Jun 30, 2012 01:46 AM EDT
George Suprick Supreme Once Again with Patriot Sprint Tour at Black Rock
Rich Vleck, DUNDEE, NY, (June 29, 2012)- George Suprick is the winningest sprint car driver in Black Rock Speedway history, but it had been a long time since he had graced its Victory Lane; that is, until Friday Night when he got a taste of sweet redemption.
Suprick, the 2004 Black Rock Speedway and Patriot Sprint Champion from Clarks Summit, PA, lead all 25 laps of the PST Event at Black Rock for his 14th career series win and ninth Checkered Flag in Dundee. A lot has changed since his last BRS win in 2005 though.
“It’s still the same name here, but it is definitely a different deal here,” said Suprick in reference to his last win at the 4/10-mile. “I like it better without the walls. I just don’t want to wait this long to win here again.”
After driving from fifth to second in his heat race, Suprick found his way in to the redraw, where his junior helper selected the pole position for him. Suprick used an impressive start to claim the lead off Scott Hixson’s green flag from Alain Bergeron and began to slice through the lapped traffic by lap three.
Suprick would lead the train around with Bergeron and Justin Barger close in tow until lap 14, when the races only caution flag would wave and reset the frantic race that was unfolding.
“The track was a little slick in the middle so you had to run the bottom or the top, and my No. 87 was good in both,” reflected Suprick after the event. “I kept mixing up the line because I didn’t want Mr. Bergeron to know what to expect down the stretch.”
As the race moved to under five laps to go, Bergeron began to reapply the pressure with his No. 8B as the lead duo once again moved through lapped traffic. It was the moment of the race where back in May Suprick flipped out of the lead with a mechanical issue, but with all his parts working successfully, the information gained from that race was just what the veteran needed to carry through to the win.
“We learned a lot back in May and used it tonight to know what we needed. We had everything for everybody; we had them covered as the car kept getting better,” noted Suprick after the event. “The car got a little tight a few times as a hiked the wing back but it was good. This is still just a tune-up for August when it pays $4,000 to win.”
The win moved Suprick back in to a tie with his buddy Rick Wilson as the third-winningest driver in PST History.
As Suprick was clearing out of lapped traffic in the final three laps, Alain Bergeron slipped up the track and allowed Justin Barger to sneak by to steal the runner-up position. Barger, who won his heat in convincing fashion, was solid all feature long but was unable to gain enough on Suprick who ran a flawless event. It was the fifth straight top five at BRS for Barger.
Alain Bergeron also continued his streak of solid finishes in Yates County as he notched his fourth top three in the last two years, making his trip all the way from Quebec pay off. Tim Kelly, who made a much shorter trip of five miles to the track, won his heat and ran a solid fourth the entire way.
Bobby Breen, the winner of the event back in May, also won his heat race but an eighth place starting spot would make it an uphill climb for the Savannah, NY driver, as he would dig hard to round out the top five.
PST America point leader Bryan Howland drove up from 13th to 8th in the opening three laps and would pick off another pair of spots down the stretch to finish in sixth. Charlie Donk would charge from 15th to seventh, ahead of Scott Kreutter, Tommy Wickham and Jared Zimbardi, who completed the top 10.
A total of 23 sprints helped to fill the pits on a beautiful early summer night. Don Adamczyk won the Original Pizza Logs Four Laps of Fame for the second straight time at Black Rock but would forced pitside early.
The other special event on the card on Friday Night was the third leg of the BRP Dart Late Model Challenge, a series which has been dominated by John Waters over the last two years and was once again on Friday Night as he stayed perfect in the series as well as in BRS point races for 2012.
Waters, of Whitesville, drove underneath Jared Hill on lap five and never looked back as he held a comfortable advantage over the rest of the pack in his No. 11 for his fourth win in as many point races in Dundee this season. Things got hairy in lapped traffic in the closing laps, but it was not enough to knock him out of Victory Lane.
Jared Hill would hold on to score a second-place showing after Jason Knowles was penalized two spots for a late-race pass through the infield, That would move Mike Wondering up to third and Knowles back to fifth. Bruce Miller was exciting in his No. 80 as he rounded out the top five.
Randy McCulloch has been a contender at Black Rock Speedway for a number of years, but not until Friday Night was he able to grace Victory Lane in his sportsman.
McCulloch moved underneath veteran Dale Welty on lap five to take the top spot away and then held a steady distance over the pack to get to the final quadrant of the event, where the pilot of the Marros/Filtrec No. 21 held off the pack in three late-race restarts for the breakthrough win.
“It’s been a long time we’ve been trying to get this one,” admitted McCulloch in Victory Lane. “These guys are so tough out here.”
McCulloch had a tough start to the 2012 season, which helped him in the handicap process by earning him the outside pole for the feature. He took full advantage of it keeping the car steady out in front of the field.
Donnie Lawson, despite fighting an illness, ran up from the seventh starting position to take the runner-up spot just before the restart with two laps to go. On that final restart however, Karl Comfort, who started ninth, would drive up and score the second place showing over Lawson, Brady Fultz and Dale Welty.
Jake Karlnoski had his No. 55x set up perfectly in the street stock feature and held a healthy lead for most of the race; the largest issue for him would be if his car would last all the way through the Checkered Flag.
Karlnoski, of Dundee, lead all 20 laps to score his first feature win. In the closing laps, steam began to emanate from his car as the engine was overheating. He would coast through the line for the win and then immediately take his car to the pits to get cooled down.
As Karlnoski was cruising to the win, Dylan Cecce would capture his best career street stock finish with a fine second place showing. Point leader Bob Buono was third while Nate Daggett and Chris Fisher completed the top five.
