 Forty years ago in 1967 Friday night
racing at Stafford rained out. Bugsy Stevens, a regular competitor at
Stafford made the right call as he and car owner Len Boehler traveled to
the Albany Saratoga Speedway where Stevens finished fourth behind Don
MacTavish, Ed Patnoad and Guy Chartrand At Fonda, on Saturday night,
Bill Wimble took the win over Ray Sitterly and Jerry Cook. The
Utica-Rome Speedway closed out their season on Sunday night with local
favorite Clayton “Sonney” Seamon taking the win over Dick Fowler, Bernie
Miller, Jerry Cook and Dave Kotary.
 Thirty-five Years ago in
1972, Malta and Stafford ran
head to head on Saturday night. Lancaster had a big open show on Sunday
with qualifying on Saturday afternoon, which meant that many teams raced
back and forth on the Thruway. Bugsy Stevens was the winner at Malta
over Jerry Cook, Ed Pieniezak and Ron Newman. Because he chose to
concentrate on the NASCAR Modified point title, Stevens elected to
by-pass Lancaster in order to be in one piece for an extra point event
at Utica-Rome on Sunday night. Bobby Santos was driving for Art Barry
and the two decided to go for all three. Santos qualified at Lancaster
on Saturday afternoon, raced to Malta where he finished sixth, raced
back to Lancaster where he won the 200 lap open and then sped to
Utica-Rome where he finished eighth. Richie Evans finished second to
Santos at Lancaster and did it one better as he won at Utica-Rome. Fred
DeSarro, Eddie Flemke, Ray Hendrick and Ernie Gahan followed Santos and
Evans at Lancaster. At Utica-Rome, Lou Lazzaro, Jerry Cook, Fred DeSarro
and Ollie Silva followed Evans. At Stafford, Leo Cleary in the Mystic
Missile took the win over Ronnie Bouchard, Ernie Caruso and Ed
Yerrington. It was a rough weekend, to say the least.
 Thirty years ago in 1977, Stafford’s Friday night
racing was open competition as their NASCAR season ended on Labor Day.
With 33 cars on hand, Ronnie Bouchard took the win over Geoff Bodine, Ed
Flemke and Bob Polverari. Saturday night was extremely busy. Seekonk ran
twin features, a 50 lapper and a 35 lapper. Taking the win in the 50 was
Corky Cookman over Eddie StAngelo and George Summers. StAngelo won the
50 and was followed by Ronnie Bouchard, John Rosati and Cookman. At
Westboro, Freddie Schulz, in the Tom Dunn Pinto wagon, took the win over
George Savory, Fats Caruso and Joe Howard. The NASCAR Modifieds ran a
150 lapper at Richmond where Maynard Troyer took the top spot. Paul
Radford finished second with Ray Hendrick, Joe Thurman, Harry Gant and
Jerry Cook following. Islip presented a 100-lap double point event.
Charlie Jarzombek ruled the roost as he beat out Tom McCann, Geoff
Bodine, Wayne Anderson and Eddie Flemke. Waterford fell victim to rain
and ended their season. Moose Hewitt was declared the modified track
champion. On Sunday, Fred DeSarro took the win at Thompson over Freddie
Schulz, Ray Miller and John Rosati. Freeport ran a 200 lapper that saw
Long Island favorite Jim Hendrickson take the win over Maynard Troyer
and George Brunnhoelzl Jr. At Monadnock it was Bob Karvonen taking the
win over Punky Caron and Pete Fiandaca.
Twenty-five years ago in 1982, the Thompson 300 took
center stage. A huge field of 106 modifieds was on hand. Greg Sacks, who
had won just about every major race in what is now considered his best
season didn’t let this big one get away. After leading from lap 14 thru
134 when he pitted for fuel and tires, Sacks re-took the lead on lap 151
and led the remaining 149 laps to take the $10,000 win. Kenny Bouchard
finished second with Gomer Taylor and Ray Miller on the lead lap at the
finish. Doug Hewitt finished fifth, one lap down. Tony Hirshman, SJ
Evonsion, George Brunnhoelzl, Dick Trayner and Dave Thomas rounded out
the top ten. Dick Caso won the companion non-qualifiers event. In other
weekend action, Jerry Cook won an 82 lapper at Shangri-La over Jim
Spencer and Doug Hewitt and at New Egypt, John Blewett Jr won a 200
lapper over Richie Evans, Bob Polverari and Jerry Cook.
