01/22/2005

HEOTZLER WINS RACE, FANS SURVIVE BLIZZARD
by Bill Stockert

Despite an impending snow storm, nearly 150 cars from various divisions filled the garage area in Atlantic City ’s Boardwalk Hall for the third annual Gambler’s Classic.

The show kicked off on Friday with the time trials for the TQ midgets and the 600cc Micro Sprints. Setting fast time was Curtis Friesen’s car number 68, from St. Catharines , Ontario with a time of 9.979, just off last year’s track record pace of Lou Cicconi Jr.’s 9.842.  Second in the time trials was Walkill NY ’s Jeff Heotzler in car number FOUR. Last year’s Gambler Classic winner, Joey Payne of Fairlawn NJ timed third in his car number 88.  60 cars in the time trials qualified directly for the night’s 3 roaring 20’s races.  80 cars took time.

Next up were the three qualifying heat races for the Slingshots, won by Pep Corradi, Curtis Truex, Jr. and Bill Bracey.

This was followed by the T-Q non qualifiers race.   The top three cars from this race advanced to Saturday night’s show.   They were the 75J of James Umlauf, the 04 of Moe Jackson and the 11 of Carl Thomas.

 

After a brief intermission, the T-Q Midgets lined up their first of 3 Roaring 20 races.  The races involved 20 cars for 20 laps, qualifying the top 4 in each race directly into Saturday night’s Gambler Classic. 

 

The action was fast and furious and the attrition was high as only 7 cars finished the first race. Billy Pauch crossed the line first in the car number 1, Stewart Friesen in the #9A was second, Nathan Hauck in 5H came across third and grabbing the final qualifying spot in car #40 was Frank Polimeda.

 

The attrition rate was less in the second Roaring 20, but the action was just as fast.  Liquid Lou Ciccone in the 57 car, crossed the line first, just inches ahead of the charging 44H of Doug Esh. Mike Iles in the 711 came home third and Jeff Heotzler in car #FOUR nailed down 4^th.

 

The third and final race of the night saw car #2 of Jack Spence take the victory, followed by the 5R of Steve Buckwalter, the 44 of Mike Dicely and the 5X of Jon Gambuti.

 

Saturday’s action started off at 12:30 P.M.   with two Young Lion’s Slingshot Heats of 8 cars each. Ginny Quinones of Penn Argyl, Pa in car #84 took down the win in heat number 1 with Kris Savoie of Fultonville NY in car #5 winning heat #2. 

 

The 20 lap feature was won by car #2, Davey Sammons of Bordertown , NJ .  Davey took the lead on lap one, survived numerous caution flags and led wire to wire to take down the victory. Following Davey across the line was car #5 of Kris Savoie, the 23 of Ryan Smith, the 32 of Danny Bohn and the #1 of Gary Berkenstock.

 

36 Micro Stocks were scheduled to go in three heat races. Heat 1 was won by car 7M, Greg Harris of Bethlehem Pa. Heat 2 was taken by car 1K of Tommy Kosch of Little Falls NJ and heat # 3 went to the 42M of Ryan Seaman from Toms River NJ.  The consi was won by car #76, Mike Mee of East Brunswich , NJ.

 

Twenty four cars lined up for the 20 Lap Micro Stock feature.  Dick Rossine in car #58 painted like a cow, jumped out to the early lead.  Greg Harris in the 7M machine hounded Rossine until lap 8 when Greg took the lead.  A heated battle for second place ensued behind the 7M between the 1K of Tommy Kosch and the 99 of Tom Ervin. When the checkered flag fell, the 7M of Greg Harris was the first to cross the line. Ervin in the 99 was second, Kosch in the 1K was third.  Brian Russell in car #27 moved into 4^th and the 72 of Stephen Moran finished 5^th.

 

A total of 20 Champ karts took to the track in two heats with kart #22, John Martino of Glen Gardner, NJ taking down the win in heat 1 and Brett Stratford of Mt. Hope , Ontario in the number 20 winning heat #2.

 

Brett proved that his win in the heat was no fluke as he finished strong in winning the 20 Lap Feature.  John Martino in the 22 kart backed up his heat win with a second place finish. Jeff Paulsen, the 99X crossed the line third.  Danny Bohn finished 4^th and Lauren Kasky in kart #16 rounded out the top 5. 

 

Unfortunately only 5 Mini-Cup cars showed up for their division, but they still put on a good show in their twin 10 lap feature events.    Steve Buckwalter of Douglasville , Pa won both features in his #21 car.  Tim Collins in the 18 finished second in the first race with Bill Gibson third in the 97.  Jason Simmons #28 finished 4^th and Bob Fort Jr. in the 74 was sidelined for the night after finishing 5^th.  The second race saw Gibson’s 97 cross the line 2^nd and Tim Collins take down third with the 28 of Simmons finishing 4^th.

