Danny Creeden Invades Woodhull For $2K Payday
Story By: STEVEN OVENS / WOODHULL RACEWAY – WOODHULL, NY – 113 cars packed the Woodhull pit area for the annual event honoring the founding father of Woodhull Raceway- George Williams. Each Memorial Day Weekend, Woodhull honors the memory of Williams with the George Williams Memorial Trophy Races for each division.
The “DC Express” of Danny Creeden took full advantage of the extra distance, extra payout for the Modified division on George Williams Memorial Night, sponsored by Griffith Energy and the Elkland Moose. But it was under unique circumstances that Creeden would end up being in position to get his first checkered flag at “New York’s Toughest Bullring.”
An incident between Ron Cartwright Jr. and Billy Van Pelt, while battling for the lead, would see both drivers be sent to the back of the pack. That handed the lead over to young pilot Dayton Brewer and also opened the door for Creeden to capitalize on the leader’s misfortune.
Creeden would get the win in a rare appearance at Woodhull over Donnie Lawson, Dillon Groover, Dayton Brewer and Cory Costa.
“He (Teddy White) needs to pick this place up and move it about an hour closer to me or I need to move an hour closer to here, this place is awesome,” said a pumped up Creeden in Instant Heat Wood Pellets Victory Lane. “I’ve never seen this many people packed into a Saturday night short track, this place is a little gem up on the mountain.”
Stacey Jackson hadn’t had a great start to the season at Woodhull or any other place for that matter. Jackson would however start from the pole according to the handicap and would lead wire-to-wire to get his first win on the High Banks of the year in the NAPA Crate Sportsman division.
“The year I’ve had, I’ll take this win no matter where I started,” said Jackson in Victory Lane. “This is the first race we’ve finished in the last four so that’s uplifting for sure.”
Teddy Morseman made another start in the No. 44 Hobby Stock on Saturday night and picked up yet another win in the Woodhull Auto Supply Hobby Stocks. Morseman battled with last week’s winner Joe Birdsall and Les Smith to go on for the victory. But the excitement on the track carried right over to Victory Lane.
“Yeah she’s a hot rod now,” said Morseman as the safety crew extinguished a fire under the hood of the No. 44. “Les Smith, he’s a lot of fun to race with and he’s got a fast car.”
Carter Crooker battled adversity all night in both the Daugherty’s Auto Sales & Service Warriors division and the Mini Stock division that his hired gun Chris Woodard drives his car in. Through all the adversity they encountered, Crooker and Woodard would take home two George Williams Memorial trophies. Crooker would get the best of Brody Amidon and Ronnie Dailey again to get his third victory of the short season so far at Woodhull.
“I was a little nervous coming out after the heat and I wasn’t sure I could catch Ronnie tonight, but we did it,” noted Crooker post-race.
Branden Morseman took a brand new leaf spring car to Victory Lane Saturday night in the Joe Willcox Performance Automatics Street Stocks. It was a fast car right off the trailer Saturday night, as Morseman later said he knew how good the car was as he was able to keep great pace with points leader Dylan Cecce in the heat. Fast it was indeed- as Morseman held off another hungry driver to get the win over Kurt Stebbins.
“Brand new car this year and went back to the old leaf spring style and this thing is absolutely amazing,” said Morseman who was happy to shake off the bad luck from the week before. “I learned a lot from my dad watching him go around out here. I don’t even know what to say getting this new car into Victory Lane so quick.”
Adam DelGrosso swept the weekend at The Hill Speedway and Woodhull Raceway. DelGrosso picked up the win Saturday night in the Bear’s Auto Body Front Wheel Drives. For DelGrosso it was his second feature win of the season as he holds the division point lead in his No. 11.
“This car is just fast anywhere it goes right now,” said DelGrosso. “I haven’t won a race that had a trophy as a prize in quite awhile, so this is pretty cool.”
Kurt Stebbins upgraded his chassis on his SWL Awards Crate Late Model several weeks back right at the beginning of the 2018 season. It has been a struggle working all the kinks out of a new car but Stebbins finally slayed the new car dragon on Saturday night to get his first win with it. To put it mildly, the driver out of Wellsville was elated.
“We decided to focus on Woodhull and not travel to Outlaw any more,” said Stebbins. “We took the time to go through both of these cars and we found a lot of stuff. It makes a big difference and definitely shows. The car was working really well and I was just waiting for the harder tires to come in.”
It was a rough and tumble night for the Mini Stock drivers of the Daugherty’s Auto Sales & Service Mini Stocks. At race’s end, it was Chris Woodard who picked up his second win of 2018 driving the Crooker-owned No. 32. It was a long night for the 32 team, but wasn’t too much for the two-time defending division champion to handle.
“I saw the leader pushing up and I knew if I could get a run I could get by him,” said Woodard. “I think this car is actually better than my (No. 97) car.”
