North/South Shootout
Weekend Wraps Up With Great Races
by Walter Johnston
A very long two days of racing wrapped up on Saturday
with consis and the 6 features for the conclusion of the
North/South-East/West Shootout sponsored by Town & Country Ford at Concord
Motorsports Park. Seasonal autumn weather and bright skies made for a
beautiful atmosphere for racing, and the record setting crowd was treated to
a mix of some of the best racing action to be seen anywhere all season. The
qualifying process was used to shrink the 46 tour-type modifieds from 46 to
33, and the SK’s from 29 down to 28, with only Shelly Perry not making the
race for the final features for the weekend. The East-West Supermodified
Shootout saw 38 cars signed in, and only 28 of them made that feature.
The SK portion began with Woody Pitkat’s Davidson
Specialty Foods #52 on the pole, and Doug Coby’s shadowcandlecompany.com
entry to his outside. Pitkat and Coby ran side by side for the first lap,
with Pitkat pulling into the lead on lap 2, as Coby, Keith Rocco in the
Interstate Diesel Equipment #6, and Ted Christopher followed. On lap 4, the
caution waved for the 1st time as J.R. Roth’s #11 spun in turn 3. On the
restart, Pitkat jumped out front, as Rocco and Coby battled for 2nd, and
Rocco taking the spot, leaving Coby to then battle Christopher for 3rd, but
yellow flew again as Donnie Fowler spun in the dogleg. On the next restart,
Pitkat jumped to the front again, as Coby battled Rocco trying to take back
2nd, while Christopher joined in and Jimmy Blewett, in the TS Haulers’ #12,
watched from 5th. By lap 8, the top 12 were running in a line, but the
battle for 2nd would change over the next 3 laps, and find Christopher
battling with Rocco for 2nd until another yellow came out on lap 12 for a 7
car pileup in turn 3. Kerry Malone’s Hitchcock Pool Water #79 got the worst
of that, without actually making contact, as something broke when he avoided
the wreck and spun past it, but he was done for the day with a broken drive
line. On the next restart, Pitkat took off, but yellow flew almost
immediately as Dave Flammia‘s #63, Shaun Carrig’s #91 and Rick Kluth’s #44
all came together entering turn 1 and crashed into the foam safety blocks.
When green appeared again, Pitkat and Rocco battled side by side for the
lead, with Pitkat gaining the lead a lap later, as Blewett moved up to 4th
spot by passing Coby. By lap 15, Rocco was looking high and low for a way
past Pitkat, but Pitkat held on as Rocco slipped a bit, and Christopher
looked for a way to pass him, but on lap 20, Richie Evans Jr. smacked into
the inside wall off turn 3, and yellow flew again, as Evans was done for the
day. When green flew again, Pitkat took off, but Coby had trouble getting up
to speed, and pitted, dropping him from contention, while back up front,
Blewett passed Christopher to takeover 3rd spot. Pitkat and Rocco by now had
pulled away into their own race of sorts, and on lap 26, Rocco found a way
by Pitkat and took the lead, but 2 laps later, after contact with Pitkat,
Rocco spun going into turn 1, bringing out the caution. During the caution,
race officials ruled that Pitkat was rough riding Rocco and sent him to the
rear for the restart, with Jimmy Blewett inheriting the lead. When the green
came back out, Blewett took off quickly as Christopher, Jeff Malave, and
Tommy Farrell III followed, with Farrell getting by Malave for 3rd o1 lap
later. On lap 32, Christopher spun after contact with Blewett, bringing out
another caution. On the restart, Blewett took off, but yellow flew again for
Pitkat, who was stopped in turn 3. On the next restart, Blewett blasted off
away from Farrell, but Tony Hanbury crashed in the dogleg, and yellow came
out quickly. When green came back out, Blewett took off flying, leaving
Farrell 3 car lengths back right from the start, as Malave, Rob Janovic, and
Steven Reed followed. On lap 40, Rocco climbed the wall in turn 1, riding
with his right side wheels atop the wall all the way into turn 2 before
coming to a stop, and yellow flew again. On the restart, Blewett took off,
with Farrell in pursuit, and Ted Christopher, put to the back earlier,
showed up in 5th spot by lap 42, quickly moving up to 4th on lap 43, and
finally to 3rd by lap 44. On lap 45, yellow flew once more as 4 cars came
together in turn 1. With 5 laps left, green came out again, as Blewett shot
out front, and Christopher got by Farrell for 2nd spot, but Blewett had a 4
car margin and held it until lap 49, when Christopher was able to catch up
to him, but Jimmy Blewett held on to take the victory as Christopher,
Farrell, Malave and Janovic rounded out the top 5.
