VanPelt Brothers Continue One-Two Punch in 358 Modifieds at Woodhull Raceway

Woodhull, NY… After waiting out a brief shower, Woodhull Raceway was able to get the entire evening of events in the books on LaBarron Brothers Repair and Mountain Dew night.  140 cars checked in Saturday night to attack the super-smooth high banked oval.

            Dale Welty charged to an early lead in the LJ Kennedy 358 Modifieds, with Brooks Leach close behind.  Curt VanPelt quickly maneuvered his way from his eighth place starting spot to lock on to Leach’s bumper by lap three.  Curt’s brother and teammate Billy VanPelt was doing some fancy driving of his own, having started 18^th due to winning last week’s feature event.  By the caution on lap five, Billy was locked to Curt’s rear deck lid.  Welty continued to battle hard with Leach while the two VanPelts looked for an opportunity to snag the top spots.  A bobble by Leach in turn four shuffled him deep back in the pack, ending what would have been an impressive run for the second year pilot and thus left Welty alone to fend off the VanPelt gang.  Another caution gave Curt the opportunity to make a dive under Welty going into turn one on the ensuing restart and opened the door for Billy to follow.  That was all the two needed to check out on the rest of the field, each taking turns trying both the high and the low lines.  Meanwhile, Kevin Chilson and his teammate Frank Dunning had moved up and were battling each other and Welty for the third position.  Just as Curt appeared to have command of the race, he encountered a slew of lap traffic which allowed Billy to close in quickly.  A caution with one lap remaining gave Billy one last chance to pluck the lead away from his big brother.  Using the same dive in turn one that Curt had used on Welty, Billy drew even with Curt coming off turn two and had the preferred line going in to the final set of corners.  Curt tried hard to rally back around the outside, but Billy held his ground and crossed the stripe triumphant by a mere bumper width.  This makes three consecutive one-two sweeps for the VanPelts and Ted White racing, in just 3 weeks of 358 Modified competition.  Frank Dunning held off Welty for third, with teammate Chilson claiming the final spot in the top five.

            Joe Dgien and Donnie Lawson led a full field of the S&W Awards Crate Sportsman cars to the green for their 20 lap main event.  A former 358 modified pilot, Lawson took command of the race at the drop of the flag, with Ray Smith jumping up to challenge him early on.  AJ Costley appeared to be the man on the move, as he took his #40 to the utmost outside groove and was rapidly making his way around traffic.  Defending co-champion Kenny Peoples Jr. kept the pressure on the top two while fending off a charging Costley.  Peoples attempted to match Costley’s line, but could not make it stick and lost several positions as he drove himself off the top of turns one and two.  Multiple caution flags kept Lawson from stretching out any sizeable lead and allowed Bill Brewer and Larry Keegan to work their way into the top five.  The race fell under the red flag as Peoples once again went too high in turn one, only this time he sailed head first into the outside retaining barrier.  After action resumed, Brewer tried to move in on Lawson, but Lawson had the power to fend him off and pick up the victory.  Costley rode the high line all the way to third, with Ray Smith holding tough for fourth.  Keegan rounded out the top five.

            Jeremy Wonderling took advantage of a pole position draw for the NAPA 360 Late Model Feature by taking off and not looking back.  Wonderling led every lap of the 20 lap main event to pick up his first feature win at the high banks this season.  The win did not come easy, as former champions Wayne Robertson and Glenn Whritenour each took turns knocking on Wonderling’s rear spoiler throughout the race.  Robertson, who had dropped back as far as fourth, worked his way back to the runner-up position by the drop of the checkers, with Whritenour claiming a solid third.  Dave Miller hung around the top five the entire race and nailed down fourth place, followed by Mike Smith in fifth.

            While most of the night’s main events were marred by several cautions, the Morgan’s Auto Repair Street Stocks put on one of their patented green to checker runs in one of the best races of the evening.  Rod Mullen benefited from his outside front row starting spot and took the lead on the initial start.  Mullen put together 20 perfect laps and despite pressure from rookie Brett Marlatt, picked up his first win of the 2008 season.  Marlatt continues to be impressive in his first year in the Street Stock division, as he added second place honors to his growing collection of top five finishes.  Russell Morseman enjoyed his best run of the season by claiming third over Josh Nobriga.  Zack Sutton was fifth at the line.

            Ted Morseman Jr. picked up his second win of 2008 in the Signs Plus Mini Stocks, holding off another extraordinary run by Chris Woodard.  Veteran Ed Mills bested last week’s feature winner Rich Sharpsteen III for third, with Lynn Burrell filling in the top five.

            The LeBarron Brothers Front Wheel Drive division took center stage with their 30 lap special event.  Defending champion Ron Daily Jr. made a late race pass which gave him his second win of the year, with teammates Mark Schenck and Gary Baker II finishing second and third behind him.  Robert Symonds did a fine job with his new Neon for fourth, with Cody Baker powering his Subaru to fifth.