Media Contact: Steven Ovens - woodhullracewaypr@gmail.com or (315) 729-3825 For Immediate Release – May 29th, 2016 –
(WOODHULL, NY) – Saturday night action at the Woodhull Raceway was both thrilling and hard fought as two divisions went thirty-five laps in distance. There were stories aplenty Saturday in Instant Heat Wood Pellets Victory Lane as Mike Bills (Modifieds), Chris Daugherty (Crate Sportsman), Glenn Whritenour (360 Late Models), Teddy Morseman (Street Stocks), Jeffery Daugherty (Mini Stocks), Shawn Gleason (Front Wheel Drives) and Cole Youse (Warriors) all collected wins.
The Insinger Performance 370 Modifieds took to the track for their thirty-five lap feature event paying $2,000-to-win on Brico Technologies, Griffith Energy and Elkland Moose night at Woodhull.
Eric Fisher and Brian Doolittle would lead the field to Scott Lyon’s green flag with Fisher taking the early lead. ‘The Maniac’ Mike Bills rolled off from the third spot, and quickly worked around both Doolittle and then Fisher for the lead early.
Once Bills was able to clear Fisher in Turn 4 on the opening lap, Bills would take to the whip for the remainder of the event. Bills stretched his lead to as far as half a track over the second and third place cars as the caution flag would not fly over the course of the event.
While Bills led out front, Kenny Peoples Jr was moving his way through the field from his eighth starting spot. Utilizing the low lane of the third-mile bullring, the birthday boy celebrating his 30th birthday, was on the move.
Bills caught the back of the field quickly and as he did so, Peoples began to close the gap. Peoples would get as close as three-quarters of a straightaway but could not close any further. Bills would clear traffic and Peoples would lose ground to the finish as he then caught the back of the field.
Meanwhile, behind the leaders was an intense battle on the track for positions three through eighth. Fisher, Josh Nobriga, Brady Fultz, Donnie Lawson, Billy Van Pelt and Dillon Groover swapped positions throughout the final fifteen laps of the event. Though they finished in that order, no race recap could tell the story of the side by side racing these drivers displayed late in the going.
Bills pulled into Instant Heat Wood Pellets Victory Lane and spoke to their team’s success on Saturday night.
“We just keep tuning on this car after the races are over and really hit on something,” said Bills. “Along with practicing at the end of the night, we’ve been traveling to Outlaw Speedway to try some things too. I know the tracks are different, but there are basic concepts you can take from one place to another.”
While Bills was the headline in the Modifieds, Daugherty Racing had themselves a ‘hat trick’ on Saturday night on the High Banks. Chris Daugherty would start the evening hat trick by taking his third checkered flag of 2016 in the NAPA Crate Sportsman division.
Daugherty took off from his fifth starting spot for the initial green flag, but the field was slowed on the initial start for a jump start. All night long, drivers were put back a row for jumping an initial start or restart without warning as has been communicated to drivers in the past.
Mike Jackson set the pace on the initial start, but fired about a half-car-length before the first orange cone that marks out the start/restart zone. For the following start, Jackson was put back a row moving brother Stacey Jackson to the pole for the start of the race. Stacey would pull out in front in his best race of 2016, as it has been a struggle for him so far in 2016.
Daugherty quickly moved up to the third spot and battled door-to-door with Mike Jackson for the runner-up spot. Daugherty continued to work the low lane, while Jackson was running the middle lane up to the cushion on the tacky surface. Daugherty would eventually get by and set out for the lead from Stacey Jackson.
Lap thirteen saw Daugherty complete the pass on Jackson to take the lead and race away to his third victory of the season. His first since having his crate motor claimed, when Woodhull last raced on May 7th. Daugherty took exception with the cries of ‘foul play’ because his motor was claimed.
“How’s that motor now?” screamed Daugherty while standing on the roof of his car with the checkered flag. “I guess that proved to everybody out there that I wasn’t cheating. It ain’t just the motor, it’s how many hours you put in the garage.”
When asked what the team has worked on since the last two Saturday’s had been rained out? Daugherty quickly answered, “More homework.”
The Jackson boys Stacey and Mike filled out the rest of the podium finishers, with Brandon Butler coming home fourth and young Dayton Brewer with a really impressive run for a top five.
The second point in the Daugherty hat trick came when Chris’ son Jeffery, a rookie in the Mini Stock division, drove his way to his first career win since moving into the division.
Daugherty started from the pole position and would lead the opening circuits. Daugherty pulled out to a two to three car length lead, but behind him a pack of dogs was forming ready to nip at Daugherty’s heels.
John Hand Jr., Karl Born and Chris Woodard all gave chase to Daugherty and battled each other door-to-door for the second, third and fourth positions. While they battled on, Daugherty raced comfortably all alone out front.
As the race wound down Born solidified himself as the second place car that would battle the rookie for the victory. Born made contact with Daugherty once coming off turn four that got Daugherty sideways, but in a great sportsman move backed off and allowed Daugherty to gather it back up before racing on.
