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View Full Version : A SEMI RETIRED WOOLLEY IS STILL GOOD ENOUGH TO WIN WALL RoC



RGeeProductions
06-24-2007, 01:32 PM
Running in only his second race of the year after retiring from full time racing two years ago. Kenny Woolley, Jr. of Howell, NJ used his home track advantage and knowledge of racing at the Wall Township Speedway on Saturday night.

Kenny took full advantage of his pole starting position to led all 100 laps in the Scott Motorcoach Sales sponsored Race of Champions ( RoC ) Dart Asphalt Modified Tour event.

Matt Hirschman for the final 55 laps tried every clean racing move in his arsenal to pass Woolley but came up one car length short at the line. Tony Ferrante, Jr. ran second for the first 45 laps then fought a loose condition in his racecar to finish third. Rowan Pennick proved that you can pass clean at Wall Township as he finished fourth after starting 12th with tenth place starter Tommy Farrell, III ending up fifth.

“Yes, this was a big win for us as this was my second race this year “ said the happy but winded $3,000 winner. “ We came here and ran the Whelen Tour the first time this year went from 24th to seventh and got wrecked with 20 to go. We put it back together and I'm glad for the lady ( Aliceann McGann ) who owns the car as we'll run maybe five times this year. “

Kenny spoke about the keys to his victory. “ Of course the draw was the key but getting into the top six in time trials was a bigger key. Track position means a lot here and my car was loose in time trials and I had set up to run at night. “

Another distinct advantage during the entire feature was the unbelievable bite that Kenny had coming out of the corners. “ I had a good bite; I was sort of keeping down corner speed so I didn't tear my tires up. When you're leading you can do stuff like regulating your corner speed so you don't burn the tires off the car. If they ( who ever are behind him ) want to push they can push but Matt and Tony who were behind me were good all race long. “

When the green dropped to start the feature Kenny jumped out to the lead that he would never give up. Despite turning laps in the low 12 second bracket the front brake rotors on the Woolley machine never glowed cherry red like everyone's did. “ I sort of balanced the brakes early in the race “ said Kenny. “ I really didn't need the brakes because I had nobody in front of me. Those guys behind me had to use their brakes and I made them use their car up too. I've been here a long time and you have to use your head a lot especially with these kids I'm running against. Matt's probably 25 years younger than me and I'm feeling it right now. “

About the only veteran driver gamesmanship that Kenny used during the feature a different point on where he fired for restarts. But Kenny also knows that you can't play games on these types of starts too. “ Not a lot of change on where I was starting, just a little bit here and there. I didn't want to start playing that game because that is where you can get into trouble and start messing everyone else up too. I've seen it happen here many times before. “

Kenny commented about the clean racing on this night. “ They ( Matt and Tony ) are good guys and I'm not out here to mess anybody up. If Matt could have gotten outside of me, I would have let him go. I'm not here to wreck and if your car is faster than mine I'm going to let you go. That's the way I've always been. “

“I'm not sure when our next race will be because we don't have a sponsorship deal “ answered Kenny when asked where his next race will be at. “ I sort of retired two years ago and ran once last year. Aliceann is a nice woman; I drove for them a few years ago. I really do it for her because she is such a great car owner. “

“ Another solid second for us “ said second place finisher Matt Hirschman. “ Kenny knows the track as good as anyone and coming here as a non - regular to race and try to win is tough. Because you have the Blewett's and the Woolley's that you know they're going to be tough to beat. The Blewett's didn't run but Kenny did and he got a good draw, if I was in front of him he wouldn't have passed me. But passing Kenny was going to be tough because he knows the place so well and it's tough to pass here and it can be done. We've heard that you can race clean here and not wreck a whole bunch of cars, I'm actually proud of everybody as we had a good clean race. Me, Kenny, and Ferrante we all had a good race as we raced each other clean, it was fun racing with those guys. “

Matt who started fifth moved into fourth on lap three and moved into third on a lap 11 restart. On a lap 38 restart Matt almost had the move of the race award as he almost vaulted from third to first but the yellow came out, nullifying his great move. On a lap 45 restart Matt finally out dragged Ferrante for second and set his sights on Woolley.

During the final 55 laps of the feature Matt tried everything to get a run on Woolley but it seemed that Kenny had the edge as he was pulling Matt exiting the corners. “ We were actually a little bit better all the way around “ summed up the 2005 RoC champion. “ You have to be a lot better than somebody or use the bumper to pass here a lot of times. We weren't that much better than Kenny and that is not my style to use the bumper to pass. Kenny and I have always raced clean together, he's actually one of my favorite guys to race with. Because you can trust him and he races you clean and I'll do the same to him and he'll do the same with me. “

“ The brakes' getting hot was no problem for me “ said Tony, who finished third when talking about his cherry red front brakes. “ You go into the corners so hard here and I had a loose condition so I had to dial a little more front brake into the car. Plus with my right rear tire wearing away I had to put more front brake into the car too and I had to slow my entry speed into the corners also. “

Tony who started second summed up his fun night of racing. “ Starting on the outside for any start here is tough. I had a ball today, a lot of fun as me, Kenny, and Matty all raced each other with respect, and it was a respectful race, along with a nice clean race. “

Qualifying for the 19 cars in attendance saw Hirschman set quick time in time trials with a fast lap of 12. 166 and the two heat wins were captured by Sherwood, and Michael Bohn.

WALL NOTES; The very clean racing program saw all Modified drivers giving plenty of respect to their fellow competitors. This type of respect saw some really good racing taking place during the entire racing program. The only car who needed assistance by a wrecker from the track was Danny Bohn who spun into the turn one wall at the completion of the race. Steven Reed had a power steering leak that hampered his efforts all program long. Steven lost a hot lap session due to this problem and the same thing happened in the heat race. Steven was up to seventh in the feature when the same problem re - developed ending his night. Eric Beers was running third early in the feature when a radiator hose blew. The crew put a new hose on and he returned to race without losing a lap but Eric had to pit several times during the feature to keep adding water to keep the car cool. Under long flag green conditions many cars featured cherry red front brake rotors in the feature. Once again mechanical woes sideline another strong effort by Zane Zeiner. The top six in time trials transferred directly to the feature with their separation being only .162 seconds. Caution laps counted in the feature between laps 26 and 50. RoC would like to thank Wall management for the professionally quickly paced show presented which saw the feature end just after 9 o'clock Saturday night.

RACE REPORT RACE OF CHAMPIONS DART ASPHALT MODIFIED TOUR CENTRAL REGION RACE # 3 WALL TOWNSHIP SPEEDWAY

FINISH; Kenny Woolley, Jr. , Matt Hirschman, Tony Ferrante, Jr. , Rowan Pennick, Tommy Farrell, III, Michael Bohn, Lee Sherwood, Rick Kluth, Phil Slater, John Markovic, Pete Brittain, Andy Szapacs, Danny Bohn, Eric Beers, Daren Scherer, Zane Zeiner, Steven Whitt, Steven Reed, Matt Clemens.

LAP LEADERS; Woolley ( 1 - 100 )
DART MACHINERY AWARD SET OF HEADS $1,100 VALUE; Sherwood
GATER RACING NEWS DRIVER BONUS DRAW $500; Zeiner
HOOSIER RACING TIRE HARD CHARGER AWARD; Slater ( 18th to 9th )
HOOSIER RACING TIRE HARD LUCK AWARD; Zeiner ( 3rd to 16th )
NEXT RoC DART ASPHALT MODIFIED TOUR EVENT; Saturday June 30th - Lancaster Motorsports Park - North Region Race # 2

JR KENNERUP/RoC Modifieds PR