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WILD WORLD SERIES ISMA FINALE
FINDS CHRIS PERLEY A WINNER
AFTER LADY LUCK HELPS HIM
TO VICTORY LANE
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Thompson, CT – “I’ll take this one,” Chris Perley shouted as he erupted from his Vic Miller 11 in victory lane at Thompson Speedway Sunday. With ten laps to go in the ISMA portion of the World Series of Racing, Chris Perley, who had won six of the last nine World Series’ events, had not really expected win number seven. He was running fifth late in the race and figured that was where he was going to stay. Ahead of him Mark Sammut, Dave Shullick Jr., Russ Wood and Mike Lichty had been the show. But on lap 43 things began to happen. Leader Sammut broke a hub and crashed out of the race. Dave Shullick Jr. took over the lead on the restart and Perley was able to pass a “loose” Mike Lichty who had used a lot of car battling Sammut, to gain third with five to go. Then with two to go, Perley had moved by Wood when all of a sudden Shullick’s wing broke giving Chris the opportunity to grab the lead and the win.
Said the recently crowned 2009 ISMA champion after a finish that definitely went his way, “ I was kind of settling in on sixth or fifth. I was racing hard, but the car was loose. I couldn’t really get where I wanted to go. As I’ve said before, I’d rather be lucky than good sometimes and this really played into my favor today. But, I didn’t give up on the car because my crew never does. I have awesome motors from R&R and Ed Shea helps out with those motors and everything. I have a great crew. Obviously you can’t beat this crew. You can’t beat this crowd or this track either. It’s my favorite track.”
He continued replaying the 50 lapper by saying, “On the restarts I was quicker but just as I’d catch up. I would lose ground and then gain ground. I was as fast as the leaders but I couldn’t get by. It was do or die. They say to save the best for last but I wasn’t saving anything by any means. Then, I don’t know what happened. Poor Sammut crashed and gave me a top five. Maybe that gave me some extra incentive. Then I got by somebody and then somebody else and I was second. Then Shullick looked like he bobbled and I thought ‘I don’t have much time. I only have one shot at this one.’ I did the one shot deal and it worked. Unbelievable. Another win. And four championships in a row too. It’s just crazy.”
“What do I do for an encore? I don’t know. I’m running out of things, I know that. This really just shows how good the whole crew is together. They don’t quit. I don’t quit. The car doesn’t quit. It’s just crazy.”
Dave Shullick Jr., who had lost a potential first win at Thompson for the second straight year, settled for the second place finish. Last year he spun off the track late in the going and then worked his way back to 8th before time ran out. Said the North Ridgeville, Ohio driver after his runner up finish. “The car was pretty good. It was a little bit loose but I searched around the race track and found a groove that was really, really good for me. I think we had it in the bag but the wing broke with two laps to go. We were wicked loose then. I was just hanging on and that’s why Chris got us.”
Russ Wood, no stranger to victory lane himself, finished up a strong third in the Holbrook 29. “Our car was pretty good. It was strong for the first 30 laps and then developed a push toward the end. Chris just out drove us. It felt good to run with those guys. Overall we’re happy. Third is pretty good.”
Mother Nature had tried very hard to wreak havoc on the races for the second straight week, but Thompson management prevailed despite loosing the entire day of qualifying on Saturday. So by Sunday morning, ISMA’s feature field was lined up by points with the top twelve handicapped using the money won system.
Robbie Summers, who had the pole, elected to move to the rear due to car problems, leaving Jeff Locke and Mark Sammut in the front row at the green. Locke, a feature winner in his rookie season, took off like a shot, leaving Sammut in the proverbial dust. But Jeff’s lead quickly evaporated after a brush with an about to be lapped car, causing Locke to fall back enough for Sammut to take over and Locke to slide backwards a few spots. Mike Lichty quickly got by Locke and headed for a battle with his fellow Canadian driver.
Yellow slowed things down between the top two when Bobby Santos, filling in for an ailing Lou Cicconi in the Wentworth 10, looped it around off turn four, bringing out the flag despite being able to recoup the car. Santos pulled pitside for a check over and rejoined the field at the rear.
Back underway it was Sammut, Lichty, Locke, Shullick Jr. and Wood ahead of Jeff Holbrook, Bob Magner, Dave McKnight, Justin Belfiore, and Chris Perley, the top ten.
Bentley Warren, who had a podium finish in 2008, found his day end early as a tire went down on the Vic Miller 71 and the New England racing legend pulled in finishing only 19 circuits.
Meanwhile out front, Sammut and Lichty continued their battle. On lap 23, Lichty made a breathtaking attempt at the lead as he and Sammut sandwiched a slower car but Sammut held on and back at it they went as Shullick came around Locke for third to join the fray. Bobby Magner kept the top trio in sight taking Locke soon thereafter.
On lap 28, Lichty, STILL looking for win number one on the ISMA trail, got by Sammut coming onto the front stretch. BUT as Lichty’s luck would have it, a caution flew for his teammate Dave McKnight who was against the wall in between one and two. This negated the pass for the lead. Jeff Locke joined McKnight as he also pulled out of the race here.
The top five remained Sammut, Lichty, Shullick, Magner and Wood as Lichty was using every move he had to try and wrest the lead from Sammut with the 20 to go mark fast approaching. Perley was still mired in seventh behind Justin Belfiore at this point.
On lap 35, yellow flew for the 02 of Brandon Bellinger and the 5 of Vern Romanoski who tangled coming off turn four. Bellinger was hooked while Vern was pushed into the pits.
This restart cost second place runner Lichty his spot when Shullick and then Wood got the jump on him. As Wood and Shullick battled side by side, Lichty fell slightly back with Magner in hot pursuit. Perley was still in sixth.
Sammut was still able to keep the hounds at bay as the race moved into the final segment. At lap 40, Mark had a few car lengths on Shullick who was trailed closely by Wood, Lichty, Perley, Magner and Belfiore. It was still anyone’s ball game.
Suddenly, on lap 43, Mark’s possible home run at the World Series, came to an abrupt halt when the center of this right front wheel broke away, sending Mark into the wall and the tire flying down the track. Mark was okay but his race was done.
Now, it was Dave Shullick out front with Wood, Lichty, Perley, Belfiore and Magner, the key players. On lap 47, Perley made his move around Wood.
On lap 48, something was not right with Shullick as he slowed slightly with a malfunctioning wing. It was “go time” for Perley and he went, taking the lead and the win in those final two laps. Shullick held for second with Wood third. Lichty finished up fourth with Justin Belfiore garnering his first top five in his short season.
Said Lichty, ‘Well, we didn’t win another one but it was a good run. It was a great battle with Mark. That was the fun part of the race, really fun. Unfortunately, a hub broke for him again. We just got way too tight. We started off the race really decent. We actually had Mark on the outside that one time and the caution came out. We had to go back. All and all it was a good finish to the season. We’ll go back to the shop and wait for next year and see what happens.’
Belfiore, who had just gotten his 98 back about mid-season, commented on his run from the back of the pack. “We started last and at the beginning I was really going to just take it easy and what not, but the green flag came out and the brain turned off. We worked through the field pretty good but I think I used I it up a little bit too much at the beginning. I thought I had enough to go all the way to the front but it didn’t work out. We’ll take a fifth. The guys worked really hard on the car. I’d like to thank Serve Pro of East Boston, Speedy Greco, Tomborello and Son Scrap Metal, my father Jim, of course, Rusty who did a good job on the tires today and Tommy. It was just a fun day. We didn’t even expect to get a fifth but we’ll take that into the winter and hopefully we can come out strong.”
SUMMARY - ISMA EVENT #14 - WORLD SERIES - Oct. 25th
No heats run due to inclement weather
Field line up by points, top 12 handicapped.
WORLD SERIES 50: 1. Chris Perley (11), 2. Dave Shullick Jr. (61),
3. Russ Wood (29), 4. Mike Lichty (84), 5. Justin Belfiore (98),
6. Bobby Magner (41), 7. Jeff Holbrook (35), 8. Danny Lane (9),
9. Ben Seitz (88), 10. Ray Graham Jr. (90), 11. Dave Sanborn (24),
12. Dave Duggan Jr. (51), 13. Mark Sammut (78), 14. Brandon Bellinger (02),
15. Vern Romanoski (5), 16. Jeff Locke (37), 17. Dave McKnight Jr. (94),
18. Bentley Warren (71), 19. Bobby Haynes Jr. (44), 20. Bobby Santos III (10),
21. Robbie Summers (97), 22. Larry Lehnert (92), 23. Artie Rousseau (616),
24. Eric Emhoff (2).
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44TH ANNUAL ALL-STAR CLASSIC
GOES TO CHRIS PERLEY
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Epping, NH – Chris Perley became a four-time winner of the prestigious All-Star Classic on Saturday night, tying him with supermodified legend Ollie Silva who also won four. Only two drivers – Bentley Warren and Russ Wood – have won more in the 44 years of the event’s running. Perley’s run to the front of the ISMA Classic Cigar 100 was an exciting and challenging one, as he had to find a way around some tough competition. Ipswich, Mass.’s Justin Belfiore and Canadian Mike Lichty led the way until Perley swapped the point with Lichty after midway to take the lead on lap 66. Lichty stayed with the Vic Miller 11 until the waning laps of the event when the 84 began to fade and Lou Cicconi and Dave Shullick Jr. powered by. Perley, whose last win came on July 25, has felt the loss of some of his competitive edge, uncharacteristically falling out of the top five on two occasions in the last five race events, although staying on top of the point standings. Perley described what brought him back into victory lane.
“We’ve definitely been off lately. We’ve been searching and hoping that we didn’t get to a point where we were over-engineering and over-thinking what we had. We came here and practiced a couple weeks ago and it wasn’t bad. We warmed up earlier today and it wasn’t that great. The times weren’t there but it didn’t feel that bad. We just kind of left it alone. Two things were out there today. Number one basically, we felt that whatever happens, happens. And number two, let’s get this race under our belts and get more information as well as go back to look at some of the old notes that worked.
“You get a little gun shy, Perley continued, “when you are messing up and the car isn’t what it was. Tonight the car is what it was. We had a great race with Mike Lichty but somehow he didn’t win again. Our car ran great and obviously the crew did a great job in the fact that it never skipped a beat and the motor ran great. We still have what we always had which is a great package, great sponsors and a great crew. My hat’s off to everybody. I’m just the lucky guy who gets to drive this car.”
With a record the envy of most, Perley has found the latter part of this season a little more difficult than in the past few years. “Sometimes it’s hard to get discouraged when so many people expect you to do what you’ve always done. And, it’s difficult to keep doing that and obviously you can’t keep it up forever but you are going to try just as hard and sometimes harder when you are not. It’s tough when you are racing a tough bunch of competitors and people want to know what happened when you finish second. That’s the hard part. It all worked out tonight. We’re very happy to have our fourth win here.”
“Liquid” Lou Cicconi was in the runner-up spot after a torrid three-way battle for the spot after Perley took over. As Lou headed back to his Aston, PA home, he said briefly, “The car was good. It just wasn’t there. It was actually better after I bent the right front canard when I got into Chris. But, I definitely didn’t have enough. I think if I had caught some traffic I might have had something for Chris but when we were running out away from each other Chris was gone.”
Ohio’s Dave Shullick Jr., also had a strong run finishing third as he fought with Cicconi ahead and 5-time Classic winner Russ Wood behind. “It really was a good race. We started a ways back. The car wasn’t perfect but we worked on it all day long. When we got here it wasn’t good at all and we just kept working, working and working. We made it better throughout the whole afternoon. The 10 car and my car were about the same. I don’t think either one of us was faster than the 11. He was definitely better. The traffic was really tough. I think we passed the 51 around 700 times. Traffic is tough here and it’s hard to pass.”
The 24-car ISMA field was pared down early due to 2 separate accidents in warm-ups one involving Bob Magner in the Holbrook 41 and the other, Robbie Summers in the Lane 9 which he was driving for the day after a devastating crash of his former mount at Oswego in September. The top sixteen time trialers were locked into the 44th Classic with the top twelve handicapped leaving Bobby Haynes Jr. and Justin Belfiore to lead the field to green.
Belfiore was the immediate leader and hit the pedal to leave the others behind. By lap 8 he was into the tail of the 22 starters on the ¼ mile oval. By lap 10 he had put two more cars between him and the battle for second between Haynes, Jeff Locke, Mike Lichty and Vern Romanoski.
Locke was to fly the first yellow on lap 18 when he came around out of turn two with miraculously everyone coming up avoiding contact.
Belfiore was off again on the green with Lichty moving into second ahead of Jeff Abold, Chris Perley, Haynes and Lou Cicconi moving into the top five. Ironically, it was Locke who flew the second yellow on lap 35 to bunch things up behind Belfiore. This time there were no cushion cars and on the restart, Mike Lichty, hell-bent for his first in ISMA, right behind.
Out front it was a 98-84 duel for the lead as Perley, Cicconi chased. Haynes, Abold, Dave Shullick, Ben Seitz and Mark Sammut all were in the process of moving forward.
At the midway mark it was Belfiore, Lichty, Perley and Cicconi almost nose to tail as the front-runners approached another batch of slower cars. Belfiore, trying to protect his lead, dove under a lap car as Mike Lichty looked to the outside. Unfortunately for Belfiore he could not complete the move and yellow flew for the leader who was sitting sideways in one. Jeff Holbrook, Russ Wood and Vern Romanoski used the time to pit.
Lichty was now the leader as Belfiore tried to restart at the rear. Perley made a breathtaking move around Lichty out back but the move was negated when Romanoski stopped out front after reentering the fray. First half leader Belfiore called it a day here and pulled pitside.
On the next restart of the 52nd lap, Lichty was able to fend off the charging Perley and Cicconi and off the trio went with Haynes, Shullick, Sammut and Seitz holding off Russ Wood and Dave McKnight.
Ten laps later Perley and Lichty made a sandwich of Dave Duggan on the front stretch vying for number one, but Lichty had prevailed as the crowd went wild.
