a
regular event on May 10, 2002. His win upped his Spencer
modified feature win total to 13 features, tying him in
tenth on the all time win list with NASCAR’s Jerry Cook.
More
information about this event can be found elsewhere in
this publication.
The USAC
Ford Focus Midgets made their first ever appearance at
Spencer Speedway. Seventeen of the fast “little bombers”
were on hand with Jeff Abold, from Pennellville, NY,
taking the 30-lap victory.
The Ford
Focus race was slowed only twice by yellows, once for an
early spin and later by one car tagging the outside wall.
Abold had his hands full with Jon Seaman, as these two
battled back and forth for most of the race. Following
Abold across the finish line were Seaman/Southbury, CT,
Ryan Osborne/Milford, NJ, P.J. Stergios/Candia, NH and
Rick Fedrizzi/Syracuse, NY
Support
races were also run last Friday. A full program of SST
Modifieds saw Kirk Rutherford pick up his third 25-lap
feature win of the season.
The Street
Stocks and Super Six cars ran just feature events. Amy
Catalano kept the alternating win streak alive. Since the
end of the month of May, Bobby Lippa Jr. would take a win
and the next week Amy would win. This altering
back-and-forth has resulted in three wins at Spencer for
Amy in 2007.
The Super
Six division saw Kris Hillegeer take his fourth win of the
year, now tying him with Billy Semmler with four wins each
at the speedway.
In SST
Modified feature action, it was pole sitter Jeff Polaski
taking the early lead with Fred Taylor running second as
21 cars took the green. On lap three the yellow flew when
Andy Lewis lost the handle and looped around between the
third and fourth turns.
The
restart saw Polaski being challenged for the lead by Kirk
Rutherford. On lap six, Rutherford was able to nose ahead
and be recorded as the leader down the back stretch. Terry
Cheetham then drifted off line while running third,
allowing Daryl Lewis jr. and Jeff Hamman Jr. to move into
third and fourth respectively.
The yellow
flew for the second time on lap 11, when Tom Fecteau spun
between the third and fourth turns. Rutherford now had to
contend with Lewis Jr. and Hamman Jr. for the lead.
Rutherford was able to pull away and leave Hamman and
Lewis Jr. to battle it out for second. This battle was
interrupted once more by the yellow, lap 13, when Kris
Meyn spun in turn three.
Hamman Jr.
was able to take second on the restart The final yellow
flew on lap 18, again for a spin, this time on the back
stretch by Andy Lewis.
Over the
final laps Rutherford was able to pull away to win by
nearly a full straightway. Hamman Jr. held on for second
followed by Lewis, Jr., T.J. Potrzebowski and Chris
Finocchario.
The Street
Stocks feature saw John VanHooydonk take the lead followed
by Tommy Carino Jr., Roger Worden and Jeff Parent. Amy
seemed content to ride at the back of the field until lap
seven when she started to move forward. On this same lap
Jim Steffenhagen Jr., who had moved into third on lap six,
made a pass down the backstretch to take second from
Carino Jr.
On lap
nine the yellow flew when Bobby Lippa Jr. spun out in the
first turn. This bunched the pack together for the
restart. VanHooydonk remained the leader. On lap 11,
VanHooydonk drifted down the back stretch, which allowed
Steffenhagen Jr. to take the lead. Using an inside move,
Amy then advanced into second by lap 13. She then chased
down Steffenhagen, running side-by-side on lap 18 through
turns three and four.
Amy got
the best of Steffenhagen and pulled into the lead with one
lap to go. As the field exited the fourth turn for the
final time it was Amy with the win. At the back of the
field Willie Strusz nailed the fourth turn wall, sliding
along it down the front stretch. Just before the line,
Strusz’s car moved into the middle of the track, were
Lippa Jr., who had no place to go, made contact.
The Super
Six feature saw Keith Butler take the lead at the drop of
the green with Cassandra Johnstone in second. However, on
the move from the back of the field was Kris Hillegeer.
His advance slowed some on lap two, when Patti Davenport
looped around in between the first and second turns.
Once under
way again Hillegeer continued to advance through the
field. Last week’s winner, Billy Semmler stayed right
behind Hillegeer as they worked the field. By lap nine the
top three were running three wide; Butler, Hillegeer and
Semmler. On lap ten, Hillegeer took over the lead. As they
came down to the wire it was anybodies race to win.
