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Rich Ricci Jr. Outlasts Hearn For Accord RoC Triumph |
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10/06/08 -
By JR KENNERUP
ACCORD, NY - A classic racing battle took place on Friday night at the Accord Speedway during the Race of Champions Dart Dirt Modified Tour sanctioned King of the Catskills 100 lap feature.
Local favorite, ten time track champion Rich Ricci, Jr. of New Paltz, NY who has raced thousands of laps on the tight Ulster County bull ring. Used all of his track experience and expertise running a three year old Precision built big block motor on this night to win his third consecutive King of the Catskills title.
Ricci held off the relentless challenges of Sussex, NJ dirt driving superstar Brett Hearn over the final 75 laps to win the $5,000 first place prize. Ricci and Hearn were side by side racing for the lead without contact nearly every lap during the final 20 laps of the exciting crowd pleasing event.
Third generation racer Danny Tyler of Cottekill, NY scored his best ever RoC finish with a solid third place finish. Passing honors in the race belonged to the “Middletown Missile" Chuck McKee who started 18th and finished fourth.
Billy Van Pelt of Westfield, Pa. a long time short track racing standout finally had some luck go his way on the RoC Tour as he ended up fifth.
With a sixth place finish Pat Ward of Genoa, NY earned enough points to claim the 2008 Race of Champions Dart Dirt Modified Tour, his second in a row. Ward will be collecting the $7,000 first place point fund award for only nine races of work at the RoC Banquet in January.
"That was a tough race," said the happy and smiling race winner. "I mean there were 27 of the best cars out there and they’re all fast. The track was super tonight, incredibly fast tonight; it’s an accomplishment to lead all 100 laps tonight with the talent that was in the field."
Danny Tyler and Rich Ricci, Jr. brought the 27 car field down to Kenny Marshalls’ green flag to start the highly anticipated event. Ricci would jump out to the lead over Tyler, Alan Rudalavage, Billy Van Pelt, and Jeff Heotzler. Van Pelt and Heotzler would team up to pass Rudalavage on the next circuit placing them in third and fourth.
Brett Hearn would start making his presence felt driving the Vinnie Salerno Four Star Racing small block entry as he moved into fifth on lap eight. Meanwhile up front Van Pelt impressively drove by Tyler for second and starting to place pressure on Ricci for the lead.
On a lap 15 restart Van Pelt and Ricci were side by side for the lead until Van Pelt ran out of room on the outside of turn two, making contact with the outside boiler plate wall. Hearn rocketed from fifth to third on the restart and started to put pressure on Van Pelt for second.
Afterwards Ricci had this to say about the challenge of Van Pelt.
"I said to myself who is that 2 guy? Holy shit he’s on the outside of me, we did rub a little bit in two that time and then after that I never saw him."
Van Pelt nearly spun in turn one following a lap 24 restart as he lost three spots. The mistake by him moved Hearn into second with Tyler in third, Pat Ward in fourth, and Van Pelt settling back into fifth.
Chuck McKee driving the Chick Sloat owned car now made his presence felt at the front of the field as he moved into fifth from 18th starting spot on lap 31 and one lap later disposed of Ward to take fourth. Ward would slip back to sixth following the next restart on lap 39 after being passed by Van Pelt.
Plenty of yellow flag fever would hamper the century long feature during the middle portions of the race. The longer the race wore on it seemed that Hearn was starting to measure Ricci to set up an attempt at a pass for the lead.
The first such challenge by Hearn for the lead came on lap 76 as he was under Ricci in turns one and two. Hearn would repeat the same move the next dozen laps consecutively but each time the big block powered Ricci entry would be able to hold off Hearn’s potent small block powered ride.
Ricci spoke about the difference of running a big block against a small block at Accord.
"Everyone says you need a small block here, but I love a big block," said Rich. "The big block is a little bit harder to get slowed down going into the corners. A small block you can brake it and get into the corner quicker. A big block gets into the corner and rolls through the corner faster. It’s a little tricky to get use to but once you get use to it you’ll love having a big block at Accord."
The final yellow of the race with ten laps to go set up a much anticipated ten lap battle to the finish that had the standing room only crowd on their feet. Just as lap 91 was scored Hearn once again got under Ricci in turns one and two, but this time Hearn appeared to be ahead as they exited turn two. Ricci fighting a tire wear condition found enough bite to keep the lead and with all of his experience made a slight adjustment to where he would run the final laps on the track.
