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Champions Shine At Gateway International Raceway
Jul 13th
Todd Bodine (No. 30 Germain.com Toyota) believes it’s coincidental that experience appears to be
the key at Gateway International Raceway, where a NASCAR
Camping World Truck Series-record seven champions
have won in 12 races at the 1.25-mile track in suburban St.
Louis.
“Anybody can hit on that (special) setup, haul the mail
and run up front,” said Bodine, the 2006 series champion
and current points leader.
Anybody can – but anybody doesn’t.
There have been no first-time winners at Gateway. No
Raybestos Rookie of the Year contender has won a race
there.
The only double winner is Ted Musgrave, who led a
whopping 158 of 160 laps of the 2006 event – the year he
and series pioneer-owner Jim Smith won the championship.
Often as not, the dominant truck hasn’t won at Gateway.
A year ago, Mike Skinner (No. 5 Exide Toyota) was a
surprised winner after some late-race fireworks that saw a succession of drivers abdicate the lead in a series
of bizarre, late-race incidents.
“We won with a fourth-place truck and at the end of the day, when the smoke cleared, the No. 5 was in
Victory Lane,” Skinner said. “I kept asking myself, ‘How did this happen?’ But I’ll take it.”
David Starr (No. 81 Randy Moss Motorsports Toyota) is another driver who won at Gateway when
other drivers’ ambitions overcame common sense. Starr led only the final lap in 2004 in the last of three
green-white-checker attempts.
“I was running fifth and I thought I’d finish third at best,” said Starr, who executed a bump-and-run maneuver
with less than a lap to go to claim the victory.
Gateway, with its tight turns and relatively flat configuration, requires a lot of braking over the course of
160 laps. By the time a driver is ready to make a final charge, those brakes may not be able to sufficiently
slow a 3,400-pound truck.
“It invites you to go deeper and deeper and makes for an exciting (end of the race) when the guy who
goes in too deep knocks out the guy who is running second,” Starr said.
Still, he agrees with Bodine – it’s a great feeling to have the perfect truck. It’s not something that happens
frequently. The Houston driver, who made his 250th start a week ago at Iowa Speedway, remembers
having that special setup when he won his first race in Las Vegas in 2002.
“It doesn’t happen often,” Starr said. “When it does, it’s a feeling you can’t describe. It’s just awesome.”
TONY STEWART RACES AT CAYUGA COUNTY FAIR SPEEDWAY AS MOMENTIUM BUILDS FOR ALL-STAR WEEKEND
Jul 13th
WEEDSPORT, NY- Cayuga County Fair Speedway was the place to be Sunday night; at least NASCAR Star Tony Stewart thought so. Sunday afternoon the DIRTcar office got a phone call a race promoter could only hope to receive. Tony Stewart was going to compete in Sundays Empire Super Sprint race. Stewart joined his fellow teammate Jessica Zemken as they battled all the drivers at the ESS “Wings and Warriors” night.
Sunday’s visit from the ESS Sprint series was a one of many firsts. It was the first time in five years that the series has been back to Cayuga County Fair Speedway; the first time star Tony Stewart has joined the track and the first time during the 2010 season that Bryan Howland, Austin Ely, Mike Mahaney, and Jared Fink have competed.
When the news broke that Stewart was racing, fans lined up early to get their reserved seat for this special appearance. Those same fans were also privileged to have the opportunity to meet ESS 2009 champion Justin Barger and Tony Stewart’s teammate Jessica Zemken. Both drivers were on hand to sign autographs for the anxious crowd as they made their way into the CCFS.
When the green flag dropped and action got underway Jessica Zemken was in the right place at the right time, as she has been for three out of the last four races. Jessica found her way back into victory lane, winning the 25 lap Empire Super Sprints feature. Zemken was solidly in second place in the last half of the event as Steve Poirier was clearly the fastest driver on the track. On lap 20, Poirier came off turn four with a blown motor and took his winged sprinter to the infield. Zemken inherited the lead and kept a safe distance between her and Jason Barney. After a lap 22 caution allowing Barney to pull right behind her, Jessica pulled away to win with Barney taking second. Zemken car owner and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series star Tony Stewart finished third. Fourth was Justin Barger and fifth place was Brian Howland. The same stars will return July 23 and 24 at Rolling Wheels Raceway for The Fast Track 360 Sprint Car Summer Shootout.
Dave Marcuccilli has been extremely fast on the Cayuga County Fair Speedway three eighths mile oval and won for the second time in three days. Marcuccilli had better than a five second lead over second place finisher John Juhl, who was an early leader of the event. Third was Fran Hilton followed by Steve Gray, who took over the CCFS DIRTcar Sportsman points lead. Fifth was Ben Wheeler.
