August
31st, 2007
TIMMERMAN GOES BACK-TO-BACK IN SST ACTION…..DEAD HEAT IN
THE LEGENDS -by Gary M. Spaid
WILLIAMSON,
NY…Kevin Timmerman, coming off an SST feature from two
weeks ago, made it back-to back SST Modified feature
victories, winning last Friday’s 75-lap SST feature run
at Spencer Speedway.
“My dad
is not here tonight,” related Timmerman. “I can not
wait to call him and hear his reaction to winning this
one.”
The
feature event saw 23 starters take Larry Woodruff’s
green flag. A total of 15 yellow flags for a total of 22
laps slowed the event, which took over an hour to
complete.
In other
racing action at Spencer the first “dead-heat” feature
in Spencer history was recorded by the Legend cars. David
Polenz and Jason Urso crossed the finish line side-by-side
to finish in a tie. Review of the video also proved
inconclusive and both drivers were declared winners. Third
place was awarded to Brad Salatino.
The Street
Stock point race tightened up to become a one point affair
going into Friday’s season finale. Bobby Lippa Jr. now
leads Jim Steffenhagen Jr., 851 to 850. Willie Strusz, who
travels back from college in Detroit, Michigan, each week
to compete finally got his first feature win.
“I come
here each week to race and this win is really great,”
commented Strusz in victory lane.
The Super
Six division saw Bill Semmler, from nearby Webster, NY,
win his ninth feature in this division. His biggest
challenger all year has been the 2006 division champion,
Kris Hillegeer.
“I was
looking in my mirror and saw Kris coming,” related
Semmler. “I knew I just had to out run him.” He also
commented on the third place finisher, Patti Davenport.
“Patti
has been having a great night. I had trouble getting by
her for the lead.”
The start
of the 75-lap SST Modified feature saw Jeff Polaski jump
into the lead followed by rookie Ryan Beeman, Daryl Lewis
Jr. and Chris Finocchario. The teams ran a good and safe
race until the first yellow flew on lap 14, when the third
place runner, Jeff Hamman, looped around in the fourth
turn. The restart saw the second place runner Beeman, do
the same thing only in the third turn. With these spins,
it moved Finocchario into second followed by division
point leader T.J. Potrzebowski.
Finocchario
took only one lap and then grabbed the lead, lap 16. Four
laps later Potrzebowski passed Polaski and took off after
Finocchario, but the yellow would bunch them up. Jeff
Pringle and Erich Stritzel, spun off the first turn.
The
restart saw Stritzel involved with Andy Lewis off the
first turn. On lap 25, the caution laps started to count,
until lap 50. On lap 27, it would be Jimmy Zacharias and
Matt Lees spinning in the third turn, with yellows
counting.
Once under
way the field was only able to complete just one lap
before a three car incident in the fourth turn. The
caution was triggered when leaders Potrzebowski and
Finocchario came together in front of the entire field and
spun. Also involved was rookie Phil Wehrheim. This put
Kevin Timmerman into the lead followed by Hamman, who had
worked his way back towards the front of the field.
On lap 46,
Jody London spun off the track in the fourth turn to bring
out the yellow again. This yellow interrupted a break away
by the two leaders from the rest of the field.
Laps 51 to
53 saw each lap finished under yellow as the field seemed
to have trouble staying on the track., A five car spin, in
the third turn, forced officials to look for any car
possibly losing fluids, but none could be found.
The final
15 laps of the event saw only two yellows, both on lap 70,
slow the pace. Up front Timmerman was able to break free
of the pack by a full straight away. Past champion, Mike
Florio, settled into second with Potrzebowski back up into
third. Newcomer Wayne Lent, drove a marvelous race and was
challenging Potrzebowski for third when the checkers flew.
Timmerman took the win followed by Florio, Potrzebowski,
Lent and Finocchario.
“I saw
that accident coming,” stated Timmerman, referring to
the lap 32 tangle between Potrzebowski and Finocchario.
“I knew I had to position myself to miss that one.”
In Street
Stock action Ryan Corso took the lead, but the yellow flew
immediately as Don Stevens slowed in the third turn with a
cut down tire. Three laps after restarting again Willie
Strusz challenged Corso for the lead racing side-by-side
down the front chute.
Only one
more yellow would slow the race, that coming on lap seven,
when Tom Carino Jr. made contact with the second turn wall
and looped around down the back stretch.
Up front
it was Strusz being challenged all the way by Bobby Lippa
Jr., as these two broke away from the rest of the field.
