Mike Bowman Gets First Career Ransomville Speedway Modified Win

Story By: DAVE BUCHANAN / RANSOMVILLE SPEEDWAY – RANSOMVILLE, NY – Mike Bowman of St. Catharines, Ontario picked up his first career Krown Undercoating 358 Modified feature win at Ransomville Speedway on Friday as part of Fireworks Night presented by uBreakiFix of WNY, Moley Magnetics, Hy-Tech Concrete, Hebeler’s Sales & Service and Scott Joy Trucking.

In other action, Brett Senek of Ransomville won the Investors Service Sportsman feature. Cory Sawyer of Niagara Falls won the Ki-Po Chevrolet Street Stock feature. Mike Kramarz of Niagara Falls picked up third win of the year in the Gippster’s Collision Mini Stocks. In the Stevenson’s Hardware Novice Sportsman, Bubby Pawalk of Burt, N.Y. scored his first win of the season.

Greg Martin and James Sweeting led the field of Krown Undercoating 358 Modifieds to the opening green flag. Sweeting grabbed the early lead holding off Mat Williamson to win his qualifier earlier in the night.

Mike Bowman started sixth in the feature. He was up to fourth by lap 7 when the caution came out for Matt Farnham stopping on the frontstretch with mechanical issues. Two laps after the restart he got ahead of Martin to take over the second position.

Erick Rudolph came into the event a perfect three-for-three in 2019 at the “Big R”, and searching for his fourth-straight win to start the season. Rudolph had his work cut out for him after starting 12th was already up to fourth by lap 12.

The caution came out for the final time on lap 18 when Jeff McGinnis slowed on the track with mechanical issues. The set up a restart with Sweeting leading Bowman, Ryan Susice and Rudolph. Sweeting chose the outside line for the restart as he had favored the top side throughout the race.

Bowman was able to put together a solid run on the inside on lap 24 as he passed Sweeting for the lead in turn two. The pair made contact on back-to-back laps before finally separating. Bowman then drove away for the final five laps to earn his first Modified win at Ransomville.

Sweeting had to settle for second after leading 23 laps. Rudolph had his win streak snapped at three races with a third place run. Williamson and Susice rounded out the top five.

Defending Investors Service Sportsman track champion, Brett Senek, scored his second win of the season. Senek led all 25 laps in a race that was slowed only once for a caution. His strongest challenge came from Derek Wagner who landed in second place with eight laps to go.

After feeling the heat from Wagner, Senek moved to the outside line and was able to pull away in the final few laps to get the win.Wagner finished second followed by Jonathan Reid, Andrew Smith and AJ Custodi.

Mike Kramarz scored his third win of the season in the Gippster’s Collision Mini Stocks. Kramarz held off a hard-charging Chris Leone in the closing laps to secure the win. Leone drove through the field after starting last for the 15-lap feature. He made his way up to second place after just seven laps. Leone then erased a one second deficit to catch Kramarz.

Leone was on Kramarz’s back bumper for the final two laps, but could not overtake Kramarz. Kramarz held on to make his third trip to victory lane in 2019. Ashley Blech finished third behind Kramarz and Leone. Dave Dussault finished fourth after leading the first five laps of the race. Cole Susice rounded out the top five.

In the Stevenson’s Hardware Novice Sportsman, Bubby Pawlak passed Butch Zimmerman for the lead following a restart on lap 7. He then drove away throughout the second half of the race for his first win of the season. Zimmerman held off Mike Martin for second place. Tom Lalomia and David Fingerlow rounded out the top five.

Next Friday, July 5, features another full card of racing at the “Big R”. The Ransomville/Genesee Speedway Mini Stock Series makes another appearance, plus race car rides for the kids before hand. Racing starts at 7:15 p.m.

