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BARBER FAMILY, KING GRAB VICTORIES ON WILD HOLLAND OPENING
NIGHT
The Holland NASCAR Motorsports Complex launched it’s 50th Anniversary Season
with a wild night of crazy finishes on Saturday evening. When everything had
settled down, the Barber Family out of Bliss, NY had two
wins in hand, as veteran racer John Barber was in victory lane at the end of the
NASCAR Ragingwolf.com SST Pro Modified main, and nephew Camden Barber was
enjoying the winner’s celebration for the visiting Casey’s TQ Midget Series.
Eldon King III of Freedom, NY had to wait about 15 minutes after the conclusion
of the LAMOT Late Model main event before finding out he was victorious after an
incredible finish to that race.
In other action on McKinley Mall Opening Night, Dave Krawczyk of Kenmore, NY
scored a thrilling win in the Carquest Charger main, Nik Welshans of West Falls,
NY wired the field in the Native Pride Pro Four feature race, and Jason Adams of
East Aurora, NY took the honors in the M&M U-Pull-It Figure 8 Car race.
The 2007 and 2008 champions of the NASCAR Ragingwolf.com SST Pro Modifieds, Mike
Fiebelkorn, Jr. and Jonathon Price, were dueling for the top slot through much
of the scheduled 40 lap main, but rookie racer Patrick Emerling, having an
impressive run, diced his way through the field to claim third on a lap 26
restart. Another restart two laps later put him in a position to wrest second
away from Fiebelkorn, and the young racer then proceeded to go to work on Price
for the top slot. As the lead pair was exiting turn four looking at the white
flag, contact was made and both machines made hard trips into the concrete.
This put Fiebelkorn and Todd Hoddick in the top two positions on the restart,
but before a lap could be completed, they made contact in turn one, resulting in
another yellow, with both moving to the rear of the field. While under caution,
contact in the pack resulted damage to the front end of multi-time champ Neil
Hopkins’ racer.
When racing resumed, John Barber, who had his D.J. Beardsley Electrical
Contracting mount in the top five throughout inherited the lead, but again,
before a lap could be completed under green, contact in the tightly bunched
field resulted in second place Justin Shepker getting bounced around in turn
four. At that point in the proceedings, race officials, who had previously
warned that excessive aggressive racing could shorten the race, did indeed call
the race complete with 38 of the 40 laps complete, putting Barber in victory
lane, with Chuck Anderson in second and Canadian racer Jeff Ruddy in third in
the final run-down.
Earlier in the evening, Camden Barber scored the first win of the night for the
Barber Family in a strong performance in the 20 lap feature race for the
visiting Casey’s TQ Midget Series. Barber, in a brand new racer with a
paint/graphics scheme reminiscent of the Modified racer of his late grandfather
Gail Barber, moved by Jamie Collard for the lead on the second circuit, and
opened up a huge advantage over the field. 2008 Series champ Justin Mapes
motored into second place on lap 9, and began to chase down Barber, but was able
only to get within 10 car lengths when the checkered flag flew in the
caution-free race. Collard held on to place third.
It looked as if former Cup Lites racer Dave Whittaker was en route to a solid
win in the 25 lap LAMOT (Late Models of Tomorrow) run, when a caution flag with
two to go changed the script. On the restart, defending LAMOT champ
T.J. Johnson moved to the high
side of Whittaker to challenge for the lead. As the pair exited turn four
looking for the checkers, they made contact, with Johnson getting sideways and
sliding across the finish line and Whittaker bouncing into the wall and sliding
across the line. In the meantime, Eldon King III split the middle of the two
sliding cars to cross the line almost simultaneously. After a quick poll of
track officials, it was agreed that Johnson was the first car across the line,
and T.J. went through victory lane ceremonies. However, officials then looked
at a slow motion/stop action video review of the finish which indicated that
King actually crossed the stripe just inches ahead of the sliding Johnson car,
so that the victory was justifiably awarded to King.
Dave Krawczyk had to contend with an ill-handling race car and a challenging
Mark Hoch before earning the honors in the 25 lap Carquest Charger main. The
WNY Wraps/Ohio Technical College Monte Carlo of Krawczyk lost the lead spot to
2008 champ Hoch on a lap 10 restart, but returned the favor to re-take the lead
after a lap 20 restart. Over the final five circuits, Hoch and a charging Jerry
Kosmowski put the pressure on Krawczyk, but Dave was able to hang on for a car
length win over the pair, with Hoch edging Kosmowski by a bumper for the
runner-up slot.
Nik Welshans had little trouble guiding his Klispie Motorsports/West Falls
Racing Nissan to the 15 lap Native Pride Pro Four win, leading the entire
distance of the caution-free race. J.D. Roberts started to make up ground late,
but had to settle for second, while Josh Hathaway placed third.
Jason Adams opened up a big lead early in the 12 lap M&M U-Pull-It Figure 8 Car
run, but needed that big lead on the last lap when traffic at the “x” forced him
to slow his “Grandma’s Special” Toyota and allowed Jason Eck to close. However,
Adams was able to maintain the lead over the last half-lap for the victory over
Eck.
