May 29th, 2015
Ladies Night At Spencer by Gary Spaid
The supposed “weaker” sex, dominated the racing action last Friday at NASCAR’s Spencer Speedway. Two of the three features run were won by lady drivers. Former track champion, Amy Catalano picked up her seventh all time Spencer Speedway Sunoco Modified feature win. Her son Timmy Catalano won his second straight Auto Value 4-Cylinder Scorpion feature and Ashley Schoonmaker won her first ever Super Six main event at the speedway.
The start of the 35-lap NASCAR Sunoco Modified feature saw Amy Catalano and Matt Lees pace the field to take the green. Amy immediately jumped out into the lead at the drop of the green.
The sole yellow flag of the event flew on lap seven when Bobby Lippa Jr., who had been running sixth, looped around exiting the second turn on to the back stretch. He would later drop out of the event on lap 13.
The restart saw Amy again take command of the lead with Lees in second and Timmerman in third. Lap 11 saw Eddie Hawkins make a quick pit stop, losing a lap in the process.
Amy was able to pull away for a two car advantage at the finish line over Lees, who had his hands full in just holding off Timmerman, who finish third by a car length. Mike Leaty came home fourth followed by Tommy Catalano, who was coming off a bad wreck the week before at Shangri La II’s RoC race.
Amy Catalano credited her win to her husband, Dave, who works on the family cars. She added the fans to her list of people to thank, for coming out to the track, thus allowing the racers a chance to race. She did add,”I had a brake issue all night. We tried to fix it after the heat but couldn’t find the problem. In the feature I had to roll out of the gas in the turns and use as little brake as possible or I would spin out.”
The Auto Value Four Cylinder Scorpions saw Austin Montgomery and his brother, Travis battling at the front of the pack. On the second lap third place Tom Alleco and Beth Dennie came together exiting the second turn and slide down the back stretch in a show of sparks as they scrapped along the wall.
The restart the Montgomery brothers still battling for the lead, when Timmy Catalano, who started tenth, came sailing along using the outside lane to pass both brother and take the lead on lap six.
The yellow came out before another lap went into the books for a spin by Ryan Brown in the third turn.
Catalano held strong in the lead as Shaun Frarey took his shots at getting around the Montgomery’s. Frarey completed his move into the second but could never catch Catalano. That is until the final lap when Mike Hyman looped around in the fourth turn to create a green-white-checker finish.
The first attempt at finishing the race saw a multi-car accident take place exiting the fourth turn. Due to the number of cars involved the race was red flagged to clean up the accident scene. Involved were Carrie Schoonmaker, Tom Alleco, Paul Flye and Carrie Bolton-Brown.
Once the cars were cleared the race resumed, again with Catalano able to out drag Frarey to maintain the lead. At the wire it was Catalano over Frarey, followed by Austin and then Travis Montgomery in third and fourth. Ironically, Hyman, who had caused the initial yellow to fly on the final lap, was able to finish fifth.
Timmy added to Amy’s accolade about his father Dave. Timmy stated, “I had a great car last week and a great car this week. Let’s hope my luck keeps going.”
The start of the Super Six feature saw Brandon Allen holding off Ashley Schoonmaker for the lead. These two were able to pull away from the rest of the field until lap eight when the yellow flew for a spinout by Bill Malin in the first turn.
The restart saw Schoonmaker battle with Allen, finally securing the lead on lap nine, before the yellow flag flew for a second time. This time Ashley’s father Josh was the cause of the yellow as he spun out in the fourth turn. One more yellow would fly during the race, lap 14, when Chad Brockman spun in the third turn.
The race up front was entertaining to watch. Brian Hallett was now on the move, taking second from Allen. He tried to chase down Ashley but had to settle for second at the finish line. Also moving through the field was Tim Faro who barely nipped Allen for third. Allen finish in fourth with the opening night winner, Barrett Schenk rounding out the top five.
Ashley Schoonmaker, she could hardly contain herself in victory lane. “I didn’t think I could get by him (Allen). He just seemed to be doing so good.”
SPENCER NOTES: The “Meet and Greet” took to the track during an extended intermission, allowing fans to get up close to the drivers, get autographs and have a good time around the race cars. A second “Meet and Greet” is planned for later this season….On top of being a “Ladies Night”, it was the town of Ontario’s night as all of the feature winners and five of the six heat winners came from that town….Rene Banke was unable to start the feature following his heat accident with the second turn wall during his heat race.
The mighty RoC Modifieds return to Spencer for their first of two appearances next week, June 5. They will be running a 75-lap feature on that date. Also on the race card are double point shows for both the Super Sixes and the Auto Value 4-Cylinder Scorpions. Race time starts a half hour earlier than normal, at 7:00 p.m.
Anyone who brings their ticket stub back the following week gets a $3 discount off an adult or senior ticket.
Spencer Speedway is located just fifteen minutes east of Rochester, NY, along Route 104 in the Town of Williamson.
Spencer Speedway is the local “ NASCAR Place to Race” for Central New York in 2014. Points earned each week at Spencer are counted into the national NASCAR Whelen All-American Points.
For more information go to:
www.spencerspeedway.org.
INGERSOLL RAND “MEET & GREET” NIGHT SUMMARY
SCORPION 4-CYLINDERS
HEAT 1: Ti. Catalano, T. Alloco, B. Dennie, S. Frarey, C. Bolton-Brown.
HEAT 2: T. Montgomery, D. Knapp Jr., A. Montgomery, P. Flye, C. Schoonmaker
FEATURE (15-laps): TIMMY CATALANO, Shaun Frarey, Austin Montgomery, Travis Montgomery, Mike Hyman, Jennifer Dennie, Ryan Brown, Donnie Knapp Jr., Carrie Schoonmaker, Paul Flye, Carrie Bolton-Brown, Tom Alloco, Beth Dennie.
SUPER SIXES
HEAT 1: A. Schoonmaker, B. Hallett, T. Faro, B. Allen, A. VanHall.
HEAT 2: J. Schoonmaker, B. Schenk, B. Mitchell, B. Malin, B. Inch.
FEATURE (20-laps): ASHLEY SCHOONMAKER, Brian Hallett, Tim Faro, Brandon Allen, Barrett Schenk, Bill Inch, Josh Schoonmaker, Andy Cocilova, Van Grant, Bill Malin, Adam VanHall, Chad Brockman, Bill Mitchell, DNS-Rene Banke.
SUNOCO MODIFIEDS
HEAT 1: M. Leaty, B. Lippa Jr., M. Lees, A. Lewis, E. Hawkins.
HEAT 2: A. Catalano, K. Timmerman, D. Lewis Jr., T. Catalano, M. Ramos.
FEATURE (35-laps): AMY CATALANO, Matt Lees, Kevin Timmerman, Mike Leaty, Tommy Catalano, Andy Lewis, Daryl Lewis Jr., Mike Ramos, Tim Lewis Jr., Eddie Hawkins, Bobby Lippa Jr.
