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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – THANK YOU
Written By – J.R. Kennerup
GODOWN’S BIGGEST CAREER WIN
COMES UP LIGHT AT SCALES “THE DOCTOR” INHERITS INSINGER
PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS ICEBREAKER II WIN.
Selinsgrove, Pa… It
appeared that on Saturday evening at the Selinsgrove
Speedway that Ryan Godown of Ringoes, NJ captured the
biggest win of his young racing career. As he led the final
34 laps to claim the Insinger Performance Products
Icebreaker II 50 Race of Champions Dart Dirt Modified Tour
sanctioned event.
The joy for Godown
lasted until he reached the scales where his car came up
light by a mere 14 pounds, which disqualified him and handed
the win to Danny Johnson. Billy Decker ended up second with
Jeff Strunk in third Stewart Friesen driving the Will Brown
owned car was fourth and Jimmy Horton, Jr. finished fifth.
“I was going to be happy with a
second, but things happen and I ended up with a win,” said
the veteran Rochester, NY driver. “There was quite a field
on hand here today and there were some pretty good cars that
went home without making the feature.”
Richie Pratt, Jr. and
Doug Hoffman brought the 27 car field to green with Pratt
jumping out to a big lead over Ryan Godown, Billy Decker,
Hoffman, and Joey Grammes. Following a lap one restart the
big mover was Brett Hearn who motored from ninth to fourth.
Hearn appeared to
have the fastest car in the field as he moved into third on
lap four and two laps later took second from Godown. While
closing in on leader Pratt coming out of turn four on lap
eight the motor tightened up, which sent Hearn to the pit
area.
Smoke started to
appear from the engine of Pratt’s car on lap ten and the
motor finally expired on lap 16 ending a strong run. On the
restart Godown jumped out to the lead over Danny Johnson who
moved from fourth to second on the restart.
With Godown, Johnson,
and Decker all settling into first, second, and third. All
eyes were focused on the excellent four car battle for
fourth between Jeff Strunk, Stewart Friesen, Grammes, and
Duane Howard. Each lap there were some hair raising moves
being made by all four drivers.
Following the fifth
yellow of the race on lap 37 defending RoC champ Pat Ward
started to make some noise. Ward, who started 22nd,
had to pit for sheet metal on lap one now entered fifth on
lap 43. While battling for fourth on lap 45 the right rear
tire on the Ward machine went flat and the final yellow of
the race was brought out.
Johnson ran the
entire race with severely bent right front radius rods after
a first lap tangle with Larry Wight.
Since joining the
Mike Petruska owned team last fall Danny has been on a tear
with a big win in the Eastern States and now the Icebreaker
II. “The team has really good equipment ( Teo Pro car and
JPM Motors ) and that is a lot of it,” said the winner of
$5,100. “I’m an experienced driver and they are an
experienced team and when we got together it is a good
combination. To be honest with you I don’t know how you can
beat it with all of the experience this team has.”
Danny spoke about
Selinsgrove where he won his first race in his first ever
appearance. “This is a really nice place, they did a good
job, management did a good job how they ran things,” said
Danny. “This is a fast place and you need to keep your
corner speeds up here because if you don’t you’re going to
get passed. The straights are long here and when you’re
entering the corner you are carrying some fast speeds into
the corner.”
“We had about a fifth
place racecar today,” said second place finisher Billy
Decker of Franklin, NY. “Danny and I had quite a battle for
second; I kind of messed up over here in turn three one time
as I had the car sideways in the middle of the track. Danny
could have run into me but he avoided me. After I got behind
him I could never get into the right position to make a move
on him.”
“It was a great run
for us,” said third place finisher Jeff Strunk. “We got
shuffled back there in the beginning and the car was really
good during the middle of the race and that is how we got
back up front.”
The Zemco Speed Equipment /
Shiley Fabrication heat races for the 56 cars in attendance
which paid $ 100 were captured by Hearn, Wight, Grammes,
Godown, Rich Ricci, Jr., and Mike Iles. Hearn captured the
$300 Middleswarth Potato Chips Cash Dash. The $100 to win B
Mains sponsored by Bair Wheel Repair, SMI Racing, and JGK
Motorsports were captured by Friesen, Billy Pauch, and
Michael Storms.
NOTES; Once again a
table top smooth racing surface greeted the racers for the
second consecutive evening. For drivers who raced both
nights their best finish form either night counted towards
the RoC Dart Dirt Modified Tour point standings. Mike Iles
won his heat but suffered motor woes ending his day and he
was supposed to run the Jimmy Chester car in the feature but
never made it out. Danny Hieber broke in hot laps ending his
day, ditto for Chad Brachmann who lost the driveshaft in hot
laps. Defending race winner Rick Laubach had to run his
small block car due to blowing the motor in the Rick Clay
big block during hot laps on Friday night. A successful
weekend of racing had all interested parties all ready
looking forward to the 2010 edition.
The Race of Champions
Dart Dirt Modified Tour is sponsored by; Dart Machinery,
Sunoco Race Fuels, American Racer Tires, PBM Performance
Products, Total Seal Piston Rings, Dura – Bond, Competition
Engineering by Moroso, Dynatech, Xceldyne, Afco, CV
Products, and LA Sleeve.
The Saturday portion
of the RoC Icebreaker II Weekend was sponsored by; Insinger
Performance Products, Utica – Rome Speedway, Middleswarth
Potato Chips, Litech Race Systems, Jim Collier Paving &
Excavating, Zemco Speed Equipment, Shiley Fabrication, Lenny
Krautheim Auto Sales, SMI Racing, Bair Wheel Repair,
Selinsgrove Speedway, Keith Sweigart Electric, BFP
Specialties, JGK Motorsports, Penske Racing Shocks,
Middelburg IGA, Accord Speedway, Race of Champions Dart Dirt
Modified Tour, and the Country Hearth Inn.
