Abrahams Captures Bethel Motor Madness Championship
Riverhead regulars JD Abrahams and Chris
Young both headed into day two of Bethel Motor Speedway’s
“Bethel Motor Madness” weekend ready, willing, and able to take
the weekend title. They both collected top five finishes in the
first two segments, and they headed into the third and final
segment with the championship weekend well within reach. When
the final checkered flag flew on Bethel’s 2009 season, it was JD
Abrahams in Victory Lane as the “Bethel Motor Madness” Legends
champion.
Veteran drivers Joe Graf and Rich Sennett started the race from
the front row. Abrahams and Young made up the second row. Graf
got out front at the drop of the green, while Abrahams came to
second and Tyler DeVault worked his way to third. Contact
between DeVault and Young that also collected Raven Schrantz
brought out the caution on lap two.
Graf restarted on the pole, with Abrahams to his outside, but
the caution came back out after contact between Sennett and Mike
Alcaro. Young rejoined the field in ninth.
Graf and Abrahams again took off from the front row, and
Abrahams quickly got into the lead, but the caution came back
out for debris on the track and Abrahams had to do it all over
again on the next attempt at a restart. Graf settled into
second, with John Hugate third. Young worked his way back into
the fifth spot.
Alcaro grabbed the fifth spot from Young on lap four, and he
continued to march to the front of the field, as he took fourth
on lap five and third one lap later. On lap seven, Alcaro used
an inside pass to take third from Graf. Abrahams was still out
front, and Young had broken back into the top five.
Just as the race reached the halfway point, Alcaro looked to the
outside of Abrahams and took over the lead. Abrahams was
shuffled back to second. Young wrestled his way into fourth on
lap 14, and worked on closing the gap between himself and Graf,
who was in third. As the laps wound down, however, Young ran out
of time to make the pass. Alcaro crossed the line first,
followed by Abrahams and Graf. Young was fourth, and Hugate
rounded out the top five.
When all of the final tallies were done, JD Abrahams sat atop
the standings, followed by Young and Tyler DeVault.
In the third and final segment of BMS Modified competition, Tom
Pickerell collected a sixth place finish. The race was won by
Norm Barnes, who was followed to the finish by Dan Wood and Jim
Fugel. John Cote won the overall weekend title, and Pickerell
was fifth in the overall tally.
Chris Chirico finished seventh in the second segment of Street
Stock competition, and eight in the third segment. Both races
were won by 2009 Bethel Motor Speedway Street Stock champion
Gary VanOrden. Chirico was eighth in the final weekend rundown,
as Vinny Stanton Sr. grabbed the title.
Legends Segment #3 (20 laps): 1. Mike Alcaro, 2. JD Abrahams, 3.
Joe Graf, 4. Chris Young, 5. John Hugate, 6. Raven Schrantz, 7.
Rich Sennett, 8. Tyler DeVault, 9. Joe Fresco, 10. Matt Evans,
11. Barry Schrantz, 12. Joe DeGracia.
Legends Overall Bethel Motor Madness Results: 1. JD Abrahams, 2.
Chris Young, 3. Tyler DeVault, 4. Rich Sennett, 5. Joe Graf, 6.
Raven Schrantz, 7. Matt Evans, 8. Joe DeGracia, 9. Joe Fresco,
10. Barry Schrantz, 11. Mike Alcaro, 12. John Hugate, 13. Paul
Dodorico, 14. Justin Strumpf, 15. Paul DeGracia.
BMS Modified Segment #3 (20 laps): 1. Norm Barnes, 2. Dan Wood,
3. Jim Fugel, 4. John Cote, 5. Johnny Demarmels, 6. Tom
Pickerell.
BMS Modified Overall Bethel Motor Madness Results: 1. John Cote,
2. Johnny Demarmels, 3. Norm Barnes, 4. Jim Fugel, 5. Tom
Pickerell, 6. Dan Wood, 7. Dick Shaddock, 8. Charlie Howe.
Street Stock Segment #2 (20 laps): 1. Gary VanOrden, 2. Vinny
Stanton Sr., 3. Charlie Houghtaling, 4. Kevin Skelly, 5. Brent
Shaddock, 6. Jason Chevalier, 7. Chris Chirico, 8. Rich Wheeler.
Street Stock Segment #3 (20 laps): 1. Gary VanOrden, 2. Vinny
Stanton Sr., 3. Charlie Houghtaling, 4. Rich Wheeler, 5. Kevin
Skelly, 6. Jason Chevalier, 7. Brent Shaddock, 8. Chris Chirico.
Street Stock Overall Bethel Motor Madness Results: 1. Vinny
Stanton Sr., 2. Gary VanOrden, 3. Kevin Skelly, 4. Charlie
Houghtaling, 5. Brent Shaddock, 6. Jason Chevalier, 7. Rich
Wheeler, 8. Chris Chirico, 9. Tommy Johnson.
Source: Tracy Chirico/Bethel
Motor Speedway PR
Posted: October
5, 2009
