Brady Fultz Tops Modifieds Saturday Night At Woodhull

Story By: STEVEN OVENS / WOODHULL RACEWAY – WOODHULL, NY – Saturday night saw a record broken on Williams Construction & Sprayfoam and Kickin’ Country 105.3FM Night, as thirty-six 360 sprint cars registered for competition at Woodhull Raceway with the Patriot Sprint Tour.

Competitors from all over the Northeast converged on a racy and smooth third-mile bullring nestled in the heart of Steuben County. Along with great racing came storylines in each division, with Bryan Howland, Brady Fultz, Brandon Butler, Brian Knowles, Corky Grant and Adam DelGrosso all pulling out victories.

Howland announced in the offseason prior to 2017 that this season would be his last season of ‘full-time’ competition. After a disappointing 2016 season, Howland got the second leg of the farewell tour off to culminate in Instant Heat Wood Pellets Victory Lane.

Howland battled all race long with ‘The Flying Physician’ Steve Collins for the lead, as they sliced and diced through slower traffic. The small paper clip style track always lends itself to coming up on slower traffic quickly and Howland was able to make quick, precise moves around the outside lane.

Collins was fast on the bottom lane all night, but with slower traffic giving the leaders the top- this made Collins work that much harder to make clean passes. The win on Saturday night made it a continuation of winning in odd seasons for Howland, who has now won Patriot sanctioned races in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017.

George Suprick drew the pole, just as he did last Summer, but had to settle for the final spot on the podium. The Patriot Sprint Tour will return on July 22 for their second of two visits. Their Mike Emhof Motorsports sister series, the CRSA 305 Sprint Tour, will make their lone stop of 2017 on the High Banks on Saturday June 10.

Brady Fultz found victory lane Saturday night in the Insinger Performance 370 Modifieds, proving that he didn’t need the handicap to get a good starting spot to eventually go on to win the race. Fultz was slated to start on the pole if the handicap system was in play, however it was a draw/redraw format as the handicap system won’t begin until May 20. Fultz drew the outside pole, to start alongside Modified Opening Night winner Dillon Groover.

Groover struggled with a tight racecar throughout the beginning stages of the event, dropping from his pole starting position to as far back as tenth after leading the opening two laps. He would recover to finish eighth.

Fultz, however, left no doubt that the car his team saved as strictly a small-block Woodhull car was still just as potent as when the team purchased that car many seasons ago. He would take off into the lead after getting around Groover on lap three, then having as much as half a straightaway at one point over veteran Donnie Lawson.

Lawson had several caution flags to try and help get a run on the driver he battled for many Crate Sportsman titles with at nearby Outlaw Speedway in their past. Lawson got as close to the back bumper on two occasions, but just couldn’t get enough of a run on the bottom lane to get alongside Fultz who was running half a car length off the bottom of the track.

Ron Cartwright Jr. was the hard charger of the event, proving that Woodhull was not just a one-lane train race on Saturday night. Cartwright clawed his way from the twelfth starting position to eventually finish third after a tough battle with Russell Morseman and Stacey Jackson, who finished fourth and fifth.

“This one (car) has been around awhile, it’s just been awhile since it’s been in Victory Lane,” said Fultz after the twenty-five-lap win.

Fultz had two caution flags to be concerned about late in the going, but was able to pull right away on those restarts with confidence to get his third win in the past two seasons at Woodhull.

“I felt a little better about them when I saw Billy (Van Pelt) was caught up as a part of them. That sucks for their team, but you expect to see him on late race restarts for the win here. There was a lot of bite in the track, so you could run it as hard as you wanted to.”

The NAPA Crate Sportsman feature got off to a rocky start as outside pole sitter Bryce Martin got tagged from behind in turn one, sending Martin spinning in front of the remaining eighteen cars in the field. Several cars including Jeffery Daughtery, Jerry Aldrich and Dayton Brewer all suffered damage.

The ensuing restart would see Brandon Butler eventually work into the lead, with AJ Costley and Jake Dgien giving chase in his 2017 Hig Fab Chassis. Butler would dominate the race from the top spot, but Costley was running a very patient race in the runner up position. That was, until Costley had something come apart on the exhaust, causing Costley to spin all on his own in turn two ending his night.

