Pat Ward Takes Checkers Friday At Brewerton; Jimmy Phelps Takes Track Championship

Story By: DAVE MEDLER / BREWERTON SPEEDWAY – BREWERTON, NY – Friday night at the Brewerton Speedway a fast racing surface produced two and three wide racing the entire race program to bring the curtain down on the final points night of the 2018 season.

Feature winners on 87 Speed Championship night were, Pat Ward (Tracey Road Equipment DIRTcar Modifieds) Danny Varin (Lucas Oil Empire Super Sprints) Tyler Corcoran & Dave Marcuccilli (SUNY Canton DIRTcar Sportsman) Justin Williams (STARS Mod Lites).

2018 Track Champions. Jimmy Phelps (Modifieds) Kevin Root (Sportsman) Justin Williams (Mod Lites).

There were two races in one in the 35-lap Tracey Road Equipment DIRTcar Modified feature. Who would win the feature and who would be track champion as only 12 points separated Jimmy Phelps and Larry Wight.

Tim Harris and Gary Tomkins led the Modified feature down to the green with Tomkins grabbing the early advantage.

By lap 10 Tomkins and Andrew Ferguson were showing the way out front, racing side-by-side for the lead with Pat Ward right in their tire tracks and Larry Wight gaining on the top-three.

On lap 13 Ferguson would shoot into the lead with Ward moving into second.

After hounding Ferguson, Ward would drive into the lead on lap 17.

With 20 laps showing on the scoring tower Ward opened a half-a-straightaway lead. Behind Ward you could have thrown a blanket over Ferguson, Tomkins and Wight as they ran within inches of each other for second through fourth.

The yellow would wave on lap 20 erasing the 2 second lead Ward built up at the front of the pack.

With 10 laps to go Ward led Wight by three car lengths with Tom Sears Jr., Ferguson and Tomkins slugging it out for third through fifth.

Over the remaining laps Pat Ward and Larry Wight took off from the rest of the field finishing first and second. Tim Sears Jr., Gary Tomkins, Tom Sears Jr., Jimmy Phelps and Max McLaughlin finished two and three-wide coming across the line for third through seventh.

With his sixth-place finish Jimmy Phelps won the track championship by 2 points over Larry Wight.

In the first 25-lap SUNY Canton DIRTcar Sportsman feature, rookie Tyler Corcoran grabbed the early advantage with Jeff Taylor right in his tire tracks.

With 10 laps complete Corcoran and Taylor were in a two-car breakaway at the front of the field with Tyler Murray, Joey Buonagurio and Rick Rogala racing for third through fifth.

With 10 to go Corcoran still led and was getting heavy pressure from Taylor lap after lap. Murray, Chris Mackey and Dylan Zacharias showed on the scoring tower.

The only caution would happen on lap 18 setting up a 7-lap dash to the checkers.

Over the remaining laps Tyler Corcoran didn’t flinch and ran nothing like a rookie as he made no mistakes and cruised first under the checkers for his first ever Brewerton Speedway win. Jeff Taylor, Chris Mackey, Kevin Root and Dylan Zacharias finished second through fifth.

With a feature win and consistent finishes all season long, Kevin Root is the 2018 SUNY Canton DIRTcar Sportsman Track Champion.

In the second 25-lap Sportsman feature Mike Stanton Jr. took the lead at the drop of the green and would have a five-car length lead over Mike Fowler, with Rich Townsend, Joe Sobotka and Willy Decker Jr. showing third through fifth by lap 5.

Stanton would open an almost full straightaway lead over Townsend on lap 10. Fowler, Dave Marcuccilli raced side-by-side for third and fourth with Brent Joy fifth.

With 10 laps to go Stanton still had a sizable lead over Townsend as Marcuccilli was rapidly closing on Townsend with Joy and Fowler in fourth and fifth.

A yellow on lap 20 would erase the lead Stanton had and would put Marcuccilli on his back bumper for the restart.

When the race went back green Marcuccilli would go to the top of the speedway and drive by Stanton and then cruise to the win. Mike Stanton Jr., Rich Townsend, Alan Fink and Brent Joy finished second through fifth.

Over 30 Lucas Oil Empire Super Sprints were pit-side and ready to put on a great show before moving over to the Fulton Speedway the following day Saturday, September 1.

In the 25-lap A-Main Danny Varin would bolt out to the early lead and would have a full straightaway lead on lap 5 with Paul Kinney, Jason Barney, Sam Reakes and Josh Azzi battling for second through fifth.

With 10 laps complete Varin was on rails out front by 3 seconds and putting cars down a lap. Kinney and Barney were in a tight battle for second as Reakes and Tommy Wickham showed in fourth and fifth.

