9/16/07

LANCASTER RACEWAY PARK CROWNS 2007 CHAMPIONS

 
Lancaster, NY: It was Championship Night at Lancaster Raceway Park and, as usual, it was packed with last minute points calculations and incredible racing, with each team looking to advance their position in the final points breakdown. Bobby Weber, Nick Cappelli, Wayne Bernhard, and Dave Wollaber all added another championship title to their racing resumes, while Andy Jankowiak became a first time champion. The “Mighty Modifieds” will crown their champion at the US Open, which is their final points race in a six race season series.

The Probity Group T.Q. Midgets had an action packed feature that saw the young guns of the division going head to head with the wily veterans. After the drop of the green, the racing action didn’t last for too long as a scuffle in turn one brought out the yellow flag. On the complete restart Chris Bandelian, who had started on the pole, got a good jump but veteran Wayne Turnbull, who had started fourth on the grid, soon grabbed the top spot away from Bandelian. Turnbull started to pull away from the field, leaving Bandelian to battle with the fast moving “Christiano Army” – Bobby Holmes, Mark Schulz, Dave Wollaber and Vinny Christiano Jr. The four pack of Christiano cars were slicing and dicing for position and soon Wollaber had made his way up to second and Holmes was up to third, dispatching Bandelian to fourth. It was soon a showdown between veteran Turnbull and young gun Wollaber, with Wollaber throwing everything he had at the veteran in trying to get by him. Wollaber was pushing the car just a tab too much and spun out on lap 14 while running in second. This gave Turnbull a new challenger on his tail in the form of Bobby Holmes. Wollaber began a charge through the field from the tale and managed to work his way back up to a fourth place finish. The veteran Turnbull held on to capture his first TQ Midget feature win of the year at Lancaster . The night was not wasted for Wollaber though as he claimed his fifth TQ Midget Title in eight years.

Although it was a non points race for the Thiel Motorsports Fast & Furious 4 Cylinders, they still put on quite a show for the fans in the stands. In the early goings of the race Dan Roesch held the top spot on the inner oval and held off hard charging Tim Haniszewski Sr. and Jesse Baker. The top three ran nose to tail and soon Brad Julicher joined the pack. A yellow flag at the halfway point of the race appeared for a tangle between Julicher, Haniszewski, and Don Roesch. Dan Roesch kept control of the lead on the restart but just a few laps later bobbled, allowing Baker to slide into the top running spot. Baker held on to win his first 4 Cylinder feature of the season.

The McGard Street Stocks capped off the regular season with an impressive show that show hard charging throughout the field, slicing and dicing, and plenty of side by side and even three wide racing. Rick Ortwein started from the pole and held onto the top spot for the first few laps of the race. Ortwein had built himself a comfy lead but behind him Bobby Hanel Jr., Jeff Madill, Mike Maggiore, Cory Gallagher, and John Julicher Jr. were battling for second on back. The man on the move was Jeff Madill as he clearly had the fastest car on the racetrack, catching and passing Ortwein for the lead on lap nine. However, also quickly moving up the ranks was Andy Jankowiak who had started way back in fourteenth place. With five laps to go Madill had built a considerable lead on Ortwein, Julicher, Jankowiak, and Hanel. However Madill’s lead soon evaporated and he had Julicher and Jankowiak right on his bumper. With the laps winding down Julicher began applying heavy pressure to Madill and even leading lap 17 in the process. In a daring three wide pass coming out of turn four, Jankowiak took advantage of a bobble by the leaders to claim the top spot. Jankowiak held on to capture his sixth win of the season and his first McGard Street Stock Championship at Lancaster Raceway Park .

