Sandusky
Friday Hy-Miler 40 top three. Second Justin Belfiore,
First Kyle Carpenter and Third Mike Lichty.
|
KYLE
CARPENTER WINS HIS FIRST-EVER
ISMA FEATURE AT SANDUSKY HY-MILER PRELIMINARY FRIDAY NIGHT |
Sandusky, OH: Kyle Carpenter took a pretty hard hit
to his shoulder at an ISMA race at Toledo Speedway in June and has been on the mend since.
But, Friday night at Sandusky Speedway, the pain lifted for a moment after he claimed his
first-ever ISMA win fending off some of the top drivers in the business in so doing. The
young Gloucester, Mass. driver led every step of the way in the 40-lap prelim to the
prestigious 100-lap Hy-Miler on Saturday. Kyle survived several yellows on his way to his
career-first in his short supermodified career and a third coveted win for car owner Howie
Lane. Carpenter was elated in victory lane after accomplishing a life-long dream.
Photo Page for
Friday, July 29th HERE
“I have to tell you it’s just great to be a part of this. I still remember
watching my first ISMA super race at Lee Speedway and Mike Ordway left everybody and won
it. Just to be able to race with these people, to be around all of the people and now to
become one of the people who have won a super race is a really great feeling. It really
is. I never intended to use midgets or the supermodifieds as a stepping-stone to anything
else. I don’t want to go to Nextel Cup. I don’t want to go to Busch North. I
just want to race supermodifieds. You don’t know how good this is!
Kyle continued on to say, “I have to thank everybody on my crew. I can’t tell
you how many times we’ve rebuilt these cars. I have to thank my dad because he puts
in endless hours on this car. Howie Lane puts these two cars together. He never gave up on
me. Thanks to Tuner for putting these motors in here. And Reader Electric, Dr. Mom Says
School is Cool and of course ISMA and Sandusky Speedway.”
Trailing Kyle throughout the 40 laps was Ipswich, Mass. driver Justin Belfiore who could
get close to Kyle, but admittedly never close enough. “Kyle pretty much had us
covered. I couldn’t do anything with him. I was hoping the race would stay green and
we could actually run through some lap traffic and have some fun. But, Kyle did a great
job. He was the fastest car from lap one on. . Congratulations to him. I’d like to
thank my sponsors too, D&G Modular Homes and Kingsley Automotive Machine tonight - one
and two.”
Another young driver who had to work for his third spot was Mike Lichty. Lichty had
started seventh and worked his way into third on lap 26, passing Carpenter’s teammate
Scott Martel on the way. Said Lichty, “We were just a little too tight. Third again.
We’ll take it and we’ll try and get them tomorrow I’d like to thank Lucas
Oil and Patco and congratulations to Kyle. Thanks to my dad Brad. Without him I
wouldn’t be here.”
Justin Belfiore and Carpenter were on the front row of a 25-car field when the green
dropped on the Hy-Miler ISMA 40 with Carpenter slinging the Lane 9 out front from the
get-go. On lap 10 things slowed with a multi-car tangle, which affected Bobby Haynes, Joey
Payne, Jon McKennedy and Pat Abold. Payne had to pit with a flat left rear. Haynes was
hooked and Abold and McKennedy went to the rear.
Carpenter was off on the green, putting some distance between his number 9 and
Belfiore’s 8. Scotty Martel moved into third after Payne’s pitstop with Mike
Lichty and Chris Perley right there. Joe Petro, Russ Wood, Louie Cicconi, Dave McKnight
and Nokie Fornoro were chomping at the bit to move forward. Cicconi, however, brushed with
the 94 of McKnight around lap 16 and although no flag flew, Louie had to put the 75 pit
side with a damaged axle.
As the race ran green for a number of laps, Belfiore was able to close the gap that
Carpenter had built up with Martel, Lichty and Wood in the top five. Wood had moved past
Perley by lap 23, but Perley recovered his fourth place spot from Wood a few laps later.
