Ransomville, NY – July 6, 2007 – By Tom Skibinski, Advance Auto Parts Super DIRTcar Series PR Director
Danny Johnson has always liked trips out west, especially with a fast car in tow and some big money on the line in a championship race at one of his favorite tracks. Johnson was again one of the fastest cars on Friday night and when it came time to collect the $6,000 top prize, the ‘Doctor’ waited patiently until the end to sew up his second Advance Auto Parts Super DIRTcar Series victory of the season in the headline CWM Chemical/E-Z Oil 100 at Ransomville Speedway.
“The crew gave me a great car and I’d just like to welcome everybody back here at Ransomville, its been awhile since I’ve been in victory lane,” said Johnson, 47, following his 63rd career (2nd all-time) Advance Auto Parts Series triumph which pushes his DIRTcar NorthEast best to seven Big-Block victories. The native Rochesterian now has 37 DIRT Big-Block wins on the ridge and another 63 in Small-Block competition at the Friesen Family facility.
“It’s always great to get a win and one in the series is really awesome. It’s been a good year so far and we’ve got a lot of tough competitors here. Nobody lets you win, its just tough racing out here,” added Johnson, a two-time Big-Block points champion at Ransomville with five more track titles registered in the DIRTcar 358-Modified ranks. His fifth Advance Auto Parts win at Ransomville moved him from sixth to fourth in the ’07 tour point standings through seven events.
Runner-up Billy Decker pushed Johnson across the finish line to earn preferred starter status for the prestigious Eckerd 200 Championship race on Oct. 7 of Super DIRT Week XXXVI at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse. Long-time race leader Dale Planck settled for third followed by current Advance Auto Parts points leader Tim Fuller and ’07 runner-up Brett Hearn following his fourth straight top-five tour finish.
Planck copped the second of four qualifying heats and when it came time for the customary re-draw he quietly selected the no. 1 marked football to earn the pole-position start. Integra Shocks Fast Timer Matt Sheppard (16.919 sec./79.792 mph) was not as fortunate, choosing ‘4’ to invert that same number of drivers in aligning the heats and eventually falling in 13th on the feature race starting grid.
Johnson won heat two and drew third while Hearn joined Planck on the front row. And there the trio remained for the most part as the first quarter of the race ran nearly caution-free. The only yellow flag that flew over the initial 25 circuits came on lap five when local runner David Just exited the speedway high in turn one and made his way onto the surrounding access road.
Heat four winner Decker started fifth in the 30-car field and was comfortably in position to challenge Planck and Johnson by the halfway mark. Hearn and fellow tour traveler Jimmy Phelps rounded out the front-five while track Small-Block points leader Todd Burley, Fuller, Frank Cozze, veteran Canandian Pete Bicknell and defending Mr. DIRTcar points king Alan Johnson battled among the top-10 with 50 laps still to navigate.
Justin Haers threw a scare into the front runners as he blew a right-rear tire directly in front of the lead pack on the 56th circuit as they diced in frantically traffic. Eighteen cars remained in the lead lap on the ensuing lap 60 restart and the fast five order remained intact as the track grew blacker and shinier with each passing lap.
Scored sixth on lap 70, Fuller was the man on the move, first moving ahead of Phelps for fifth on lap 77 and waiting until lap 94 to find a way past Hearn for the fourth position. In the meantime, Planck’s East End Auto Parts & Construction-Jacob's Excavation/Bicknell machine was getting tighter and Johnson took advantage among lapped cars to bulldoze his way past to forge the lone lead change on lap 79. Vic Coffey looped in turns one and two on lap 85 and suffered a right-rear flat tire just four circuits later to incur the final two caution periods and set up a dramatic dash to the checkers between Johnson and Decker.
Holding down sixth with just five laps to go, Phelps slipped to ninth-place on lap 97. But all eyes still remained focused on the leaders as Decker tried Johnson battled both high and low in every corner and down each straightaway over the final three laps. Decker finally pulled right up to the bumper of the Thompson Motorsports no. 27J Chiefs Tobacco & Gas/Troyer at the wire without Danny ever flinching as became the first repeat winner on tour this season.
“(Dale) just got caught up with a lapped car while his car got tight and mine was really loose,” Johnson noted. “And that’s just what we needed with the track tonight and it came on good for me. This team just doesn’t give up, they’ve got a lot of desire and I have a lot of confidence and the crew builds it up even more for me. With them behind me 100% it gives me all the confidence in the world every time we race.”
Continuing to steer one of the fastest cars in ’07, three-time Integra Shocks fast time trailer Decker posted his best finish of the year, complementing a pair of fourth-place tour tallies with a runner-up finish at Ransomville. “We’ve had terrible luck in this series and after last week we were looking for a tall bridge to jump off, so second really isn’t so bad,” said Decker, who held the Advance Auto Parts points at this same juncture last season heading into the Canadian swing. The 1998 Mr. DIRTcar titlist improved to ninth on the points chart before flying north to the Thousand Islands region.
