Jun 11, 2016 11:18 AM EST
Tomkins Finally Shakes Bad Luck With Much Needed Outlaw Speedway Victory
Media Contact: Steven Ovens - pr@outlawspeedwayllc.com or (315) 729-3825
For Immediate Release – June 11th, 2016 – Don Romeo photo -
(Dundee, NY) – There is no doubt that 2016 has not been a season to write home about for Gary Tomkins and his Tracey Road Equipment No. 84 at Outlaw Speedway. But on Friday night, the Coar-owned Bicknell was back on top and parked in Outlaw Victory Lane on Friendly Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep, Ram & Ford Night.
Woodhull, NY drivers Donnie Lawson and Lee Bills led the field to the green, which was waved by Holly from Friendly Dodge & Ford. Lawson took the early lead and set a fast pace out front, with Tomkins working his was past Bills to move up into the second position.
It was ironic that Lawson and Tomkins had found their way to the lead early in the event. Just one week prior, both cars sat under the flag stand and in turn one with destroyed race cars from a crash.
Lawson led the way as the leaders clicked off lap number eleven, but Tomkins started knocking on the door for the lead. On lap fourteen, Tomkins would streak by Lawson and claim the lead- a position he would not relinquish.
As Tomkins took the lead, he had a pack of Modified veterans chasing him down as well making it a four car battle for the top spot. Middlesex, NY veteran Alan Johnson was in hot pursuit, as he is trying to extend his winning streak to forty-two straight seasons.
“The Doctor” Danny Johnson was not far behind either in the Shakelton NAPA Auto Parts No. 27J. The younger Johnson would get a much needed third place effort after starting the season with hardship after hardship.
With fewer than ten laps remaining, Alan reeled in Tomkins and applied an immense amount of pressure for the lead. Johnson’s best opportunity to make his move appeared to be in turns three and four. Tomkins was running high, while Johnson took the Friendly Ford No. 14J down low.
A caution with five laps to go dashed Johnson’s run, as Tomkins was able to keep the second and third place cars at arm’s reach over the remaining laps in the thirty-lap feature. Alan Johnson finished second, Danny Johnson third, ‘The Hurricane’ Steve Paine fourth and Tyler Siri the top five.
“This is all credit to the crew, Tom, Chris and everybody that works on this car,” said Tomkins while holding the checkered flag in victory lane. “They’ve had to rebuild this thing from wrecking three times and none of them were easy wrecks.”
Tomkins talked about the damage from last week, which knocked them out of competition for this past Wednesday’s Ultimate Outlaw 50.
“We’re sorry we couldn’t be here on Wednesday, we just couldn’t get it fixed in time to be here for that. My hats off to my crew, they gave me a great race car here tonight.”
As the race wound down, Tomkins saw the leader board and saw who it was that was chasing him down from the second and third spots.
“The two worst guys I want behind me were behind me, and I’ve been watching them both for a long time and I know all the tricks they have. I just tried to do the best I could to keep it straight and we pulled it off. Before that last caution, I thought Alan was going to get me. We run American Racers weekly here and a lot of us don’t have a lot of experience on them, plus everyone can pick different compounds. We made the right choice tonight.”
The Crate Sportsman twenty-five lap feature event saw a special victory take place in what was an incredibly close finish. Stacey Jackson took his first win of 2016 and beat AJ Lloyd to the start/finish line by 0.06 seconds.
Jackson, from Addison, NY, has been racing with his brother Mike with heavy hearts all season long after the loss of their father Steve in the Spring. It has been a struggle for Stacey in particular this season, between the races he has run at Outlaw, Woodhull and traveling on the Grit Series. But on one night in June at Outlaw Speedway, Jackson pushed through it all and finally claimed the team’s first victory since losing their dad.
“It’s been a struggle, we’ve destroyed a car and lost a motor,” said an emotional Jackson, fighting back tears with his crew looking on. “We lost our dad in the Spring and racing just isn’t the same without him. We always raced with him. This one’s for you dad.”
