Lee USA Speedway - Friday, August 15,
2008 |
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Top 3 at Lee’s Ollie Silva Memorial: Rob Summers, Dave Shullick
Jr. and Bobby Santos III. Santos was aboard the new Soule Racing
32 which he had just run for the first time that day. |
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Jim Feeney Photos |
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DAVE SHULLICK JR.
BEATS THEM ALL AT LEE USA’S OLLIE SILVA MEMORIAL ISMA 75 |
Lee, NH – Ohio's Dave
Shullick Jr. had to fight off a lot of adversaries to win his
third-career ISMA event at the Lee USA Speedway Friday night.
Not only did he have twenty-two competitive drivers to contend
with, he also had to beat the rain and a midnight curfew. And,
just at the stroke of midnight, Shullick brought the Booth 61
over the line for the win in the Ollie Silva Memorial 75, ending
a race that almost didn't happen. It was only his fifth feature
start in the Booth car and the first he finished. The
second-generation driver replayed the race in victory lane.
"Just before we came back out after the rain, Clyde said
something about at half way it would be a complete show. So I
was trying to be a little more aggressive than I would have
been. I wanted to try and keep it out front. I thought I could
keep up the pace I was running the whole race. The car was just
dynamite. I could just drive it through one and two with no
problem at all. And, I probably could have picked the pace up
but I never heard a challenger, so I didn't. I have to thank
Clyde and Sue Booth. They are the ones who have to go back each
week and fix it. They built a helluva race car."
The second place finisher also fought off some adversity of his
own. Bobby Santos III had just dropped into the seat of the new
Soule Racing 32 for the first time Friday and after a few
problems in practice, looked like he'd raced the car for a year.
He started the race in 21st and was up to second on lap 50 when
he passed by Rob Summers on the top side.
"I have to thank all the guys on the crew. We had some problems
today but they worked through it. They worked hard and no one
gave up. I wish we had a couple yellows. The car worked well in
a short run. Everyone else was riding at the top and I found
grip on the bottom. It was working perfect for me"
An intense battle set up for second for a while throughout much
of the first half of the race as everyone was running full bore
dodging the raindrops. Robbie Summers, who has fought off some
mechanical woes himself tested Shullick on many an occasion in
the first part but just before halfway, Shullick appeared to be
untouchable. Summers, driving the old Lane 97 had been fast all
day and only Shullick had been faster. But then the Soule 32 put
him in third where he stayed. He credited his crew for their
hard work getting the car ready during the short time from
Mansfield to Lee.
"I have to thank the whole Essex Seafood Howie Lane crew. We
brought Old Betsy out tonight and this thing was just awesome.
They deserve this. We just got loose there toward the end. It
was our first race with it this year. We just have to get the
bugs out and it will be good. Thanks to the fans for sticking
with it. It was a rough night and we have to do it all over
again tomorrow and it looks like it's going to be good – no
rain."
After several delays for rain the green dropped on the field of
23 supers. Dave Shullick Jr. started outside the front row
because of his low handicap from the past few dnfs and he used
the spot to shoot out to a quick lead. Rain was looming all
around and everyone was aware of that fact. Summers quickly
jumped into second with Justin Belfiore grabbing off third from
Bob Haynes Jr.
Dave McKnight flew the yellow on lap 7 with a trip off the track
in the front straight. He restarted and so did the sprinkles.
The race resumed with Shullick staving off the advances of
Summers and the top two tried to shake off Belfiore as they
entered traffic. Moving up as fast as he could was Chris Perley
who passed by Jeff Holbrook and Jamie Timmons to move up behind
Belfiore.
With the rain still falling intermittently but not enough to
stop the race, Shullick and Summers were moving rapidly to get
to that half way mark. Lap cars began to dot the road between
first and second and the rest as Belfiore and Perley became
separated from the top two. Timmons, Scott Martel, Santos, and
Russ Wood were in a tight line close behind. Moving into the top
ten by lap 27 was Jeff Abold in this fourth winged appearance in
the Rayvals 05 this year.
