Race Results: July 29th, 2006

KIRKWOOD, NY - It only took Stewart Friesen three Modified feature starts to find his way to victory lane by winning the thirty lap main event this past Saturday night at Five Mile Point Speedway. It was a night of first time winners as Friesen recorded his first FMP victory along with first for Rich Wallace (Sportsman) and Brad Weaver (IMCA Modifieds). Jerry Tonti was the Street Stock winner with Doug Stack collecting the win in the Pure Stocks and Dave Cronk scoring the 99.1 the Whale Figure 8 feature.

After a one hour rain delay Daren Schuler and Bobby Puckett led the Modified field down for the start of the thirty lap feature event. Puckett emerged the leader quickly as he took to the outside of the lightning fast quarter mile. Dan Hineline charged up from his fourth place starting position to capture second as the outside groove appeared to be the fast way around once again. Puckett and Hineline pulled away from the field as they set an early torrid pace. On lap fourteen Puckett jumped the cushion and Hineline took advantage and moved out front. The first caution of the event came out on lap fifteen as J.R. Crouse slowed with a flat tire. On the restart Hineline continued to run the top of the speedway as now Friesen made his way up to the second slot.

Back in the field Mitch Gibbs was a man on the move as he broke into the top five after starting in the seventeenth slot. Out front Friesen worked the middle of the speedway as Hineline remained up top. The duo ran side by side for several laps before finally Friesen made the Roger Heroux owned car stick for the lead. Gibbs now joined the battle upfront as the top four drivers (Stewart, Hineline, Puckett and Gibbs) were engaged in side by side action in lapped traffic. Gibbs made his way past Puckett on lap twenty six and then set his sights on Hineline. Hineline and Gibbs fought for second place with allowed Friesen a little breathing room out front. At the finish Friesen would record the win with Hineline edging out Gibbs for second place by inches. Puckett would up his solid drive with a fourth place finish and Jim Gabriel Jr. rounded out the top five.

In victory lane Friesen commented on the victory, “I love racing at this place, it reminds me a great deal of Humberstone. You can race anywhere on this racetrack.” He added, “There was only two of us here tonight as Roger (Heroux) could not make it down, we took a laid back approach and ended up winning, this is great.”

The 20 lap Sportsman feature event found Willard Knect and Rich Wallace in the front row. At the drop of the green Wallace moved out front and took the early command. A number of cautions slowed the pace early each time wiping out the lead that Wallace had opened up on the field. By the midway point four 2006 feature winners were lined up behind Wallace looking for an opening. A great battle ensued behind the leader as he continued to pull ahead. The final two laps saw defending track champion Eric Palmer make several bids for the lead but he would ultimately come up short. At the finish it was Wallace recording his first career victory over Palmer, Butch Klinger, Brad Grim and Shaun Walker.

Brad Weaver led from wire to wire in recording his first ever feature win in the IMCA Modified class. Following Weaver across the line was Gary Dence, Mike Stoddard, K.C. Cole and Gary Roberts.

Jerry Tonti recorded his second feature win of the season by notching top honors in the twenty lap Street Stock main event. The race was slowed by eight caution flag periods and a rain delay. The start of the feature could have been an indicator of things to come as the field got crossed up resulting in a seven car pileup. Several drivers worked on their mounts during the one hour rain delay but when racing continued so didn’t the rash of cautions. At the finish Tonti would win by a comfortable margin of Carl Heater, Henry Cook Jr., Neil Dablasi and Joe Krisovich.

Doug Stack took the lead with only three laps remaining in the twenty lap Pure Stock feature event and went on to his second feature win of the season. Jeremy Shaw, Jamie Batzel, Charlie Gilbert and Matt Spencer completed the top five.

Weddo McGonegle was the winner of the 99.1 the Whale Figure 8 division over Steve Matson, Don Lantz Jr., Jim Watson, and Jesse Velez.

OUNTER POINTS:The Modified victory for Friesen was one of only three ever on record by Canadian drivers at Five Mile Point Speedway…His grandfather Stan Friesen and Ivan Little had previously graced victory lane at the Point…The day did not start out well for the team as their primary hauler broke down shortly after leaving for the speedway…Friesen arrived late on a flat trailer with four spare tires…The race track was in excellent condition for the Modified feature as passing was once again at a premium…Friesen started twelfth on the way to the win…Gibbs started in seventeenth to wind up third at the stripe with a Jim Gabriel, Jr. driving a Batzel racing backup starting thirteenth to advance to fifth during the late stages…Only three cautions slowed the event which made those charges to the front even more impressive…Rains delayed the final two feature events after four features were in the record books by 9 p.m…