Column By: MIKE TRAVERSE / RPW – ACCORD, NY – As the laps were winding down in the 30 lap Modified feature at Accord on Friday, Danny Tyler switched out of the low groove, which had worked so well for him earlier in the race.
The move paid off as Tyler was able to get by leader, John Ferrier, to take his first win of the season at the Big A.
A number of early cautions slowed the momentum of the race. But when it finally got going, it was Ferrier taking the lead on lap 3 from Daniel Morgiewicz Jr. Seventh starting Tyler worked his way past Morgiewicz Jr. on lap 10 to take 2nd. With the racing slowed by more cautions, it was still Ferrier over Tyler. Ferrier would get a good jump on the restarts, but Tyler would soon be on his bumper.
With 11 to go, it was Ferrier again at the point on the restart. Tyler was still in the low groove. By lap 23, he was starting to look outside, Tyler got a good run on the backstretch on lap 25 and was able to complete the pass with 4 laps to go.
At the finish, it was Tyler by 1.6 seconds over Ferrier. Jimmy Wells made some late race gains to finish 3rd with Danny Creeden 4th and Rich Ricci Jr. 5th. Morgiewicz Jr. was 6th, Richard Smith 7th, Jerry Higbie 8th, Brett Graham 9th and Geoff Quackenbush 10th.
“The car was really good all night. We’ve been racing on the road and I feel that it’s making our program a lot better,” Tyler said in Victory Lane. “The results haven’t been there, but we’re fast. Ferrier ran a very good race. Once I rolled to the outside and I thought that I should have done that earlier. . I was feeling and running good on the bottom, I didn’t want to move. But if you race too conservative, you end up with more 2nd’s, 3rd’s and finishes like that. Sometimes, you have to take that chance.”
It was Tyler’s 16th career Modified win at Accord.
Kevin Stevens took the lead at the start from the outside pole position and held off a late race charge from Tyler Johnston to win Friday’s Sportsman feature.
Ryan Stortini and Stevens made up the front row as Stevens took command at the drop of the green. Stortini ran 2nd until lap 7 when Cody Higbie took over the runner-up spot. Higbie made up ground on Stevens and took some looks on the outside until a lap 15 spin took him out of contention. This put Johnston into 2nd.
As the laps wore down, Johnston had some good runs on the inside of Stevens, but he was never able to complete the pass. At the finish, it was Stevens just a scant 4/10ths of a second over Johnston. Travis Green continued his string of good finishes recently with a 3rd place effort. Jimmy Johnson was 4th and Jared LaBagh 5th. Rounding out the top 10 were Stortini 6th, Charles Loiodice 7thm Troy Arnold 8th, Aiden Elliott 9th and Steve Williams 10th.
Joe Narok was victorious in the Pure Stock feature over John Hechinger, JB Morris, Walt henry and Jayden Sleight.
In the North East Wingless Sprints, Eric Jennings topped the field with Charles Weslowski 2nd, Dan Malley 3rd and Jeremy Quick 4th.
Randy Torres was declared Friday’s Rookie Sportsman winner after the apparent winner did not pass tech. Tommy Marshall was 2nd and Andrew Sabo 3rd.
Tim DeGrote was Friday’s Fireball 4 Cylinder winner with Cameron Reichenbaugh 2nd, Brandon Conklin 3rd, Ryan Heady 4th and Brett Barringerv 5th.
All Star Slingshot action saw Tim Hannen drive into Victory Lane. Ashley Rogosich was 2nd, Amber Baccaglini 3rd, Sophia Spear 4th and Madison Lewis 5th.
Brayden Traver was Friday’s Junior Slingshot winner with Chase See 2nd, Calleigh Stritmater 3rd, Brayden Marks 4th and EJ Hatch 5th.
Racing resumes at Accord Speedway on Friday, June 17th.