The Chrome Horn - RoC Asphalt Modifieds

   6/20/2008

MIKE LEATY HOLDS OFF A RIMRIDING HOSSFELD
FOR EXCITING SPENCER RoC VICTORY

   The pre race hype had everyone talking about if you wanted to win at Spencer Speedway on Friday night you had to beat a Leaty. Most people were referring to Jan who has won many big races at the flat half mile oval.
   But on Friday night Jan’s son Mike took a page out of his dad’s race strategy notebook to win the 75 lap Race of Champions Dart Asphalt Modified Tour sanctioned event. Mike pitted along with a host of others on lap 35, a great pit stop by his crew placed Mike at the head of the cars who had pitted.
   Then racing back up through the field Mike was passed by a high flying and rim riding Chuck Hossfeld who put on an outside groove passing exhibition that hasn’t been seen in quite some time at Spencer. Mike stuck right on the back bumper of Hossfeld until they caught leader Rusty Smith.
   Smith who hadn’t pitted for tires was getting looser each lap he circled the track held off Mike and Chuck who were racing side by side trying to get the lead from laps 44 to 56. Coming out of turn two the pivotal point of the race took place as Mike got under Chuck and passed him going into turn three for second. Just as this happened leader Smith nearly spun his car out due to worn tires entering turn three. Mike pounced on the mistake to grab the lead exiting turn four to complete lap 57.
   Hossfeld tried every clean racing move in his artillery over the final 18 laps to try and grab the lead. But each time Mike Leaty held him off to win the very popular $2,800 victory at his home track. Erick Rudolph who started 17th came on strong at the end to finish third with defending RoC Champion Matt Hirschman surviving three pit stops to race his way back to fourth and early race leader Jim Storace finished in fifth.
   “ I didn’t know that I was pitting when I went into turn three on lap 35 “ said the smiling winner. “ I saw two or three cars in front of me duck into the pits and I knew that there was a good chance that all of the guys behind me were going to pit because they saw the first two or three guys pit. So I said this was the time to pit if we were going to pit and I cranked it into the pits at the last second. “
   After the pit stops Mike had an excellent side by side battle with Chuck Hossfeld for position. “ Its fun racing with the guys that are accomplished and respect each other “ said Mike. “ We touched here and there, hopefully it was a good show for the fans and it ( contact ) never went over the top to the point of where we would wreck. It was a good hard race between us and we figured who got to the front first between me and Chuck would win because Rusty was on old tires when we got to him. I didn’t think Chuck was going to race around me if I got out front first and vice versa if he got out front first. Luckily we got to the front first. “
   Mike recalled the pivotal moment of the race on lap 56 when he went from third to first in a matter of a quarter of a track. “ Rusty was doing all he could to stay in the lead, he wasn’t giving an extra inch and that was his job not to give an extra inch. I tried the outside to get by him and Chuck slipped by me ( lap 50 ) to get second and I thought I was in trouble then. Then Chuck tried the outside and I filled the hole on him and at the same time getting into three Rusty got a little sideways and I was lucky enough to get under him. Chucky at the same time got right behind me and gave me shot which in turn gave me a good run coming out of four with the lead. It felt like I picked up an additional 50 horsepower with that bump in the back bumper, but that’s all right I’ll take it. “
   The win was also a historical one as it was the first RoC Tour win with a RoC DART Spec head motor that Mike Leaty has now used for the last year and a half. “ I won a weekly race last year here at Spencer with this DART motor “ recalled Mike who started tenth in the feature. “ But this is the first RoC win with this RoC motor and I have nothing but high praises for it. This is a big win for this motor as I honestly didn’t think this motor would run this well at Spencer Speedway. The thing has good horsepower numbers compared to the aluminum heads but it doesn’t have the torque numbers that those motors have and you need torque at Spencer. If I have $20,000 in this engine, I’m lucky as that is a lot of money but I can take a new $400 carburetor out of the box and put it on this motor and go racing. With an aluminum headed motor the carburetor will cost you $3,500 and I don’t see any difference except cost between the two right now. I’m glad that I’m the only RoC Tour regular that has one and I would like to see it stay that way. Andy is really building something here with this motor package and it is good for the long term health of our sport. “
   Nineteenth place starting Chuck Hossfeld put on the show all evening long as Chuck was the only driver to consistently race in the outside groove all race long. “ I’m disappointed for my crew and I’m disappointed for me because we had such a good car “ said Chuck. “ It’s a shame to be second, I like to think I ran Mike clean and everyone else who I raced with tonight, I raced them clean too. Maybe in the long run that cost me a spot and maybe cost me a win. “
   “ It’s so flat here obviously it’s harder on the car and harder on the tires “ said Chuck when talking about his running of the outside groove all evening long. “ We had a great car and I attest that to Kenny who had a good setup under the car. It was flying, I was really happy with it and I would have loved to won it. But at least the fans can go home and say they saw a great race tonight and that is the most important thing. “
   The final restart on lap 69 was the race as Mike got a large advantage over Chuck when the green came out. The difference was indeed the race as it took Chuck several laps to catch up with Mike and by that time the race was over with.
   Chuck explained what happened on that final restart. “ I don’t know if Mike was shifting but I hit him and my car popped out of gear. I thought I was going to drop back to tenth as I couldn’t get it back in, that was a costly mistake as it gave Mike some breathing room. “
   Erick Rudolph who started 17th ended up third with a car that was good on the long runs. “ We passed a lot of cars tonight as our car was really good on the long runs. The caution with six to go hurt us as after we went back to green it took us four to five laps to get back going all race long. “
   Qualifying for the 35 car field saw heat wins go to Pete Brittain. Mike Leaty, Daren Scherer, and Billy Putney while Chris Whitenight won the B Main.