Jackson would take the lead from Ross Vleck on lap five after having moved into the second position on lap four. Once taking the lead, he would not surrender it but would get an incredible challenge from AJ Lloyd late in the going.
As the two made their way through the final set of turns, Lloyd drove it in deeper than he had all night long. Exiting corner number four, Lloyd moved up the track trying to shut the door but Jackson was not going to let off the gas pedal with the double checkers in sight.
Jackson commented on not being happy about the contact on the race to the stripe.
“Well, I see how we want to race here so I learned something tonight. That won’t happen again.”
The race also saw a battle in the middle portion of the race that came about on a restart that ended up causing an accordion effect and crash back through the field.
Jackson spoke to that restart that Lloyd tried to get the jump on Jackson, which bottle-necked the field up causing damage to several cars including Mike Jackson’s No. 19J.
“You just have to know when to go and when not to go and the rule is you fire in between the cones,” said Jackson. “So I didn’t go (when Lloyd went). Thanks to a good flagger, he didn’t let it go.”
Jackson took the victory, Lloyd finished second, Chris Fisher a strong third place finish with Loren Lincoln and Dale Welty filling out the top five finishers.
John Waters claimed his first RUSH Crate Late Model victory at Outlaw Speedway on Friday night. His first at a track that he once dominated in his 360 BRP Late Model just a few seasons ago. It also came one night after being spun from the lead and damaging the front end of his No. 11, which suffered cosmetic damage and some other components near the front of the engine.
“We worked all day and we’re tired, but it makes it a lot better when you can come back to win,” said Waters. “I told Jason (Knowles) tonight was my turn and the track was just awesome to race on.”
Waters would redraw the pole and led wire to wire to get the win. He would get different challenges from Wayne Robertson and Jason Knowles, who battled each other for the runner-up spot. But out front, Waters was in his own zip code with a fast Troups Creek Heating Inc, Insinger Performance Racing Fuels No. 11.
Waters would walk away to victory over Knowles, Robertson, ‘Pork Chop’ Brian Knowles and Frank Guererri Jr. the top five in his No. 113jr.
“Track position was everything here tonight,” said Waters in Victory Lane. “I knew with Jason and Wayne showing up here tonight, we appreciate everyone sticking around and watching us here tonight.”
Waters talked about the Crate Late Models being a new, growing division and what the future could be with the class?
“We’re going to get this class better, and it’s going to be one of the best races to watch here. Keep coming, keep sticking it out. Tyler is doing a great job and we’re going to make this class shine. It’s a good start, but with circumstances tonight at Little Valley running their make up and guys like the Wonderlings having to go there because they’d already paid to race…we will get them back and it’s going to be fun.”
Another great comeback story was seen in the Creekside Entertainment Street Stock division as defending track champion Jared Hill stepped into Jim Schuyler’s No. 57J and took the win. Hill nearly destroyed his own No. 93 mount on Wednesday in the Fight Night Series race, putting him out of contention for Friday’s event.
Enter Hill’s father-in-law Schuyler and his driver Quinn Sutherland. Schuyler and Sutherland have been fighting handling issues so far in 2016, which gave them an opportunity to put Hill in the car to help work the bugs out and keep him in the points race.
“We’ve had a rough year, Jim’s had a rough year,” said Hill in Victory Lane. “He (Schuyler) come up and talked to me and I said ‘I’m not going to take Quinn’s ride’. Quinn come up and asked if I would take it for a couple weeks and figure it out. It ain’t perfect, it still has some brake issues but it worked.”
LaVerne Knickerbocker led the opening lap of the twenty-lap feature, but a quick caution slowed the field on lap one. During that caution, Knickerbocker’s car just shut off. He would take the Trackside Products No. 187 to the pits, the crew looked things over and sent him back out onto the track. An unfortunate break for the driver that picked up a win last Friday night and was looking for his second of the season.
