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Mike Leone
WOODHULL, N.Y. (August 21) - The FASTRAK Northeast Late Model Touring Series trekked northeast to Woodhull Raceway on Saturday night for race #15 of 20 on the 2010 slate. Despite a slug of rain that worked its way across Ohio throughout the afternoon and into western Pennsylvania and western New York that washed out the majority of the speedways, Woodhull stayed high and drive. New track owner Ted White and staff pushed the six-division show through and the FASTRAK feature was over at approximately 8:15 p.m. It was the first ever FASTRAK Touring Series event in the state of New York.
Steve Dixon made the move to the FASTRAK Late Models over Memorial Day weekend and came out of the box fast with a fourth at Sharon Speedway in his first ever Touring Series event and then finished third at McKean County Raceway in the $5,000 to-win National Event. Dixon then suffered through a string of horrible luck getting upside down in successive events at Roaring Knob Motorsports Complex and Mercer Raceway Park. Later that month, Dixon was competing at Eldora Speedway where he got caught up in a severe accident that forced him to miss a weekend of competition.
Through it all, Dixon hasn't given up; he won the $2,000 non-sanctioned event at Stateline Speedway last month, and on Saturday night nailed down his career first Northeast Touring Series event topping the 25-lap thriller over Max Blair for the $1,500 victory. Dixon became the 10th different winner in 15 races to date!
"I won my first 360 Late Model race here so it's only fitting for my first FASTRAK Touring win to come at Woodhull," explained the Smethport, Pa. driver. "This Touring deal is really tough and I'm glad to be able to put in into victory lane. The restarts were the key. Max got one up on me and ran me up. If he wants to do that I can race that way too and ran him up. It was a lot of fun and was getting exciting, but that's what it's all about. This is a tricky track and can be really fast."
The feature got off to a rough start when several cars made contact on the backstretch resulting in the end of the night for Ike Fanton, Curt VanPelt, Jim Frank, and Butch Lambert, who entered the night third in points. The accident was the only one of the event on the high-banked 1/3-mile as the other cautions were either for cars coming to rest or debris.
Tim Schram grabbed the early lead using the outside to pass Marshall Shunk with Josh Holtgraver getting around Justin Tatlow for third. Dixon started in seventh, but wasted little time charging forward. Dixon quickly made his presence known on lap three when he passed both Holtgraver and Shunk for second.
Lap four was a wild lap as it was three-wide for the lead with Holtgraver going from fourth into the lead! Dixon was able to get by Schram to maintain runner-up. With a flurry of action taking place, Dixon grabbed the lead in turn two from Holtgraver on lap five, while Shunk went from fourth into second!
Blair, who started 11th, was slowly picking off cars and joined the battle on lap six when went to the outside of Schram to take third. One lap later, Blair drove past Shunk for second off turn two and down the backstretch. Dixon had a near straightaway lead built up by the time Blair got to second. Dixon caught traffic on lap 13 and then had to work his way by the cars of Damian Bidwell and newcomer Bob Craig on the tight oval.
It looked like Dixon was going to gain ground on Blair, but Blair made a nice move on lap 15 cutting between Bidwell and Craig in turn four to remain within striking distance. After 16 green flag laps, Mike Pegher, Jr.'s horrible night came to an end when he slowed on frontstretch and had to be towed off.
After some breathtaking laps through traffic, Dixon and Blair now found themselves side-by-side for the restart with six laps to go. Dixon chose the outside, but Blair moved him going into turn one. The two made contact in turn two with Blair taking the lead and leading the lap before debris brought out the caution with 20 laps completed.
Like Dixon, Blair chose the outside for the ensuing restart, but Dixon was able to move Blair up the track and shot into the lead. Just one more lap was completed when Schram slowed, which ended a good run for him and brought out the event's final caution with 21 laps completed.
Dixon didn't get the best restart when racing resumed, but Blair hopped the cushion in turn two allowing Dixon to get away and Holtgraver to grab second. Blair fought back and rode the cushion around Holtgraver to retake second on lap 23. Dixon looked like he had the event in control, but he missed his mark in turn four on lap 24 losing a lot of momentum and allowing Blair to close in.
Dixon though ran a perfect lap 25 around the cushion and took the checkered flag first for the popular win in his CRS Fitzsimmons Consulting/TSL-sponsored #50 and became the 23rd all-time Northeast Touring Series winner in 49 races. The win also propelled him up two spots in the points to ninth.
Blair's second allowed him to distance himself more over Pegher in the championship race. After Pegher had gained points on Blair for six out of a stretch of nine events, Blair's win last Friday at Raceway 7 and his runner-up Saturday allowed him to creep closer to his second Northeast Touring Series Championship in the past three seasons.
Holtgraver had a solid third, which gained him ground on the second, third, and fourth place point men. Shunk made his first career Touring Series start a successful one coming home in fourth. What a great run for 73-year-old Ron Baker taking the fifth place position after starting ninth in just his second Touring Series start! John Haggerty advanced from 13th to finish sixth. Gary Knollinger made the tow up from West Virginia and finished seventh, which advanced him to third in points past Lambert. Bob Kish raced from the 17th starting position to finish eighth. Bud Watson and 18th starting Bidwell completed the top 10. Knollinger and Blair won the heat races.
FASTRAK Northeast Late Model Touring Series Race #15 (25 laps, $1,500 to-win): 1. STEVE DIXON (50) 2. Max Blair (111) 3. Josh Holtgraver (00) 4. Marshall Shunk (99) 5. Ron Baker (74) 6. John Haggerty (49) 7. Gary Knollinger (38K) 8. Bob Kish (5) 9. Bud Watson (2) 10. Damian Bidwell (1/2-Pt) 11. Bob Craig (62) 12. Garrett Mott (43x) 13. Tim Schram (1s) 14. Mike Pegher, Jr. (Geisler 1c) 15. Jason Genco (29J) 16. Justin Tatlow (81) 17. Ike Fanton (Kratts 41) 18. Jim Frank (14*) 19. Butch Lambert (27) 20. Curt VanPelt (Law 21).
Heat winners: Knollinger, Blair
Lap leaders: Schram (1-4), Holtgraver (5), Dixon (6-19), Blair (20), Dixon (21-25)
Car count: 20
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