Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – DUNDEE, NY – Mission accomplished for Ajay Potrzebowski Jr. Thursday night at Outlaw Speedway.
After making the redraw for a fifth to third run in his heat race, the former Modified track champion drew the pole for the 35-lap feature.
He then proceeded to run away and hide from the rest of the field, despite one caution with 11 laps remaining that bunched the field back up.
In the end, it was all Potrzebowski who went on to score his second-straight victory at the track this season.
However, it was who he beat that had the Horseheads, NY driver all smiles after the race.
“To beat Matt Sheppard at this place is just awesome,” Potrzebowski said. “You can fan boy me all you want but he’s the best in the business and we beat him tonight.”
Sheppard drove his number 9s from position nine on the starting grid and made plenty of moves on the outside lane, primarily from the caution until the finish. While he got up to second, he wasn’t catching Potrzebowski, who led every lap and never really faced a serious challenge the entire distance.
“I’m just thankful for this team,” he said. “We were debating if we made the right call (on set-up) and luckily I think it locked down on the bottom.”
Tire compound selection was also a key ingredient for Potrzebowski’s victory.
“Our right rear tire really came in late,” he said. “This thing was just really good towards the end of the race.”
Track conditions also played into the winner’s strategy as well.
“We honestly didn’t know if we snugged the car up enough,” he said. “We wondered if we did, or if it was too tight. It actually wasn’t tight enough so I did some in-car adjustments and got it going. Thankfully, it all worked out.”
The win, worth $4,000, really has the Potrzebowski team and its driver riding a high right now.
“This feels very good right now,” he said. “I’m thankful for everyone that supports this team. Two in-a-row feels good. A nice, big check and big trophy and man, this is just awesome tonight.”
As stated, Sheppard came home in the runner-up spot. He was able to get around Jim LaRock for second with six circuits remaining but just ran out of laps to catch the victor.
LaRock had a fine third place run on Thursday with Will Shields in fourth and Jeff Daugherty completing the top five.
Two drivers, who looked like they were headed to great finishes, if not being able to contend for the victory, were Bobby Varin and Alex Payne.
That is, however, until it all went away.
Both were running in the top five when Varin’s number 18 suffered a flat right rear American Racer tire and had to head to the pit area.
At the same time, Payne followed him down pit road relinquishing his third place position.
The two would return to the race and salvage their nights. Payne drove back to 11th while Varin crossed the finish line 14th at the end.
Sixth through tenth, respectively, were Kreig Crooker, Michael Maresca, Danny Johnson, Jake Dgien and Tommy Collins.
1 #72 Ajay Potrzebowski, 2 #9s Matt Sheppard, 3 #58L Jim LaRock, 4 #82s Will Shields, 5 #22jz Jeff Daugherty, 6 #47 Kreg Crooker, 7 #7m Mike Maresca, 8 #27j Danny Johnson, 9 #24 Jake Dgien, 10 #713 Tommy Collins Jr., 11 #70a Alex Payne, 12 #7x Steve Paine, 13 #02 Cory Costa, 14 #18v Bobby Varin, 15 #5* Tyler Siri, 16 #70 Brady Fultz, 17 #22 Josh Nobriga, 18 #6 Tommy Paine, 19 #1 Billy Paine, 20 #29j Chris Ostrowski, 21 #84jr Adam Coots, 22 #3 Joe Dgien, 23 #60 Daryl Barrett, 24 #14j Alan Johnson