The next lap saw yellow for Mark Sammut who had hit the wall in turn four losing a wheel in the process because of it. Sammut pretty much sunk his quest for the 2009 title, as he needed to finish well to stay in contention. Said point leader Chris Perley later of his challenger’s demise, “I feel bad for Mark wrecking. He was second in points and it would have been hard for him to catch me but he was still a great second and you don’t want to end the year like that. We still have another race but that basically took him way out of contention. It’s too bad. He was running good, and the accident put him out.”
Perley went one more lap after the restart of lap 65 before making good a pass of Lichty to take the lead on lap 66. The Rocket went into afterburn but Lichty kept sight as Cicconi, Shullick and Russ Wood hounded him.
A yellow flew on lap 83 for Artie Rousseau but Rousseau was able to keep the 616 going and the race was quickly back underway with Perley’s opponents now getting one last shot. But, Perley was in command now while the others were tied up with each other fighting back and forth for the runner up spot. Cicconi moved on Lichty. Shullick Jr. was also on the move and Russ Wood was right there waiting for a chance.
As the double checkers were waved for Perley, Cicconi, Shullick Jr., Lichty and Wood came by in that order, seconds later.
Lichty, although missing out on the win once again, commented, “It was definitely nice to get into the race car after a month off. We had a real good car at the beginning. We chased Justin down for the lead. He got together with Graham there and we inherited the lead. After that the car was really good. Perley got by me on a restart once but I got the lead back. After that initial caution, the car was the best it was all night. I think the cautions hurt us with the heat cycles in the tires and what not. All and all it was a good night to come home fourth after not finishing at Oswego. I thought we were doing good but in the last ten laps Louie and DJ got by us and the car just went away. We’ll see what Thompson brings.”
Veteran Classic campaigner Russ Wood said of his top five finish, “We finished fifth and another Star Classic is in the books. We were slipping and sliding. We just missed the setup a little. We did what we could. Toward the end I just started driving the car a little differently and it was going easier. My not trying so hard seemed to help. We were close to the second, third and fourth guys but Chris was in another land again. Congratulations to them. We’ll take the fifth and head for Thompson.”
Ben Seitz added to his point tally as he looks for Rookie of the Year honors, finishing 6th with Bobby Haynes Jr. having a very strong run for seventh. Dave McKnight, Jeff Holbrook and Brandon Bellinger rounded out the top ten.
SUMMARY - ISMA All-Star Classic Cigar 100 Sat., Oct. 10th
Top 16 in Time Trials locked in, top 12 handicapped: Russ Wood (11.248),
Lou Cicconi (11.253), Mark Sammut (11.506), Dave Shullick Jr (11.481).,
Chris Perley(11.570), Jeff Abold(11.760), Jeff Holbrook(11.709),
Mike Lichty(11.764), Jeff Locke(11.523), Vern Romanoski(11.699),
Justin Belfiore(11.457), Bobby Haynes, Jr. (11.724) (not listed in order).
FEATURE FINISH: 1. Chris Perley (11), 2. Lou Cicconi Jr. (10),
3. Dave Shullick Jr. (61), 4. Mike Lichty (84), 5. Russ Wood (29),
6. Ben Seitz (88), 7. Bobby Haynes Jr. (44), 8. Dave McKnight Jr. (94),
9. Jeff Holbrook (35), 10. Brandon Bellinger (02), 11. Vern Romanoski (5),
12. Dave Sanborn (24), 13. Artie Rousseau (616), 14. Jeff Abold (05),
15. Dave Duggan (51), 16. Mark Sammut (78), 17. Ray Graham Jr. (90),
18. Justin Belfiore (98), 19. Jeff Locke (37), 20. Danny Lane (97),
21. Larry Lehnert (92), 22. Jamie Timmons (27). |
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TIMMY J SMOKES THE OSWEGO BUD LIGHT SUPER NATIONALS FIELD
Oswego, NY – Independence, Ohio’s Timmy Jedrzejek won his second Oswego Speedway Bud Light Super Nationals Friday coming up through a tough, tough supermodified field. Jedrzejek, who had the fastest time trial of the 33 cars on hand, was inverted back to twelfth place starting spot for the 50-lapper. He faced 11 of the toughest competitors from the ISMA-MSA organizations ahead of him. Picking his way up through the field, he finally got by a strong-running Lou Cicconi in traffic on lap 35. Two more yellows before race end allowed the field a shot at him, but it never materialized. The win was his first Supernationals with the Craig Reed Racing 8 and his third overall winged Oswego win.
Timmy described his race. “The car was good. Obviously we set it up to be good by qualifying number one. But that puts you back in a tough spot back in twelfth. I think early on in the race I wasn’t quite sure what we had. I was trying to bide my time. The motor was close to overheating there at the end. I was just trying to make it through. It was a great race. I hope the fans enjoyed it. I know I certainly did.
“You are racing against 11 great drivers in front of you and you think, ‘how in hell are you ever going to do this?’ For some reason tonight it all worked out. We had a great car and it handled great to the end. The power was good. What can I say? Brian (Allegresso) and Butch Valley built a heck of a car for us. It was just our job to get it here tonight. This was a special one. The last time I won here I started on the pole. Tonight I thought about that half way through and I knew I’d have to really work for this one. The big luck tonight was Louie hanging onto his car when I hit him coming off of four and he gathered it up. I backed off a little because I didn’t know if I tore my nose wing. If he hadn’t held onto that both cars would have been on the wrecker.
“There were a lot of great MSA and ISMA competitors that came to one place and race together. It couldn’t have been any better. I’d like to thank PPG and the Vibrance Collection for all their support, Enerco and Mr. Heater and all the guys on the crew.”
Lou Cicconi, who started fifth and had to chase Gene Lee Gibson and Dave McKnight for most of the 20 laps, before gaining the lead, finished in the runner-up spot, a career best at Oswego for the talented Aston, PA driver.
“The car was good all night but when it came to traffic the air off the other cars was making my car push on exit. It was really hard to maneuver. I’ll tell you what this is the best we’ve ever done here. It really wanted to win but TJ earned it. He got me in traffic. I got into it a little too hot and got sideways there. It was the first time I went high since I had gotten the lead. I didn’t know what was going to happen, but we figured it out. It was a good race. These guys are all fast.”
A guy who was no stranger to top Oswego finishes but who had been absent from the scene for a while, Russ Wood, ran to a third place.
“It’s good to be back here,” said Russ. “I love coming to Oswego. It’s been since ‘05 maybe since I’ve run here. We were okay today. We struggled a little in the day. The car was good but just not the best. It was a tough race. We finished where we started which is good against these guys. It was a tough battle and we’ll take the third.”
Time trials, heats and a consi, set the 26-car starting field with Gene Lee Gibson and Danny Lane leading the field to green. Gibson immediately took the lead and would hold it through several yellows, one for Matt Palmer, who rejoined the field and one for the Jeff Locke 37, who did not.
Gibson had Dave McKnight, who was celebrating his 50th birthday Friday, and Lou Cicconi bearing down on his 0 almost from the beginning. Sorting out behind the top three were Russ Wood, Mike Lichty, Jedrzejek, Dan Lane, Bob Magner, Bentley Warren, Charlie Schultz and Chris Perley.
On lap 18 Gibson hit some heavy and fast traffic, and the gap he had on McKnight and Cicconi evaporated. As Gibson was about to put the 09 of Jack Smith down a lap, Cicconi seized the opportunity to get under both the 94 and 0 for the lead.
Lap 22 bunched the field when yellow dropped for the Magner 41. One lap later a double incident occurred which saw Rich Reid hit heavily in turn four while 4 cars jumbled in turn one. Reid went off on the hook and the others – Lane, Timmons, Ice and Burch all were restarted and regained their spots in the field because they had secondary spins to the Reid yellow. Burch, however, would pit sending him the rear.
Cicconi took off on the restart but Timmy J utilized the time to get by both McKnight and Gibson to put his 8 in second. Russ Wood also got by McKnight to claim fourth on the next circuit. On lap 25, McKnight’s teammate Mike Lichty exited the race out of sixth.
For the next eight laps all eyes were on the seasoned veteran Cicconi and Timmy J as the two pulled away for their own battle up front. Gibson Wood, McKnight, Perley and Schultz ran behind.
The leaders approached the tail of the field on lap 34 and anticipation mounted. Cicconi made a high move and Timmy J went low, coming out with the lead.
Gene Lee’s masterful run went sour on lap 39 when the third place running 0 came around in the fourth turn with the pack narrowly missing him as he sat. Russ Wood was almost a victim here. “It was a scary moment there when Gene Lee got loose and spun. Luckily he didn’t roll down and I was able to squeeze by. I got lucky there,” said Wood of the mishap.
A lap car provided a cushion for Jedrzejek for the next 11 laps and he was able to pull away from the second place Cicconi. Even a bone-jarring hit by Jamie Timmons, which caused a lap 45 slowdown, couldn’t really deter Jedrzejek, although it put Cicconi right on his tail. Lou and Wood got by the lap car on that restart, but just couldn’t muster the speed to catch the high-flying Ohio man. Cicconi, Wood, Perley and McKnight crossed under the double checkers more than a couple car lengths behind. With points issued by both clubs, Jedrzejek strengthened his point lead for MSA and added another win to maintain his lead on the MSA all-time point list with 21.
Perley, who has been sorting out some minor car problems of late, commented, “We’re obviously still a little bit off. I didn’t feel right after the heat. We could have left it alone and maybe had it or maybe didn’t. But we came here to try and win and so we figured we’d try something else. It didn’t work out. I wasn’t getting better out there; the people were coming to me. I just tried to maintain. We were loose from the drop. I thought about pitting on that early caution but the track wasn’t in good enough shape to come up through. So I said I’ll just stick with what I got because I’m stuck with what I got now. The track was pretty gnarly up top. There was no outside groove where you could kind of pick away here and there on the restarts. We plugged away and ended up with a top five. It’s good, but Timmy J smoked ‘em and that was cool to see. Thanks to Eddie Shea who was here today and all my other sponsors for supporting us.”
McKnight, too, admitted to just not having the car to beat the guys in front of him. “It was a solid run by the Patco team. They did a good job. We were a top ten car tonight. We just didn’t have it. The car was a little pushy, a little loose. All in all it was solid. We’ll take the fifth and go on to All-Star and Thompson and see what happens.”
Tim Ice, Charlie Schultz, Trent Stephens, Bentley Warren and Mark Sammut finished up the top ten.
Notes: Robbie Summers was taken to Oswego Hospital after a hard hit into the wall in the first heat. He was being checked over for neck and back pains. Summers was also involved in a pileup on Thursday night in the Whelen Mod Tour Thompson event… Steve Miller’s 16 and Bobby Haynes Jr. suffered mechanical problems in warm-ups and had to pack up before time trials…Bob Bond, still recuperating from an earlier crash, turned over the driving chores of the 25 after still experiencing some foot pain in warm-ups…Joey Scanlon had a tire come off his 15, which ended his day…Cicconi also competed with the ATQRMA midgets, a group he has raced and won with for many years.
Summary Sept. 4, 2009 Bud Light Super Nationals
Time Trials: Jedrzejek 15.201, Perley 15.229
Top 12 time trialers inverted into 3 heats.
Heat 1 (7 qualify, top 4 inverted to feature by their time trials): Dave McKnight, Bentley Warren, Jeff Locke, Gene Gibson, Tim Ice, Randy Burch, Rich Reid, Larry Lehnert, Rob Summers
Heat 2: Lou Cicconi, Chris Perley, Danny Lane, Mike Lichty, Mark Sammut, Jeff Abold, Jack Smith, Bob Dawson, Denny Fisher, Matt Palmer
Heat 3: Bob Magner, Russ Wood, Timmy Jedrzejek, Charlie Schultz, Joe Gosek, Jamie Timmons, Trent Stephens, Jeff Holbrook, Ben Seitz, Lou LeVea Sr., Dave Duggan
Consi (3q): Bobby Dawson, Denny Fisher, Jeff Holbrook, Ben Seitz, Larry Lehnert, Lou LeVea Sr., Matt Palmer, Dave Duggan
Bud Light Super Nationals 50: 1. Timmy Jedrzejek (8), 2. Lou Cicconi Jr. (10), 3. Russ Wood (29), 4. Chris Perley (11), 5. Dave McKnight (94), 6. Tim Ice (77), 7. Charlie Schultz (7), 8. Trent Stephens (19), 9. Bentley Warren (71), 10. Mark Sammut (78), 11. Ben Seitz (88), 12. Dan Lane (9), 13. Jeff Abold (05), 14. Jeff Holbrook (35), 15. Bobby Dawson (28), 16. Bobby Magner (41), 17 Jack Smith (09), 18. Jamie Timmons (27), 19. Gene Lee Gibson (0), 20. Randy Burch (49), 21. Mike Lichty (84), 22. Rich Reid (55), 23. Matt Palmer (21), 24. Joe Gosek (25), 25. Jeff Locke (37), 26. Denny Fisher (81).
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LOU CICCONI BEATS THE CURFEW
to TAKE ISMA WIN at WATERFORD
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Waterford, CT – When the ISMA Waterford 50 took the track around 11:30 Saturday night, the competitors had to think about beating each other – and the clock. A midnight curfew indicated that any yellow past midnight would checker the race. It did just that. With the battle out front between Mike Ordway Jr. and Lou Cicconi raging for most of the race, it could still have a different outcome had the last 3 laps be run. Cicconi had gotten by Ordway Jr., running the Holbrook 41, on lap 45. A yellow just into lap 48 brought the race to an end with Cicconi taking his third ISMA event at the 3/8th’s mile Connecticut oval since the inaugural event in 2005.
