HEOTZLER
PULLS OFF LAST LAP PASS TO WIN A/C GAMBLER'S CLASSIC
ATLANTIC CITY, NJ –
A dramatic turn of events propelled dirt Modified veteran Jeff
Heotzler to victory in Saturday night's Atlantic City Indoor
Race "Gambler's Classic" at Boardwalk Hall.
Heotzler's chances appeared to be
evaporating late in the 40-lap feature as his TQ Midget's
engine soured. But his fortunes changed completely mere
seconds after he relinquished the lead to another dirt
Modified star, Billy Pauch, on lap 38.
Before Pauch could even officially lead a
lap, he lost control of his Don Adams-owned car and spun
entering turn three. The resulting caution flag was a godsend
for Heotzler, whose engine came back to life thanks to some
slow circuits.
Heotzler hung with leader Mike Dicely of
Lewisberry, Pa., when the green flag flew. He made his move on
the final lap, diving underneath the Micro-Sprint standout
rounding turns one and two and surging ahead.
Heotzler, 47, of Wallkill, N.Y., beat Dicely
to the finish line by a couple car lengths. He pocketed
$5,000, including a $3,000 bonus for posting a $100
"gambler’s fee" upon entering the race.
"I can’t believe what happened,"
said Heotzler, who started 10th behind the wheel of a car
owned by Long Island's Michael Sweet. "The car was on
rails all weekend, but I thought we were done when the motor
started laying down. We're just lucky that Billy spun and the
caution flag let the motor cool down enough to let me take one
more shot."
Tim Adams of Hamilton, N.J., finished third
after starting 18th. His advance earned him the Doug Craig
Memorial Hard Charger Award, worth an additional $555.55.
Completing the top five was Jon Gambuti of
Point Pleasant, N.J., and Nathan Hauck of York, Pa.
Doug Esh of Lancaster, Pa., a central
Pennsylvania 410 Sprint Car regular, led laps 1-11 before a
scrape with Stewart Friesen of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.,
caused him to spin from contention between turns one and two.
Officials sent Friesen to the rear of the field for initiating
the contact, elevating Heotzler to the head of the pack for
the first time.
Ten caution flags and one red slowed the
rough-and-tumble main, which saw half of its 26-car starting
field still running at the finish.
Jesse Hartman of Flemington, N.J., captured
Saturday evening's 20-lap Slingshot division feature.
The young driver assumed command after
avoiding a multi-car opening-lap crash and never looked back.
He earned $1,000 for his efforts, including a $500
"gambler’s bonus."
Earlier on Saturday afternoon, winners of
the Small Car Nationals events were Greg Harris of Bethlehem,
Pa. (Smarties Sportsman Micro-Stocks), Davey Sammons of
Bordentown, N.J. (Young Lion Slingshots), Steve Buckwalter of
Royersford, Pa. (Mini-Cup) and Brett Stratford of Mount Hope,
Ont. (Caged Champ Karts).
Race organizer Len Sammons was forced to
shorten Saturday evening's scheduled racing card after a state
of emergency was declared in New Jersey due to the winter
storm that dropped a foot or more of snow across the region
(but less than an inch in Atlantic City).
Though the state of emergency prohibited
highway travel starting at 8 p.m., state officials allowed
Sammons to continue the racing program because it was slated
to begin before the travel ban took effect. But state
officials mandated that the event must be completed by 9 p.m.,
so Indoor Race officials scrapped the evening's four planned
TQ Midget/600cc Micro-Sprint heats and ran one last-chance
B-Main for the top-24 time-trialers not already qualified for
the feature.
Spectators who braved the weather to attend
the nighttime program were given a 7:30 p.m. deadline to apply
for ticket refunds, but a majority of the crowd opted to stay
for the abbreviated event.
The racing program ended almost precisely at
9 p.m.
TQ Midget/600cc Micro-Sprint Feature Finish (40 laps): 1.
Jeff Heotzler, 2. Mike Dicely, 3. Tim Adams, 4. Jon Gambuti,
5. Nathan Hauck, 6. John Ivy, 7. Mike Tidaback, 8. Frank
Polimeda, 9. Chris Arnold, 10. Jack Spence, 11. Ryan Bartlett,
12. Billy Pauch, 13. Bill Thomas, 14. Lou Cicconi Jr., 15. B.J.
MacDonald, 16. Stewart Friesen, 17. Chris Zrinski, 18. Doug
Esh, 19. Brad Gerhart, 20. Ryan Tidman, 21. Steve Stull, 22.
Curtis Friesen, 23. Joey Payne, 24. Scott Martel, 25. Steve
Buckwalter, 26. Mike Iles.
Slingshot Feature Finish (20 laps): 1. Jesse Hartman, 2.
Dan Santabarbara, 3. Michael Glass, 4. Joe Inglin Jr., 5. Jack
Arute, 6. Floyd Knabb Jr., 7. Bill Vaninwegen, 8. James
Pollard, 9. Randy Smith, 10. Pep Corradi, 11. Keith Tucker
Jr., 12. Dave Pecko, 13. Mark Kislowski, 14. Travis Nolan, 15.
Lenny Boyd, 16. JJosh Flach, 17. Curtis Truex Jr., 18. Bill
Bracey, 19. Jeremy Markle, 20. Jeff Trombley, 21. Ed Windt,
22. Steven Intravaia, 23. Steve Hicks, 24. Marc Daniels
Smarties Sportsman Micro-Stocks Feature Finish (20 laps): 1.
Greg Harris, 2. Tom Ervin, 3. Tommy Kosch, 4. Brian Russell,
5. Stephen Moran, 6. Walt Mueller Jr., 7. Robert Wagner, 8.
Ryan Seaman, 9. Steve Harris, 10. Mike Andrews, 11. Brian
Correll, 12. John Springsteel, 13. Mike Mee, 14. George Bark,
15. Dick Rossine, 16. Walter Morrison, 17. Pat Wohlgemuth, 18.
Dave Russell, 19. Robert Pomeroy, 20. Bob Wohlgemuth, 21. John
Rakos, 22. Ricky Taylor, 23. Mike Mammana, 24. Vinny Lafrazia
Young Lion Slingshot Feature Finish (20 laps): 1.Davey
Sammons, 2. Kris Savoie, 3. Ryan Smith, 4. Danny Bohn, 5. Gary
Berkenstock, 6. Ginny Quinones, 7. Doug Wessel, 8. Amanda
Henneforth, 9. Eddie Gobbo, 10. John Sowle, 11. Bobby Kuiken,
12. Kyle Rohner, 13. Ethan Rutherford, 14. Kyle Inglin (DNS)
Matt Harrell, Tyler Wilkins.
Mini-Cup Feature Finish (20 laps): 1. Steve Buckwalter, 2.
Bill Gibson, 3. Tim Collins, 4. Jason Simmons, 5. Bob Fort Jr.
Caged Champ Carts Feature Finish (20 laps): 1. Brett
Stratford, 2. Bill Paulmen, 3. Danny Bohn, 4. Jerry Solomito,
5. Jeff Paulson, 6. Tim Buckwalter, 7. John Beatty, 8. Coby
Cressinger, 9. Eric Zeh, 10. Mike Maskulyak, 11. John Martino,
12. Nick Giardina, 13. Eddie Larsen, 14. Mitch Brudy, 15. Rob
McCormick, 16. John Borakos, 17. Christopher Wramage, 18. Carl
Thomas, 19. Michael Clementi (DNS) Lauren Kasky, Paul White,
Tad Uzzle, Adam Grant, Chris Pelcher