Twenty years ago in 1987, the Thompson Speedway lost
their entire 300 program to rain. Riverside Park was able to get their
program in with Kenny Bouchard taking the win over Reggie Ruggiero, Bob
Polverari and John Rosati. In Winston Cup action at Richmond, Dale
Earnhardt, who started eighth, took the win.
Fifteen years ago in 1992, Monadnock closed out their
season on Friday night. Jerry Marquis, in the Bob Judkins 2x, won his
seventh feature and sewed up the Modified Championship at the fast ¼
mile oval. At Waterford, on Saturday night, Don Fowler went pole to pole
to win the modified feature over Ricky Young, Bert Marvin, Jim Broderick
and Jerry Pearl. In late model action, Tom Gaudreau went pole to pole to
win his first late model feature. With their regular season over,
Riverside Park ran open competition modifieds and added SK-Modifieds to
their line-up. With only seven showing up, the SK’s were grouped
together with the modifieds. Dan Avery took the modified feature over
Jerry Marquis and Bobby Gee. Chris Jones was the first SK to finish as
he came across the finish line in 11th spot. The Thompson 300 was the
big show of the weekend. Rick Fuller, in the Mario Fiore 44 took the win
over Doug Hevron, Tom Baldwin, Chris Aman and Jamie Tomaino, all on the
lead lap. Pole sitter Steve Park, finished sixth.
Ten years ago in 1997, Dennis Gada went pole to pole
to beat out Rick Donnely and Todd Ceravolo at Waterford. Punky Caron got
his 72nd career win at Monadnock and Dave Berube beat out Reggie
Ruggerio at Riverside. The Thompson 300,now a Busch Grand National event
saw the total domination of Mike Stefanik for the win. Stefanik, who
started on the outside pole, led 290 of the 300 laps and closed to
within nine points of current leader Dave Dion. Ricky Fuller finished
second with Andy Santarre, third. At Richmond, Steve Park took the lead
with 42 laps to go and took his third win of the year. His boss, Dale
Earnhardt, who suffered a blackout the previous week at Darlington, was
cleared to drive. Dale Jarrett was the eventual Winston Cup winner at
Richmond and finally, Jan Opperman, who had been confined to a
wheelchair since 1991, passed away.
Five years ago in 2002 The NASCAR Featherlite Modified
Tour Series was at the Thompson Speedway last weekend for the annual
300, the series’ longest event. Temperatures in the 90’s made the 300 a
test of man and machine Forty-four Modifieds were on hand to qualify for
the forty starting spots. Tony Hirschman, on the mend since a crash at
Seekonk, was the Busch Pole sitter. Mike Stefanik took advantage of
Charlie Pasteryak’s miss-fortune and took the win, which was worth
$16,400. It has been an up and down year for the defending series
champion and he had also all but written himself off as far as being
able to repeat. Because of the fact that the 300 is an endurance run,
things can change in an instant. Stefanik started 10th and led three
times at various stages had all but accepted to finishing second to
Charlie Pasteryak when fate reared its ugly hand in Pasteryaks direction
as he ran out of gas with six laps to go. It was a tough pill for
Pasteryak to swallow as he and his team gambled and lost. Pasteryak had
pitted on lap 211 and decided on not taking on gas. It was a decision
that left him about a gallon short. That gallon of gas cost Pasteryak
$14,500, the difference between first and fourteenth. The 300 paid
$16,400 to win. Pasteryak, who lost two laps in the process, earned
$1,900. There were only six cars on the lead lap at the finish including
65-year-old Bob Polverari, who finished sixth. Congratulations to Tony
Ferrante, Jr. on his career best, since 1997 at Jennerstown, second
place finish. Ferrante collected $6,405 for his efforts. L.W.Miller
ended up third after a questionable confrontation with Chuck Hossfeld.
