Story By: DAVE MEDLER / BREWERTON SPEEDWAY – BREWERTON, NY – Tim Sears Jr. drove to his division leading fourth feature win of the year in impressive fashion Friday night at the Brewerton Speedway.
In the 35-lap Tracey Road DIRTcar Big Block Modified feature, Sears took advantage of a lap thirteen caution and restart, getting by point leader Chris Hile. The biggest difference of the race in the late going was Sears easily slicing through traffic and putting enough distance between himself and the rest of the field for the popular win.
Other winners on Syracuse Haulers night were, Richard Murtaugh (DOT Foods DIRTcar Sportsman) Joe Isabell (AmeriCU Credit Union Mod Lites) Chris Bonoffski (Mirabito Four Cylinders).
JJ Courcy and Sean Beardsley brought the Modified feature down to the green, with Beardsley in his small block grabbing the early advantage.
With five laps complete Beardsley opened a half a straightaway lead with Ron Davis III, Chris Hile, Courcy, and Tom Sears Jr. giving chase.
The caution lights would slow the pace on lap nine with Hile taking the lead on the restart with Tom Sears Jr., Davis and Tim Sears Jr. moving into second, third, and fourth, with Beardsley fifth.
The caution lights came on again on lap thirteen, with Tim Sears blasting into the lead using the topside of the speedway when the race went back to green.
On lap twenty Sears was in total control at the front as Hile, Max McLaughlin, Larry Wight, and Davis battled in the top-five.
With ten laps to go, Sears started catching the back of the field as Hile, McLaughlin, Wight, and Davis looked for a way to close in as the final laps started clicking off the lap counter.
Over those final laps, Sears was able to put cars down a lap and created enough distance between himself and the rest of the field to grab the win. Larry Wight brought home a strong second, followed by Max McLaughlin, Chris Hile, and Ron Davis III to complete the top-five.
In the 25-lap Sportsman feature, Buddy Leathley would grab the lead at the start and by lap five was having a side-by-side battle with Richard Murtaugh with Kyle Devendorf, Richard Townsend, and James Donaldson in the top-five.
The side-by-side battle lap after lap between Leathley and Murtaugh would slow on a lap nine caution, with Murtaugh taking a narrow lead on the restart.
With ten laps to go Murtaugh, Leathley, Devendorf, Chris Mackey who started fifteenth, and Tony Finch II from fourteenth were still in contention at the front of the field.
The difference in the race was good, late restarts Richard Murtaugh got, as he was able to hold off strong challenges from Finch and Mackey for his first win of the season. Kyle Devendorf finished fourth, with Buddy Leathley bringing home a season best fifth.
Joe Isabell put on a clinic in the 20-lap AmeriCU Credit Union Mod Lites feature by leading every lap and winning by five seconds at the checkers. Points leader Mike Mullen plus Kyle Demo, Clayton Brewer, Zack Babcock, and Joel Moller would complete the top-five.
Damien Bechler, Jacob Dupra, and Chris Bonoffski put on a three-car battle royal in the early going of the 15-lap Mirabito Four-Cylinder feature until Bonoffski made the winning pass of the race on lap eight, picking up his sixth feature win of the year. Dupra, Bechler, Zak Petrie, and Brian Evenden finished second through fifth.
This Friday, July 29 NAPA Auto Parts will present the fastest, family affordable fun in Central NY featuring the Tracey Road DIRTcar Big Block Modifieds, DOT Foods DIRTcar Sportsman, AmeriCU Credit Union Mod Lites, Mirabito Four Cylinders.
Adult G/A is $15.00, 18 years old and younger is free. Pits (All Ages) $35. Pits open at 4:30 pm. Grandstands 5:30 pm. Hot Laps 6:00 pm. Racing starts at 7:00 pm.