Yellow flew on lap 26 for a part on the track while Matt Seavey and Jack Smith pulled in
with mechanical problems.
One lap was complete with Carpenter at the helm before another yellow and quickly red fell
for a blocked track out back. Obstructing the flow of the race were Joe Petro, Randy
Burch, Mike Ordway, Joe Gosek and Joe Grunda. Gosek was pushed to the pits. Grunda, who
already was laps down, headed in. Petro and Ordway received hook jobs while Burch was
given his spot back on an avoidance call. A brief fire erupted on the Ordway 61, but it
was quickly extinguished.
The race resumed with 11 to go and Carpenter feeling the pressure from Belfiore and Lichty
after the field had closed in behind him. But Kyle was up to the challenge and he able to
pull away from Belfiore and Lichty. Russ Wood had settled in fourth while Scott Martel
held up Chris Perley’s progress forward for a couple laps before Chris put the 11 by
to make a run at Wood for fourth but time had run out.
Crossing for his first career feature was Kyle Carpenter, trailed by Belfiore, Lichty,
Wood and Perley in the top five.
Said Wood after his run, “The car was okay. There were a lot of top runners in front
of me that I had to pass. We’ll just use this as a tune-up for tomorrow. We got
everything we could out of it. I lost my brakes there. I was using them way too hard.
After I passed Chris I lost my brakes and I had to slow down. Then Chris got me back and I
stopped using my brakes. We got that yellow and they came back and I got him back
again.”
The yellows that helped Wood, hurt Perley. “We needed long stretches. We tried
something different tonight because every time we come here we just don’t get it
right. I don’t know if we got it, but we didn’t go backwards. We had fun in that
long stretch racing with Russ racing back and forth. Tonight we needed more laps. Tomorrow
we’ll probably need less. I think 63 laps will do it tomorrow.”
The Hy-Miler 100 takes place on Saturday, July 30, 2005.
Rounding out the top ten were Martel, McKnight, Abold, Fornoro and Sammut.
SUMMARY - Sandusky Hy-Miler Preliminary - Friday,
July 29th
Heat 1: Joey Payne, Dave McKnight, Justin Belfiore, Scott
Martel, Russ Wood, Dave Shullick Jr., Bob Magner, Matt Seavey, Jim Moran, Matt Ferrell.
Heat 2: Jon McKennedy, Mike Lichty, Mark Sammut, Nokie
Fornoro, Joe Grunda, Randy Burch, Bobby Haynes, Vern Romanoski, Jack Smith, Joe Gosek
Heat 3: Kyle Carpenter, Joe Petro, Pat Abold, Chris Perley,
Lou Cicconi, Mike Ordway, Jim Shirey, Charlie Schultz, Denny Fisher, Moe Lilje.
Consi: Bob Magner, Matt Seavey, Bobby Haynes, Jim Shirey, Joe
Gosek, Jack Smith, Charlie Schultz, Denny Fisher, Matt Ferrell, Vern Romanoski, Jim Moran,
Moe Lilje.
ISMA Hy-Miler 40: 1. Kyle Carpenter (9), 2. Justin Belfiore
(8), 3. Mike Lichty (84), 4. Russ Wood (29), 5. Chris Perley (11), 6. Scott Martel (97),
7. Dave McKnight (94), 8. Pat Abold (26). 9. Nokie Fornoro (32), 10. Mark Sammut (78), 11.
Joey Payne (4), 12. Dave Shullick Jr. (49), 13. Randy Burch (52), 14. Joe Gosek (7), 15.
Bob Magner (35), 16. Jim Shirey (V2), 17. Jon McKennedy (79), 18. Vern Romanoski (5), 19.
Mike Ordway (61), 20. Joe Petro (33), 21. Matt Seavey (66), 22. Jack Smith (09), 23. Joe
Grunda (1), 24. Lou Cicconi (75), 25. Bobby Haynes Jr. (44). |
ISMA TRAVELS TO SANDUSKY FOR ANNUAL HY-MILER WEEKEND
Oswego, NY – The ISMA Lucas Oil-Helping Hands of America Super Series will travel to
Sandusky Speedway in Sandusky, Ohio for its only appearance of the 2005 season on July 29 and 30. As a prelude to the prestigious Hy-Miler Nationals
100, a 40-lap warm-up event will take place on Friday night with the 100-lapper slated for
Saturday.
