Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – CANANDAIGUA, NY – Welcome to the DIRTcar Big Block Modified wins list Zach Sobotka!
In just his fourth start behind the wheel of a Modified, the driver from Mexico, NY parked it in victory lane, taking the DIRTcar feature event win Saturday night at the Land of Legends Raceway.
Yes, I said just his fourth start.
“I can’t believe this right now,” Sobotka said. “As the laps wound down, I wasn’t trying to pay attention to anything other than hitting my marks because I knew I’d probably get nervous in the car.”
Sobotka lead from the drop of the green from his outside front row starting spot. As the laps clicked off though, did he start to wonder where second place might be?
“I looked up and saw there was lap 22 and thought, man, this thing’s almost over,” he said. “I saw (Matt) Sheppard in third and didn’t know how far they were behind me but I knew they had to be coming.”
That’s when Sobotka got up in the seat and tried to finish the deal. He knew if anyone was going to get by the Tom Coar-owned ride, they’d have to go around him.
“I was just trying to hold the bottom lane,” he said. “I really didn’t think there was anything on top and we did it.”
This was Sobotka’s second feature event of the night as he had competed in the DIRTcar Sportsman main earlier on in his family-owned #38 machine. Any idea what’s on the horizon with the Big Block?
“I think we’re going to finish out the year in our Sportsman car,” he said. “I still have a couple more races I want to win in that and then we’ll definitely focus on this for next year.”
Somewhat at loss for words, Sobotka was quick to give thanks to the people that got him to victory lane on Saturday night.
“I can’t say enough about the car owner Tom Coar for giving me this opportunity,” he said. “I also have to thank my dad, my grandfather and Steve Sterling. We were all trying to figure out how to make this thing go better after the heat. I also have to thank all of my sponsors on the Sportsman and everyone who helps Tom on this car. I can’t thank you all enough.”
James Sweeting came home in the second spot with his best finish of the season, and a much needed good run at that.
“That’s for sure,” Sweeting said. “Running like we have been over the last year and the first couple this year, this definitely feels really good to finish second.”
Sweeting had a flashback to Sobotka in the beginning days of his racing career.
“Hat’s off to Zach,” he said. “I remember, probably five years ago now, his first race at Fulton Speedway. We parked right next to each other and it’s pretty cool to see it come full circle and for him to get a Big Block win.”
Third place, at the line, was defending track champion Justin Haers. Justin was in a spirited battle with Sweeting and Matt Sheppard for positions two through four as the laps wound down, but was able to come home with a fine third-place finish on the night.
“I knew I was a little bit better than Matt,” Haers said. “I had just gotten by him and we got to lap traffic. The line I was running, there was a lapper there and he got back by me so I had to work at it again but anytime you can pass Matt, you have to be doing something good. It was a good race, though.”
Haers would have liked to get up to compete for the win, but he’ll take third. However, he knew his car was capable.
“We had a really good race car tonight,” he said. “I would have liked to scoot by Matt and the lap car to make a run to the front because I think we could have given Zach and James a battle but we’ll take the third.”
Haers was also quick to congratulate the victor on Saturday night.
“Congrats to Zach Sobotka,” he said. “Man, that’s pretty awesome. I don’t care where you start, to win a Big Block race, that’s quite an accomplishment.
Sheppard ended up fourth and Dalton Martin nailed down his first career top five in a Big Block, finishing fifth.
Not to be outdone, the Sportsman feature also produced a first-time winner as young Nick Root parked his #30 in victory lane after holding off a persistent challenger in Nick Guererri for the checkered flag.
“This feels so good after a year and a half,” Root said. “Thank you to my Mom and my Dad for everything they do, especially my Dad for what he does on this car. It’s so nice to be in victory lane.”
What was it like as he knew his dream of winning a race was in sight?
“I knew after that one restart, I knew Guererri was behind me,” he said. “I knew I had one of the best cars right there so I had to hold my line and make sure I don’t mess up.”
The first person to victory lane to congratulate him was his father, Kevin, and I don’t think there was anyone who had a bigger smile on his face than Dad.
“If he would have gotten on the roof with me like I use to with him, it would have been better,” he said. “I’d love to thank him, my mom, all my crew and all the sponsors on this car. Everyone who contributes, I couldn’t thank them enough.”
Guererri came home second with Matt Janczuk driving from 15th to finish third. Steve Gray and Frank Guererri Jr. rounded out the top five.
Jordan Hutton captured the 305 Sprint Car A-Main with Johnny Kolosek finishing second. Dillon Paddock, Thomas Radivoy and James Layton were third through fifth, respectively.
Jimmy Grant captured the Street Stock feature with CJ Guererri in second, Mike Welch third, Marc Minutolo fourth and Carl Johnson in fifth.
Minutolo was able to find victory lane in the Hobby Stocks with Daniel Kerrick, Tyler Burnell, Frank Burnell and Justin Eldredge in tow.