“I not only followed Danny at the end, I had the right front on him and the right rear on him. I put everything I had on him and just couldn’t get by. At that (late) stage of the race I was just trying anything. We came to win the race but just couldn’t make it happen, that’s all there is to it.
“The track was tough, it got a little tight and just one groove there made for some super tough sledding. We’d rather see it get slick from top to bottom and make it level but with one groove the way it is you’re just battling every lap. One guy’s left rear is in it and you want your right rear in it, you end up making contact. But all in all it’s a good night. We enjoy coming to Ransomville, it’s Scott’s (Jeffery, crew chief) hometown with great fans and we’re glad they have us back every year.”
After pacing the 30-car field for the first 78 laps, Planck faded to the show position at the end which was still good enough for a $2,500 payday. “I think I could’ve definitely kept (Danny and Billy) behind if we didn’t figure on the track going a little slippery and then taking on rubber,” said Planck, on the heels of his second top-three finish of the season on tour. “But I’m still happy to be here, I can’t thank my car owner (Ryan Jacobs) and crew enough.
“I overheated the right-front (tire), she just wouldn’t turn there at the end. I’m just happy to be here in third on the podium, chasing the series … it’s a tough one and here it shows if you’re just a little bit off. Even in the lead on a one-groove track, if the car’s off you’re gonna get passed.
“We’ve been trying to work on this slick track set-up. We’ve got to get back to basics here for the next few nights, which is where we should’ve been tonight but who knows. Hindsight is always better than foresight but a podium finish is still good,” Planck added.
Many of the Advance Auto Parts Big-Block Modified teams have already started to pack with just two days standing between their annual excursion north to Canada. Back-to-back-to-back 100-lap series stops at Cornwall, Drummond and Brockville are up next in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, with the rare tripleheader kicking off on Sunday, July 8. All three main events pay $6,000 to the winner with valuable points towards the overall Hoosier Tire-Sunoco Race Fuels Mr. DIRTcar Championship up for grabs along with guaranteed starting spots in the Eckerd 200 at Syracuse during Super DIRT Week XXXVI on Oct. 7.
Advance Auto Parts Super DIRTcar Series Race #7 – Ransomville Speedway, July 6, 2007 CWM Chemical/E-Z Oil 100 Big-Block Modified Event Summary
FIN STR CAR# DRIVER
1 3 27j Danny Johnson/Rochester,NY($6,000)
2 5 91 Billy Decker/Unadilla,NY
3 1 77x Dale Planck/Cortland,NY
4 9 19 Tim Fuller/Edwards, NY
5 2 20 Brett Hearn/Sussex,NJ
6 6 44 Frank Cozze/Wind Gap,PA
7 14 3b Chad Brachmann/Sanborn,NY
8 15 42 Pete Bicknell/St.Catharines,ONT
9 10 98h Jimmy Phelps/Baldwinsville,NY
10 7 7x Steve Paine/Waterloo,NY
11 13 44s Matt Sheppard/Waterloo,NY
12 12 84 Gary Tomkins/Clifton Springs,NY
13 8 14j Alan Johnson/Middlesex,NY
14 24 777 Kevin Bolland/New Brighton,PA
15 19 49 Billy Dunn/Watertown,NY
16 21 7 Sam Crogan/Lewiston,NY
17 26 26 Rick Richner/Niagara Falls,NY
18 29 60 Kenny Stafford/Homer,NY
19 11 32c Vic Coffey/Leicester,NY
20 18 42b Kevin Bates/Lake Ariel,PA
21 4 89b Todd Burley/Spencerport,NY
22 16 7k Scott Kerwin/Newfane,NY
23 17 111 Kevin Wills/Ransomville,NY
24 30 3 Justin Haers/Phelps,NY
25 23 20m Jeff McGinnis/Ransomville,NY
26 25 54j David Just/Ransomville,NY
27 22 123 Robbie Krull/Cambria,NY
28 27 xXx Todd Gordon/St.Catharines,ONT
29 20 93 Rich Vinson/Sanborn,NY
30 28 19k Joe Kubiniec/Lockport,NY
LAP LEADERS: Planck (1-78), D.Johnson (79-100).
CAUTIONS: 5 for 14 laps.
ECKERD 200 QUALIFIER: Billy Decker (P).
DID NOT QUALIFY(7)
1-Mark Golding/Lockport,NY
7ny-Bill Torrisi/Pendleton,NY
9-Jon Miller/Olcott,NY
17c-Pete Cosco/St.Catharines,ONT
t21-Roger Chrysler/Lewiston,NY
41-Boyd MacTavish/St.Catharines,ONT
52-James Friesen/St.Catharines,ONT
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