Story By: TODD STANTON / AFTON MOTORSPORTS PARK – AFTON, NY – It was a great night for racing as mother nature was nice to the teams and fans at Afton Motorsports Park. Rains plagued several other tracks allowing some teams to make their way to Afton. The night’s events were sponsored by Pit Stop Auto and Big E’s Shed and Sleddin Sales.
The twenty-five lap 602 Crate Sportsman feature was the first main event of the evening. Craig Pope and Joe Buchanan brought the twenty-seven car field to the green. Early in the event Todd Titus and Gary Smith became hooked together on the back stretch. They tried to get unhooked, but ended up spinning.
That brought out a caution also involving Kamdin Maby and Jim Cummings. On the restart Craig Pope grabbed the lead. The racing behind the Pope number forty-two C was heating up. Many of the teams found the high side very racey. Dale Welty, Jared Green and Matt Brewer all chose that line making moves quickly to the front. First time visitor in 2023, Blaine Klinger was also making his way through the pack.
All four now setting their sights on the top spot. Rookie Jared Green made his way into the top spot. Dale Welty and Matt Brewer were attempting to steal the lead. As the laps got closer to twenty-five Welty and Brewer battled hard. Dale Welty grabbed the lead in the closing laps recording his second feature win of the season. He also collected the Hard Charger Award. The top five all started in positions seventh or further back.
Finishing in second was last weeks feature winner Matt Brewer, third to Jared Green, fourth to Blaine Klinger and fifth to Dustin Harris.
The Carquest of Unadilla FWD 4 Cylinder feature was next. Twelve teams were all looking to dethrone the many time feature winner Collin Mills. A bounty of $150 dollars had been put up. Someone was hoping to take that extra money home. John Maynard and Andy Bolles were in the front row.
Bolles grabbed the early lead with many drivers working to get to the front. Tim Vandermark grabbed second position with Collins Mills in pursuit. Bolles continued to lead the feature with Mills in third hoping one of them would make a mistake. Unfortunately for Mills that didn’t happen as Andy Bolles current point leader picked up the win and the bounty.
Mills did make it into second, with Tim Vandemark in third, Shawn Mills in fourth and newcomer Nathan Powers in fifth. Once again this division ran green to checkered.
The mighty modifieds had thirty-three teams coming to compete at the fast track. Rookie drivers Doug Polhaumus and Seth Zacharias paced the field to the green. Twenty-six teams were all hoping to grab the win. Unfortunately the Zacharias machine developed a mechanical issue forcing him out of the race on lap one.
On the restart Doug and Jim Introne Jr., were now in the front row. When the green dropped Polhaumus got the lead, but only for a lap. Brett Tonkin made a three wide move to take away second. He then went to the outside of Doug to the lead. Once again the outside of the track was found to be the fast way around.
Many of the teams used it to make moves to the front. Tyler Yeagle another Rookie in the modified division was using that high side. After having a few weeks of issues with his number thirty-three the car was on rails.
Brett Tonkin went on to win the thirty lap feature. A win that Brett remarked has been a long time coming. Tyler Yeagle held on to finish second. Dennis Clapperton who started in seventh finished in thrid. Brandon Loucks came from tenth to record an impressive fourth. Doug Polhaumus finished in fifth. Once again, the high side of the track gave the fans a great night of racing.
The Factory Stocks are the new division in the bi-weekly racing series. LIL’ Dave Excavating sponsoring this division found fifteen teams on hand. Mahlon Shoemaker and Kurtis Stickle made up the front row. Mahlon grabbed the early lead. A few cautions kept the field tight early on. On one restart the top three of Mahlon, Rich Green and Jason Rhode were racing hard. Rich and Mahlon were battling for the top spot. Rich got around Mahlon to grab the lead.
The Stan Matthews owned car was putting on a great show for the fans. Rich opened up a sizeable lead with the rest of the field looking to make their moves. A late race caution tightened up the field. On the restart, Rich regained the lead. Tommy Groover was working the outside trying to gain another position.
When the checkered flew, Green recorded his first feature win. Rounding out the top five were Mahlon Shoemaker, Jason Rhodes, Kurtis and Tommy Groover.
Fifteen laps for the Limited Sportsman made up the feature event. Avery Decker and Derrick Shaffer paced the field to the green. Garrett Zacharias grabbed the early lead, but was challeRnged by Tom Davey. Coming from the seventh starting spot was Dylan Nichols. Dylan was working the low side with newcomer Tyler Bobar working the high side. Nichols took the lead, but Bobar was still looking to steal it away.
Bobar made contact with the front stretch wall giving Dylan a chance to open his lead. It was a fast paced exciting race for the fans to witness. Tyler Bobar recorded an impressive second place finish using the high side. Third went to Tom Davey, with Garrett Zacharias in fourth. Devon Green finished in fifth after having to start in the last position. He developed a mechanical issue changing cars for hold on to those valuable points.
The final feature event was the popular 600cc Modifieds. Coming into tonights race, many time feature winner Ryan Jordan had a bounty on him. He had to win the event tonight to collect that bounty. If anyone could beat the number one and he finished they would collect the bounty. Aiden Miller and Ryan David-Kadaronak made up the front row. Miller took the early lead, but the Jordan machine was stealing that away on lap two.
Ryan opened up a good lead over second place Ryan David-Kadaronak. If they could run the feature event without a caution all the drivers would get in free the following week. It appeared that would happen until the closing laps when Charlie Towner in the Nate Shay number one brought out the only caution.
On the restart Jordan once again grabbed the lead. He went on to record another win grabbing the bounty. Ryan David-Kadaronak, Dillon Beadle, Aiden Miller and John Hoover finished second through fifth.
During the intermission a helmet drive was held for Chris Jordan a fellow competitor injured at another race track. The fans were generous as drivers collected almost $600. After the 600cc Modified feature the owners of the Ryan Jordan team donated an additional $400 from the bounty money.
That will give the family of Chris a good donation to help with his recovery. It will be a long one for this driver and his family. So we say “THANK YOU”, to all who donated.
The Meet and Greet, that was suppose to be during intermission was postponed as the management was worried about weather that might have been coming. The new date for it will be in two weeks. Mark it on your calendar to be part of the fun.
Hats off to the track prep team who worked hard this past week to get us a great racing surface. Mike and Ron Ford lots of hours making sure the track was ready for the fans to see great racing. We sure did see some awesome outside racing in all the divisions.
Coming up next week will be Morabito Energy, Mid-Season Thunder. Double points in all division with the IMCA Modifieds making their return.