The red flag would stop the action on lap 14 when sixth-place Wickham had a fire and came to a stop. He would climb out of his car and walk away.

When they attempted a restart, Sammy Reakes bounced high in the air landing hard on all fours with each bounce coming to rest off turn three and four, bringing out the red. Reakes walked away.

On lap 16 another competitor made contact with Jason Barney in turns one and two, spinning him around. With Barney’s skill, he didn’t stall the car and kept going and only dropped to fifth place and did not bring out a yellow.

The red would stop the action on lap 18 when Matt Billings and another car touched, sending Billings tumbling off turns three and four. Amazingly the safety crew pushed his car to the pits and he would come back out before the race went back green.

Over the final laps Varin and Wight put on a show running bumper-to-bumper and side-by-side with Varin picking up the narrow 0.293 of a second victory. Jason Barney, Coleman Gulick and Steve Poirier finished third through fifth.

Justin Williams put an exclamation point on his STARS Mod Lites track championship season.

In the 20-lap Mod Lite feature Tom Perkins lead the opening 5 laps before Justin Williams took over the lead and from there would cruise to his ninth feature win of the year. Doug Williams, Mike Mullen, Zack Babcock and Joe Garafolo finished second through fifth.

The Brewerton Speedway is quiet until Friday, September 14 when the ‘D-Shaped Dirt Demon’ will come back to life when stars and cars of the Modified Super DIRTcar Series will do battle in the ‘Duel at the Demon’ 100 plus the DIRTcar Sportsman Championship Series will slug it out in the ‘Duel at the Demon’ 50.

Adult grandstand admission will be $25 with everyone 18 years old and under $5. Pit admission is $40. Grandstands will open at 5:00 pm, time trials at 6:45 pm with the first heat slated for 7:30 pm.

Any questions you might have and for marketing opportunities please contact Cory Reed (315) 668-6906 or cory@brewertonspeedway.com. For all the latest news go to www.brewertonspeedway.com . Like the track Facebook page www.facebook.com/BrewertonSpeedway .

87 Speed August 31 Championship Night Results

(Tracey Road Equipment DIRTcar Modified 35 Laps) – PAT WARD, Larry Wight, Tim Sears Jr., Gary Tomkins, Tom Sears Jr., Jimmy Phelps, Max McLaughlin, Billy Decker, Andrew Ferguson, Chris Hile, Rob Bellinger, Chad Phelps, Tim Kerr, Jim Witko, Willy Decker, Matt Hulsizer, Nick Krause, Billy Whittaker, Tim Harris, Roy Bresnahan, Aaron Jacobs.

(2018 Tracey Road Equipment DIRTcar Modified Track Champion) – Jimmy Phelps.

(SUNY Canton DIRTcar Sportsman #1 – 25 Laps) – TYLER CORCORAN, Jeff Taylor, Chris Mackey, Kevin Root, Dylan Zacharias, Tyler Murray, Stephen Denton, Chris Cunningham, Amy Holland, Joey Buonagurio, Earl Rudy, Colby Herzog, Rick Rogala, Jake Petit, Robert Gage, Will Shields, DNS – Frank Sobotka, Sammy Reakes.

(SUNY Canton DIRTcar Sportsman #2 – 25 Laps) – DAVE MARCUCCILLI, Mike Stanton Jr., Rich Townsend, Alan Fink, Brent Joy, Sean Beardsley, Mark Yorker, Mike Fowler, Joe Sobotka, Zach Sobotka, Corey Barker, Willy Decker Jr., Bailey Groves, Casey Cunningham, Torrey Stoughtenger, Chris Bonoffski, Tony Finch II.

(2018 SUNY Canton DIRTcar Sportsman Track Champion) – Kevin Root.

(STARS Mod Lites 20 Laps) – JUSTIN WILLIAMS, Doug Williams, Mike Mullen, Zack Babcock, Joe Garafolo, Hunter Lawton, Dave Brown, Tom Perkins, Sam Usborne, Kelly Skinner, Jim Dunham, Ryan Halliday, DNS- Tucker Halliday.

(2018 STARS Mod Lites Track Champion) – Justin Williams.

(Lucas Oil Empire Super Sprints 25 Laps) – DANNY VARIN, Larry Wight, Jason Barney, Coleman Gulick, Steve Poirier, Billy VanInwegen, Matt Tanner, Shawn Donath, Mike Mahaney, Paul Kinney, Jeff Cook, Brent Wright, Jonathan Preston, Josh Azzi, Dave Axton, Dan Douville, Matt Billings, Chad Miller, Denny Peebles, Kelly Hebing, Parker Evans, Sammy Reakes, Tommy Wickham, Scott Holcomb, Josh Flint.