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Madness on Dirt
Pauch Doubles with NEETS Victories and Bentley Visits Victory Lane at Grandview Speedway
Story by:Geno Ostrowski
TJMM
The North East Enduro Tour Series (NEETS) took to Grandview Speedway on Sunday with the running of “Madness on Dirt” twin 100-lap enduro events. Veteran enduro racer, Tim Pauch, showed his competition how to run on a wet track in the 6/8-cyl. division and Dave Bentley, Jr. grabbed the race win in the 4 cyl. class.
Series promoter, Joe Cutri, and Grandview Speedway’s Kenny Rogers conversed early morning on how to handle the day’s events in the case of extreme heat and dryness or a possible passing storm. In the early hours they decided that racing conditions were ideal for this type of event and the day should go off without a hitch!
Thirty-seven 6/8-cylinder enduro drivers took to a very wet track with Kurt Spotts leading the field to the drop of the green flag in “The Liberty” 100-lap main event. It was a sketchy start with the track holding the water and a slight haze preventing the sun from glaring down on the speedway, but one the cars got moving they put on a great show.
With cars spinning and sliding around the racing surface, the #00 car of “Critter” made hard contact with the backstretch boiler plate leaving the vehicle hung up on three wheels for several laps before he managed to free the car and head for the pits, his attempt to pit was short lived as the car stalled out at the pit entrance. Spotts stayed in command until the red flag was thrown on lap eight when pit road entrance had to be cleared of the disabled car.
Pat Hires, who started dead last worked his way into second and took command by lap ten, but his advantage was short-lived, as he had troubles with his car and had to head for the infield.
The change of events put the control of the event back in Chris Reichert’s hands, as he was forced to contend with Shawn Naftzinger. The two Big Diamond regulars swapped the lead several times before Naftzinger headed to the pits for a quick tire change.
Keith Frankenfield moved into second and quickly applied pressure to Reichert. Frankenfield made the pass for the lead on lap forty and held it until twenty-five laps remained before he was forced pit side with a flat tire.The final quarter of the 100-lap race was a nail-biter as the top three drivers from the previous event managed to endure through the “Madness” and lap traffic to claim the top three positions again at this event. Always known to be a smooth and patient driver, Tim Pauch came out with the race lead and drove off from the competition to claim his second straight win of the season over Chris Reichert, Steve Haegele, Cory Baver, Shawn Naftzinger, Keith Frankenfield, Kory Stevens, Richard Petey, Jeff Hendricks and Jason Brown.
Post race, promoter Joe Cutri was in the tech area collecting feedback from the top drivers. Naftzinger noted this was his first time at Grandview and first time racing with NEETS, “I had a great time, the track was very fast once it dried up and we got the hang of things, you’ll see me here again”. Reichert also noted the track was extra tacky today, “Things interesting early on but in the end track conditions were perfect!” A man of few words, Pauch just drove off from victory lane with a smile ear to ear, we all knew how he was feeling.
Mike Ventura started from the pole and led twenty-five fellow four-cylinder drivers to the drop of the green in “The Freedom” 100-lap enduro.
Nine laps clicked off and Jeremy Krauss moved into the race lead.
Steve Todorow, the winner of the Spring Fling event, had started last and had made his way to the 5th position by lap eighteen. However, he was sidelined with a flat tire only four circuits later.
After making contact with the backstretch wall early on, Tommy Stevens had some serious camber in his left rear tire, but it never steered him off track, that is until his hood flew up, which forced him into the pits for repairs. Art Kulik was making a hard charge to the front of the pack, clicking off positions each lap, until tire trouble sent him pit side.
Meanwhile, Krauss continued to lead until lap thirty-one when Ventura was tired of running second.
Several drivers tangled in turn one and two on lap thirty-eight, which brought out the red flag.
Ventura's car had some mechanical issues at that point as he decided to abandon his vehicle in turn four. The lead was turned over to Russ Killian. Dave Bentley, Jr. charged into second and began to pressure Killian for the race lead.
