5/27/07

RUTHERFORD ON A ROLL - TAKES LANCASTER CHECKERS FOR SECOND STRAIGHT WEEK

 
Lancaster, NY: Kirk Rutherford is on a roll these days, winning both the Lancaster Raceway Park and Spencer Speedway features for the past two weeks - that’s four feature wins in just two weeks. Kirk, who is the all-time winningest Lancaster Sportsman driver, held off a hard charging multiple Sportsman Champion Nick Cappelli, to take the win in the 50 lap feature race. Brandon Hirsch, Cory Gallagher, and Wayne Bernhard also took home wins in last Saturday’s racing action as Laidlaw presented Monster Truck Madness and the nights racing action.

Starting off the night’s feature action was Lancaster’s newest division – the Pro 4 Cylinders – who were racing just their second feature race of the 2007 season. Brandon Hirsch started the feature sliding through the infield of the inner oval and hitting a few garbage cans along the way. Eventually he would get settled on the track and march his way to the front of the pack. The Pro-4’s were beating, banging, and racing three wide throughout the twenty lap feature. Hirsch managed to work his way up to second by the time the field got the two to go signal from the starter. With one last ditch effort, Hirsch passed the leader Ken Hejna coming out of turn three for the win. Hirsch’s win marks the second win in the second race for the division.

Twenty eight cars were pitside in the McGard Street Stock Division with twenty six taking the green flag. Joe Light held the lead for half of the feature which saw a number of yellow flag cautions for big crashes including a scary crash on the front stretch. Julicher Jr. got out of shape coming out of turn four and slid in front of the entire field of cars as they were exiting turn four. Three cars sustained heavy damage although all drivers were okay. At the halfway point of the feature Light still had the lead but second year driver Cory Gallagher was hot on the veteran's tail for the top running spot. Gallagher went high on Light for the winning pass on lap 11. Although Gallagher had passed Light, he still had to contend with another seasoned veteran and multiple LRP feature winner Tom Agen Sr., who was on his bumper for the remainder of the race. Agen and Gallagher raced nose to tail for the last five laps, but Gallagher held on to record his first career feature win.

The Ray Laks Resale Super Stocks once again put on a fantastic racing show, even though the field was light. George Roesch jumped out to the early lead after starting on the pole. The top four cars of Roesch, Wayne Bernhard, Dave Johnson, and Frank Batista Jr. were racing so close you could throw a blanket over them as each waited for a mistake by the other. Bernhard and Roesch drag raced for a majority of the feature as they ran side by side around the track. Eventually Bernhard faded back while Johnson took up the second spot as challenger to Roesch. However the two cars got closer than expected as they got stuck together and were only able to disengage themselves after racing locked together, side by side, around half the race track. With Roesch falling back and Johnson pulling off for a flat tire, Bernhard inherited the lead. Bernhard took advantage of the opportunity and went on to take his third checkered flag in a row and logged his twenty-third career victory.

The final race of the evening was a 50 lap special feature race for the SST Sportsman. Fourteen cars took the green flag although the initial green was waved off as a bad start. The second time was the charm and immediately Russ Gian took the lead. However, Eddie Murray, Nick Cappelli, Tom MacLeod, and Kirk Rutherford were not far behind. An early race yellow on lap ten was not what Gian wanted to see as some of the fastest cars in the field were now right on his bumper. Gian once again grabbed the lead while Cappelli and Rutherford raced side by side around the track, both waiting for the slightest mistake on Gian’s part so that they could grab the lead. Lap 11 saw another yellow and on the restart Rutherford was able to take advantage of starting on the outside of the front row and took the lead from Gian. By the halfway point, Cappelli had passed Gian for second and had set his sights on Rutherford , determined to break his winning streak. The rest of the field sorted themselves out into single file running order while the battle up front heated up as Cappelli looked over every inch of Lancaster ’s track trying to find a way around the leader Rutherford. As the laps wound down, the battle heated up with Cappelli catching Rutherford in the corners, but the leader powering away down the straightaways. Rutherford managed to maintain his lead, even after a few close calls where Cappelli had a nose underneath his car. In the closing laps, Cappelli bobbled slightly on the backstretch and Rutherford managed to gain a bit more breathing room. With his car spent, Cappelli could no longer mount any type of offensive to gain the lead and at the checkered flag, and taking his fourth checkered flag in two weeks, was Kirk Rutherford.

