2007 Results

TIMES AND RESULTS

GENESEE SPEEDWAY CAPS OFF 2007 SEASON WITH WACKY AND INTENSE RACING

By Mike Paz, Genesee Speedway announcer 

            Having already crowned their 2007 class champions the previous week, Genesee Speedway conducted the final race evening of the season under classic fall weather with some wacky and intense racing in three classes:  “RWYB” (Run-What-Ya-Brung) Mini-Stocks & Street Stocks, each with a 20-lap feature, followed by a 100 lap enduro for 4, 6 & 8 cylinder machines including mini-vans for the first time ever.

            Mini-Stock heat #1 had 5 cars with Ron Worthington (driving the 7+1) taking the lead from the pole.  It didn’t take long for it to become a three way battle among Worthington, Russ Wassner in the X82 and the #73 of Joe Barclay.  By the time the first yellow waved on lap 5 for a spin by the #89 of Samantha Burch, Wassner had the lead.  Russ would lead the rest of the way and pick up the heat win, followed by Barclay, Brandon Aradine in the 12B and Worthington.

            Heat #2 for the Mini-Stocks had 4 cars start and it quickly became a cakewalk for the #71 of Bill Tice, who started on the pole.  By the halfway mark, he had built up a commanding lead over the #13 of Kevin Mitchell, the #3 of Henry Maier and the #82 of Kailee Wassner.  On lap 5, a strange popping noise ended Kevin Mitchell’s run, forcing him to retire to the infield.  From there, it was cruise control for Tice, followed by Maier and Kailee Wassner at the finish.

            The only Street Stock heat had 7 cars with the #67 “Wing Thing” creation of the “Wise Guys”, driven by Lee Zimmerman, starting 4^th.  This car was an open top Camaro-bodied machine with a clear Plexiglas wing on the trunk and a gigantic flat piece of plexi mounted perpendicular to the car’s left side, as if it was carrying a large piece of glass on the driver’s side.   Starting from the pole was another of the “Wise Guys”, Ted Pierce, who’s #77u purple & yellow Nova made a rare appearance.  Once the green flag flew in the heat, it took till the end of the backstretch on the first lap for Zimmerman to take the lead which he would never give up.  All the racing was behind the “Wing Thing” as Pierce battled with the #378 of Carl Shetler and the #18 of Dan Pries.  Pierce was finally able to shake loose to garner second place, leaving the battle for third to Shetler and Pries.  With the first two places already decided by the time the checker waved, the battle for third came down to the stripe as Pries was able to nose out Shetler for the “show” position.

Following a short intermission, it was feature time.  Bill Tice in the #71 had the pole for the 20 lap Mini-Stock feature which showed a 12-car field.  On the start, Tice faltered, and immediately, the #82 of Russ Wassner seized the advantage, followed by the #12B of Brandon Aradine and the #73 of Joe Barclay.  Those three had a nose-to-tail run going until lap 3 when Tice had picked up the pace and caught the lead pack.  Those top 4 machines would battle hard for the top 4 positions while another battle brewed behind.  The 5^th, 6^th and 7^th places had their own hard fought tussle going with the #3 of Henry Maier, the #7+1 of Ryan Worthington and the #95 of Randy Barclay.  Tice got by Wassner for the lead on lap 7 and by the next lap, Randy Barclay had pushed his machine past both Maier and Worthington for fifth place.  It would stay the same until lap 11 when Samantha Burch tapped the wall in turn 4, bringing out the yellow.  On the restart, Tice again faltered, something that Wassner expected after the original start and again, the x82 sailed by into the lead.  Again, Tice would catch up to the lead pack and got back into first place by lap 13.  Meanwhile, Randy Barclay’s motor gave out on lap 12, forcing him into the pits.  Samantha Burch again brought out a yellow on lap 13 with her spin in turns 3 & 4.  The #13 of Kevin Mitchell went pit side on the yellow and so too (mysteriously), did Joe Barclay, running third at the time.  Mitchell was able to return to the track for the restart.  The running order on the lap 14 restart was Tice, Wassner, Aradine, Maier & Worthington.  Once again on the wave of the green, Tice’s car was again slow on the start which relegated him to third while Wassner and Aradine were able to get by.  By lap 15, the problem for Kevin Mitchell turned terminal as his car returned to the pits, this time smoking badly.  Again, Tice was able to reel in the leaders and got the top spot back with 4 laps to go.  At the finish, it was Tice, followed by Wassner, Aradine, Worthington and Maier, completing the top 5.