For the 100 lap John Blewett III Memorial race,
Jimmy Blewett sat on the pole after posting a fast time of 15.161 seconds in
time trials in the Silk Plumbing & Heating #76. At driver introductions, a
very special guest, John Blewett IV, Jimmy’s nephew and the late John
Blewett’s son, introduced Jimmy as starting on the pole, to the cheers of
the crowd. Starting to Jimmy’s outside was last year’s winner, Matt
Hirschman‘s Featherlite Trailers #60. The rest of the 33 car field had been
set through 3 qualifying heats, and 2 consolation races, with 4 guaranteed
starters and 7 provisionals being added to the grid. True to the tradition
of this race, representative cars from the Whelen Modified Tour, Southern
Whelen Modified Tour, the True Value Modified Racing Series, ASA Southern
Modified Tour, and Race of Champions Modified Tour were sprinkled throughout
he field.
At the start of the race, Blewett and Hirschman ran
side by side, with Hirschman pulling away to lead as they came off turn 3 at
the end of the 1st lap. Blewett was passed a lap later by Erick Rudolph for
2nd, as Burt Myers All Start Truck Repair #1 held on to 4th spot just behind
Blewett. Rudolph ran right on Hirschman’s bumper, with Blewett following
closely behind, as the trio pulled away from Myers by about 12 car lengths
by lap 13. There was little passing at this point, as the whole field paced
themselves. By lap 20, Hirschman and Rudolph had gained about a 4 car edge
over Blewett, and by 2 laps later, Hirschman started to pull away from
Rudolph by about the same margin as they all encountered the first of the
lapped cars. On lap 27, Blewett got back to 2nd as Rudolph picked the wrong
lane to pass a lapped car and dropped to 3rd. By lap 30, the leaders were
clear of lapped cars once more, but the first yellow flew on lap 32 as 4th
place Myers spun in turn 2. The top 3 and many others chose this opportunity
for their mandatory pit stops, with Hirschman coming back out 1st after a
stop and go, while Blewett elected to take 2 right side tires, as did
Rudolph. New race leader Ryan Preece, in the Mizzy Construction #40, took
off when the green came back out, with Hirschman, 2nd at the restart because
of so many cars pitting, right on his bumper, while Pete Brittain, in the
Ling Trucking #66 ran 3rd, and Blewett was positioned in 4th. Preece
immediately pulled 6 car lengths ahead of Hirschman, as Blewett faded back
on his new tires, eventually settling into 10th spot. Preece meanwhile had
a comfortable 8 car length lead over Hirschman, with Brittain now a distant
3rd, followed by Eric Beers’ J&R Precast #46 and Bobby Santos’ Roby’s
Propane #3. Just before halfway, Blewett’s tires started working for him,
and he moved back up to 6th. At lap 50, Preece had built a tremendous lead
of almost 15 car lengths, and Blewett, one of the few cars on the move, was
back to 5th as almost the whole field ran single file, spread all around the
track. On lap 58, yellow flew once more as Bobby Grigas, Pete Brittain,
Darren Scherer, and Ronnie Silk collided in turn 3. During the yellow, Ted
Christopher went behind pit wall with overheating problems, dropping from
the race, and Preece made his mandatory pit stop, giving the lead to
Hirschman once more. At the drop of the green, Hirschman took off, with
Beers right behind him, while Santos and Blewett watched closely from
behind. By lap 65, Hirschman held a 5 car length lead, as Beers and Santos
contended for 2nd, followed by Blewett and Donny Lia’s 360 RC Speedway #18
in 5th. Lapped traffic caused the field to tighten up once more, and on lap
74, yellow was thrown for a line of oil spread all around the track. Though
track officials felt the oil had come from Donny Lia’s car, no leak was
found and he was able to continue without having to pit for any service. On
the restart after a long cleanup, Hirschman picked up right where he left
off, as Beers, Santos and Blewett followed, but Lia now had to battle James
Civali for 5th, as Civali got by Lia for a moment, but Lia battled back,
retaking 5th all during the course of 1 lap. On lap 75, Civali got under Lia
going into turn 1, which caused Lia to lightly brush the outside wall, and
causing a backup of cars behind them, and resulted in Todd Szegedy’s Coors
Light #97 to spin after contact going into turn 2, and bringing out a