Said the animated Aston, PA driver in victory lane, “Seriously I don’t think I’ve ever run 50 laps here as fast as I could. I know little Ordway did the same. I don’t know what the track looked like behind us but we had to be checking out. It was a really fast pace. I thought the only shot I had was through traffic. We got lucky in terms of the way the traffic fell. Both of us hit it just right. One time we passed the 55 or 56 and his wing blew apart. It came right into my face. It was tough. I was tight. If Mike didn’t blister the right front I wouldn’t have passed him. My man Mikey drove a heck of a race. Awesome job.”
Ordway Jr., who had led every lap of the race except the last three, was happy with his run. “It was pretty good out there. I was a little tight from the beginning. We planned on it loosening up, but it just got tighter and tighter. I think the mod rubber did that. We blistered the right front. It started overheating at halfway. I was blowing water out. I said I’m waiting, I’m not going in. Then I lost the brakes about lap 30. It was out of control. Then Louie showed a wheel a couple times and we held him off. He gave me enough room. He ran me clean. So we had fun.”
Another of the young supermodified lions, Danny Lane, ran a strong race to hold off a bunch of guns behind him to finish third. “I wish we had those three laps at the end. I think I had something for at least the 41 and maybe the 10 if I could have gotten a run. I’m psyched. I’m happy to take a podium finish. I figured those guys behind me were right there. I didn’t think we were setting a pace that could really leave those guys behind. But, I thought my car was good enough to stay in front of them. We did a lot of work to the car this week. We straightened some things out that were wrong with it. I have to thank my aunt and uncle for letting me drive this car. It’s an unbelievable privilege. Plus all out sponsors, Essex Seafood, Dr. Mom Says School is Cool, Northern Glass, Reader Electric, and Pro System Brakes.”
Racing against time was probably the key element in the Wings and Wheels 50 as Eddie Witkum Jr. and Ordway Jr. took off at the green. Ordway Jr. put the 41 out front immediately and almost immediately, Lou Cicconi brought the Wentworth 10 into second. And, away they went.
Yellow flew on lap 7 for a wall banger by Jamie Timmons who was flatbedded off the track.
Ordway and Cicconi left the pack behind on the green as Witkum Danny Lane, Eric Lewis, Dave McKnight, Chris Perley, Rob Summers and previous Speedbowl winner, Dave Shullick Jr. diced for position behind. Shullick, whose 61 may have suffered some internal problems at Delaware according to car owner Clyde Booth, exited the track at the lap 10 mark.
By lap 15 Ordway and Cicconi hit the back of the pack and heavy traffic. Ordway indicated traffic was not a big problem for the lead duo. “We kind of caught the traffic at the right time. We were both able to get by. I was just wicked tight.”
A series of miscues occurred just after midway. On lap 27 yellow was called for the Witkum 38 who had slid off turn four into the grass but then kept going which made the flag unnecessary. No penalties were assessed and Witkum resumed his third place spot.
Just into lap 28, Witkum, unfortunately, came together with Jeff Abold going into turn three. Witkum’s possible podium finish was done. Abold returned at the rear. On the restart, Brandon Bellinger flew the yellow once more and he too was done.
The clock was really ticking now as Ordway and Cicconi resumed their battled out front. Danny Lane now held third as Dave McKnight, Robbie Summers, Ordway Sr., Lewis, Ben Seitz and Chris Perley were all hot on his tail.
Ordway Sr., driving the Vic Miler 71, slowed suddenly on lap 31 but was able to make it into the infield without a race stop. Robbie Summers followed Ordway’s move one lap later and in he went.
With one eye on the clock and one on the counter, only ten laps remained as midnight approached. As long as the race stayed green, it could continue past the bewitching hour. Ordway Jr., with a blistered tire, could no longer hold off Cicconi, however. As the duo prepared to sandwich Dave Sanborn, Ordway Jr. lost his race-long lead to “Liquid” Lou.
On lap 48, Justin Belfiore’s 98 sat up in between 1 and 2. The yellow flew and then the checkered flew with 47 the last complete lap scored. Trailing the top three of Cicconi, Ordway Jr. and Lane, were Dave McKnight and Russ Wood. Wood had actually been making a pass for fourth at the time, but to no avail.
Said Wood of his race, “We started 17th. We stunk all day. The guys worked on car and it was really pretty good in the feature. I was right there. I had just taken fourth by passing Dave McKnight when they threw the yellow and then the checkered. The leaders were there. I think we had a shot at them. My car was good most of this weekend. We’ve got to be happy with it.”
McKnight, who wasn’t sure which top five he got until the score sheet was passed, indicated, “It was a good night for us. We struggle at this racetrack. My hats off to Brad, Reg, Mickey, everybody involved today with Patco. To come home and finally finish a race here means a big confidence builder for us. We’re going to build on this and go to the next race. I think we’re getting back on track. We had a good solid run. We were in the hunt there. It could have went either way if we had finished the race. Anyway, great run. Really happy with the finish. Hats off to Louie, He did a good job to win tonight. We’ll see what happens when we get to Oswego for the wing show.”
Ben Seitz, Mike Lichty, Chris Perley, Eric Lewis and Jeff Locke, finished up the top ten.
Notes… Lee winner Mark Sammut blew an engine in the first heat and the crew had it changed for the feature for Sammut to keep a hold on his second place point standing.
SUMMARY ISMA Event # 10
Waterford Speedbowl, Aug. 15, 2009
Heat 1: Eddie Witkum Jr., Eric Lewis, Jamie Timmons, Jeff Holbrook, Artie Rousseau, Jerry Dinnen, Dave Sanborn, Mark Sammut, Mike Lichty
Heat 2: Justin Belfiore, Dave McKnight Jr., Danny Lane, Chris Perley, Ben Seitz, Russ Wood, Jeff Locke, Mike Keeler, Vern Romanoski (overheating)
Heat 3: Mike Ordway Jr., Lou Cicconi, Rob Summers, Dave Shullick Jr., Mike Ordway Sr., Jeff Abold, Brandon Bellinger, Bobby Haynes Jr.
ISMA Wings and Wheels 50: 1. Lou Cicconi (10), 2. Mike Ordway Jr. (41),
3. Danny Lane (9), 4. Dave McKnight Jr. (94), 5. Russ Wood (29),
6. Ben Seitz (88), 7. Mike Lichty (84), 8. Chris Perley (11),
9. Eric Lewis (28), 10. Jeff Locke (37), 11. Jeff Holbrook (35),
12. Jeff Abold (05), 13. Mark Sammut (78), 14. Justin Belfiore (98),
15. Bobby Haynes Jr. (44), 16. Dave Sanborn (24), 17. Artie Rousseau (616),
18. Mike Keeler (55), 19. Rob Summers (97), 20. Mike Ordway Sr. (71),
21. Eddie Witkum Jr. (38), 22. Brandon Bellinger (02), 23. Vern Romanoski (5),
24. Jerry Dinnen (56), 25. Dave Shullick Jr. (61), 26. Jamie Timmons (27)
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MARK SAMMUT TAKES LEE USA
OLLIE SILVA SUMMER CLASSIC
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Lee, NH – Canadian Mark Sammut surprised the large Lee USA crowd Friday night when he came by both Chris Perley and Russ Wood in the late stages of the Ollie Silva 75 to take the win. It was Sammut’s career-second win of his 11-year supermodified career, the first coming just over a month ago. The victory surprised Sammut as much as anybody. He started 16th in the 26-car field and had to pick his way through a competitive field to a top three spot. With less than 10 laps to go, he got by Chris Perley and headed for leader Russ Wood. With five to go he had maneuvered around some lap cars and closed in on Wood. In a spectacular move on lap 73, he dove under the Pelham driver to take the lead. One lap later he took the win. Mark also received a hard charger bonus from the Witkum family on what was the 10th year since the loss of Randy Witkum at Jennerstown.
Said the London, Ontario driver after the feat, “I never thought I’d get a win here. I remember the first time we came here. I pulled into the infield about lap 20 because I figured I’d have a wrecked racecar if I stayed out. I didn’t think I’d ever win a race and especially so close to our first one. It was great tonight. It was probably the best car we’ve ever had.”
He went on to describe his race. “The car was so tight at the start, I almost pulled it in. I was so bad I think we picked up only one car by the time the first yellow came out. I thought we’re just going no place here. All of a sudden everything just started to come to me. I don’t know if everybody else was slowing down or I was getting faster. I started picking them off one at a time. I could really stick to the bottom coming out of four which didn’t look like anybody else did. That’s where I passed most of the cars. I think the only car I passed up high was the 05. So the car was working good for whatever reason.
“We thought we had a decent car earlier today. We tried to change it around a little to get faster because we weren’t keeping up time wise with the 11 or 61. Everything we did seemed to make it worse so we ran the heat race like that and finished sixth. We were out to lunch. Before the feature we put everything back to where it was when we got here and away we went. I think those guys up front were going a little bit harder than I was from the start because they had no one ahead of them and they had no choice. It probably worked out better for me because the tires didn’t get worn out.”
Russ Wood, who almost got knocked out by a spinning car on lap 62, echoed Sammut’s sentiments. “The car was going really good. But I used it up in the beginning. The last 15 laps we were kind of skating around. When that car looped it down 3 and 4 I definitely thought it was all over. Luckily I just slid through the grass and kept it going. So we were slipping and sliding and Mark was coming on strong. Chris was third. It’s not bad finishing second with all these guys. We’re in once piece and we’ll head to Waterford tomorrow.”
And, finishing up on the podium was Chris Perley who commented, “We had a good car. We were able to come up and get in the top 3, which is always good, I felt we had a good run in front of the fans here tonight. I had a lot of people from the hometown come to see us. I would have liked to pull off the win but I just kept plugging away, I didn’t think I had much for Wood. I figured I’d wear him down and I couldn’t. Then Sammut came out of nowhere. It was an awesome run for him coming from 16th. He passed me and I couldn’t do anything. I wanted to go up and battle with Russ. But Mark did a great job. I hope I didn’t hold him up for too long. It was a good run for us.”
Lou Cicconi dove to the lead at the start of the 75-lapper only to hit the brakes when yellow fell on lap 4 for the 71 driven by Mike Ordway Sr. Mike Ordway Jr. made a pitstop in the Holbrook 41 at the same time with the father and son both restarting at the rear.
Cicconi led the way while Danny Lane, Jamie Timmons, Vern Romanoski and Dave Sanborn pursed in the early laps. Coming up quickly were Jeff Abold, Wood, Perley, Dave Shullick Jr., Rob Summers and Dave McKnight.
The laps ticked away rapidly on the fast 3/8th’s mile oval as Cicconi was soon into the tail of the field. By lap 20 “Liquid” Lou already had two lap cars separating his 10 from the 9 of Danny Lane. Wood, Abold and Perley were next in line.
Yellow flew on lap 24 for a spin by Jerry Dinnen in the 56. Justin Belfiore, Jamie Timmons and Ordway Jr. pitted on this slowdown.
Within 4 laps of this restart, Wood moved past Lane and tucked in behind Cicconi. Perley sat behind the Essex, Mass. rookie, as Abold and Summers were top six.
On lap 31 Wood put the 29 by Cicconi off the second turn, leaving Cicconi behind to contend with first Lane and then Perley.
On lap 41, yellow flew for Dave McKnight who had a tire going down. He restarted but one lap later as yellow flew for the Dinnen car, the 94 pitted. Defending race winner Dave Shullick Jr. also pulled the 61 out of the action here.
The lap 42 restart found Wood leading Perley, Cicconi, Lane, Abold, Sammut, Summers, Ben Seitz and Mike Lichty. Things just couldn’t seem to get going as another attempt at a restart found Friday night’s Delaware winner, Jeff Locke, spinning between 3 and 4.
When the race finally got its momentum back, Wood was able to pull away from Perley as Sammut was picking off cars slowly moving into fourth by lap 50.
Wood was still in command with 15 to go, as Perley broke free of the four lap cars Russ had put in between the two local heroes.
The scare came for Wood on lap 62 when Eddie Witkum Jr. spun off turn four as the leader approached. Wood had the 38 in his sites but was able to avoid him, driving through the grass and back onto the track.
This was the last restart. It gave Perley his last chance at Wood but it also gave Sammut a chance at Perley, which he took on lap 65. As Russ bogged down behind some lap cars, Sammut appeared to be getting faster and faster, and closer and closer as the race approached its end.
On lap 73, Sammut drove the 78 under Wood in turn one and made it stick. Two laps later he was pulling into victory lane after a most amazing run. Wood and Perley completed the top three. Finishing fourth was Jeff Abold, whose teammate and car owner Craig Rayvals had taken a frightening ride down the back straight, hitting two walls and landing in the pit entrance. He was taken to the hospital for x-rays while his destroyed 95 was flatbedded to the pits.
Said Abold, fresh off a Boston Louie Seymour midget win, “After the season we’ve been having this year, we went back to basically what we had last year for a setup. It woke up the car. I think we really have something to race with now. It’s a fourth place but we’re pretty happy with it, as it’s the first top five of the season. It was a pretty good night for us. We were fast right out of the box. I hated what happened to Craig. I really wanted to go out and win it tonight for him. I was really good on the green flag runs. On the restarts I was no good. I was loose and it took about 3 laps to get going. Once I got going I could start picking cars off. Those laps really hurt us at the beginning. We’re happy with fourth.”
Four-time NEMA champ Ben Seitz brought the Budnick 88 home in fifth. “I had a good run,” said the Bourne, Mass. driver. “I conserved the car as much as I could at the beginning and towards the end it really started to pay off. Bruce gave me a real good car. I have to thank the sponsors, Shea Concrete, Harrington Paving and Lee Vinyl. Without them it wouldn’t be possible.”
Notes: Craig Rayvals of Brockville, Ontario, suffered a devastating crash in Heat 2 after his throttle stuck at the race beginning. He was taken to an area hospital with possible leg, shoulder and rib injuries. … Mike Duggan (51) and Butch Valley Jr. (1) were unable to start heats due to mechanical problems.
