Skora Breaks 10 Year DTRP Drought & Captures First Late Model Win Durfy, Haudricourt, Nash, & Holmes Visit Victory Lane

Skora Breaks 10 Year DTRP Drought & Captures First Late Model Win

Durfy, Haudricourt, Nash, & Holmes Visit Victory Lane

Lancaster, New York – George Skora finally broke through to Victory Lane at Dunn Tire Raceway Park on Saturday night, breaking a ten year winless streak at the famed facility.  Skora dominated a 50 lap feature event for the visiting Late Models while Jeremy Haudricourt found luck on his side, winning the Legends feature and remaining unbeaten at DTRP.  Tim Durfy finally notched a win in the 4 Cylinder division and Mike Nash and Bobby Holmes made repeat visits to Victory Lane.

The night’s action began with the 4 Cylinders on the ¼ mile inner oval and Tim Durfy and Jayme Thompson let the field to the green flag.  Durfy jumped out into the lead while Thompson had temporary control of second place, until Ken Hejna passed her for second on the first lap, after starting fifth on the grid.  A series of yellow flags in the early goings of the race kept Durfy out front, Hejna in second, and Thompson in third.  By the halfway point of the twenty lap feature however, Mike Dalfonso had slotted into the third place, but Durfy and Hejna had already built up a considerable lead over the field.  Soon Dalfonso faced a challenge from points leader Charles Buchanan.  As the laps wound down, the racing action got dicey.  While the leaders narrowly avoided a collision with a lapped car who had spun in front of them with just three laps to go, Buchanan faced mechanical issues as his right front wheel flew off his car, barely missing the DTRP pace car.  The late race yellow that ensued bunched up the field on Durfy’s bumper, with Hejna and Dalfonso in the second and third spots.  Hejna pressured Drufy for the top spot while Dalfonso waited patiently in third.  Durfy had the car to beat however, as Hejna was unable to mount a successful challenge for the lead.  Durfy captured his first win of the season, while Hejna notched his second consecutive second place finish, and Dalfonso posted a season best finish of third.

The visiting Legends were up next and Jake Vernon and Matt Pappa brought the field to the green flag and Vernon took the lead.  However, Pappa stayed with him, immediately challenging for the lead, looking high and low on the leader for a way around him.  On lap seven, Pappa finally got his chance and dove low on Vernon, taking the lead.  At the halfway point of the twenty lap feature, Pappa and Vernon had built some room on third place Jeremy Haudricourt and fourth place Brad Salatino.  One lap made a difference though as Vernon powered back by Pappa on lap 11 and took the lead back.  The top two raced hard, each waiting for the other to make a mistake.  With five laps to go the yellow flag appeared and put the field nose to tail in a single file restart.  Pappa once again began pressuring Vernon for the lead but Vernon held onto the top spot.  The yellow flag appeared once again on lap 18, setting up a green, white checkered finish.  However, as the cars took the green flag, Pappa made heavy contact with Vernon, spinning the lead out.  With Pappa was sent tail for contact, and Vernon going to the rear for bringing out the yellow, the lead was now handed over to Haudricourt.  When the field took the green on the restart, Haudricourt set out for smooth sailing as the leader, while Pappa and Vernon frantically raced their way back up for the back of the field.  Time ran out though and Haudricourt extended his unbeaten streak at DTRP in the Legend division.

The action switched to the larger outer oval for the rest of the nights action, with the Street Stocks up first.  Matt Druar and Mike Nash started on the front row and were followed by Cory Gallagher, Kevin Mendel, and TJ Cochrane.  At the drop of the green, Druar and Nash began a side by side battle for the lead, while Cochrane grabbed third after going three wide with Gallagher and Mendel.  Up front Nash took control of the race while Druar, Cochrane, Nate Straus, and Gallagher slotted in behind him.  As the laps clicked off, Druar mounted a challenge for the lead, while Straus raced by Cochrane for third.  Just past the halfway point of the feature though, disaster struck for Straus as he got loose coming out of turn four and made heavy contact with the front stretch Thermal Foam.  The car rolled and landed on its roof.  The Thermal Foam did its job however as the driver walked away without a scratch.  The same could not be said of the car as it was flat bedded to the pits, ending Straus’ night early.  After the lengthy red flag clean up, the field restarted the race single file with Nash, Druar, Cochrane, Gallagher, and Mendel up front.  Nash began building a lead over the field, leaving Druar to race with Cochrane and Gallagher for second on back.  Gallagher began applying pressure to Cochrane for third, while Cochrane tried looking Druar over for second.  None were able to complete the passes however and as the checkered flag waved, Nash crossed the finish line first, capturing the win.

