07/03/2003
JEFF ULRICH SCORES THE “FIRECRACKER 50” UPSET
By Dave Buchanan
The Sunoco Race of Champions Modified Tour rolled into
the Lancaster Motorsports Park for its first of two visits in 2003.
Thirty-nine Modifieds filled the pits, all trying to make the field for
the 2nd annual “Firecracker 50.” The
entries were almost evenly split between Lancaster regulars and the tour
regulars. The home track drivers had the upper hand as Lancaster drivers took
3 out of the 4 heat races.
For the feature, Jeff Ulrich of Middleport would start on
the pole. He was last driver to
select a spot during the redraw but that pesky #1 chip stayed in the cup until
the very end. Former Lancaster
champion and Race of Champions winner, Chuck Hossfeld, joined him on the front
row. Ulrich would jump out to the early lead in his home-built #75, but
Hossfeld was close behind.
Defending Lancaster Modified champion, Billy Putney,
started fifth but had moved to third by lap 7.
Joining the rest of the lead pack early on were Buck Catalano, Tim
Mangus, and Larry Jackson from Oakville, Ont.
The first caution of the race flew on lap 14 for Tom McGrath who spun
in turn 1. McGrath had won the
$500 Gater Racing News driver bonus draw earlier in the evening.
There were several attempts to restart the race at this
point, but as the saying goes “cautions breed cautions.”
The worst of these was a multi-car pileup on the backstretch on lap 15.
Several cars were knocked out of the race including, RoC central region
points leader John Markovic, Jim Willis, Karl Hehr, and Bobby Osgood. The one driver who looked to suffer the worse, Zane Zeiner,
actually returned. Zeiner plowed
into a Thermal Foam block that was protecting a cement barrier in front of a
light pole. However, the Zeiner
crew just bent the right-side nerf bars away from the tires and he was able to
continue and finished 13th.
It was during the subsequent restarts that Hossfeld
really began pressuring Ulrich. When
the restarts were double-file, Hossfeld launched from the outside and get
slightly ahead of Ulrich. However
the caution laps did not count, and scoring reverts back to the last completed
lap. This put Ulrich back in front, and when the restart was single-file he
got the jump he needed to stay in front.
The next 30 laps were run straight without a caution
allowing Ulrich to pull away. Sege
Fidanza moved up from his eleventh starting spot to the third position by lap
23. Defending race winner and RoC
tour champion, George Kent, was also pacing his way through the field and
followed Fidanza up to the fourth spot. Putney
and Catalano were hanging to fifth and sixth respectively.
During this stretch, some of the best racing of the night
took place between Pete Brittan, Tony Hanbury, and Kirk Rutherford who were
dicing it up for the seventh position. Rutherford would eventually win that
battle and take one more spot to finish sixth. Defending Race of Champions 200
winner, Tim Mangus, was at the tail of this second lead pack after pitting on
lap 15 and working his way back through the field.
As the laps wore down Ulrich continue to pull away from
Hossfeld, but a late caution would bring the field together.
On lap 46, Bobby Osgood spun in turn 2 to bring out the yellow flag
with just 4 laps to go. Ulrich would hang tough on the restart and cruise the final 4
laps for the win.
Ulrich was the 1999 Sportsman champion at Lancaster, but
had never won a Modified feature. After
a couple of seasons running full-time at LMP, Ulrich has been concentrating on
the RoC tour while running in a few select races at his home track.
Ulrich celebrated in victory lane doing the necessary roof dance on the
Ace Spaulding Hardware #75. It
gives him a leg up in the RoC tour North region standings after finishing 15th
in the season opening race at the Tioga Motorsports Park.
Several Central region drivers had a rough night in the
their first appearances at Lancaster. Central
points leader, John Markovic, needed a promoter’s option to make the
feature, while Earl Paules and Matt Hirschman failed to make it out of the
B-Main. Dave Wollaber of
Ransomville won the B-main that featured 19 cars going after just six transfer
spots. North region point leader,
Lee Sherwood, just barely made the field through the B-main, but managed a
tenth place finish.
The Sunoco Race of Champions Modified Tour will return to
Lancaster for their final points race of the season during the 15th annual US
Open in September. It will be a
combination race pitting the best drivers of the North region versus the best
of the Central to crown an overall champion.
The US Open is September 27 & 28 which is the weekend following the
Race of Champions at Oswego.
In other Lancaster racing action, Bobby Weber fended off
the challenges of Holland Speedway-regular Shawn Dunning to win his third Tops
Markets Late Model feature of 2003. Weber
and Dunning battled side by side for the 5 laps to decide the win.
Todd Hoddick secured another third place finish and gained a few points
on point leader Joe Carbone who finished fourth.
Nick Cappelli was victorius for the third time this
season in the Bobcat of Buffalo Sportsman.
Cappelli stole the lead from rookie Mike Rogers on a mid-race restart
and the drove away with the win. Frank
Booker Jr finished a career-best second, while Justin Shepker finished third.
The “Lavender Car” of Wayne Bernhard won its
second-straight feature in the Jerry Gradl Motors Super Stocks. Bernhard held off Cory Sawyer’s last-lap outside maneuver
to secure his third win of the year. Points
leader Doug Evans was involved in a scary crash in turn 3 during the feature.
The car suffered heavy damage but Evans walked way.
Tom
“Golden Wheels” Agen also went back-to-back with feature wins, taking his
second-straight in the Glen Campbell Chevrolet Street Stocks.
Agen had to once again block the passing attempts of points leader Jim
Offhaus. Agen made his car as wide as possible during the final laps
to save his victory. Bobby Hanel
finished third and has had a top five run in all but two races this year.
Mark Pew and Pete Hackett continue to run consistent and finished in
the top five.
Sources: Dave
Buchanan/Lancaster Motorsports Park
Posted: July 5, 2003
