Adirondack International Speedway report 2001-09-16

Governor Autumn Invitational A Big Hit All Around

Sunny skies and comfortable temperatures greeted the near capacity crowd and race teams at the new Adirondack International Speedway last weekend. Over 100 cars pulled through the pit gates last weekend, and as the sun set on the horizon Jerry Curran, Jay Andrews, Randy Ritskes and Al Brigham all went home victorious in the Governor Autumn Invitational, at the beautiful new facility. Curran picked up his first ever supermodified feature event victory in the 50-lap headline event, while Andrews won his second limited supermodified feature race of the season. Ritskes, who has many career wins in supermodified action, picked up the win in the street stock race, while Brigham took the checkers in the 4-cylinder race.

Heat race winners Ray Graham and Jerry Curran started the 50-lap supermodified race from the front row. When starter Don Forbes unfurled the green flag to start the action, Graham got the better jump from the pole and took the lead. Greg Furlong and Howie Page elected to use the inside lane to move by early race traffic, while Tim Snyder and Todd Stowell stepped their powerful machines to the outside of the race track.

The field fell into place in the early laps, as Graham tripped watches at a 15.71 clip around the new half-mile race track. Dave Trytek raced his way from seventh starting spot, to a top five spot in the first few laps. Graham built up a two car length advantage early, as Curran, Bob Goutermout, Todd Stowell, Trytek, Tim Gareau, Greg Furlong, Howie Page, Tim Snyder and Pat Lavery gave chase.

Lap 10, Curran wheeled his yellow 24 to the inside of the race surface, and grabbed the top spot. He wasted no time in opening up a five-car length lead, as he turned in a 15.81 his first lap up front. Further back, a tight three-car battle between Gareau, Furlong and Page caught fans attention, as the trio began to march their way to the leader.

Curran opened up his lead by a car length per lap in the next handful of laps. Furlong began to move forward just before the halfway point of the race, as he slipped his red #72 by Gareau for sixth place on lap 20. Furlong looked to the inside of Trytek, but Trytek wouldn’t give in easily, and worked by the Stowell 89 for fourth. Furlong followed him by the 89, as the top five now read 24, 90, 77, 70 and 72.

Curran began to work his way into lapped traffic, which he handled without problem. His lead was now 15 car lengths, as he appeared to be on a Saturday afternoon cruise up front. Graham began to fall of the pace as Goutermout passed him for second. The Trytek-Furlong train then worked by Graham on lap 26, as they continued their momentum forward.

Lap 27 saw the only slowdown of the race as Doug Kells stopped entering the first turn in the Bobby T. #38. The right front tire came off the 38, and Kells was out for the race.

This yellow flag wiped out Curran’s big lead, but on the restart, he had two lapped cars between himself and second running Goutermout. Curran went right back to work as he quickly put a few lengths on Goutermout after the restart. Furlong had the car on the move after the restart as he picked off both Graham and Trytek in one move and went from fifth to third in one lap.

Graham’s nice top five run ended on lap 29 as the #90 slowed and went pitside. Back up front, Curran circled the ½ mile track with 15.78 laps, while Goutermout, Furlong and Trytek raced hard for second place.

Lap 35 saw Furlong make his move into second place by the 77 in the second turn. He was 2.76 seconds behind Curran, and had 15 laps to make that deficit up. Furlong began chopping away at the lead, as Curran was in heavy lapped traffic.

In five laps, the lead was gone, and Curran now had Furlong on his back bumper. The duo raced in heavy lapped traffic, both looking for the quick way through as they went for the win. As they raced for the spot, Trytek began to catch the leaders, making it a three car dash for the checkers.

With two laps left, Furlong shot the 72 to the low side of the race track, looking for the lead, but had to back out, and Curran remained up front. The last lap, Furlong again went to the inside, but couldn’t make the pass stick. Curran kept his composure, held his line, and drove under the checkered flag two car lengths ahead of Furlong for the win. Trytek finished third, with Page and Goutermout rounding out the top five.

"We came here last week and practiced, and it was a big help," said Curran in victory lane after his first win in a supermodified. "We got 100 laps in, and it took all that to get a grip on the track and figure it out. It was a good run. You always wonder if you are ever going to win one of these. You win heat races, but always wonder if that feature win is going to come."

