Sep 1, 2015 08:48 AM EDT
Fultz Outduels Dgien For Win, Paine Locks Up 8th Black Rock Title
DUNDEE, NY – For Immediate Release – September1st, 2015 – Curtis Berleue Photo –
Brady Fultz and his No. 70 Troyer was once again at the top of the heap in the Modified division at Black Rock Speedway Friday night after holding off his friend Joe Dgien. This was his third win of the season for Fultz, while it also pulled him within one point of fourth and 11 points of fifth place in the point standings.
Dale Welty and Fultz led the field to Scott Hixson’s green flag for 30 laps around the ‘Fast Four-Tenths-Mile’. Fultz led early and often, using the outside lane in his Barney Moravec Water Wells, Decoy Restaurant 370 Modified entry.
Welty gave Fultz a challenge early with Cartwright, Dgien and Tyler Siri in tow. The first caution flag of the night came out on lap 5 as Mike Bowman had problems in his No. 16 in what was his fifth start of the season.
Point leader and seven-time track champion Steve Paine worked his way into the third position at halfway on lap 15. Though he would end up finishing third, he would leave Friday night with a 33 point lead- securing his 8th Black Rock Speedway track championship.
Dgien and Paine would put on a great battle for the second spot, which allowed Fultz to maintain a comfortable advantage out front. Siri’s 5* slowed on lap 25, drawing the caution flag and setting up a 5-lap dash to the finish.
Fultz powered away on the restart, leaving Dgien and Paine to battle once again for second. With just three laps remaining, Dgien cleared Paine and waged war with Fultz for the lead but the yellow would come back out for Welty with a right rear flat with two laps to go.
After another quick caution for debris on the front stretch, Dgien and Fultz would once again put on an exciting finish. Dgien made a run on the bottom while Fultz stayed true to the top side. The two ran side by side down the backstretch, through Turns 3&4 and down the front straightaway with Fultz taking the win by a nose at the line.
Dgien would have to settle for a hard-fought second place finish, Paine locked up the track title in third, Alan Johnson fourth and Cartwright rounded out the top five.
“Boy that makes it exciting,” said Fultz in Champion Power Equipment Victory Lane.
“We kept having those cautions which was hurting me. The top was starting to go away, but we made it work.”
Brent Ayers and Doug Smith would take the green flag for 25 laps on the front row of the Crate Sportsman feature- one that Ayers would dominate from the drop of the green.
The Dundee, NY driver of the Davison Construction, OSM, Knapp & Schlappi Lumber Company No. 29 was on a rail Friday night, leading wire-to-wire for his first official win of 2015. For Ayers, the victory was redemption for a 2014 season that saw his year end early with a hard crash on the backstretch. 2015 has been a struggle as well with a crash and a parts infraction that took a win away back in July.
While Ayers was dominating out front, the battle within the top five was a good one. Chris Fisher, Stacey Jackson, Jake Dgien and Smith put on a great battle for the great crowd in attendance. As the laps wound down, Dale Welty and Chris Silvers entered their machines into the fray.
Welty worked his way through the top five, eventually making his way to the runner-up position but not being able to reel in Ayers for the lead. Ayers would lead to the checkered flag over Welty, Smith, Fisher and Silvers the top five.
“The car felt great tonight,” Ayers said in Super Gen Products Victory Lane.
“The crew made some adjustments after the heat because we were loose in the center. I asked dad what they were changing? He said ‘shut up and drive the car’ so that’s what I went with.”
Keith Lamphere needed a solid run to pad his points lead in the M&M Auto Sales IMCA Modified division and he got that and more on Friday night. Lamphere would make a pass on Harry Ely late in the going to cruise away to his 9th Black Rock victory of 2015 and his 7th points-paying victory of the season
The victory will give Lamphere a 15-point advantage going into championship night over Jason Benjamin which should allow Lamphere to just start the feature Friday night to clinch. With the IMCA division receiving one point per position, Benjamin would need a win, a larger than normal field of IMCA Modifieds and a disaster for his teammate in order for the No. 84 to pick up the title.
