2010 RoC Dart Dirt Tour T-Shirt
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Jerry Higbie Jr. Defends Home Turf For Accord RoC Win |
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09/27/09 -
By JR KENNERUP
ACCORD, NY - Friday night at the Accord Speedway in the Annual “ King of the Catskills “ event currently crowned Accord Modified track champion Jerry Higbie, Jr. of Slate Hill, NY won the 100 lap feature event that was sanctioned by the Race of Champions Dart Dirt Modified Tour.
Higbie driving the Mike Petruska owned Atlas Paving sponsored Teo Pro car started eighth in the field of 29. Jerry moved quickly into the top five where he stayed all race long and while chasing leader Andy Bachetti in heavy lap traffic on lap 77. Higbie jumped to the outside groove exiting turn four to grab the lead he would never relinquish and went on to the $6,500 payday.
Bachetti who started fourth didn’t give up and chased Higbie across the line to finish second. Mike Ricci started 14th and ended up third with sixth place starter and early race leader Mike Colsten impressively finishing fourth. Pat Ward who took a RoC Provisional to gain entrance into the feature started 25th and ended up fifth.
With his finish Ward has now taken over the RoC Dart Dirt Modified Tour point lead from Brett Hearn who endured an awful evening that saw him finish 15th, one lap down to the leaders.
“This car has been great here all year, these guys ( Petruska Racing ) have been flawless with their tire choices all year long and with everything they decide to do," said Higbie.
Higbie moved quickly from his eighth place starting spot into fourth by the end of lap one. Jerry then stayed relatively patient racing for positions as he didn’t try to toss the car in to the turns each and every lap like some drivers were. Jerry stayed in the middle groove trying to work underneath everyone when passing them. After trying for nearly ten laps Higbie got past a strong running Mike Colsten on lap 26 for third.
Running third at the fuel stop Higbie got a big break when the right rear tire on the second place car of Danny Johnson started to go flat and that forced him into the pit area for a tire change. This placed Jerry right on the back bumper of leader Andy Bachetti who took the lead on lap 20 from Colsten.
One of the items that really helped Jerry on this night was some insight from the crew on how to drive the car that he received during the lap 50 fuel stop. “ They ( the crew ) told me that I had the strongest car, even though I didn’t feel like I had the strongest car. They put some confidence in me and told me how to drive it in the second half of the race and I drove it exactly like that."
Jerry was asked about his unique driving style of running in the center of the track on this night.
"Weekly when I’m racing here I’m either all the way up top against the birm or all the way down at the bottom next to the inside wall," said Jerry.
"Tonight the bottom was a little bit wetter than it usually is so being in the middle was the place to be. Plus I ran the track like I was racing at Middletown tonight as I kept the right front loaded up and not burn the right rear off by entering the corners as straight as possible. Straight in, straight out that was the key tonight."
Following the fuel stop Bachetti and Higbie set a torrid pace while racing for the lead. This fast and hard racing resulted in the leaders getting into heavy lap traffic that included some heavy hitting drivers like Brett Hearn on lap 66. Bachetti and Higbie changed grooves many times each lap while trying to pass lap cars and racing for the lead. Entering turn three on lap 76 Bachetti went low and got trapped behind a lap car for just a second. This allowed Higbie to jump to the outside groove to grab the lead for good at the line to complete lap 77.
Jerry spoke about the pass for the lead.
"Things happen really fast here as one second you’re racing for the lead and the next second you could be wrecked," said Jerry.
"Lap cars were tough tonight as sometimes they wouldn’t move and sometime when they did move they would dart down the track right in front of you. Basically I tried going where Andy wasn’t going and when he went to the bottom I was getting some really good runs on the outside. I knew if I could get by him I could hold him off for the remainder of the race. It worked out perfectly for me tonight as the lap traffic played right into my hands. “
Jerry talked about what this win meant to him.