Second place Furlong was happy with his run as well. "It was a lot of fun. It took me a little bit to figure out the groove, I wasn’t where I needed to be. Jerry had a great car, and he had a good run. It was a good race."

The limited supermodified race came right down to the wire, with Jay Andrews taking the thrilling victory. Andrews took the early lead from his pole position starting spot. He had things in control in the race, then the white flag came out. Mark Regan put his black 69 in the high road, and worked his way into second place on the back straightaway. Regan remained on the high side, and raced Andrews to the line for the win, with Andrews prevailing by a nose at the checkered flag for the victory. Andrews led all 50 laps enroute to the win.

Randy Ritskes was a suprise entry, as he hopped behind the wheel of the Joe Miller #9 in the street stock race. he has won in everything he has driven in the past, small block dirt modifieds, and most recently has been a top driver on the ISMA circuit. Now behind the wheel of a street stock, Randy didn’t disappoint his legions of fans. He started the race from the sixth spot, and took the lead about half way through the race, and thwarted all challenges the rest of the way for the victory. It was a popular victory to say the least. Al Bingham was the head of the class in the 4 cylinder feature, which was the first feature event lined up Saturday afternoon…

News and Notes….There were 24 supers, 29 limiteds, 25 street stocks, 17 Pro Late Models and 12 four Cylinder cars at the track. Supermodified heat race wins went to Ray Graham, Jerry Curran and Greg Furlong. Limited Supermodified heats went to Dan Ferlito, Jeff Bartlett, Mike Gardner and Mark Regan.

Heat #1 1. Ray Graham Jr (90) 2. Howard Page (18) 3. Pat Lavery (99) 4. Shawn Muldoon (50) 5. Brian Sweeney (3) 6. Keith Gilliam (87) 7. Bill Peri (14) 8. Bobby Smith (85)

Heat #2 1. Jerry Curran (24) 2. Bob Bond (25) 3. Bob Goutermout (77) 4. Dave Trytek (70) 5. Tim Snyder (0) 6. Vern LaFave (97) 7. Doug Kells (38) 8. Dave Halstead Jr (34)

Heat #3 1. Greg Furlong (72) 2. Bill Sharkey (52) 3. Tim Gareau Jr (5) 4. Todd Stowell (89) 5. Jamie Moore (88) 6. Jamie Letcher (58) 7. Craig Rayvals (79) 8. Joe Chillemi (41)

Feature (50) 1. Jerry Curran (24) 2. Greg Furlong (72) 3. Dave Trytek (70) 4. Howard Page (18) 5. Bob Goutermout (77) 6. Tim Gareau Jr (5) 7. Todd Stowell (89) 8. Shawn Muldoon (50) 9. Jamie Moore (88) 10. Pat Lavery (99) 11. Tim Snyder (0) 12. Bill Peri (14) 13. Bill Sharkey (52) 14. Vern LaFave (97) 15. Jamie Letcher (58) 16. Bobby Smith (85) 17. Brian Sweeney (3) 18. Craig Rayvals (79) 19. Keith Gilliam (87) 20. Ray Graham Jr (90) 21. Doug Kells (38) 22. Dave Halstead Jr (34) 23. Bob Bond (25) DNS 24. Joe Chillemi (41)

NORA Limited Supermodified finish

1) Jay Andrews 7, 2)Mark Regan 69, 3) Matt Wheeler 97, 4)Mike Gardner 6, 5)Dan Ferlito 55, 6)Steve Austin 66, 7)Chris Proud 3, 8)Kevin Knopp 68, 9)Den Wheeler 96, 10)Bill Moore 94, 11)John Ketcham 11, 12) Lou Levea 61, 13)Dan Kapuscinski 00, 14)Fran Rowe 59, 15)Tony White 4, 16)Guard Nearbin 78, 17)Gregg Davis 89, 18)Russ Bartlett 26, 19)Dana Cunningham 95, 20) 76 21)Jeff Bartlett 24, 22)Chip Wood 5, 23)Scott Richmond 02, 24)Dick Woodley 8, 25) 26)Ed Watson 42, 27)Jack Patrick 9

-AIS