RACE OF CHAMPIONS DART DIRT
MODIFIED TOUR RACE #2 SELINSGROVE SPEEDWAY INSINGER
PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS ICEBREAKER II 50
INSINGER PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS
ICEBREAKER II FINISH; Danny Johnson, Billy Decker, Jeff
Strunk, Stewart Friesen, Jimmy Horton, Jr., Duane Howard,
Joey Grammes, Michael Storms, Larry Wight, Bobby Trapper,
Pat Ward, Earl Paules, Rich Scagliotta, Jackie Brown, Jr.,
Butch Tittle, Troy Wink, Mike Colsten, Rich Ricci, Jr., Rick
Laubach, Doug Hoffman, Brian Weaver, Ray Swinehart, Richie
Pratt, Jr., Billy Pauch, Brett Hearn, Billy Pauch, Jr.
DQ; Ryan Godown.
SCRATCHED; Mike Iles.
LAP LEADERS; Pratt ( 1 – 16 ),
Godown ( 17 – 50 ).
UTICA – ROME SPEEDWAY GUARANTEED
STARTING SPOT FOR THE VICTORIA 200 $1,000 – Johnson.
LITECH RACE SYSTEMS HARD CHARGER
AWARD $ 200 – Friesen 19th to 4th.
JIM COLLIER PAVING & EXCAVATING
LONG HAUL AWARD $50 – Brachmann.
LENNY KRAUTHEIM AUTO SALES 3RD
PLACE BONUS $ 150 – Strunk.
KEITH SWEIGART ELECTRIC LIGHTNING
FAST LAP $50 – Hearn – Heat 1 19.893 seconds.
BFP SPECIALTIES HARD LUCK AWARD $
100 – Brachmann.
JGK MOTORSPORTS JACK BAGLEY
MEMORIAL DEDICATION TO RACING $100 – Ward.
PENSKE RACING SHOCKS $495 –
Strunk, Horton, Grammes.
DART MACHINERY SMALL BLOCK BONUS
$500 – Wight.
ACCORD SPEEDWAY REGULAR BONUS
$100 – Johnson.
ACCORD SPEEDWAY BUY IN
PROVISIONAL $200 – Brown.
RACE OF CHAMPIONS DART DIRT
MODIFIED TOUR BUY IN PROVISIONAL $200 – M. Colsten.
FIVE MILE POINT SPEEDWAY BUY IN
PROVISIONAL $200 – Weaver.
SELINSGROVE SPEEDWAY SATURDAY DNQ
– Sean Merkel, Jeremiah Shingledecker, Brent Boyer, Mark
Forte, Jr., Danny Tyler, Dave Jenkins, Steve Paine, Ron
Cartwright, Jr., Billy Van Pelt, Rich Wegner, Jr., David Van
Horn, Jimmy Chester, Ray Bliss, Jr., JR Crouse, Del Rougeux,
Matt Sheppard, Doug Manmiller, Chad Brachmann, Danny Hieber,
Jeff Brownell, Danny Creeden, Joey Colsten, Darwin R.
Greene, Tommy Scheetz, Jr., John Stangle.
DNS; Ricky Yetter, Ryan Watt,
Mark Frankhouser.
SELINSGROVE SPEEDWAY SUMMARY Saturday, 21 March 2009
ROC Big
Block Modifieds - 56 Entries
50-Lap A-Main:
1) 66 Danny Johnson $4,000 2) 91
Billy Decker 3) 41 Jeff Strunk 4) 1W Stewart Friesen 5)
14 Jimmy Horton 6) 4 Duane Howard 7) 5G Joey Grammes 8) 4S
Michael Storms 9) 99L Larry Wight 10) 69 Bobby Trapper
11) 42p Pat Ward 12) 4P Earl Paules 13) 8 Rich Scagliotta
14) 6x Jackie Brown 15) 0z Butch Tittle 16) 27 Troy Fink
17) 51 Mike Holsten 18) 406 Rich Ricci Jr. 19) 542 Rick
Laubaugh 20) 357 Doug Hoffman 21) 1a Brian Weaver 22) 33
Ray Swinehart 23) 0 Richie Pratt 24) 126 Billy
Pauch 25) 20 Brett Hearn 26) 15 Billy Pauch Jr. 27) 711
Mike Iles 28) 26 Ryan Godown (DQ) Heat Winners:
Brett Hearn, Larry Wight, Joey Grammes, Ryan
Godown, Rich Ricci Jr., Mike Isles
SELINSGROVE SPEEDWAY SUMMARY Friday,
20 March 2009
358 Modifieds - 58 Entries
25-Lap A-Main: 1) 42 Pat Ward 2) 1C Craig VonDohren 3)
4 Duane Howard 4) 1w Matt Shepard 5) 4H Brett Hearn 6) R1
Ryan Godown 7) 14 Jimmy Horton 8) 33 Ray Swinehart 9) 44
Jimmy Chester 10) 2 Billy VanPelt 11) 8 Rich Scagliotta
12) 71 David VanHorn Jr. 13) 88 Bryan Terwilliger 14) 14
Doug Manmiller 15) 99L Larry Wight 16) 5G Joey Grammes
17) 51 Mike Colsten 18) 6S John Stangle 19) 118 Sean
Merkel 20) 25R John Ramsey 21) 19U Tom Umbenhauer 22) 27z
Ray Bliss 23) 145 Alan Rudalavage 24) 91 Billy Decker 25)
14W Ryan Watt Heat Winners: Ryan Godown, David
VanHorn, Mike Colsten, Duane Howard, Sean Merkel, Pat Ward
B-Main Winners: Ray Swinehart, Tom Umbenhauer, Doug
Manmiller
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