Tim Sears, Jr. - Alex Bruce Photo
Ransomville, NY — September 10, 2010 – By Dave Sully, DIRTcar Racing Northeast Series Correspondent
Sportsman driver Tim Sears Jr. has developed a liking for new tracks this season.
A few weeks back the second-generation driver from Clay, N.Y. journeyed to Cornwall (Ont.) Motor Speedway for the first time in a Hoosier Tire-VP Racing Fuels Mr. DIRTcar Series Sportsman event and came away with a win Then on Fri., Sept. 10 he matched that feat, thoroughly dominating the field in his first ever visit to Ransomville Speedway, winning the 50-lapper by half a lap.
“I’ve never even seen the track or even seen pictures before, but it’s a nice track,” admitted Sears in victory lane. “It’s fast, too.”
Two-time defending Mr. DIRTcar Sportsman Champion Chris Raabe, who noted before the race that his car has been fast and running well yet the team has been the victim of bad luck on tour, saw that scenario play out once again as he drew the pole but was dumped in turn two of the first lap. Raabe and fellow Canadian driver Cody McPherson got together in turn two as the cars took the initial green flag and both were forced to restart at the back of the pack.
The opening incident moved Nate Reynolds and Sears, who won the first heat easily, into the front row for the ensuing restart. After a caution on lap two, the same two remained at the front with Sears steaming past Reynolds in turn two to take the lead and immediately open a sizable lead. With the race under green, Sears continued to pull away in an extended green flag run and was leading by a straightaway when the caution flew for spin by Mark Chiddy in turn three on lap 25.
Sears had no trouble holding his advantage on that and two subsequent restarts, once again opening a lead that reached a half lap at the checkers. The only real race was for second and featured a pitched battle between Reynolds, Greg Panunte, driving the Mark Bellante No. 62, and Jipp Ortiz. A blanket could have covered the three much of the time.
In the end it was Reynolds doggedly hanging onto the spot, followed by Ortiz, Justin Wright, who got by Panunte late, and Panunte to round out the top-five. Raabe bounced back from his first lap jingle to finish 12th, with plenty of races still to go. Series point leader and recently crowned Ransomville champion Ryan Susice held his own, finishing sixth after starting 16th in the 30-car field.
Young Sears observed, “This car was just awesome. Wherever I wanted to go, it would go. Wherever I put it, it just went.” About lapped traffic, which he had to deal with twice, he noted, “I was watching the flagger. He told me I was pulling away, so I was just taking my time. I didn’t want to get caught up in one of them and end up losing the win.”
Sears now visits two more tracks that he has never seen, Merrittville Speedway in Thorold, Ont. on Saturday and Humberstone Speedway in Colborne, Ont. on Sunday, to see if the trend continues, as the trail’s intense three-race weekend swing through Western New York and Southern Ontario moves on.
Sportsman Series action continues over the weekend in a big tripleheader slated for the Niagara frontier, moving across the border into the Canadian province of Ontario at Merrittville Speedway for round two on Saturday then Humberstone Speedway on Sunday. Each 50-lap feature pays the winner $1,000.
NOTES: There were 38 sportsman cars in the pits on a cool comfortable evening…Panunte was driving the Bellante car as a favor and noted he would probably be in his own No. 99P at Humberstone where he recently earned the 2010 track points crown…A crash in the heat eliminated the only distaff driver of the night, Christine Martin from Wellesley Island, NY.
Mr. DIRTcar Sportsman Championship Series Race #4 – Ransomville Speedway, Sept. 10, 2010 ‘WGR 550 Radio 50’ Event Summary
FEATURE (50 laps): 83x-TIM SEARS JR., 6r-Nate Reynolds, 0-Jipp Ortiz, 19w-Justin Wright, 62p-Greg Panunte, 5-Don Spatorico, 38-Ryan Susice, 77-BJ Willard, 67-James Henry, 55c-Jesse Cotriss, 7-Cody McPherson, 01-Chris Raabe, 29g-Steve Gray, 13-Derek Smith, 6m-Mike Williams, 3a-Adam Hilton, 88-Gary Lindberg, 54-Mark Chiddy, 15-Shane Pecore, 10-Brett Martin, 140-Mark Dixon, 11n-Ricky Newton, m1-Dave Marcuccelli, 68-Curt Friesen, 4m-Greg Martin, 51-Kevin Wills, 99s-Steve Miller, 26h-Luke Carleton, 76Rob Bussey, 99m-Mark Potter.
HEAT WINNERS: Sears, Willard, Lindberg, Ortiz
CONSI WINNERS: Williams, Smith.
SYRACUSE SUPER DIRT WEEK QUALIFIER: Nate Reynolds.
CARS ENTERED: 38.
NEXT EVENTS: Merrittville Speedway – Sept. 11, Humberstone Speedway – Sept. 12, 2010.