Hossfeld had been running in the lead pack and possibly could have had a
top five finish until he lost two laps due to the confrontation. John
Blewett III finished a solid fourth with former series champion, Jamie
Tomaino rounding out the top five. Sixth and the final car on the lead
lap was 65 year old Bob Polverari. There were 18 caution periods for 99
laps, one lap short of a third of the posted distance. Among the
casualties were Rick Fuller who took a hard shot, rear first, into the
concrete on lap 48 and Jim Willis who flipped and slid down the front
chute on his roof on lap 187. It appeared that Tom Cloce brushed the
front chute wall and when he bounced off, Willis was there. Willis got
in the air and hit the starters stand as he was going over. It could
have been disastrous and chances are, Bob Slade was counting his
blessings after that. Ted Christopher was among the front runners until
getting bit by ignition problems. Among the others who had mechanical
problems were David Berghman, Jerry Marquis and Ed Flemke Jr. Pole
sitter Tony Hirschman had a legitimate shot to win the event as he was
one of the faster cars. Hirschman’s car was black-flagged after numerous
NASCAR officials confirmed that he was leaking fluid. Hirschman ignored
the black flag to pit and NASCAR pulled his scorecard. When he finally
pitted, the leaking had stopped. With gage temperatures normal, chances
are it was fuel but none the less, he was leaking. It doesn’t look like
John Sneade will be participating in any NASCAR events in the near
future after the show he put on under the starters stand. He went
somewhat postal and had to be escorted off the track and his car was
removed to the pit area.
The series point standings showed Ed Flemke Jr. was still in
the lead by 37 points over Jerry Marquis. Mike Stefanik’s win moved him
from seventh spot to third, only 59 points behind Flemke. Ricky Fuller
and Todd Szegedy rounded out the top five. Sixth thru tenth were Chuck
Hossfeld, Ted Christopher, Nevin George, David Berghman and Jamie
Tomaino. The regular weekly racing in Southern New England saw Ted
Christopher taking his 74th career win at Stafford on Friday night.
Tommy Fox got his fourth at the Waterford Speedbowl despite the fact
that the two slugs that started on the front row almost destroyed the
entire field. Jay Miller finished second and was followed by Don Fowler
and Ron Yuhas Jr. Yuhas was the only Waterford competitor to race at
Thompson on Saturday afternoon and made it in time for the Waterford
event. The first of two weekend 20 lap features for the SK-Modifieds was
run late Saturday afternoon with Bo Gunning taking the win over Ted
Christopher and Jeff Malave. Numerous wrecks sidelined half the field.
Among the bent cars was that of Ron Yuhas Jr. Yuhas headed for Waterford
while his dad and crew took the mangled remains to their race shop in
Groton where a new front and rear clip was installed after an all niter.
Ted Christopher won the second 20 lapper, run on Sunday, over Gunning,
Malave, Bert Marvin and Eric Berndt. Yuhas finished 22nd. Belated
condolences went out to the family of Bunk Sampson who lost his long
battle with cancer and passed away. Bunk, a dedicated former director of
the NASCAR Busch North Series was laid to rest a week previous. He was
perhaps one of the most sincere and fairest NASCAR Officials ever
employed by the sanctioning body and while the BNS director, he put his
heart and soul into what he did.
Last year, 2006, The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
headed into the eye of Hurricane Ernesto as the competitors traveled to
the Martinsville Speedway on Thursday and Friday. For the most part much
of the storm headed north by late Friday allowing qualifying to take
place. There were 49 Modifieds on hand and when all was said and done
Mike Stefanik took the Busch Pole as he toured the .525 mile speedway in
18.833 seconds which was to the tune of 100.547 MPH. Todd Szegedy was
second fastest with a speed of 99.974 MPH. Rounding out the top five
were Donnie Lia, Jerry Marquis and Eric Beers. Twenty cars qualified
with the balance of the field to be determined by a 50-lap consolation
event. The top eight redrew for starting positions with Eddie Flemke Jr.
drawing the pole position with Tony Hirschman drawing the second spot.
Stefanik drew the fourth starting spot.
The 50-lap consolation event was slated to start at 7:00p.m.
but a heavy shower drenched the track shortly after 6:00p.m. The consi
didn’t get the green until almost 9:00p.m. Kevin Goodale took the
eventual win over Ron Silk.
The main event, originally scheduled for 300 laps got the
green flag at around 10:15p.m. Mike Stefanik had the dominant car but in
the end, at 200 laps when the race was called, Jimmy Blewett had the
Eddie Partridge No.12 in the top spot. Blewett and Partridge, who
dedicated their win to the late Charlie Jarzombek, led only 20 laps.
