Adirondack International Speedway

New Bremen, NY

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

LEE GILL SWEEPS TWIN LATE MODEL FEATURE AT ADIRONDACK ON KIDS BIKE NIGHT

 

By AIS Public Relations

Contact: admin@adirondackspeedway.com

June 21st, 2008

 

New Bremen (NY) – Going into this weekends Froggy 97 of Watertown/WWNY Channel 7 News sponsored, ASA-sanctioned event at the Adirondack International Speedway, ASA Late Model star Lee Gill had one win, one DNF and one less than respective finish where he finished several laps down to the leader. However, while the La Fargeville (NY) pilot has set a torrid pace all year long, the results simply did not show. Fast forward to the end of this past Saturday night, and Gill is back on track.

            Gill swept twin 25-lap features for the ASA Challenger Late Models and ultimately made it known that he is surely in contention of a Late Model Championship.

            While Gill ruled, support feature wins were copped by Mike Ramos in the GotGoodCheese.com True Stocks, Nate Plantz in the D&D Powersports Sport Compacts and John Sullivan in the Light Trucks.

            As Shane Monnat and Carl Guilefuss initiated the first 25-lap event from the front row in the Lyndaker Excavating & Trucking ASA Challenger Late Models, the field began to show impressive two and three wide racing by turns one and two. Leading the first lap of the event was Jerry Dineen. After firing from the third spot Dineen showed power out at the front of the field, as several movers and shakers began to stir the pot. The first lead change would take place on lap six when Bryant Trim motored into the lead. Following Trim however, was sixth place starting Gill as the two began to move through lap traffic. By lap 10, Gill rocketed to the lead shuffling Trim to second and from this point forward the only action would take place from second through fifth. As the latter part of the top-five stayed packed together, Gill remained untouched cruising to his second win of the season. Rounding out the top-five was Trim, Andre Roggie, Tommy Cloce and Chris Ross.

            Heading into the second 25-lap event, the field was set according Gill’s random draw after the first feature event. As he drew #10, the top-10 cars were inverted to set the field, putting Gill in the 10th starting position for the second event. Leading the field down to the green was Rookie driver Dylan Bancroft and Brendt Matzel. At the start, the rookie himself danced out to the advantage with Monnat passing Matzel and jumping into the second position. With Bancroft showing high poise at the front of the field, Monnat applied pressure through the first five laps before making his move to the front on lap seven. By lap ten, Monnat remained the leader with Dineen, Roggie, Ross and Gill in tow. As he picked away at the front runners, Gill initiated the second lead change of the race going from third to first and officially taking the lead away from Monnat on lap 14. Following in a fast pace was Roggie as he dropped Monnat to third in hopes to stay with the ultra-quick Gill. With five laps to go Gill was out front as Roggie was on a dead-sprint to keep him in sight followed by Ross, Cloce and Trim. With the closing laps nearing Trim made a dash in position to take the third position. Immediately behind him Cloce and Ross banged wheels in fight for the fourth position. Long ahead, Gill went on for the win with Roggie taking the second position. Trim snagged the third spot with Cloce out dragging Ross for fourth.

            In the GotGoodCheese.com True Stocks, Dave Arbes was the dominator from the beginning of the event before Mike Ramos came in to stop the Arbes Show in the late going. The two put on an electrifying show down to the checkered flag. Arbes, starting in the sixth position took the lead on lap six. Following in line was the eighth starting Ramos who pulled into the second position on lap nine. For the remaining 11 laps, the fans got all of their monies worth. For the last three laps of the event the two ran distinct grooves side-by-side before the paint began to wear. Coming down to the white flag “The Madman” Mike Ramos scrubbed along-side Arbes’ No. 11 and took the advantage off of turn four before reaching the double checkers. Leading his first and only lap of the event Ramos edged Arbes at the line followed by Randy Widrick, Joe Miller and JR Mooney.

            Rookie driver Nate Plantz has got it figured out. The Canton (NY) school teacher, in just his fourth race of his rookie season, picked up his first feature win in the D&D Powersports Sport Compact division. Having started in the pole position, Plantz fought off three challengers, all formers winners at the Speedway as well as a former Track Champion before reaching his first feature win of his career. Rounding out the front five were Tim Dunn, Scott Shafer, Tom Dubach and Rudy Widrick.

