$5400 Weekend For Northern Tier Inc ULMS Late Models at MCR & Woodhull
July 20, 2008
After the double feature start of the 2008 Northern Tier ULMS Late Model Series season at Little Valley Speedway, the series moves on to two more events on Thursday, July 31 at McKean County Raceway paying $3000 to win and on Saturday, August 2 at Woodhull Raceway featuring a $2400 to win event. What a way to end and start off a new month!
On Thursday, July 31, the 4th annual Stephanie Eckl Memorial will be highlight card for the Northern Tier Inc. ULMS Late Model Series as it makes its first appearance of the year at McKean County Raceway. This event was to pay a minimum of $2000 to win, but the Eckl family has picked up extra funding to make this 30 lap event a $3000 to win event with a minimum of $200 to start. Rob Blair and Todd Andrews have won this event with Andrews winning the inaugural event and last year’s edition. Both Blair and Andrews have won the past two years from the twelfth place starting spot on the grid. In 2006, the event drew thirty-six entries with Blair winning it on the last lap.
Two days later, the Northern Tier Inc. ULMS Late Models head for the high bank 1/3 oval of Woodhull Raceway in Woodhull, NY. The 17th annual ‘Craig Norton Memorial’ Late Model Reunion presented by R&R Motorsports will pay $2400 to win and $300 to start! This year’s event is in memory of Shinglehouse, PA native, Craig Norton. Craig was a veteran late model driver in the late 70s and early 80s at Woodhull Raceway. He passed away last month from cancer. In memory of Craig and his familiar yellow #24x machine, this years edition will pay $2400 to win and with the help from the Norton family a significant extra amount of money has been placed throughout the field from last to first.
Defending ULMS champion, Bob Close has dominated this race the past few years. He will no doubt have this event circled on the calendar. The current Northern Tier Inc. ULMS points has former Woodhull Reunion winner and defending Eckl Memorial winner Todd Andrews on top of the point chart with his fine finishes at Little Valley. He is two points ahead of Warren, PA driver, Dutch Davies and six points ahead of Sugar Grove, PA driver, Bump Hedman, who picked up his biggest win of his career at Little Valley. Fans at both events should expect to see some of the top regions drivers including, Ron Davies, Brent Rhebergan, David Scott, Jason Dupont, Luke Hoffner, Kirk Bradley, Dick Barton, Chris Farrell, Dan Stone, Ed Connor, Doug Ricotta, Al Brewer, Dave Zona and others.
Davies, Hedman, and Carley Top ULMS Triple Header at Little Valley
July 13, 2008
By Dave Sully
(Little Valley, NY) In another race with the elements, Little Valley Speedway fell just short, checkering the regular late model after twenty-six laps due to rain, leaving the regular street stock feature as the night’s only casualty on Saturday, July 12th before a large crowd. In all, five features were run, with Ron Davies, from Warren, PA capturing the makeup late model race from July 3rd in dominating fashion, while Bump Hedman from Sugar Grove, PA, won the slightly abbreviated regular late model feature in dramatic fashion, running down Dutch Davies in the final laps to do it.
Davies started on the pole as a result of the July 3rd qualifying under the ULMS format and quickly established himself as the man to beat, moving out to a commanding lead at the drop of the green. The race went caution free for the first eighteen laps before things began to unravel. On lap nineteen, David Scott, on a charge to the front was turned around by Doug Ricotta in turn four, after which he indicated his displeasure with Ricotta by massaging him under yellow. Ricotta was then banished to the rear for spinning Scott, who also restarted at the back.
Following another caution on lap twenty when Bob Close and Jason Dupont got together in turn two, a red flag was thrown on lap twenty-three when previous race winner Dick Barton clipped the outside wall, collecting Scott, and then both were hit by Ohioan George Lee, doing significant damage to all three cars. No one was hurt in the scary looking fracas.
Through it all, Davies set a blistering pace and was never challenged as he rim rode to the overpowering win, surviving a brush with the wall on a lap twenty restart in the process. Todd Andrews prevailed in a gallant struggle for second with Dutch Davies, while Jason Dupont and Brent Rhebergen, who started eighteenth, rounded out the top five.
