August
3rd, 2007
HEBING
PICKS UP 100-LAP VICTORY ABOARD KENNY TROYER'S MACHINE by Gary M. Spaid
WILLIAMSON, NY?Wilbur Hebing added to his Spencer Speedway
legend by taking the victory in the 100-lap NASCAR
Modified feature last Friday evening. Hebing, who redrew
the outside pole starting position, grabbed the lead and
led all but two laps, when he pitted for a new right rear
tire. ?My crew told me I had a good lead, so I would let
off some,? stated Hebing. ?I guess everyone let off some
except for Chuck (Hossfeld)? In the closing stages of the
race, Hossfeld tried to chase down Hebing, but fell some
five car lengths short at the finish. The race had just
one yellow and was completed in just under 44 minutes. In
SST Modified action, Jeff Hamman Jr. won his second
feature of the season and his first 25 lapper. His first
win this year came on a night when the division ran
twin-20?s. The Legend Cars were on hand for their fourth
appearance of the season with Darren Scherer taking the
win. It was Scherer?s first appearance at Spencer in 2007
driving a Legends Car.
The Street Stock class saw Jeff Parent take the lead at
the drop of the green and hold off Don Stevens, Bobby
Lippa Jr. and Jim Steffenhagen Jr. to take the 20-lap
feature win. It was Parent?s first ever Street Stock
feature win. In other full fender action, Billy Semmler
returned to victory lane in the Super Six division, taking
his sixth win of the year in that class.
The 100-lap NASCAR Modified double point feature saw Terry
Cheetham draw the pole and Hebing the outside pole. This
pair brought the field down to take Larry Woodruff?s green
flag. Hebing immediately jumped into the lead followed by
Chuck Hossfeld, Buck Catalano, Cheetham and Tim McMullen.
Hebing began to draw away from the field stretching out a
full straight away advantage by lap 25. A battle for
second had developed between Hossfeld and Buck Catalano.
Catalano passed Hossfeld down the backstretch on lap 12 to
take second. But Buck, once ahead of Hossfeld did not
close the gap built by Hebing. Hebing stretched his lead
to nearly half a lap by the mid-way point in the race.
Just as the field was about to take the halfway crossed
flags, Tom Kinsella was asked by his crew to come
pit-side. The team parked their car for the remainder of
the race. As the field completed lap 61, Patsy Catalano
looped his car around to the inside of the fourth turn to
bring out the yellow. The field needed this yellow to
change right rear tires and top off fuel. The entire field
pitted as the laps clicked off the lap counter. During
this yellow, when the field pitted Patsy Catalano was
marked as leading laps 64 and 65. Once the race went green
again, on lap 68, Hebing found himself out front again.
This time Hossfeld returned to second followed by Eddie
Hawkins, Mike Leaty and Erick Rudolph. Buck Catalano did
not have a good pit stop, and returned to the race in
ninth. T.J. Potrzebowski began to show smoke in the turns.
On lap 84 he was black flagged for excessive smoke. He
pulled pit-side, out of the race. Hebing brought the field
home with taking the win. He was followed by Hossfeld,
Leaty, Rudolph and Todd Smith. Smith was able to take
fifth by passing Hawkins in the closing laps of the race.
Ten cars finished on the lead lap.
The 25-lap SST Modified main saw 24 cars take the green,
with Jeff Polaski in the lead. The first of four yellows
flew on lap four, when Phil Wehrheim had a tire go flat
and slowed on the back stretch. Up front Polaski still
held the led over rookie Ryan Beeman, Jeff Hamman Jr.,
Toad Bradshaw and Matt Lees. The restart Hamman Jr. move
drove down the middle line and move all the way up to
second. The second yellow came on lap eight when Gary
Wright looped around in the first turn. The restart Hamman
Jr. moved to the outside of the second turn and pass
Polaski for the lead. He was followed to the front by Kirk
Rutherford who ended up second. Caution number three came
on lap 10 when Alva English and Beeman came together after
Beeman spun in the fourth turn. Both cars retired from the
race. However Beeman would later return four laps down to
the leaders. The final yellow flew on lap 14 when Andy
Lewis slowed to a stop on the front stretch. Up front it
was Hamman Jr. followed by Rutherford, Kevin Timmerman,
Daryl Lewis Jr. and Chris Finocchario. Rutherford tried a
late race pass to the outside, but fell short at the
finish line.
The Street Stock 20-lap feature would run
green-to-checkers. The field actually broke into two
separate races. Up front a four car ?freight-train? of
Jeff Parent, Don Stevens, Bobby Lippa Jr. and Jim
Steffenhagen Jr. stayed in line. They were followed,
nearly a half lap back, by the remainder of the field by
race?s end. It would be this second group where the cars
were passing each other. On the last lap Willie Strusz
moved by Tom Carino Jr. and John VanHooydonk to take
fifth.