News & Notes – Camden Barber’s car was not the only entry with a retro paint
scheme - Mark Hoch’s Charger car is dressed up as an Art Clark replica in a
tribute to the winningest driver in Holland history for the 50th Anniversary
season ... there was a delay of approximately 15 minutes prior to the final two
main events of the evening to repair one bank of lights in turn four - the
repairs were competed, and the program went forward without further glitches in
the lighting system... early season mechanical gremlins striking many
competitors, as Jeff Price, Mike Stevenson, and Kirk Rutherford, Jr. (making his
first ever open-wheeled appearance) were forced to trailer their Pro Modifieds
early, 2007 Charger Champ Jim Loffredo was unable to make the feature line-up
call, and top TQ Midget wheelmen Dave Wollaber, Bobby Holmes, and Ryan Holland
all were out of action before feature time ... Scott Jarrell suffered terminal
damage for the evening in a LAMOT heat race incident which resulted in a wild
ride through the infield and up and over the Jersey barriers outside of the
Figure 8 course ... Charger racer Shawn Lafferty celebrated his 11th anniversary
with wife Heather in true racer fashion - at the Speedway, and came through with
a fifth place feature finish ... opening night featured qualifying heats to set
the feature race line-ups - future race dates will follow a
features-only20format - heats will be run for special events and for any regular
race night for a division which draws 20 or more cars for the evening.
Action will continue at the Holland NASCAR Motorsports Complex on Saturday, May
30th, with the annual “Teacher Feature” event, featuring area educators
competing in Speedway provided 4-cylinder racers in fund-raising efforts for
their schools, getting things underway at 5:15. A full program of NASCAR
Ragingwolf.com SST Pro Modifieds, LAMOT Late Models, Carquest Chargers, Native
Pride Pro Fours, Theil Motorsports Queen Bees, and M&M U-Pull-It Figure 8 Cars,
along with another visit by the Casey’s TQ Midget Series, will follow the
Teacher Feature event. Adult general admission is just $10.00. It will also be
Ford Night at the Complex - a fan showing a Ford vehicle
registration will be admitted to the grandstand for just $5.00. For more
information, contact the Holland office at (716)-537-2272 or visit the web site
at
www.hollandspeedway.com.
Results Summary - McKinley Mall 50th Anniversary Season Opening Night -May 23,
2009 --
NASCAR Ragingwolf.com SST Pro Modifieds – called complete after 38 of 40
scheduled laps:
1. (started 4th) JOHN BARBER, 2. (15) Chuck Anderson, 3. (14) Jeff Ruddy, 4.
(7) Todd Hoddick, 5. (2) Mike Fiebelkorn, Jr., 6. (11) Dan Hoag, 7. (5)
Justin Shepker, 8. (12) Don King, 9. (6) Neil Hopkins, 10. (3) Jonathon
Price, 11. (8) Patrick Emerling, 12. (10) Andy Jankowiak, 13. (9) Tim
Welshans, 14. (16) John Julicher, Jr., 15. (13) Kevin Miller, 16. (1) Joe
Evans. Did Not Start: Mike Stevenson, Kirk Rutherford, Jr., Jeff Price.
Heat Race Winners: Joe Evans, Mike Fiebelkorn, Jr.
LAMOT (Late Models of Tomorrow) – 25 laps:
1. (started 4th) ELDON KING III, 2. (3) T.J. Johnson, 3. (1) Dave Whittaker,
4. (6) Nick Crassi, 5. (2) Mike Ticco, 6. (5) Jason Kline, 7. (7) Jason Gwin.
Did Not Start: Scott Jarrell.
Heat
Race Winner: Dave Whittaker.
Carquest CHARGERS – 25 laps:
1. (started 1st) DAVE KRAWCZYK, 2. (3) Mark Hoch, 3. (2) Jerry Kosmowski, 4.
(11) Joe Eck, 5. (6) Shawn Lafferty, 6. (5) Rob Miszczak, 7. (7) Rich
Carnes, 8. (12) Mike Flaig, 9. (10) Tom Northem, 10. (4) Matt Welshans, 11.
(8) Jim Mallaber, 12. (9) Greg Miszczak. Did Not Start: Jim Loffredo.
Heat Race Winners: Dave Krawczyk, Jerry Kosmowski.
Casey’s TQ MIDGET SERIES – 20 laps:
1. (started 1st) CAMDEN BARBER, 2. (8) Justin Mapes, 3. (2) Jamie Collard, 4.
(10) Mark Schulz, 5. (3) Vince Christiano, Jr., 6. (7) Dean McConnaughey, 7.
(13) Jim Fleischman, 8. (4) Jonathan Reid, 9. (11) A.J. Hessler, 10. (14)
Curtis MacLeod, 11. (9) Chad Heywood, 12. (6) Charlie DiRosa, 13. (5) Arik
McGruder, 14. (12) Mike Blair. Did Not Start: Bobby Holmes, Dave Wollaber,
Ryan Holland.
Heat Race Winners: Justin Mapes, Mark Schulz.
Native Pride PRO FOURS – 15 laps:
1. (started 1st) NIK WELSHANS, 2. (4) J.D. Roberts, 3. (2) Josh Hathaway, 4.
(5) Jason Eck, 5. (6) Chad Pusloski, 6. (3) Bob Marzec, 7. (7) Joe Mastrocicco
III, 8. (8) Mike Eckam. Heat Race Winner: Nik Welshans.
M&M U-Pull-It FIGURE 8 CARS – 12 laps:
1. (started 1st) JASON ADAMS, 2. (5) Jason Eck, 3. (4) Mike Eckam, 4. (3) Curt
Golias, 5. (2) Dave Reese, Jr.
Source:
Rick Mooney / Holland PR
Posted: May 23,
2009
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