Tracey Road DIRTcar Big Block Modifieds – (35 Laps): 1. 83X-Tim Sears Jr[12]; 2. 99L-Larry Wight[11]; 3. 8H-Max McLaughlin[7]; 4. 5H-Chris Hile[6]; 5. 32R-Ronnie Davis III[4]; 6. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[10]; 7. 62S-Tom Sears Jr[8]; 8. X-Chad Phelps[5]; 9. 18$-Sean Beardsley[2]; 10. 9X-Tyler Trump[24]; 11. 21H-Bob Henry Jr[9]; 12. 12-Darren Smith[15]; 13. 36-Ben Bushaw[16]; 14. 11T-Jeff Taylor[18]; 15. 79-Jeffrey Prentice[3]; 16. 34-Andrew Ferguson[19]; 17. Z4-JJ Courcy[1]; 18. 91-Billy Decker[14]; 19. 160-Max Hill[13]; 20. 7Z-Zachary Payne[20]; 21. 24K-Nick Krause[21]; 22. 7S-Torrey Stoughtenger[25]; 23. 63-Adam Roberts[17]; 24. 38-Tim Harris[22]; 25. M1-Tim Murphy[23]; 26. 4-Michelle Courcy[27]; 27. (DNS) 19X-Andy Noto; 28. (DNS) 60-Jackson Gill; 29. (DNS) 24-James Witko Jr
DIRTcar 358 Modified Bonus: $300. $200. $100: Sean Beardsley, Bob Henry Jr., Jeff Prentice.
Syracuse Haulers Feature Winners Bonus $200: Tim Sears Jr.
DOT Foods DIRTcar Sportsman – (25 Laps): 1. 33-Richard Murtaugh[7]; 2. 0-Tony Finch II[14]; 3. 3M-Chris Mackey[15]; 4. 5D-Kyle Devendorf[6]; 5. 77L-Buddy Leathley[1]; 6. 28-Alan Fink[18]; 7. 5-Amy Holland[20]; 8. 19C-Brandon Carvey[17]; 9. 6-Cody Manitta[10]; 10. R19-Dale Caswell[16]; 11. 28X-Stephen Marshall[24]; 12. 01R-Robert Gage[11]; 13. 29-Matt Caprara[22]; 14. 88H-Chris Hulsizer[9]; 15. 10G-Austin Germinio[12]; 16. 64B-Brett Buono[25]; 17. 30-Michael Root[26]; 18. 16X-Savannah Laflair[28]; 19. 16-Earl Rudy[2]; 20. 13D-James Donaldson[5]; 21. 31B-Ryan Dolbear[21]; 22. 80X-Mike Button[19]; 23. 1J-John Wilber[8]; 24. 38-Zach Sobotka[13]; 25. R1-Riley Rogala[23]; 26. 51-Richard Townsend Jr[3]; 27. AONE-Bucky Hayes[4]; 28. (DNS) 05-Jessie Morgan
Syracuse Haulers Feature Winners Bonus $100: Richard Murtaugh.
NAPA Know How Chase Elliott Award: Cody Manitta.
AmeriCU Credit Union Mod Lites – (20 Laps): 1. 6J-Joe Isabell[6]; 2. 06-Mike Mullen[8]; 3. 22-Kyle Demo[9]; 4. 155-Clayton Brewer III[2]; 5. 88-Zach Babcock[10]; 6. 7J-Joel Moller[1]; 7. 16-Tucker Halliday[5]; 8. 61-Hunter Lawton[12]; 9. 5K-Matt Kitts[7]; 10. 55-Joseph Garafolo[11]; 11. 19-Brad Harris[14]; 12. 313-Jammer Applegate II[13]; 13. 9-Roger Olschewske Jr[16]; 14. 99-Thomas Mackey[3]; 15. 14-Justin Williams[4]; 16. 0-Jeff Isabell Jr[15]
Syracuse Haulers Feature Winners Bonus $100: Joe Isabell
Mirabito Four Cylinders – (15 Laps): 1. 16B-Chris Bonoffski[6]; 2. 2D-Jacob Dupra[4]; 3. 26R-Ray Bechler[5]; 4. 13Z-Zak Petrie[8]; 5. 77X-Brian Evenden[7]; 6. 29K-Kingston Sprague[1]; 7. 67K-Clayton Koch[10]; 8. 27A-Alexandra Parker[2]; 9. 360-Samuel Curcie[3]; 10. 8X-Cody Thomas[11]; 11. 99-Walt VanEpps[9]; 12. (DNS) 5M-Damien Bechler
Syracuse Haulers Feature Winners Bonus $50: Chris Bonoffski.