Jun 20, 2020 12:35 PM EDT
OUTLAW SPEEDWAY BEATS MOTHER NATURE IN PUTTING THIRD EVENT OF 2020 INTO THE RECORD BOOKS
Matt Sheppard goes back to back in Modifieds. Rodney Morgan remains perfect in IMCA Modifieds.
Minutolo wins in Hobby Stocks, Sobotka takes American Racer Sportsman win, Collins Jr. in Hoosier Tire Sportsman, Whritenour takes Street Stock main and Bunn makes it two in a row in 4 Cylinder’s.
Story by Kenny Shupp Jr. PR Director.
(Dundee, NY) Outlaw Speedway owner, Tyler Siri and his partner, Jordan Lynch got stubborn this past Friday night. A late afternoon torrential downpour completely soaked the popular Yates County Speedway leaving Siri and Lynch with every promoter’s toughest decision on whether to simply cancel or gut it out. They chose the latter and the track preparation crew rolled up their sleeves and went to work in a massive drying operation in hopes of saving the fast 4/10 of a mile clay oval. Even though the show began some ninety minutes later than the advertised start time of 7:30 pm, the track produced lightning fast speeds and exciting race action all evening long. The seventeen qualifying heat races were run off without one single caution flag setting the feature events for the 105 cars that had signed in.
In the Friendly Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram thirty lap Modified feature Jordan Siri and Eldon Payne Jr. led the nineteen-car field to Raymond Kenner-ups opening green flag with Payne jumping into the early lead. Matt Sheppard, mired in his usual mid pack starting position was finding the bottom of the speedway much to his liking and was quickly working his way thru the field. Payne led the opening ten laps, but on lap eleven gave way to the high-flying Sheppard and from there Super Matt had things well in hand and cruised to his second consecutive feature win. After a runner up finish to Alan Johnson on opening night, Sheppard has been nearly flawless and the two time and defending Outlaw Speedway Track Champion looks poised to repeat his 2019 performance. Once out in front Sheppard was on cruise control, but an intense battle was shaping up for second on back as track owner, Bossman Tyler Siri and Ron Cartwright Jr. were in a slug fest for the runner up position. Coming off a well-deserved top five last week, Cartwright again had heads turning as he and Siri were relentless in their side by side battle, however Siri was able to work his way around and pulled away at the half way mark. With virtually no caution flags to slow the pace, Super Matt’s insurmountable lead was too much for Siri to overcome and Bossman had to settle for his best finish of second place thus far in 2020. Cartwright slowed dramatically coming to the double checkered flags just barely nipping Hurricane Steve Paine at the wire as the two finished third and fourth. The real cinderilla story of the night was second generation pilot, Greg Birosh. Having started third on the opening grid, Birosh was able to run the entire distance with the upper echelon in the division bringing his Ford powered machine home for a solid fifth place run at the completion of the thirty lap affair.
Qualifying heat wins went to Jim LaRock, Cartwright Jr., and Tyler Siri.
The Hoosier Tire Sportsman Division touted a solid field of some seventeen machines took to the speedway for their twenty-five-lap feature. Stacy Jackson jumped into the early lead and was able to hold onto the top spot for the first seven circuits before giving way to Travis Grover who mowed the field down from his fourth row starting position. Once at the point, Grover literally left the field in his wake and totally dominated the remainder of the feature winning what appeared to be his first feature of the year. However, a post -race infraction disqualified Grover thus handing the win to Tommy Collins Jr. For Collins, who is equally as good on American Racers Tire, it was his first win of “20” on Hoosier’s as he held off a pair of hard charging young guns in Zach Sobotka and Zach George as the top three had well distanced themselves from the fourth place finisher, JT Sparring. After a long side by side battle with his teammate, Stacy Jackson, Tim Guild was able to round out the top five finishers with Jackson one spot behind.
Qualifying heats were won by Alex Payne and Bryan Rhodes.
The two time and defending IMCA Hobby Stock Track Champion, Marc Minutolo admitted that he needed to step up his program this year and after two straight weeks of Wayne Ellison finding victory lane, Minutolo knew that he needed to show his muscle and he did just that. With Ellison having mechanical problems early on relegating him to a disastrous last place finish, “Double M” took charge early on in the twenty lap feature, nailed the cushion to perfection and left the rest of the field fighting for the runner up spot. Rookie contender, Josh Oles who moved this year from the 4 Cylinder Division showed great poise throughout the entire distance, broke free of traffic and set his sights on Minutolo. However, there was no denying the big man as Minutolo cruised to his first win of the year with Oles a distant second. Justin Eldredge came home for third at the finish as early race leader, Phil Yaw faded at the end and wound up fourth as Jamie Eldredge Jr. rounded the top five.
Hobby Stock heat wins went to Ellison and Yaw.
In the companion IMCA Modified feature 2018 Track Champion, Rodney Morgan was able to keep his perfect season at Outlaw Speedway intact has he played the waiting game to perfection. Bad Brad Smith jumped to the early advantage from his third row starting spot and lead the first half of the event. Morgan followed Smith thru traffic, showed great patience and waited until lap eleven to make his move on Smith and from there cruised to his third straight win of the year. Bumps Scutt, not exactly a household name yet at the track continues to impress as like Morgan he too showed great poise in nailing down the runner up spot at the checkers. Brad Smith faded a bit in the closing laps but still came home with a solid third place run as he was chased across the line by Kevin Smith and Shawn Bruce.
