Media Contact: Steven Ovens - woodhullracewaypr@gmail.com For Immediate Release – June 18th, 2017 – SWL Awards & Photos photo -
(WOODHULL, NY) – Stacy Jackson has been on a roll in 2017 with his new 2017 HigFab Chassis. The driver from Addison made up one of the 103 other racers in competition on a hot night in Steuben County, but Jackson would stand tall with his second Insinger Performance 370 Modified win of the season.
Before racing action started, a touching tribute was held on the frontstretch for longtime Woodhull Raceway staff member Vance Gardner, who lost his courageous battle with cancer last weekend. Brett Marlatt’s No. 99 was parked at the start/finish line and members of the Gardner family joined Marlatt for a moment of silence, while the American Flag was hung at half-staff.
Jackson started on the outside pole alongside Russell Morseman and outdragged Morseman for the lead into turn three on the opening lap. A move that Jackson felt would set the tone for the rest of the event.
“I said to myself on the green flag, either he or I is going to lead this thing out of turn two and it just might be for the race win depending on if this went green to checkered,” said Jackson in Instant Heat Wood Pellets Victory Lane.
Jackson wouldn’t have it so easy though, as Morseman made it extremely difficult for Jackson to just pull away. Morseman in the K&N Filters, Lucas Oil Products No. 44 was on a rail after winning his heat race. Jackson was opening the door for Morseman on corner entry, but Morseman had to slow up too much to run the extreme bottom lane to get any kind of momentum run on corner exit.
The race went eighteen laps before the first caution came out for Brandon Martin, who spun his Ford-powered No. 60J in turn four. This put Kenny Peoples Jr., Dillon Groover and Billy Van Pelt all on Morseman’s back bumper for the restart with seven laps remaining.
That was the difference in the race as Morseman was able to keep them at bay, but at the cost of letting Jackson streak away in his HigFab No. 22J. The battle for second place was two-by-two for many of the remaining seven laps. All four drivers were able to work the bottom and top lanes to try and make runs for the runner up position.
Jackson would go on to score his second win of 2017 over Morseman, Peoples, Van Pelt and Groover. In Victory Lane, Jackson spoke to the rising competition level in the division.
“I don’t care how many cars are out here, the competition level is just off the charts right now. I knew with less than ten to go that all of those guys would be coming, but this car did everything we wanted it to tonight. I have to thank my whole crew, our sponsors and Jerry Higbie for helping point us in the right direction with this car. We’ve had fun running our Sportsman cars and we really think it has helped us with our Small Block program quite a bit.”
The NAPA Crate Sportsman division saw Stevie Hartman III win his second feature of 2017 on Saturday- but he only would lead one lap to do so. That lap you ask? The last lap, that leads straight to the pay window.
Hartman battled Tim Guild for the win in the end, but a fierce battle between Josh Keesey and Dave DuBois was the story early in the event. Keesey made a move into turn one to get by DuBois for the lead. But as DuBois tried to cross over into turn two, Keesey’s back bumper hooked with DuBois’ front bumper bringing the pairing to a stop and drawing the caution flag.
This would see Guild and Hartman get by and assume command of the event, with Guild running a full lane off the bottom of the track to keep his momentum up down the straightaways. This opened the door for Hartman many times throughout the course of the twenty-five-lap feature event, but Hartman just couldn’t get by lap after lap.
With Tony Van Pelt waving the white silk for the final lap of the race, Hartman got a great run off turn four to pull all the way along side the Ohio Logisitics No. 06. Hartman and Guild rubbed rails into the first turn in a great hard race for the lead, with Hartman taking the advantage down the backstretch.
But Guild would not say die, as he crossed over and took the low lane into turn three setting up a side-by-side race off turn four. Hartman would keep his momentum up in the higher lane off turn four to collect his second win of the season in a thriller, much to the delight of the crowd on hand Saturday night.
Though Hartman downplayed it in Victory Lane, his team has been practicing late at night after the races for the last several weeks to find the right setup late in the night. It paid off, as the Crate Sportsman feature was the second to last feature event of the night.