Dgien was running second and suffered mechanical problems on his No. 3 machine, ending what appeared to be a promising finish. This put early season strong runners Tim Guild and Dale Welty on Butler’s back bumper for the ensuing restarts. Welty seemed to have another gear at his disposal on restarts, and would use strong restarts to finally get by Guild who put up a great fight for second place.

Welty had one last chance at Butler on a late race restart, but Butler was able to hang on for his first victory of the 2017 season. Welty was able to dip below the Bomak sponsored No. 16 coming to the checkered flag, but fell short to finish second. Guild, Stevie Hartman III and pole sitter Mike Jackson filled out the top five finishers.

Brian Knowles bested his brother Jason on Saturday night in the SWL Awards and Photos Crate Late Model feature event. Knowles took the lead from early race leader Kurt Stebbins on lap four and wouldn’t look back to get the victory.

John Waters had problems in the heat race, but was able to make repairs and return for the feature starting in the back half of the field. Waters would challenge Jason Knowles for the runner up position, but could not advance any further than third.

Jeremy Wonderling tried using the outside lane to advance through the field from his seventh place starting spot, racing with his brother Mikey for the fourth position. Jeremy would finish fourth, while Mikey rounded out the top five in his No. 18.

“This feels awesome, we’ve been waiting and waiting to get one here,” said Knowles post-race.

“We finished second to Jeremy last night (at Outlaw) which was great. We’ve just been updating things with this car and got a win already over there- the car’s just been phenomenal so far.”

The Joe Willcox Performance Automatics Street Stocks saw Dennis Cummings and Mick “The Quick” Seeley lead the field to Scott Lyon’s green flag, for their twenty-lap feature go. Seeley would jump out to a big advantage early, leading the first eleven laps of the race.

Kurt Stebbins was hard on the charge though, moving into the second position on lap four and giving chase to Seeley for the lead. Stebbins would pull alongside Seeley on lap eleven with both cars being in a dead heat for the lead at the line. The driver out of Wellsville would clear Seeley for the lead to be scored at the top of the leader board on lap twelve.

From there, the 2016 Street Stock track champion and winner of the Woodhull 100 pulled out to a comfortable advantage over Seeley to score his first victory of the season. Seeley had his best run of the year for second, Kane Stebbins bested Jeredd Dennis and Teddy Morseman in a fierce battle for the third spot that also included Glenn Whritenour, Dylan Cecce and Tracy Dunn.

“Seeley was running good on the bottom, so we had to try and get around the outside,” said Stebbins in Instant Heat Wood Pellets Victory Lane.

“He had a good car tonight, so I tried the top a few times and it was there. I didn’t change anything from the heat to the feature.”

Corky Grant and Chip Warner led the field to the green for the twenty-lap Daugherty’s Auto Sales & Service Mini Stock feature event. Grant was featured in the Sayre, PA Morning Times newspaper this week, talking about how 2017 is his fortieth year in racing at Woodhull and will be his final season of competition.

The quiet, respected driver out of Cameron Mills said in that interview that he wanted so badly to get just one more win before he called it a career. Grant drove inspired on Saturday night, fending off all challengers to finally get that win in his final season.

Though Grant led every lap, it wasn’t that easy to get the win in a runaway. Jason Ketrow, who won two weeks ago and has returned to racing at Woodhull after several seasons off, started in the sixth position and worked his way to second by lap twelve after a close battle with Karl Born.

Once in the second spot, Ketrow gave chase to Grant trying to spoil the farewell tour party for the forty-year veteran. Ketrow would have a shot down low on Grant entering turn three on lap seventeen, but the hole closed quickly with Grant trying to protect the bottom. The two made slight contact battling for the victory, with Ketrow getting sideways and losing ground to Grant with two laps to go.

Ketrow got to the back bumper in the final corner coming to the checkered flag, but Grant was not going to be denied in getting a victory in his final season. Born, 2016 track champion Chris Woodard and Dylon Gleason rounded out the top five finishers.

