Media Contact: Steven Ovens - woodhullracewaypr@gmail.com or (315) 729-3825 For Immediate Release - April 24th, 2016 –
WOODHULL, NY – Chris Daugherty made a statement Saturday night on the high banks of Woodhull Raceway. If you’re going to take the 2016 championship in the NAPA Crate Sportsman- you’re going to have to go through the No. 22jz to do so.
Daugherty rolled off the starting grid in the ninth position and methodically worked his way to the runner-up spot by lap 24. A late caution with two laps to go put Daugherty on Brandon Butler’s back bumper, setting up a power move on the outside of Turns 1 and 2 to take the lead and the $1,000 back home to Elmira.
There were stories aplenty in this one as last week’s winner Tim Guild and Josh Keesey, who was on his lid last week, set the pace when Scott Lyon waved the green flag for 30 laps. Guild would lead the first lap, but there was a pack of dogs behind him nipping at his heels.
Casey Pavlick made a bonsai three-wide move in Turn 2 to advance from his fifth starting spot to run second on lap 1. Pavlick would take the lead from Guild by lap 2 and looked poised to take the win in his first race behind the wheel so far in 2016.
That all changed on lap 9 as Pavlick attempted to put rookie John Sekoll a lap down. Sekoll was running the middle lane and appeared to move up high to let the leaders pass through. What he didn’t know was Pavlick was going to make his pass on the top lane, causing the two to make contact and come to a stop- ending what had been a flawless night for Pavlick.
This would hand the lead over to Brandon Butler who had Mike Williams in the Herrington Motorsports No. 1 and Addison, NY pilot Mike Jackson as the top three. Williams was another story of the night, as he walked away from the field in his heat and ran top five all night long after starting back in eleventh.
Butler had a good lead over the rest of the field late, as it looked as though he had saved his tires for the end of the event. But a lap 28 caution changed everything. Daugherty was able to cool his American Racers off for one last try at the win, which proved to be the difference.
“That pass for the lead, thank God for that caution,” said Daugherty. “At that point I didn’t have anything for him, but we cooled the tires off for one last dash. It was one of them ‘we’re either going to win or we’re going to finish last’.”
Daugherty powered to the outside of Butler and although Butler had been the car to beat, Daugherty proved to have the horses down the backstretch. The Elmira, NY driver would race away to the $1,000 win over Butler, Williams, Jackson and Guild.
Dave DuBois said in Instant Heat Wood Pellets Victory Lane Saturday night that his wife ragged on him all week for making a ‘rookie mistake’ last week when he lost the lead on lap 9 in what could have been a win. He would not make the same mistake this week.
The Corfu, NY driver known as ‘The Outlaw’ brought out all the six-shooters as the No. 012 was fast right off the trailer in hot laps. If the draw and redraw would fall in his favor, DuBois was set for a flawless night.
DuBois led from the drop of the green rag and never looked back, taking a dominant win in the SWL Awards 360 Late Models. Bruce Miller was hard-charging on the top side of the speedway all night long, but would lose the battle for the runner-up spot to Steve LaBarron at the double checkers. Glenn Whritenour and Jason McGregor rounded out the top five finishers.
“This car is just hooked up,” said DuBois. “It was a little slicker tonight and we were just on it.”
In the 20-lap go for the Joe Willcox Performance Automatics Street Stocks, Glenn Whritenour out of Jasper, NY took his first win of the season. The Street Stocks put on a classic battle as they did one week ago when Dylan Cecce took the victory.
Cecce’s night would be much different on this week though. While running second and challenging for the lead with Whritenour, what was determined to be a rod that had pushed straight through the oil pan, ended Cecce’s night with a blown motor.
Whritenour then had to worry about Teddy Morseman, who passed Branden Morseman for second late in the going. Branden had been running the bottom lane, but tried to run Whritenour’s lane in the middle which opened the door for Teddy to scoot through.