Born seemingly threw everything but the kitchen sink at Daugherty, but the rookie was up to the task. Daugherty would claim his first career Mini Stock victory over Born, Hand Jr., Woodard and Rick Amidon.
“This is an amazing experience,” said Daugherty. “I’ve been down here last year, but it’s such a better feeling knowing I beat all these guys tonight. I’m speechless.”
Daugherty held off some of the best the Minis have to offer and talked about holding them off.
“I was trying to slow my entry up so I could get to the bottom so he couldn’t get under me,” Daugherty explained. “I was getting a little nervous and I was overdriving it a little bit. Yeah, just got a little shaky there.”
Daugherty was pretty excited and ranked this win by saying, “this is easily number one.”
With Chris and Jeffery picking up wins in their respective divisions, that would have been enough to fill a nice story about a sweep. But Shawn Gleason, who drives for Chris in the Front Wheel Drives and is a big part of the effort that goes into the whole fleet of cars that travel to Woodhull from Elmira, NY every week, had his own chapter to write on this night.
Gleason started the Woodhull Auto Supply Front Wheel Drive thirty-five lap feature in the fourth position and made quick work to move toward the front of the field. Nate Freeland and his bright blue No. 26 ride would grab the early lead, but would surrender the lead to Gleason on lap ten.
Codie Baker’s No. 14 started dicing through traffic using the cushion up top, to advance from fifth to third by lap twelve. Baker eventually got by Freeland for second, but Freeland had a major problem on a lap twenty-seven restart and had to pull in to the pits.
Baker would have eight laps to try and chase down Gleason but could not get it done. Gleason was patient and disciplined, backing off early and running right along the bottom edge of the surface to keep Baker at arm’s reach. Gleason would go on to complete the hat trick for Daugherty Racing with Baker finishing second, followed by Dave Richman, Matt Prescott and Joe Birdsall.
“I was hoping it was only twenty laps after that last caution came out,” said Gleason of running extra distance on Saturday night. “I told myself I had to go back to what I was doing (running the bottom). I couldn’t do it without Chris and Heather Daugherty and my brother.”
The Joe Willcox Performance Automatics Street Stocks put on a thrilling show for the fans in attendance for Fire/EMS Night as it was a classic battle between Teddy Morseman and Dylan Cecce.
Morseman and Allison Pierce led the field to green and Morseman got the jump to take the lead for the opening lap. Cecce started fourth and quickly dispatched Brett Marlatt for the runner-up spot to start chasing Morseman.
Cecce would spend the next fourteen to fifteen laps working on Morseman for position, going high and low, trying to find the way around the Cameron Mills, NY driver. Morseman was locked down on the bottom and had a lightning quick car down the straightaways.
As the two clicked off lap sixteen, calamity ensued. Cecce arced his No. 7 into turn one harder than he had all race long. Morseman had left just enough room for Cecce to nose in for position, but the two drivers were trying to race for the same piece of real estate. They made contact out of turn two and continued contact down the backstretch and into turn 3.
In the jam up behind the leaders, Dan Gardner went around in the No. 62 to bring out the yellow. With Woodhull Raceway going back to the last completed lap for restart lineups, Morseman reassumed the lead with Cecce back to second and Branden Morseman third.
Morseman would not leave the door open again over the course of the final three laps and would go on to score his first win of the season. Cecce finished second ahead of Branden Morseman, Tracy Dunn and Glenn Whritenour the top five.
“Apparently rubbing is racing now,” said Morseman in Instant Heat Wood Pellets Victory Lane.
Morseman was asked if it had been frustrating to not be standing where he was until week number five?
“Actually, yeah it has. I knew I had to keep it on the bottom to win. I didn’t think Dylan would drive me that way, but hey, we’re here.”
The SWL Awards 360 Late Models saw a familiar face in Victory Lane Saturday night. What is interesting though, is that this was the first time fans had seen Glenn Whritenour in Victory Lane with his 360 late model so far in 2016.
Whritenour dominated the twenty-lap event to take the win from his pole starting position. Carl Hughes looked to have the best chance to challenge Whritenour for the lead, but he never could just focus on chasing down the leader.
Kurt Stebbins and Bruce Miller made it extremely difficult as they challenged Hughes for the second spot all race long. Challenges came from Stebbins in the first half of the event, with Miller finding the bottom to his liking late in the event to challenge Hughes for second.
This allowed Whritenour to pull away for the win over Hughes, Miller, Stebbins and Rick Loucks the top five.
“This late model has been throwing me fits here for the last few weeks,” said the multi-time late model track champion. “We fixed all the bugs on it and here we are tonight.”
The Daugherty Auto Sales Warriors saw a rookie driver claim his second feature win of 2016 as youngster Cole Youse took the win in the ten-lap event. Youse got off to a great start, pulling out to a full straightaway lead on Kayley Potrzebowski and Ajay Potrzebowski Jr.
Ajay Jr. would get by his sister with four laps to go, but would need a caution to catch Youse to challenge for the win. That caution came out on lap eight and set up a two-lap dash for the checkered flag.