Next on the card were the Ray Laks Resale Super Stocks. Frank Batista Jr. took advantage of his pole starting position and immediately took command of the race. Behind him though was the show as George Roesch, Wayne Bernhard, and Dave Johnson put on a display of top notch racing action. Bernhard took to his favored high side to try to capture second from Roesch while Johnson stayed right on Roesch bumper, waiting for the smallest of mistakes to capitalize on Ahead of Roesch, Bernhard, and Johnson, Batista had clear sailing as he built more and more of a lead over the second place on back cars. Cruising home to his third win of the season, Batista closed out the 2007 season on a winning note. Wayne Bernhard made it five championships in a row as he once again came out on top of the points standings in the Super Stock Division.

The Lorigo Insurance SST Sportsman were next in the line up chute. Disaster struck early on in the feature as Sherri Hogan, Russ Gian, Don King, and Nick Cappelli all got caught up and went for spins in turn three. Gian and Cappelli got the worst of the damage and both were retired for the night. The double file restart had Kirk Rutherford on the pole, Tom MacLeod to his outside, while Rutherford ’s rival Erick Rudolph restarted third. Rutherford quickly took command of the race, leaving MacLeod and Rudolph to battle it out for second. Rudolph came out on top and set his sights on leader Rutherford. By the halfway point in the race Rutherford , Rudolph, and MacLeod had separated themselves from the rest of the pack. Rutherford seemed to be struggling with his car towards the later stages of the race and Rudolph explored every inch of the track trying to get around Rutherford . Rudolph looked high and low on the leader and got the nose of the car underneath a couple of times, but never enough to complete the pass. Rutherford held on to capture his fifth win at Lancaster and his thirteenth victory of the season. Although he had a rough night and finished last, Nick Cappelli was crowned the SST Sportsman Champion for the 2007 season, adding a fourth title to his racing resume.

The Bobcat of Buffalo Late Model race was the race to watch Bobby Weber and Todd Hoddick were tied for first place going into the nights action. When both drivers got the same amount of points in their respective heats, the championship was slated to come down to the last turn of the last lap, as whoever crossed the finish line first would be crowned the Late Model Champion. Weber and Hoddick started fourth and fifth respectively in the feature and at the drop of the green flag the field took off. Mark Pennell rand side be side with Tommy Reese on the front row, while Jeff Brown and Weber, and Hoddick and Matt Alix also raced side by side. The outside line began to move and Weber soon found himself in second while Hoddick was mired back in traffic. By seven laps in though Hoddick had cleared traffic and had landed in the fourth running position. Lap 11 saw Hoddick go low on Ron Nurmi to claim the third position. At the halfway point, Weber had built a considerable lead over second place Alix and third place Hoddick. Hoddick began applying heavy pressure to Alix for the second position and claimed it on lap fourteen. As the laps clicked off, Hoddick put the pedal to the metal and began hunting down the leader Weber. By lap 18, Hoddick had closed the gap and began working Weber over for the lead. Lap twenty brought out the yellow – exactly what Weber did not want to see happen as Hoddick now had a prime spot right behind him. It would be a five lap shootout not just for the race but for the championship. Weber got a good jump on the restart and was able to hold off Hoddick to claim the win and his second championship in two years by just one spot on the track.

Next week the Stock Cars are off as teams prepare for Lancaster’s end of the season finale – the U.S. Open. The event, which is scheduled for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, September 28th, 29th, and 30th, will feature top notch racing by the top teams in the Northeast. For more information and a schedule of events visit www.lancasterracing.com or call 716-759-6818.

Thiel Motorsports Fast & Furious 4 Cylinder Feature Finish:
1. (6) Jesse Baker #79
2. (5) Don Roesch #77
3. (2) Dan Roesch #69
4. (4) Matt Druar #37
5. (3) Tim Haniszewski #02
6. (1) Ken Hejna #9
7. (7) Brad Julicher #09
8. (8) Mike Tedesco #77x

Probity Group T.Q. Midget Feature Finish:
1. (4) Wayne Turnbull #31
2. (9) Bobby Holmes #3
3. (7) Mark Schulz #X
4. (10) Dave Wollaber #1
5. (8) Vinny Christiano, Jr. #2
6. (1) Chris Bandelian #34
7. (3) Arik McGruder #21
8. (5) Mike Blair #8
9. (14) A.J. Hessler #11
10. (13) John Reed #22
11. (6) Cam Barber #9
12. (11) Dean McConnaughey #99
13. (12) Russell Knutsen #33
14. (15) Shaun Szejenar #14
15. (2) Dan Lawrence #7