SUMMARY ISMA Event # 9
Lee Speedway, Aug. 14, 2009
Heat 1: Jeff Abold, Jamie Timmons, Dave Shullick Jr., Robbie Summers, Mike Ordway Jr., Mark Sammut, Jeff Locke, Brandon Bellinger, Eric Emhoff
Heat 2: Danny Lane, Dave McKnight, Justin Belfiore, Dave Sanborn, Jeff Holbrook, Eddie Witkum Jr., Mike Keeler, Jerry Dinnen, Mike Ordway Sr., Craig Rayvals
Heat 3: Lou Cicconi, Russ Wood, Chris Perley, Vern Romanoski, Ben Seitz, Mike Lichty, Bobby Haynes Jr., Mike Keeler, Artie Rousseau
Ollie Silva Super Summer Classic: 1. Mark Sammut (78), 2. Russ Wood (29),
3. Chris Perley (11), 4. Jeff Abold (05), 5. Ben Seitz (88),
6. Jeff Holbrook (35), 7.Lou Cicconi (10), 8. Rob Summers (97),
9. Dan Lane (9), 10. Mike Lichty (84), 11. Eddie Witkum Jr. (38),
12. Jeff Locke (37), 13. Mike Keeler (55), 14. Artie Rousseau (616),
15. Dave Sanborn (24), 16. Jerry Dinnen (56), 17. Dave McKnight Jr. (94),
18. Bobby Haynes Jr. (44), 19. Dave Shullick Jr. (61), 20. Brandon Bellinger (02),
21. Jamie Timmons (27), 22. Justin Belfiore (98), 23. Vern Romanoski (5),
24. Mike Ordway Jr. (41), 25. Mike Ordway Sr. (71), 26. Eric Emhoff (2).
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DAVE SHULLICK JR. WINS HOT ONE
AT DELAWARE SPEEDWAY
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Delaware, Ont. - Sunday, for the second day in a row, the ISMA supers had to fight with Mother Nature. She won on Saturday, washing out the entire scheduled show. Sunday, a hot, humid day produced a slight rain delay, but in the end the racing and Dave Shullick Jr. won out. What looked to be a career-first for Vern Romanoski gave way to Shullick’s second win of the season with just two to go. Shullick stole the lead from Vern in the second turn when Romanoski slipped high. Vern’s second then slipped away when he slid around the next lap to bring out the caution. Shoe II was able to withstand a quick surge from now second place runner Mark Sammut to take the checkered.
Said the Ridgeville, OH driver after the race, “It was just a good race. Sammut and Romanoski ran real good races. They were up there. I think everybody lost tires about halfway in the race. I was just hoping that our tires went away less than everyone else’s. It kind of looked like that because they were backing up pretty good in the last ten laps. We just capitalized on it. It was another good win. I’d like to thank Clyde and Susan Booth. We had some rough luck Friday night and we fought back. We worked on the car a lot this weekend trying to make it better and we had a really good car today.”
Sammut, who finished second, commented, “On the first green I thought we would have had something. I think we were gaining on Vern and I don’t know if I touched him or not on that restart or not. But we damaged the nose wing and after that we were really tight. I couldn’t steer it at all. So we were just more or less hanging on. Vern was definitely faster. You have to hand it to him. It’s too bad he couldn’t make it one more lap. He had a great run going and we definitely didn’t have anything to challenge him. Then the 61 was definitely a little quicker than we were once he got by me. The track was really slippery and with the damaged nose wing, we’re glad to finish second. We’ll take a second and a fifth for the weekend. We did a whole bunch of damage at Sandusky. We finished the car at 3 o’clock Friday afternoon, loaded up to come out here and then had to change a rear end this morning. So all in all it ended up pretty good considering how it might have ended up.
Jeff Holbrook joined the hot and tired top duo on the podium. “I thought it only got hot in New York and it was nice and cool up here in Canada, said Jeff. “You fans are awesome. Thanks for chancing the weather and coming out here today to watch us. I hope we put on a good show for you. I look forward to coming back here next year. Thanks.”
Bobby Haynes Jr. and Vern Romanoski led the 21-car field to green with the 5 of Romanoski taking up the front spot and Mark Sammut quickly up to take second and away they went.
Lap 9 saw a yellow for Dave McCullough’s 3 which bunched the field behind the green 5. But Vern, who had traveled 15 hours to compete at Delaware, left the others behind on the restart. Today looked to be his day.
Danny Lane brought out the yellow again on lap 14 with a simple spin. Lane pitted but unfortunately got caught behind a car from another division while he tried to exit the pit. Lane was left behind at the green much to his dismay.
Romanoski was again in command with Sammut, Shullick Jr., Holbrook, McKnight, Haynes and Rob Summers next in line. Everyone was watching the skies for a possible thunderstorm and for the halfway mark.
Yellow dropped on lap 23 causing more anxiety when the 51 of Dave Duggan spun. Russ Wood and Michael Barnes made quick pitstops as Duggan resumed at the tail of the field.
One more lap and another yellow as Dave McKnight suffered a flat after a brush with the wall. He was able to make the change and pull in at the tail, but on the next restart, Dave’s 94 ended up in a jingle with Duggan and Rich Reid and this time McKnight was done.
Still trying to complete lap 24 and reach halfway, Vern took off again with Sammut and Shullick the nearest challengers. Holbrook, Summers, Perley and Seitz were closing in on the front-runners.
On lap 36, Shullick was able to get by the Sammut 78 as Mark’s front nose wing caused his steering problems to grow. Romanoski and Shullick now pulled away from Sammut. As they began to encounter some lap cars, Shullick was able to close up the gap Vern had left. With only five laps to go, Shullick was knocking on Vern’s back door. On lap 48, Vern moved a little high and Shullick made his move for the lead.
Vern’s dream of a first win came to end shortly thereafter. He described it this way later in his hauler. “We had a really good run going. I came into some lap traffic. The line that I had to take worked well down low, diamonding the track. When I tried to set out wide, I drove in deep and the car just shoved up and got into the marbles. I couldn’t get it turned back down. And, we made a mistake with two to go. I’d like to thank everybody who helps me – Brad Lichty, Perley, my crew who stand by me race after race and who work tirelessly. Maybe next time.”
After Vern brought out the yellow with his spin, Shullick was unchallenged to the checkered on the restart. Sammut, Holbrook, Perley and Summers filled in the top five.
Perley, after a rare DNF on Friday, was content to survive for fourth. “I didn’t have a good car, but I didn’t quit. There wasn’t any passing out there. The track was very, very difficult. I kept on trying to wear people down before I wore down. At the end I think it was about even. I feel bad that Vern didn’t pull it off. It was just one of those deals.”
Summers, who was drenching himself with cool water back in his pit area after the hot run, indicated, “The Essex Seafood, Dr. Mom’s car was good right off the trailer. We made a bunch of changes yesterday while it was raining and we went in the right direction. I think in the feature the track was just so hot and greasy, it made it so hard to pass. I think if we had started on the pole I think we could have been good. I know the 61 was real good, but we were probably a second place car, if we could have just found a way to pass.”
Seitz, Haynes, Mike Lichty, Russ Wood and Rich Reid finished up the top ten.
With the Corr/Pak $4000 bonus for a repeat winner evaporated with Jeff Locke’s early demise, the extra cash was split between the top fives in each event, giving an extra $400 to each of those finishers.
SUMMARY ISMA Event # 9
Heat 1: Dave Shullick Jr., Russ Wood, Brad Lichty, Bobby Haynes, Danny Lane, Michael Barnes, Larry Lehnert
Heat 2: Ben Seitz, Rob Summers, Jeff Holbrook, Brandon Bellinger, Ryan Litt, Dave Duggan, Jeff Locke
Heat 3: Mark Sammut, Chris Perley, Vern Romanoski, Dave McKnight, Dave Trytek, Rich Reid, Dave McCullough
ISMA 50: 1. Dave Shullick Jr. (61), 2. Mark Sammut (78), 3. Jeff Holbrook (35),
4. Chris Perley (11), 5. Rob Summers (97), 6. Ben Seitz (88),
7. Bobby Haynes Jr. (44), 8. Mike Lichty (84), 9. Russ Wood (29),
10. Rich Reid (55), 11. Dave Trytek (41), 12. Vern Romanoski (5),
13. Ryan Litt (07), 14. Dave Duggan (51), 15. Michael Barnes (70),
16. Brandon Bellinger (02), 17. Dave McKnight (94), 18. Danny Lane (9),
19. Jeff Locke (37), 20. Larry Lehnert (92), 21. Dave McCullough (3).
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ROOKIE JEFF LOCKE TAKES FIRST WIN
IN FRIDAY ISMA 30 AT DELAWARE
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Delaware, Ont. – Raymond, New Hampshire’s Jeff Locke grew up watching some of New England’s best supermodified drivers compete. At 16 he was working on the #27 Shea super driven by Russ Wood. He never dreamed then that he’d be racing against them someday. He certainly never believed that he’d beat some of them in his first full season of ISMA supermodified racing. On Friday night at Canada’s Delaware Speedway he did just that. Starting on the outside of the front row, Locke led every lap of the 30-lap sprint holding back Russ Wood for half of the race. After a stint with NASCAR as a tire changer and then crew chief for Greg Biffle, Locke returned home to pursue his own racing career.
After several years in the small block supermodified ranks, Jeff moved on to the ISMA big blocks. It took him only eight races into 2009 to accomplish what some seasoned veterans never have. He had garnered his first career ISMA victory. Locke didn’t really know what to say after his dominant win.
“This is unbelievable. I don’t think it’s sunk in yet. There are such great competitors here like Russ Wood; to beat someone like him, somebody I grew up watching, to win against him, I can’t believe it. To just race against him and guys like Chris Perley is something else again. Never mind the winning. It’s just unbelievable. The car was great. The motor was great. Everything ran perfect. It was a pleasure to drive tonight.
“My thanks go out to Richard Witkum. He works hard on this thing. I don’t have much of a crew. It’s just him and me this week. My father is back home manning the company – Locke Crane Service. Eddie Witkum – he’s back home too. He had to race tonight and I hope everything went well there. To everybody at R&R Competition Engines, everybody at New England Racing Supply and Shanks Oil Company- just to everybody who has put this together. I still can’t believe it.”
Russ Wood moved from seventh spot into second by lap 14. But despite several cautions, he was unable to catch the high-flying 37 of Locke. Said Wood of his runner-up finish, “Our car was going really good. I was moving up but after 15 laps I was getting tight. I knew I might be in trouble. It got tighter and tighter. I could see Jeff but I just couldn’t reel him in. He had an open track and no traffic. Our car is getting better and better. This gives us something to work on for tomorrow. I’m happy with it.”
Mike Lichty, who had just come off a devastating crash in the Kasey Kahne Steel Palace 100 at Oswego in his USAC Silver Crown car, put his supermodified into third past his teammate Dave McKnight with ten laps to go in the 30-lapper but was never able to catch Wood or Locke. Lichty, who was extremely sore after his crash 24 hours previously, was more than happy to take third and to bring his car home in one piece to race again Saturday.
Bobby Haynes and Locke led the way to green but only one circuit was complete when yellow flew for a slowing Chris Perley, who just made it into the pits. A broken brake line was the culprit. Said the defending ISMA champion; “I broke a left rear brake line again on the first lap. It’s too tight here to run without brakes. We’ve been in the situation before but that was when I was up front and running away. I didn’t want to nick up the car so we called it a night.”
The race resumed without Perley and with Locke and Bobby Haynes Jr. at the helm. Dave McKnight, Michael Barnes, Dave Trytek, Lichty and Mark Sammut were among the early pursuers.
Yellow flew on lap 8 for the 5 of Vern Romanoski who was able to restart but almost simultaneously, Dave Shullick Jr., stopped the 61 on the outer pit road with a broken nose wing. The car did not restart.
Locke was able to pull away on that restart a while near the halfway fellow New Hampshire driver Wood took over second. Locke put another rookie, Dave Duggan, down a lap on lap 19, adding a little insurance to his lead.
Bobby Haynes, running a strong fourth, brought out the yellow on lap 23 as his 44 got high in the marbles and he hit the wall.
On the restart, the hungry pack behind Locke bore down on the rookie driver, but to no avail. Locke was running to perfection and Wood was left to tend with Lichty and McKnight, who were followed by fellow Canadian Mark Sammut.
At the checkered, it was Locke, Wood, Lichty, McKnight and Sammut making up the top five.
McKnight, who had won the two previous Delaware features, was pleased just to finish. “It was a solid run. It’s really the first race we’ve finished since the season started. Hats off to Jeff. He did a really good job tonight. The Patco team did a really good job tonight. We came home third and fourth. We’re in one piece and we’ll work on it for tomorrow.”
Mark Sammut, who sat second in points behind Perley going into the event, gained a few markers on the Rowley driver by finishing fifth.
“It wasn’t a top night but we’re glad to finish fifth,” said the London, Ontario driver. “The car is more and less in one piece and we’re all together for tomorrow. Hopefully we can make some changes and try to get a little better. The car was bad after we had some green flag laps but we were really hurting on the restarts. The car slides all over on the restarts for three or four laps. It was a short race and everybody in front of me was a little bit better than I was on cold tires. It took me a little longer to get wound up and every time I did, the yellow would come out.”
Locke will now have a chance at an extra $4,000 Tammy Ten bonus from John Brush of Corr/Pak should Jeff make it to winner’s circle in Saturday night’s 50 lapper.
