 Any
race car driver always likes seeing their name as the first winner
of a new event or at a new race track. That was the case on Sunday
afternoon at the Shangri–La II Speedway as Chuck Hossfeld won the
Race of Champions Dart Asphalt Modified Tour opener, the first RoC
sanctioned event at the track.
Hossfeld of Ransomville, NY started sixth in the field of 28 ground
pounding Modifieds. Chuck used the outside groove of the half mile
concrete oval to get into second by lap five. For the next sixty
laps Hossfeld kept working over leader Pete Brittain with a variety
of outside and inside challenges. Just after lap 64 was completed
Hossfeld darted to the inside of Brittain entering turn one grabbing
the lead.
Brittain who started on the pole tried the same exact move with one
lap to go but failed to make the pass for the lead. This failed
attempt by Brittain bottled up the pack behind him setting off a
wild scramble to the finish line.
Hossfeld in for the popular $2,800 win followed by Wilbur Hebing,
Daren Scherer, Brittain, and Erick Rudolph who recovered nicely from
a lap 25 spin to finish fifth.
“ It’s good to win the first one here “ said the smiling winner in
the post race tech inspection area. “ In this day and age where you
go to tracks and they’re deteriorating, it’s discouraging. Then when
you go to a nice new race track like here and Albany – Saratoga, it
shows me that there is a future in our type of racing which is
great. “
Running behind leader Pete Brittain for sixty laps Chuck did find
out one big item that enabled him to set up his winning pass. “ It
took him three or four laps to really get going after a restart; I
figured that I had to attack right after a restart ( lap 62 ). He
did what he had to do by holding and protecting the bottom, but I
worked him over high and low all day and it paid off in the end. “
Hossfeld faced another factor in making his winning pass and that
was oil dry all over the track due to complete track oil down by
Brian DeFebo. “ Yes I was concerned with all of that oil dry on the
track. But I was running higher on the track and I figured that he
had to protect the bottom and with all of that oil dry down there
that would be an advantage for me. “
The win was special for Chuck but he knew that he wouldn’t have made
it to the winners circle without his hard working crew and powerful
engine under the hood. “ I want to thank my team as they put a lot
of hours in, don’t get a lot of recognition, and I think they are
one of the best teams out there right now. I have a lot of talented
people on my team and I have a great motor program with Ron Hutter
right now. Every track you need horsepower and I know with a Hutter
you have that horsepower when you need it the most especially here
with the long straights. “
Ontario, NY driver Wilbur Hebing ended up second in the Ed McGuire
owned car. “ We’re very happy with the way the car went and I’m
happy for Ed as he was supposed to stay home ( operation this past
week ) but I saw his van up there outside of turn one and I knew he
couldn’t stay home. “
Wilbur who started fifth had one of, if not the fastest car during
the feature. “ The longer the race stayed green the more the car
would come to me. I know the guys in front of me started to get
loose late in the race and I figured that the 22 cars would get
together and I wasn’t sure that if they did I could stay out of it
or not. But I did and came home in second which is a good finish for
us and a nice way to bring the car home in one piece instead of on a
wrecker. “
Binghamton, NY driver Daren Scherer started second and hung around
the top five all race long and got a break at the end to finish
third. “ Our car was getting real loose at the end and all of those
cautions late in the race helped us out. We’ll take a third as that
is a good way to start the year out on the Tour. “
Qualifying heat races for the 30 car field saw heat wins captured by
Matt Hirschman, Rudolph, Brittain, and Earl Paules.
RoC N’ CONCRETE RUMBLINGS; Many first time racers and race
fans packed the facility making it unofficially the largest attended
event in the history of the track that opened last summer. Many long
time attendees of the old Shangri–La Speedway were on hand trading
racing stories while checking out the new facility. The Modifieds
were turning laps on the half mile oval in the mid to low 17 second
bracket all day long. Track builder, owner, and promoter George
Swansbrough decided to add all Modifieds that made it through the
heat races due to the tremendous support on the day. Chris Risdale
suffered mechanical woes in hot laps ending his day. Ken Canestrari
and Tommy Cloce got together at the start of heat number three with
both drivers ending up hard into the homestretch outside wall,
Canestrari called it a day at that point while Cloce repaired his
car to make the feature only to have smoke from the engine ending
his day. Doug Reaume who wrecked his car severely here two weeks ago
was back in the same machine. After blowing a right front tire in
the feature and slamming the turn three outside wall Jim Storace
complained of neck pain, he was removed from the car and transported
to a local hospital for observation. There was no update on his
condition at press time. The late race left front flat of Jan Leaty
cost him a top five finish while defending and two time RoC Champion
Matt Hirschman got tapped which blew his left rear at the same time
taking a top ten away from him. The show was taped for Trackwide
Thunder and will be shown on Time Warner Cable Sports on June 3rd
with Doug Elkins and Dan Harpell calling the action.
The Race of Champions Dart Asphalt Modified Tour is proudly
sponsored by; Dart Machinery, Sunoco Race Fuels, Hoosier Racing
Tire, Gater Racing News, Total Seal Piston Rings, Dura – Bond,
Competition Engineering by Moroso, Afco, Melling Performance, CV
Products, Erson Cams, Dynatech, Xceldyne Technologies, PBM
Performance Products, and LA Sleeve.
The next event is the postponed April 18th show at the
Albany–Saratoga Speedway in Malta, NY that takes place this Friday
night. The show will resume when the rain hit at the start of the
third heat, RoC cars that show up will receive their 50 bonus
points.
The next full point show for the RoC Tour is Saturday May 29th at
the Oswego Speedway with the running of the Richie Evans Memorial.
For more information on the Race of Champions Dart Asphalt Modified
Tour please call RoC at 607 – 775 – 5555 or log on to the World Wide
Web at
www.raceofchampions.net.
RACE OF CHAMPIONS DART ASPAHLT MODIFIED
TOUR RoC N’ CONCRETE RUMBLE 75 RACE REPORT
FINISH; Chuck Hossfeld, Wilbur Hebing, Daren Scherer, Pete
Brittain, Erick Rudolph, Earl Paules, Kyle Ebersole, Steven Reed,
Andy Walko, Mike Leaty, Billy Putney, Rick Kluth, Byron Chew, Mike
Speeney, TJ Potrzebowski, Rusty Smith, Matt Hirschman, Jan Leaty,
Scott Conover, Zack Shove, Doug Reaume, Brian DeFebo, Jim Storace,
Bob Reis, John Markovic, Lenny Fischer, Tommy Cloce, Matt Clemens.
DID NOT START; Ken Canestrari, Chris Risdale.
LAP LEADERS; Brittain (1-64), Hossfeld (65-75).
DART MACHINERY AWARD ( FROM ALBANY – SARATOGA ) $1,500 SET OF
HEADS; Shove.
GATER RACING NEWS DRIVER BONUS DRAW ( FROM ALBANY – SARATOGA )
$500; Hirschman.
HOOSIER RACING TIRE HARD CHARGER AWARD; Ebersole 20th to 7th.
HOOSIER RACING TIRE HARD LUCK AWARD; Storace 4th to 23rd. |
