It was a case of the youngster and the old wiley veteran on the front row for the supermodified race, as Danny Connors and Joey Payne led the 25 cars to Donnie Forbes green flag. Payne got the jump as soon as the green flew, and raced his purple 99 to the front, as the field scattered behind looking for racing room. Randy Ritskes and Bobby Bond looked inside to move forward, while Tim Snyder and Otto Sitterly went to the outer reaches of the racetrack to go to the front.
In the early laps, Payne led Connors, Dave Danzer, Steven Gioia, Tim Snyder, Ray Graham, Shawn Muldoon, Bobby Bond, Ritskes and Sitterly. A few laps in, seventh running and last race feature winner Bobby Bond’s 25 car broke traction and spun around in turn one, getting into the foam. Rear side damage knocked the #25 out of the race, ending his night early.
Payne quickly went back out to a five-car length lead when the green flag came back out, with Connors holding back a pack of supermodifieds ready to pounce. Payne stopped watches with consistent 17.43 laps, as he continued to pull away at a clip of a car length per lap.
Lap 20, the leader came into slower traffic, which he handled like the veteran he is. He cruised by on the outside, and once clear of traffic, opening his lead to now 1.59 seconds, and growing.
It was a case of the veteran using his experience through the slower cars, as Payne cruised through with ease. Connors, Danzer, Snyder and Graham raced wheel to wheel through the slower cars, with tight racing going on for each position.
At halfway, Payne was 1.69 seconds ahead of the bumper to bumper race between the 01, 52, 0 and 90 cars, who were now joined by Ritskes, Gosek, Sitterly, Gruel and McKnight, as a nine car freight train raced around the 5/8’s mile for the runner up spot.
Still under green flag conditions, the 99 came into traffic again came up on lap 28. This time the Jersey Jet cruised inside and outside, taking full advantage of reach situation. He parlayed the traffic into a 3.23 second gap back to the gaggle of cars racing for position, as at least a dozen cars raced, between cars for positions up front and lapped cars.
Sitterly chased by Ritskes and Graham on lap 30, while Danzer grabbed second away from Connors on lap 31. The furious action came to a slowdown on lap 35, as Connors and Michael Barnes spun their cars in turn four, bringing out the yellow flag, and erasing Payne’s over 3 second lead.
The restart order saw Payne, Danzer, Snyder, Ritskes, Sitterly, Graham, Gruel, Gosek, McKnight and Lavery. Payne resumed his spot out front, pulling out on the restart, while the pack looked for racing room behind with only 15 to go. Ritskes made his move on lap 41 as he shot by both Snyder and Danzer, and set sail towards leader Payne, who was 2.11 seconds ahead. Snyder flowed Ritskes by Danzer for third, and the race was on for the win.
Payne clocked in at 17.49, while Ritskes was cutting into his lead with 17.27 laps, but time was running out. Ritskes cut into the gap each circuit, but fans wondered if he had enough time. They came into lapped traffic on lap 48, which they handled without problem. As they came down for the checkered, Ritskes dove low, but Payne guarded the low line, and the 99 of Payne drove under the checkered flag first, with Ritskes on his back bumper. Snyder hung on for third, with Sitterly and Danzer rounding out the top five.
“This one is dedicated to my dad,” the relieved winner said in Victory Lane. “Thanks to Pat and Terry Strong, my crew gave me a great car. I wasn’t even coming up here until Thursday this week, and here we are. I love this place, this is my favorite race track, and a win here still means everything.”
Front row starter Jason Simmons took off when the green flag waved for the start of the 30-lap SBS feature race. Brian Osetek, AJ Bernys, Rob Pullen, Cam Rowe, Tim Barbeau, Mike Bond, Dave Latulip, Andrew Schartner and Kreig Heroth chased the 99 early on. Simmons had a good car early on, as he quickly raced out to a quarter straightaway lead on the strength of 19.93 and 19.97 laps, as he wheeled his new ride out easily.
There was a bumper-to-bumper jam up behind the Osetek car, as everyone looked for racing room and did not want to let Simmons get too far ahead. Bond was the first to step out of line as he pulled the 26 to the outside and began his charge forward. First he picked off Barbeau, then on lap 10 quickly shot by Rowe as well.
At halfway Bond went by the Pullen Deuce to move into fourth. With Simmons building his lead up front, Bond continued to cruise on the high side to catch him. Third running Bernys was next on lap 14, while the next time around, Bond’s charge to the front was almost complete as he got by the second running car of Osetek.
Simmons remained up front, cranking around the track over 11 seconds ahead of Bond, who just went on the outside from 7th to 2nd in an handful of laps. He had 11 laps to cut out an 11 second gap, then pass leader Jason Simmons.
Simmons clocked in at 19.9 laps, while Bond cut the margin each lap running 19.4’s he was 3 to 4 tenths of a lap faster than Simmons but laps were winding down. With 5 to go, the gap was cut to 5 car lengths. Lap 26, the gap was down to 3 lengths, and with 2 to go, they were bumpier to bumper. Simmons gap was gone, and Bond was now on his tail section with a couple of laps left.
As they came down for the while flag. Simmons 99 slipped in turn four and pushed out, with Bond sliding under, taking the race lead. Yellow came out on lap 29, but that didn’t phase Bond. He cruised with ease up front once racing, and picked up his third win of the season. Simmons held on for second, with Andrew Schartner breaking free of the log jam coming home in third.
“I was a long way back, but we just tried to be consistent and hit our marks, and try to catch Jason,” the happy Bond said after his win. “Terry and the guys give me a good car, and tonight showed that.”
News and notes…. 29 supers and 19 SBS cars were pitside. Heat races were won by Joey Payne, Tim Snyder and Dave Danzer in the supermodifieds, Mike Bond, AJ Bernys and Greg Osetek in the SBS, and Bobby Holmes and Ryan Beeman in the SST cars. Matt Kurcewzewski won the 35 lap SST feature event. Bill Hebing and Andy Jankowiak finished second and third. This weekend is the King of Wings, winged supermodified race. Gates and practice at 3pm, with the first race at 6pm.
Supermodified finish 50 laps
1)Joey Payne 99, 2)Randy Ritskes 88, 3)Tim Snyder 0, 4)Otto Sitterly 7, 5)Dave Danzer 52, 6)Joe Gosek 00, 7)Dave Gruel 50, 8)Pat Lavery 22, 9)Bobby Haynes 44, 10)Jerry Curran 24, 11)Dave McKnight 08, 12)Dan Connors, 13)Michael Muldoon 20, 14)Andy Noto 48, 15)Steve Abt 85, 16)Hal Latulip 56, 17)Kody Graham 21, 18)Ray Graham 90, 19)Michael Barnes 98, 20)Steven Gioia 9, 21)Shaun Gosselin 26, 22)Craig Rayvals 94, 23)Keith Gilliam 87, 24)Shawn Muldoon 1, 25)Bobby Bond 25
Order of finish SBS 30
1) Mike Bond 26, 2)Jason Simmons 98, 3)Andrew Schartner 18, 4)Brian Osetek 00, 5)AJ Bernys 24, 6)Rob Pullen 2, 7)Tim Barbeau 50, 8)Kreig Heroth 44, 9)Mark Castiglia 90, 10)Jack Patrick 9, 11)Will Hadcock 43, 12)Dave Latulip 27, 13)Dennis Rupert 99, 14)Cameron Rowe 77 15)Lou Levea Jr 95, 16)Mike Bruce 22, 17)Barry Kingsley 23, 18)Nate Sitterly 79, 19)Bryan Haynes 37