SUMMARY ISMA Event #8
Heat 1: Russ Wood, Mike Lichty, Jeff Locke, Mark Sammut, Vern Romanoski, Larry Lehnert, Dave McCullough
Heat 2: Chris Perley, Dave McKnight, Brandon Bellinger, Danny Lane, Jeff Holbrook, Dave Duggan
Heat 3: Bobby Haynes Jr., Dave Shullick Jr., Michael Barnes, Dave Trytek, Robbie Summers, Ben Seitz
Tammy Ten 30: 1. Jeff Locke (37), 2. Russ Wood (29), 3. Mike Lichty (84),
4. Dave McKnight Jr., 5. Mark Sammut, 6. Rob Summers (97),
7. Dave Trytek (41), 8. Ben Seitz (88), 9. Michael Barnes (70),
10. Danny Lane (9), 11. Brandon Bellinger (02), 12. Jeff Holbrook (35),
13. Vern Romanoski (5), 14. Dave Duggan (51), 15. Bobby Haynes Jr. (44),
16. Larry Lehnert (92), 17. Dave McCullough (3), 18. Dave Shullick Jr. (61),
19. Chris Perley (11).
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CHRIS PERLEY ETCHES HIS NAME INTO SANDUSKY HY-MILER RECORD BOOKS
WITH FOURTH STRAIGHT WIN
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| Sandusky Oh – No supermodified driver had ever won four-straight Sandusky Hy-Miler 100s going into the 32nd running of the prestigious event Saturday night. Chris Perley now had the chance but also had his doubts. A sixth place finish in Friday night’s Fast 40, made him more uncertain that he could be the first 4-time consecutive winner. He wasn’t the fastest in time trials Saturday. He finished second in his heat. The Vic Miller crew set to work to make the car right. It was about halfway into the race that Perley knew he had a chance. Later that night he stood in victory lane with his fourth Hy-Miler trophy, the doubts erased. The Rowley, Mass. driver had received a call on Friday that his maternal grandmother had passed away in Florida after a bout with cancer. He chose to dedicate his record-breaking win to his “Nana.”
Said Perley in victory lane, “This is amazing. We were a little off yesterday. We worked on it today and made some changes. The crew is pretty sharp. I didn’t think we had the car tonight. I didn’t want to get down and disappoint the crew. By halfway I knew we had a pretty good car to win. It’s just unbelievable. It shows how good this crew is. I was happy to put on a show for the fans. It was kind of drawn out with the reds but it was a blast. It was fun partying. This place is great. This place is my favorite track. I would never have believed yesterday that I would have been here today.”
The race became a battle to the end between Perley and fast time trialer Dave Shullick Jr. Shoe II had taken the race lead on lap 49 from Tim Ice, and built up a strong lead but Perley gradually caught up and took the lead on lap 61 when he had the right opportunity to catch the high-flying Ohio driver. Perley described the winning pass. “I was running behind him on a restart and I think he got tight and couldn’t quite gas it. I popped to the outside and I think I got him then. I figured I wouldn’t be able to get him on an open track when he was running hard.”
Shullick, who has suffered heartbreak in this race in the past, was determined to finish this one, hopefully in first. Not only was he trying to fight for the lead, he had heavy pressure from the third place man, Mike Lichty “We were really tight off the corner and I was playing the throttle game off. I’d catch Chris getting in, reeling him in in the center and then coming off on the restart when he got by me, I just couldn’t get on the gas. But it was a good race overall. I saw Lichty a couple times on the outside and inside. I just had to fight him off. I wasn’t going to let him by me. I knew he was coming and I knew he’d be there. It was just a good race. Two second-place finishes in two nights is great. “
Lichty, who had broken a torque in his heat and did not make the consi, started the race in via ISMA option in 25th. He made a spectacular effort to get to the front, moving by Russ Wood for third on a lap 63 restart. He was able to show a wheel to Shullick several times before time ran out. Once again he came up just short of that first ISMA win.
“After the red flag the tires just wouldn’t come in,” said the Canadian driver. “Prior to the red I thought we had a really good race car. And, I thought we would have had something for DJ and Perley. I don’t know the deal is with the tires. This is our third set. I don’t know what Hoosier is doing, but I’m disappointed in the quality of the tire. We’ve had issues at Cayuga, Oswego and last night and tonight here. That’s four batches. All in all it was a good run. I want to thank everyone on the crew. We’ve got a lot of important people here – especially the crowd – thanks for sticking around through this long race. If it weren’t for you guys we wouldn’t be here.”
The 32nd Hy-Miler 100 was filled with action and drama. The severe thunderstorms forecasted for the day stayed away and allowed the race to go on as planned. Ohio’s Tim Ice, trailed by New Hampshire rookie Jeff Locke, led the 26-car field from the start. The race was just sorting out when the first of several reds stopped the race. On lap 12, Mark Sammut blew the rear end on the 78, leaving a trail of fluid catching up a slew of cars in the first turn, including leaders Ice and Locke. Several cars were hooked including Jon Henes and Sammut.
After the massive cleanup, Ice and Locke restarted in their original spots as it was deemed they were not involved directly in the caution; stopping only because the track was blocked. Ice shot out to the lead trailed by Locke, Russ Wood, Bobby Magner, Trent Stephens and Lou Cicconi. Locke was to fly the next yellow with a spin on lap 19. He left his second place spot for the rear.
A long green spell saw Ice out front, but not shaking his nearest competitor Russ Wood by any means. Wood, a four-time Hy-Miler winner, had lost the motor on his 29 on Friday, jumping behind the Eric Lewis 28 Saturday. Wood had a battle behind him ensuing between Dave Shullick Jr. and Chris Perley. Shullick was a man on the move and he was into third by lap 31 with Perley tucked behind. Perley said, “I followed him up through there, kind of playing cat and mouse. I said to an interviewer earlier that it was going to be a flat out 100-lapper and it certainly turned out that way.”
Ice was able to move around some slower cars while Wood, Shullick and Perley provided an action-packed fight for second. Magner, Trent Stephens, Lou Cicconi and now Mike Lichty were a slight distance behind just past the lap 40 mark. Shullick didn’t waste any time moving into second by Wood on lap 44. Several laps later, he put the Booth 61 into the lead. Perley moved into third, still keeping Shoe II in sight. Perley moved into second on lap 52. The battle of the two fastest time trialers was on.
Shullick knew the Rocket was there and he was able to put some lap cars in between for some cushion, but Perley would catch up.
On lap 61, the yellow flew for Friday night’s winner Randy Burch and Perley now would have a clean shot at the 61. Wood, Lichty, Ice, Trent Stephens, Cicconi, Schultz and Rob Summers were all within range.
It was on this restart that Perley was ready to make his move when Shullick “got tight and couldn’t quite gas it.” Perley was the leader on lap 62. What might have been a 40 lap lead battle to the end had trouble materializing. Things went downhill for many from here on in. On lap 63 Danny Lane flew the yellow for a spin. The field bunched. On lap 70, Bobby Magner brought out the yellow for a spin. The field bunched. The driver taking the advantage now was Lichty who was able to move into third after the first spin.
Total mayhem broke out on the restart of lap 70 when Wood and Cicconi tried to maneuver around Jeff Holbrook’s lapped 35 just ahead of them off turn four. Holbrook got up on the fence in the front straight with several cars including Cicconi, Tim Ice, Stephens and Jeff Abold all ending up against the inner rail. The red flew and the ambulance crew checked out Holbrook after the hard hit. He was okay. Ice was done, as was Cicconi. Stephens was able to rejoin the field after repairs during the lengthy cleanup.
Perley pulled away from Shullick slightly on the restart, but Shullick was still able to keep up. Lichty, Wood, Schulz and Timmy Jedrzejek were now the fourth through sixth players.
Lap 79 saw Friday night’s winner Randy Burch pulling the flag and joining others in the pits to decrease the car count on the track to 17.
With 20 to go, it looked again like a clear shot for Perley to claim his fourth straight as green flag laps allowed him to get some lap car cushion. With 10 to go, the end appeared to be in sight. But one lap later, Trent Stephens, in an attempt to move by Ben Seitz, may have brushed slightly with the 88, sending the 19 off the first turn so far that he cleared the tire barrier and hit the soybean fields. Stephens was not injured but red was dropped in order for the track crew to extricate the Stout 19 from the field.
Finally, after two hours of waiting, Chris Perley was closing in on Hy-Miler history on this final restart. With two to go, Shoe II made one last valiant attempt at taking his first Hy-Miler win, but was denied and actually found himself fighting off the Lichty 84 in those last laps. Russ Wood and Charlie Schultz were still running a competitive top five at the checkered.
Wood in his borrowed ride, commented, “Another Hy-Miler. I was happy with our night. I had gotten into a car I hadn’t driven before and to come in fourth against those guys – I think is pretty good. We were a little tight. I’d like to thank Eric for letting me run the car. We were there. The heat was good. It’s an excellent car. I think we did good for the time we had today. We definitely could have made it better with some more time.”
Schultz, after starting 11th, was happy just to finish. “It was a hard earned fifth. We definitely didn’t have the car for a fifth place tonight. We would have been lucky to be in the top eight. We just missed on the setup for the long race. The car was decent on the long run there, but we kept getting cautions and red flags. It turned into more of an endurance race. Unfortunately coming down for the checkered flag I either dropped a valve or broke a rocker arm or something. So we have a lot of work to do between the two cars before next week.”
Timmy Jedrzejek, Rob Summers, Ben Seitz, Dave McKnight and Bobby Magner finished up the top ten.
Summary - ISMA Hy-Miler - 100 Laps -Saturday July 25th
Time Trials: Fast time Dave Shullick Jr. – 14.303
Heat 1: Russ Wood, Tim Ice, Bobby Magner, Timmy Jedrzejek, Justin Belfiore, Jeff Holbrook, Mark Sammut, Jim Paller, Gene Gibson, Kyle Edwards, Matt Palmer
Heat 2: Charlie Schultz, Chris Perley, Rob Summers, Jeff Locke, Jeff Abold, Danny Lane, Jack Smith, Brandon Bellinger, Dave Duggan, Mike Lichty
Heat 3: Lou Cicconi, Dave Shullick Jr., Trent Stephens, Randy Burch, Dave McKnight, Ben Seitz, Bob Dawson, Jon Henes, Bobby Haynes, Rich Reid
Consi: Mark Sammut, Jack Smith, Bobby Dawson, Jon Henes, Brandon Bellinger, Bobby Haynes, Matt Palmer, Jim Paller, Gene Gibson, Kyle Edwards, Dave Duggan, Mike Lichty (dns)
32nd Hy-Miler 100: 1. Chris Perley (11), 2. Dave Shullick Jr. (61),
3. Mike Lichty (84), 4. Russ Wood (28), 5. Charlie Schultz (7),
6. Timmy Jedrzejek (8), 7. Robbie Summers (97), 8. Ben Seitz (88),
9. Dave McKnight (94), 10. Bobby Magner (41), 11. Jack Smith (09),
12. Bobby Dawson (28x), 13. Jeff Abold (05), 14. Jeff Locke (37),
15. Danny Lane (9), 16. Trent Stephens (19), 17. Randy Burch (49),
18. Lou Cicconi (10), 19. Tim Ice (77), 20. Jeff Holbrook (35),
21. Jon Henes (36), 22. Brandon Bellinger (02), 23. Justin Belfiore (98),
24. Gene Lee Gibson (0), 25. Mark Sammut (78), 26. Bobby Haynes (44)
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FRIDAY HY-MILER ISMA FAST 40 GOES TO ANOTHER NEW WINNER, RANDY BURCH
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Sandusky, OH – History repeated itself Friday night at Sandusky Speedway when Randy Burch took home his first-ever ISMA feature win repeating what Charlie Schultz had done in 2008. Burch, who started 4th in the 27-car stellar field of supermodifieds, grabbed the lead on lap 9 and took the Steve Stout 49 home to victory 31 laps later. Burch pulled away from the field but his nearest challenger, Dave Shullick Jr., slowly reeled in the leader toward race end with lap traffic playing a critical role. Schultz got into the mix to make things very interesting. At the end the top 3 hailed from the “Buckeye” State much to the delight of the record-breaking crowd on hand who stayed despite the past-midnight start.
Said Burch, surrounded by the large Stout crew in victory lane, “I figured Shullick would be coming. I didn’t know how close he was. I figured there were a couple other guys out there when I ran into lap traffic. And, then I realized they weren’t there. Tomorrow’s the big one. And, tonight I thought I might take it easy, but with 40 laps you just have to go. With the guys out there tonight, it was a real honor to win. These guys out here tonight are real great. It’s great that the fans stayed. It was a long night. Hopefully, we get some good weather tomorrow and get the race in. This is a great night for our team.
Dave Shullick Jr., who worked his way up from a tenth starting spot, said of his run, “I think we could have gotten by if there had been about ten more laps. He was using up the groove. We only had a few more laps when we got there. It was going to be a good race. It looked like he was backed up a little bit. Our car wasn’t perfect tonight and we have a lot to build on. We’re looking forward to 100. I have no doubt this car will make it. It’s been phenomenal. As I said I think we have the car to beat for 100 laps tomorrow.”
“Charging” Charlie Schultz, fresh off his $10,000 victory at Oswego’s King of Wings, came on like a house of fire from his eleventh starting spot, to be what looked like the fastest car on the track, but fell short of reaching the top two until late in the quick event. He was almost as happy for the new ISMA winner as anyone. He had been there. “It means a lot to win a show here at Sandusky, especially on Hy-Miler weekend. We came up a little short but I think we have a good car for tomorrow. Maybe if there had been ten more laps there might have been a different order tonight. It was good. I sure hope this show was worth waiting around for. We had a good car for a long run. I think we’ll be in good shape for the 100-lapper. We just came on a little late there at the end. I think it would have been interesting if it had gone green for another ten laps. I can’t thank the fans enough, Dave and Lori May, my mom, my dad, my girlfriend Sarah… all the guys who help me on the crew. This is a great team.”
Brandon Bellinger and Robbie Summers, in his first outing in a newly acquired Lane 97 super, led the 27-car field to the green, but only one circuit was in the books before mayhem broke out and the red was dropped. Trent Stephens and Bobby Haynes Jr. brushed going into one and Stephens went over the bank. The cars behind scattered trying to avoid with at least nine cars going to the rear after the track was cleared. Lou Cicconi and Bobby Dawson were no shows at the restart.
On the green Summers pulled his Jim Bodnar designed (the former Petro 33) out front with Randy Burch grabbing second from Bellinger. The 97 and 49 pulled away to battle as Tim Ice, Dave Shullick Jr., Dave McKnight, Charlie Schulz, Mike Lichty and Chris Perley looked for room to move in the short event.
