Jesse Qutermous & Ed Carley Score Emotional Wins At Genesee Speedway
Story By: JEREMY PERRY / GENESEE SPEEDWAY – BATAVIA, NY – The weather was perfect for racing for the fourth Night at Genesee Speedway creating a quick and action-packed show.
Ed Carley of Freedom led all 25 laps for the BDK Construction Late models. Carley returned to the car Friday night at McKean County Raceway racing for the first time since 2019 and finished second. Carley started on the pole Saturday night alongside Austin Hauser. Carley excelled on the bottom of the track and never faced a threat from Hauser. Even with multiple restarts throughout the event, he showed his dominance early and often capturing his first feature win since 2015 at Humberston Speedway. Carley was emotional in victory lane, thanking his son Zack for allowing him to fill in while he is recovering from a hand injury. “I didn’t expect none of this, I expected to come and represent our sponsors” Carley said after the race.
Trent Chamberlain and Jesse Qutermous of Stafford led the fourteen-car field to green in the Star Graphics & Apparel Street Stock division. For the first time this season in this class the race went green to checkered without a hiccup. Qutermous started on the outside and took the lead out of turn two and never looked back. Damian Long ended up being the hard charger of the event making passes on Carl Shetler, Dale Rissinger, Trent Chamberlain, and Byron DeWitt. At times, Long was the fastest car on the track but just ran out of time to catch Qutermous. It was a long overdue return to victory lane for Qutermous, returning for the first time since May 6th of last year.
Noah Pangrazio of Elba and Matt Radzio started on the front row in the Vigneri Racing Novice Sportsman class. Pangrazio led all 15 laps of the feature event picking up his first feature win of the season. Pangrazio put down the quickest lap of 18.92 seconds during his win Pangrazio, after four events at the speedway, has taken over the point lead from last year’s track champion Joe Mickey.
Robert Knapp II from Avon scored his third straight win in the Detail Shop Mini Stock class Saturday. Mike Becker and Seth Johnson brought the fifteen-car field to green for the fifteen-lap feature event. Johnson used the outside lane to power to the lead early. Caution flew on lap four for Eric Brumsted and during the same yellow James Gayton would have a right rear flat bringing him pit side for repairs. Knapp restarted third when the green came back and by the end of turn two, he found himself right behind Johnson. Knapp looked low multiple times but was never able to get a run off the corner to propel him to the lead. That all changed with three to go. Knapp connected with Johnson’s left rear quarter panel getting him sideways allowing Knapp to take control and pick up the win. During his victory lane celebration Knapp said “He came down a little bit, I came up a little bit, we touched, not the way I wanted it to go. Seth deserves this win not me.” This is Knapp’s third straight feature win and improves on his point lead.
Pete Coffey and Karsten Petti led the NY6A Micro Sprints to the green flag. Coffey pulled out to an early advantage. There was no shortage of action as Petti and Eric Wise passed each other multiple times on laps seven, eight, and nine before Wise officially took the second spot on lap 10. At that time, Coffey was long gone and left no time for the Wise to play catch up. Coffey picked up his first feature win at Genesee Speedway.
Brayden Davis of Castile scored his third straight feature win in the Dan Kolb Family Automotive Bandit division. Davis started on the pole, but on lap four had issues and came to a stop. After Davis got the car going again, he restarted fourth. Bradley Weis led laps two, three, and four but entered turn three too fast. Weis had to get on the breaks pushing him up the racetrack. That allowed Davis to capitalize in the moment. Davis led the rest of the feature picking up the win.
Tony Pangrazio and Adam Hilton of Newfane NY started the race on the front row for the Stirling Lubricants Sportsman. On lap one, Pangrazio got sideways in turn three collecting Ricky Newton and Phil Vigneri III. Because they did not complete one lap, by rule it went to a complete restart putting Vigneri back in third with a chance to keep his perfect season alive. On the restart, Hilton made his move in turns one and two taking the lead down the back stretch. Vigneri also got by Pangrazio allowing him to focus solely on Hilton. Hilton and Vigneri traded fast lap times on multiple occasions during the twenty-five lap feature. In the end, the bottom proved to be dominant for Hilton picking up his first feature win at the speedway. Hilton said after the race “This is actually Phil’s old car, and I can’t let him win every race.”
The highly anticipated Quest for the West Big Block Small Block modified race is scheduled for Thursday, June 6th.Hot laps for the modifieds will began at 6:30pm. Also on the card will be the Empire Street Stock Series, Rush Late Models, Mini Stocks, and feature only for the Bandits. Novice Sportsman and Sportsman will have the night off.
