Burd Captures SST Tour Race Win at
DTRP
Druar, Hewson, & McGrath Take
Checkers
Lancaster, NY - Billy Burd bested a
full field of SST Sportsman as the SST Tour rolled into Dunn Tire Raceway Park
for a 75 lap feature event. Burd
dominated the field and took home his second win in a row at DTRP. Matt Druar was back in the 4 Cylinder Victory
Lane, while John Hewson made his second trip to the Street Stock winners circle
this season. Tom McGrath used tire
strategy to snatch the Modified fin in the closing laps from last week’s feature
winner Sege Fidanza.
The nights events started with a
blast from the past as the Mid-State Vintage Modified Club made an
appearance. David Charczuk from
Lewiston, New York won the 15 lap feature.
The 4 Cylinders were up next on the
DTRP inner oval and Dan Roesch led the field to the green flag. Charles Buchanan, who had started third,
slotted into the second position and began applying pressure to the leader
Roesch for the top spot. However,
further back, multi-time 2009 feature winner Matt Druar was on the move from his
eighth place starting spot. On lap six
Druar got his chance for the lead as Roesch, Buchanan, and Druar went three wide
down the backstretch for the lead, with Druar winning the battle. Druar took the lead and eventually took the
checkered flag for his fourth win of the season.
With the SST Sportsman as the
headline event of the evening, the open wheel Modifieds were scheduled earlier
in the nights running order. Modified
rookie Jeff Hamman started on the pole with Tom McGrath, Sege Fidanza, Dave
Wollaber, and Jimmy Zacharias behind him.
At the drop of the green Hamman bolted into the lead with Fidanza hot on
his tail, while McGrath was shuffled back to the sixth spot. Hamman held his own
as the top car of the pack for eleven laps as he held off the hard charging
Fidanza. On lap 11 however Fidanza made
the inside move on Hamman and took the lead.
A number of early race yellows kept the field together but by the halfway
point of the race, the cautions had ceased and Fidanza had built a small lead
over Hamman, Zacharias, and McGrath.
McGrath was now the car to watch as he began to rocket up through the
field, picking off Zacharias for third on lap 28 and taking over second from
Hamman just two laps later. McGrath
brought his racecar up to the leaders bumper with just fourteen laps to go. As the laps clicked off towards 50, McGrath
was looking over Fidanza both high and low for anyway around him. McGrath’s opportunity came on lap 42 as he
ducked under Fidanza coming out of turn four.
The pair drag raced around the oval, with Fidanza desperately holding
onto the lead. However, McGrath had the
superior car and cleared him on lap 43, taking possession of the lead. McGrath was the first to cross the finish
line and notched his first Modified win of the 2009 season.
The Street Stocks were up next on
the racing card and Debbie Jurek led the field to the green flag. Her lead however was short lived as outside
polesitter Kris Hamman took possession of the lead on the first circuit around
the speedway. After an early yellow
flag, Hamman went to work building a lead on the rest of the field. Jurek had dropped back a bit and had a slew
of cars bottlenecked behind her including Mike Nash, Tim Garlock, John Hewson,
and Scott Mutka. On lap ten, the pack
powered by Jurek on the outside and went to work reeling in the leader. At the halfway point of the race Hamman had a
sizable lead on Nash, Garlock, Hewson, and Mutka, however a yellow flag on lap
16 changed the complexion of the race.
The single file restart put Nash right on Hamman’s bumper and Nash took
advantage of the situation, diving under Hamman a few laps later and taking the
lead. Hewson followed Nash by Hamman for
the second position. Hewson wasn’t
content with his second place running spot and immediately began looking for a
way around Nash. His opportunity came on
lap 20 as he dove under Nash and took the lead.
Hewson, who had started tenth, captured his second win of the season at
DTRP.
The headline event of
the evening was the last race on the nights schedule – the SST Tour Race. The 75 green flag lap race pitted
twenty-seven of the best open wheel drivers against each other for the
prestigious tour win. With the top
twelve qualifiers from the heats redrawing for position, it was Frank Batista
Jr. pulling the lucky pole position.