On lap 8, Burch pulled alongside Summers and was the leader on lap 9. Two laps later, things slowed again as Rich Reid and Stephens collided on the front straight. Both were hooked. A quick yellow fell for Jeff Locke on this restart. He exited the race.
With the hungry pack bunched, Burch had Summers, Shullick Jr. and Schultz breathing down his neck. He didn’t waste anytime in taking off to leave them to fight each other. At least nine cars put on a show behind.
At the halfway mark, Burch had a lap-car cushion as Summers, Shullick Jr., Ice, Schultz, McKnight, Perley, Timmy Jedrzejek and Justin Belfiore had the crowd going wild.
Positions changed behind the leader Burch on every lap. By lap 25 Shoe II put the 61 by Summers with Charlie Schultz following by a few laps later. Summers still was able to fend off Ice, Perley, McKnight and the still racy bunch behind.
With no further stops, Burch was weaving in and out of lap cars but it was also evident that Shullick Jr. was reeling him in. Also evident was the fact that Schultz was possibly faster than the two cars in front of him. But time was running out.
Shullick Jr. was able to pull within a car’s length of Burch’s 49, but the checkered and his first ISMA win, was in sight for the Middleburg Heights, Ohio driver. Shullick crossed in second with Schultz close behind. A lap car sat between the front three and Summers and Ice for the top five.
Summers was more than pleased with his new mount’s performance.” I have to thank Howie and Debbie Lane for getting this car. I think we picked up this car at the beginning of last week and to come here and finish fourth for us was like a win. We finally have something to work. I think the rest of the year will be a lot of fun.”
Ice, the second May Motorsports car in the top five, commented afterward, “The car was a little bit loose. We made some changes for the feature and we lost a little forward bite. I kind of struggled with that all night and that’s why I was lacking. Other than that I guess we held off a few other pretty good cars. That’s okay too. We did all right.”
Perley, McKnight, Jedrzejek, Belfiore, and Mike Lichty filled out the competitive top ten.
Summary ISMA Hy-Miler Friday Fast 40 (36 cars in pits)
Heat 1: Randy Burch, Tim Ice, Chris Perley, Jeff Locke, Jeff Holbrook, Jeff Abold, Dave Shullick Sr., Pat Lavery, Gene Gibson (dns)
Heat 2: Bobby Magner, Dave Shullick Jr., Charlie Schultz, Lou Cicconi, Eric Lewis, Jack Smith, Rich Reid, Dave Duggan, Larry Lehnert
Heat 3: Dave McKnight, Trent Stephens, Rob Summers, Ben Seitz, Jim Paller, Kyle Edwards, Justin Belfiore, Timmy Jedrzejek, Craig Rayvals
Heat 4: Mike Lichty, Bobby Haynes, Brandon Bellinger, Mark Sammut, Bob Dawson, Jon Henes, Matt Palmer, Russ Wood (motor), Dan Lane
Consi 1 (2 qual.): Justin Belfiore, Jeff Abold, Dave Shullick Sr., Kyle Edwards, Pat Lavery, Matt Palmer
Consi 2: Timmy Jedrzejek, Jack Smith, Jon Henes, Rich Reid, Craig Rayvals, Dave Duggan
Provisionals added: Jon Henes, Dan Lane, Rich Reid
ISMA 40: 1. Randy Burch (49), 2. Dave Shullick Jr. (61), 3. Charlie Schultz (7),
4. Rob Summers (97), 5. Tim Ice (77), 6. Chris Perley (11),
7. Dave McKnight (94), 8. Tim Jedrzejek (8), 9. Justin Belfiore (98),
10. Mike Lichty (84), 11. Jeff Holbrook (35), 12. Bobby Magner (41),
13. Ben Seitz (88), 14. Jeff Abold (05), 15. Mark Sammut (78),
16. Brandon Bellinger (02), 17. Jim Paller (64), 18. Bobby Haynes Jr. (44),
19. Jon Henes (36), 20. Dan Lane (9), 21. Jack Smith (09),
22. Trent Stephens (19), 23. Rich Reid (55), 24. Jeff Locke (37),
25. Eric Lewis (28), 26. Lou Cicconi (10), 27. Bobby Dawson (28x) |
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MARK SAMMUT PICKS CANADA
TO EARN FIRST ISMA WIN
Nelles Corners, ON – After approximately 11 years of trying, London, Ontario’s Mark Sammut was finally able to notch his first-ever career win in ISMA and he did it in front of a Canadian crowd of well-wishers. It was perfect end to what might have been a less than perfect day at the Cayuga Int'l Speedway that saw a rather sparse turnout of cars for what was for some of the competitors, a third race in six days. Sammut started tenth in the short but strong fifteen car field and worked his way up to second by lap 31. He then had to figure out his way around a strong-running Ben Seitz in the Budnick 88 with less than 20 laps to go.
Sammut commented on his trip to the front. “Seitz was running a great line. He was going in deeper than I was so I couldn’t get beside him going in. He was a little bit slower in the center. That’s the only place I had anything for him. I watched him for quite a few laps trying to find a hole. I didn’t see anything that was going to work out very good. I knew I had to wait my turn and when he went up high enough I’d try and get in there. I did and it worked out and luckily I made it through.
He continued, “The car was unbelievable in the feature. In the heat race we were a little bit off so we changed things around. Obviously it was the way to go. The car wasn’t perfect but we were as good as everybody else. So we finally got the job done. I’d like to thank Currie Steel and Erecting. They have been with us since day one with the three-quarter midgets. Wells Foundry and Mobile Striping and Sweeping. They are biggest 3 backers by far. If it weren’t for those three I wouldn’t be here at all. I have to say a big thank you to them. I have to thank my family for putting up with this all summer long. We work day and night on the racecar and go up and down the road all weekend. I appreciate them for supporting me too. It’s been great.
Ben Seitz, who has just joined ISMA as a full-time driver this season, led the 50 lapper from lap 20 on after leader Michael Barnes dropped out of the event with a broken panhard bolt. Said the Bourne, Mass. driver in victory lane. “We had an excellent run. The car was great. Bruce put a good setup on it. The motor was running really good. I have to thank Shea Concrete for helping out. We came up just a little bit short today. The car loosened up, especially in the last ten laps. It was still a really good run. Mark stuck his nose in going into three. I gave him room. I didn’t want to wreck. I gave him just enough and we were rubbing going into one but I just gave him enough room, but not too much, and he got by.”
Three car owner and driver of one, Jeff Holbrook, topped his two teammates with a third place finish. “I was actually very loose at the start of the race. I thought about coming in and tightening the car up, but I didn’t. Then I was afraid I was going to run out of fuel. The rear cell isn’t working so we ran the whole race off the side cell and we didn’t run out. I’m just glad to see that Mark was able to win a race in his own country. That’s nice. I think my teammates Russ (Wood) and Bobby (Magner) finished not far behind me, so that’s makes for good finishes. We’re happy.”
Strong, Maine driver Vern Romanoski took off in the early lead from the outside front row and quickly built up a considerable lead. Michael Barnes in the Morton 70 who was trailed closely by Seitz and Holbrook chased Romanoski. Working on up were Dave McKnight, Mike Lichty, Mark Sammut, Bob Magner and Chris Perley.
Unfortunately for Romanoski, his lead was short-lived as the driveshaft went on his car setting up an early exit on lap 15.
Taking command now was Barnes and he too was able to pull away from the pack until the first race caution flew on lap 19 for the 84 of Lichty who had slowed and stopped on the backstretch. While his car was being attended to, Chris Perley, Russ Wood and Mike Ordway Sr., driving the Lane 97, all pitted for adjustments. Ordway would not continue while the others picked up at the tail of the field. Just before the race could resume, Barnes quickly exited the track with a broken panhard bar bolt.
It was now Seitz’ turn to lead and he accepted the challenge with vigor, taking off like a shot, trailed by Holbrook, McKnight, Sammut, Magner and Wood.
At the midway mark, it was still Seitz out front with Holbrook, McKnight, Sammut and Magner, the top five, followed by Russ Wood and Chris Perley.
Sammut was a patient man on the move. By lap 31 he was second, passing by Holbrook. Lap after lap he tried to set up a pass on Sietz, but had to wait as the lead duo pulled away from the field.
With ten to go, the Canadian was tucked right on the bumper of the 88 and within three laps he made his move. Coming into the first turn, side-by-side, with dirt flying from the edge of the infield, Sammut was able to get under the 88 for the lead. Running a distance behind in third was Holbrook with Russ Wood right behind, followed by McKnight, Perley and Magner. Unfortunately for Wood, he had passed a little too early on the last caution and would not be scored where he was running.
In the few laps that remained, Sammut was able to put a couple slower cars in between his 78 and the runner-up Seitz, before picking up the checkered as loud cheers erupted from the grandstands. Seitz stayed in second, Holbrook third, and with Wood’s penalty, Perley and McKnight moved into the top five.
Perley, who came into Cayuga with a win and a fifth in five days, picked up an uneventful fourth. He commented later, “It was an odd weekend to say the least. I think it was great that Sammut won his first race in Canada. I think that is awesome. I think it’s awesome that Seitz had a second and that Holbrook had a third. It was the best top three you could ask for with a limited car count.”
He laughed and continued, “Nobody wanted to see me win anyway. So that’s why I didn’t. I just backed off. No really, the car was good all day and then off for the feature. I pitted early because we were so loose and with not many cars I figured we could fix it. They tightened up a lot and changed the stagger a bit and changed diagonal. I don’t know when the wing broke. It was probably from going through sideways. It was an interesting battle with Woody, Lichty, McKnight and whoever else we raced with. If we raced all alone, we were a lot faster. But I couldn’t do anything when I was racing with someone.”
Canadian McKnight, whose luck had not been auspicious during the same time frame, said, “It was a strong run considering what we’ve had to deal with lately. We are just down on power a little bit. We hurt a good motor at Stafford. All in all we’re in one piece and we’ve finished for a change. We’ll work on it, build on it and see what happens at Sandusky.”
SUMMARY - ISMA Event #5 - Cayuga Int'l Speedway - 7/12/09
Heat 1: Chris Perley, Vern Romanoski, Jeff Holbrook, Mike Lichty, Bob Magner,
Michael Barnes, Mike Ordway Sr.
Heat 2: Dave McKnight, Ben Seitz, Craig Rayvals, Russ Wood, Danny Lane, Mark Sammut,
Rich Reid, Brandon Bellinger.
Feature (50): 1. Mark Sammut (78), 2. Ben Seitz (88), 3. Jeff Holbrook (35),
4. Chris Perley (11), 5. Dave McKnight (94), 6. Bob Magner (41),
7. Russ Wood (29), 8. Danny Lane (9), 9. Rich Reid (55),
10. Mike Lichty (84), 11. Craig Rayvals (95), 12. Michael Barnes (70),
13. Mike Ordway Sr. (97), 14. Vern Romanoski (5), 15. Brandon Bellinger (02). | | |
RAIN CAN’T STOP PERLEY FROM TAKING FOURTH STAFFORD ISMA VICTORY
By Carol D Haynes, ISMA PR
Stafford Springs, CT – Looking at the weather forecasts, one might have thought that Stafford
Speedway would never finish their Carquest Xtreme races Tuesday. Prolific rain threatened to put
a stop to the night’s racing. But, you would have been wrong. If you thought, however, that Chris
Perley would win another Stafford victory, you would have been dead on. While rain delayed the
show for a while, it did not postpone it. Perley, having won this race on three previous occasions
Bentley Warren. (2004, 06, 08), started alongside his teammate Bentley Warren and finished just one spot ahead of
him at the checkered. Perley’s run to the front was an exciting one to say the least. He took the
lead from Dave McKnight on lap 18, and was seriously challenged by first McKnight and then
Mike Lichty, who both drop by the wayside with engine woes. At the end, the man dogging Perley
was none other than teammate The race was checkered on lap 46 due to a
yellow, pending weather and fuel constraints.
Perley said in victory lane, “Thanks to Carquest and Stafford for putting this race on again and for
sticking it out. I just love this track. It’s a lot of fun out there. I figured we had a pretty good car but
you never know what you’re going to get until you start. And once I started I knew I had a better
car than I thought. I was just hoping to stay out of trouble and pick my way up through. It was
awesome to see Bentley there but honestly I was giving it all I had at the end because I’m not
going to leave anything on the table when the old man is behind me. You never know when he’s
going to take it from me. I couldn’t do this without the sponsors, my crew and the fans.”
He also commented on the shortened event. “I would have liked to take the race to the end it’s a
little disappointing to the fans and to the driver when it ends like that. You want to finish what you
started. The guys in second and third want to run to the end because anything can happen to the
leader. There was a lot of lap traffic out there. But, I was also thinking about how many caution
laps we had run. I knew we were getting close on fuel and I was hoping the crew had fueled it up
pretty good. That’s why you want to finish 50 laps. You never know what’s going to happen.”
Bentley, who won Stafford events in 1968, 69 and 1980, was obviously having fun. Starting in
11th, he diced in and out of heavy traffic, making some daring moves to get within sight of Perley
when the final yellow brought out the checkered. That last restart might have made for one heck
of a shootout between the teammates, but fuel was definitely at a minimum at this point.
Said Warren chuckling, “I was having a great time. As usual Vic, Chris, Leo, Mike and all the guys
do just a heck of a job with this racecar. It’s fun to drive. It was fun to finish one- two but I would
have rather passed him. If he was nice he would have waited for an old man. But, he never waits
around and that’s why he wins all the time.”
The third member of the same trio to stand on Stafford’s podium in 2008, Russ Wood, indicated,
“It was a hard battle out there. Everybody was slipping and sliding. Our car wasn’t that good in
the beginning. It was getting better at the end. I had to stay on my toes on a couple restarts trying
to grab a few spots. Those two cars in front of me are the ones to beat right now. Finishing third
to them isn’t too bad. Congratulations to those guys. Thanks to Carquest for having this show.”
