Syracuse, NY – October 10, 2010 – By Dave Medler, DIRTcar Northeast Series Reporter
Third time was the charm for Rocky “The Flying Squirrel” Warner in the Super DIRT Week XXXIX full-fender finale at the New York State Fairgrounds on Sunday afternoon and he not only qualified, the Gloversville, N.Y. driver led flag-to-flag to capture DIRTcar Racing Northeast’s most prestigious events of the year for Pro Stock teams.
Third-place starter Warner jumped to the inside of front row starters Jeremy Pitts and Jay Corbin to grab the lead on the opening circuit of the 25-lap BNC Motorsports Pro Stock Championship and once out front fought off repeated challenges from Pitts to pick up his first-ever Hoosier Tire-VP Racing Fuels Mr. DIRTcar Pro Stock Series win.
“This is what dreams are made of; this is like our Daytona 500,” remarked Warner as he stood alongside his West End Towing & Repair no. 79 Tanner’s Used Tires /Chevrolet Impala flanked by his happy crew. “Winning this thing is easily the biggest victory of my career.”
Friday’s Terrell Potato Chips fast timers Jeremy Pitts and race veteran Jay Corbin brought the 32-car field down to the first green flag to lead off the BNC 25 main event. Yet it was inside row two starter Rocky Warner who saw the bottom lane open up and wasted no blasting into the lead as the trio navigated through turn one.
With five laps in the books, Warner and fellow race rookie Pitts ran nose-to-tail and side-by-side fighting for the race lead on the sun-drenched super speedway. Rob Yetman ran third ready to pounce on any mistake made by the top-two.
On lap 10 Warner and Pitts were in a three-car break away at the front of the pack. Corbin was alone in third with defending race champion Pete Stefanski and Yetman filled out the front-five. When the field was given the 10-to-go sign, Warner and Pitts had put almost a full straightaway between themselves fighting for the lead and third running Stefansk steering his familiar Sunrise Racing no. 2 San Ter Sewing-PJ NFB Auto Sales/Chevrolet Monte Carlo machine.
Following three yellow flags that unfurled on laps two, six and seven for minor mishaps involving Kim Duell, Chad Jeseo and Series points leader coming in Joey Ladouceur, the final caution period on lap 20 gave Stefanski the break he was looking for as it set up a three-car battle to the finish.
Over the final laps Pitts threw everything he had at Warner trying him inside and out, but leader hit his marks the rest of the way to be the first under the checkers to score the narrow win. Stefanski held on to third-place followed by Corbin and tour regular Yetman in the top-five.
“We came down the front stretch pretty even and I think they (Pitts & Corbin) swung wide to miss the mud,” noted Warner, as he described how he made the winning move on the opening lap of the race.
“I just drove down through it into turn one to get the lead. I knew Jeremy was right there as he set fast time, and I knew he would be right there through the whole race. It was awesome, two home town guys from doing well here at the Syracuse Mile,” added the recently crowned DIRTcar points champion at both Glen Ridge Motorsports Park and Fonda Speedway in New York State’s Leatherstocking Region.
While Warner posed for victory lane photos, the celebration for Pitts came to an end soonafter as in the customary post-race inspection his Grennon Project Services no. 27 Next Generation Roofing/Chevrolet Impala ride was disqualified for an illegal camshaft. Likewise for fifth-place finisher Yetman, who was disqualified for a distributor infraction in the Lazzaro’s Auto Body no. 7 Madsen Overhead Door/Pontiac Grand Prix car.
Entering the Salt City showdown facing an 13-point deficit to Joey Ladouceur, sixth-place finisher Louie Jackson left the fairgrounds ahead by 23 markers as Ladouceur could only climb back up to 24th-place on the final scoresheet following an early scrape with the turn three outside retaining wall. The Pro Stock Series return appearance to Brockville Ontario Speedway that arrives in just one more week is also the 2010 finale as the area’s top full-fender teams compete in a big 50-lap main event during the 2nd Annual running of the DIRTcar Northeast Fall Nationals at BOS on Friday, Oct. 15.