With 19 laps to go on lap 182 Blewett was following Stefanik into turn
two. Stefanik drifted up slightly, which opened up a hole on the low
side. Blewett went for the spot and in doing so nudged Stefanik. Ted
Christopher, who ended up in second spot was also part of the
controversy as he nudged Zach Sylvester out of the way. Stefanik and
Sylvester finished 14th and 15th respectively. James Civali, Todd
Szegedy and Doug Coby who drives the Curt Chase No.77 based in
Mansfield, rounded out the top five. Coby and his crew were extremely
happy as they recovered from qualifying problems, which forced them to
take a provisional starting spot in the rear of the field. Just missing
the top five but turning in a fine run was rookie Ron Yuhas Jr. who
finished sixth. Matt Hirschman and Kevin Goodale finished seventh and
eighth while southerners Tim Brown and Gene Pack rounded out the top
ten.
It was close to 1:00am when the checkered flag was displayed.
Fifteen of the original 43 starters were running at the end. Early
leader Jerry Marquis lost a lap in the late going and ended up 16th.
Corey Hutchings had a good shot at becoming the 2006 Late Model Champion
at the Thompson Speedway on Thursday night until he came unglued on the
13th lap of his 25 lap feature. Hutchings, who has four victories to his
credit, was battling with RJ Marcotte for fourth spot when contact was
made on the backstretch, which resulted in Hutchings spinning around.
Hutchings felt the contact and resulting spin was intentional. Chief
Steward Richard Brooks also felt it was intentional and ordered Marcotte
to restart in the rear. Marcotte refused to comply forcing Brooks to
rule that even if he continued to race he would no longer be scored.
Hutchings evidently didn’t get the word that the track had reacted to
the situation and chose to retaliate on his own. After a pit stop
Hutchings reentered the track and went after Marcotte, finally cutting
him off in turn four. Hutchings then exited his car and went to Marcotte
and started punching him. When all was said and done both Hutchings and
Marcotte found themselves thrown out of the event and parked in the
infield. Hutching is facing possibly a multi race suspension. Repeat
winners were the other stories at Thompson International Speedway on
Thursday night. Tommy Cravenho of Raynham, MA took down his second win
of the season in the Sunoco Modifieds. Fred Astle of N. Westport, MA
scored his second Pro Stock win at the Connecticut oval while TIS
Modified racer Leo Oliviera also of Raynham posted his second. Dave
Trudeau of Mansfield, CT. proved that the third time is a charm with his
Late Model victory. New faces in victory lane included Mike Romano of
Pascoag, RI, who earned a career first in the Mini Stocks and Keith
DeSanctis of Monson, MA, who claimed his first triumph of the season in
the Limited Sportsman nightcapper.
Cravenho scored the victory in the Sunoco Modified main event
presented by Independent Truck Service. It was his second win of the
season. Cravenho pocketed an additional $200 from Independent Truck
Service of Shrewsbury, MA and earned himself a coveted guaranteed
starting spot in the 4th Annual North-South Shootout scheduled for
November 3&4, 2006 at Concord Motorsports Park in North Carolina.
Through the generosity of owners Bruce & Pat Webber, tenth-place
finisher Dave Nordman, 15th place finisher Brett LeBlanc, 18th place
Rick D’Abate, and 20th place finisher Joe Lemay each received a $200
bonus from Independent Truck Service. Keith Rocco took the early lead
from his pole starting position followed by Cravenho, co-point leaders
Jeff Malave and Woody Pitkat and Todd Ceravolo. The battle for the lead
got interesting at lap six with Cravenho pressuring Rocco for the top
spot. Malave was stuck to the bumper of the Falmouth Ready Mix #31. The
top-five of Rocco, Cravenho, Malave, Pitkat and Ceravolo entered heavy
lapped traffic on lap 10.
Rocco diced his way through traffic while Malave was not as
lucky. A sliding lapped car of Rick D’Abate got out of shape, clipping
the left front of Malave. After getting through the pack of slower cars,
the running order was Rocco, Cravenho, Pitkat, Lemay, Ceravolo then
Malave. A spin by fifth-running Lemay spun to bring out the caution on
lap 13. Rocco was reported to be leaking fluid while Malave headed to
pit road. Rocco’s car never leaked a drop until he shut it off on pit
road but yet was not given his spot back by officials. It was hinted
that Rocco, the fastest car in the field, was the victim of a false
report. On the restart Cravenho was the new leader. Ceravolo had a great
run on the restart and after a quick battle with Pitkat took over the
second spot. Woody was not done. He held strong on the outside for
several laps before falling back in line behind Ceravolo. Buddy Charette
was having a great race in the fourth spot.
