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Hill and Schultz Winners; Tommy 12th and 6th |
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07/31/07 |
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Ric Hill won the 30-lap big block modified feature at Orange County Fair Speedway Saturday night. Starting fourth, he steered clear of numerous early race mishaps to grab first place on lap five.
The first caution flag flew when veteran Bruce Kline shut off and came to rest on the backstretch on lap three. On the restart, Dom Roselli spun after most of the field checked up coming out of turn four. On lap four, Donnie Wilson hopped Roselli’s wheel, spun, and collected Cliff Ehrmann in turn three.
On the restart, Hill, having worked his way to second place, out-gunned first place runner Joe Morel. There was only one more caution flag on lap six when Chuck McKee, Danny Creeden, and Chris Schultz tangled between turns three and four. Schultz pitted for repairs.
After that, it was all Hill. He led Morel, Bob McGannon, Jerry Higbie, Mike DiPalma for the rest of the race, and they finished in that order.
Hill was jubilant as he emerged from his #28 to celebrate his first win of the season. “It’s been an up and down season. I was just glad to finish one with the problems we’ve been having lately. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the efforts of my family, my crew, and the support of my sponsors.”
Order of finish:
1 28 Ric Hill
2 673 Joe Morel
3 21M Bob McGannon
4 47 Jerry Higbie
5 118 Mike DePalma
6 10 Rich Eurich
7 66 Jeff Heotzler
8 71 David Van Horn
9 74 Brett Hearn
10 55 Mitch Gibbs
11 53 Davie Franek
12 33 1/3 Tommy Meier
13 5 Chuck McKee
14 244 Chris Whitehead
15 OB Gary Edwards Jr.
16 73 Rick Mill
17 32 Cliff Ehrmann
18 93x Craig Mitchell
19 82P Joe Puzzella
20 7 Donnie Wilson
21 24 Chris Shultz
22 17jr Jeff Heotzler Jr.
23 11 Danny Creeden
24 J66 Jared Petruska
26 59 Bruce Kline
The top-five big block modified points leaders ran a three-lap, $500.00 to win dash for cash. At the start, it was Jerry Higbie, Chuck McKee, Brett Hearn, David Van Horn, and Jeff Heotzler, Sr. At the finish it was Higbie, McKee, Van Horn, Hearn, and Heotzler, Sr.
Chris Schultz, who finished 21st in the big block contest, won the 25-lap small block feature. Starting on the front row, he took the lead on lap one and kept it to the end. There were two caution flags on lap three, the first one flying for Mitch Gibbs, Randy Sherlock, and Ric Hill, who tangled in turn four. On the restart, Hill, Everett Haubrich, and Greg Morgan got mixed up on the front stretch. Chuck McKee, who was running sixth, took the fifth spot on lap four, while Johnny Guarino ran sixth. Joey Barbagallo, Jr. passed Guarino on the next lap as the final caution flag flew for Sherlock and Brett Hearn, who collided in turn three. Hearn came to rest against the inside barrier on turn four, while Sherlock spun coming out of the turn. Hearn’s #4 suffered damage, and left the race courtesy of a tow truck.
The race was caution-free from that point. Jerry Higbie took fifth on lap 16, and all held their places at the checkered flag. It was Schultz, Craig Mitchell, David Van Horn, McKee, and Higbie in the top five spots.
“It’s been some year for us. We haven’t had much luck at all. Whenever we get to start up front, it seems like something comes up and bites us. We’ve been plugging along. Tonight, we made some changes. We had TEO do some work on the car because we got in a wreck last week. Whatever they did really helped it. I didn’t know who was behind me. My car hasn’t felt this good in a long time; I thought I was the only one out there! I was surprised how well the car handled. It was like the old days.”
Order of finish:
1 24 Chris Shultz
2 33 Craig Mitchell
3 71 David VanHorn
4 211 Chuck McKee
5 17 Jerry Higbie
6 33 Tommy Meier
7 53 Joe Barbagallo
8 17 Brian Krummel
9 9 Johnny Guarino
10 94 Tim Hindley
11 7K Kirk Horton
12 12 Ric Hill
13 55 Mitch Gibbs
14 X Benny Rizzo
15 68 Neal Harris
16 51 Jim VanAnden
17 22 Greg Morgan
18 61 Ted Zacker
19 7-17 Everett Haubrich
20 80 Dom Roselli
21 J7 John Finley
22 4 Brett Hearn
23 10 Randy Sherlock
24 313 Jeremy Markle
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