Post by Remy Babineaux on May 7, 2007 23:09:38 GMT -5
Run..Run....Rudolph
5-5-07
Erick Rudolph added his name to the NYMM feature winners Saturday night at the Paradise Speedway, but the win surely didn’t come easy for the 15 year old from Ransomville NY. Coming from out of no where, Rudolph became the 12th different driver to win a NYMM Series feature event. It was opening night for the 2007 NYMM Series and it got off to a great start with 34 modified midgets packing in to the Paradise Speedway. The largest group of 600’s New York has seen in many years, and they didn’t disappoint......
Heat one saw the sophomore class of 2006 take 5 of the top 6 spots in heat one with the “Double Deuce” Ryan Jordan coming out on top. Nick “The Kid” Cooper (Canandaigua, NY) brought home the #2 spot in his new 35n machine. Jake Dates (#68) and Zack Morgan (#7) grabbed the last two automatic transfer spots into the A-Main from heat 1.
Heat two saw 3 familiar faces on top. Timex Morgan took his #2 Lafler Chassis to another heat win, followed closely by the #95 DRMotorsports Hyper Chassis of Jim Radney. Randy Brokaw (B17) made a run a Radney late, but could not quit catch Radney before the checkered flag dropped. Dan Craun (18c) had to hold off the youngster Robbie Shuttleworth (11) to grab the last automatic transfer position.
Heat three went to Ken Welty, another sophomore from the 2006 season, grabbed the lead from then leader Ron Gamble (27) who had to settle for 2nd. 2006 NYMM Series runner up Dan Miller put in a strong performance grabbing the 3rd spot, with new comer Steven Doell (36) taking 4th in his first NYMM heat race.
Heat four went to the #80 machine of Spike Smith. Eventual feature winner Erick Rudolph (8) was able to get by the #45 of Dave Ferguson with a few laps remaining to grab the 2nd spot. Another sophomore from 2006, Marty Jenkins (#57), was the final transfer position into the A-Main.
The B-Main (12 laps) went to the Eagle Chassis #11 Robbie Shuttleworth as he grabbed the lead on lap one and never let up. Jim Lafler (32) started 6th and feel back as far as 8th before climbing through the field to grab the 2nd spot, but Shuttleworth had already checked out by then. Joe Zanho (#1) took home the 3rd spot followed by NYMM newcomer Tom Keyes (#33) out of Fairport, NY. Team AHR driver Kevin Norton cracked the top 5 with a 4th place finish as he battled with the 17k Dombroski machine. 2007 rookie driver Lindsey Podgers (#71) made some bold moves on the last 2 laps to assure herself into the A-Main. The last spot went to the 41x of Eric Wise, who along with Podgers, battled the 31 of Eric Schwartz from Pamlyra, NY.
With the heats and B-Main complete, the field was set and for the first time in many years the now WINGED warriors took to the track for the 25 lap feature event. Spike Smith brought the field of 24 to the green and held the lead till lap 6 when Ron Gamble was able to take over 1st. As Gamble and Smith kept battleing for the lead, right behind them saw the #2 of Timex Morgan holding off the #95 of Jim Radney. It took Gamble just 6 laps to finally make his way around Smith, but still was battling every corner. Quietly lurking back in 6th place at the half-way point was the 8 of Rudolph. Lap 13 saw the then 2nd place Smith bow out with engine problems allowing the field to move up. Morgan and Radney both took their turns making runs on Gamble but to no avail until with 3 laps to go Morgan was able to slip under Gamble and make the pass. Radney, who took the high line, was held up slightly by Gamble, but like Morgan dipped down and got around Gamble. The lead was short lived for Morgan as with just 2 laps to go the Lafler Chassis suddenly stopped on the front stretch. Later to find out it wasn’t engine problems, but yet every racers worst fear…running out of gas. Due to Morgan’s car stalling out, both Gamble and Radney had to check up and out of no where came the #8 of Erick Rudolph slipping under both Gamble and Radney to take home his first NYMM Series victory. Congratulations to Rudolph on his first NYMM Series feature win.
Heat 1: Jordan (22), Cooper (35n), Dates (68), Morgan.Z (7), Wise (41F), Zanho (1), Scott (9), Snyder (01), Smith. J (23j)
Heat 2: Morgan.T (2), Radney (95), Brokaw (B17), Craun (18c), Shuttleworth (11), Lafler (32), Fraizer (99), Norton (41), Mahaney (33x)
Heat 3: Welty (02), Gamble (27), Miller.D (17), Doell (36), Dombroski (17k), Keyes (33), Kysor.B (40), Cummings (11x)
Heat 4: Smith.S (80), Rudolph (8), Ferguson (45), Jenkins (57), Podgers (71), Schwartz (31), Miller.E (28), Westlake (6)
B-Main: Shuttleworth, Lafler, Zanho, Keyes, Norton, Dombroski, Podgers, Wise (last transfer spot), Schwartz, Frazier, Mahaney, Snyder, E.Miller, B.Kysor, Westlake, Cummings, Scott, J.Smith
Feature: 1- Rudolph (8), 2- Radney (95), 3- Gamble (27), 4- Welty (02), 5- D.Miller (17), 6- Shuttleworth (11), 7- Fergusson (45), 8- Brokaw (b17), 9- Jenkins (57), 10- Lafler (32), 11- Keyes (33), 12- Craun (18c), 13- Zanho (1), 14- Dates (68), 15- Podgers (41), 16- Z.Morgan (7), 17- Cooper (35n), 18- Wise (41x), 19- Dombroski (17k), 20- T.Morgan (2), 21- S.Smith (80), 22- Doell (36), 23- Norton (71), 24- Jordan (22)
NYMM Notes: 3 of the 4 feature winners did not finish the feature. The top 3 in the feature all came in 2nd in their respected heats. Robbie Shuttleworth went from 16th to 6th to become the night’s hard charger award winner. 34 cars is a new NYMM Series record. This was the first b-main ran at a NYMM Series event. Rudolph becomes the 12th NYMM Series feature winner in NYMM Series history. With his second place finish, Jim Radney takes over the NYMM Series points lead with 130 points.