Next week on Saturday, June 2nd Curb Appeal Landscaping presents a night of stock car racing including the McGard Street Stocks, Ray Laks Resale Super Stocks, Bobcat of Buffalo Late Models, Cup Lites, T.Q. Midgets and a Demolition Derby. The SST Sportsman division has the night off.

For more information visit www.lancasterracing.com or call the track office at 716-758-6818.

PRO 4 CYLINDER FEATURE FINISH:
1. (2) Brandon Hirsch
2. (1) Ken Hejna #9
3. (6) #17x
4. ( ) Dan Wieland #40
5. (4) Don Roesch #77
6. ( ) #03
7. (8) Margaret McDonald #33
8. ( ) #07
9. (3) Tim Haniszewski, Jr. #10
10. ( ) Joe Merlino #29
11. (5) #57
12. ( ) Jesse Baker #79
13. (7) #32

Lap Leaders: Laps 1-18 Hejna, laps 19-20 Hirsch

Heat Winner: NO heat

MCGARD STREET STOCK FEATURE FINISH:
1. (7) Cory Gallagher #24
2. (9) Tom Agen #3
3. (12) Jim Bryant #49
4. (15) Andy Jankowiak #73
5. (26) Scott Mutka #23
6. (5) Mike Maggiore #28
7. (1) Joe Light #44
8. (3) Gary Bartella #99
9. (13) Jeff Madill #6
10. (14) Tim Garlock #88
11. (6) Rob Bulger #32
12. (18) Gary Light #40
13. (20) Rick Ortwein #58
14. (17) Tom DeVille #61
15. (21) Matt Jurek #57
16. (22) Paul Tessier #12
17. (24) Debbie Jurek #65
18. (23) Gary Denea #33D
19. (10) Tom Agen, Jr. #8
20. (2) Ed Nowak #96
21. (11) John Julicher, Jr. #9
22. (4) Wayne Lavis #1
23. (8) Russell Knutsen #93
24. (16) Bob Blaszak #56
25. (19) Bob Hanel #33
26. (25) Steve Cochran
DNS: Jeff Guidotti #20, Keith Flanigan #26

Lap Leaders: Laps 1-10 Joe Light, laps 11-20 Gallagher

Heat Winners: John Julicher, Jr., Tom Agen, Wayne Lavis

RAY LAKS RESALE SUPER STOCK FEATURE FINISH:
1. (3) WAYNE BERNHARD #23
2. (2) Frank Batista, Jr. #37
3. (1) George Roesch #61
4. (6) Jay Canonico #13
5. (6) Jim Kron, III #31
6. (4) Dave Johnson #52

Lap Leaders: Laps 1-7 Roesch, laps 8-10 Bernhard, laps 11-15 Roesch, laps 16-20 Bernhard

Heat Winner: George Roesch

SST SPORTSMAN 50 FEATURE FINISH:
1. (8) KIRK RUTHERFORD #11
2. (4) Nick Cappelli #86
3. (3) Russ Gian #9
4. (5) Eddie Murray #37
5. (6) Tom MacLeod #32
6. (11) Billy Burd #20
7. (2) Sherri Hogan #74
8. (12) Dave Tedesco #44
9. (7) Craig Dolphin #98
10. (9) Jim Pierce #26
11. (13) Mike Stevenson #1
12. (10) Mike Bliss #72
13. (1) Luke Wozniak #57
DNS: Jerry Harding, Jr. #57R

Lap Leaders: Laps 1-16 Gian, laps 17-50 Rutherford

Heat Winners: Russ Gian, Nick Cappelli

Source: Lori Overdorf/Lancaster PR
Additions: Mark Southcott/NYRaceZone.com
Posted: May 27, 2007