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Dick Barton Wins SLM Feature at Little Valley
Over Russ King By Dave Sully (Little Valley, NY) On a night when there was an 80% chance of rain, Little Valley Speedway beat the odds and “The King,” Dick Barton returned to the winner’s circle, winning the 30 lap Super Late Model Feature on Sunday, September 4th. The former champion, from Asheville, prevailed after a stirring duel with Bristolville, Ohio’s, Russ King. Driving the John Lacki-owned No. 7L, while his motor is being repaired, Barton, who showed early strength by winning his heat, started fourth and grabbed the lead from Jason Dupont on a lap 11 restart, after hounding him for several laps previous to the caution. Meanwhile, King, who went off eighth, was on the charge on the outside, claiming third from David Scott on lap 12, and second from Dupont on lap 15. A lap 16 caution put him on Barton’s bumper for the restart and King began an all out assault on Barton, flying around the top, while Barton doggedly tried to stay near the bottom. Getting a great jump off the cushion, he pulled alongside of Barton on lap 21, which Barton repelled, and repeated the move on lap 22, but a caution on that lap put him in the runner-up spot once again for the restart. When the race resumed, Barton got a great start and then moved up to take away King’s preferred line. From there, he drew away to win by a comfortable margin in a real crowd-pleaser. King finished second, followed by Scott, Boom Briggs, and Dutch Davies, the newly crowned Stateline SLM Champ. Barton, who began driving the John Lacki-owned No. 7L two weeks ago, gave much of the credit to the Lacki team, whose maintenance program is “Second to none.” He noted, “In four races in the car it has consistently improved, capped by the win tonight.” Of the race with Russ King, he added, “I became aware of King just before the caution came out and realized that the outside was really fast and he was catching me. I was able to adjust my line after the restart and that was the difference. It was a good race. Hopefully, the fans enjoyed it.” The Crate Late Model 20 lapper went to Steve Dixon, from Smethport, PA, who started on the pole and led every lap. The race was halted by a spectacular multi-car scrum, which saw John Haggerty end up on top of Damien Bidwell when the smoke cleared. No one was hurt in the pile-up. Dixon was never seriously challenged and he won by a considerable margin over Chad Valone, Justin Tatlow, who made a gallant charge from fourteenth, John Lacki, who started twelfth, and heat winner Wayne Robertson. Dixon, a former 360 Late Model standout and many time winner at Little Valley, noted, “Starting up front certainly helped. I was able to stay down on the bottom, and I was pretty sure nobody was going to be able to get around me on the outside. Running one of the earlier features makes the bottom the place to be, before the outside lanes come in. It worked out well for me tonight.” The twenty lap 360 Late Model Feature, part of the Dart Series, a collaborative effort with Black Rock Speedway, went to rookie Dusty Waters, from Whitesville, who took the lead on a restart, following a spectacular wreck in turn two on the opening lap, which saw the car of Mike Wonderling on its side against the outside retaining wall, after several cars got together entering the turn. Amazingly, Wonderling, a former super late model driver, was able to return to the race, ultimately finishing ninth. Waters, who started his career in the 360s, and had not won a race, fought off challenges from Quinn Sutherland early and Bryce Davis late to record the initial victory of his rookie season. Davis ended up second after a spirited battle with point leader, Jeremy Wonderling, who came home third after restarting at the rear after the early race mishap. Sutherland and Brian Knowles, who started a distant nineteenth, completed the top five. A happy Waters, who bought his brother’s car to race, declared, “Hold that bottom line is what I was told before I even went out there. Steve Dixon told me, ‘Don’t come off the bottom and you’ll be fine. I knew Bryce was there, so I just had to hit my lines every time, and it just seemed to work.” Dan Davies, son of SLM star Ron Davies, made it two wins at :LV, as he drove to an impressive win in the twenty lap E-Mod Feature. Davies, who started fifth, ran down polesitter Rich Michael Jr. Careening around the outside, like his father