   NOTES; All heat race finishes with the exception of heat two saw the official finishing orders changed due to rule infractions by several drivers, which involved an improperly working one way radio. Drivers were told one month ago at Oswego that starting with this race penalties were going to be handed out. George Kent was running the Matt Kurzejewski driven car as Matt was unable to make the show due to a graduation. Chip Santee was driving the Adam Horwith owned car as a team mate to Eric Beers. Chris Zacharias blew the clutch in his car during the first hot lap session. He got the clutch repaired but was unable to get the transmission installed in time for the B Main. Chris didn’t remain idle during the feature as he became the announcer for the Modified feature. Mark Tychoniewicz and Jimmy Zacharias both crashed hard into the homestretch wall during the heat race. Jimmy’s car had severe damage and he drove the car that his brother T. J. was driving in the heat race, Jimmy did qualify for the feature through the B main. Mark meanwhile rebuilt his entire front end with help from the Rick Kluth and Tom Wiest teams to transfer to the feature from the B Main. However during the feature Mark got the front end wiped out again after a multi car homestretch accident. Several drivers including Matt Hirschman, T. J. Potrzebowski, and a strong running Kyle Ebersole all made contact with the homestretch wall during the feature. The next RoC race at Spencer is a 100 lap Championship Series event on Friday August 14th.

RACE OF CHAMPIONS DART ASPHALT MODIFIED TOUR
REGULAR SEASON RACE # 2


FINISH; Mike Leaty, Chuck Hossfeld, Erick Rudolph, Matt Hirschman, Jim Storace, Billy Putney, Jan Leaty, Eric Beers, Earl Paules, Rusty Smith, Jimmy Zacharias, Pete Brittain, Doug Reaume, Daren Scherer, Tim McMullen, Brian DeFebo, Danny Knoll, Jr., T. J. Potrzebowski, Rick Kluth, George Kent, Mark Tychoniewicz, John Markovic, Kyle Ebersole, Wilbur Hebing, Chris Whitenight, David Silvernail.
DNQ’S; Matt Clemens, Jeff Hamman, Tom Wiest, Chip Santee, Terry Zacharias, T. J. Zacharias, Ron Smith, Tommy Cloce, Chris Zacharias.
LAP LEADERS; Ru. Smith ( 1 ), Storace ( 2 – 24 ) Ru. Smith ( 25 – 56 ), M. Leaty ( 57 – 75 ).
DART MACHINERY AWARD SET OF HEADS $1,500 VALUE; Brittain.
GATER RACING NEWS DRIVER BONUS DRAWING $500; Whitenight.
HOOSIER RACING TIRE HARD CHARGER AWARD; Hossfeld ( 19th to 2nd ).
HOOSIER RACING TIRE HARD LUCK AWARD; Ebersole ( 5th to 23rd ).

NEXT RoC EVENT; Friday July 10th – Wyoming County International Raceway.
 

SourceJR's Motorsports Media / RoC Dart Asphalt Modified Tour
Posted: June 20, 2009

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