 After
dominating a week ago George Brunnhoelzl III used a
different technique this time to score the win.
Brunnhoelzl, hailing from West Babylon, N.Y., made a
dramatic last-lap pass of Tim Brown to pick up a
NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour on Saturday
night in the Spring Fling 150 at Caraway Speedway.
Brunnhoelzl started from the pole position after
winning his 20th career pole award earlier in the
day, but lost the lead to Brown on the race’s first
lap. Brunnhoelzl behind the wheel of his No. 28 Epox-Z/Oval
Speed Chevrolet spent the rest of the race looking
at the rear bumper of Brown. An opportunity
presented itself, though, on Lap 146 when the
caution flag flew for a multi-car incident in Turn 1
of the .455-mile oval which set up a
green-white-checkered finish. After Brown took the
white flag Brunnhoelzl tapped the leader’s rear
bumper in Turns 3 and 4 opening a window for
Brunnhoelzl to slip through to victory.
Brunnhoelzl had little reservations after the fact
about the bump-and-run move that led to yet another
Caraway victory.
“Tim had a good car, we had a great car … every
restart, every time I got outside of him he put me
up in the third groove, and during a race there’s no
need for it,” Brunnhoelzl said. “The
green-white-checkered comes, he ran me into the hot
dog stand in Turn 1, so he cleared me down the
backstretch, and I gave him a little bump-and-run.”
On the cool-down lap Brown made contact with
Brunnhoelzl and attempted to disrupt the Victory
Lane proceedings, but race officials cleared things
out with little incident.
It was the second agonizing defeat for Brown, who
held on to finish second, at Caraway in as many
starts this season. In the season’s opening race on
March 16 at Caraway, Brown started from the pole and
led a race-high 96 laps before running out of fuel
on Lap 146 of the 150-lap affair.
Kyle Ebersole finished third for the third straight
race. Last year’s Sunoco Rookie of the Year Danny
Bohn scored a season-best finish of fourth followed
by Brian Loftin in fifth. Rookie Luke Fleming, Burt
Myers, Andy Seuss, Jason Myers and Gary Putnam
rounded out the top-10 finishers on the night.
For Brunnhoelzl, it was his 19th tour career win
which extends his own all-time tour record. He’s won
five of the last eight Whelen Southern Modified Tour
events at Caraway, and he’s finished either first or
second in nine of the last 11.
It was also Brunnhoelzl’s ninth career win at
Caraway which gives him the all-time mark at the
track. He and Loftin were tied atop the list coming
into the evening.
“It feels great [to be atop the list],” Brunnhoelzl
said. “Every time you win it’s great. To take the
most wins here just makes it that much better.”
The three-time tour champion in Brunnhoelzl led
wire-to-wire to pick up his first victory of the
season on April 13 at South Boston (Va.) Speedway.
After his two consecutive wins, Brunnhoelzl has an
18-point advantage over Ebersole in the championship
standings with Brown closely trailing.
With four of 12 races in the books, the NASCAR
Whelen Southern Modified Tour takes a break and will
be on the track next on Friday, July 5 at Caraway
Speedway. |
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NASCAR WHELEN SOUTHERN MODIFIED TOUR-Spring Fling 150
Unofficial Results
Saturday At Caraway Speedway, Asheboro, N.C.
Lap length: 0.455 miles
(Start position in parentheses)
1. (1) George Brunnhoelzl, III, West Babylon, N.Y.,
Chevrolet, 155 laps, 76.038 mph.
2. (2) Tim Brown, Rural Hall, N.C., Chevrolet, 155.
3. (3) Kyle Ebersole, Hummelstown, Pa., Ford, 155.
4. (4) Danny Bohn, Freehold, N.J., Chevrolet, 155.
5. (7) Brian Loftin, Lexington, N.C., Chevrolet, 155.
6. (9) Luke Fleming, Mount Airy, N.C., Ford, 155.
7. (10) Burt Myers, Walnut Cove, N.C., Ford, 155.
8. (6) Andy Seuss, Hampstead, N.H., Chevrolet, 154.
9. (11) Jason Myers, Walnut Cove, N.C., Ford, 154.
10. (15) Gary Putnam, Concord, N.C., Chevrolet, 154.
11. (14) JR Bertuccio, Centereach, N.Y., Chevrolet, 154.
12. (5) John Smith, Mount Airy, N.C., Chevrolet, 154.
13. (12) Bryan Dauzat, Alexandria, La., Chevrolet, 153.
14. (13) David Calabrese, Toms River, N.J., Chevrolet, 151.
15. (16) Jeremy Gerstner, Wesley Chapel, Fla., Chevrolet, 149.
16. (8) Brandon Ward, Winston-Salem, N.C., Chevrolet, 60,
mechanical.
17. (17) Mike Norman, Lewisville, N.C., Chevrolet, 0, DNS.
Race Statistics
Time of Race: 0 hours 55 minutes 39 seconds
Margin of Victory: 0.126 seconds
Fastest Qualifier: G. Brunnhoelzl, III (103.723 mph, 15.792 seconds)
Caution Flags: 3 for 13 laps.
Lead Changes: 1 among 2 drivers.
Lap Leaders: T. Brown 1-154; G. Brunnhoelzl, III 155.
Standings: 1. G. Brunnhoelzl, III, 178; 2. K. Ebersole, 160; 3. T.
Brown, 157; 4. J. Myers, 151; 5. B. Myers, 149; 6. A. Seuss, 146; 7. B.
Loftin, 135; 8. J. Smith, 135; 9. G. Putnam, 134; 10. D. Bohn, 131. |
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