While Ely held on for second, there was an impressive story coming out of the third place finisher. Nick MacMillan ventured to Black Rock Friday from the Concord, NC area and nailed down his first top five in his first start at the speedway. MacMillan is a graduate of the Summer Shootout Series that races bandoleros and legend cars on the pit road and frontstretch of Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Jason Benjamin and Todd Stone rounded out the top five finishers Friday night.
“We didn’t have a lot of bite in practice, got better in the heat and made some changes that worked for the feature,” said Lamphere in victory lane.
Going into Friday night, Jared Hill took an eight-point lead over CJ Guererri into the feature event. Both drivers had their struggles in what has been a fierce battle for the MRC Street Stock track championship.
While racing each other hard in a pack of six other cars during the feature event, Hill made contact with Guererri’s left rear quarter panel and cut a tire. Guererri would continue on while Hill changed the tire and rejoined the tail of the field.
Hill ran into more trouble as he got caught up with Ralph Champion and Bill Miller in a wreck exiting Turn 4, badly damaging the Creekside Racing No. 93. An extended caution to run in fluids on the front stretch allowed Hill’s crew to make what repairs they could and allow Guererri’s crew to change a flat tire of his own.
Guererri would work his way toward the top five while Hill was making laps as best he could with a bent shock and left front suspension pieces askew, just to save points. That move would pay off as Hill passed a couple of cars that would drop out of the feature before the checkered flag flew.
While all of the drama unfolded for the championship, LaVerne Knickerbocker was dominating the 20-lap affair out front. It has been a season full of bad racing luck for the Murder Nitro No. 187 team and Friday would not be any different. With only a few laps remaining, a lead weight went flying off of Knickerbocker’s machine and landed outside the racing groover in turns 3 and 4.
Earlier in the season all drivers were required to paint their number on all lead weights for identification purposes if that weight comes off the car. The penalty for a weight falling off the car is an automatic disqualification as this poses a huge safety risk to both the racers and race fans.
Once the race was over, the weight was picked up by the safety team and was identified as being off the No. 187. Knickerbocker would have the win vacated due to the violation.
Gene Balmer would receive first place points, Jake Karlnoski had a great run for second, Bob Buono in a new ride came home third, Frank Chapman Jr fourth and CJ Guererri picked up 3 points on Hill with a fifth place finish.
The point lead will now be 5 points for Hill heading into Season Championship night this Friday. It will be a nail biter for all sides as the 2015 MRC Street Stock championship will be decided on the last lap.
The NAPA Know How 4 Cylinder feature was shaping up to be a classic battle for the win between Rich Sharpsteen and JJ Kreidler but a terrible accident involving Sharpsteen and Bryan Thompson on the frontstretch drew the red flag on lap 12.
As Sharpsteen and Kreidler battled down the frontstretch, they quickly approached the Thompson machine that had made contact with the Turn 4 wall. Thompson, in fact, rode the front stretch wall a good distance while it is suspected that he was unconscious. The No. 2b missed the opening in the wall at the flagstand but bounced off the bend in the wall in Turn 1, sending the 2b down the track.
Thompson’s helpless machine made a hard left turn in front of Sharpsteen at the fastest part of the speedway for the 4 Cylinders. Sharpsteen had nearly no time to react but did make a quick pitch to the left, allowing his car to hit Thompson’s car door-to-door versus a ‘T-Bone’ hit that could have been much worse for both drivers. The impact was significant though with Thompson coming to rest in Turn 1 and Sharpsteen coasting to a stop on the pit entrance.
Thompson was unconscious briefly, but eventually came to answer questions of the EMS staff. Sharpsteen was mainly uninjured with a torn up racecar and complaints of general soreness. Black Rock Speedway medical staff, Dundee Fire and Dundee EMS attended to Thompson for extrication, which was accomplished without cutting into the roll cage.
Thompson suffered non-life-threatening injuries to his shoulder, ribs and unspecified vertebrae. Though hurt, Thompson has vowed via Facebook that he will return to action in 2015- possibly even this week.