Bentley made a bid for the lead work on lap fifty-four and the duo swapped the top spot several times before Bentley pulled away and drover off to the checkers over Killian, Kenny Wallace, Chris Spotts, Joel Matter, Phil Levering, Travis Schwenk, Larry Spencer Jr., Art Kulik, and George Fulmer.
Promoter Joe Cutri quoted that he felt the day went fairly well as planned, “The track conditions for the Small Car race were excellent, the sun held up and kept the track dry enough for the cars to have grip without turning the speedway into a dustbowl. The Big Car race was a little more tedious for officials when the mid-day haze left the semi-wet track stay semi-wet. Once we got all the cars lined up correctly and had them ready to race everything seemed to calm down and the race went very well. He continued by saying, “I am very happy with the racing in each division, all of the NEETS drivers are very clean and respectful to their fellow drivers and friends. They put on a heck of a show that you would be happy to attend with your whole family.”
The next NEETS event at Grandview Speedway is slated for Sunday, June 21.
Big Car Points Standings
The 2009 Standing are brought to you by:
PoconoThunder.net
Scoring Results on MyLaps.com
Madness on Dirt |
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| Small Car - Freedom 100 - 100 Laps | Big Car - Liberty 100 - 100 Laps | ||
| 1 | #5 - Dave Bentley Jr. | 1 | #5 - Tim Pauch |
| 2 | #17K - Russ Killian | 2 | #327 - Chris Reichert |
| 3 | #81 - Kenny Wallace | 3 | #61 - Steve Haegele |
| 4 | #2S - Chris Spotts | 4 | #113 - Cory Baver |
| 5 | #90X - Joel Matter | 5 | #6 - Shawn Naftzinger |
| 6 | #39 - Phil Levering | 6 | #10 - Keith Frankenfield |
| 7 | #90 - Travis Schwenk | 7 | #20K - Kory Stevens |
| 8 | #24 - Larry Spencer Jr. | 8 | #43 - Richard Petey |
| 9 | #17 - Art Kulik | 9 | #213 - Jeff Hendricks |
| 10 | #94 - George Fulmer | 10 | #88 - Jeffrey Hackett |
| 11 | #128 - Nate Heffner | 11 | #8X - Jason Brown |
| 12 | #07 - Ty Spier | 12 | #44 - Joel Pilgert |
| 13 | #127X - Lance Hoch | 13 | #14X - Greg Birmingham |
| 14 | #116 - Mark Forman | 14 | #57 - Tracy Berger-Carmen |
| 15 | #168 - Bob Wohlgemuth | 15 | #56 - Jack Zeilsdorf |
| 16 | #520 - Tom Stevens | 16 | #86X - Mark Spencer Jr. |
| 17 | #27V - Mike Ventura | 17 | #132 - Doug Ott |
| 18 | #2 - Steve Sapp | 18 | #22 - Brian Yelk |
| 19 | #11 - Jeremy Krauss | 19 | #75 - Howie Bott |
| 20 | #70 - Samantha Diesinger | 20 | #412 - Jon Sacks |
| 21 | #131 - Ryan Nelson | 21 | #321 - Drew Ott |
| 22 | #98 - Jesse Schlappich | 22 | #6X - Justen Steigerwalt |
| 23 | #21 - Trevor Eckenroth | 23 | #266 - Bob Kulik |
| 24 | #93 - Steve Todorow | 24 | #25 - Pat Hires |
| 25 | #73 - Dave Bentley Sr. | 25 | #07 - Kurt Spotts |
| 26 | #127 - Gary Grim | 26 | #82 - Pete Wharton |
| 27 | #72 - Mark Paine | ||
| 28 | #120 - Rick Latza | ||
| 29 | #78 - Frank Petroski | ||
| 30 | #666 - Chuck Detweiler | ||
| 31 | #11 - Duane Eidem | ||
| 32 | #8 - Scott Schaffer | ||
| 33 | #00 - Critter | ||
| 34 | #10X - Shon Elk | ||
| 35 | #46 - Richie Smith | ||
| 36 | #64 - Chris Angstadt | ||
| 37 | #97 - Kevin Mandik | ||