2/19/08

KEEPING TRACK OF THE LOCAL DRIVERS AT NEW SMYRNA

 
Area drivers have again made their appearances at New Smyrna Speedway for Speedweeks action starting on Friday, February 8. Competing in several different divisions are the drivers who have decided to start their 2008 season in the warmer climate of Florida with the close competition that the track offers. The drivers had Sunday night off with the classes we're following. The Tuesday, 2/12 events were rained out. The 23rd Annual Richie Evans Memorial Modified 100 on Friday, February 15 was snatched by Eric Beers after the Drivers Reunion was held earlier in the afternoon.

MODIFIED:
Chuck Hossfeld won the Modified event on the first night (2/8) with his #22. His other finishes have been 3rd (three times), 5th, 2nd and 6th.
Defending champion Eric Beers has had finishes of 5th, 4th (twice), 18th, 6th, 1st in the Richie Evans Memorial 100 and 2nd with his #9.
Rowan Pennink #16 has finishes of 6th, 7th (twice), 19th, 14th and 10th in his appearances.
2007 Lancaster Modified champion Buck Catalano is running a #48 and finished 11th on both Monday and Thursday with a 13th place finish on Wednesday and 14th in Friday's 100.
* Chuck Hossfeld #22 opened the series with the Friday night victory, Jimmy Blewett #19 captured the Saturday, Wednesday (in his brother John, III's Memorial 50 event) and Thursday features, Ryan Preece #40 scored his first-ever victory on Monday night, Eric Beers #9 drove home the winner in Friday, 2/15's 23rd Annual Richie Evans Memorial 100 feature with Ted Christopher #00 winning the 2/16 finale.
+ Blewett secured the title after the final night of racing on Saturday, February 16 by 6 points over Hossfeld and 7 points over Christopher.

2008 MODIFIED FINAL POINTS
1. #19 JIMMY BLEWETT - 691
2. #22 Chuck Hossfeld - 685
3. #00 Ted Christopher - 684
4. #09 Bobby Grigas, III - 663
5. #9 Eric Beers - 651
6. #73 Jon McKennedy - 592
7. #14 J.R. Bertuccio - 574
8. #06 Billy Pauch, Jr. - 558
9. #70 Andy Seuss - 534
10. #58 Kevin Goodale - 531
11. #5 Charlie Pasteryak - 498
12. #80 Billy Anderson - 476
13. #40 Ryan Preece - 460
14. #96 Butch Perry - 452
15. #16 Rowan Pennink - 450
16. #1 George Bierce - 364
17. #28 James Civali - 356
18. #23 Justin Bonsignore - 338
19. #48 Buck Catalano - 334
20. #29 Kenny Horton - 326
21. #79 Ronnie Silk - 304
22. #2 Marisa Niederauer - 258
23. #06x Billy Pauch, Sr. - 110
24. #7 Kyle Busch - 108
25. #96 Shelly Perry - 66
26. #39 Jim Storace - 50 (DNS)

SK MODIFIED (SST):
2007 Holland SST Pro Modified champion Mike Fiebelkorn, Jr. #10 finished 6th in the Monday night feature. His other finishes were 14th, 10th, 11th and 16th.
Jimmy Zacharias #71 has finishes of 8th (twice), 12th, 7th, 6th, 14th and 5th.
Don King, Jr. #43 has finishes of 13th (twice), 11th, 14th, 12th (twice) and 10th.
Phil Wehrkiem #23 has finishes of 12th (twice), 8th, 10th and 17th. He crashed and didn't compete on Wednesday.
Tim Zacharias finished 16th on Friday 2/15.
* Jimmy Blewett #12 won on Friday 2/8, Saturday 2/9, Thursday, Friday 2/15 and Saturday 2/16 with Eric Goodale #20 taking the Monday night victory and Kenny Horton #19 winning on Wednesday.
+ Blewett won the title by 38 points over Glen Griswold #60.