A late race battle in the 20 lap Original Pizza Logs Micro Sprints saw Nick Cooper and Darryl Ruggles in a real dogfight right up to the checkered flag with Cooper winning for the first time in 2010 at CCFS. Ruggles actually went ahead of Cooper on lap 18 as the two competitors were side by side coming off turn four. Cooper would soon get the lead back and keep it for the remainder of the race. Third was DIRTcar big block Modified competitor Charlie Donk while Jim Radney was fourth and A. J. Bogino was fifth.
In the 15 lap BattleKarz feature, Nick Werner was the winner. Finishing second was Les Baker followed by Jerry Royce. Fourth was James Werner while Bill Werner finished fifth.
CCFS NOTES: Once again, Alysha Ruggles was performing double duty at CCFS. In addition to her chores as Miss Cayuga County Fair Speedway, she also competed in the 20 lap Original Pizza Logs Micro Sprint feature, where she finished seventh…The Cayuga County Fair Speedway point leaders are as follows. Modifieds-Matt Sheppard, Sportsman-Steve Gray, Stock Cars-Chris Fisher and BattleKarz-Nick Werner…There was certainly a buzz in the air as the second annual All-Star Weekend gets underway this Thursday at Brewerton Speedway…Better than 90 cars filled the pit area on another beautiful night of racing.
Summer racing excitement will hit its peak next week at the Cayuga County Fair Speedway during the second annual All-Star Weekend. The speedway will come to life Friday and Saturday with the heart-pounding, high-powered, pedal-mashing entertainment, with the Big-Block Modified winners on Saturday sharing $20,000 from the record posted purse of over $100,000.
Race fans have until Wednesday July 14 to take advantage of the best racing deal of the summer. Fans can purchase a two-day reserved ticket for All-Star Weekend for only $39. After Wednesday tickets will be available but only as individual day tickets. Friday tickets are $25 and Saturday $35. That’s a savings of $21 to purchase your weekend tickets by Wednesday July 14. Tickets can be purchased at www.dirtcar.com/tickets or by calling the DIRTcar Northeast office at 315-834-6606.
Don’t forget to join Cayuga County Fair Speedway on facebook and follow DIRTcar Racing on Twitter (@DIRTcarNE).
EMPIRE SUPER SPRINTS ( 25 Laps) 1. JESSICA ZEMKEN 2. Jason Barney 3. Tony Stewart 4. Justin Barger 5. Bryan Howland 6. Dave Franek 7. Bobby Breen 8. Dylan Swiernik 9. Lance Young 10. Dan Kaszubski 11. Blake Breen 12. Chuck Hebing 13. Shawn Donath 14. Jeff Cook 15. Tommy Wickham 16. Kevin Ward Jr. 17. Zack Weigand 18. Mike Stelter 19. Mike Mahaney 20. James Hanson 21. Tyler Rice 22. Steve Poirier 23. Jared Fink 24. Chris Muhleisen
DIRTCAR SPORTSMAN (25 Laps) 1. DAVE MARCUCCILLI 2. John Juhl 3. Adam Hilton 4. Steve Gray 5. Ben Wheeler 6. Justin Wright 7. Greg Mrzywka 8. Rick Newton 9. James Spano 10. Rob Humphreys 11. Tom Juhl 12. Jeremy Pitcher 13. Jesse Cotriss 14. AJ Lewis 15. Dave Emmons 16. Andrew Ferguson 17. Thompson 18. Fran Hilton 19. Tim Downs 20. Tim Schneider 21. Earl Rudy 22. Beth Schneider
600 MICRO SPRINTS (20 Laps) 1. NICK COOPER 2. Darryl Ruggles 3. Charlie Donk 4. Jim Radney 5. A.J. Bogino 6. Tyler Walker 7. Alysha Ruggles 8. Cory Donk 9. Chris Seely 10. Kevin Carlson 11. Steve Fonte 12. Dave Ferguson 13 .Ryan Ellis 14. John Smith 15. Ben Kysor 16. Bob Finley 17. Pat Wilson 18. Dan Naegele 19. Adam Brunl 20. Kirsten Dombrowski 21. Eric Wise 22. Grey Kysor 23. Matt Smith 24. Matt Jones 25. Jim Lafler
BATTLEKARZ (15 Laps) 1. NICK WERNER 2. Les Baker 3. Jerry Royce 4. Bill Werner 5. James Werner 6. Karl Werner 7. Eric Chapman 8. Tommy Prairie 9. Stroka 10. Bobby Bolvagn 11. Chris Banoffski 12. Tim Dunn 13. Lanson Albanese