RESULTS

KROWN UNDERCOATING 358 MODIFIEDS

Heat Winners: Erick Rudolph, James Sweeting, Mike Bowman

Feature: 1. 71-Mike Bowman, [6]; 2. 11J-James Sweeting, [2]; 3. 25-Erick Rudolph, [12]; 4. 6-Mat Williamson, [9]; 5. 38-Ryan Susice, [8]; 6. 3-Chad Brachmann, [3]; 7. 42-Pete Bicknell, [10]; 8. 37S-Gary Lindberg, [17]; 9. 111-Allan Wills, [7]; 10. 26-Rich Richner, [11]; 11. 4-Greg Martin, [1]; 12. 55C-Jesse Cotriss, [18]; 13. 47V-Phil Vigneri III, [5]; 14. 11S-Steven Lewis Jr, [16]; 15. 6M-Mike Williams, [13]; 16. 678-John Smith, [15]; 17. 132-Brandon Michaud, [19]; 18. 20-Jeff McGinnis, [4]; 19. 7F-Matt Farnham, [14]; 20. 27-Jim Zimmerman, [20]; 21. 12J-Nick Joy, [21]

INVESTORS SERVICE SPORTSMAN

Heat Winners: Derek Wagner, Jonathan Reid, Chris Steele

Feature: 1. 111B-Brett Senek, [1]; 2. 61-Derek Wagner, [6]; 3. 9-Jon Reid, [8]; 4. 1-Andrew Smith, [4]; 5. 75-AJ Custodi, [10]; 6. 80-Cody Wolfe, [12]; 7. 56-Garrison Krentz, [9]; 8. 22-Noah Walker, [3]; 9. 111-Kevin Wills, [14]; 10. 14-Darrell Borkenhagen, [18]; 11. 07-Brian Harris, [13]; 12. 63-Jessica Kriegisch, [16]; 13. 35T-Cameron Tuttle, [2]; 14. 1X-Chris Steele, [7]; 15. 18W-James Harbison, [17]; 16. 33J-Robbie Johnston, [5]; 17. 68-Dave DiPietro, [11]; 18. 74-Dave Flannigan Jr., [15]

KI-PO CHEVROLET STREET STOCKS

Heat Winners: Jaren Israel, Cory Sawyer

Feature:1. 5X-Cory Sawyer, [1]; 2. 2-Pete Stefanski, [6]; 3. 10-Jaren Israel, [2]; 4. 55D-Chris Dziomba, [5]; 5. 15C-Ken Camidge, [3]; 6. 43-Anthony Guthrie, [8]; 7. 11-Dan Korpanty, [11]; 8. 77-Pat O’Keefe, [7]; 9. 11R-Bryce Richardson, [10]; 10. 126-Chuck Cala, [9]; 11. 14P-Pat Dell, [4]

GIPPSTER’S COLLISION MINI STOCKS

Heat Winner: Dave Dussault

Feature: 1. 4-Mike Kramarz, [4]; 2. 62-Chris Leone, [11]; 3. 6-Ashley Blech, [3]; 4. 26-Dave Dussault, [1]; 5. 98-Cole Susice, [6]; 6. 93-Ryan Plante, [5]; 7. 17-Brian Melcher, [7]; 8. 88X-Nick Tarnowski, [8]; 9. 20-Jeffrey Wynes, [10]; 10. 29-Steve Matson, [2]; DNS: 46-Don Moulden, [9];

STEVENSON’S HARDWARE NOVICE SPORTSMAN

Heat Winners: Bubby Pawlak, Kenny Washburn

Feature: 1. 1-Bubby Pawlak, [3]; 2. 0-Butch Zimmerman, [2]; 3. 99-Mike Martin, [1]; 4. 8-Tommy LaLomia, [7]; 5. 33-David Fingerlow, [6]; 6. 716-Jim Forester, [8]; 7. 24-Orval Harris, [4]; 8. 07W-Ken Washburn, [5]; 9. 25-Chris Hawkins, [10]; 10. 34-Gregg Rauscher, [12]; 11. 3D-Jordan Moden, [11]; (DNS) 26-Kyle Richner,