Aug 1, 2015 12:23 AM EDT
Brady Fultz Makes Right Tire Choice For 2nd Black Rock Win
DUNDEE, NY – For Immediate Release – August 1st, 2015 – Curtis Berleue Photo –
Earlier on in the year, Brady Fultz won a rain-shortened Modified feature. If anyone questioned the Troyer Racecars #70 modified’s speed on that night, all of those questions got put to rest on Friday night. Fultz took the lead away from Derrick Podsiadlo on lap 23 and never looked back to secure win #2 of the season.
Joe Dgien and Podsiadlo set the pace at the green flag and Podsiadlo rocketed to the front, determined to make good on last week’s mechanical failure. Dgien didn’t let ‘D-Pods’ stretch the lead out too far as the Big-Block power of the #21 cruised around the Dundee clay.
The race would go green-to-checkered for 30 laps without one caution flag to slow down the field. Alan Johnson and Steve Paine started picking their way through the field once the field settled out into a long green flag run. By lap 11 Johnson was up to fourth and Paine up to the top five with Tyler Siri hot on the charge in sixth in the 5* ride.
As the laps wound down with ten laps to go, Podsiadlo’s car started losing traction and fell into the clutches of Fultz who eventually worked his way underneat Dgien for the runner-up spot. On lap 23, Podsiadlo couldn’t hold Fultz off any longer and the Barney Moravec Water Wells #70 took over the top spot.
Fultz would stretch the lead to almost a straightaway at the checkered flag over Dgien. Point leader Paine came home third, Podsiadlo slid back to fourth and Johnson completed the top five.
“The track is a lot better right now, especially on the bottom,” said Fultz in SuperGen Products Victory Lane.
“I had to guess a little bit on the set up and it was fast for me tonight.”
When asked about the difference in third place or the win tonight, Fultz thought maybe the choice on American Racers was the difference versus the difference in Big-Block or Small-Block engine package.
“Probably tire choice was the difference tonight,” admitted Fultz.
Jordan Siri has picked up a few wins in his Crate Sportsman 5* ride at the Five Mile Point Speedway on Saturday nights but had yet to do so at the Black Rock Speedway- until Friday night.
Siri started in position seven at the green flag and slowly picked his way through traffic to move into the top five. Siri would advance to second on lap 14 and began the charge to chase down Loren Lincoln’s 2L machine.
That charge would not take long as Siri took over the lead on lap 15 from the leader Lincoln. Siri would dominate the last ten laps to pick up the popular win. He would have to survive a late race restart with six laps to go but the driver of the Superior Crushing car was up to the task.
Lincoln held on as long as he could but lost second to Chris Fisher late in the going, Steve Gray finished fourth and the point leader Casey Pavlick rounded out the top five. Siri reflected on his season so far in victory lane.
“It took us a little while to start finding consistency again. The last five weeks, we’ve been able to do so,” said Siri.
“We’ve been so close, I thought I had it a couple times but tonight we put it all together.”
Siri let the race fans in on some news for the upcoming week involving the younger Siri stepping into a Small-Block mount.
“Friday, I’ll get to run my dad’s small-block so I’m excited to be pulling double-duty next week.”
In the MRC Street Stocks it was Kurt Stebbins who has started to hit his stride as the season winds down to claim his second victory of 2015. Stebbins rolled away from the third starting spot and quickly moved up to second before a lap 2 restart.
LaVerne Knickerbocker looked stout again in his #187 mount out of Corning, but he would need to hold off Stebbins if he was going to claim his second win of the year. Stebbins began work on Knickerbocker and was able to pull a fender up alongside Knickerbocker for the lead.
The two drivers made contact and swapped some paint in the tight battle for the lead with Stebbins coming out the other end with the lead. He would not relinquish that lead for the rest of the event.
Knickerbocker would have problems on the front end of the #187 later on in the event, showering the track with sparks from what was reported as a broken A-Frame. He would have to pull off track with a disappointing fourteenth place finish.
Out front though, it was Stebbins showing the power that won him the 2014 Empire 100 last October. CJ Guererri had a good points night working within the top five and seeing the point leader Jared Hill suffer a flat right rear tire, relegating him to a ninth place finish.
At the checkered it was Stebbins in for the win, Frank Chapman Jr second, Nate Daggett third, Guererri fourth and Dennis Cummings the top five. Cummings benefitted from contact that saw Chuck Winslow and Jeremy Potrzebowski spin nearly off the Turn 3 banking on the ‘Fast Four-Tenths-Mile’.
“Car felt really great tonight as there was a lot of bite out there,” reflected Stebbins on the victory.
“The 187 did a good job there. We connected just a little bit, but no harm no foul.”
David Whetham did everything he needed to in order to win the NAPA Know How 4 Cylinder feature Friday night. He drove the race of his life, but even that wasn’t enough to overcome the ‘Flyin’ X’ of Rich Sharpsteen.
Whetham led every lap except the one that leads you to the payout window, falling short by half a car length at the checkered flag. The battle between Sharpsteen, Chad Ayers and Whetham made this race an instant classic with all three cars having a shot to win with just five laps to go.