Shawn Bruce had finished in the top four in each of his first five races of the season, but he finally broke through for his first IMCA Modified win at Black Rock on Friday. Bruce took the lead on lap four from Bruce Tinsley and then held a safe advantage over Rich Karlnoski to score the big win.
Behind Tinsley and Karlnoski was defending champion Mike Smith, who did not make the call for hot laps or the heat but was able to ride up to third. Tinsley and Dave Yehl completed the top five spots.
Rich Sharpsteen II defeated James Kreidler III for the third race in a row as the two Dundee local racing pals battled duked it out for 20 laps. Kreidler used his typical bottom line approach, which was the preferred groove on the night, and it appeared as though he would drive up to the lead, but Sharpsteen found a way to keep his “Flyin’ X” down just low enough for the win.
Del Cummings was close in tow to the lead duo hoping they would bobble, but would have to settle in third while Jayson Smart and Jeremy Trank completed the top five.
Adam DelGrosso made his first appearance at the Black Rock Speedway count in a big way as he swept the FWD 4-Cylinder heat and feature. Brian Grant and Steve Rogers would cross the line tightly for second and third, respectively.
Lance Irwin swapped the lead with Brandon Matthews on multiple occasions in the early stages of the bandit feature before getting a solid advantage and running away to his third win of the season, his second in a row, to recapture the point lead. Allison Teed charged up to second while Matthews was third.
Black Rock Speedway Results: 6/29/2012-
Sprint Night, BRP Dart Challenge #2 Night
Patriot Sprint Tour A-Main (25 Laps)- 1. George Suprick (87), 2. Justin Barger (5), 3. Alain Bergeron (8B), 4. Tim Kelly (12), 5. Bobby Breen (9), 6. Bryan Howland (51), 7. Charlie Donk (99), 8. Scott Kreutter (52), 9. Tommy Wickham (75), 10. Jared Zimbardi (35), 11. Chuck Hebing (45), 12, Jeff Cook (10), 13. Tracy Potter (11), 14. Steve Collins (67), 15. Erica Bell (31B), 16. Brandan Warner (10B), 17. Paul Habeck (25H), 18. Dave Wickham (80), 19. Clint Ide (3), 20. Steve Hutchinson Jr. (2), 21. Don Adamczyk (21), 22. Jeremy Barnard (86), 23. Jeff Frasier (99x).
Lap Leaders- Suprick 1-25.
Dash Winner- Adamczyk.
Heat Winners- Barger, Breen, Kelly.
Hoselton Auto Mall Crate Sportsman Feature (20 Laps)- RANDY McCULLOCH, Karl Comfort, Donnie Lawson, Brady Fultz, Dale Welty, Ross Vleck, Nicole Hoag, Gary Hotelling, Chris Daugherty, Ray Bliss, Loren Lincoln, Fran Hilton, Ray Smith, Joe Cook Jr., Brandon Butler, Trevor Sutherland, Serenity Sutherland, Josh Livingston, Chris Silvers, Scott Waters, Brian Swarthout, Chad Dailey, Rob Humphreys (DNS).
Lap Leader- Welty 1-4, McCulloch 5-20.
Heat Winners- Lawson, Silvers, McCulloch.
BRP Dart Late Model Challenge Feature (20 Laps)- JOHN WATERS, Jared Hill, Mike Wonderling, Jason Knowles, Bruce Miller, Jeremy Wonderling, Adam DePuy, Brian Knowles, Mikey Wonderling, Dusty Waters, Robert Stilson, Steve LeBarron, Buck Payne, Quinn Sutherland, Carl Cleveland, Bill Miller, Wally Wade, Sparky Hills.
Lap Leaders- Hill 1-4, J. Waters 5-20.
Heat Winners- J. Knowles, Hill.
Street Stock Feature (20 Laps)- JAKE KARLNOSKI, Dylan Cecce, Bob Buono, Nate Daggett, Chris Fisher, Larry Fenton Jr., Gene Sharpsteen, Chuck Winslow, Erica Bell, Jeff Elliot, Chris Lopez, Jeremy Perkins, Tom Grady, Rich Sharpsteen I (DNS).
Lap Leaders- Karlnoski 1-20.
Heat Winners- Karlnoski, Fisher.
IMCA Modified Feature (20 Laps)- SHAWN BRUCE, Rich Karlnoski, Mike Smith, Bruce Tinsley, Dave Yehl, Don Reeves, Phil Yaw, Jared Spaulding, Tim Sebring, Rob Wilcox (DNS).
Lap Leaders- Tinsley 1-3, Bruce 4-20.
Heat Winner- Yaw, Bruce.
Signs Plus of Kanona/ Watkins Glen NAPA 4-Cylinder Feature (20 Laps)- RICH SHARPSTEEN II, James Kreidler III, Del Cummings, Jayson Smart, Jason Trank, Riley Ellison, Erick J. Bell, Zack Teed, Rick Horton, Billy Cagle, Brad Rathbun, Chris Ayers, Mike Ziarno, Harold Fenton Jr., Chad Ayers, Scott Bradley (DNS).
Lap Leaders- Sharpsteen 1-20.
Heat Winners- Sharpsteen, Kreidler,
Home Necessities Bandits (10 Laps)- LANCE IRWIN, Allison Teed, Brandon Matthews, Justin Eldridge, Joey Rodbourn, Matt Mashewske.
Lap Leaders- Matthews 1, Irwin 2-3, Matthews 4, Irwin 5-10.
Front Wheel Drive 4 Cylinder Feature (12 Laps)- ADAM DELGROSSO, Brian Grant, Steve Rogers, Joe Gillegspie, Alyssa Duby, Jamie Eldridge, Nate Freeland (DNS), Bill LaViolette (DNS).
Lap Leaders- Grant 1, DelGrosso 2-12.
Heat Winner- DelGrosso.