The visiting Late Models were slated to run their fifty lap feature next.  Former DTRP champion Bobby Weber led the field to the green flag, with Dave Heitzhaus and Jeff Brown following him.  Heitzhaus got a better start than Weber and jumped into the lead on lap one, leaving Weber and Brown to battle for third.  Weber eventually slotted into the second spot, while Brown was relegated to fourth after being passed by George Skora.  A number of early yellow flags kept the field together, with Heitzhaus holding his lead over Weber and Skora – but not for long.  By lap ten Skora had sailed past Weber for second and had hunted down leader Heitzhaus five laps later.  On lap 18, Skora made his bid for the lead, diving down low on Heitzhaus  Skora held the low line and took possession of the lead.  At the halfway point of the feature, Skora had built a lead over Heitzhaus, who in turn led Brown, Scott Wylie, and Weber.  A number of late race yellow flags repeatedly lined up the field on Skora’s bumper but each time he managed to pull away.  By the end of the feature the field had strung out around the track and no one was able to challenge Skora for the lead.  Skora notched his first career DTRP win.

The final race of the night was the 35 lap Sportsman feature.  The race had some difficulty in getting started with a few quick yellows in the opening laps.  When the field finally sorted themselves out, Ed Weber led but not for long as Bobby Holmes, who had started sixth, moved up to challenge Weber for the lead by lap four.  Holmes passed Weber for the lead, leaving Weber in second and being followed closely by Kevin Lewis, Chris Finocharrio, Tom McGrath, and Buck Catalano.  Soon Lewis had fallen back to sixth as Finocharrio, McGrath, and Catalano moved past him.  By lap 18, the halfway point of the feature, Holmes had built a considerable distance between himself and the rest of the field, who had also strung themselves out around the racing surface.  McGrath had moved into second by this point and had a comfortable lead over Weber and Catalano, and Finocharrio and Mark Pennell, all of whom had paired off in two car battles for position.  Soon Lewis and Sherri Hogan paired off in a race for seventh and eighth spot. All of the pairs slice and diced but no one was able to pull off the pass.  Up front, Holmes crossed the finish line almost a straightaway ahead of the rest of the field and visited Victory Lane once again this season at DTRP.

Next week is the season finale at DTRP, with Fabulous 50’s Night.  Fifty lap features will be held for the Sportsman and Street Stocks while the 4 Cylinders will race Twin 25 lap features, all in a bid to decide the 2011 Dunn Tire Raceway Park Champions.  The Super Stocks will also be making a guest appearance.

Sportsman Feature Finish (8/27/11): Bobby Holmes, Tom McGrath, Buck Catalano, Ed Weber, Chris Finocharrio, Mark Pennell, Kevin Lewis, Joe Evans, Bobby Weber, Russ Gian, Karl Hehr, Kevin Miller, Sherri Hogan, Dick Kluth, Matt Jurek  DNS: Patrick Emerling

Lap Leaders:  1-4 E. Weber; 5-35 Holmes

Heat Winners: Holmes, E. Weber

Late Model Feature Finish (8/27/11): George Skora, Dave Heitzhaus, Jeff Brown, Scott Wylie, Bobby Weber, Dave Whittaker, Ron Nurmi, Richard Arndt, Sam Fullone, Brent Cross, Jason Petri, Rick Widmer, Dave Russell, Ron Richter

Lap Leaders: 1-17 Heitzhaus, 18-50 Skora

Heat Winners: Skora, Brown

Street Stock Feature Finish (8/27/11): Mike Nash, Matt Druar, TJ Cochrane, Cory Gallagher, Jake Lyon, Kevin Mendel, Bob Heineman, Ed Nowak, Heather Weber, Jerome Hruby, Nate Straus

Lap Leaders: 1-25 Nash

Heat Winners: Druar, Cochrane

Legends Feature Finish (8/27/11):  Jeremy Haudricourt, Brad Salatino, Bryce Norton, Matt Pappa, Driver 45, Jake Vernon, Brody Wood, Charlie Neuman, John Lindstrom

Lap Leaders: 1-7 Vernon; 8-10 Pappa; 11-18 Vernon; 19-20 Haudricourt

Heat Winner: Pappa

4 Cylinder Feature Finish (8/27/11):  Tim Durfy, Ken Hejna, Mike Dalfonso, Brian Frost, Jayme Thompson, Cassie McGrath, Kevin Swanson, Chrisine Hanel, Ed Kolb, Chrales Buchanan, Jake Weber, Mike Maggiore, Mike Hossfeld, Kalie Clementi, Deb Jurek  DQ: Kevin Bainbridge

Lap Leaders: 1-20 Durfy

Heat Winners: Durfy, Bainbridge