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Fidanza Takes
DTRP Checkers
Watkins, Durfy,
Gallagher, & Burd All Take
First Wins of '09
Lancaster, NY - "Superman"
Sege Fidanza collected his first win of the 2009 season on "Kids Day" at Dunn
Tire Raceway Park. Fidanza held off a
hard charging Jimmy Zacharias for fifty laps to register his 111th
career victory. It was a night of firsts
as every feature winner collected their first victory of the 2009 season. Rich Watkins took the TQ Midget checkers
while Tim Durfy was victorious in the 4 Cylinder, Cory Gallagher held on for
the Street Stock Win, and Billy Burd dominated the field to take home the SST
Sportsman feature win.
The
nights events began with the TQ Midget feature event as the Casey’s TQ Midget
Series made their first appearance of the season at the DTRP ¼ mile inner
oval. Dean McConnaughy started from the
pole position and immediately grabbed control of the lead at the drop of the
green. The racing action was fast and
furious as the TQ’s sliced and diced all over the track. The action was stopped by a red flag however
on lap 9 as Bobby Holmes barrel rolled his TQ Midget down the backstretch. The driver was okay and the action continued
with McConnaughy leading the way.
However with five laps to go Rich Watkins passed the leader who seemed
to be fading back. Watkins survived a
late race restart to claim his first win in the TQ Midgets this season at DTRP.
The
inner oval was the place to race for the next feature as the 4 Cylinders took
to the track. Cassie McGrath and Kevin
Morreale led the field to the green flag and Morreale slotted into the top
spot. Morreale led for the next six laps
until Dean Siminski challenged him for the lead and won. Siminski was in the lead but Durfy’s car was
getting bigger and bigger in his mirror.
With just five laps to go Durfy, Siminski, and Dan Roesch made it a
three wide battle for the lead coming out of turn four. Durfy took the outside line and won the
battle, taking the lead and taking home his first 4 Cylinder feature win of the
2009 season.
The
open wheel SST Sportsman were the first feature to take to the larger 5/8th
oval during the nights events. Jeff
Price, Jerry Gradl Jr., Tom McGrath, Billy Burd, and Jon Price started in the
top five positions on the grid and Jeff Price took control of the top running
position at the drop of the green. While
Price led, Burd was flying through the field and within eight laps had caught
price, passed him, and assumed the lead.
While Burd built a dominating lead, the rest of the field strung out
single file around the racetrack. A
driver on the move was Andy Jankowiak who was up to third and looking over the
second place car when he broke with just four laps remaining. As the laps ticked off Jeff Price began
closing back up to the leader Burd.
However, not enough laps were left as Burd crossed the finish line first
and made his first trip to Victory Lane in 2009.
It
was back to full fendered action with the Street Stocks taking to the racetrack
next in the night’s schedule. Debbie
Jurek led the field to the green flag and maintained the her top spot in the
running order until lap eight. A lap
eight red flag crash involved nearly 1/3 of the 25 car field including the
leader. After a lengthy red flag session
Kris Hamman emerged as the leader of the race.
Hamman was unable to lead an entire lap and Joe Haley grabbed the lead
from him on lap nine. Haley however
would find himself in the same position as Hamman as after just one lap the
lead was taken from him by Cory Gallagher.
At the halfway point of the race Gallagher led, but had Mike Nash right
on his bumper. Gallagher and Nash ran
nose to tail, with Nash looking for any possible way around the leader. Moving up to join the party was last weeks
feature winner John Hewson. A late race
yellow with just three laps remaining bunched the field up together and allowed
Hewson to challenge Nash while Nash challenged Gallagher. None of them were able to advance their
positions and finished in the first, second, and third spots in the final
finish order.
Last
up were the “Mighty” 600 horsepower Modifieds.
Danny Knoll and Sege Fidanza occupied the first row and on the start
Fidanza took advantage of being on the outside and took the lead coming out of
turn two on the first lap. With Fidanza
in the lead, the rest of the field went to work in trying to catch him. Dave Wollaber, who had started sixth, soon
made is way to second while Jimmy Zacharias, who had started the race from the
eighth starting spot on the grid, was third.
