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JAN’S THE MAN IN EXCITING RoC DART MODIFIED WIN AT SPENCER

BY JR KENNERUP ( RoC MEDIA )

Williamson, NY... Making a return to racing at his hometown race track on Friday night Jan Leaty of Williamson, NY got the place a rocking in the Lyons National Bank sponsored 100. After pitting for a fresh right rear tire on lap 68 the elder statesman of the racing Leaty Family roared back up through the field. The new rubber enabled Leaty to get under leader Lee Sherwood, who hadn’t pitted going into turn one just after the duo crossed the line to complete lap 79.

After getting the lead Jan just turned up the wick during the final 20 laps and walked away from the star studded field to claim Combination Race # 2 of the Race of Champions Dart Asphalt Modified Tour at the Spencer Speedway.

Eric Beers in his new ride, the Zacharias Racing owned former Reyerse Racing car finished second with Matt Hirschman in first ever appearance at the track coming home in third. Bill Hebing finished fourth with Chuck Hossfeld making three trips from the rear to wind up fifth.

“ This is a special win for us as I grew up racing here “ said the $3,500 winner. “ Even today with my son Mike running here weekly I’m down here each week. Sometimes its makes me to want to be in a car and at other times I’m glad I’m not in the car. To win it in front of my hometown crowd and every win at this point in my career is an extra one, I’m happy. “

Jan started the feature in sixth position and the veteran driver took his time getting into the top five as he accomplished that on lap 27. With a long green flag period taking place from lap 6 until lap 66. Coupled with the blistering pace leader Buck Catalano was setting Jan was forced to turn up the wick a little sooner than he would have liked to. Jan moved into fourth on lap 38 and then dropped back to fifth as he was pacing his equipment. Then at lap 50 Jan turned it up once again and moved into fourth on lap 58 and was closing in on the leaders until pitting on lap 68.

After pitting the Leaty car seemed to gain momentum and he motored his way to the front. “ I was taking it easy on the car all throughout the race up until money time “ said Jan. “ The guys did a great stop and Chucky beat me off pit road because I stalled the car when the crew dropped the car off the jack telling me to go. We were able to get back by Chuck and the rest of the guys out there we had to pass were a little wounded I think. You never know how it’s going to work out. Look at Mike and what happened to him as he dominated the race and should have had a better shot than me to win the race. Something happened radio wise and he didn’t get the signal that the pits were open, Buck too as I see he didn’t pit either. Good win for the team, we’re happy. “

When the race went back to green on lap 71 Jan was in third behind Lee Sherwood and Chuck Hossfeld. Two laps later Hossfeld and Tim McMullen who was now third got together and spun out in turn four, this moved Jan into second. The green came back out on lap 76 and everyone knew it was only a matter of time before Leaty would get by Sherwood for the lead and that happened going into turn one on lap 79. Once in the lead many thought that Eric Beers who followed Jan through the field and was now in second would be challenging Jan for the win. But the challenge never materialized as Jan picked up the pace that no one else was able to match for the remaining 20 laps of the feature.

“ Worn tires do take two to three laps after a yellow to warm and clean up and start working good again “ said Jan. “ You have to be careful and protect the bottom for that time period. Then I wanted to see if Eric had anything for me so I took it careful for a few laps and then I could tell I had more than him so I opened it up a little bit. I was still saving something just in case the caution came out and somebody was flying through the field. I didn’t know if Matty was back there and he got two tires, if he was real fast. But then with ten to go I said to myself that this car is so good I’m just going to start driving it and so I did. “

Following the very popular win Jan capped the winning evening by his signature facing the outside wall burnout as he tries to knock the wall down. This Leaty race winning tradition started with the Tioga Motorsports Park final show in 2004 and continues each time after Jan wins a feature. “ I get a little excited I guess “ said the smiling and laughing driver. “ It’s something I didn’t invent, but it works well. You don’t want to go through the infield spinning and throw stuff up into the stands, so a little smoke never hurts. “

Jan ended up the evening by speaking about having RoC Dart back at his home track after a ten year absence. “ It good to see the old girl have some cars and the crowds weekly haven’t been bad here this year at all “ summarized Jan. “ The weekly car counts have been a little low but they are improving and I think as a group at the speedway we are learning. John White and his team, they started off a little green, had some rough spots, but we are all starting to get along and gel. This was a good event for him, successful and I think we’ll have a few more shows here some time. “

“ We decided that we could run as good as we could without hurting any of the tires “ said second place finisher Eric Beers on his race strategy. “ I didn’t want to slip the left rear or push off the right front because we were only getting one tire. I knew that it was going to be a disadvantage getting only one tire while some guys got two. I drove as easy as I could and at the end of that long run the crew said I was a half a lap behind the leaders. But as long as I stayed on the lead lap I was going to be ok. “

Eric started fourth and hung around the top five for a few laps before he backed off his pace and settled into the lower portion of the top ten. When he pitted along with the majority of the other cars on lap 68 Eric gained some valuable spots. “ We came in tenth and came out in fourth and when we went back to green we drove by some guys. “

Eric followed Jan Leaty up through the field after the pit stop and once Jan got into the lead Eric who before thought he had something for him, all of the sudden didn’t have anything for Jan. “ We followed Jan up through the field and we were on him until he passed Lee for the lead. Then it seemed that Jan’s car started to roll through the center of the corners better than ours. We were a little bit too tight but to come here for the first time in ten years and to get second, that’s awesome. “