Veteran driver Mike Ordway is the defending race winner for both legs of the Hy-Miler as
he won on Friday night, 2004, beating out Russ Wood, Chris Perley, Pat Abold and Timmy
Jedrzejek who were all vying for the win. Ordway snuck by Russ Wood on the backstretch of
the half-mile Ohio oval on lap 39 to steal the win from the New Hampshire hotshoe as the
large crowd on hand cheered in approval of the exciting run. Ordway had won this race
previously but has never gone on to win the Hy-Miler Nationals in his long and illustrious
career. 2004 was Ordway’s year, however,
In the Hy-Miler it was Nokie Fornoro who looked to perhaps be headed for his first-ever
Nationals’ win, but Ordway closed in on the high-flying Fornoro and with a yellow on
lap 83, Ordway was right on the tail of the Soule Racing 32. On lap 85, Ordway pulled by
Fornoro and with only half the field left on the track, Ordway was able to cross under the
checkers unimpeded by anything or anyone. Fornoro, Timmy J, Dave McKnight and perennial
Hy-Miler winner Russ Wood, rounded out the top five.
Ordway in victory lane described his second win in two days, “Nokie was gone. He went
right to the front and he was gone. I was just kind of pacing myself and then I saw him
getting away, so I had to pick up the pace and stay with him. You really don’t know
how far ahead they are so I picked it up and got with him. We had a couple of cautions
that closed up the field and that was good for me. We got lucky with some yellows and
brought the race back to us.”
“We had the same car –the same setup – we just ran a longer distance. This
race has gotten away from us a few times. We were just lucky enough to get it tonight. It
feels good to win this. To be one of the four guys who have won all three big Classics
makes it extra special,” said Ordway in regard to his finally getting a Sandusky win
after winning at Star and Oswego.
Sandusky gates open for Friday, July 29ths event this year at 2 pm with racing to begin at
7:30. On Saturday pit gates open at 10 am, Time trials are at 4 pm and racing begins at
6:30. The E-Mods will run a 25 lap feature in combination with the supers on Friday night
and the WSOA and Buckeye Sprints run on Saturday. A DJ in the bar area will entertain fans
after the racing on each night. General Admission on Friday is $20. For adults and on
Saturday it’s $25. No coolers allowed in the grandstands. Raindate for the July 30th
Hy-Miler is Sunday, July 31st.
Further information in regard to these two events may be obtained by calling (419) 625)
4084 or by going to www.sanduskyspeedway.com.
Hy-Miler Notes:
• This is the 28th running of the Hy-Miler Nationals at Sandusky, which started in
1978. One year, 2000, the race was rained out and never able to be rescheduled.
• Mike Ordway is defending champion of both nights’ races
• Shullick Sr has won the most Hy-Milers with five. Russ Wood has four.
• Bentley Warren and Russ Wood are the only two drivers to have won three Hy-Milers
in a row (Bentley 1984, ’85, ’86) and Wood (1995, ’96, ’97)
Wood’s fourth win came in 2003.
• Single winners of the event are Gary Allbritain, Doug Heveron, Gus Olexen, Bobby
Fitzpatrick, Pat Abold, Jim Shirey, Joey Payne, Dave McKnight and Mike Ordway.
• Joe Gosek has three Hy-Miler wins (not consecutive) and Gene Lee Gibson had two
straight in 1987 and 1988.
• Only four supermodified drivers have won at all three major “Classics”
(Sandusky Nationals, Oswego Classic, Star Classic) held each year in that division. They
are Bentley Warren, Doug Heveron, Joe Gosek and now Mike Ordway.)
• The Hy-Miler Nationals pays a minimum of $7,000 to the winner. |
