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RGeeProductions
09-11-2010, 09:34 AM
TIMMERMAN EARNS FIRST MODIFIED CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE AT SPENCER

Kevin Timmerman has won eight Sunoco Modified feature events since July 2007. Over those many laps a championship title has eluded him. That is until 2010. Friday Timmerman finished first and earning enough points to pick up his first Sunoco Modified Spencer Speedway championship.

Other championships awarded included: Mitchell Wright, from Henrietta, as the Street Stock Champion, Otis Bradshaw as the Auto Value 4-Cylinder Scorpion Champion and Skip Powers as the Super Six Champion.

Feature wins went to Willie Strusz in the Street Stocks, Ryan Hillegeer in the Super Sixes and Kevin Bertolone in the Auto Value 4-Cylinder Scorpions.

A special 100-lal RoC Modified feature was run with Jan Leaty taking the victory. He was followed by Chuck Hossfeld, Chris Finocchario, Matt Hirschman and Darren Scheer. More about this event will appear in a special RoC article.

Also on the race card was a special 20-lap Legends Cars feature which was won by Owego’s Tony Hanbury. This was the first feature starting out the “Evening of Champions”.

Richie Vanderpool took the lead at the drop of the green. Tony Hanbury used an inside pass down the back stretch on lap three to take the lead. Vanderpool tried to hang on to Hanbury but in the closing laps allowed Hanbury to build up a four car advantage. Zach Carter made a pass on Vanderpool on the final lap to take second. Vanderpool came home in third followed by former Spencer winner Jake Vernon and Brett Coon.

The 35-lap Sunoco Modified feature got off to a rocky start when the outside line at the start slowed forcing Bobby Lippa Jr. to hit his brakes and make contact with the front stretch wall. Unfortunately for Lippa his right front suspension collapsed and he had to be towed back to the pits.

The race restarted with Matt Lees leading the first lap only to be passed by Kevin Timmerman. Timmerman then began to stretch out a lead. On lap five the yellow flew when Toad Bradshaw was unable to make the first turn and slide into the pit entrance.

Timmerman’s lead was again interrupted on lap seven when Scott Combs came to a stop on the back stretch. He was able to re-fire and start at the rear of the field.

A long green flag period followed with Timmerman stretching out his lead by nearly a second and a half. Ryan Beeman and Eric h Stritzel were in a heated battle for second and pulling away from Lees in fourth. Then it seemed that nothing was going right for the racers. On lap 20 the yellow flew when Andy Lewis looped around in the second turn. The restart saw a five car pile up as the field exited the second turn. Lees was collected from behind after he got loose. Involved were Jeff Rudy, Bradshaw, Fred Taylor, and Tony Hanbury. The race was red flagged to open up the track. All but Fred Taylor were able to continue with the race.

The field was then able to get a lap in Bradshaw and Rudy were involved in the third turn causing the yellow to come out for the fifth time.

Lap 22 saw the sixth yellow fly. Stritzel had been trying the low side of Timmerman on each restart. This time he dropped a wheel of the inside of the second turn and spun out .

Following one additional yellow, lap 26 for a spin by Ed die Hawkins, the field charged to the checkers. Timmerman took the victory followed by Beeman, Amy Catalano, Lees and Stritzel. With this win Timmerman won a guaranteed starting spot in the sportsman race at the Race of Champions in Oswego , September 23-25. This event was also the final race in the Holland-Spencer NASCAR Upstate Challenge. The final points for that series will be posted by Holland officials in the near future.

The Street Stock feature saw a small field of full fender cars took the green for a 15 lap main event. Points leader Mitchell Wright lead the first few circuits and then fell back to second behind Willie Strusz. Strusz cruise to the victory and a guaranteed RoC Super Stock starting position at the RoC.

“I guess it helps to stay on the same page,” commented Strusz in victory lane. “We started off a little loose in practice but we figured that all of the rubber being laid down by the modifieds would tighten the track up, so we didn’t change anything on the car. It worked out well for us.”

The Super Six main saw Adam VanHall lead his first laps of the season. On lap eight, Peter Cowell made a pass to take the lead. All of this time, point leader Skip Powers was on the charge. He worked his way into second and was attempting to pass the leader on lap 13, the outside line, when he scrapped the wall and got loose. He collected the third place runner, Van Grant. Both cars were done for the night.

