A SMOKIN JEFF STRUNK A WINNER FIRST TIME OUT IN HIS NEW RIDE AT SELINSGROVE ON FRIDAY NIGHT
BY JR KENNERUP
Selinsgrove, Pa… During the off season one of the most coveted 358 Modified rides that were open belonged to car owner Norm Hansell. Just about month and a half ago Hansell named multi time Grandview track champion Jeff Strunk of Bethel, Pa. as his driver for the 2011 racing season.
On Friday night at the Selinsgrove Speedway for the opening night of the RoC Icebreaker IV Weekend Strunk took his new ride to victory lane. Strunk started by the luck of the draw on the pole and led all 25 laps to go on to the $3,750 win.
Strunk held off the challenges of good friend Stewart Friesen for a majority of the race. Ironically during yellow flag periods Friesen would pull up alongside Strunk to give him encouragement . Strunk with five laps to go began to have oil smoke blowing from his engine but he still had enough power to hold off all challengers for the win.
Jimmy Horton, Jr. came from sixth to finish second with eighth place starter Duane Howard ending up third. Friesen who started third ran the final three laps with a left rear flat settled for fourth with 12th place starter Danny Johnson capturing fifth on the final lap.
“ This was a good way to start off my relationship with Norm Hansell “ said the smiling race winner in Selinsgrove Victory Lane. “ Obviously having a good draw helps but also we had a fast race car and it was fast right out of the trailer. It is good to be fast and be on top of the leader board, we got a great crew with Norm’s guys and my guys who came over with me I can’t wait for the year. “
Jeff Strunk and Ryan watt brought the 26 car field to green with Strunk jumping out to the lead over Stewart Friesen, Watt, Ray Swinehart, and Frank Cozze, Jr.
The top two stayed the same while an exciting battle between Watt, Swinehart, Cozze, Jimmy Horton, Jr. and Duane Howard developed for positions three through seven.
With the leader choosing inside or outside on double file restarts Strunk took the outside on all three double file restarts up to the halfway point. This allowed Friesen to start on the bottom but after each restart Strunk would regain the lead as the race returned to green flag conditions.
Strunk spoke of why he took the outside groove. “ I learned that from Danny Johnson in the heat race “ said the multi time Grandview track champion. “ The one time in the heat I got under Danny in turn one but he had the momentum by running up top and he got past me. So I knew that was the place to be on a restart and I wasn’t going to change no matter who was second. “
Horton made an impressive turn two outside move to go from sixth to third on lap 13 and he started to reel in the top two.
The strong run of Swinehart ended on lap 18 with a left rear flat taking place and he was in fourth. This moved Howard into fourth and Cozze, Jr. into fifth.
Coming down to the five to go signal a big puff of blue smoke came out of the Strunk machine. But this smoke didn’t seem to slow Strunk down as his lead over Friesen remained the same.
Jeff was asked what his thoughts were when he started showing engine smoke that smelled like oil with five laps to go. “ Honestly I didn’t know it was smoking. The oil light came on two or three times while I was in the corners, which will happen when the engine is low on oil. But honestly I didn’t know I was smoking. “
A caution with three laps to go bunched the field together and on the restart a wild 360 degree spin in turn three was performed by Ryan Godown as he was battling with Cozze, Jr., Pat Ward, and Danny Johnson for fifth. The caution did come back out as a result of another spin by Justin Holland and Mike Gular.
During the yellow the left rear tire on the Friesen car started to go soft. The defending RoC Champion decided against pitting and this cost him a spot on the restart as Horton got by him for second.
Another caution on lap 23 set up a green, white, checker finish and just like with the last restart Friesen racing with a flat left rear lost another spot to Howard.
Up front Strunk still had enough horsepower to make it to victory lane over Horton, Howard, Friesen, and Danny Johnson who made a turn four three wide pass to take fifth.
Strunk spoke about the cheerleading effort of his good friend Stewart Friesen during the entire race. “ Stewie’s a great kid; I love him like a brother. I knew on those double file restarts he would race me clean, which is nice to know. But he is funny as I’ve never had a driver in second come up alongside me during a yellow and cheer me on. I wish he could have hung on to second. “
After having a subpar 2010 racing season Strunk spoke about his start to the 2011 racing season with a new team in victory lane in their first race together. “ I struggled last year as I just wasn’t fast enough and that is a big part of the equation in racing. You can’t ask for anymore here with Norm Hansell as he has the best equipment money can buy. “
The low key Hansell did say this after the win, “ I’ve got a real shoe behind the wheel now. “
Second place finisher Jimmy Horton, Jr. had this to say about his second place finish. “ We’ll take a second as it was much better than where we were at the end of last years’ race here for sure. The car was good all night long right from coming off the truck, we just have to find that little extra, but I’m happy with the changes that we made over the winter. “
Defending East Coast American Racer Modified Cup Champion Duane Howard had this to say about his third place finish. “ It was tough to pass out there tonight. With a small block here it is all about momentum and once you lose the momentum it is tough getting back by people. “
ICEBREAKER MELTINGS; for the second year in a row beautiful weather greeted the racers as the temperature was at 80 degrees when the gates opened Friday evening. This event in its fourth year has certainly become the must see event of the young racing season with the crowd and car count certainly proving that point. Tech inspection was kept busy on Friday as all qualified cars were inspected after each race with Rick Laubach, Brett Hearn, Danny Tyler, and Randy Chrysler all failing the no – go / go ball test for their respective carburetors. Brent Boyer spun and backed into the wall during hot laps ending his night. Craig Von Dohren broke a rear end in his heat race while Bobby Varin broke a distributor cap while in a qualifying spot not once, but twice. Kevin Brady battled a smoking engine all evening long finally calling it a night after the heat. Ted Lamb, Jr. caught the inside turn four guardrail to start the heat race ending his evening. Grant Hilfinger was going to take the Penn – Can Provisional but failed to make it out in time. 33 big block Modifieds were on hand hot lapping for the next days’ show. Defending race winner Pat Ward came from 19th to finish sixth.