Big-Block Modified
*Feature (30 laps): 1. 32r-Zach Sobotka ($2,000), 2. 11j-James Sweeting, 3. 3-Justin Haers, 4. 9s-Matt Sheppard, 5. 132-Dalton Martin, 6. 14j-Alan Johnson, 7. 70p-Eldon Payne Jr., 8. 25-Erick Rudolph, 9. 21-Derrick Podsiadlo, 10. 70a-Alex Payne, 11. 42p-Pat Ward, 12. 27j-Danny Johnson, 13. 34-Kevin Root, 14. 39-Kyle Coffey, 15. 7z-Zach Payne, 16. 21a-Peter Britten, 17. 27jr-Daniel Johnson Jr., 18. 11n-Ricky Newton, 19. 29ny-Greg Birosh, 20. 88-Dave Allen, 21. 7-Troy Sperring.
Heats (8 laps)
#1: Sweeting, E.Payne, Z.Payne, Coffey, Sobotka, Sperring, Root.
#2: Martin, Rudolph, Haers, A.Johnson, Allen, D.Johnson, Newton.
#3: A.Payne, Sheppard, Podsiadlo, Ward, Britten, D.Johnson Jr, Birosh.
Sportsman
*Feature (25 laps): 1. 30-Nick Root ($750), 2. 12g-Matt Guererri, 3. 33x-Matt Janczuk, 4. 29g-Steve Gray, 5. 113jr.-Frank Guererri Jr., 6. 38-Zach Sobotka, 7. 7-Paul Guererri, 8. 51-Tim Lafler, 9. 10-Karl Comfort, 10. 7j-JT Sperring, 11. 31-Kane Bristol, 12. 26-Greenley George, 13. fox28-Tyler Stevenson, 14. 9-Tim Baker, 15. 25n-Evan Nugent, 16. 18h-Justin Henderson, 17. 23b-Timmy Borden Jr., 18. 2k-Anthony Kimble, 19. 32c-Kasey Coffey, 20. 35-Nick Cooper, 21. 21j-Justin Liechti, 22. 34-Behr Grover.
Heats (8 laps)
#1: Gray, F.Guererri, Root, Coffey, Nugent, Baker, Kimble, Stevenson.
#2: Grover, M.Guererri, Sobotka, P.Guererri, Cooper, Henderson, Borden.
#3: Lafler, Janczuk, Sperring, Bristol, Liechti, Comfort, George.
305 Sprint
*Feature (20 laps): 1. 66-Jordan Hutton ($500), 2. 10-Johnny Kolosek, 3. 8-Dillon Paddock, 4. 1Q-Thomas Radivoy, 5. 14-James Layton, 6. 18-Timmy Lotz, 7. 17e-Ethan Gray, 8. 21b-Blake Warner, 9. 9k-Kyle Pierce, 10. 77-Matt Rotz, 11. 10p-Nathan Pierce, 12. 48jr.-Darryl Ruggles, 13. 99-Adam DePuy, 14. X-Dan Bennett, 15. 18c-Dan Craun, 16. 4-Cliff Pierce, 17. 410-Jerry Sehn Jr., 18. 2-Randy Years, 19. 23-John Smith, 20. d9-Dustin Sehn, 21. 30-Kirsten Dombroski, 22. 09-Jacob Newell, 23. 80-Bobby Parrow, 121-Steve Glover(DNS).
Heats (8 laps)
#1: Smith, Kolosek, Radivoy, Gray, N.Pierce, C.Pierce, Craun, Glover.
#2: Paddock, Rotz, K.Pierce, J.Sehn, Warner, Ruggles, DePuy, D.Sehn(DNS).
#3: Parrow, Layton, Hutton, Years, Lotz, Bennett, Dombroski, Newell.
Street Stock
*Feature (20 laps): 1. 36-Jimmy Grant ($500), 2. cj1-CJ Guererri, 3. 00-Mike Welch, 4. 25b-Marc Minutolo, 5. 87-Carl Johnson, 6. 9-Aksel Jensen, 7. 57j-Nick Dandino, 8. 122-Chris Beyea, 9. 5c-Rick Crego, 10. 22-Carl Cleveland, 11. 12-John Burritt, 12. 63-Mike Fellows, 13. 3-Patrick Hobbs, 74-Darren Phippen(DNS).
Heats (6 laps)
#1: Welch, Johnson, Beyea, Minutolo, Crego, Burritt, Fellows.
#2: Guererri, Grant, Dandino, Jensen, Hobbs, Cleveland, Phippen.
Hobby Stock
*Feature (15 laps): 1. 25b-Marc Minutolo, 2. 61-Daniel Kerrick, 3. 57jr.-Tyler Burnell, 4. 57b-Frank ‘Bubba’ Burnell Jr., 5. 25j-Justin Eldredge, 6. 90-Nathan Peckham, 7. 13b-Brian Lloyd, 8. 36x-Brighton Grant, 9. 88-Justin Jacoby, 10. 57x-Brad Steinruck Jr., 11. 11k-Dan Korpanty, 12. 22-Craig Dingy, 13. 36-Ellie Grant, 22j-Randy Johnson(DNS).
Heats (6 laps)
#1: T.Burnell, Peckham, Eldredge, Kerrick, Steinruck, Jacoby, E.Grant.
#2: Minutolo, F.Burnell, B.Grant, Lloyd, Korpanty, Dingy, Johnson