Story By: DAVE MEDLER / FULTON SPEEDWAY – FULTON, NY – Jeremy Dygert from Baldwinsville, NY only had around a handful of starts in a 358 Modified in his rookie season at the Fulton Speedway. Saturday night Dygert drove like a seasoned veteran.
In the 35-lap Tracey Road Equipment DIRTcar Modified feature Dygert would take the lead on lap 3 and then would hold off challenges from the rest of the starting field for his first career win in the division in only his sixth feature start.
Other winners on NAPA Auto Parts and Tim Grevelding Snap-on Tools night were, Paulie Colagiovanni (Empire Super Sprints) Chris Mackey & Jackson Gill (DOT Foods DIRTcar Sportsman) Chris Fleming (Billy Whittaker Cars & Trux RUSH Late Models) Cody Manitta (E&V Energy Novice Sportsman).
Joe Shields would jump out to the early lead in the 35-lap Modified feature until lap 3 when Jeremy Dygert would go to the topside of the speedway to drive by Shields to be scored the new leader.
Dygert and Tyler Trump would battle for the lead on lap 10 in a two-car breakaway while behind them Ben Bushaw, Pat Ward and Shields raced for third through fifth.
With 15 laps complete Dygert held a five-car advantage over Trump as Pat Ward started looking for a way to reel in the top-two.
On lap 20 Dygert was on rails opening an almost full straightaway lead with Trump, Ward, Bushaw and Todd Root showing second through fifth.
A caution on lap 23 would erase the 3 second lead Dygert had and would put the heavy hitters of the division within striking distance to try and steal a win away from Dygert.
With 10 laps to go Dygert and Trump were in a tight fight for the lead while Ward, Tim Sears Jr. and Todd Root, all past feature winners, had their sights on the top-two.
Over the final laps Jeremy Dygert drove flawless laps, hitting his marks and holding off top runners Todd Root, Tim Sears Jr., Erick Rudolph and Pat Ward to pull in victory lane in front of a cheering crowd.
Thirty Sprints Cars signed into the pits for race number four of the Lucas Oil Empire Super Sprints Speedweek.
In the 25-lap A-Main Paulie Colagiovanni who had two speedweek wins during the week would lead the opening lap with Chuck Hebing taking the lead on lap 2.
With 10 laps showing on the scoring tower, Hebing and Colagiovanni still battled out front as they started to catch the back of the field. Matt Tanner, Dylan Westbrook and Danny Varin raced for top-five spots.
Hebing would hold the biggest lead of the race opening a half a straightaway lead with 10 laps to go leaving Colagiovanni, Tanner, Westbrook and Larry Wight who started 11th to battle it out for second through fifth.
With 5 laps to go the pressure was turned way up as Hebing maintained the lead and was fighting to try to put cars a lap down as Colagiovanni, Tanner and Wight started to rapidly close in on Hebing.
With 2 laps to go in the caution free race Colagiovanni caught Hebing setting up a slugfest to the checkers.
In heavy traffic on the last lap Colagiovanni had to go where Hebing wasn’t. Going into turn three and four Colagiovanni went to the top-side pulling even with Hebing exiting turn four setting up a drag race to the checkers in front of a standing crowd that would see Paulie Colagiovanni win by a blink of an eye or 7-one thousandths of a second. Larry Wight, Matt Tanner and Dylan Westbrook finished third through fifth.
In the first 25-lap DIRTcar Sportsman feature Robert Gage would set the early quick pace out front as the racing behind him was two and three-wide in battles for position.
With 5 laps in the record books Gage still led but was getting heavy pressure from Steve Marshall who would take the lead one lap later.
With 10 laps showing on the scoring tower you could have thrown a blanket over the top-five of Marshall, Gage, Chris Mackey, Willy Decker Jr. and Addision Bowman.
Marshall and Mackey would go across the line almost dead even with 10 laps to go with Decker, Gage and Dylan Zacharias still in contention just before a yellow would slow the pace.
On the restart Chris Mackey would slide up in front of Marshall in turn two to be scored the new leader and from there would lead the rest of the way for the win. Willy Decker Jr., Steve Marshall, Tyler Murray and Dylan Zacharias would finish second through fifth.
In the second 25 lap sportsman feature AJ Miller would jump out to the early lead and open a half a straightaway lead by lap 5 leaving Jessica Power, Jake Davis, Rocky Grosso and Corey Barker to battle it out from second on back.
With 10 laps complete Miller led by almost a full straightaway as Jackson Gill was flying on the topside of the speedway trying to close in on the leader. Power, Barker and Davis still raced inside the top-five.
The most serious incident of the race happened around the halfway point when Brandon Ford and another racer made racing contact in turn four sending Ford into a spin. Jimmy Moyer, with nowhere to go, made hard contact with Ford causing his car to roll over bringing out the red. Moyer was unhurt when he climbed out of his heavily damaged car.
When the green came back out Jackson Gill got around Miller to be scored the new leader and would lead the rest of the way for the win. AJ Miller, Tyler Corcoran, Corey Barker and Alan Fink would come home second through fifth.
