Rudolph Out Duels Susice To Score Modified Win At Ransomville
Story By: STEVE PETTY / RANSOMVILLE SPEEDWAY – RANSOMVILLE, NY – Third generation driver Erick Rudolph from Ransomville, NY was the winner of the Krown Undercoating Modified feature on JetPort Lounge and Niagara’s Lazy Lakes Camping Resort Night at the Ransomville Speedway on a sultry Friday evening.
Chris Burek from Wilson, NY won his first Investors Service Sportsman feature of the season. Robbie Johnston from Lockport, NY won his second feature of the season for the Stevenson’s Hardware Novice Sportsman. The Gippsters Collision 4 Bangers feature was called due to rain after five laps were completed.
Kenny Wills and Allan Wills brought the Krown Undercoating 358 Modifieds to the green flag for their 30 lap feature with Kenny Wills getting the lead over his cousin Allan. Off a lap one restart, “The Ransomville Renegade” Ryan Susice would take the lead over Wills with Tommy Flannigan, Scott George and Erick Rudolph racing inside the top five. Flannigan and Rudolph would both get around George to move into third and fourth respectively and would battle with each other for the third position and at the same time reeling in Kenny Wills for second. As Wills, Flannigan, and Rudolph all battled for second, this allowed race leader Ryan Susice to increase his lead. Rudolph would pass both Flannigan and Wills to move into second place on lap 16 and would begin his chase of race leader Susice. Meanwhile, “Mr. Small Block” Pete Bicknell passed Scott George to take over fifth place and George spun, in turn, one with nine laps to go to bring out the races first caution on lap 21. On the restart, Rudolph went to the outside of Susice and the two Ransomville racers went at it for the lead with the duo battling hard for the lead and the win. Kenny Wills slowed on the main straightaway to bring out the caution on lap 24. The six lap shootout would see Rudolph take off in the lead in his BlueCross BlueShield of WNY, BBL Racing number 25, and would pull away from Susice and Bicknell to score his second win of the season.
Dave Conant and Noah Walker led the field of the Investors Service Sportsman to the green flag with Conant showing the way. Walker spun in turn three to bring out the race’s first caution and Jim Harbison had nowhere to go and was collected in the incident on the opening circuit. Chris Burek would take the lead on the lap one restart with Derrick Borkenhagen, Austin Susice and Greg Martin racing inside the top five early in the 25 lap feature event. Brett Senek entered the top five for the first time on lap 10 after passing Greg Martin on the outside of turn two as Jonathan Reid raced on in seventh place. Burek continued to increase his lead over the field at the halfway mark as Conant continued to track him down, running in second place. Dave Conant would catch the leader with five laps remaining and would make contact coming into turn three with two laps to go, but Burek would hold off Conant to score his first feature win of the season. Burek’s victory makes the sixth different winner in six races.
Pat Dell and “That Guy” Mike Kramarz led the field of KiPo Chevrolet Street Stocks to the green with the recently married Dell taking over the lead. Dell got loose in turn one, giving the lead to Kramarz with Ken Camidge, Pete Stefanski, Jaren Israel and Jake Stefanski racing in the top five. Camidge would go underneath Kramarz to take the lead on lap four. Brian Monahan spun in turn four to bring out the caution on lap five for the first time in the feature event. On the restart, Camidge would keep his lead with Israel in second. Israel got loose exiting turn four and collected several cars, including Jake Stefanski and last week’s feature winner Ryan Hoolihan. On the restart, it was Camidge and Billy Bleich Jr on the front row with Camidge showing the way with Bleich, Brian Monahan, and Pete Stefanski racing in the top four. Camidge, Bleich, and Monahan settled the win for themselves with Camidge scoring the win. Pete Stefanski would cross the line in second over Bleich and Monahan, who came together coming to the checkered flag.