            While it was the first win for Plantz, there was also a first-time winner in the Light Trucks. John Sullivan, Jr. a sophomore driver in the division shook the monkey off his back and snagged his first, and well-deserved win in the Westward Painting Company Light Trucks. The Port Leyden (NY) resident started in the 10th position and picked up the lead on lap eight before having it taken away on lap 10. However, when race leader Dave Keefer spun on the frontstretch after tangling with lap traffic, the race was back in the hands of Sullivan. While the best competition had gone to the wayside, more competition was raining down behind him in the form of the 2007 Track Champion, Zach Arthur. With just a few laps to go Sullivan held the bottom with Arthur running the extreme high groove. Arthur, able to pull along side Sullivan on several occasions couldn’t gather up the momentum to get by, leaving Sullivan to his first career win. Rounding out the top-five behind Sullivan and Arthur were point leader Cooter Beyer, Keith Delles and early race leader Dan Bellinger.

            While racing reeked excitement for the length of the three and one-half hour show, the time used during intermission proved most valuable to many fans in the grandstands. For the second year in a row, the Speedway had their night for the kids and held the highly anticipated “Ultimate Bike Giveaway”. A total of 24 bicycles were handed down to several young fans at no charge. Done by a random draw, several teams and drivers played a part in donating the bicycles to the children who are just reaching their Summer vacation away from school. The bike winners were greeted on the track by the donating driver for a picture and hand-shake.

            Next week at the Speedway will be the Family Autograph Night presented by Advanced Business Systems. The show will consist of a 50-lap event for the ASA Challenger Late Models as well as a regular show for all other divisions. For more information on the Speedway or their coming events you can call (315) 346-RACE or visit the Speedway website at adirondackspeedway.com.

 

Froggy 97 of Watertown/WWNY Channel 7 News Race Summary – June 21st, 2008

 

L.E.T. ASA Challenger Late Models Feature #1 (25-Laps): LEE GILL, Bryant Trim, Andre Roggie, Tommy Cloce, Chris Ross, Jerry Dineen, Chuck Meyer, Shane Monnat, Brendt Matzel, Dylan Bancroft, Josh Pieniazek, Sierra Lister, Carl Guilefuss, Erik Cupernall, Bobby Newman, and Mark Scoville.

Lap Leaders – Dineen (1-5), Trim (6, 7), Gill (8-25)

Heat Winners – Chris Ross, Lee Gill

 

L.E.T. ASA Challenger Late Models Feature #2 (25-Laps): LEE GILL, Andre Roggie, Bryant Trim, Tommy Cloce, Chris Ross, Chuck Meyer, Shane Monnat, Josh Pieniazek, Brendt Matzel, Dylan Bancroft, Jerry Dineen, Sierra Lister, Mark Scoville, Carl Guilefuss, and Bobby Newman. DNS – Erik Cupernall

Lap Leaders – Bancroft (1-6), Monnat (7-13), Gill (14-25

GotGoodCheese.com True Stocks (20-Laps): MIKE RAMOS, Dave Arbes, Randy Widrick, Joe Miller, JR Mooney, Tom Markham, Gregg Roes, Steve Burton, Willie Redmond, Rick Mooney, Jason Dinzler, and Ben Vantassel. DNS – Derrick Martin

Lap Leaders – Widrick (1-5), Arbes (6-19), Ramos (20)

Heat Winners – JR Mooney, Mike Ramos

 

D&D Powersports Sport Compacts (15-Laps): NATE PLANTZ, Tim Dunn, Scott Shafer, Tom Dubach, Rudy Widrick, Ryan Roberts, and Bill Matuszczak.

Lap Leaders – Plantz (1-15)

Heat Winner – Nate Plantz

 

Westward Painting Company Light Trucks (20-Laps): JOHN SULLIVAN, Zach Arthur, Cooter Beyer, Keith Delles, Dan Bellinger, Levi Kirkbride, Matt Larrivee, Jimmy Wood, Chuck Snyder, Mike Bush, Chris Hillman, Steve Ellis, Joe Bourgeois, Ray Richer, Kyle Weaver, Steve Kirkbride, Kenny Kirkbride, Don Worthington, Gary Wendell, Derek Smith, Gregg Roes, Dave Keefer, and John Vantassel. DNS – David Black

Lap Leaders – Larrivee (1), Bellinger (2-7), Sullivan (8, 9), Keefer (10-15), Sullivan (16-20)

Heat Winners – Dan Bellinger, Dave Keefer, Zach Arthur