06/28/08 -
By JR KENNERUP
KIRKWOOD, NY - The first midweek racing action of the season took place at the Five Mile Point Speedway Wednesday night. The action packed three division show featured Justin Holland winning the 40 lap Race of Champions Dart Dirt Sportsman Tour event.
Just four days prior Justin Holland of White Lake, NY was the Five Mile Point Speedway Sportsman point leader. An on track incident the previous Saturday night cost Holland the fmp point lead, a fine and one race suspension. Justin rebounded nicely on Wednesday night as he used his draw pole starting position to lead all 40 laps to win the second race in the Race of Champions Dart Dirt Sportsman Tour.
By no means was it a cake walk win for Holland who first had to hold off Jamie Batzel and a last lap turns one and two charge of current Race of Champions Dart Dirt Sportsman Tour point leader Matt Janczuk to secure the $1,000 win. Brad Alger started 12th and ended up third with Nick Rochinski finishing fourth and Jeff Leslie in fifth.
The 40 lap feature saw the top 12 starting positions redrawn by the upfront heat race finishers. This placed Justin Holland and Steve Yankowski on the front row and when the green flew to start the 40 lap feature Holland jumped into the lead. He was followed by Jamie Batzel, Frank Doty, Les Gillette, and Yankowski.
Holland was immediately challenged for the lead by Batzel, who won the previous Saturday night feature. With many eyes watching the battle for the lead 12th place starting Alger was making his move to the front as he entered fifth at the half way point.
Just before a restart on lap 27 the great run of Batzel ended as he encountered a right front flat after making contact with a lap car on the previous lap. This put Matt Janczuk and Alger right on the back bumper of Holland. Two more yellows would bunch the field up before the final five laps were run under green.
Over the final five laps it became clear that the win was going to come down to two cars, Holland and Janczuk. Janczuk was able to get underneath Holland coming out of turn four on laps 37, 38, and 39. Finally just after receiving the white flag signifying the final lap of the race Janczuk make his car stick in the bottom groove entering turns one and two. With the front two leaders now even exiting turn two a fight to the finish was going to take place and entering turn three Holland was able to open up a small advantage. Coming down to the checkers Holland was able to win by one car length over Janczuk.
Qualifying action for the 28 cars saw heat wins go to Alger, Leslie, Mike Loney, and Rochinski while Shawn Walker won the B Main.
In victory lane Holland spoke with class, “I made a mistake on Saturday; I accept the fine, and penalty of missing a race. I apologize to the fans for my actions from Saturday night. It was totally unprofessional on my part.”
Holland continued on about the race tonight. “I protected the line tonight. I saw Jamie under me a few times, I don’t know what happened to him and then on that last lap Matt got under me and I knew I had to get to the bottom before we got into turn three if I wanted to win this race.”
The Race of Champions Dart Dirt Sportsman and Pure Stock Tours are sponsored by; Dart Coatings, Sunoco Race Fuels, American Racer Tires, Afco, Comp Cam, CV Products, Comp Engineering by Moroso, Dura-Bond, Dynatech, Erson Cams, L.A. Sleeve, Mahle Motorsports, Melling Select Performance, Moroso, PBM Performance, Total Seal Piston Rings and Excelyne Technologies.
COUNTER POINTS: The racing action was second to none all night long as all drivers used all available grooves for racing. Track owner and promoter Andrew Harpell decided to add the three Sportsman drivers who failed to qualify from the consi as a way in saying thank you for coming and supporting the show. All weekly Five Mile Point Sportsman racers received a 25 point bonus for showing up to race on this night. Holland was allowed to compete due to this show being a Tour race and not a weekly point show. Holland received no points and no prize money from the Saturday prior. He was also docked the twenty-five show up points on Wednesday. He will miss one more point show along with paying a $250 fine. The fine will be distributed among five randomly drawn sportsman drivers on Saturday. The Pure Stock had a C Main added due to four drivers who parked on the back straight unable to make it out for their consi on time. James Michael Friesen became the fourth member of this family to race in the history of Five Mile Point joining Stanley, Jamie, and Stewart. Passing honors in the Sportsman feature belonged to Joey Colsten who finished seventh after starting 17th. Meanwhile Louie Gordiner came from 21st to seventh in the Pure Stock feature. The strong run of Mike Loney ended in the Sportsman feature as he got caught up with a spinning Les Gillette with 15 laps to go. Ryan Stortini and James Michael Friesen both qualified through their respective heat race only to be disqualified in post race tech inspection due to a tire rule infraction.
RoC SPORTSMAN FINISH; Justin Holland, Matt Janczuk, Brad Alger, Nick Rochinski, Jeff Leslie, Jeremy Vunk, Joey Colsten, Mike Nagel, Jr., Jeff Crambo, Brian Puckett, Paul Rooney, Butch Klinger, Shawn Walker, James Michael Friesen, Les Gillette, Charlie Hendrickson, Jr., Ben Bushaw, Ryan Stortini, Mike Loney, Damien Reynolds, Frank Doty, Jamie Batzel, Steve Yankowski, Grant Hilfinger, Brian White, Mike Austin, Skip Pickwick. DNS: Chris Wood.
RoC PURE STOCK FINISH; Butch Green, Rich Green, Charlie Gilbert, Shane Wolf, Norman Whittemore, Earl Zimmer, Louie Gordiner, Jason Rhodes, Gene Sharpsteen, Jim Ortiz, Toby Lehr, Rich Talada, Harry Marvin, III, Eric Beach, Randy Marsh, Jonathon Carpenter, Eddie McKernan, Ray Lindquist, Tyler Yeagle, Mike Morse, Nick Robinson, Mike Codington, Joe Rafferty, Jr., David Conklin, Jr., Mike Wilbur, Cory Bond. DNQ’S: Rob Snow, Herb Penny, Derrick Tarbox, Rich Sharpsteen, and Derrick Birdsall.
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