Dave McKnight and Mike Lichty won heats before a two-hour rain delay saw Mike Ordway Jr. take
the third qualifier, which started just after 9:30 pm.
Gene Gibson and Vern Romanoski led the 28-car field down to the green as sprinkles dotted the
way with Vern taking the point. A yellow fell almost immediately for a jingle that left Jeff Locke and
Ordway Jr. back at the tail. Another flag fell for Danny Lane on that restart and again on the
second restart for the Dinnen 56. Sprinkles once again persisted but so did the officials and
drivers. They held on.
Green stuck on the third attempt as Romanoski’s bright green 5 led the way while Dave McKnight
and Mike Lichty closed in. The defending race champion Chris Perley, was right behind.
On lap 11 Vern, McKnight and Lichty all converged on turn one with McKnight coming out the
leader, Lichty second and Vern making an amazing save to keep from losing third.
An intense battle of teammates then ensued out front as Perley took over third from Romanoski.
Eric Lewis ran a strong fifth holding back Bentley Warren.
A lap 15 yellow for Danny Lane bunched the still large racey field setting up a three-way McKnight-
Lichty-Perley battle on the restart. Perley was into second on lap 17. On lap 18 he set up
McKnight on the outside and took the lead. Chris described the breathtaking pass, “My car was
actually very good on the outside. I wanted to get up there just enough to show him I was there
so I could kind of hold both of us off the wall.”
Yellow slowed the race at lap 22 for a spin by Dave Duggan. Now Perley was easily away from the
McKnight, Lichty and Romanoski who were fighting for second, which Lichty won moments later.
Slowly Lichty reeled in the leader.
As the midway mark passed, the crowd that remained saw Lichty right on Perley’s tail ready to
attack as the race was now complete should the rain come again. On lap 30 Lichty actually pulled
ahead of Perley as they passed a lap car in turn two, but coming out of four Perley had regained
the lead.
Two laps later the luckless Lichty suddenly pulled in the pits with motor problems, ending
another good run in his quest for his first ISMA win.
On lap 40 a yellow flew for a potential spin, which did not occur. The allotted caution laps the
drivers had been told to fuel for were running out when the race went green again with Perley out
front of McKnight and Warren with a few laps cars in between.
Lap 44 saw a yellow for Jeff Locke, as Russ Wood was moving in on Bentley Warren in second.
Mark Sammut, Eric Lewis, Ordway Jr., Dave Trytek and Craig Rayvals were next up behind still
racing for position. One lap later a simple spin slowed the race once more allowing Warren to get
closer to Perley on that restart.
One more lap was complete when the 35 of Trytek tangled with the lap car of Jeff Abold locking
the two together coming out of turn four. Untangling the two cars would obviously eat up more
laps. It was decision time - stop and refuel for the last four laps and possibly face rain again
which showed on the radar or to checker it and call it a night. The latter turned out to be the case.
Perley was the winner and as he carried the checkered around, several cars sputtered to a stop
due to lack of fuel. Warren, Wood, Sammut and Lichty Jr. finished up the top five.
Sammut was happy with fourth albeit a little disappointed that the race ended early. “Our car was
pretty good. We obviously didn’t have anything for the 11 or 84 at the start. I think we were pretty
close to everyone else. Lap traffic was a bit of a problem. That kind of determined which one of
the leaders went where. It was a great race with Russell and even Bentley for a while. We can’t
knock a fourth after starting 13th. It was a pretty good run. Too bad we didn’t get to finish the
race. Who knows what would have happened. At the same time we might have been wasting our
time also.”
Ordway Jr. came a long way up to get fifth. “We were pretty lucky to finish fifth. We got in a little
deal there on the first lap with some slower cars and ended up spinning out and restarting way in
the back. I didn’t think we’d ever get back to the top five. We just took our time moving toward the
front. 50 laps is quite a ways on a half-mile. We used it all up getting there. But we got up to fifth
and that’s all we had. We were actually out of fuel when they stopped the race.”
Lewis, Otto Sitterly, Craig Rayvals, Jamie Timmons and Dave Trytek completed the top ten.
ISMA SUMMARY Carquest Xtreme Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Heat 1: Dave McKnight, Lou Cicconi, Chris Perley, Gene Lee Gibson, Mark Sammut, Dave Trytek,
Bobby Haynes Jr., Bobby Timmons Jr., Mike Keeler
Heat 2: Mike Lichty, Vern Romanoski, Craig Rayvals, Russ Wood, Otto Sitterly, Dave Sanborn,
Jeff Locke, Robbie Summers, Jerry Dinnen
Heat 3: Mike Ordway Jr., Bentley Warren, Jeff Abold, Eric Lewis, Danny Lane, Ben Seitz, Dave
Duggan, Jamie Timmons, Larry Lehnert, Eric Emhoff
Carquest 50 (45): 1. Chris Perley (11), 2. Bentley Warren (71), 3. Russ Wood (29), 4. Mark Sammut
(78), 5. Mike Ordway Jr. (41), 6. Eric Lewis (28), 7. Otto Sitterly (7), 8. Craig Rayvals (95), 9. Jamie
Timmons (27), 10. Dave Trytek (35), 11. Ben Seitz (88), 12. Jeff Abold (05), 13. Jerry Dinnen (56), 14.
Dave McKnight (94), 15. Vern Romanoski (5), 16. Dave Duggan (51), 17. Danny Lane (9), 18. Jeff
Locke (37), 19. Dave Sanborn (24), 20. Gene Lee Gibson (0), 21. Mike Lichty (84), 22. Mike Keeler
(55), 23. Robbie Summers (97), 24. Bobby Timmons Jr. (38), 25. Bobby Haynes Jr. (44), 26. Lou
Cicconi (10), 27. Eric Emhoff (2), 28. Larry Lehnert (92).
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PERLEY CLAIMS FIFTH STRAIGHT
BERLIN ISMA WIN
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Marne, MI : Chris Perley drove to his fifth straight ISMA win at the Berlin Raceway Saturday night but it wasn’t a walk in the park for the Rowley Rocket. Mark Sammut jumped into the lead after a lengthy race stoppage which saw Johnny Benson Jr. pretty much destroy his new 21 super after a hard hit into the wall bringing out a red flag situation. John’s car erupted into flames and Benson was taken to an area hospital for treatment. When the race resumed with one lap down, Mark Sammut moved quickly into the lead. It took Perley until lap 37 to get by the Canadian driver who is looking for his ISMA first. The win was Perley’s first of the young season making him the third different winner in three outings.
Perley replayed his night. “We guessed tonight that the track was going to chew up tires so we were going to have to be really, really tight or really lucky. Sammut looked like he was perfect. As the race went on he was getting a little too snug and he couldn’t turn it. He left me the bottom. I was having trouble clearing lap cars because I was really loose and then my brakes fell off or something. I couldn’t really crowd a lap car because I had no brakes and I’d run into him. I finally cleared lap cars and went after Mark. But every time I got close to him, I’d get really loose. I didn’t know if I was going to make it. Then he slowed up just a little and gave me the bottom and I got lucky. This one probably should have been Mark’s. Thanks to my crew who never give up and to all the fans who came out to watch.”
Sammut was content with his second top five finish in two days. “Finishing second to the number 11 is just like winning in ISMA. I guess it’s the same. The car was really good at the start and we were out there. I didn’t even expect it to be that good. The farther I went, the tighter the car went. We got into the traffic and it held me up. It wasn’t anything intentional. The car was just going away. The restarts were actually helping me because for two or three laps we had a good car again. It just wasn’t our night to beat the 11. I’m happy with the run.”
The third place finisher was another Canadian seeking that elusive first timer. Mike Lichty was able to close in on Sammut in the waning laps but did not have enough to pass.
Mike said at the podium, “We just didn’t make the correct adjustments for the feature. The track loosened up pretty good. It was unfortunate to see Johnny go to the hospital after that crash.”
During the track cleanup, the Lichty team made a decision. “We just said we’re one lap in, we might just as well come in and make our adjustment. The car was decent afterward, but still a little loose. I would have liked to have made that adjustment earlier and run the whole 50 laps that way. Starting sixth, I think we would have been pretty good. This is a tricky race track. You’re always hard on the right rear. As I said we just didn’t adjust properly. My hats off to the crew. Can’t say enough about them. Thanks to everyone for coming out tonight.”
The shorter than normal ISMA field due to attrition from the previous night’s Toledo event, was led to the green by Bobby Haynes and Larry Lehnert with Haynes leading the first circuit. But a devastating crash stopped the race for almost an hour when Johnny Benson Jr. climbed the wheel of the Lehnert 92 while attempting a pass and ended up smacking the wall on the motor side so hard that the fuel line was cut on the 21. The fuel cell performed perfectly. A huge ball of fire erupted from the car, which was quickly extinguished by the Berlin safety crew. The ambulance personnel on the scene attended to Benson who was taken to an area care center for medical attention.
Excerpt from the Berlin Raceway website. "Benson Sr. said. “The car’s driver side hit the wall hard, and it’s a testament to the Hans (head and neck safety) device and the safety seat in the supermodified car that held him in place so well. I have to commend the safety crew and ambulance crew at Berlin Raceway for their quick response - they did their job well, putting the fire out quickly and taking care of Johnny.”
Benson Sr. said the fuel line was cut in two when it was pinched between the rear axle and the frame. The alcohol-based fuel that these supermodified cars use burns blue and very hot, and Benson managed to come out of it with barely any burns due to the quick response by the safety crew. The frame of the car was not bent badly, and all of the safety aspects of the car held up well, which allowed Benson to escape without major injuries."
Mark Sammut grabbed the point when the race resumed and immediately tried to put some distance on the pack, which he did by the fifth circuit. Jeff Holbrook, Bobby Haynes Jr., Danny Lane and Mike Ordway Jr. trailed closely.
A long green stretch was advantageous to the London, Ontario driver out front but movement throughout the field saw Chris Perley coming up past a number of cars to move into third behind Jeff Holbrook. Lane, Ordway Jr., Russ Wood, Haynes and Lichty headed up the line racing behind.
As Perley and Holbrook dueled for second, Sammut added a couple lap cars for insurance between his 78 and the challengers. Perley took second on lap 16 and now hunted for Sammut, but by the midway point, Sammut had a three-lap car cushion. Holbrook fended off Russ Wood, Ordway Jr., Lichty, Lane, and more as he tried to keep third.
A quick spin by Danny Lane brought out the yellow to slow things down on lap 32, something Sammut did not need. Only two cars separated Sammut and Perley on the green.
Methodically, Perley crept up on the leader Sammut, getting by the lap cars. On lap 36 he was within shooting distance but because of lack of brakes he wanted to make the pass without incident. “I had to creep up on him. He slowed just a little, and I went by. I was lucky. I should have spun out going by Mark.”
Now the Rowley driver moved to a comfortable lead, and did what he’d done the previous four visits at Berlin, head for victory lane. Back in the pack, Sammut was safe in second when the counter ticked to 40 as Mike Lichty, Jeff Holbrook, Russ Wood, Ordway Jr. and Haynes still battled behind.
Ordway Jr.’s battle ended shortly thereafter when the 41 slowed and stopped on the front straight. The car was pushed in and the crew splashed in fuel, but that was not the cure. Lack of fuel was not the problem. The car would not fire and it was parked.
Straight green now finished up the race with Perley well out front of Sammut who was challenged by Mike Lichty to the end. Russ Wood was fourth and Haynes Jr. scored his first-ever ISMA top five at the checkered.
Russ Wood, the previous night’s winner, was content with his fourth place finish to complete a good weekend. “We had an awesome car in the heat race. In the feature we were a little too free. We didn’t get the car tight enough. We were kind of hanging on for fourth. We had a good weekend. All the cars are in one piece. We didn’t do too bad.”
Bobby Haynes Jr. ran the race of his short career to gain his first top five. “It was awesome. I think we had a better car than that. I spent half my time looking at my gauges. The car was having low oil pressure and I just wasn’t real consistent with my marks. On the extended green the car was great. The car was under me at the end when everybody else was slowing down. That’s what was important. I told my dad he gave me a top three-race car and with a little more experience on my part, it could have been there. This is great.”
Jeff Holbrook, Danny Lane, Jeff Abold, Rob Summers and Vern Romanoski finished up the top ten.
SUMMARY - ISMA Event #3 - JUNE 13, 2009 - BERLIN
Heat 1: Johnny Benson Jr., Jeff Holbrook, Jeff Abold, Bobby Haynes, Rich Reid, Jim Paller, Brandon Bellinger
Heat 2: Chris Perley, Mike Ordway Jr., Larry Lehnert, Rob Summers, Ben Seitz, Vern Romanoski, Dave Duggan
Heat 3: Russ Wood, Mike Lichty, Mark Sammut, Danny Lane, Michael Barnes, Craig Rayvals
ISMA 50: 1. Chris Perley (11), 2. Mark Sammut (78), 3. Mike Lichty (84),
4. Russ Wood (29), 5. Bobby Haynes Jr. (44), 6. Jeff Holbrook (35),
7. Danny Lane (9), 8. Jeff Abold (05), 9. Rob Summers (97),
10. Vern Romanoski (5), 11. Craig Rayvals (95), 12. Ben Seitz (88),
13. Rich Reid (55), 14. Dave Duggan (51), 15. Mike Ordway Jr. (41),
16. Michael Barnes (70), 17. Jim Paller (64), 18. Brandon Bellinger (02),
19. Larry Lehnert (92), 20, Johnny Benson Jr. (21).
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RUSS WOOD BACK IN VICTORY LANE AFTER SHULLICK BREAKS NEAR RACE END
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Toledo, OH – Russ Wood became the first ISMA driver to win three features in the 10-year history of competition at Toledo Speedway. Wood, in the Holbrook 29, was running fourth with two laps to go when the yellow flew a Bob Bond crash into the wall. In the ensuing cleanup, Chris Perley, running third, fled to the pits for a new tire. Wood was now third. Dave Shullick Jr. sent the field into mayhem on the restart when the motor blew on his high flying 61. Cars scattered and spun every which way. Mike Lichty, who would have been the leader now, was sent to the rear for being involved in the caution. Russ Wood now sat in the lead spot and stayed there for two laps to win his first ISMA race since July 2005.