Whritenour would go on for the win over Morseman, Morseman, Tracy Dunn and Jared Hill the top five.
“They’re pretty tough, any one of about ten of us can win on any given night,” said Whritenour. “Everyone has really done their homework on their transmissions, rear ends which makes this a fun class to race in.”
Karl Born looked poised to snag his first victory of 2016 on Saturday night. He led 19 ¾ laps in the Daugherty Auto Sales Mini Stock feature event, but did not lead from Turn 4 to the checkered flag.
It was Chris Woodard who found his way around Born in Turn 4 to steal the victory, with a jubilant crew by his side. Born, Ron Dailey Jr., JJ Kreidler and Rich Sharpsteen rounded out the top five.
“I don’t even know what to say,” said Woodard. “Adam Austin and our team went through this car during the winter and made some adjustments I’ve never made before. It worked out tonight.”
Codie Baker was stout right from his heat race and put a Saturday night short track whoopin’ on the field as he would take the victory in the Woodhull Auto Supply Front Wheel Drives. Baker took the lead on lap 5 and would never relinquish it, taking his first checkered flag of the season.
Shawn Gleason and Nate Freeland made things interesting during the course of this one, but Freeland’s night ended early on lap 18 when something let loose in the motor causing a fire under the hood- Freeland was ok. Gleason had to serve a two-spot penalty for jumping a mid-race restart but recovered for a third place run. Matt Prescott and two-time defending track champion Adam DelGrosso filled the top five.
When asked how Baker continues to win with a 10-year old car that has seen it’s better days?
“A junkyard full of parts,” said Baker with a grin.
Cole Youse was dominant in the Daugherty Auto Sales Warriors 10-lap feature event. The former go-kart racer extended a big lead over the Potrzebowski clan of Kayley and Ajay Jr. The sibling rivalry wrote it’s first chapter on Saturday night as the two young drivers from Horseheads battled hard for second, while Youse seemingly drove away.
Ajay Jr. nosed out into the second spot half way through the event and looked to track down Youse to challenge for the win. He would not have enough time to do so, until Youse nearly wiped out on the backstretch with just two laps to go.
Youse spun toward the infield, hit some water on the bottom of the backstretch and somehow kept it going forward with a few handfuls of steering wheel. Youse would lose nearly all of his lead to Ajay Jr, but would put a solid white flag lap together to secure the victory. Potrzebowski Jr would have to settle for second with Kayley Potrzebowski with a career-best third and Trevor Hamilton rounding out the field in fourth.
“I think I ran the car a little too hard,” said Youse in Instant Heat Wood Pellets Victory Lane. “I was just real anxious to get this first win.”
Next week at Woodhull Raceway the Insinger Performance 370 Modifieds will be back and ready to kick off their 2016 season, sponsored by Mountain Dew and Pepsi. The Modifieds will be joined by the NAPA Crate Sportsman, SWL 360 Late Models, Joe Willcox Performance Automatics Street Stocks, Daugherty Auto Sales Mini Stocks, Woodhull Auto Supply Front Wheel Drives and Daugherty Auto Sales Warriors.
Pit gates will open at 3:30PM with general admission gates opening at 4:30PM with Scott Lyon’s first green flag of 2016 waving promptly at 6:30PM. General admission is just $11 for adults, $6 for Seniors and ages 8-12 with children 7 and under always free at Woodhull Raceway.
Race fans are encouraged to sign up for the fastest alerts from Woodhull Raceway’s Rained Out Alert system by sending the text message “WoodhullAlert” to 84483, message and data rates may apply.
For more information race over to www.woodhullraceway.com, Like Woodhull Raceway on Facebook at www.facebook.com/WoodhullRaceway or Follow Woodhull on Twitter @WoodhullPR.
Woodhull Raceway is located in Woodhull, NY, just 30 minutes West of Corning, NY and competes weekly on Saturday nights from mid-April through Labor Day Weekend. The track offers several special events including the Patriot Sprint Tour 360 Sprints and the Short Track Super Series Modifieds in mid-August.
