Jun 27, 2016 12:04 AM EST
Justin Wright Outlasts ‘The Hurricane’ For Outlaw Modified Victory
Media Contact: Steven Ovens - pr@outlawspeedwayllc.com or (315) 729-3825
For Immediate Release – June 24th, 2016 – Don Romeo photo -
(Dundee, NY) – It’s amazing what hard work and a little confidence can do for a racecar driver. Justin Wright eyed an eight-time champion in ‘The Hurricane’ Steve Paine and drove away to his first win of 2016 at Outlaw Speedway.
It would be Horseheads, NY pilot Jordan Siri and ‘Hollywood’ Daryl Hilkert leading the field to Steve Kellogg’s green flag. ‘Uncle Scorch’ Hilkert would take off from the drop of the green flag and set a torrid pace out front in clean air.
Siri would quickly fall into the clutched of Wright, Derrick Podsiadlo and Alan Johnson. Once the field sorted themselves out and started logging laps, Wright started after Hilkert for the lead. Hilkert, who had a career run Friday night, was up to the task in the Extreme Renovations No. 4.
Wright would slip by for the lead on lap fourteen, but it was Hilkert re-taking the lead in three and four to reclaim the lead on lap fifteen. As they battled up front, ‘The Hurricane’ Steve Paine had clawed his way from his eleventh place starting spot to move into third.
Wright would finally find his way back by Hilkert on lap twenty-one, but only by 0.05seconds. Once Wright finally found clean air, he couldn’t enjoy it for very long because Paine had also gotten by Hilkert and wanted to etch his first victory of 2016 as well.
In a race that went green-to-checkered, Wright was doing all he could to fight off Paine for the lead. With only a handful of laps remaining, Paine seemed to lose the magic in the Swarthout Recycling, Elmira Heat Treat No. 7x. Paine appeared to have a right rear that was losing air and slowed the hard charge he had put on up to that point.
With Paine trying to hold off Johnson for the runner-up position, Wright was able to cruise away to his first win since the ‘Fast Four-Tenths-Mile’ was renamed Outlaw Speedway. Paine was second followed by Johnson, Hilkert and Podsiadlo.
“I have to thank Steve Paine, he’s a class act and raced me clean,” said Wright in Outlaw Victory Lane. “This has been a lot of work, but we’re finding it.”
It was a special night for Wright, as he reflected on his years racing at Outlaw over several divisions. But it was who he beat that made it so special.
“When you can keep Steve Paine and Alan Johnson behind you, I mean they’re going to the Hall of Fame. That’s really cool.”
It had been since 2015 at Woodhull, that Brett Buono had found his way to Victory Lane. He had never seen Victory Lane in a Crate Sportsman at Outlaw Speedway, and his last Outlaw win came back many years ago when the track, then named Black Rock Speedway, raced a division of Pro Trucks. That all changed on Friday night.
Eric Williams and Doug Smith brought the field to the initial start and it was Williams who would set the pace early. Buono started in the third position and quickly moved up to the runner-up spot as the field put lap number one on the board.
While Buono was working Williams over for the lead, the most entertaining part of the race was watching Dale Welty pull out all the stop signs on his way to the front. Welty started in the eighth position and was looking for his third victory of 2016 on Friday night. He found the high side to his liking and was the fastest car on the track in turns three and four.
Buono stalked Williams for the lead and finally got around him on lap twelve and pulled out to nearly a full straightaway lead. But in a race that went without a caution until lap twenty-one, Buono looked like he might run away and hide.
The caution gave Welty a chance to close in on the back bumper, but he didn’t need the tires to cool off the way he was charging the car through the corners. On the restart, Welty got a great run on the outside and showed Buono the lane Welty was going to try and use to get the win.
Buono changed his line for the remaining three laps and took his first checkered flag of the season over Welty, AJ Lloyd, Tim Guild and Doug Smith.
“This car has been great, we picked it up last year,” said Buono. “We’ve figured it out this year, we just needed to get past the bad luck.”
Once Buono saw Welty up top, he knew what he needed to do to try and protect the lead.
“I saw him up above so I thought I’d try it, and it stuck.”
As far as what the win on ‘home turf’ meant?
“This one means a lot. It’s like my dad said, you never know when your next win is going to be.”