Of his tense moment with the wall, Davies noted, “I just drove it in way too hard, just wanted to make sure I got a good jump, just going too fast and when I hit the corner it was a slide for life. I just stood on it, and hit the wall a little bit. Didn’t hurt it too much, I guess. It worked out for us.”
The regular late model race, which also became a ULMS event at the eleventh hour, suffered a rain delay at the start, but had a rocky start as outside polesitter Ron Davies, who had an easy time in the first race, blew a tire going into turn two, while the rest of the field steamed by, including brother Dutch, who started on the pole.
While Dutch was establishing himself at the front, the car on the move was Hedman, an infrequent competitor at the half mile. Hedman, who started twelfth, was up to seventh on a lap six restart after a second rain delay, and began a relentless charge to the front, taking fourth on lap nine, third on lap ten and then prying second from a stubborn David Scott on lap sixteen, hugging the bottom the whole time.
It took only three laps for Hedman to carve into Davies’s seemingly invincible lead, closing the gap to about five car lengths on lap nineteen and catching him on lap twenty-two. He stalked Davies for one lap before diving under him in turn four to take the lead. Two laps later the rain returned and the race was checkered, with Hedman earning a well deserved win. Davies finished second, followed by Todd Andrews, who had a second and a third this night, Scott, who seems to be dialing in his Rocket chassis after having recovered from the first race wreck, and Ed Carley, who had quite a night for himself, as you’ll read later.
Hedman reacted to his first ever Little Valley win by proclaiming it the best win of his career, adding, “After the rain delay we hit the right tire and it was working really good. It was sticking on the bottom. I saw those guys were sliding on the top, and we tried to keep her down in the brown. I had to be patient when I was chasing Dutch because it’s hard to slow down when you’re trying to beat somebody. When I got by Dave (Scott), I was pretty confident I had a shot at him.”
The most exciting finish of the night was turned in by the E-Mods in their twenty lap feature. After Rich Michael dominated, taking the lead at the outset, Ed Carley, from Freedom, who had assumed second when Randy Hall broke on lap eleven, made the most of a lap nineteen restart. Carley, who had tried the outside on two previous restarts to no avail, as Michael practically mowed the grass on the infield down low, made his final foray to the top pay off, drawing alongside on the backstretch and then nosing in front as he and Michael raced side by side through turns three and four. He then outran Michael to the line, drawing a huge ovation from the appreciative fans.
Of the winning move, Carley offered, “You’ve got to search. I can’t pass if I follow. I knew on the last restart that he (Michael) was going backwards, and it wasn’t going to take much more to get him on the outside. I just had to hit my marks and that’s what we did.”
Michael settled for second, trailed by George Catanzano, Darren Tarabori, who started tenth, and Tim Peterson.
ULMS 7/3 Late Model- (30 laps) Ron Davies, Todd Andrews, Dutch Davies, Jason Dupont, Brent Rhebergen, Bob Close, Jeff Hoffman, Dick Barton, Kirk Bradley, Luke Hoffner, Doug Ricotta, David Scott, George Lee, Bump Hedman, Chad Ruhlman, Ed Carley, Al Brewer, Greg Oakes, Rich Michael, Mickey Wright, and John Haggerty.
ULMS 7/12 Late Model: (26 laps) Bump Hedman, Dutch Davies, Todd Andrews, David Scott, Ed Carley, Brent Rhebergen, Chad Ruhlman, Jason Dupont, Bob Close, Mickey Wright, Greg Oakes, Kirk Bradley, Luke Hoffner, Jeff Hoffman, Al Brewer, Doug Ricotta, Dick Barton, John Haggerty, Ron Davies, and George Lee. Heat winners were Dutch Davies, Ron Davies, and Rhebergen. Dash winners were Dutch Davies and Ron Davies.
E-Mods: (20 laps) Ed Carley, Rich Michael, George Catanzano, Darren Tarabori, Tim Peterson, Brad Wall, Craig Bedell, John Woodward, Vic Vena, Justin Tatlow, Al Brewer, Kyle Bedell, John Lacki, Brian Fardink, Carl Ballinger, Chad Silleman, Shawn Shingledecker, Nathan Hill, Wayne Mohawk, Kyle Scott, and Randy Hall. Heat winners were Peterson, Carley, and Michael.