2008 SK MODIFIED FINAL POINTS
1. #12 JIMMY BLEWETT - 716
2. #60 Glen Griswold - 678
3. #18 Josh Sylvester - 667
4. #20 Eric Goodale - 644
4. #78 Billy Anderson - 644
6. #71 Jimmy Zacharias - 604
7. #96 Butch Perry - 596
8. #76 Shelly Perry - 594
9. #43 Don King, Jr. - 554
10. #79 Chris Jensen - 536
11. #17 Russ Savoy - 526
12. #1 Jason Migonia - 488
13. #59 David Cramner - 418
14. #19 Kenny Horton - 408
15. #10 Mike Fiebelkorn, Jr. - 400
16. #11 Kevin Shea - 398
17. #23 Phil Wehrkiem - 364 (478 TOTAL for 13th in points?)
18. #4 Michael Callavini - 336
19. #09 Brad VanHouten - 324
20. #72 Dave Brown - 178
21. #17 George Brunnhoelzl, III - 134
22. #70 Phil Wehrkiem - 114
23. #1x _ - 50
23. #3 George Bierce - 50

CRATE LATE MODEL:
2007 MAARA champion and Oswego R.o.C. Late Model winner Will Thomas drove to the Thursday win. He finished 2nd with his #9 on both the Saturday and the 2/15 finale, 3rd at the opener, 4th on Monday and 5th on Wednesday.
Jimmy Weller, III #23 has finishes of 19th, 12th, 20th, 11th (twice) and 1st on 2/15.
Dave Rigan #24 has finishes of 11th, 26th, 14th, 8th, 2nd to Thomas on Thursday and 6th in the finale.
* 13-year-old sensation Logan Ruffin #76 of Brentwood, Tennessee won the Saturday, Monday and Wednesday night features. Eric Chase #40 won at Friday night's opener, Will Thomas #9 emerged victorious on Thursday for his second career New Smyrna victory to derail the Ruffin three race win streak also with Jimmy Weller, III taking his #23 to the 2/15 win.
+ Ruffin claimed the title over Thomas by 4 points.

2008 CRATE LATE MODEL FINAL POINTS
1. #76 LOGAN RUFFIN - 250
2. #9 Will Thomas - 246
3. # Dave Wagner - 214
4. # Steven Brooks- 170
5. # Earl Beckner - 146
5. # Jimmy Lang - 146
7. #40 Eric Chase - 126
8. # A.J. Fulgenzi - 114
8. #24 Dave Rigan - 114
10. #23 Jimmy Weller, III - 110
10. # Griffin McGrath - 110
10. # Joey Pole - 110
13. # Casey Caudill - 86
13. # Blake Koch - 86
15. # Dustin Skinner - 74
15. # Nick Glaze - 74
15. # Brett Moffitt - 74
15. # Thor Anderson - 74
19. # Kyle Maynard - 68
20. # Joseph Gase - 66
20. # Gene Kirila, III - 66
22. # Kyle Eastham - 62
22. # Robert Petrus - 62
22. # Cody Pitts - 62
25. # Jerick Johnson - 58
25. # Brad Demeree - 58
27. # Patrick Staropoli - 54
27. # Darrell Midgley - 54
27. # Tyler Brown - 54
30. # Dave Russell - 16
30. # Chazz Anderson - 16
30. # Brandon Johnson - 16
33. # Chuck Tuck - 12
33. # Patrick Mennaga - 12
35. # Shane Sawyer - 4
35. # Doug Bland - 4
35. #39 _ - 4
35. # Mark Stevenson - 4
35. # Donald Williams - 4
35. # Philip Myburgh - 4
35. # Jason Vail - 4
35. # Joey Pletka -4

OTHER FLORIDA NOTES:
The first annual reunion at New Smyrna had past Modified drivers like Chuck Boos, Ed Ortiz, Dutch Hoag, Mike Loescher, Phil Edwards, Jerry Gradl, Jim McGraw and Bill Brainard in attendance on Friday, February 15.
2006 Race of Champions Modified Tour Rookie of the Year Kory Rabenold of Slatington, PA with his #63 Chevrolet and 2003 Chemung Late Model #47 champion Brent Cross of Cortland, NY in his Chevrolet #28 attempted to qualify for the ARCA 200 event at the Daytona International Speedway, but both drivers missed the field along with over 20 other teams.
Lockport, NY had a connection with victory lane at the NASCAR Craftsman Truck event at Daytona International Speedway as Lockport natives Mike Hillman and Mike Hillman, Jr. were on the winning team for 2006 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Todd Bodine and the #30 Germain Motorsports ride at the Friday night, February 15 event. It was Todd's first Daytona victory and he joined his brother Geoff, the 1986 Daytona 500 winner and Chemung, NY native, as a Daytona winner. Geoff was on hand for the Daytona 500 weekend as a grand marshal along with those retired from NASCAR Sprint Cup action of the 24 drivers who were previous Daytona 500 winners for the 50th anniversary running of the event.

Source: Mark Southcott/NYRaceZone.com PR
Posted: February 19, 2008; updated: February 20 & 27 plus March 22, 2008