In qualifying heat race action Kevin Smith and Sparky Hills came away victorious. It was later reported that with Hills heat victory he has become the oldest driver in the country to win an event in the Nationally Sanctioned IMCA Modified Division.
Glen Whritenour has been shut out of victory lane at Outlaw Speedway thus far in 2020, but that all changed on this night as GW mowed the field down from his sixth starting position, caught then race leader, Jake Karlnoski on lap five and from there drove off into another time zone. At the end of the caution free event, Whritenour had a full seven second lead over Karlnoski who had to settle for second as Jon Carpenter again rim rode his way to a top three podium finish. Jeremy Potrzebowski and opening night feature winner, Quinn Sutherland completed the top five finishers.
The two Stan’s No Tubes heat wins went to Whritenour and Carpenter.
Zach Sobotka in yet another young racer who has his eyes set on big things. Competing weekly in both the Hoosier Tire as well as the American Racer tire Sportsman Classes he has found the Outlaw Speedway much to his liking thus far in the 2020 campaign. Like several others that compete in both classes, Sobotka uses the extra seat time to hone his skills and his hard work paid off this week as he started inside the third row, made some nifty opening lap moves in getting to second and by lap six took away the top spot from Billy Paine and from there dominated the rest of the twenty-five lap feature event. Sobotka, who was victorious last week in the Hoosier Tire Sportsman Division claimed in victory lane that he is still finding his way on the American Racer Tires. To the average fan it appears that Zach Sobotka has thrown down the gauntlet that he can race and win on any tire combination. Chris Fisher, the 2018 Outlaw Speedway Sunrise Insulation American Racer Tire Track Champion had one of his best finishes in quite some time as the veteran driver started eleventh on the opening grid, passed a multitude of good equipment in route to a well-deserved second place finish at the end Like Fisher, Chris Silvers too has been a main stay in the popular AR Sportsman Division and put on a solid run to finish in the third and final podium position. Track Rookie, Kaiden Dgien continues to turn heads as he started sixth, ran with the lead group the entire distance coming home for fourth as last week’s feature winner, Dale Welty began the event in the seventh starting row and without the help of any caution flags was able to round out the top five finishers.
Earlier evening Sunrise Insulation American Racer Tire Sportsman heat wins were won by Hollywood Chris Silvers, Will Shields and Alex Payne.
The Might 4 Cylinders were the final feature of the night and for the second week in a row it was Jeremy Bunn hitting pay dirt. In victory lane a jubilant Bunn indicated that late race cautions over the past two Friday night events allowed him the opportunity to have a shot at winning and he was spot on with that comment as race leader, Ray Hyer looked poised to win his first of the year, but a caution flag for the expired engine on opening night winner., Bob Doolittle’s machine allowed Bunn to restart right on the rear trunk lid of Hyer. It took Bunn only a lap to dispose of Hyer as he led the remaining few laps to claim his second straight victory. A disappointed Ray Hyer had to once again settle for second as the lead duo was chased across the line by father, Scott Lehman, son Scott Lehman Jr., and Sammy Fuller who rounded out the top five finishers.
Three 4 Cylinder qualifying heat races were run to set the eighteen-car feature with wins going to Lehman, Lehman Jr, and Hyer.
In the Winner’s Circle Deli Bandit feature it was fifteen year old, Ethan Decker picking up his second feature win of the season as he came away with the win and has his sights set on a Sportsman ride at the completion of the 2020 race season.
Congratulations to all competitors.
Next week at Outlaw Speedway on June 26 it will be another Super 7 show. On the original 2020 schedule the night was left closed for local graduations, however due to the Covid 19 Pandemic many graduation plans have been altered and with a late start to what will surely be an abbreviated season, Siri and Lynch have exercised their option to re-open for night.
Pit gate opening time is set for 5:30 pm with hot laps at 6:30 pm. The first green flag of the night is set for 7:30 sharp.
Outlaw Speedway will continue to follow NYS protocol and not allow any spectators into the grandstand seating area in hopes that regulations will be lifted in the upcoming weeks.
For those that choose not to enter the pit area the entire event will be televised live on DirtTrackDigest.TV on a pay per view basis.
For continual updates leading into next week’s events simply go to the tracks Facebook at Facebook.com/OutlawSpeedwayLLC/.
A complete list of the current point standings in all the weekly divisions of action can be found at www.outlawspeedwayllc.com.
It should also be noted that in preparing the track after the earlier afternoon downpour it required a tremendous amount of effort on the part of nearly every competitor that had checked into the pit area. All but a handful of drivers reported to the speedway with their cars to help dry out the saturated surface. Sportsman racer, Stacy Jackson even jumped into a track owned piece of heavy equipment to lend a hand and track owner, Tyler Siri had all three of his Modifieds on the track for well over an hour logging in countless laps in the drying effort. Other high profile Modified and Sportsman drivers along with most Street Stock, Hobby Stock, IMCA Mod and 4 Cylinder drivers helped in speeding the show along. An Outlaw Speedway tip of the cap and a great deal of gratitude for all those that made the night a huge success.