Sharpsteen fought through the top five and caught the two leaders with 5 to go and began to go to work on the 9A of Ayers and the 77 of Whetham. Whetham blocked the advances of Ayers down low, but while doing so opened the door for Sharpsteen on the top side of the speedway. As Sharpsteen has proven this season, the X car and the outside is a lethal combination.
“The car was actually working better on the bottom, but once they opened up the outside I had to put the car there and see if it would work,” said Sharpsteen in Champion Power Equipment Victory Lane.
“Dave ran the best race I’ve ever seen him run but we’re all out here to win. I had to take my shot.”
Sharpsteen picked up win #7 on the year to go along with his track-leading eleventh heat race victory earlier in the night. Whetham had to settle for the runner-up spot, Ayers came home third, Erica Bell fourth and Jayson Smart rounded out the top five.
Jeff Daugherty continued his utter dominance in the Creekside Entertainment Bandit division, taking the lead on the opening lap and walking away to win #11 on the 2015 season.
Billy Bowers and Brandon Kinner did their best to try and chase down Daugherty but the closest they would get was a half-straightaway advantage. ShiAnn Labar, who was featured earlier in the week on the track website, came home with a respectable fourth place finish after running some of her fastest laps of the season.
Polly Anna Dean rounded out the top five finishers. Pixie Kinner was in a new car to her this week after the transmission on her orange #12 let loose last week.
“The car was really fast tonight and the track was as good as it has been all year long,” said Daugherty in Champion Power Equipment Victory Lane.
“I had to lift in the corner a little bit, but not much,” when asked about how he drove his #22 to victory.
Next week on the ‘Fast Four-Tenths-Mile’ Black Rock Speedway will be featuring two huge nights of racing. It all starts on Tuesday when the SUNY Canton Grit Racing Series rolls into town for their second stop of 2015. They will be joined by an open draw format paying full points for the M&M Auto Sales IMCA Modifieds, MRC Street Stocks and NAPA Know How 4 Cylinders. Racing kicks off at 7PM on Tuesday night with $12 general admission.
Friday night will be ‘Trevor Bayne’s MRO Night at Black Rock’ featuring a celebrity driver match race. The Patriot Sprint Tour will also be making their second stop of 2015 on Friday as well.
The sprint cars and modifieds will run full programs while the Crate Sportsman, MRC Street Stocks, NAPA Know How 4 Cylinders and Creekside Entertainment Bandits will race in an open draw format for full points with features only. The IMCA Modifieds will be off again as I-88 has a rescheduled Empire State Series event Friday August 7th.
For more information including weekly recaps, driver profiles, results, points and information on the $100,000 Contingency Connection Rewards Program race over to www.blackrockspeedway.com or visit Black Rock Speedway on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BlackRockSpeedway or follow us on Twitter @BlackRockSpeed
Black Rock Speedway is proud to partner with the Contingency Connection in 2015 to offer their race competitors over $100,000 in prizes. Drivers lucky enough to be awarded Contingency Connection books will save thousands of dollars on the parts, pieces and products that they use each week and every winter.
Midstate Vintage Night Official Results Friday July 31st, 2015:
Modifieds, 15 cars (30 Laps): BRADY FULTZ (2), Joe Dgien, Steve Paine, Derrick Podsiadlo, Alan Johnson, Tyler Siri, Mike Bowman, Lee Bills, Daryl Hilkert, Donnie Lawson, Cory Costa, Chris Ostrowsky, Dale Welty, Randy Brokaw, Ron Cartwright Jr
Lap Leaders: Podsiadlo 1-22, Fultz 23-20
Heats: Joe Dgien, Alan Johnson
Crate Sportsman, 15 cars (25 Laps): JORDAN SIRI (1), Chris Fisher, Loren Lincoln, Steve Gray, Casey Pavlick, Brett Buono, Chris Silvers, Dale Welty, Brent Ayers, Mike Buchanan, Doug Smith, Stacey Jackson, Jake Dgien, Eric Bell, JJ Kreidler
Lap Leaders: Loren Lincoln 1-14, Siri 15-25
Heats: Loren Lincoln, Mike Buchanan
Morseman Racing Chassis Street Stocks, 16 cars (20 Laps): KURT STEBBINS (2), Frank Chapman Jr, Nate Daggett, CJ Guererri, Dennis Cummings, John Burritt, Roger Kerrick, Bill Miller, Jared Hill, Allison Teed, Carl Cleveland, Jeremy Potrzebowski, Chuck Winslow, LaVerne Knickerbocker, Ralph Champion DNS: Gene Balmer
Heats: Kurt Stebbins, LaVerne Knickerbocker
NAPA Know How 4 Cylinders, 16 cars (20 Laps): RICH SHARPSTEEN (7), David Whetham, Chad Ayers, Erica Bell, Jayson Smart, Dan Smart, Zach Teed, Jeremy Trank, Scott Bradley, Tyler Rifenburg, Dave Kinner, Jarod Brown, Rich Post, Ashley Sutryk, Desi Force, Jeff Moore
Lap Leaders: David Whetham 1-19, Sharpsteen 20
Heats: Erica Bell, Rich Sharpsteen
Creekside Entertainment Bandits, 6 cars (10 Laps): JEFF DAUGHERTY (11), Billy Bowers, Brandon Kinner, ShiAnn Labar, Polly Anna Dean, Pixie Kinner
Lap Leaders: Daugherty 1-10