That handed the lead over to Nate Daggett, who led from laps two through thirteen. All the while, fighting off fierce challenges from Chuck Winslow, Jeremy Potrzebowski and Hill.
The yellow came out on lap eleven as CJ Guererri and Tony Harris tangled in the first turn. Guererri and Harris had been routing and gouging for position for the previous three laps with neither driver giving an inch in the corners. As the pair went to turn one, the No. 4 spun off the front bumper of the No. CJ1. Both cars spun and would rejoin the field at the tail to continue on.
Once back to green, the race would go green to checkered over the final nine laps. Daggett held off Winslow, but opened the door for the Cam Sutherland and sons Construction, Speedway Performance, Beauty Craft No. 57J. Hill took his shot and took the lead on lap number fourteen, streaking away at the end to claim his first victory of 2016.
Winslow would pass Daggett with two to go for second, Daggett another great run for third, Knickerbocker a great recovery to fourth and Jeremy Trank with his best run of 2016 in fifth place.
“Jim’s going to be mad, he’s at Little Valley tonight,” said Hill. “I had to stay off the brake because of the issues we had, we changed the lines, the master cylinder and we tried everything. We changed a bunch of things; we worked on it every change we had tonight. I can’t think Jim and Quinn and Sharon enough for putting me here.”
There was a first time winner in the Four Cylinder division as Dundee, NY resident Dave Whetham picked up his first career win on Friday night, beating out Penn Yan’s Chris Mashewske.
Mashewske led early in the event, but could not hold off Ray Hyer and Codie Baker for the lead with Baker taking over the top spot on lap nine. From there, Hyer reeled in Baker and made it a two-car battle for the victory.
Hyer would take the lead in the Brian Grant Jr.-owned ride on lap fifteen, but disaster would strike on lap sixteen. The No. 4D of Hyer and No. 14 for Baker had trouble negotiating lap traffic and ended up crashing together in turn four, bringing out the yellow. Both cars suffered damage and took their cars to the attention of their crews.
That handed the lead back to Mashewske on the restart. Whetham, who carried out his best Dukes of Hazzard impression on the backstretch on lap fourteen, somehow found himself in the runner-up spot on the restart.
Whetham wasted no time, taking the lead from Mashewske with three laps to go and racing away to his first career win on four wheels at the Dundee, NY facility.
“It was tough, I went to the brakes, back to the throttle and I kept it straight somehow but I thought I was done right there,” said Whetham about the incredible save on the backstretch.
Whetham avoided disaster, but he wasn’t done as he had to pass Mashewske and hold off all challengers for three more laps.
“When we come back to the green with Chris, I felt like I would have him as he was pushing a little bit in turn one and two. It was just my time tonight.”
With several seasons of great runs and a lot of learning along the way, Whetham tried to put that first win into words.
“It’s unbelievable to come from a motocross background to four wheels, and finally get a win in my second year running here.”
Mashewske held on for second with Del Cummings, Brad Rathbun Jr. and Chad Ayers rounding out the top five.
Austin Labar picked up his second career win at Outlaw Speedway on Friday night, making it two wins in a row for the No. 42. Steven Perkins III would make it an interesting race on the last two circuits, but Labar was up to the challenge.
Labar will try and make it three in a row next Friday, and looks to continue to cut into Perkins’ lead in the points race.
Coming up next Friday night at Outlaw Speedway, the Patriot Sprint Tour will return for the rained out event from last month. They will join the Friendly Dodge & Ford Big Block/Small Block Modifieds, Crate Sportsman and Farmers Insurance IMCA Modifieds. The Crate Late Models, Creekside Entertainment Street Stocks, Four Cylinders and Winners Circle Deli Bandits will race features only next Friday night. The Late Models will draw for position, with the Street Stocks, Four Cylinders and Bandits lining up according to their handicap. Race time is set for 7:00PM with the grandstands opening up at 5:00PM sharp.