Hillegeer took the victory followed by Semmler, Butler,
Johnstone and Frank Parsons to round out the top five
finishers.
SPENCER
SPATTER: With a great crowd on hand, and a great night of
racing, the night had to go down as one of the best at
Spencer in many a year… The size of the crowd force
officials to start fifteen minutes later then planned to
allow as many fans as possible to see the entire show…
It was also the first time this year the ROC had over 30
modifieds on hand…Door prizes were made available
through the Lyons National Bank….Seven different States
were represented at the track in the USAC Ford Focus
event; New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut,
Massachusetts , North Carolina and Indiana.
This
Friday will be Joseph Neri Night, featuring Corvette rides
for the fans around the speedway. It will also be double
point night in all four regular divisions at the speedway;
NASCAR Modifieds, SST Modifieds, Street Stocks and Super
Sixes.
Race time
starts at 7 p.m. sharp. Spencer Speedway is located just
fifteen minutes east of Rochester, NY, along Route 104 in
the Town of Williamson.
Lyons
National Bank, Mr. Auto / Parts Plus & Wayne Regional
Orthopedics GROUP night summary
SUPER SIX
FEATURE
(12-Laps): KRIS HILLEGEER, Billy Semmler, Keith Butler,
Cassandra Johnstone, Frank Parsons, Patti Davenport
STREET
STOCK
FEATURE
(20-Laps): AMY CATALANO, Don Stevens, Jim Steffenhagen,
Jr., John VanHooydonk, Roger Worden, Jeff Parent, Ryan
Corso, Tommy Carino, Jr., Bobby Lippa, Willie Strusz
SST
MODIFIEDS
HEAT 1: D.
Lewis, Jr., J. Polaski, C. Finocchario,
HEAT 2: K.
Rutherford, J. Hamman, F. Taylor
HEAT 3: M.
Lees, K. Timmerman, T. Cheetham
FEATURE
(25-Laps): KIRK RUTHERFORD, Jeff Hamman, Daryl Lewis, Jr.,
T.J. Potrzebowski, Chris Finocchario, Kevin Timmerman,
Terry Cheetham, Jeff Polaski, Matt :Lees, Dean DeMarree,
Phil Johnson, Matt Lees, Fred Taylor, Toad Bradshaw, Kris
Meyn, Kevin VanValkenburgh, Andy Lewis, Jeff Pringle,
Scott Combs, Ryan Beeman, Tom Fecteau, Ron Wildey II
FORD FOCUS
MIDGETS
HEAT 1: J.
Abold, J. Seaman, S. Carman, M. Dailey, R.Hart
HEAT 2: R.
Osborne, R. Fedrizzi, J. State, P.J. Stergios, S. Gosselin
FEATURE
(30 Laps): JEFF ABOLD, Jon Seaman, Ryan Osborne, P.J.
Stergios, Rick Fedrizzi, Shawn Gosselin, Jesse State,
Ginny Quinones, Rick Hart, Jake Stergios, Marc Dailey,
Shane MacMillan, Chris Lamb, Dan Moore, Steven Intravaia,
Sean Carman, Nick Ribbe
ROC
MODIFIEDS
HEAT 1: J.
Leaty, T. McMullen, D. Knell, T.J. Potrzebowski, Rudy
Smith
HEAT 2: C.
Hossfeld, E. Hawkins, M. Leaty, T. Cheetham, J. Markovic
HEAT 3: L.
Sherwood, E. Beers, S. Fidanza, D. DeMarree, B. Putney
HEAT 4: W.
Hebing, Jr., P. Catalano, B. Catalano, T. Smith, M.
Tychoniewicz
B-MAIN: P.
Brittain, D. Scherer, M. Hirschman, T. Kinsella
FEATURE
(100 Laps): JAN LEATY, Eric Beers, Matt Hirschman, Bill
Hebing, Jr., Chuck Hossfeld, Lee Sherwood, Todd Smith,
John Markovic, Buck Catalano, Sege Fidanza, Mike Leaty,
Daren Scherer, Pete Brittain, Billy Putney, Danny Knoll,
Jr., Eddie Hawkins, Chris Finocchario, Mark Tychoniewicz,
Rick Kluth, Dean DeMarree, Phil Slater, Tim McMullen, Doug
Reaume, Rusty Smith, Tom Kinsella, Patsy Catalano, Terry
Cheetham, T.J. Potrzebowski