"It’s awesome as Accord is my favorite track, I was the track champion here this year and with all of this coming together it means a lot. As we combined two teams, mine and Mike’s, we have three wins now as a team, all top ten finishes, and to win a RoC race it’s just a special evening for me and everyone associated with Higbie/Petruska Racing."
"Our lap times were pretty equal tonight and he outsmarted me in lap traffic tonight," said second place finisher Andy Bachetti.
"That is what happens in these deals plus you have 30 cars on a small race track, it is tight racing.
"We had a good car tonight," said Andy who started fourth. "Jerry was a little but better off than me in the center lane and if I would have stayed ahead of him and slid down in front of him, he would have never had the center lane."
Qualifying for the stout 47 car field saw heat wins go to Higbie, Greg Hastie, Howard Jarvis, Danny Johnson, and Vinny DeCicco while the B Mains were won by Stewart Friesen and Hearn.
NOTES: The cool fall conditions made the track very racy and extremely fast all evening long. This led to some rather intense qualifying race action that saw several drivers being penalized for over aggressive driving. Jeff Richardson who won the Accord Spec Sportsman title this year drove the car that Tom DeMarmels usually drives and qualified handily through the heat race. Stewart Friesen was in the second Tyler Racing entry while Mike Senecal drove the Barry Davis car. Danny Johnson was in the Mike Trautschold entry and was in second at the halfway fuel stop. However during the break the right rear tire went flat and he had to pit and returned to finish ninth. Billy Pauch sporting Pioneer Pole Building body work was sixth at the fuel stop and had to pit with a left rear flat and he ended up tenth. Brett Hearn’s night started bad in the heat as he got tangled up with Billy Van Pelt and had to pit. Van Pelt had an even worse night than Hearn and it appeared he was in the wrong place all night long and failed to transfer. Bobby Puckett who had a guaranteed starting spot from winning a qualifying race at Five Mile Point broke in the heat race and was done for the night. The halfway fuel stop was made to accommodate cars using racing alcohol. All drivers were asked to vacate their car during fuel stop for fire/safety issues. The win was the third of the year on the RoC Tour for Petruska Racing in the five races they have been at. Pat Ward clipped in the inside turn four wall with a handful of laps remaining bending the left front severely and managed to hang on to fifth.
RACE REPORT RACE OF CHAMPIONS DART DIRT MODIFIED TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES RACE #1
FINISH; Jerry Higbie, Jr. , Andy Bachetti, Mike Ricci, Pat Ward, Greg Hastie, Chuck McKee, Kevin Duryea, Danny Johnson, Billy Pauch, Stewart Friesen, Jamie Yannone, Brian Weaver, Clinton Mills, Brett Hearn, John Lutes, Jr., Russ Zimmerman, Jeff Richardson, Vinny DeCicco, Rick Mill, Bobby Trapper, Brian Malcolm, Brent Boyer, Jeremy Markle, Danny Creeden, Shaun Walker, Ricky Yetter, Mark Pullen, Sr., Howard Jarvis.
DNS; Bobby Puckett.
DNQ’S; Rob Rowe, Mike Senecal, Billy Van Pelt, Anthony Perrego, David Bush, Jackie Brown, Jr., Scott Ferrier, Lex Burritt, John McGill, Danny Tyler, Robbie Green, Ernie Palmer, Rick Holsten, Mel Schrufer, Richie Eurich, Joey Grammes.
LAP LEADERS; Yetter ( 1 – 2 ), Colsten ( 3 – 23 ), Bachetti ( 24 – 76 ), Higbie ( 77 – 100 ).
WLR CONSTRUCTION HALFWAY BONUS $500; Bachetti.
DART MACHINERY SMALL BLOCK BONUS $500; Higbie.
RoC PROVISIONALS; Ward, Weaver.
ACCORD PROVISIONALS; Duryea, Trapper.
KING OF THE CATSKILLS QUALIFYING RACE WINNER PROVISIONALS; Markle, Puckett.
NEXT RoC CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES EVENT; Saturday October 24 – Penn – Can Speedway – King of the Can – 60 laps - $5,000 to win.
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