Adam and Orville Harris led the field of Stevenson’s Hardware Novice Sportsman to the green for their 15 lap main event with Orville Harris taking over the lead. Adam Harris lost several positions on lap two, giving Robbie Johnston the runner-up spot and Kyle Wendt moving into third. Johnston would begin to chase down Harris for the lead and the lead duo would make contact on lap 11 exiting turn two to take over the lead. Once Johnston took the lead, he opened up the lead and would go on to score the win, his second of the season.
Howard Guthrie and Ashley Harbison-Bleich brought the Gippsters Collision 4 Bangers to the green flag for their 15 lap feature event. When the field was brought under caution for a false start, Guthrie was hooked to Bleich and spun on the back straightaway and hit the wall and rolled over. Guthrie walked under his own power to the speedway EMT’s. The 15 lap feature was then brought to the green by Matt Hornquist and Ashley Harbison-Bleich with Hornquist taking the lead with Chris Leone taking over second. Hornquist would slam the turn two wall hard to bring out the caution on lap two. On the restart, Chris Leone would take command of the field. The caution would come out for rain and the remaining ten laps will be run at the beginning at the night next Friday night. The Speedway would like to thank Gerry Gipp from Gippster’s Collision who gave away extra money to the 4 Bangers tonight.
Besides the JetPort Lounge and Niagara Lazy Lakes Resort, Snyder Industries, Chris’s Appliance, WGR 550 and the Petty Family all enjoyed the action from the VIP Tower. A total of 77 racecars were on hand for the racing program. The annual Kid’s Rides was once again a big hit with the youngest race fans in attendance.
The 60th season of racing at the Big R will continue on Friday, July 14th as Regional Haulage presents a full card of racing plus power wheel races! To start the show, will be the remaining 10 laps for the Gippsters Collision 4 Bangers feature. Gates will swing open in the pits at 5:00 pm with grandstands opening at 6:00 pm with racing action starting at 7:15 pm.
RACE RESULTS – JETPORT LOUNGE AND LAZY LAKES CAMPING RESORT NIGHT
Krown Undercoating Modifieds: ERICK RUDOLPH, Ryan Susice, Pete Bicknell, Tommy Flannigan, Jesse Cotriss, Steve Schumacher, Jeff McGinnis, Scott Kerwin, Kenny Wills, Scott George, Allan Wills, Chad Brachmann, John Smith, Jim Zimmerman, Russ Zimmerman, Steve Lewis Jr, Rick Richner
Qualifying Winners: Rick Richner, Kenny Wills
Investors Service Sportsman: CHRIS BUREK, Dave Conant, Derrick Borkenhagen, Austin Susice, Brett Senek, Derek Wagner, Greg Martin, Dave Flannigan Jr, James Henry, AJ Custodi, Tony Muscato, Dave DiPietro II, Matt Farnham, Bryan Harris, Mike Williams, Garrison Krentz, Darrell Borkenhagen, Noah Walker, Jonathan Reid, Dustin Gorhan, Kevin Wills, Jim Harbison, Brett Martin Did Not Start: Justin McKay
Qualifying Winners: Dave Conant, Kevin Wills, Chris Burek
KiPo Chevrolet Street Stocks: KEN CAMIDGE, Pete Stefanski, Billy Bleich Jr, Jaren Israel, Pat Dell, Jake Stefanski, Mike Kramarz, Brandon Sherwood, Donald Hermanson, Jordan Moden, Randy Zimmerman, Joey Zimmerman, Ryan Hoolihan, Pat O’Keefe, Brian Monahan (DQ) Did Not Start: Dan Korpanty, Chris Dziomba
Qualifying Winners: Pat Dell, Ken Camidge
Stevenson’s Hardware Novice Sportsman: ROBBIE JOHNSTON, Orville Harris, Kyle Wendt, Zack George, Cameron Tuttle, David Fingerlow, Bubby Pawlak, Cliff Gregg III, Adam Harris
Qualifying Winner: Orville Harris
Gippster’s Collision 4 Bangers: FEATURE TO BE COMPLETED ON FRIDAY JULY 14, 2017 Did Not Start: Paul Plante
Qualifying Winner: Cole Susice