Wood was a little surprised to be in victory lane, but as the old phrase goes, you have to be there to be there. He said after the chaotic finish, “I think we had a third or fourth place car. But that’s racing. We were hanging in there to be in a place to be here. A couple guys broke or had problems and we were able to take advantage of it. We were pretty good, but not up to snuff to run with Chris or the 61 but we did all right. It was good in traffic. We were a little loose. We had struggled with it today. We’re lucky to even be here after the ride out. We’ll take the win. It’s been a long time since our last one here.”
Finishing second was Mike Ordway Jr. who had been running near the front for most of the race. He commented, “We were fortunate not to be in the wrecks. We were there at the end. That’s what happens. We started off good. We had a yellow pretty quick there and then we had a long green flag run. The car wasn’t that good at the beginning and then it got better on the long run. We lacked side bite all night. I had to wait on it Russell got by us and then we caught him. We got into so much traffic, I couldn’t do anything with him. With two to go we had that big deal when the 61 broke. Cars were going everywhere. I just steered through it. Russell went low and I went high. We both came out in the front. We’ll take it. “
Finishing in third was Chris Perley, who earlier in the day had set a new track record (breaking his old one) with a torrid 12.89 lap only to lose the title to an AVSS driver Jason Blonde who clocked a 12.744 on the half mile banked oval. Perley, too, might have had a chance at the win when Shullick exited, but the flat had cost him that.
Said the Rowley Rocket,” I had a good car. It took a while to come in and when it came in I thought it was going to be a little too late. But we had fun. We came up through. We got mired in a lot of lap traffic. Then we started getting a flat tire with probably ten or twelve to go. We were lucky that caution came out with two to go because that’s when it was really flat on the rim. It was going soft, going soft and then it got really bad. We almost spun out a few times. Somehow we changed the tire and then those last two laps we got into third. We probably shouldn’t have done that either. So we’ll take it. I feel bad for Lichty. I mean to be second and have the leader break and then you get put back it’s like “holy crap.”
Mike Lichty had been the early leader and was establishing himself in position to get that elusive first win as the laps ticked quickly away.
Lap 12 saw the first slowdown when Jeff Holbrook brushed the wall. On the ensuing restart red fell when Vern Romanoski and Jeff Abold came together as the pack entered turn one. Several cars including Gene Gibson and Jack Smith were hooked along with Vern and Jeff. Pitting here were Johnny Benson, Bobby Haynes Jr. and Brandon Bellinger, and able to return. The cleanup was advantageous for the Holbrook 35, which was able to get back into the fray.
Lichty took off on the green and looked, as in some many times in the past, to be a possible first-time ISMA winner. The battle for second, between Dave Shullick Jr. and Trent Stephens, however would change that. By lap 25, Shullick was perched to pounce on the leader, but still had some distance to make up.
The pounce came by Shullick as heavy traffic had cut into Lichty’s lead. Shoe II was by for the lead in turn two as now Lichty had Perley right there to challenge.
Yellow slowed the race on lap 33 when Larry Lehnert slowed and pulled pit side. The field was now bunched with a lot of lap cars intermingling with the lead cars.
Shullick had the cushion and the car and off he went. Facing several lap cars ahead was Lichty and then Perley. Also facing some traffic, Stephens, Wood and Ordway Jr.
With ten to go, Shullick was in command and on his way to a possible second ISMA win in a row. Jeff Locke slowed the progress on lap 41.
On this restart, Perley moved the 11 into second but a couple lap cars were still ahead of him before Shullick could be seen in his sites. Lichty, Wood, Ordway Jr. Stephens, Reid and Bob Bond were next in line behind when the yellow flew on lap 48. Bond and Reid came together coming off of turn 4 and Bond ended up in the wall in a devastating crash. While the 25 was flatbedded, Perley came in for the tire.
It was on this restart that Shullick’s 61 failed, creating a ripple effect behind him as everyone had their foot down. Shullick was able to slide into the inner track area while cars scattered all over.
When the green waved again, Russ Wood was the lead car with Ordway Jr., Stephens, Perley, and Mark Sammut next up, with at least three laps cars in between. Wood crossed under the checked for the win followed by Ordway Jr. Perley got the jump on Stephens to take third while Trent and Sammut crossed in fourth and fifth.
Stephens, in his Stout ride, was pleased with his first ISMA top five. “The first ten laps I was kind of taking it easy. I didn’t want to burn up the tires about half way through it started getting loose. It kept getting looser and I was just holding on there for a while. The last two laps I figured I could do something but those guys must have saved their tires. I didn’t have anything for them. But hey, we’re in one piece and avoided all the wrecks. This isn’t too bad for my first ISMA race.”
Sammut came in fifth after a little confusion. I figured we should have been fifth. We had a terrible car all day. We couldn’t get going. We had oil pressure problem so we were working on that instead of the car. By the heat we had it going a little better. In the feature we weren’t too bad but we pretty much wore the tires off coming up through. At the end I was hanging on. At one point in the middle of the race, when I cleared traffic, the car was actually the best it had been all day. A few laps later the tires went away and I was just riding around at the end. I was lucky to avoid the accidents.”
Lichty, Burch, Reid, Shullick Jr. and Seitz completed the top ten.
SUMMARY - ISMA Event #2 - JUNE 12, 2009 - TOLEDO
Time Trials: Perley fast time: 12.893. Followed by Lichty, Benson, Wood, Shullick, Locke, Burch, Stephens, Holbrook, Ordway Jr., Bond, Summers (top 12)
Heat 1: Jeff Holbrook, Johnny Benson, Jeff Locke, Robbie Summers, Vern Romanoski, Craig Rayvals, Gene Gibson, Dave Duggan, Bobby Haynes Jr.
Heat 2: Trent Stephens, Mike Lichty, Dave Shullick Jr., Bob Bond, Rich Reid, Danny Lane, Brandon Bellinger, Michael Barnes, Larry Lehnert
Heat 3: Mike Ordway Jr., Chris Perley, Randy Burch, Russ Wood, Jeff Abold, Jack Smith, Mark Sammut, Jim Paller, Ben Seitz
Toledo 50: 1. Russ Wood (29), 2. Mike Ordway Jr (41), 3. Chris Perley (11),
4. Trent Stephens (19), 5. Mark Sammut (78), 6. Mike Lichty (84),
7. Randy Burch (49), 8. Rich Reid (55), 9. Dave Shullick Jr. (61),
10. Ben Seitz (88), 11. Craig Rayvals (950, 12. Bobby Bond (25),
13. Danny Lane (9), 14. Dave Duggan (51), 15. Johnny Benson (21),
16. Jeff Locke (37), 17. Robbie Summers (97), 18. Larry Lehnert (92),
19. Jeff Holbrook (35), 20. Bobby Haynes Jr. (44), 21. Brandon Bellinger (02),
22. Jim Paller (64), 23. Vern Romanoski (5), 24. Jeff Abold (05),
25. Jack Smith (09), 26. Gene Lee Gibson (0), 27. Michael Barnes (70)
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DAVE SHULLICK JR. STARTS ISMA SEASON WITH WIN AT WATERFORD
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By Carol D Haynes, ISMA PR
Waterford, CT –Dave Shullick Jr. took the Clyde Booth 61 out front at the initial green Saturday at the ISMA season opener at Waterford. When the checkered dropped 50 laps later, Shullick was still in that spot for the win. The Amherst, OH driver had to survive an unusual number of yellows and reds along the way to his first win of the season and his career fourth in ISMA. Standing with him on the podium were his two nearest challengers, defending champion Chris Perley and Lou Cicconi, the August 2008 winner at the “Bowl.”
Said Shullick in victory lane, “The car was excellent. Clyde and I talked before the race and tried to come up with the right package. Earlier in the day we weren’t really good. We hit it right before the heat race. The car was even better than the last time we were here. That means we are gaining on it. To come back after a big crash at Concord last fall and be this strong is even better. It’s really encouraging.”
The many restarts did not really faze Shullick.
“I didn’t know how far away the guys were on those restarts. I just tried to be consistent; to not make a mistake. I figured that I was on the bottom and if they were going to go around me, it was going to be on the top. I think we were running good enough to prevent that. I just went as hard as I could really. It was the longest 50-lap race I’ve ever been a part of. These cars are made to be comfortable when we’re going fast, not when we’re going slow. I’d like to thank Clyde and Susan Booth and our sponsors. Now it’s on to Toledo and one of my favorite tracks!”
Chris Perley was not surprised with his fight for second. “This is what I figured was our main competition was going to be and it worked out that way. We had a great race with Woody - with everybody actually coming through. Then with Cicconi. The car was too tight. We were worried it would be too tight and it still was. It’s the first race of the season and we have a second out of the box. I’m really happy.”
In third was Aston, PA’s Lou Cicconi who is back full-time on the ISMA trail in the Wentworth 10. It was also a long race for Liquid Lou. “I just raced my butt off for 50 laps. That was it and I got third. It was fun. I really believe if Dave had started in the back he wouldn’t have won. His car was real good when he was by himself, but he couldn’t run through traffic. His car was unstable. If Perley and I had started up front, they wouldn’t have caught us either. That’s cool.”
Twenty-six supers lined up for the ISMA main with Jamie Timmons and Shullick Jr. on the front row. A heat crash left the Budnick crew scrambling to get new driver Ben Seitz into his first main, but he would be the first to exit as Shullick pulled away in the lead.
Just as the race began to sort out, a red dropped on lap 8 which occurred when Chris Perley, Johnny Benson and Dave McKnight were moving up through the field. As the battle ensued, McKnight caught a wheel from the Perley car and was hard into the wall sending a careening tire into Rob Summers 97. McKnight described the accident later, “It was just racing – me and Chris and JB. We went down into one. I knew Chris was on the inside and JB behind. Chris and I came together. I climbed his wheel and that was the end of it. I got turned and went into the fence. It happens. I’m a little sore but otherwise all right.”
Attrition at this early juncture also claimed Vern Romanoski, Eric Lewis and Larry Lehnert.
Shullick shot off on the green ahead of Mike Lichty, Jeff Holbrook, Cicconi, Russ Wood, Ordway Jr. and Perley
Lap 12 saw a quick yellow for Danny Lane who resumed at the tail.
Restarts allowed challengers like Lichty and Cicconi to close up on the Shoe II but not for long as he opened up a slight lead in the clean air head.
Unfortunately laps 15-17 caused several delays and losses. First Lehnert slid into the fourth turn tires and wall as the 51 of Duggan spun and both were done. The Jeff Locke 37 suffered a hole in the valve cover, Jamie Timmons spun and third place runner Mike Lichty experienced a rear end problem, which caused his demise.
It was Shullick, Cicconi, Perley, Holbrook, Ordway Jr. and Johnny Benson the top five as the race got some green flag laps. Unfortunately Benson’s 21 shut down on him just prior to lap 30 to bring out another later. The cause was undetermined.
Cicconi and Perley had a shot at Shullick once again, but the 61 glided away on the green. One lap later Brandon Bellinger and Craig Rayvals had an altercation and both left the field.
Finally, with all the opening day bugs worked out, the race went green and it went quickly as it was evident that Shullick had command but he’d been there before and had seen his 61 fail. This was not the case this race as he pulled away from the battling Perley, who had taken second after the last caution and Cicconi. Jeff Holbrook, Mike Ordway Jr., Mark Sammut, Russ Wood and Bob Bond remained on the lead lap as the field charged under the checkered.
Holbrook, with three cars finishing in the top seven, laughed later as he said of his fourth place finish, “It’s nice to be able to run and look at the smiley face on Chris’s fuel cell. You know you’re running good when you can run with Chris. I’m happy. The car was a little bit tight. I thought I might have had something for those guys if we could have been freed up a little. We all finished in the top ten. Everybody’s happy. It’s a good start to the season.”
Young Ordway, who had new Holbrook owned mount under him, was all smiles. “This is pretty good considering we just finished putting the car together this morning. Right out of the box it was pretty quick. We battled a tight condition all day. We were real tight in the feature. We’ll take a fifth for the first run in the car. I told the crew after the first practice that this car is already way better than the old one. So we have a good car to work with.”
Sammut, Wood, Bond, Timmons, and Lane finished up the top ten.
SUMMARY - ISMA Event #1 - May 23, 2009 - WATERFORD
Heat 1: Lou Cicconi, Jamie Timmons, Jeff Holbrook, Brandon Bellinger, Danny Lane, Mark Sammut, Eric Lewis, Jeff Locke, Ben Seitz
Heat 2: Mike Lichty, Johnny Benson, Chris Perley, Russ Wood, Rob Summers, Dave Sanborn, Art Rousseau, Jeff Abold, Eric Emhoff
Heat 3: Dave Shullick Jr., Vern Romanoski, Dave McKnight, Mike Ordway Jr., Bobby Bond, Craig Rayvals, Larry Lehnert, Dave Duggan
Waterford ISMA 50 1. Dave Shullick Jr. (61), 2. Chris Perley (11),
3. Lou Cicconi (10), 4. Jeff Holbrook (35), 5. Mike Ordway Jr. (41),
6. Mark Sammut (78), 7. Russ Wood (29), 8. Bobby Bond (25),
9. Jamie Timmons (27), 10. Dan Lane (9), 11. Dave Sanborn (24),
12. Artie Rousseau (616), 13. Dave Duggan (51), 14. Craig Rayvals (95),
15. Brandon Bellinger (02), 16. Johnny Benson (21), 17. Jeff Abold (05),
18. Mike Lichty (84), 19. Larry Lehnert (92), 20. Eric Lewis (28),
21.Jeff Locke (37), 22. Dave McKnight (94), 23. Rob Summers (97),
24. Vern Romanoski (5), 25. Eric Emhoff (2), 26. Ben Seitz (88). |
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