Catalano and Lippa Jr. Take Home SST Tour Championships
Jankowiak, Semmler, Druar, Schulz and Hamman win at WCIS
PERRY, NY… A cool but sunny Saturday welcomed fans and race teams to Wyoming County International Speedway for the final time of the 2009 racing campaign. The stars came to shine not only in the sky, but on the racetrack as well as championships were on the line not only for the regular divisions at WCIS, but the SST Modified and SST Super Stocks Touring series as well as part of the Fall Shootout racing activities.
Andy Jankowiak found victory lane for a second consecutive SST Modified Tour 100 lap event at the Bullring. Ricky Kluth and Don King led the competitive field for the start of the 100 lap feature go with Kluth getting out to the early advantage. Then on lap three, Andy J made his move getting around Kluth to take over at the front of the field. John Barber got around Jankowiak on lap five just before the first caution period of the night when Jerry Harding Jr spun on the front straightaway. His night came to an early exit due to the rear end locking up on his Logsdon Racing machine. Then on the following restart, Jankowiak grabbed the lead right back from Barber and that move on lap seven would eventually be the race winning pass. Neil Dietz Jr., driving the second Emerling Motorsports entry slowed on the back straightaway to bring out the second yellow of the evening.
The field would start to string out around the 1/3rd mile Perry Bullring and the leaders were encountering lap traffic early and often in the event. Lap traffic an issue for the leaders as many cars were slicing and dicing for positions within the lead lap cars with Bobby Holmes, Jon Price, Amy Catalano and Tom McGrath all working their way through the field. While trying to pass the slower lap down cars, Catalano and Price made contact in turns three and four and Price went around. Both Price and Catalano were sent to the end of the longest line for their involvement with the yellow.
The restarts after every caution were a godsend to John Barber, who was running the last 80 laps without any power steering. Barber could get right on the rear nerfbar of Jankowiak but nothing further as Jankowiak’s Jim and Bob’s Service machine pulled away and took home the victory. Barber would finish in the runner up spot and with that came the 2009 WCIS SST Modified Track Championship. Young driver Patrick Emerling would take home the third position with Tom McGrath and Terry Cheetham would complete the top five with Bobby Holmes, Jon Price, Jerry Gradl Jr., Russ Gian and Amy Catalano rounding out the top 10. With the tenth place finish, Catalano would wrap up the SST Modified Tour Championship to go along with her track championship at the Spencer Speedway.
Billy Semmler from Webster, NY took top honors in the 3rd Annual Dave London Memorial 50. A strong field of SST Super Stocks came to the Bullring for the Saturday night fight under the lights. Semmler and Mike Chenaille led the field for the green flag with Semmler getting out to the early advantage.
2009 WCIS Super Stock Champion Bobby Lippa Jr. would take over the top spot from Semmler and would lead for a while until a right rear flat on his JG Autoworks, Mark’s Garage machine would send him pit side for a new tire and that would pay dividends as he and Brian Gordon would work their way back through the field to finish strong in the feature event.
When Lippa went pit side, Semmler would be handed back the top spot and that spot he would not relinquish for the remainder of the night as Semmler would cross the line first and take home the 3rd annual Dave London Memorial. Lippa would come back and take home second and with the runner up spot, Lippa would be crowned the SST Super Stock Champion. Robert Fink would cross the line in third after having a great run for the Mountain Speedway regular. 2008 track champion Brian Gordon would come home in fourth and track regular Brian Gleason would complete the top five. Todd Stone, Steve Vinyard, Jeremy Gray, Cassie Logsdon and Mike Chenaille would round out the top ten.
30 cars for 30 laps…. What a Saturday night at WCIS with Matt Druar picking up the victory in the feature event for the entry level 4 cylinder division. Ashley Kirchberger and Spencer Speedway track champion Bill Verwys led the way for the start with Verwys getting the advantage. Verwys was running on rails and pulling away from the rest of the field but a mid race caution would bunch up the field and Druar would take advantage and would lead the remaining laps in route to the victory. Tom Catalano, son of Dave and Amy would cross the line in second for a career best at WCIS in his first ever start. Eric Hastreiter would have a great battle with 2009 Champion Brian Johnson in a dual for third with Hastreiter edging out Johnson and Bob Marzec would round out the top five.
Mark Schulz would pick up the win in the Casey’s TQ Midget feature. After a great battle with teammate Jamie Collard, Schulz would lead the final circuits in picking up the win. Collard would come home second for a 1-2 Englewood Collision finish and Justin Mapes would cross the line in third position. With the third place finish, Mapes would successfully defend his 2008 championship by becoming the 2009 Casey’s TQ Midget Series Champion.
Kris Hamman was fast in whatever Mini Cup car he was behind the wheel of and Saturday night was no exception as he would win the finale for the Mini Cups. Michelle Becker would be crowned the Mini Cup Champion for 2009.
The staff and management of WCIS would like to thank all the drivers, owners, crews, sponsors and fans for making 2009 another successful season and hope and wish to see you all again in 2010. For more information, you can log on to
www.wyomingcountyinternationalspeedway.com Race Results: 10-3-09
SST Modifieds: ANDY JANKOWIAK, John Barber, Patrick Emerling, Tom McGrath, Terry Cheetham, Bobby Holmes, Jon Price, Jerry Gradl Jr., Russ Gian, Amy Catalano, Kevin Lewis, Dick Kluth, Sherri Hogan, Bryan Sherwood, Greg Utberg, Neil Dietz, Don King, Tim Welshans, Tom Weist, Billy Ray Pruitt, Ricky Kluth, Tom Fecteau, Scott Combs, Mike Bliss, John Julicher Jr., and Jerry Harding Jr.
SST Super Stocks: BILLY SEMMLER, Bobby Lippa Jr., Robert Fink, Brian Gordon, Brian Gleason, Todd Stone, Steve Vinyard, Jeremy Gray, Cassie Logsdon, Mike Chenaille, Ted Welshans, Brittany Jack, Jay Mudra, Jay Canonico, Phil Alhart Jr, Pete Pieczynski, Alexis Wilson, Joe Mancuso, Brad Collings
4 Cylinder Stocks: MATT DRUAR, Tom Catalano, Eric Hastreiter, Brian Johnson, Bob Marzec, Austyn Fugle, Alison Knoepfler, Bill Verwys, Samantha Lutz, Ashley Kirchberger, Matt Jurek, Joe Clark, Kalie Clementi, Charles Buchanan, Brian Probeski, Chris Wolcott, Jeff Szafranice, Doug Packman, Tony Carbone, Zach Willis, Tony Caruana, Steve Malin (DNF), Kevin Grom (DNF), Mike Meyers (DNF), Joe Chico (DNF), Kyle Skoney (DNF), Cassie McGrath (DNF), Bill Lutz (DNF), Gert McDonald (DNF), Eric Marzec (DNF)