The Crate Late Model race was once again dominated by ‘Porkchop’ Brian Knowles, who has just been on a roll here in the middle portion of the season. It hasn’t been easy, and it’s been a learning process, but Knowles says the GRT chassis they picked up from Bryce Davis is a rocketship.
“This car is actually a new GRT we got from Bryce (Davis),” said Knowles. “A lot of people say with horses that it’s in their blood line to win like this.”
Knowles spoke to the fact that the competition level is very tough at Outlaw, even though the class is building itself up.
“People don’t realize that even though our car count is down, they guys that we are racing here at this track are typically the top ten throughout the whole Northeast on the RUSH series.”
The Creekside Entertainment Street Stocks saw Tony Harris and a driver set to graduate high school this weekend, Allison Teed, lead the field to the green flag for twenty laps. Harris led the opening circuits, but Chuck Winslow roared to the front from his fifth starting position to grab the lead from Harris early.
As he has done so many times in 2016, Winslow was on cruise control enroute to his third points victory of 2016 and his fourth overall victory at Outlaw, including a Fight Night Series win a few weeks back.
Defending Street Stock champion Jared Hill, behind the wheel of the Schuyler No. 57J, drove the wheels off the car trying to catch Winslow in the No. 61. Hill would find something on the top side of the track for bite, but found it just a few laps too late.
Winslow streaked across the line for the victory by two car lengths over Hill, CJ Guererri, Harris and Nate Daggett.
“The car would tighten up, going into three I wanted to run the top,” said Winslow. “But I knew (Hill) was behind me and he’s a real fast guy so I had to protect the bottom. If he was going to pass me, I was going to let him have the top.”
Winslow, known as a guy who doesn’t worry about points, spoke to how dominant their season has been.
“That’s what you have to do, don’t worry about the points. Just show up and try to win the race, that’s what you have to do.”
The Farmers Insurance IMCA Modifieds saw Shawn Bruce lead late in the event to pick up the victory on Friday night. It was on this weekend, in 2012 that he last won at Outlaw Speedway before returning to competition in 2016.
The race would see Bruce Tinsley, Todd Stone and Bruce all take their turns at the front of the pack, but Bruce had his No. 7* tuned in perfectly on the surface that the IMCA cars got first dibs on Friday night come feature time.
‘Dick in the Dirt’ Rich Karlnoski had a shot at Bruce in turn four with less than a handful of laps remaining. Unfortunately for Karlnoski, the car washed out and forced him to back off the gas to not make contact with Bruce- ending what was a great run for the lead.
Bruce talked about not thinking they’d have a chance to win two features this early in the season as well as how clean his competitors raced him.
“Not a chance, this is something else I’m just so happy,” said Bruce. “Rich (Karlnoski) raced me so clean tonight. Todd Stone ran me clean, he’s going to win a race here soon as fast as he is.”
Zach Teed and Rich Sharpsteen led the field to the green flag for the Four Cylinder feature event. Teed led the opening laps, but it was the rookie Billy Bowers who showed some real muscle to take the lead on lap three.
Bowers’ run at the point would only last until lap six when his car made the hard right turn to the pit area with a flat tire. Teed would assume the lead after Bowers’ bad luck, but that too would be short-lived. He would only lead a single lap before giving way to a Dundee, NY veteran that already has a win in 2016.
James Kreidler III would blow by on a restart and would cruise away to victory, even after having strong competitor Ray Hyer move up to the runner-up position late in the event. Kreidler would get the victory over Hyer, Scott Bradley, Teed and Brad Rathbun Jr. with another impressive top five finish.
The Winners Circle Deli Bandits started the night off with their ten-lap feature and it was Austin Labar who would take the lead from his outside pole starting position to lead the event wire-to-wire. An impressive run was put in by Joey Clark in the No. 1 car though, who stalked Labar the entire event in just his second career Outlaw Speedway start.
While Clark kept the fans attention as he tried to chase down Labar, Steven Perkins III and Matt Irwin had an eventful battle amongst themselves for the third spot as well. Perkins would get the third spot over Irwin.
Coming up next Friday night at Outlaw Speedway, it’s $12,000 Fireworks Night in Dundee as all divisions will be in competition as well. The Friendly Dodge & Ford Big Block/Small Block Modifieds, Crate Sportsman, Crate Late Models, Farmers Insurance IMCA Modifieds, Creekside Entertainment Street Stocks, Four Cylinders and Winners Circle Deli Bandits will all be in competition along with the always-exciting fireworks spectacular.