For more information race over to www.outlawspeedwayllc.com follow Outlaw Speedway on Facebook at www.facebook.com/OutlawSpeedwayLLC or follow us on Twitter @OutlawSpeedPR and Instagram @OutlawSpeedway
Outlaw Speedway is located at 82 Main St in Dundee, NY and holds dirt track racing weekly on Friday nights from mid-April through Labor Day Weekend in September. The speedway also hosts special events on the grounds with special races run during the fall months of September and October. A new era is being ushered in for 2016 as Tyler Siri takes over ownership of the Yates County oval nestled in the heart of the Finger Lakes.
Outlaw Speedway Friendly Dodge & Ford Night Quick Results 6/10/2016:
Start Time: 7:00PM
End Time: 10:18PM
FRIENDLY DODGE & FORD MODIFIEDS, 20 cars (30 Laps): GARY TOMKINS (1), Alan Johnson, Danny Johnson, Steve Paine, Tyler Siri, Donnie Lawson, Brady Fultz, Billy Van Pelt, Jim LaRock, Derrick Podsiadlo, Cory Costa, Justin Wright, Jordan Siri, Daryl Hilkert, Joe Dgien, Dave Rauscher, Eldon Payne Jr., Ron Cartwright Jr., Lee Bills, Tony Harris
Heat Race Winners: Gary Tomkins, Cory Costa, Brady Fultz
Lap Leaders: Donnie Lawson 1-13, Gary Tomkins 14-30
CRATE SPORTSMAN, 20 cars (25 Laps): STACEY JACKSON (1), AJ Lloyd, Chris Fisher, Loren Lincoln, Dale Welty, Brett Buono, Josh Keesey, Tommy Collins Jr., Ross Vleck, Brent Ayers, Collin Brown, Doug Smith, Tim Guild, Eric Williams, John Austin, Todd Hayward, Garrett Rushlow, Mike Buchanan, Mike Jackson, Zach Ziegenhagen
Heat Race Winners: Mike Jackson, Loren Lincoln, Stacey Jackson
Lap Leaders: Ross Vleck 1-4, Stacey Jackson 5-25
RUSH CRATE LATE MODELS 9 cars (20 Laps): JOHN WATERS (1), Jason Knowles, Wayne Robertson, Brian Knowles, Frank Guererri Jr., Bob Buono, Adam Depuy, Chris Fleming, Ed Stratton
Heat Race Winners: Jason Knowles
Lap Leaders: John Waters 1-20
CREEKSIDE ENTERTAINMENT STREET STOCKS, 15 cars (20 Laps): JARED HILL (1), Chuck Winslow, Nate Daggett, LaVerne Knickerbocker, Jeremy Trank, Jayson Smart, Ryan Krause, CJ Guererri, Jeremy Potrzebowski, Tony Harris, Clint Miller, Allison Teed, John Burritt, JJ Kreidler, Adam Whipple
Heat Race Winners: Nate Daggett, LaVerne Knickerbocker
Lap Leaders: LaVerne Knickerbocker 1, Nate Daggett 2-13, Jared Hill 14-20
FOUR CYLINDERS, 25 cars (20 Laps): DAVE WHETHAM (1), Chris Mashewske, Del Cummings, Brad Rathbun Jr., Chad Ayers, Billy Bowers, Erica Bell, Adam DelGrosso, Jarod Brown, Scott Bradley, Jordan Keefer, Chris Percy, Craig Mahrt, Bruce Kinner, Derrick Puryear, Scott Lehman, Desi Force, Timmy Borden, ShiAnn Labar, Steve Perkins Sr., Ray Hyer, Codie Baker, Zach Teed, Rich Sharpsteen DNS: Pat Toupin
Heat Race Winners: Dave Whetham, Rich Sharpsteen, Codie Baker
Lap Leaders: Chris Mashewske 1-8, Codie Baker 9-14, Ray Hyer 15-16, Dave Whetham 17-20
WINNERS CIRCLE DELI BANDITS, 2 cars (10 Laps): AUSTIN LABAR (2), Steven Perkins III
Lap Leaders: Austin Labar 1-10