caution once again. On the restart, Hirschman took off with Beers in tow,
as Blewett looked high and low for a spot to get passed Santos, but couldn’t
find a way as Santos skillfully blocked all of his attempts. By lap 81, the
top 4 were now pulling away from the rest of the field, just as Billy Pauch
Jr. spun his car in turn 2, bringing out the caution. On the restart,
Hirschman jumped out in front again, but two laps later, Chuck Hossfeld and
Blewett got together, with Blewett spinning, and he and Hossfeld went to the
rear of the lead lap cars for the restart. Hirschman took off once again,
but Beers, Santos, Lia and Woody Pitkat‘s Coors Light #79, now 5th, stayed
right with him as they ran in a tight pack. Hirschman ran steady hanging
onto the lead, but Pitkat got loose of turn 3 on lap 88, and when he
gathered his car back up, found himself 7th, as Erick Rudolph moved by him,
along with Les Hinckley. The top 3 were pulling away nicely by lap 90, as
Hirschman led them masterfully around the ½ mile tri-oval. By lap 94,
Hirschman and Beers were pulling away from Santos, but on lap 95, Beers took
a good look under Hirschman to try a pass, but Hirschman accelerated away as
Santos moved up to challenge Beers once more, and the continue3d on that way
through the end of the race, running bumper to bumper as they crossed the
finish line. For Hirschman, it made it back to back wins in the event, the
only driver to do so in the short 5 year history of the race. A late surge
by Burt Myers saw him recover from his early race spin to finish a fine 4th,
the highest finishing Southern driver in the race.
In the Supermodified Portion of the program, 38
Supers hauled in from as far away as California, with qualifying whittling
the field to 28 starters. A very serious crash occurred during the time
trail portion of their program, as the first car out, Michael Barnes form
Mexico, NY, had his throttle stick going into turn 1 on his final lap, and
he hit the turn 1 wall very hard, crushing the whole right side of his car
and trapping him in the car until the ‘Jaws of Life’ tool was brought out to
cut him out. He was transported to the hospital to be checked out, and
reports we got on Saturday said he was going to be okay. The race itself was
a blur, as they turned 13.5 sec laps with passing going on all over the
place in the beginning, and scattered yellow throughout, but in the end,
after 50 laps had been run, AJ Russell from Clovis, CA was the winner, with
Chris Perley of Rowley, MA finishing 2nd, Charlie Schultz of Lorain, OH 3rd,
Dale Lamborn of Carson City, NV 4th, and Rich Reid of New London, OH 5th.
News and Notes, Southern style: We wish to thank the
promoters and staff associated with the N/S Shootout for providing us with
such an enjoyable, yet busy, weekend. It’s always a pleasure to cover this
race, as they provide us with timely printouts of entries and results,
making it easier to report on the events of the weekend. Dale Wolbrink
deserves a special thanks as she organizes all that paper into something we
can use…Good weather overall for the entire weekend, with Saturday the
better off the two days, with a lot less wind, which made the Fall
temperatures easier to live with…Nice to see all the ‘transplanted’
Northerners come out for the races, something we look forward to each visit.
I can’t list them all, not enough room here, but it makes the whole weekend
even more enjoyable to see old friends and acquaintances…for those who went
by car, or truck, like I did, the Fall foliage going and coming back was
really nice, an added thing to make a very long trip more enjoyable.
Unfortunately, gas prices rose over the weekend as fast as the leaves fell,
with gas prices in higher in 4 short days than it was driving down…One more
big event left on the schedule for this season, as the Turkey Derby will be
coming up the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving. If you missed this
race, you’d better make plans to attend that one, because it can be a very
long off-season if you miss it. JA Ackley and Richie Grodski will be
providing the coverage for that one, so I’ll say so long for now, enjoy your
holidays with family and friends, and as always, live well and be safe.
Source: Walter Johnston/LongIslandJam.com
Posted:
November 5, 2007