General admission for Fireworks Night presented by the D.B. Miles Insurance Agency will be $17 for adults 13 and up, Senior Citizens $15 with children 12 and under always being Free at Outlaw Speedway. Pit passes will be $32 on Friday night.
The Winners Circle Deli Bandits will begin at their customary 6:45PM race time. Qualifying heat races will roll off at 7:00PM with the grandstands opening up at 5:00PM sharp. The Pit area will open at 4PM. Fireworks will begin as soon as it is dark enough to shoot them off.
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 Official Results 6/24/2016:
Start Time: 7:05PM
End Time: 10:50PM
FRIENDLY DODGE & FORD MODIFIEDS, 19 cars (30 Laps): JUSTIN WRIGHT (1), Steve Paine, Alan Johnson, Daryl Hilkert, Derrick Podsiadlo, Jordan Siri, Gary Tomkins, Brady Fultz, Ron Cartwright Jr., Joe Dgien, Cory Costa, Jim LaRock, Tyler Siri, Dave Rauscher, Billy Van Pelt, Lee Bills, Donnie Lawson, Marcus Dinkins DNS: Ray Dann
Heat Race Winners: Joe Dgien, Jordan Siri, Billy Van Pelt
Lap Leaders: Hilkert 1-13, Wright 14, Hilkert 15-20, Wright 21-30
CRATE SPORTSMAN, 16 cars (25 Laps): BRETT BUONO (1), Dale Welty, AJ Lloyd, Tim Guild, Doug Smith, Tommy Collins Jr., Chris Fisher, Brent Ayers, Mike Jackson, Stacy Jackson, Eric Williams, Todd Hayward, Ross Vleck, Zach Ziegenhagen, Loren Lincoln, Eric Buchanan
Heat Race Winners: Brett Buono, Todd Hayward
Lap Leaders: Williams 1-11, Buono 12-25
RUSH CRATE LATE MODELS 7 cars (20 Laps): BRIAN KNOWLES (2), Wayne Robertson, Jason Knowles, John Waters, Bob Buono, Adam Depuy, Frank Guererri Jr.
Heat Race Winner: Brian Knowles
Lap Leaders: Brian Knowles 1-20
FARMERS INSURANCE IMCA MODIFIEDS, 12 cars (15 Laps): SHAWN BRUCE (2), Scott Sebring, Tony Harris, Brad Smith, Sparky Hills, Brandon Smith, Rich Karlnoski, Jeff Austin, Todd Stone, Bruce Tinsley, Phil Yaw, Rodney Morgan
Heat Winner: Todd Stone, Tony Harris
CREEKSIDE ENTERTAINMENT STREET STOCKS, 17 cars (20 Laps): CHUCK WINSLOW (4), Jared Hill, CJ Guererri, Tony Harris, Nate Daggett, LaVerne Knickerbocker, Jake Karlnoski, Allison Teed, Jayson Smart, Adam Whipple, Chris Mashewske, JJ Kreidler, John Burritt, Carl Cleveland, Christian Thompson DNS: Jeremy Potrzebowski, Jeremy Trank
Lap Leaders: Harris 1, Winslow 2-20
Heat Race Winners: Jared Hill, Chuck Winslow
FOUR CYLINDERS, 24 cars (20 Laps): JJ KREIDLER (2), Ray Hyer, Scott Bradley, Zach Teed, Brad Rathbun Jr., Dave Whetham, Erica Bell, Chris Percy, ShiAnn Labar, Timmy Borden, Chad Ayers, Mike Stone, Tim VanEtten, Jordan Keefer, Bruce Kinner, Desi Force, Billy Bowers, Craig Mahrt, Brian Grant Jr., Rich Sharpsteen, Steve Perkins Sr. DNS: Jarod Brown, Chris Mashewske, Kevin Clark
Lap Leaders: Teed 1-2, Bowers 3-6, Teed 7, Kreidler 8-20
Heat Race Winners: JJ Kreidler, Ray Hyer, Brian Grant Jr.
WINNERS CIRCLE DELI BANDITS, 4 cars (10 Laps): AUSTIN LABAR (4), Joey Clark, Steven Perkins III, Matt Irwin
Lap Leaders: Labar 1-10
