FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Adirondack International Speedway
New Bremen, NY
Cloce Outlasts Hot Competition to take Second Win at Adirondack
By AIS Public Relations
New Bremen, N.Y. – “When the tough get going, the going get tough.” For all drivers at the Adirondack Speedway this past Saturday, it was time to get tough. With hazy, hot, and humid weather greeting the race teams for the third week of competition, the drivers were in for a battle, and the fans were in for a show.
In the ASA Challenger Late Models, Tommy Cloce got tough. The Canton (NY) driver stole the lead late in the Lyndaker Excavating & Trucking sponsored division feature and held off an ultra-quick Andre Roggie to motor to his second win of the year. JR Mooney, Jason Brigham and Dave Keefer collected support division wins on Paul Schamback Custom Homes Night.
With a good crowd on hand, Carl Guilefuss and Shane Monnat led the flock of Late Models down to Starter Tim Barone’s green flag with Guilefuss jumping out to lead the first circuit. With cars maintaining a fast pace among three grooves, the race was on from mid-pack to the back, as the quicker cars were beginning to make their moves through the field. The biggest mover was shown to be Chris Ross. The former track champion started in the seventh spot and broke the top-three at lap five. Directly behind him was Lee Gill, the winner from just two weeks ago. While Ross and Gill looked to advance position, Guilefuss maintained the lead out front and was looking to keep the fast competition behind him. Just as lap six was being scored, Jerry Dineen made his move to the front and snagged the lead on lap seven. Two laps later, Ross made it around Guilefuss and began his chase on Dineen. One of the classic battles of the past at Adirondack, Dineen and Ross were back to their old days battling for the lead in the Speedway’s premier division. However, just as the two were going at it, Gill picked up a ton of momentum and split the pair going into turn three, taking the lead with a vengeance on lap 14. Behind Gill at this point was Ross and Dineen followed by 12th place starter Matt Meyer, who was making his first start at the Speedway since the 2006 season. Right behind Meyer was Roggie who had started sixth and fell back to ninth before falling into a rhythm to advance into the top-five. The five were in no shape or form running away from the rest of the pack as the field stayed bunched up through lap 20. As positions in the top-five changed slightly, Dineen was shuffled out in exchange for a patient Tommy Cloce. After starting 11th in the field, Cloce calmly hammered his way forward to break the top-five. Just as the halfway point was ready to be unveiled a yellow was thrown for a spinning Dylan Bancroft. With the field ready for a lap 24 restart, the top-five showed Gill, Ross, Meyer, Cloce and Roggie. With the green back out, Ross stayed glued to the bumper of Gill and just as they entered turn three Ross dove to the bottom of Gill and took the lead to score lap 25. One lap later, Gill was slowing to the bottom of the track. His good run had come to an end as motor problems sent him pitside and ultimately ended his night. With 25 laps to go the race for the lead was on. Ross now in the lead had Cloce on his bumper with Meyer, Roggie and Dineen battling it out behind them. By lap 35 Ross remained the leader, but it was Cloce and the local boy Andre Roggie beginning to pounce on him to contend for the lead. On lap 36 they would do so. As the three rounded turn four to score lap 36 they cut it three-wide with Ross in the middle. Cloce mustered the power on the top-side and Roggie looked to sneak under on the bottom. Cloce however swung around the two quickest and took the lead with 14 to go. With Roggie making it by Ross it was time to throw it all at Cloce. With 10 laps to go the two broke away and began to put a show on for the fans. With Roggie ducking low and high, Cloce was just too quick for Roggie, that is up until a yellow flag condition on lap 47. With the yellow in the air, the field would set up for a restart with just three laps to go. It was time for Roggie, the Sport Compact graduate and Late Model sophomore to throw it all out on the line in effort to bring it home. With the green in the air, Roggie began to duck a nose under Cloce and with the two-to-go sign Cloce finally dashed away just enough to keep Roggie reeling to keep up. In the end, it was Cloce taking his second of the season, with Roggie picking up a career-best second place finish. Ross, Meyer and Dineen rounded out the top-five.
In the GotGoodCheese.com True Stocks rookie driver Gregg Roes jumped into the lead at the start and looked to pick up where he left off in winning the heat-race event. However, the other heat-race winner was on a roll. Jason Dinzler, firing from the third starting spot took the lead from Roes on lap four and settled into the lead. Behind him last years track champion JR Mooney and the winner from the last two weeks Mike Ramos were ready to go at it for the lead position. On lap eight all three were on cruise control as Ramos and Mooney prepared to set up a game plan to get around Dinzler. Ramos, known as a master of the wheel on the high-side, went around Dinzler on lap 12 while Dinzler was shuffled back to put up with Mooney. Mooney, using every piece of his bumper, shook Dinzler around the tricky half-mile, before getting under him and rubbing door-to-door to gain the second spot on lap 16. With five left to go, Ramos was on a Sunday-drive as he motored into his third win of the season, and his fifth win of his career in the True Stock division. However, those stats would be scratched, and the impressive piece of driving would be left to forget about. Following the event, Ramos was declared illegal in post-race technical inspection handing the win to Mooney. Dinzler was declared second with Joe Miller, Tom Markham, and Randy Widrick rounding out the top-five. Dave Arbes originally finished in the fourth position but was also found illegal during post-race inspection axing his efforts for the night.
In the D&D Powersports Sport Compacts, Jason Brigham, a three-time feature winner at Adirondack, picked up his fourth in his 2008 debut. Brigham started in the third position among the low five car field and went on for the win. His closest contender was Rudy Widrick of Lowville (NY). Widrick, making his return after a nasty crash two weeks ago, held on to finish second in the fast-paced feature event. Behind him showed Nate Plantz, Tom Dubach and Scott Shafer.
For the Westward Painting Company Light Trucks, 23 trucks made it to the line to do battle for a 20-lap feature event. While David “Cooter” Beyer was the feature winner for the first two weeks of racing, David Keefer turned out to be the first one to put an end to the streak. Keefer took the lead on lap five and led the rest of the distance. Beyer finished second while Mike Bush picked up a seasons best third place finish. Jimmy Wood also picked up his best result of the year with a fourth place finish. Rounding out the top-five was Levi Kirkbride. Following behind the front five was John Sullivan, Kyle Weaver, Keith Delles, Chris Hillman, and Ken Kirkbride.
Next week at the Speedway is a June 16th Fathers Day Celebration. All Dads that come out to the Speedway and are accompanied by their child or children will receive a special ticket price of just $5. With that, the Fathers will be treated to Twin-25’s for the ASA Challenger Late Model division. The Late Models will go to battle in two different 25-lap events that will score two different winners. The True Stocks, Sport Compacts and Light Trucks will all be in action as well. Grandstand gates are set to open at 4pm with racing beginning promptly at 6:30. For more information on the Speedway you can log on to www.adirondackspeedway.com or call the office at (315) 346-RACE.