The restart saw Chris Andolino take the lead from Cowell. Charging now was Ryan Hillegeer. He chased down Andolino and on the last lap in the final turn, he was able to inch out a lead and take the victory. Cowell finished second followed by Patti Davenport, Brandon Allen and Brian Hallett.

“I saw the seven (Cowell) go high on that last turn and took advantage of the situation, “ stated Hillegeer.

The toughest luck of the night would seem to go to Otis Bradshaw, who was leading his sibling Bro by a mere seven points going into the night. On lap 13, of 15, Otis made contact with a lapped car causing his race to end short. Still on track was Bro who cross the finish line in third, the apparent champion of the new Auto Value Scorpion division. But luck changes and Bro ran into tech issues and was disqualified, thus handing the championship bat to Otis.

Kevin Bertolone led the entire 15-lap distance. Mike Bradshaw finished second. With Bro being disqualified, Alison Knoepfler moved up to third followed by Joe Clark and Dale Lazzaro.

SPENCER NOTES: Prayers go out to the daughter of former modified driver Todd Smith. She has surgery this week….Plans are in the works for an annual awards banquet on October 15, in Newark , NY . Check out the Spencer Speedway website for more information and how to obtain tickets…The final NASC AR track points are now posted on the website.

Spencer Speedway is located just fifteen minutes east of Rochester , NY , along Route 104 in the Town of Williamson. Spencer Speedway is the local “ NASCAR Place to Race” for upstate New York . Points earned each week at Spencer are counted into the national NASCAR Whelen All-American Series championship. Racing will be returning to the Spencer Speedway oval next May 2011.


CHAMPIONSHIP NIGHT SUMMARY

NASCAR AUTO VALUE SCORPIONS
FEATURE (15-laps): KEVIN BERTOLONE, Michael Bradshaw, Alison Knoepfler, Joe Clark, Dale Lazzaro, Beth Dennie, Kirk Willis, Andrea LaManna, Otis Bradshaw, Victor Cordova, Russell Peets, Bro Bradshaw. (Lap Leaders: Kevin Bertolone - 15 laps)

LEGEND CARS
FEATURE(20-laps): TONY HANBURY, Zach Carter, Richie Vanderpool, Jake Vernon, Brett Coon, Brad Salatino, Jake Hannahs, Brad DeBrakleer, Jeff Decker, Chris Spaker, John Lindstrom, Charlie Newman, Beth Scheer.

NASCAR SUPER SIXES
FEATURE (20-laps): RYAN HILLEGEER, Chris Andolino, Peter Cowell, Patti Davenport, Brandon Allen, Brian Hallett, Tim Faro, Adam VanHall, Skip Powers, Van Grant. (Lap leaders: Adam VanHall- 7 laps, Chris Andolino- 6, Peter Cowell- 6 laps, Ryan Hillegeer-1 lap)

NASCAR STREET STOCKS
RoC QUALIFIER
FEATURE (15-laps): WILLIE STRUSZ, Mitchell Wright, Kris Hillegeer. (Lap leaders: Willie Strusz- 11 lap, Mitchell Wright – 4 laps)

NASCAR SUNOCO MODIFIEDS
RoC QUALIFIER/HOLLAND-SPENCER CHALLENGE RACE FINALE
HEAT 1: K. Timmerman, M. Lees, F. Taylor, T. Hanbury, T. Bradshaw.
HEAT 2: R. Beeman, E. Stritzel, J. Boerman, A. Catalano, E. Hawkins.
FEATURE (35-laps): KEVIN TIMMERMAN, Ryan Beeman, Amy Catalano, Matt Lees, Erich Stritzel, Jake Boerman, Tony Hanbury, Jeff Rudy, Andy Lewis, Scott Combs, Dick Kluth, Eddie Hawkins, Toad Bradshaw, Fred Taylor, Daryl Lewis Jr., Bobby Lippa Jr. (Lap leaders: Matt Lees-1 lap, Kevin Timmerman- 34 laps)

Gary M. Spaid