Jerry Gradl Jr. started to his outside while Amy Catalano, Jonathon
Price, Andy Jankowiak, and Tom McGrath filled in the top three starting
rows. With the drop of the green, the
battle began and it was Gradl who jumped into the lead right away, while Batista
dropped back through the field. In the
opening laps no car was moving up through the field quicker than Billy Burd, who had originally
started in the eighth position. In just
ten laps, Burd had moved up to the second running spot and was looking to make a
move on Gradl. However a lengthy yellow
flag situation forced the cars to be stopped on the front stretch while track
worked in turn two on lap ten. On the
ensuing double file restart, a scramble for the lead began as Gradl faltered and
began falling back while Burd, Jankowiak, and Billy Putney vied for the
lead. Burd came out on top and took
possession of the lead on lap 13.
By a third of the way
through the feature on lap 25, Burd had built a sizable lead over Jankowiak,
Putney, McGrath, and Jonathon Price. A
yellow flag on lap 27 brought the field right back to Burd, but again he was
able to maintain his lead, leaving Jankowiak, Putney, and McGrath to race for
the second, third, and fourth positions.
By the halfway point of the feature
Burd led a strung out field of cars and as the laps ticked off, he continued to
build his lead over Jankowiak, who ran well ahead of McGrath. Behind the third place car, Putney, Bobby
Holmes, Jonathon Price, Todd Hoddick, and Jeff Price sliced and diced for
position. Two yellow flags on lap 46 and
lap 49 bunched up the field and allowed the leaders to run nose to tail for a
number of laps. Burd held his lead,
although a miscue with a lap car on lap 50 cost Burd the lead for half a
lap. Burd had slowed to get around the
lap car and Jankowiak pounced on the chance, powering by Burd on the outside
down the front stretch. Burd, however,
quickly recovered and dove under Jankowiak in turn two, flying by him to reclaim
the top spot. With the race winding
down, Burd held his line, hit his marks, and cruised home for the win, taking
the victory in the SST Tour Race, his second win in a row at DTRP.
Dunn Tire Raceway Park, the Western
New York Home of the Asphalt Modified, has given their stock cars off for the
next two weeks – July 4th and July 11th. The stock cars will return on Saturday, July
18th with the Race of Champions Modified Tour. In addition the TQ Midgets, 4 Cylinders, and
Street Stocks will be on the racing schedule that night. For more information visit www.dunntireracewaypark.com or call Director of Stock Car Events Lori Overdorf at
716-207-2824.
Vintage Modified Feature Finish (6/27/09):
David Charczuk, Rob
Casti, Frank Blanchard, Ken Knapp, Bob Whipple Jr.
4
Cylinder Feature Finish (6/27/9): Matt Druar, Charles Buchanan, Dan
Roesch, Tim Durfy, Dean Siminski, Ken Hejna, Jayme Thompson, Driver 35, Kevin
Morreale, and Kalie Clementi
Lap Leaders: 1-6
Roesch; 7-20 Druar
Street Stock Feature Finish (6/27/09): John
Hewson Jr., Mike Nash, Tim Garlock, Kris Hamman, Scott Mutka, Cory
Gallagher, Mike Maggiore, Jim Stein, Joe Light , Chip Wood, Ed Nowak, Nate
Straus, Gary Bartella, Mike Weston, Joe Haley, Steve Cochran, Debbie Jurek, Jeff
Guidotti, Dave Frieder, Rick Ortwein, Matt Jurek, Gary
Denea
Lap Leaders: Laps
1-18 Hamman; 19-20 Nash; 21-25 Hewson
Heat Winners:
Hamman, Straus
SST
Tour Feature Finish (6/27/09): Billy Burd, Andy Jankowiak, Tom
McGrath, Billy Putney, Todd Hoddick, Bobby Holmes, Jon Price, Jeff Price, John
Barber, Mark Pennell, Terry Cheetham, Frank Batista Jr., Amy Catalano, Daryl
Lewis Jr., Sherri Hogan, Russ Gian, Craig Dolphin, PD Rutherford, Joe Light,
Dick Kluth, Jody London, Steve Fuchs, Ed Schueler, Tom Weist, Jerry Gradl Jr.,
John Julicher Jr. DNS: Moose
Rutherford
Lap Leaders: 1-12
Gradl; 13-25 Burd
Heat Winners:
McGrath, Jankowiak, Burd
Modified Feature Finish (6/27/09): Tom
McGrath, Sege Fidanza, Jeff Hamman, Jimmy Zacharias, Dave Wollaber,
Billy Putney, Karl Hehr, Mark Tychoniewicz, Bob Reis, TJ Zacharias, Driver
1
Lap Leaders: Laps
1-11 Hamman; 12-43 Fidanza; 44-50 McGrath
Heat Winners: Wollaber,
McGrath |