Next Saturday night at “New York’s Toughest Bullring,” RLB Trucking & Team 25 present the Scott Dennison Memorial 35-lap battle for the Street Stocks. The night’s activities will include a full card of racing for all of Woodhull’s weekly divisions except for the Crate Late Models who will have the night off.
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 in May and July and the Short Track Super Series Modifieds in early-August.
Griffith Energy & Elkland Moose Night Official Results- May 26, 2018
INSINGER PERFORMANCE MODIFIEDS, 25 cars (35 laps): DAN CREEDEN (1), Donnie Lawson, Dillon Groover, Dayton Brewer, Cory Costa, Brian Doolittle, Brady Fultz, Art Goodier, Billy VanPelt, Josh Keesey, Joe Dgien, Russell Morseman, Adam Hilton, Frank Dunning, Kevin Chilson, Bob Silvernail, Ron Cartwright, Dave DuBois, Patrick Hopes, Wally Wade, Larry Keegan, Bobby Davis, Alan Rudalavage, Mike Bills, DNS: Bryce Martin.
H1: Bobby Davis, Billy VanPelt, Bob Silvernail.
H2: Dan Creeden, Dayton Brewer, Donnie Lawson.
H3: Ron Cartwright, Brady Fultz, Art Goodier.
H4: Cory Costa, Alan Rudalavage, Wally Wade.
NAPA CRATE SPORTSMAN, 20 cars (25 laps): STACY JACKSON (1), Kenny Peoples Jr., Bobby Peoples, Tim Guild, Brett Buono, AJ Costley, Brandon Butler, Ajay Potrzebowski II, Connor Brown, Dave Richmond, Kinser Hill, Jerry Aldrich, Cole Youse, Adam Taft, Blake Lawson, Mickey Wilbur, Jake Dgien, John Sekoll, Bob Butcher, Steve Hartman III.
H1: Steve Hartman III, Bobby Peoples, Stacy Jackson.
H2: Tim Guild, Brandon Butler, Kinser Hill.
H3: Jake Dgien, Ajay Potrzebowski II, John Sekoll.
SWL AWARDS CRATE LATE MODELS, 7 cars (20 laps): KURT STEBBINS (1), Jason McGregor, Jason Knowles, Joe Layfield, Darin Horton, Whitney Horton, Steve LeBarron.
H1: Jason Knowles, Jason McGregor, Steve LeBarron.
JOE WILLCOX PERFORMANCE AUTOMATICS STREET STOCKS, 16 cars (20 laps): BRANDEN MORSEMAN (1), Kurt Stebbins, Brett Marlatt, Teddy Morseman, Dylan Cecce, Jeredd Dennis, Tracy Dunn, Dan Gardner, Mike Williams, Zane King Jr., Ryan Krause, Jim Weatherley, Noah Talada, Jim Buck, DNS: Clint Button, Mickey Seeley.
H1: Tracy Dunn, Kurt Stebbins, Brett Marlatt.
H2: Dylan Cecce, Branden Morseman, Mickey Seeley.
WOODHULL AUTO SUPPLY HOBBY STOCKS, 9 cars (20 laps):TEDDY MORSEMAN (3), Joe Birdsall, Les Smith, Carter Dennis, AJ Nierdermaier, Glen Layfield, Cliff Miller, Brent Williams, DNS: Greg Young.
H1: Joe Birdsall, Carter Dennis, Glen Layfield.
H2: Les Smith, Teddy Morseman, Cliff Miller.
DAUGHERTY’S AUTO SALES & SERVICE MINI STOCKS: 14 cars (20 laps): CHRIS WOODARD (2), Ray Hyer, Travis Webster, Karl Born, Rick Amidon, Kane Stebbins, Jason Ketrow, Derrick Puryear, Scott Lehman, Jason Warner, Josh Webster, Danielle Thomas, Adam Austin, DNS: Clay French.
H1: Chris Woodard, Rick Amidon, Travis Webster.
H2: Ray Hyer, Jason Ketrow, Kane Stebbins.
BEAR’S AUTO BODY FRONT WHEEL DRIVES, 14 cars (20 laps): ADAM DELGROSSO (2), Nate Freeland, Codie Baker, Matt Prescott, Scott Lehman Jr., Nick Brown, Dillyn Dailey, Steve Scott, Joe Gillespie, Brendan Schweigart, Ryan Stermer, Ryan Austin, Bryce Ordiway, Cara Pitts.
H1: Ryan Austin, Matt Prescott, Codie Baker.
H2: Adam DelGrosso, Nate Freeland, Scott Lehman Jr.
DAUGHERTY’S AUTO SALES & SERVICE WARRIORS, 8 cars (10 laps): CARTER CROOKER (3), Ronnie Dailey, Brody Amidon, Brooke McClain, Dylon Morseman, Garrett Wilson, Jordan Costley, DNS: Cameron Nichols.
H1: Ronnie Dailey, Dylon Morseman, Brody Amidon.