In the 20 lap RUSH Late Model feature Jason Parkhurst would bolt out to the early lead and would have a ten car length advantage over Max Hill and Chris Fleming who raced side by side for second and third with Bret Belden and Tucker Halliday, in his first Late Model start, in fourth and fifth.
At the halfway point Parkhurst was still quick out front being chased by Fleming, Belden, Kyle Sopaz and Hill.
Over the second half of the race it looked like Parkhurst was going to victory lane when he started slowing when a right rear started going soft and finally flat, handing the lead to Fleming.
Once in the lead there was no stopping Chris Fleming as he was first under the checkers. Bret Belden, Chad Homan, Kyle Sopaz and Kevan Cook finished second through fifth.
In the 20-lap E&V Energy Novice Sportsman feature Brandon Chretien would lead the opening three laps before Cody Manitta took the lead. Manitta would lead the rest of the way, holding off Pat Nolan, Richard Murtaugh, Matt Richardson and Mikey Wight.
This coming Saturday, July 13th Pioneer Window Manufacturing will present a night of fast, family affordable fun featuring the Tracey Road Equipment DIRTcar Modifieds, DOT Foods DIRTcar Sportsman, Billy Whittaker Cars & Trux RUSH Late Models, E&V Energy Novice Sportsman and the first ever visit from the Dirt Modified Nostalgia Tour.
Adult grandstand admission is $12 with everyone 18 years old and younger free. Grandstands open at 5:00 pm with racing at 7:00 pm.
Any questions you might have and for marketing opportunities please contact Cory Reed at (315) 593-6531 or cory@fultonspeedway.com .
For all the latest news go to www.fultonspeedway.com and like the track Facebook and Twitter pages.
NAPA Auto Parts & Tim Grevelding Snap-on-Tools ESS Speedweek July 6 Results
(Tracey Road Equipment DIRTcar Modifieds 35 Laps) – JEREMY DYGERT, Todd Root, Tim Sears Jr., Erick Rudolph, Pat Ward, Ron Davis III, Larry Wight, Jeff McGinnis, Tom Sears Jr., Ben Bushaw, Jeff Sykes, Joe Shields, Glenn Forward, Dave Marcuccilli, Chris Hile, Rob Bellinger, Bobby Herrington, Brad Godshalk, Billy Shantel, Garett Rushlow, Andy Noto, Randy Shantel, Nick Krause, DJ Forbes, Colin Dubois, Dale Planck, Billy Whittaker, Tyler Trump, DNS AJ Kingsley.
(Lucas Oil Empire Super Sprints 25 Laps) – PAULIE COLAGIOVANNI, Chuck Hebing, Larry Wight, Matt Tanner, Dylan Westbrook, Danny Varin, Jason Barney, Billy VanInwegen, Jonathan Preston, Jeff Cook, Davie Franek, Shawn Donath, Joe Trenca, Jordan Poirier, Jeff Trombley, Scott Holcomb, Chad Miller, Sam Reakes IV, Mike Kiser, Ryan Harrison, Parker Evans, Denny Peebles, Kelly Hebing, Josh Pieniazek, Pete Richardson, Emily VanInwegen.
(DOT Foods DIRTcar Sportsman #1 – 25 Laps) – CHRIS MACKEY, Willy Decker Jr., Steve Marshall, Tyler Murray, Dylan Zacharias, Robert Gage, Addison Bowman, Zach Sobotka, Chris Hulsizer, Mike Button, JJ Courcy, Kyle Perry, Wade Chrisman, Rick Miller, Austin Germinio, Joe Sobotka, Tom Juno, Brandon Carvey, Brad Alger, Ryan Dolbear, Brett Draper, Dorian Wahdan, Josh Amodio, Joe Kline, Jeff Prentice, Ryan Gustin.
(DOT Foods DIRTcar Sportsman #2 – 25 Laps) – JACKSON GILL, AJ Miller, Tyler Corcoran, Corey Barker, Alan Fink, Bob Henry Jr., Jessica Power, Mike Phelps, Jake Davis, Garrison Krentz, Casey Williams, Jim Spano, Rocky Grosso, Brandon Ford, Charlie Tibbitts, Zach Payne, Mike Stanton Jr., Torrey Stoughtenger, Rachel Zacharias, Rick Rogala, Ben Karlsen, Kearra Backus, Amy Holland, Gavin Eisele, Jimmy Moyer.
(Billy Whittaker Cars & Trux RUSH Late Models 20 Laps) – CHRIS FLEMING, Bret Belden, Chad Homan, Kyle Sopaz, Kevan Cook, Sean Beardsley, Max Hill, Tucker Halliday, Matt Kitts, Jason Parkhurst.
(E&V Energy Novice Sportsman 20 Laps) – CODY MANITTA, Pat Nolan, Richard Murtaugh, Matt Richardson, Mikey Wight, Scott Kline, Brett Baldwin, Larry Taylor, Coleby Felber, Brandon Chretien, Josh VanTassell.