Eric, who normally runs the Horwith Freightliner car on the RoC Dart Asphalt Modified Tour. Has encountered some motor problems with that ride and for this weekend has found himself in the potent Reyerse Racing mount that Terry Zacharias Racing purchased before the start of the season. “ Terry and the guys gave us a great car “ said Eric. “ We’re going to have to see what is going on but probably for the next month I’m going to drive Terry’s car, or maybe longer. The way it looks now he’s got a great car, a little tweaking here and there. I can’t complain with a second for the first time in this car and if I win tomorrow I might be in the car a little bit longer. “

“ This is a very, very difficult race track “ said winded third place finisher Matt Hirschman. “ You look at it, Jan won at his home track, and he’s got the experience and knowledge of the track here. Eric was second and he’s good everywhere and he was only here once and got second. For me getting a third here in my first ever appearance is like a win to me. This was the most physically demanding race I’ve run all year and I have raced at a lot of different tracks so far this year. "

Matt who seemed to struggle early on in the racing program kept fine tuning his car throughout the racing program. This saw Matt qualify through the B Main and start 23^rd on the field. Most racing railbirds figured that Matt would hang around at the back until he could pit for two fresh tires. “ That was sort of the plan until Buck got the lead and he was a coming, lapping cars and I was going as fast as I could at that time “ recalled Matt. “ I couldn’t go anywhere as this is a tough place to pass. “

The key point of the race came on lap 68 when everyone except three cars pitted for either one or two fresh tires. This is where a great two tire pit stop enabled Matt to go from 15^th on the field to seventh in the running order. “ Our guys did a great job on the pit stop as anytime you can pick up that many spots on a pit stop. It’s good to know that I have a good crew. “

Qualifying for a season high 31 cars saw heat wins captured by Jan Leaty, Hossfeld, Sherwood, and Hebing with Pete Brittain winning the B Main.

SPENCER NOTES; Tonight was the first RoC Dart sanctioned race at the historic facility owned by John White in ten years. Judging by the car and crowd count along with the exciting racing taking place it’s a good bet that RoC Dart will be here in years to come. Track management had the Modifieds pit in the infield pit area and the fans loved seeing this. For the first time this season the tire rule came into play with heat race qualifiers getting only one additional tire while B Main transfers and provisional buy – ins received two additional tires. During the feature yellow flag laps counted between laps 26 and 75. Chris Finocchario missed his heat race due to the battery being dead in the car. Chris had one heck of a B Main run coming from last to fifth in just eight laps to gain entrance to the feature. Buck Catalano was definitely the class of the field early on and his blistering pace burned off his sticker right rear tire. After he pitted the tire in the heat race had to be used and he wasn’t a factor after that. Mike Leaty was the class of the field in the middle stages of the race and just took the lead when the yellow came out. Mike and his crew missed the communication that the pits were open and Mike along with Buck Catalano pitted the next lap. This mistake ended up costing what many believe was the race for Mike. Good to see some good luck go the way of Todd Smith. Todd ended up an impressive seventh as he was in the thick of the battle all night long. The eighth by John Markovic ended a difficult day for the quiet racer from Bethlehem, Pa. John got in the wrong lane on the PA Turnpike and tied traffic up as he backed his rig up out of the E – Z Pass lane. On the way to the track he had a blown tire on the trailer and at the track while pulling the rig out of the infield he drove over his generator.

RACE REPORT RACE OF CHAMPIONS DART ASPHALT MODIFIED TOUR COMBINATION RACE # 2 SPENCER SPEEDWAY

FINISH; Jan Leaty, Eric Beers, Matt Hirschman, Bill Hebing, Chuck Hossfeld, Lee Sherwood, Todd Smith, John Markovic, Buck Catalano, Sege Fidanza, Mike Leaty, Daren Scherer, Pete Brittain, Billy Putney, Danny Knoll, Jr., Eddie Hawkins, Chris Finocchario, Mark Tychoniewicz, Rick Kluth, Dean DeMarree, Phil Slater, Tim McMullen, Doug Reaume, Rusty Smith, Tommy Kinsella, Patsy Catalano, Terry Cheetham, TJ Potrzebowski.

DNQ’S; Matt Clemens, Jimmy Zacharias, Chris Risdale.

LAP LEADERS; Hossfeld ( 1 – 26 ), B. Catalano ( 27 – 62 ), M. Leaty ( 63 – 68 ), Sherwood ( 69 – 79 ), J. Leaty ( 80 – 100 )

DART MACHINERY AWARD SET OF HEADS $1,100 VALUE; Finocchario

GATER RACING NEWS DRIVER BONUS DRAW $500; Finocchario

HOOSIER RACING TIRE HARD CHARGER AWARD; Hirschman ( 23^rd to 3^rd )

HOOSIER RACING TIRE HARD LUCK AWARD; P. Catalano ( 10^th to 26^th )

PROVISIONAL BUY – INS; Kluth, Reaume

NEXT RoC DART ASPHALT MODIFIED TOUR RACE; Saturday July 7^th – Lancaster Motorsports Park – North Region Race #2