usually does, Davies flew past Michael on lap four and never looked back. His only mistake was when he slammed the outside wall in turn two on the white flag lap, producing a shower of sparks. He had a big enough lead to gather his car back up and retain the lead. Michael, who was crowned E-Mod Champ , finished second, followed by Brent Rhebergen, doing double duty this night (He also pilots a Super Late Model), Craig Bedell, and Greg Johnson. On his run on the outside and his meeting with the wall, Davies observed, “Nobody seems to use it, so it’s easy to pass people when nobody’s up there. You just momentum your way around there, but it’s a little bit dangerous, if you saw lap nineteen and a quarter. My motor was warming up on me and I started slowing down. I thought my car was good enough. On the white flag lap I got in just a little bit high, about half a lane and I got my right front in the dust and couldn’t steer and just smoked that wall. It’s going to take all week to patch her back together. It was worth it to win.” Finally, in the only true romp of the night, Chris Austin, from Knapp Creek, left from the pole and never looked back in winning the fifteen lap Street Stock Feature. Andy Michael, who finished a distant second took the Street Stock Championship. Austin, who has won here before, but not lately, noted, “It felt good to actually run decent down here. It was nice starting up front. We had a decent car and we did all right.” NOTES: There were 98 cars in the pits, including 19 Super Late Models, and an appreciative crowd in the stands on a night when nobody thought there would be a race, considering the dire weather forecast. Fans and drivers drove through heavy rain to get to the track and were rewarded with a good show…….The final Little Valley Show will be Saturday, September 17th, with the WNY Super Late Model and 358 Modified Double Header (348s will be running Dirtcar Rules, open tire; please check the Little Valley website for rule highlights). It will also be a Syracuse Preferred Qualifier Race for the “Salute to the Troops 150.” The Super Lates will be running for $3,000 to win, while the 358s will vie for $2,000 for first place. The BRP Can Am Late Models, with $1,000 to win on the line, plus a Street Stock Open, paying $500 to the winner, will complete the card. It will be the season championship for the Super Lates and 360s. Gates open at 3:00. Racing starts at 6:30. RESULTS: Super Late Models: (30 laps) 1. Dick Barton, 2. Russ King, 3. David Scott, 4. Boom Briggs, 5. Dutch Davies, 6. Bump Hedman, 7. Chad Valone, 8. Doug Ricotta, 9. Brent Rhebergen, 10. Chris Hackett, 11. Randy Lobb, 12. Greg Oakes, 13. Paul Grigsby, 14. Terry Porter, 15, Jason Dupont, 16. Jeff Hoffman, 17. Scott Gurdak, 18. Pete Alspaugh, 19. Jeff Dayman. Heat winners were Barton and Briggs. Crate Late Models: (25 laps) 1. Steve Dixon, 2. Chad Valone, 3. Justin Tatlow, 4. John Lacki, 5. Wayne Robertson, 6. Brad Messler, 7. Adam Ashcroft, 8. Damien Bidwell, 9. Garrett Mott, 10. Ike Fanton, 11. Junior Peters, 12. Garrett Steven, 13. Bob Kish, 14. Brian Haggerty, 15. John Haggerty, 16. Chad Silleman, 17. Adam Sixt, 18. Darren Peters, 19. Kyle Scott. Heat winners were Robertson and Scott. 360 Late Models: (20 laps) 1. Dusty Waters, 2. Bryce Davis, 3. Jeremy Wonderling, 4. Quinn Sutherland, 5. Brian Knowles, 6. Bob Close, 7. JJ Mazur, 8. Dave Dubois, 9. Mike Wonderling, 10. Buck Payne, 11. Jared Hill, 12. Steve LaBarron, 13. JD Krug, 14. John Waters, 15. Bob Babbitt, 16. Larry Knowles, 17. Jason Knowles, 18. Sam Conti, 19, Carl Cleveland, 20. Wally Wade, 21. Brian Hoffman. Black Flag- Mikey Wonderling, DNS Ron Wilkins. Heat winners were Jeremy Wonderling, Mikey Wonderling, and Davis. E-Mods: (20 laps) 1. Dan Davies, 2. Rich Michael Jr., 3. Brent Rhebergen, 4. Craig Bedell, 5. Greg Johnson, 6. Al Brewer, 7. Randy Hall, 8., Tim Peterson, 9. John Woodward, 10. Ken Zimmer, 11. Vic Vena, 12. Tim Rockwell, 13. Darren Tarabori, 14. Jeff Johnson, 15. Carl Bollinger, 16. Brian Fardink. DNS: Kyle Bedell. Heat winners were Davies and Zimmer. Street Stocks: (15 laps) 1. Chris Austin, 2. Andy Michael, 3. Randy Taylor, 4. Ted Mascho, 5. Rich Wojtowicz, 6. John Woodward, 7. Rob Stromecki, 8. Levi Watson, 9. Jeff Woodward, 10. Butch Talbot, 11. Critter Hemphill, 12. Craig Rex, 13. Chuck Pruden, 14. Hiram Clayson, 15. Howard Maybee 16. Dan Giboo. DNS: Rich Foster, Julio Padillo, and Nathan Arnold. Heat winners were Michael and Giboo. |