DID NOT QUALIFY(8)
73g-Gordon Hermanson
81-Christine Martin
113-Rich Lagace
44-Dave Conant
67s-Dave Small
111-Alan Wills
57-Tony Pangrazio
23-Ed Cain
Mr. DIRTcar Series Sportsman Point Standings (Thru Sept. 10, 2010)
No Driver Total Series Bonus Diff Track Wins Top 5 Top 10 Starts
38s Ryan Susice 1342 342 1000 0 Ransomville 0 3 4 4
83 Tim Sears Jr.1330 345 985 -12 Fulton 2 3 3 4
29g Steve Gray 1302 302 1000 -40 Cayuga Co. 1 2 2 4
11Jr Justin Wright 1280 305 975 -62 CCFS//Ransom 0 3 3 4
01 Chris Raabe 1253 253 1000 -89 Corn/Mohawk 0 1 1 4
55c Jesse Cotriss1219 264 955 -123 Ransomville 0 0 4 4
15 Shane Pecore1189 214 975 -153 Can Am 0 0 0 4
66 Dan Wiesner 1173 208 965 -169 Canandaigua 0 0 2 3
54 Mark Chiddy 1165 200 965 -177 Ransomville 0 0 2 3
140 Mark Dixon 1161 221 940 -181 Humberstone 0 0 1 4
67 Eric Giguere 1142 142 1000 -200 Canandaigua 0 1 2 2
m1 Dave Marcuccilli 1106 141 965 -236 Cayuga Co. 1 1 1 2
2 Loren Lincoln 1099 167 932 -243 Canandaigua 0 0 1 3
0 Jipp Ortiz 1094 166 928 -248 Ransomville 0 1 2 2
99p Greg Panunte 1080 80 1000 -262 Humberstone 0 1 1 1
63 Chris Herbison1080 95 985 -262 Cornwall 0 1 1 1
81 Christine Martin 1072 148 924 -270 Fulton/Can Am 0 0 0 3
11n Ricky Newton 1069 124 945 -273 Cayuga Co. 0 0 0 3
55 Matt Hulsizer 1068 68 1000 -274 Can Am 0 0 1 1
4 Daryl Hilkert 1065 110 955 -277 Canandaigua 0 0 0 2
5 Don Spatorico 1061 76 985 -281 Ransomville 0 0 1 1
30 Brent Kelsey® 1045 70 975 -297 Mohawk 0 0 0 1
77JR BJ Willard 1043 68 975 -299 Merrittville 0 0 1 1
14 Jeremy Pitcher1043 43 1000 -299 Fulton 0 0 0 1
3a Adam Hilton® 1038 106 932 -304 Cayuga Co. 0 0 0 2
7 Cody McPherson 1035 60 975 -307 Humberstone 0 0 0 1
1 Travis Back® 1033 78 955 -309 Mohawk 0 0 1 1
6r Nate Reynolds 1030 95 935 -312 Ransomville 0 1 1 1
17J Jamie Platt 1030 95 935 -312 Can Am 0 0 0 2
20k Dave Dykstra 1024 102 922 -318 Humberstone 0 0 1 2
76 Rob Bussey 1020 80 940 -322 Canandaigua 0 0 0 2
20 Randy Earl 1015 40 975 -327 Cornwall 0 0 0 1
25 Steve Bernier 1015 80 935 -327 Cornwall 0 1 1 1
83 Dylan Evoy 1010 10 1000 -332 Brockville 0 0 0 0
67 James Henry 1005 65 940 -337 Ransomville 0 0 1 1
4 Jeff Phillips 1005 50 955 -337 Cornwall 0 0 0 1
1 Jim Spano 1000 60 940 -342 Cayuga Co. 0 0 0 1
18 Bodie Bellinger1000 0 1000 -342 Glen Ridge 0 0 0 0
13s Derek Smith 999 54 945 -343 Ransomville 0 0 0 1
04 Greg Mrzywka995 40 955 -347 Cayuga Co. 0 0 0 1
2 Jenna David® 995 50 945 -347 Mohawk 0 0 0 1
11k Dillon Sallows 990 45 945 -352 Cornwall 0 0 0 1
3 Fran Hilton 988 68 920 -354 Cayuga Co. 0 0 0 1
6m Mike Mainse 985 0 985 -357 Brockville 0 0 0 0
27 Sheldon Hoogwerf 985 50 935 -357 Brockville 0 0 0 1
10 Josh VanBrocklin 985 0 985 -357 Can Am 0 0 0 0
18F Tony Farone 985 0 985 -357 Glen Ridge 0 0 0 0
6 Brandon Easey 985 0 985 -357 Merrittville 0 0 0 0
80 Steve Barber 984 56 928 -358 Brockville 0 0 0 1
33 Cory Winters 982 42 940 -360 Cornwall 0 0 0 1
2010 Mr. DIRTcar Sportsman Championship Series Schedule
*All events subject to change.
DAY-DATE TRACK WINNER/LOCATION
Sat-Apr 10 Black Rock Speedway Steve Gray
Sun-Jun 13 Cornwall Motor Speedway Tim Sears Jr.
Sat-Jul 17 Cayuga County Fair Speedway Dave Marcuccilli
Fri-Sep 10 Ransomville Speedway Tim Sears Jr.
Sat-Sep 11 Merrittville Speedway Thorold,ONT
Sun-Sep 12 Humberstone Speedway Pt.Colborne,ONT
Fri-Sep 17 Mohawk International Raceway Akwesasne,NY
Sat-Sep 25 Rolling Wheels Raceway Park Elbridge,NY
Fri-Oct 1 Fulton Speedway Fulton,NY
Wed-Oct 6 Can-Am Motorsports Park LaFargeville,NY
Fri-Oct 8 Rolling Wheels Raceway Park Elbridge,NY
Sat-Oct 9 New York State Fairgrounds Syracuse,NY
Sat-Oct 16 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 annually in October 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.allstar100weekend.com and 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, VP Racing Fuels www.vpracingfuels.com and GM Performance Parts www.gmperformanceparts.com. Promotional partners include the University of Northwestern Ohio www.unoh.com and Chizmark & Larson Insurance www.chizmarklarson.com, and contingency sponsors are Bicknell Racing Products www.bicknellracingproducts.com, Bilstein Shocks www.bilstein.com, KSE Racing Products www.kse-racing.com, Motorsports Safety Systems www.motorsportssafetysystems.com, MSD Ignition www.msdignition.com, Penske Shocks, www.penskeshocks.com, Racing Electronics www.racingelectronics.com, Vicci Racing Apparel www.vicci.com and Wrisco Industries www.wrisco.com.