“It’s probably going to be the last one, so I might as well enjoy it,” laughed Grant Sr. in Instant Heat Wood Pellets Victory Lane.

“I didn’t know who it was, but I went low and saw someone there and thought boy this isn’t good. It’s been a two-year drought and I didn’t think I was ever going to get another one so I will take this one. I have to thank Brian and Ray for setting this car up for me as well as Sam and Vicky from Signs Plus for doing the signs on this car for me.”

Adam DelGrosso took his twenty-fifth career victory in the Woodhull Auto Supply Front Wheel Drive division Saturday night, as the rivalry with point leader Shawn Gleason intensified another notch during their twenty-lap feature go.

An early race restart saw the field go four wide at the start/finish line, with Gleason doing his best to get to the bottom lane entering turn one. DelGrosso had a fender alongside Gleason entering the corner and didn’t relinquish the position, making contact in turn one as well as more contact entering turn three before a caution flag slowed the field. Afterward, DelGrosso was very direct about the contact early on.

“I’ve said all along that three-quarters clear is not clear,” said DelGrosso.

“When I have a car come across my nose going into two, you can bet I’m going to get it back going into the next corner.”

The restart saw DelGrosso and teammate Codie Baker start on the front row and battle it out for the lead, with the pair trading the lead on laps one, two, three and four. Baker had issues under the hood on power and eventually surrendered the lead to DelGrosso, who would walk away from the field until a last lap caution nearly changed it all when a car came to rest stuck in the pit exit in turn two.

DelGrosso would survive a late race restart over Baker and Gleason, and had some help from above who he mentioned in Instant Heat Wood Pellets Victory Lane.

“This win is dedicated to Scott Ellison, Jonathan O’Dell and my Grandma DelGrosso who we lost. We’ve dedicated the season to their memories and it’s great to get them a win this early. It feels good to be standing here after being upside down at Outlaw two weeks ago.”

This Saturday at Woodhull Raceway will be Fire and EMS recognition night, with local Fire and EMS personnel being admitted free of charge with proper identification. Brico Technologies will present the action along with the first of three youth Power Wheels races. The 370 Modifieds will be joined by the Crate Sportsman, Crate Late Models, Street Stocks, Mini Stocks, Front Wheel Drives, Woodhull Warriors and Hobby Stocks. Race time is set for 6:30PM. The first of four Street Stock Clash 4 Cash events will take place on Saturday as well.

Race fans are encouraged to sign up for the fastest alerts from Woodhull Raceway’s Rained Out Alert system by sending the text message “WoodhullAlert” to 84483, message and data rates may apply.

For more information race over to www.woodhullraceway.com, Like Woodhull Raceway on Facebook at www.facebook.com/WoodhullRaceway or Follow Woodhull on Twitter @WoodhullPR.

Woodhull Raceway is located in Woodhull, NY, just 30 minutes West of Corning, NY and competes weekly on Saturday nights from mid-April through Labor Day Weekend. The track offers several special events including the Patriot Sprint Tour 360 Sprints and the Short Track Super Series Modifieds in late-August.

Woodhull Raceway Williams Construction/Kickin’ Country 105.3FM

Night Official Results May 13th, 2017

A-Verdi Storage Containers Patriot Sprint Tour Results

A Main (25 Laps): 1) 51-BRYAN HOWLAND (1), 2) 67- Steve Collins 3) 87- George Suprick 4) 1HD- Cory Sparks 5) 35- Jared Zimbardi 6) 48jr- Darryl Ruggles 7) 98- Joe Trenca 8) 61- Scott Kreutter 9) 47x- Dylan Westbrook 10) 10P- Paulie Colagiovanni 11) 66x- Ryan Kissinger 12) 45- Chuck Hebing 13) 10LC- Kelly Hebing 14) 87*- Jason Barney 15) 47- Kyle Drum 16) 67r- Pete Richardson 17) 89- Robbie Stillwagon 18) 22s- Shaun Sliter 19) 11- Robbie Shuttleworth 20) 81- Derek Jonathan 21) 77- Derek Locke 22) 2- Steve Hutchinson Jr, 23) 54J- Dave Just 24) X- Dan Bennett