Erick Rudolph was soon up to fourth.
Wollaber and Zacharias waged a fierce battle for second, all the while
not allowing Fidanza to build a huge lead on the field. A lap 16 yellow flag and subsequent double
file restart changed the complexion of the race. With Fidanza and Wollaber side by side for
the lead, Zacharias nosed in under Wollaber, eventually taking the second
position. By the halfway point of the
feature on lap 25 Fidanza led Zacharias, Wollaber, Rudolph, and Tom
McGrath. The top two runners however had
separated themselves from the rest of the field and waged an action packed
battle for the lead. With Fidanza
floating up the track a bit in the corners, Zacharias was able to put the nose
of his car under the leader, but was repeatedly refused the bottom line by
Fidanza. A late race yellow once again
bunched the fied up with just six laps to go.
The restart put Rudolph right on the tail of second place Zacharias. However the battle for the lead was
unaffected as Zacharias and Fidanza threw everything they had at each other as
Fidanza tried to hold onto the lead and Zacharias tried taking it from him. Fidanza held off the hard charging Zacharias
to take home his first win of the season.
Next
week at Dunn Tire Raceway Park, the Race of Champions Modified Tour invades the
5/8th oval for an action packed 75 lap main event. The Modified stars of the Northeast will all
be on hand to battle for the coveted win. Also on the schedule are the 4 Cylinders,
Street Stocks, and SST Sportsman. For
more information visit www.dunntireracewaypark.com
or call Director of Stock Car Events Lori Overdorf at 716-207-2824.
Modified Feature Finish
(6/13/09) – Sege Fidanza, Jimmy Zacharias, Erick Rudolph, Tom
McGrath, Bob Reis, Dave Wollaber, Danny Knoll, Jeff Hamman, Mark Tychoniewicz,
Karl Hehr, TJ Zacharias, Andy Jankowiak
Lap Leaders: Laps 1- 50
Fidanza
Street Stock Feature Finish
(6/13/09) – Cory Gallagher, Mike Nash, John Hewson, Jim Stein, Joe
Haley, Mike Maggiore, Jeff Guidotti, Rick Ortwein, Dave Frieder, Ed Nowak, Gary
Bartella, Joe Light, Wayne Bernhard, Kris Hamman, Scott Mutka, Jerome Hruby,
Ricky Farina, Nate Straus, Debbie Jurek, Gary Denea, Steve Cochran, Tim
Garlock, Kevin Mendel, Matt Jurek, Bobby Hanel Sr.
Lap Leaders: 1-8 D. Jurek;
9 Haley; 10-25 Gallagher
SST Sportsman Feature Finish
(6/13/09) – Billy Burd,
Jeff Price, Jon Price, Bobby Holmes, Jerry Gradl Jr., Tom McGrath, Todd
Hoddick, Craig Dolphin, John Julicher Jr., Russ Gian, Frank Batista Jr., Mark
Pennell, Sherri Hogan, PD Totten, Andy Jankowiak, David Tedesco
Lap Leaders: Laps 1-8 Jeff
Price; 9-35 Burd
TQ Midget Feature Finish
(6/13/09) – Rich Watkins, Dean McConnaughy, Dave Wollaber, Jim
Fleischman, Arik McGruder, Jonathan Reid, Vinny Christiano Jr., Justin Mapes, Dan
Lawrence, Charlie DiRosa, Driver #4, Sean Nye, Cam Barber, Chad Haywood, Mike
Blair, Mark Schulz, Nelson Rung, Bobby Holmes, Driver 83
Lap Leaders: 1-15
McConnaughy; 16-20 Watkins
4 Cylinder Feature Finish
(6/13/09) – Tim Durfy, Derek Wagner, Matt Druar, Dean Siminski,
Kalie Clementi, Cassie McGrath, Kevin Morreale, Driver 16, Jayme Thompson, Dan
Roesch, Charles Buchanan
Lap Leaders: 1-6 Morreale;
7-14 Siminski; 15-20 Durfy
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