Woodhull Raceway Quick Results, Lias Tire/Insinger Performance Night 04/23/2016
NAPA CRATE SPORTSMAN $1,000-to-win, 30 cars (30 Laps): CHRIS DAUGHERTY (1), Brandon Butler, Mike Williams, Mike Jackson, Tim Guild, Zack Sutton, Ray Bliss, Dayton Brewer, Josh Sawyer, Josh Keesey, AJ Costley, Billy Van Pelt, Chris Fisher, Bobby Peoples, Jake Dgien, Zach Cary, Casey Pavlick, Jerry Aldrich, Brandon Martin, Brett Buono, Collin Brown, Stevie Hartman III, David Mayo, John Sekoll
DNQ: Tracy Stanford, Stacey Jackson, Mickey Wilbur, Tim Schram, Dan Michaud, Brandon Michaud
Lap Leaders: Guild 1, Pavlick 2-9, Butler 10-27, Daugherty 28-30
H1: Sawyer, Bliss, Butler
H2: Williams, Pavlick, Costley
H3: Daugherty, Guild, Aldrich
H4: Keesey, M. Jackson, Brewer
Consi #1: Stevie Hartman III, Jake Dgien, Bobby Peoples, John Sekoll
SWL AWARDS 360 LATE MODELS, 9 cars (20 Laps): DAVE DUBOIS (1), Steve LaBarron, Bruce Miller, Glenn Whritenour, Jason McGregor, Carl Hughes, Rick Loucks, Mickey Seeley, Kurt Stebbins
Lap Leaders: Dave DuBois 1-20
H1: DuBois, Stebbins, Whritenour
H2: Miller, LaBarron, Hughes
JOE WILLCOX PERFORMANCE AUTOMATICS STREET STOCKS, 16 cars (20 Laps): GLENN WHRITENOUR (1), Teddy Morseman, Branden Morseman, Tracy Dunn, Jared Hill, Kurt Stebbins, Brett Marlatt, Dan Gardener, Dennis Cummings, Gary Archer, Allison Pierce, Zane King Jr, Jason Gleason, Dylan Cecce, Jeredd Dennis
DNS: Trevor Tompkins
Lap Leaders: Whritenour 1-7, Cecce 8-9, Whritenour 10-20
H1- Dunn, Marlatt, Stebbins
H2- Whritenour, Cecce, T. Morseman
DAUGHERTY AUTO SALES MINI STOCKS, 17 cars (20 Laps): CHRIS WOODARD (1), Karl Born, Ron Dailey Jr, JJ Kreidler, Rich Sharpsteen, John Hand, Corky Grant, Jeff Daugherty, David Whetham, Chip Warner, Scott Lehman, Derrick Puryear, David Little, Rick Amidon, Brian Grant Jr, Chris Hand
DNS: Ajay Potrzebowski
Lap Leaders: Born 1-19, Woodard 20
H1- Daugherty, Born, John Hand
H2- Dailey Jr, Sharpsteen, Whetham
WOODHULL AUTO SUPPLY FRONT WHEEL DRIVES, 11 cars (20 Laps): CODIE BAKER (1), Jay McConnel, Shawn Gleason, Matt Prescott, Adam DelGrosso, Billy Joe Birdsall, Carl LaBarron, Nate Freeland, Joe Birdsall, Wes Houghtaling, Robert Haynes
Lap Leaders: Freeland 1-4, Baker 5-20
H1- Baker, Gleason, Houghtaling
H2- Freeland, J. Birdsall, DelGrosso
DAUGHERTY AUTO SALES WARRIORS, 4 Cars (10 Laps): COLE YOUSE (1), Ajay Potrzebowski Jr, Kayley Potrzebowski, Trevor Hamilton
Lap Leaders: Youse 1-10