Shuttleworth 11th Place Bonus: 66x- Ryan Kissinger

Casey Truck Salvage ‘Salvage of the night:’ 1HD- Cory Sparks

Prestige Pool & Spa Final Finisher: 81- Derek Jonathan (20th Place)

Lap leaders- Howland 1-25

INSINGER PERFORMANCE 370 MODIFIEDS, 16 cars (25 laps): BRADY FULTZ (1), Donnie Lawson, Ron Cartwright Jr., Russell Morseman, Stacey Jackson, Chris Ostrowsky, Brian Doolittle, Dillon Groover, Cory Costa, Brandon Martin, Chris Daugherty, Josh Nobriga, Boyd MacTavish, Ryan Tracy, Art Goodier, Billy Van Pelt

H1: Josh Nobriga, Chris Daugherty, Billy Van Pelt
H2: Ron Cartwright Jr., Dillon Groover, Chris Ostrowsky

NAPA CRATE SPORTSMAN, 21 cars (25 laps): BRANDON BUTLER (1), Dale Welty, Tim Guild, Stevie Hartman III, Mike Jackson, Josh Keesey, Bryce Martin, Eric Williams, Bobby Peoples, Dave DuBois, Dave Richmond, Adam Taft, Kirk Reynolds, Jerry Aldrich, Blake Lawson, Dayton Brewer, Jake Dgien, AJ Costley, Jeffery Daugherty DNS: Tim Schram (DQ)

H1: Jeffery Daugherty, AJ Costley, Mike Jackson
H2: Brandon Butler, Bryce Martin, Jerry Aldrich
H3: Dayton Brewer, Dave DuBois, Jake Dgien

SWL AWARDS CRATE LATE MODELS, 13 cars (20 laps): BRIAN KNOWLES (1), Jason Knowles, John Waters, Jeremy Wonderling, Mikey Wonderling, Bryce Davis, Steve LaBarron, Brad Mesler, Kurt Stebbins, Brad Smith, Darin Horton, Wayne Robertson, Randy Ralyea

H1: Jason Knowles, Kurt Stebbins, Mikey Wonderling
H2: Wayne Robertson, Steve LaBarron, Brian Knowles

JOE WILLCOX PERFORMANCE AUTOMATICS STREET STOCKS, 15 cars (20 laps): KURT STEBBINS (1), Mick Seeley, Kane Stebbins, Jeredd Dennis, Teddy Morseman, Glenn Whritenour, Dylan Cecce, Tracy Dunn, Dan Gardner, Jared Hill, Brett Marlatt, Branden Morseman, Trevor Tompkins, Dennis Cummings, Jim Weatherley

H1: Kurt Stebbins, Glenn Whritenour, Dylan Cecce
H2: Teddy Morseman, Tracy Dunn, Mick Seeley

DAUGHERTY AUTO SALES MINI STOCKS, 14 cars (20 laps): BRIAN “Corky” GRANT SR. (1), Jason Ketrow, Karl Born, Chris Woodard, Dylon Gleason, Ron Dailey Jr., Chip Warner, Scott Lehman, Brian Grant Jr., James LaGrange, Rick Amidon, Alan Crooker, Chris Hand, Derrick Puryear

H1: Chris Woodard, Ron Dailey Jr., Jason Ketrow
H2: Corky Grant, Chip Warner, Karl Born

WOODHULL AUTO SUPPLY FWD, 15 cars (20 laps): ADAM DELGROSSO (1), Codie Baker, Shawn Gleason, Steve Gee, Tim Tripp, Kenneth Evans III, Scott Lehman Jr., Robert Gardner, Nick Kennedy, Brendan Schweigart, Ryan Stermer, Todd West, Nate Freeland, Matt Prescott, Mike Wilmot

H1: Codie Baker, Shawn Gleason, Nate Freeland
H2: Adam DelGrosso, Nick Kennedy, Steve Gee