“The car has been fast all year, we just haven’t had a lot of luck with the handicap,” said Hartman in Instant Heat Wood Pellets Victory Lane.
“I drove it into turn three really hard (on the last lap) and we raced next to each other off the corner. It was a great race and a great win for our team. We found something last week after the races that allowed me to run right along the bottom and not drift out in the center. That definitely helped me tonight.”
John Waters and the Troups Creek Auto Parts team had the best night they could have on Saturday night. Waters and SWL Awards & Photos Crate Late Model point leader Steve LeBarron both picked up wins in their heat races, leading up to the annual King of the Ring knockout races sponsored by Troups Creek Auto Parts.
Waters would win the King of the Ring for the very first time, after besting Brad Mesler’s No. 24 in the final round. That was the first opportunity of the night to celebrate in Victory Lane, with Waters receiving his crown and matching cape for a Kodak moment as the event winner.
In the twenty-lap feature event, Waters and LeBarron would start fourth and fifth respectively. But it wouldn’t take long for them to make their way to the front, as Waters would take command well before the halfway mark to show the fast way around. LeBarron advanced to second place, and didn’t allow Waters to stretch the lead to more than a half-straightaway.
At the double-checkers, it was a Troups Creek Auto Parts one-two finish to cap off a clean sweep of the entire night for the driver out of Whitesville, NY. LeBarron finished second over Mesler, Bryce Davis and Kurt Stebbins the top five.
“We can’t thank Dale (LeBarron) enough, this car is just great,” said Waters in Instant Heat Wood Pellets Victory Lane.
“Steve ran great and was better than us last week, so we put his setup on our car tonight and it was great. That’s what is great about racing here together and getting to share what we learn set up wise. I could put it anywhere I wanted to, but the middle to the top keeping the momentum up seemed to be what it liked best.”
It’s been an eventful 2017 season for Glenn Whritenour and his No. 15 team in the Joe Willcox Performance Automatics Street Stocks. A big flip off the backstretch in turn two several weeks back, made for a long week after and several weeks of finding pieces here and there that were tweaked in the accident.
But for at least the second time this season, Whritenour was able to make the Street Stock clean sweep as he picked up a victory in Dundee on Friday night and brought home the twenty-lap victory at Woodhull on Saturday night.
A few poor finishes the last two weeks out landed Whritenour on the outside pole for the event and he would leave no doubt early and often about who was going to be the car to beat on this night. While Whritenour led out front, the battle within the top five to seven cars was extremely entertaining.
Tracy Dunn, Teddy Morseman, Buck Payne, Kurt Stebbins and Mick Seeley sliced and diced with each other and slower traffic to battle for the top five spots. Payne started in the seventh spot while Stebbins started tenth in their charge to the front.
Morseman has been strong and consistent all season, which saw him have to go away from the ninth position. But once again on Saturday night, Morseman was fast and consistent to extend his point lead while finishing in the third position.
Dunn had his best run of the season in the Golden Age Cheese, Southern Tier Generators No. 21 on Saturday, as he was able to race with Morseman and hold off the point leader for a solid second place run. Payne had one of the fastest cars on the track all night long, but seemed to just run out of time to put up a fight for second with Dunn and Morseman.
Seeley narrowly got past Stebbins in the closing laps to notch his fourth top five finish of the season.
“We were still chasing stuff even up to last night (in Dundee),” said Whritenour about their recent struggles post-flip.
“We completely put this car back together and it’s been one thing after another. I have to thank my crew, I’ve got one hell of a crew that has been behind me putting a lot of hours on this thing.”
Whritenour was also sure to thank his dad, with Father’s Day weekend on everyone’s minds.
“I have to thank my dad too, he is really the driving force behind this car.”
Another driver who has had quite an up and down, but mostly down, 2017 season is John Hand Jr. from the Daugherty’s Auto Sales & Service Mini Stocks. Hand was involved in a big crash two weeks ago in Dundee, which saw the car suffer frame damage. The team had also gone through two engine rebuilds to start the year as well, not to mention several body repairs which had made for some long weeks and late nights in the shop.