There was a little bumper tag between Pitkat and Ceravolo as
they raced for second. Lemay, Rocco, and Malave were gingerly working
their way through traffic. By the time the caution flew on lap 21 for a
spin by John Catania all three were back inside the top ten. Lemay was
back to seventh, Malave back to ninth and Rocco in tenth. With Cravenho
back out front, Pitkat got the edge on Ceravolo on the restart. Ceravolo
took chase in third while getting heavy pressure from Charette. Stephen
Masse spun on the front stretch from the sixth position to send the
field scattering. Masse made a right hand turn which litterly drilled
Lemay into the concrete. Also collected in the melee was Rocco. Malave
barely escaped the incident. This restart pitted Pitkat to the outside
of Cravenho. Malave had rocketed into the fourth spot after he rode
Charette almost into the backstretch wall on the restart. Malave got a
run on Ceravolo but could not make the pass stick. Charette fought back
on the outside. Over the final two laps, Cravenho, Pitkat, Ceravolo and
Malave ran under a blanket. In a last effort, Pitkat got low but could
not make the pass. Cravenho held on for the win over Pitkat. Ceravolo
finished third over Malave and Charette. Pitkat took sole position of
the Sunoco Modified point lead with his runner-up finish.
The Stafford Springs Motor Speedway beat the onslaught of the
remains of Hurricane Ernesto as their September Series of Friday night
racing went off as planned. Eric Berndt drove to his third SK Modified®
feature win of the 2006 season, Scott Foster, Jr. won his first Late
Model feature win of the 2006 season, Brit Andersen won his fourth SK
Light Modified feature win of the 2006 season, Kevin Gambacorta scored
his second Ltd. Late Model feature win of the 2006 season, and Jim Brice
was a first time winner in the DARE Stock feature.
In the 40-lap SK Modified® feature, Eric Berndt, of Rocky
Hill, drove to his third feature win of the 2006 season. Berndt took the
lead from Rowan Pennink on lap-3 and led the rest of the way to pick up
the win. Berndt had to deal with a number of restart situations, and he
fended off challenges from Todd Owen, Bo Gunning, and then Willie Hardie
in the process. Gunning and Hardie swapped the second position several
times over the second half of the race, with Gunning taking the spot at
the checkered flag. Jeff Malave finished third, with Frank Ruocco and
Hardie rounding out the top-5. Among those in the SK Modified field was
Waterford Speedbowl Rookie sensation Jeffrey Paul and New England
driving legend Bob Potter. Paul, who was making his Stafford debut,
finished a respectable 12th. Potter, who recently turned 65, finished
23rd.In the chase for the SK Modified championship; Frank Ruocco holds a
20-point lead over Todd Owen, 518-498. Woody Pitkat is tied for third
with Jeff Malave, 36 points behind, and Eric Berndt is fifth, 38 points
behind. In the 30-lap Late Model feature, Scott Foster, Jr., of
Ellington, drove to his first feature win of the 2006 season with an
unusual move to take the lead. Rick Lanagan took the lead at the drop of
the green flag from the second starting position, and he led the first
15 laps of the race. A caution came out with 15 laps complete, and on
the restart, Foster moved around Lanagan for the lead, taking to the
high groove, a path normally not traveled when passing for the lead.
Foster then held off challenges from Woody Pitkat and Jim Peterson to
take the checkered flag. Peterson finished second behind Foster, with
Tom Fearn, Ryan Posocco, and Tom Butler rounding out the top-5. Pitkat,
who entered the race as the points leader, had contact with another car
late in the race and had to pit for a fresh tire. Pitkat finished 12th.
Impending rain from what was Hurricane Ernesto prevailed at
the Waterford Speedbowl on Saturday night. The entire program has been
postponed until Saturday, October 7. Racing at the Riverhead Raceway on
Long Island and at Wall Township Speedway in New Jersey was also rained
out.
Kasey Kahne scored a double at the California Speedway as he
won both the Busch Series event and the Nextel Cup event.
That’s about it for this week from 40 Clark St, Westerly, and R.I.02891.
Ring my chimes at 401-596-5467 E-mail:
smithpe_97_97@yahoo.com
The Chrome Horn
'Looking Back with Phil Smith' Archive
THE END
Source:
Phil Smith/Courtesy of Tom Ormsby and
thespeedwaylinereport.com
Posted:
September 7, 2007 |