Mr. DIRTcar Pro Stock Series Race #8 – New York State Fairgrounds, October 10, 2010 “BNC Motorsports Championship” Event Summary
FIN STR CAR# DRIVER
1 3 79 Rocky Warner/Gloversville,NY® ($2,000)
2 7 2 Pete Stefanski/Wheatfield,NY
3 2 8 Jay Corbin/Rensselaer,NY
4 6 69 Jody Swamp /Hogansburg,NY
5 10 114 Scott Duell/Green Island,NY®
6 8 18 Louie Jackson/Akwesasne,NY
7 19 92m Sheldon Martin/Scotia,NY®
8 12 47s Corey Wheeler/Cornwall,ONT
9 15 23 Chuck Towslee/Manchester,VT®
10 14 01 Francois Adam/St.Pie,QUE®
11 18 1r Ricky Thompson/Hogansburg,NY®
12 11 73 P.J. Peters/Akwesasne,QUE
13 25 05 Jocelyn Roy/St-Helene,QUE®
14 16 53b Pete Broderson/Ballston Spa,NY®
15 21 83 Bernie Companion/Ballston Spa,NY®
16 17 116s Carl ‘Chip’ Smith Jr./Durham,NY
17 28 31x Ron Nuzzaro Jr./Yonkers,NY®
18 29 188 David Papineau/Akwesasne,NY
19 22 47 Dave Bissonnette/Apple Hill,ONT
20 31 48 Dion Oakes/Akwesasne,QUE
21 30 73j Troy Arnold/Middletown,NY
22 33 6 Stephane Lebrun/Gatineau,QUE®
23 9 26 Don Carlson/Ridgefield,CT
24 32 92 Joey Ladouceur/Alexandria,ONT
25 23 27n Nick Stone/Rotterdam Junction,NY
26 24 4 Roch Aubin/Alexandria,ONT
27 27 10 Buddy Hencke/Sand Lake,NY
28 5 25 Chad Jeseo/Averill Park,NY
29 20 8c Sean Corr/Goshen,NY
30 26 00 Kim Duell/Green Island,NY
DNS 13 7c Chuck Dumblewski/Amsterdam,NY
DSQ 1 27 *Jeremy Pitts/Clifton Park,NY®
DSQ 4 7 +Rob Yetman/Castleton,NY
*Disqualified for camshaft infraction;
+Disqualified for distributor infraction.
LAP LEADER: Warner (1-25).
CAUTIONS: 4 (lap 2, lap 65, lap 7, lap 20).
ELAPSED TIME: 30 mins. 46 sec.
MARGIN OF VICTORY: 0.374 sec.
MARK’S GARAGE-Walworth,NY ROOKIE OF THE RACE: Rocky Warner.
TURNER AUTOMOTIVE HARD CHARGER AWARD: Sheldon Martin.
A-1 RACE PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Sheldon Martin.
GATER RACING NEWS BEST APPEARING CAR & CREW: #27 – Jeremy Pitts.
NYSSCA ‘TOP MEMBER’ AWARD: Rocky Warner.
TERRELL’S POTATO CHIPS POLE WINNER: Jeremy Pitts (35.843 sec/100.438 mph).
TERRELL’S OUTSIDE POLE WINNER: Jay Corbin (36.149 sec/99.588 mph).
LAST CHANCE QUALIFIER: Jocelyn Roy.
RACE ROOKIES®: 12.
CARS ENTERED: 41.
FINAL EVENT:
Just one more week remains as top full-fender teams continue in their quest of the coveted overall 2010 Hoosier Tire-VP Racing Fuels Mr. DIRTcar Pro Stock Championship, with the points king crowned for the 16th straight year at Brockville Ontario Speedway during the 2nd Annual DIRTcar Northeast Fall Nationals at the BOS on Sunday, October 18.
2010 Mr. DIRTcar Pro Stock Series Championship Schedule
*All events subject to change.
DAY-DATE TRACK WINNER/LOCATION
Sun-May 23 Cornwall Motor Speedway Joey Ladouceur
Fri-Jun 25 Autodrome Granby *Rob Yetman
Sat-Jun 26 Autodrome Drummond Jocelyn Roy
Wed-Sep 1 Mohawk International Raceway P.J. Peters
Sat-Sep 11 Lebanon Valley Speedway Rob Yetman
Sat-Sep 18 Mohawk International Raceway Joey Ladouceur
Sat-Sep 25 Rolling Wheels Raceway Park Pete Stefanski
Sun-Oct 10 New York State Fairgrounds Rocky Warner
Fri-Oct 15 Brockville Ontario Speedway Brockville,ONT
DIRTcar Racing Northeast main office is located in Weedsport, New York on the Cayuga County Fairgrounds, home of DIRTcar All-Star Weekend in July. DIRTcar Northeast’s crown jewel event —Super DIRT Week at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse— runs October 7-11, 2009 featuring Hoosier Tire-VP Racing Fuels Mr. DIRTcar Championship Series events for Big-Block Modified, 358-Modified, Sportsman and Pro Stock divisions. Ticket and schedule information is available by contacting the Weedsport office (315/834-6606) during the day or logging into www.superdirtweekonline.com anytime.
The Big-Block Super DIRTcar Series is brought to fans across the Northeast by several sponsors and partners, including series sponsors Hoosier Racing Tire www.hoosiertire.com and VP Racing Fuels www.vpracingfuels.com. Promotional partners include Rite Aid Corporation www.riteaid.com, Dig Safely New York www.digsafelynewyork.com and the University of Northwestern Ohio www.unoh.com and the contingency sponsors are Bars Leaks www.barsproducts.com, Bert Transmission www.berttransmission.com, Bicknell Racing Products www.bicknellracingproducts.com, Bilstein Shocks www.bilstein.com, Brodix Cylinder Heads www.brodix.com, Ferris Industries www.ferrisindustries.com, Integra Shocks www.integrashocksandsprings.com, Intercomp www.intercomp-racing.com, KSE Racing Products www.kse-racing.com, Motorsports Safety Systems www.motorsportssafetysystems.com, Penske Shocks, www.penskeshocks.com, Racing Electronics www.racingelectronics.com, Rislone Oil Stabilizer www.barsproducts.com and Wrisco Industries www.wrisco.com.