But on one night in late June, everything went according to plan for the No. 53h. Hand started on the hammer for their twenty-lap race and not a single car was going to steal the win away from Hand on this night. Not even a late caution amongst those racing in the top five would deny Hand from getting his first win of the year and first win since taking home a big win last Fall at “New York’s Toughest Bullring.”
‘The ole Gremlin’ Corky Grant in the No. 46 brought him a second place finish over point leader Chris Woodard, Jason Ketrow and last week’s first-time winner and this week’s NAPA Auto Parts Driver of the Week James LaGrange.
“This kind of puts it all back to where it ought to be,” said Hand in Victory Lane.
“We have pretty much rebuilt the body six or seven times, rebuilt the motor twice. We’re going to wrap this car in bubble wrap for the week and come back next week. One thing we did was put four brand new tires on it this week, and it made a big difference.”
Going into Saturday night in the Woodhull Auto Supply Front Wheel Drives, Matt Prescott had four podium finishes but had yet to crack the winner’s circle in 2017. That changed in a big way, as Prescott was able to fend off every challenge “The Maple Cream Kid” Adam DelGrosso and Shawn Gleason had to throw at him over the twenty-lap feature event.
Prescott worked traffic the best and had the acceleration on corner exit to keep the Village Café, B&D Stoves No. 93 out front until the checkered flag was displayed.
“I could hear him (DelGrosso) back there and he was better in the corners, but we were a little better on the gas off the corner,” said Prescott to Megan Dupuy in Victory Lane.
The Woodhull Warriors saw a brand new face in Instant Heat Wood Pellets Victory Lane, as lady racer Brooke McClain used some last lap heroics to pass Brody Amidon with one lap remaining to win her very first feature win in only her fourth start in a four cylinder.
Jordan Bacon led the race and was well out in front, but a caution on the track led to some confusion that saw the top five shuffle several positions before the caution was officially called over the one-way radio system.
This put Amidon on the point with only a couple laps to go, but what the team has diagnosed as a broken cam ended Amidon’s bid for the elusive first victory. As Amidon raced under a slight loss of power, McClain sailed around in her Summit Road Auto, Foot Hills Medical Group sponsored No. 3B machine and streaked away from the rest of the field to take her very first checkered flag. The excitement of the McClain crew, who logged several sessions of practice at the track last Sunday, was palpable.
“(Last Sunday) helped us out a lot and racing at Bradford helped me learn to keep my line,” said McClain.
“I want to thank my sponsors and my family for helping me get my first win. This is pretty exciting.”
Carter Dennis had to earn every spot on his way to the lead in the ten-lap Hobby Stock feature event on Saturday night. Dennis had to race his way past Brent Williams and Joe Birdsall to claim his sixth victory and fifth points-paying race of the year.
Dennis would get the victory and survive a late race caution flag to beat out Williams, Birdsall and newcomer Aaron Miller to the line.
“This is fun out here and the pace has really picked up from the beginning of the season,” said Dennis in Victory Lane.
This coming Saturday at Woodhull Raceway is one of the biggest nights of the entire season as the Instant Heat Wood Pellets Inc. brand will be in the house to present the annual Woodhull Fireworks Spectacular! The best fireworks show in the Southern Tier will take place for only a $12 general admission ticket for adults 13 and up, while senior passes and ages 8-12 are only $6. Children 7 and under are always free at Woodhull Raceway and camping is also free on the property.
Tickets for the fireworks show will go on sale at the ticket window Saturday morning. The fireworks show will take place once it is dark enough to fire them off properly.
It will also be a complete show featuring the 370 Modifieds, Crate Sportsman, Crate Late Models, Street Stocks, Mini Stocks, Front Wheel Drives, Woodhull Warriors and Hobby Stocks. Race time is set for 6:30PM.
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 late-August.