            The eight-car Street Stock feature had an interesting twist.  The “Wise Guys” were so sure of the apparent dominance of their #67 “Wing Thing” that they put up a $100 bonus for anyone else who could win the race.  The other “Wise Guy”, Ted Pierce in the #77u, started on the pole with the “Wing Thing” of Lee Zimmerman on the outside of row two.  Once again, it took less than a lap for Zimmerman to zip into the lead, leaving the rest of the field to fight over the remaining positions.  Pierce pulled away for 2^nd, leaving the #12 of John Giles and the #378 of Carl Shetler to fight over third and fourth.  Dan Pries had fifth place and never let the two cars in front of him out of his sights.  The running order stayed the same through lap 8 when the #12 of Giles started to show some smoke.  By Lap 9, Zimmerman had started putting the back of the field a lap down.  Then, two laps later, the smoke got much worse on the #12 of Giles, causing him to fall back.  It looked like a complete runaway for the #67 “Wing Thing” of Zimmerman until lap 18.  As Zimmerman came out of turn 4 to take the “2 laps to go” signal from starter Johnny Veach, the car came to a complete stop just past the finish line, bringing out the yellow.  The car was pushed into the pits where the crew eventually found a ground strap had worked loose, leaving the car without the required electrics to run the ignition.  Although the crew was barely able to get the car back out on the track for the restart, the damage had been done.  Pierce ran away with the win but the battle for 2^nd was not over until the end.  The #378 of Shetler and the #18 of Pries again battled for the 2^nd and 3^rd spots with Shetler nosing out Pries at the finish in a reversal of what happened in the heat.  Although a member of the “Wise Guys” himself, Pierce nonetheless collected the $100 bonus and immediately did a roof dance on the #77u before jumping down to the congratulations of the crew.

            An impressive field of 35 vehicles of all kinds would take the green flag for the 100 lap enduro.  Because some drivers in the race brought vehicles with boat gas tanks in them, it was decided in the drivers’ meeting that a competition yellow would fly at halfway to allow refueling only.  From the start, a couple of drivers quickly established themselves as strong runners:  the #69 of “Wise Guy” Bill Weller and the #21 of Frank Saige.  As is common with these types of races, several accidents and mechanical maladies forced out many competitors.   Many red flags flew, one for a near rollover by the #85 of Gary Engle and a couple of fires would bring out the red again.  It would also fly again for at least 2 vicious hits which required the safety crew to check out the drivers involved.  Weller and Saige would be the only 2 cars on the lead lap by the halfway mark.  Position 3-7 was 1 lap down while the 8-13^th place machines were 2 laps down.  On the race restart, Weller and Saige would battle each other early in the second half.  Following yet another red flag situation, Saige ran over a piece of debris, cutting down his left front tire.  He would eventually retire to the infield, leaving Weller as the only one on the lead lap.  (As a point of interest, at one point during a red flag situation, infield announcer Dan Turner walked up to Weller’s car for an interview.  As Dan got closer to the machine, he could hear the unmistakable sounds of “Led Zeppelin” coming from the fully operational radio in Weller’s car!!!).  On the final restart, Weller just cruised to the win but helped to create drama for the 2^nd and 3^rd place finishers.  That battle was a mismatch between huge Lincoln Continental V8 of Mark Loveland and the 4-cylinder #4 of Bobby Studley, both of whom got by Weller to get on the lead lap.  Although they never got back up to challenge Weller, the two put on a great battle.  Loveland muscled his way into 2^nd on the restart but could never completely shake himself of the pesky Studley, who got by with a little over 7 laps to go.  Studley drove as hard as he could to hold on to the runner-up spot and actually pulled away a little on Loveland on the last few laps.  Two Genesee Speedway employees joined in the fun as drivers in the event:  track manager Amie Fox survived two high speed spins before going out on lap 96 and Ted Griffin finished in the top 5.  Finally, if there was a “perseverance” award for the race, it would have gone to the #15 of David “Jacques Portier” Porter.  Wheeling a tiny 4 cylinder Honda coupe hobbled by a flat tire and the transmission stuck in first gear for most of the second half, Porter finished the race with the car still running! 

            Thus, the 2007 Genesee Speedway season drew to a close under the direction of first-year promoter Mike Lauterborn.  Next up, the Genesee Speedway banquet will be held on October 27^th at Batavia Downs.  Banquet information is available by calling Amie Fox at the Speedway office at (585) 426-2430 or by emailing Amie:  amie_geneseespeedway@yahoo.com. 

For speedway information, visit the Genesee Speedway website:  www.geneseespeedway.com.

ANOTHER GREAT NIGHT OF RACING AT GENESEE