The Legend Cars ran a 15 lap feature which had three lead
changes and only one yellow flag. The start of the race
saw pole sitter Brad Salatino take the lead only to be
passed on the next circuit by Jason Urso. Urso was being
pressured by Matt Kurzejewski, as Salatino dropped back to
fourth. The sole yellow flew on lap six, when Urso was
sent off the track in the fourth turn following contact
with Kurzejewski. Both cars restarted at the rear of the
field. This placed third place runner Darren Scherer in
the lead. By the end of the race Kurzejewski had worked
his way back to second. Justin Petkosky, Chris Bolhman and
Salatino rounded out the top five finishers. Scherer
related that he had picked the wrong gears and had to
shift down the straightaway on each lap.
SPENCER SPATTER: Both Patsy Catalano Sr. and his brother
Joe Catalano passed away this week. Buck was the father of
both Buck and Dave Catalano and the grandfather of Patsy
Jr. Patsy Sr. passed away on July 25. Just three days
later his brother Joe passed away from heart failure. Both
Buck and Patsy Jr. carried ?PJ?s? printed on their car
numbers. The official also decided to skip lap 54 during
the NASCAR Modified feature. Fifty-four has been a
Catalano family number for years at Spencer Speedway?Tim
McMullen was the lucky recipient of a new Hoosier Tire
during a pre-race drawing?Great to see former co-promoter
Del Spencer back at the track for the first time this
year. This Friday, August 10, will see the SST Modifieds
run a double point 25-lap feature. The USAC Ford Focus
Midgets return for their second appearance of 2007. This
time the field will run a 30-lap feature. Also on hand
will be the NASCAR Modifieds, Street Stocks and Super
Sixes. A special Super Six Powder Puff has also been
scheduled. 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.
Spencer is the ?NASCAR Place to Race? each and every
Friday throughout the Summer and early Fall.
HELEN
DOUBLE POINT NASCAR MODIFIED NIGHT SUMMARY SUPER SIXES
HEAT: P. Davenport, K. Hillegeer, C. Butler, C. Johnstone,
B. Semmler. FEATURE (10-laps): BILLY SEMMLER, Kris
Hillegeer, Patti Davenport, Craig Butler, Cassandra
Johnstone.
LEGENDS
HEAT: M. Kurzejewski, D. Scherer, J. Petkosky, B. Salatino,
C. Bolhman. FEATURE (15-laps): DARREN SCHERER, Matt
Kurzejewski, Justin Petkosky, Chris Bolhman, Brad Salatino,
Jason Urso.
STREET
STOCKS HEAT 1: J. Parent, B. Lippa Jr., J. Steffenhagen
Jr., R. Worden, R. Corso. HEAT 2: D. Stevens, J.
VanHooydonk, T. Carino Jr., P. Alhart, D. Burdick FEATURE
(20-laps): JEFF PARENT, Don Stevens, Bobby Lippa Jr., Jim
Steffenhagen Jr., Willie Strusz, Ryan Corso, Tom Carino
Jr., John VanHooydonk, Roger Worden, Phil Alhart Jr., Dean
Burdick.
SST
MODIFIEDS HEAT 1: J. Polaski, C. Finocchario, D. Lewis
Jr.., J. Hamman Jr., K. Rutherford. HEAT 2: T. Bradshaw,
K. Timmerman, M. Lees, S. West, F. Taylor. HEAT 3: T.J.
Potrzebowski, K. Meyn, P. Wehrheim, R. Beeman, R. Wildey.
FEATURE (25-laps): JEFF HAMMAN JR., Kirk Rutherford, Kevin
Timmerman, Daryl Lewis Jr., Chris Finocchario, T.J.
Potrzebowski, Terry Cheetham, Kris Meyn, Steve Malin, Tony
Hanbury, Fred Taylor, Matt Lees, Eric Stritzel, Steve
West, Ron Wildey, Scott Combs, Jeff Pringle, Toad
Bradshaw, Ryan Beeman, Gary Walker, Andy Lewis, Jeff
Polaski, Alva English, Phil Wehrheim
NASCAR
MODIFIEDS HEAT 1: B. Catalano, W. Hebing, C. Hossfeld, T.
Cheetham, M. Leaty. HEAT 2: T.J. Potrzebowski, T.
McMullen, T. Smith, E. Rudolph, C. Finocchario FEATURE
(100-laps): WILBUR HEBING, Chuck Hossfeld, Mike Leaty,
Erick Rudolph, Todd Smith, Terry Cheetham, Tim McMullen,
Eddie Hawkins, Buck Catalano, Patsy Catalano, Mark
Tychoniewicz, Jim Zacharias, Darren Scherer, Chris
Ridsdale, T.J. Potrzebowski, Tom Kinsella, Tom Wiest,
Chris Finocchario (DNS)