 

The final race before the break was a “Last Chance “ race for still unqualified TQs. Six cars took to the track and only the winner was eligible to advance.  Charles Chance Jr. in the #0 jumped out into the lead and the remaining 5 cars all came together exiting turn 4. Fortunately all cars were able to restart the race with car #59 of Chris Perley getting that important win. This concluded the afternoon portion of the show.

 

Fans returned to the Hall at 6:00 and were invited onto the track for Fan Fest to meet the drivers, get autographs and see the cars.  The show was scheduled to resume at 7:00 P.M.

Because of the blizzard which was occurring in the tri-state area, the governor declared NJ in a state of emergency.  Lenny Sammons, the promoter was asked to abbreviate the show to allow fans and participants to leave at a safe and reasonable hour. The show schedule was changed.  The Slingshots and the TQs each ran one B main and then their A main.

 

In the Slingshot B Main, Steve Hicks, car #1 led wire to wire to take down the win.  The 27J of Michael Glass finished second, coming up from 11^th position.  The 7 of Dan Santabarbara finished 3rd.  The 26 of Travis Nolan finished 4^th and the 78 of Drew Damiani finished 5^th. 

 

Twenty-four cars took the green in the TQ 15 lap B Main, with the top 12 cars moving in to the night’s 40 Lap Gambler’s Classic Feature. The 68 of Curtis Friesen and the 88 of Joey Payne staged a race long battle with Friesen taking down the win and Payne right on his tail for second.

 

Now came time for the two feature events of the weekend.

 

The 20 Lap Slingshot feature got off to a shaky start with a twelve-car crash coming out of turn 4 on the first lap.   Half of the cars were able to rejoin the field.  After a third attempt at getting the race started, the officials decided to start the cars in single file with 16 of the original 24 cars left.  The 555 of Jesse Hartman took command of the race.  Dave Pecko in the 42 was in close pursuit and Steve Hicks in the #1 followed close behind.  After the 4^th lap and a few more caution flags, the 357 of Mark Daniels worked his way into the third spot.  On lap 12, Dave Pecko in second place while giving Hartman all he could handle, tangled with a lapped car and was taken out of the race.  On the restart Hartman in the 555 pulled away from the field doing a masterful job and took down the win.  Dan Santabarbara in the 7 came home second.  The 27J of Michael Glass finished third, the 77 of Joe Inglin, Jr. finished fourth and rounding out the top 5 was the 0 of Jack Arute.

 

The TQs took the track 27 strong for their 40 lap Gambler’s Classic Feature event.

The 711 of Mike Iles started on the pole and had mechanical problems right from the get go in turn 2 bringing out the first caution of the race.  On the restart the 44H of Doug Esh jumped out into the lead over the 44 of Mike Dicely.  Stewart Friesen in the 9A gets past Dicely into second and starts doing battle with the 44H of Esh.  At this point Frank Polimeda in the number 40 finds himself in 4^th place. On lap 8 the yellow flag came out due to a mishap in turn 3.  The tangle included Curtis Friesen in the 68 car and Lou Cicconi, Jr in the 57.  Both cars went to the pits and were able to return to the track.

On the ensuing green flag Esh maintained the lead and was chased by Stewart Friesen in the 9A and Jeff Heotzler in the FOUR.  A tangle involving Esh and Friesen between turns 1 & 2 on lap 10 relegated both cars to the rear of the field, handing the lead to Jeff Heotzler in the FOUR.  Heotzler stretched out his lead until lap 14 when there was a crash in turn 4. Curtis Friesen, 68 hit the wall hard tearing off a wheel with Steve Stull in the 88x breaking a water hose and BJ McDonald, #49 turning up side down.  Stull made a very hasty exit from his car because of the hot water.  All drivers were ok and B.J. McDonald was able to continue in the race.  When the green came back out, Heotzler continued to lead with Billy Pauch in tow   Heotzler extended his lead to over a half of a straight away. A series of caution flags kept him from completely running away from the rest of the field. With 5 laps to go, Billy Pauch was reeling in Heotzler. With 3 laps to go Pauch was all over Heotzler’s back bumper.  Suddenly with two laps to go, Heotzler lost a cylinder and Pauch goes by on the outside for the lead.  The 44 of Dicely follows Pauch by. Coming into turn 4, heading for the white flag, Pauch spins in turn 4 bringing out the caution.  The 44 of Dicely assumes the lead.  Heotzler manages to hang on to second. This sets up a green/white checker finish. The green flag flies.  Dicely takes the lead.  Heotzler is second and Tim Adams in the number 9 is now third.   Going through turns 1 and 2, Heotzler’s car comes back to life, passes Dicely and takes the win. Dicely gets second and Tim Adams comes across in third.

Sources:  Bill Stockert/RacerHub.com
Posted:  January 27, 2005