On the restart, Youse held Potrzebowski Jr. at a comfortable distance to go on and score the win. Ajay Jr. attempted a move to the low side in turn three on the last lap, but could only get half a car length away at the checkered flag.
Race officials wish to congratulate all of the Warrior division for the clean race they put on for their feature event. These young drivers all continue to improve and put on a great show as they learn how to compete and turn faster laps.
“The track was awesome tonight,” said Youse. “It was better than I thought it would be (with the hot weather) and the car seemed to work really well tonight.”
Next week at Woodhull Raceway, RLB Trucking and Riverfront Collision present the Scott Dennison Memorial as the SWL Awards 360 Late Models will go thirty-five laps in distance. The 360 Late Model contingent will be joined by the Insinger Performance 370 Modifieds, NAPA Crate Sportsman, Joe Willcox Performance Automatics Street Stocks, Daugherty Auto Sales Mini Stocks and Woodhull Auto Supply Front Wheel Drives.
Pit gates will open at 3:30PM with general admission gates opening at 4:30PM with Scott Lyon’s first green flag of the night waving promptly at 6:30PM. General admission is just $12 for adults 13 and up, $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.
Brico Technologies/Griffith Energy/Elkland Moose Night
Woodhull Raceway Quick Results May 28th, 2016
INSINGER PERFORMANCE 370 MODIFIEDS, 16 Cars (35 Laps): MIKE BILLS (1), Kenny Peoples Jr., Eric Fisher, Josh Nobriga, Brady Fultz, Donnie Lawson, Billy Van Pelt, Dillon Groover, Brian Doolittle, Boyd McTavish, Art Goodier, Russell Morseman, Cory Costa, Ron Cartwright Jr., Dave DuBois DNS: Frank Dunning
H1: Eric Fisher, Dillon Groover, Brady Fultz
H2: Billy Van Pelt, Brian Doolittle, Kenny Peoples Jr.
NAPA CRATE SPORTSMAN, 22 cars (25 Laps): CHRIS DAUGHERTY (3), Stacey Jackson, Mike Jackson, Brandon Butler, Dayton Brewer, Casey Pavlick, Josh Sawyer, Josh Keesey, Brandon Martin, Mike Williams, Zach Sutton, Bobby Peoples, AJ Costley, Collin Brown, Jerry Aldrich, Zach Cary, Scott Tubbs, Tracy Stanford, Mickey Wilbur, Jake Dgien, Tim Guild, David Mayo
H1: Casey Pavlick, Tim Guild, Brandon Martin
H2: Brandon Butler, Chris Daugherty, Josh Keesey
H3: Josh Sawyer, Mike Williams, Mike Jackson
SWL AWARDS 360 LATE MODELS, 10 cars (20 Laps): GLENN WHRITENOUR (1), Carl Hughes, Bruce Miller, Kurt Stebbins, Rick Loucks, Steve LaBarron, Mick Seeley, Jacob McConnell, Bob Lubberts, Jason McGregor
H1: Bruce Miller, Glenn Whritenour, Steve LaBarron
H2: Carl Hughes, Jason McGregor, Mick Seeley
JOE WILLCOX PERFORMANCE AUTOMATICS STREET STOCKS, 14 cars (20 Laps): TEDDY MORSEMAN (1), Dylan Cecce, Branden Morseman, Tracy Dunn, Glenn Whritenour, Jeredd Dennis, Dan Gardener, Zane King Jr., Glenn Vancise, Kurt Stebbins, Allison Pierce, Trevor Tompkins, Brett Marlatt DNS: Matt Hamilton
H1- Dylan Cecce, Brett Marlatt, Tracy Dunn
H2- Glenn Whritenour, Zane King Jr., Teddy Morseman
DAUGHERTY AUTO SALES MINI STOCKS, 18 cars (20 Laps): JEFFERY DAUGHERTY (1), Karl Born, John Hand Jr., Chris Woodard, Rick Amidon, JJ Kreidler, Ron Dailey Jr., Brian Grant Jr., Mike Stone, Scott Lehman, Dave Little, Mike Navone, Chip Warner, Derrick Puryear, Ray Hyer, Chris Hand DNS: Jason Warner, Corky Grant
H1- Ron Dailey Jr., Dave Little, Brian Grant Jr.
H2- Ray Hyer, JJ Kreidler, Karl Born
H3- Chris Woodard, Corky Grant, Jeffery Daugherty
WOODHULL AUTO SUPPLY FRONT WHEEL DRIVES, 12 cars (35 Laps): SHAWN GLEASON (2), Codie Baker, Dave Richman, Matt Prescott, Joe Birdsall, Jay McConnell, Adam DelGrosso, Nate Freeland, Eric Farnham, Chris Shelly, Carl LaBarron, Nick Brown
H1- Nate Freeland, Shawn Gleason, Jay McConnell
H2- Matt Prescott, Codie Baker, Adam DelGrosso
DAUGHERTY AUTO SALES WARRIORS, 5 Cars (10 Laps): COLE YOUSE (2), Ajay Potrzebowski Jr., Kayley Potrzebowski, Brody Amidon, Trevor Hamilton