The half a lane move up the track made the difference for Ricci as he held off Hearn over the final few laps to claim the exciting win in front of his hometown fans.
"It is a good payday, you can’t knock it," said Rich. "The last ten laps I got a little loose in the middle and I had to keep the car straight. The minute I got the car sideways and broke traction Brett was right there. I gambled on tire selection as I went softer than I should have because we were starting up front, which is why I went with the softer tire. I saved a little in the beginning so I had something at the end and almost didn’t have enough left at the end."
Rich spoke about his slight lane change at the end of the race.
"I saw Brett duck under me in one and two a couple of times and every time I got sideways is when he got there. So I said to myself keep it straight, keep the momentum up, and stay in the center of the track. At the end I moved up a little bit and I didn’t see Brett again."
Finally Rich spoke about his Accord driving experience.
"Yea I have a million laps around this place as I’ve run basically anything they ever raced here. I love it here as it’s only 20 minutes from my home, you can’t beat it."
"He was just sitting in the middle of the track and I couldn’t roll the outside all the way and I couldn’t cross him back down again," said second-place finisher Brett Hearn.
"I could get good runs on him but I had no place to go once I got to the point of where I had to pass him. That guy (Ricci) there has so many laps on this track, he is not going to make a mistake. I could have moved him up on that last lap a little more than I did, what’s the purpose of trying to do that."
Qualifying for the 49 car field saw heats wins go to Jeff Heotzler, Ricci, Mike Colsten, Van Pelt, Scott Ferrier, and Ward. The three B Mains were captured by Brian Weaver, Andy Bachetti, and Danny Johnson.
ULSTER COUNTY BULLRING NOTES: The tight confines of the Accord Speedway led to some very good racing all evening long. The standing room only crowd showed their appreciation of the excellent racing with their applause and vocal reactions. Lap Money for the race was collected by Accord Speedway representatives with Ricci claiming $1,320. Mike Colsten earned a $100 bonus being the 15th place car on lap 46 of the feature. K-Dog otherwise known as Keith Hoffman made his first appearance at Accord in a second Jerry Higbie, Jr. owned car. Hoffman came from last in his heat to transfer and in the feature ended up seventh after restarting at the rear on three different occasions. Passing was plentiful all night long with Joey Grammes and Stewart Friesen joining Hoffman by starting last in the heat race and transferring. Danny Johnson as usual put on a very entertaining display of driving in the Mike Petruska owned Atlas Paving sponsored ride. Johnny McGill, Jerry Higbie, Jr., and Jackie Brown, Jr. top five in track points all received an Accord provisional to gain entrance into the feature. Jeff Heotzler had everyone turning back the clock as he was running a black J17. That car number and color combination was a regular scene in victory lane at Accord in the past.
RACE REPORT – RACE OF CHAMPIONS DART DIRT MODIFIED TOUR – CHAMPIONSHIP RACE No. 2 – KING OF THE CATSKILLS FINISH: Rich Ricci, Jr., Brett Hearn, Danny Tyler, Chuck McKee, Billy Van Pelt, Pat Ward, Keith Hoffman, Jimmy Johnson, Andy Bachetti, Jackie Brown, Jr., Mike Ricci, Richie Eurich, Stewart Friesen, Jerry Higbie, Jr., Joey Grammes, Jeff Heotzler, Kevin Duryea, Johnny McGill, Scott Ferrier, Tom Hindley, Ricky Yetter, Mike Colsten, Danny Johnson, Bobby Trapper, Jeff Rudalavage, Alan Rudalavage, Brian Weaver.
DNQ: David Bush, Rick Mill, Brian Malcolm, Mark Pullen, Darrell Ford, Kenny Ferrier, Tom DeMarmels, Tony Kawalchuk, Vinny DeCicco, Rich Wegner, Jr., Steve Meilleur, Mel Schrufer, Gerald Curry, Howard Jarvis, Brett Graham, Chris Whitehead, Greg Hastie, Danny Creeden, Gary Hager, Michael Sabia, Brent Boyer.
LAP LEADERS; Ricci ( 1 – 100 ).
DART MACHINERY SMALL BLOCK BONUS $500; Hearn.
ACCORD PROVISIONALS; McGill, Higbie, Brown.
NEXT RoC DART DIRT MODIFIED TOUR EVENT; Saturday October 25th – National Quarter Mile Dirt Track Championship – 100 laps – Five Mile Point Speedway – Kirkwood, NY – Championship Race # 3 – Last event of season.
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