Jim Steffenhagen Jr. ran solo in third followed five cars
back by Corso and Amy Catalano. They would cross the
finish line in this same order.
SPENCER
SPUTTER: One of the scariest incidents of the season took
place during hot laps, when Phil Alhart’s Street Stock
burst into a ball of flames on the front straight. Race
director Chris Zacharias was the first one on the scene
and helped to free Alhart as track safety crews fought the
flames. Alhart’s crew worked had and he made it back,
somewhat late, to run the Street Stock feature…The final
Kid’s bicycle races of the year saw a number of age
class winners. In the two year old tricycle division
Brandon Kephart took the win. In the three to five year
old division it would be Nicholas Leonardi taking the
victory. Tim Lewis won the six to eight year old class,
while Austin Ferguson, from Bloomfield, won the nine to
eleven year old class. A friendly match race was then run
by Street Stock ace Amy Catalano and SST Modified driver,
Jeff Pringle. Pringle inched out a win…The modifieds had
to the night off to prepare for “The Classic Weekend”
modified race in Oswego.
This
Friday, September 7, ends the point season at Spencer for
2007. Double points will be on the line in all divisions.
Mathematically four NASCAR Modified drivers remain in the
hunt for the 2007 title. Mike Leaty (772) leads the way
over Tim McMullen (752), Buck Catalano (746) and Patsy
Catalano (720).
In the SST
Modified division it looks to come down to just three
possible champions; T.J. Potrzebowski (907), Jeff Hamman
(857) and, with an outside opportunity, Kevin Timmerman
(838).
The
closest point battle is in the Street Stock division with
Bobby Lippa Jr (851) leading Jim Steffenhagen Jr. (850).
Both Ryan Corso (805) and Don Stevens (790) are also both
within striking distance for the title.
In both
the Super Sixes and the Legends divisions it boils down to
a two man point battle. In the Super Sixes it comes down
to a race between Billy Semmler (978) and Kris Hillegeer
(954). In the Legends it will be Justin Petkosky (291)
running against Brad Salatino (264).
Race time
on Friday starts at 7 p.m. sharp. Be part of the 2007
season finale at Spencer Speedway, located just east of
Rochester, NY, along Route 104, in the Town of Williamson.
WHELEN
ALL-AMERICAN RACING NIGHT SUMMARY
SUPER SIX
HEAT: B.
Semmler, K. Hillegeer, P. Davenport, C. Butler, F. Parson,
C. Johnstone.
FEATURE
(10-laps): BILL SEMMLER, Kris Hillegeer, Patti Davenport,
Craig Butler, Frank Parson, Cassandra Johnstone.
LEGENDS
HEAT: B.
Salatino, D. Polenz, J. Petkosky, J. Urso, C. Bohlman
FEATURE
(12-laps): DAVID POLENZ/JASON URSO, Brad Salatino, Justin
Petkosky, Chris Bohlman.
STREET
STOCKS
HEAT 1: R.
Corso, B. Lippa Jr., A. Catalano, D. Burdick, D. Stevens.
HEAT 2: J.
Steffenhagen Jr., T. Carino Jr., W. Strusz, J. Parent, J.
Mudra.
FEATURE
(20-laps): WILLIE STRUSZ, Bobby Lippa Jr., Jim
Steffenhagen Jr., Ryan Corso, Amy Catalano, Jay Mudra,
John VanHooydonk, Tommy Carino Jr., Dean Burdick, Jeff
Parent, Don Stevens, Phil Alhart Jr.
SST
MODIFIEDS
HEAT 1: R.
Beeman, J. Polaski, P. Wehrheim, M. Lees, T.J.
Potrzebowski.
HEAT 2: D.
Lewis Jr., J. Hamman, C. Finocchario, K. Timmerman, T.
Bradshaw.
HEAT 3: T.
Cheetham, A. Lewis, S. Malin, P. Johnson, M. Florio.
FEATURE
(75-laps): KEVIN TIMMERMAN, Mike Florio, T.J. Potrzebowski,
Wayne Lent, Chris Finocchario, Daryl Lewis Jr., Jeff
Hamman, Terry Cheetham, Matt Lees, Andy Lewis, Jimmy
Zacharias, Ryan Beeman, Jeff Pringle, Jeff Polaski, Scott
Combs, Steve Fuchs, Erich Stritzel, Phil Johnson, Jody
London, Steve Malin, Toad Bradshaw, Phil Wehrheim, Tom
Fecteau.