Lap Leader: Laps 1-20 Turnbull
Heat Winners: Lawrence, Holmes

McGard Street Stock Feature Finish:
1. (14) Andy Jankowiak #73
2. (9) Jeff Madill #6
3. (5) Bobby Hanel, Jr. #33
4. (8) John Julicher, Jr. #9
5. (4) Cory Gallagher #24
6. (10) John Hewson, Jr. #58H
7. (11) Scott Mutka #23
8. (3) Mike Maggiore #28
9. (13) Wayne Lavis #1
10. (1) Rick Ortwein #58
11. (12) Tom Agen #3
12. (15) Kaz Tarasek #18
13. (6) Tim Neis #74
14. (7) Darryl McKay #13
15. (17) Jeff Guidotti #20
16. (18) Gary Denea #33D
17. (2) Ed Nowak #96
18. (16) Keith Flanigan #26
19. (20) Steve Cochran #70
20. (22) Paul Tessier #12
21. (23) Bob Blaszak, Jr. #53
22. (26) Tom DeVille #61
23. (24) Debbie Jurek #65
24. (21) Gary Bartella #99
25. (19) Gary Light #40
26. (25) Jim Stein #21
DNS: Rob Bulger #32.

Lap Leaders: Laps 1-10 Ortwein; Laps 11-6 Madill; Lap 17 Julicher; Laps 18-20 Jankowiak
Heat Winners: Ortwein, Maggiore, Madill

Ray Laks Resale Super Stock Feature Finish:
1. (1) Frank Batista, Jr. #37
2. (2) George Roesch #61
3. (3) Wayne Bernhard #23
4. (4) Dave Johnson #52
5. (6) Kyle Sharpe #92
6. (5) J.W. Flagler #27
7. (8) Jay Mudra #16
8. (7) Jay Canonico #13
9. (9) Jason Gwin #30
DNS: Jim Kron, Jr. #31

Lap Leader: Laps 1-15 Batista Jr.
Heat Winner: Batista Jr.

Lorigo Insurance SST Sportsman Feature Finish:
1. (5) Kirk Rutherford #11
2. (8) Erick Rudolph #12
3. (7) Tom MacLeod #32
4. (10) Billy Burd #20
5. (1) John Barber #01
6. (11) Craig Dolphin #98
7. (9) Jerry Harding, Jr. #57B
8. (6) Andy Jankowiak #57
9. (2) Ed Weber #4
10. (12) Dave Tedesco #44
11. (15) Dick Kluth #27
12. (16) Don King #43
13. (3) Sherri Hogan #74
14. (13) Mike Stevenson #1
15. (17) Matt Jurek #7
16. (4) Russ Gian #9
17. (14) Nick Cappelli #86

Lap Leaders: Lap 1 Barber; Laps 2-20 Rutherford
Heat Winners: Rutherford, Weber

Bobcat of Buffalo Late Model Feature Finish:
1. (4) Bobby Weber #11
2. (5) Todd Hoddick #49
3. (8) Ron Nurmi #2
4. (6) Matt Alix #24
5. (2) Tommy Reese #54
6. (7) Scott Skora #56
7. (3) Jeff Brown, Jr. #3
8. (9) Dan Habuda #15
9. (1) Mark Pennell #18
10. (11) Art Hill #10
11. (10) Bob Nye #41
DNS: Brian Hoffman #29

Lap Leaders: Lap 1 Pennell; Laps 2-5 Reese; Las 6-25 Weber
Heat Winners: Alix, Pennell

Source: Lori Overdorf/Lancaster PR
Additions: Mark Southcott/NYRaceZone.com
Posted: September 17, 2007