A yellow finally slowed the pace when the 29 of Russ Wood and
the 79 of Jon McKennedy tangled in the backstretch. Mike Ordway
Jr. pitted out of the action at the same time, as did Vern
Romanoski.
Back in action it was evident Shullick was lengthening his lead
over Summers who was fighting off the 88 of Belfiore as Perley,
Santos, Martel, Timmons and Abold challenged.
Shullick was well out front when the 38th lap came and went and
he just kept moving away from the 97. Belfiore was alone in
third while Perley was fighting to get by the 94 of McKnight who
was a lap down.
McKnight brought out a yellow on lap 48 which also affected
Timmons with both restarting. One lap later McKnight's teammate,
Mike Lichty, flew the flag with a spin. McKnight ended his race
here exiting the track while Lichty was pushed back into the
fray.
On that last restart, Santos made a dive at Summers to get
second while Perley, Belfiore, Martel and Abold tried to stay
with the front trio. Abold was the man on the move as he passed
by Martel a lap later.
With 15 to go Shullick had a half-track advantage and only lap
cars might have threatened his win as he raced by them, putting
three markers in between the 61 and second place runner Santos.
With five to go, it was Shoe II, Santos, Summers, Perley and
Abold with Shullick approaching the back end of the top six,
putting one after another down. At the line Shullick got his
checkered for the Booth team while Santos and Summers gained
podium finishes. Abold was still racing as he came off the
fourth turn and made a last corner run at Perley for fourth.
Almost side-by-side at the checkered, Perley held the spot by
.013 seconds.
Said Perley afterwards, "I was praying for rain when that lap 34
caution came out, because I was all done. All we did was
maintain for the rest of it. We just got loose. We missed
something somewhere. I knew someone was back there at the end. I
didn't know who it was. I just kept on changing my line to keep
him back because I knew I was slowing down. I was just trying to
hold on to what I had. Then Abold got a run at me at the end and
he would have had that pass easy. I think I got him at the line
by about four inches. It was just enough. I knew it was really
tight and I was hoping our transponders where mounted on the
same spot on the cars because otherwise he would have gotten me
with a longer car."
Abold, whose dad Pat has a couple Lee wins under his belt,
commented, "We had a pretty good run. At Stafford we had a good
run and at Sandusky we had some hard luck. It's nice to come out
and grab another top five again. I was catching Chris fast. We
just needed another foot. That would be good. But, we'll take a
top five. We're happy with that. And, we'll head to Waterford.
It will be a busy day with the super and the midget. It should
be a fun one."
Belfiore, Mark Sammut, Scott Martel, Mike Ordway Sr. and Dave
Trytek completed the top ten, all one lap down to the Shullick
61.
SUMMARY
ISMA EVENT #6
Heat 1: Chris Perley, Jamie
Timmons, Justin Belfiore, Dave Trytek, Scott Martel, Dave
Sanborn, Mike Lichty, Rick Wentworth
Heat 2: Robbie Summers, Bobby
Haynes Jr., Jeff Abold, Dave McKnight, Mike Ordway Jr., Mark
Sammut, Frank Polimeda, Artie Rousseau
Heat 3: Dave Shullick Jr., Jeff
Holbrook, Vern Romanoski, Russ Wood, Mike Ordway Sr., Jon
McKennedy, Bobby Santos
Ollie Silva
Memorial 75
1. Dave Shullick Jr. (61), 2. Bobby Santos III (32), 3. Rob
Summers (97),
4. Chris Perley (11), 5. Jeff Abold (05), 6. Justin Belfiore
(88),
7. Mark Sammut (78), 8. Scott Martel (14), 9. Mike Ordway Sr.
(25),
10. Dave Trytek (70), 11. Frank Polimeda (76), 12. Artie
Rousseau (616),
13. Vern Romanoski (5), 14. Mike Lichty (84), 15. Jamie Timmons
(27),
16. Jeff Holbrook (35), 17. Dave McKnight Jr. (94), 18. Dave
Sanborn (24),
19. Bobby Haynes Jr. (44), 20. Russ Wood (29), 21. Jon McKennedy
(79),
22. Mike Ordway Jr. (41), 23. Rick Wentworth (10). |
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