The racing action Friday will kick off with completing the final 8 laps of the 4 Cylinder feature.
Jeff Daugherty continued his dominance of the Creekside Entertainment Bandit division with his 15th victory of 2015 on Friday night. This driver out of Elmira, NY has been nothing short of impressive in his Daugherty Auto Sales, Greg’s Auto Body, Comfort Zone Heating & Air Conditioning No. 22.
Billy Bowers spun late in the event with only a few laps remaining. With a short dash to the finish, ShiAnn Labar drove a great race to post her best finish of 2015 in second, holding off Bowers who finished third. Pixie Kinner, Dakota Evans and Brandon Kinner rounded out the six car field.
Well wishes are sent to the Kinner crew as the engine detonated underneath the hood of the No. 21 during the Bandit feature. Brandon climbed from the smoking car unharmed, but disappointed.
Brandon Hodge from Penn Yan, NY in his 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee won the final round of the spectator races held on Friday night. He also won the Truck/Van/SUV division and held off Car division winner Richard Fritz in his 2006 Chevy Cobalt for the overall victory.
Coming up this week at Black Rock Speedway is Season Championship Night. All championships have been decided except the M&M Auto Sales IMCA Modifieds and MRC Street Stocks. With close point races in both divisions, Friday night’s racing will be pivotal in deciding the final two track champions for 2015.
The Modifieds, Crate Sportsman, M&M Auto Sales IMCA Modifieds, MRC Street Stocks, NAPA Know How 4 Cylinders and Creekside Entertainment Bandits will all be on the racing card.
Pit gates open at 4PM, Grandstands at 5PM, Hot Laps at 6:15PM and Racing taking the first green flag promptly at 7PM. General admission is $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and ages 12-17 with children under 12 always FREE at Black Rock Speedway.
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.
Black Rock Speedway Official Results August 28th, 2015:
MODIFIEDS, 11 cars (30 Laps): BRADY FULTZ (3), Joe Dgien, Steve Paine, Alan Johnson, Ron Cartwright Jr, Dale Welty, Tyler Siri, Cory Costa, Brian Doolittle, Daryl Hilkert, Mike Bowman
Heat Winners: Dale Welty, Joe Dgien
CRATE SPORTSMAN, 11 cars (25 Laps): BRENT AYERS (1), Dale Welty, Doug Smith, Chris Fisher, Chris Silvers, Steve Gray, Stacey Jackson, Jordan Siri, Loren Lincoln, Jake Dgien, Josh Szymanski
Heat Winners: Brent Ayers, Chris Fisher
M&M AUTO SALES IMCA Modifieds, 13 cars (20 Laps): KEITH LAMPHERE (9), Harry Ely, Nick MacMillan, Jason Benjamin, Todd Stone, Scott Sebring, Bruce Tinsley, Jeff Austin, Sparky Hills, Brad Smith, Rodney Morgan, Nicole Spalding, Brandon Mathews
Heat Winners: Scott Sebring, Todd Stone
MRC STREET STOCKS, 17 cars (20 Laps): (Winner DQ), Gene Balmer, Jake Karlnoski, Bob Buono, Frank Chapman Jr, CJ Guererri, Roger Kerrick, Nate Daggett, Jared Hill, Allison Teed, Kurt Stebbins, Jeremy Potrzebowski, Chuck Winslow, Bill Miller, Ralph Champion, Dennis Cummings, Artie Teed DQ: LaVerne Knickerbocker (Weight Fell Off On Track)
Heat Winners: Nate Daggett, Dennis Cummings
NAPA KNOW HOW 4 CYLINDERS, 22 cars (20 Laps): To Be Finished 9/4/2015
Heat Winners: Del Cummings, Rich Sharpsteen, Scott Bradley
CREEKSIDE ENTERTAINMENT BANDITS, 6 cars (10 Laps): JEFF DAUGHERTY (15), ShiAnn Labar, Billy Bowers, Pixie Kinner, Dakota Evans, Brandon Kinner