FRIDAY RACE REPORT RoC ICEBREAKER IV WEEKEND AT SELINSGROVE RoC DIRT MOD TOUR RACE #1
CAR COUNT; 52
FINISH; Jeff Strunk, Jimmy Horton, Jr., Duane Howard, Stewart Friesen, Danny Johnson, Pat Ward, Frank Cozze, Jr., Ryan Godown, Larry Wight, Randy Sherlock, Justin Holland, Larry Solomon, Danny Creeden, Wade Hendrickson, Mike Nicholas, Ryan Watt, Doug Manmiller, Mike Gular, John Stangle, Tom Umbenhauer, Ray Swinehart, Colt Harris, Billy Pauch, Billy Decker, Ray Bliss, Jr., Craig Whitmoyer.
RoC PROVISIONAL; Creeden.
FIVE MILE POINT PROVISIONAL; Holland.
LAP LEADERS; Strunk ( 1 – 25 ).
UTICA – ROME SPEEDWAY VICTORIA 200 GUARANTEED STARTING SPOT $1,000 CASH; Strunk.
SHORT TRACK SUPER NATIONALS GUARANTEED SPOT $ 200 CASH; Strunk.
LENNY KRAUTHEIM AUTO SALES 3RD PLACE BONUS $150 CASH; Howard.
MARK DEANGELO NON – QUALIFIER FEATURE $200 CASH TOTAL ( 100 – 60 – 40 ); Williams.
KY RACING HALFWAY HOME BONUS $100 CASH; Strunk.
MIKE & JOAN KELLY MOTORSPORTS JACK BAGLEY DEDICATION TO RACING MEMORIAL AWARD $100 CASH; Ward.
PAUL STINE CHEVROLET CONSOLATION WINNERS $100 CASH SPLIT BETWEEN WINNERS; Ward, Gular, Harris.
BFP SPECIALTIES HARD LUCK AWARD $100 GIFT CERTIFICATE; Von Dohren.
MIDDLEBURG IGA FEATURE WINNER TROPHY & CAKE $100 VALUE; Strunk.
JAY FISH PHOTOGRAPHY LAST DRIVER TO QUALIFY FOR FEATURE $75 CASH; Bliss, Jr.
MARJORIE J. KENNERUP MEMORIAL AWARD TOP FINISHING 5MP / PENN – CAN CAR $50 CASH; Friesen.
KEITH SWEIGART ELECTRIC LIGHTNING FAST LAP OF THE NIGHT $50 CASH; Strunk, 20. 542.
FORT ERIE HARDWOOD TOP FINISHING CANADIAN DRIVER $50 CASH; Friesen.
ED SCOTT HIGHEST FINISHING GRANDVIEW REGULAR $50 CASH; Strunk.
SHILEY FABRICATION HEAT WINNERS $50 GIFT CERTIFICATE; Solomon, Johnson, Friesen, Watt, Howard, Pauch.
ZEMCO SPEED EQUIPMENT HEAT WINNERS $50 GIFT CERTIFICATE; Solomon, Johnson, Friesen, Watt, Howard, Pauch.
BAIR WHEEL REPAIR AWARD $50 GIFT CERTIFICATE; Strunk.
TROYER RACE CARS & PARTS TOP 3 FINISHERS AWARD $150, $100, $50 GIFT CERTIFICATES; Howard.
PENSKE RACING SHOCKS TOP 3 FINISHERS AWARD BUY 3 GET 1 FREE PROMOTION; Cozze, Jr., Solomon, Nicholas.
SELINSGROVE SPEEDWAY TOW MONEY $25 CASH; Brett Hearn, Ron Cartwright, Jr., Grant Hilfinger, Bobby Varin, Rick Laubach, Kevin Brady, Dan Vauter, Ryan Grim, Brent Boyer, Kyle Follweiler, Sammy Piazza, Kevin Albert, Billy Van Pelt, Billy Van Inwegen, Glenn Strunk, Neal Williams, Mike Mahaney, Randy Chrysler, Craig Von Dohren, Richie Pratt, Jr., Shawn Reimert, Neil Huber, Danny Tyler, Ted Lamb, Jr.
No comments:
Post a Comment