Woodhull Raceway Troups Creek Auto Parts Night Official Results June 17th, 2017
INSINGER PERFORMANCE 370 MODIFIEDS, 14 cars (25 laps): STACY JACKSON (2), Russell Morseman, Kenny Peoples Jr., Billy Van Pelt, Dillon Groover, Brian Doolittle, Brady Fultz, Frank Dunning, Jeffery Daugherty, Art Goodier, Kevin Chilson, Ryan Tracy, Brandon Martin DNS: Donnie Lawson
H1: Russell Morseman, Dillon Groover, Brian Doolittle H2: Donnie Lawson, Kenny Peoples Jr., Billy Van Pelt
NAPA CRATE SPORTSMAN, 20 cars (25 laps): STEVIE HARTMAN III (2), Tim Guild, Jake Dgien, Dale Welty, Dayton Brewer, AJ Costley, Connor Brown, Josh Keesey, Eric Williams, Curt Van Pelt, Bobby Peoples, Kirk Reynolds, Mickey Wilbur, Dave Richmond, Adam Taft, Blake Lawson, Dave DuBois, Brandon Butler, Brandon Clark, Mike Jackson
H1: Jake Dgien, Dave Richmond, AJ Costley
H2: Brandon Butler, Stevie Hartman III, Josh Keesey H3: Tim Guild, Eric Williams, Connor Brown
SWL AWARDS CRATE LATE MODELS, 10 cars (20 laps): JOHN WATERS (4), Steve LeBarron, Brad Mesler, Bryce Davis, Kurt Stebbins, Jeremy Wonderling, Darin Horton, Wayne Robertson, Erin Peters, Zach Wiech
KING OF THE RING WINNER: JOHN WATERS (1st KotR Win)
H1: John Waters, Kurt Stebbins, Brad Mesler
H2: Steve LeBarron, Jeremy Wonderling, Bryce Davis
JOE WILLCOX PERFORMANCE AUTOMATICS STREET STOCKS, 16 cars (20 laps): GLENN WHRITENOUR (2), Tracy Dunn, Teddy Morseman, Buck Payne, Mick Seeley, Kurt Stebbins, Brett Marlatt, Glenn Vancise, Dan Gardner, Matt Hamilton, Joe Bennett, Trevor Tompkins, Branden Morseman, Jim Buck, Dylan Cecce DNS: Bill Tice
H1: Buck Payne, Glenn Whritenour, Kurt Stebbins H2: Brett Marlatt, Teddy Morseman, Dylan Cecce
DAUGHERTY AUTO SALES MINI STOCKS, 15 cars (20 laps): JOHN HAND JR. (1), Corky Grant, Chris Woodard, Jason Ketrow, James LaGrange, Karl Born, Dylon Gleason, Derrick Puryear, Ron Dailey Jr., Scott Lehman Jr., Alan Crooker, Brian Grant Jr., Jason Warner, Chris Hand, Rick Amidon
H1: Jason Ketrow, Ron Dailey Jr., James LaGrange H2: Dylon Gleason, Scott Lehman Jr., John Hand Jr.
WOODHULL AUTO SUPPLY FWD, 15 cars (20 laps): MATT PRESCOTT (1), Adam DelGrosso, Nate Freeland, Shawn Gleason, Nick Brown, Scott Lehman Jr., Brendan Schweigart, Ed Goins, Bill Giles, Robert Gardner, Robert Haynes, Chris Stives, Codie Baker, Todd West, Carl LeBarron
H1: Shawn Gleason, Nick Brown, Brendan Schweigart
H2: Matt Prescott, Codie Baker, Nate Freeland
DAUGHERTY’S AUTO SALES & SERVICE WARRIORS, 9 cars (10 laps): BROOKE MCCLAIN (1), Brody Amidon, Jordan Bacon, Ronnie Dailey, Ashlyn Gardner, Noah Talada, Cole Youse, Garrett Wilson, Trevor Hamilton
HOBBY STOCKS, 4 cars (10 laps): CARTER DENNIS (6), Brent Williams, Joe Birdsall, Aaron Miller