BLEWETT WINS HARD FOUGHT GSC AT WALL SATURDAY

BLEWETT WINS HARD FOUGHT GSC AT WALL SATURDAY

Story By: Jeff Gravatt/Wall Stadium

Photos By: John John Lane/RacersGuide.com

WALL TOWNSHIP, N.J. ~ Howell’s Jimmy Blewett battled with several top competitors before finally taking the checker flag in the Garden State Classic for Freehold Ford Modified stock cars at Wall Stadium Saturday night. The race has proven to be a special one for the Blewett family as both his father, John Blewett, Jr., and his brother, the late John Blewett III, have won the race in the past. Jimmy Blewett’s Saturday night win was his fourth in the annual summer classic.

Derek Hopkinson of Toms River, who started on the pole by virtue of his fast time in qualifying, was the first leader of the event before he spun from the top spot. This set up a side-by-side battle for the lead between Blewett and Holmdel’s Andrew Krause who was charging in the outside lane. After several laps of dicing Blewett slipped to the lead with North Carolina’s Danny Bohn slipping into second.

Bohn and Krause then chased Blewett through the middle stages of the race before Krause pitted for new right side tires on lap 60. Soon after Blewett and Bohn both pitted for their new tires and that set up a battle to the finish.

The fight for first continued until the lap 90 mark when Krause’s car developed a fluid leak that caused him to loose traction and eventually drop from the contest. Bohn also dropped from the race in this late stage. Blewett was the leader but the event was far from over as defending race winner Steven Reed of Jackson advanced to second after recovering from at least two mishaps earlier in the contest.

Blewett raced on to the win with Reed second, Jonathan Mandato of Toms River an impressive third, Jackson’s Blake Barney fourth and Trevor Alspach of Willingboro fifth.

“Before the race I just wasn’t feeling it with the car,” Blewett said. “(Crew chief) Rob Ormsbee and I went to our notebook and changed the set-up to how it was the first time we won with it. Hard work does have its rewards.”

Beachwood’s Elliott Wohl raced to his first win of the year in the companion 25-lapper for the O’Shea’s Auto Repair Factory Stocks. He fought off Manchester’s Scott Riggleman in the closing laps and Joey Helberg of Union was third. Tom Rajkowski of Fords was fourth and Whitey Miller of Jamesburg was fifth.

Howell’s Brian Osborn grabbed the lead in the final lap to take the win in the 25-lapper for the Surf Side Collision 4 Cylinder Stock 25-lapper. Todd Pilla of Beachwood, who had slipped into the top spot with a handful of laps remaining, was forced to settle for second. Wall’s TJ Graves, Christian LaCicero of Lavallette and Darren Burdge of Jackson completed the top five.

Howell’s Robert French became the winningest driver in the Green Flag Driving Experience Legend Cars ranks by taking the 25-lapper Saturday. French led most of the race to his 26th career win and fought off several competitors including Louie Keraitis of Toms River and Browns Mills Vinny Troia who finished second and third. Tony Hodgson and James Van Wickle completed the top five.

Racing returns this Saturday night, July 1. The holiday weekend Saturday night card will feature the Modifieds in a 40-lapper and the Snap-on Sportsman cars, the Elite Maintenance Limited Late Models, the Factory Stocks, 4 Cylinder Stocks and the TQ Midgets all in 25-lap main events.

More information on Wall Stadium and the 2017 Saturday night schedule can be obtained by visiting the website at wallspeedwayracing.com.
Wall Stadium is located on Route 34 in Wall Township, N.J., just one mile north of Garden State Parkway exit 98 and Interstate 195 exit 35B. The speedway hotline number is 732-681-6400 and email address is CKMotorsports@aol.com.

RACE RESULTS 6-24-17

MODIFIED FEATURE – 125 Laps – 1. JIMMY BLEWETT, HOWELL, 2 Steven Reed, 3. Jonathan Mandato, 4. Blake Barney, 5. Trevor Alspach, 6. Shaun Carrig, 7. Kenny Van Wickle, 8. Ricky Collins, 9. Dom Fattarusso, 10. Andrew Krause, 11. Chas Okerson, 12. Danny Bohn, 13. Ron Frees, 14. Adam LaCicero, 15. Tom Catanzaro, 16. Joey Merlino, 17. Jason Treat, 18. Shawna Ingraham, 19. Jason Hearne, 20. Zack Alspach, 21. Shanon Mongeau, 22. Eric Mauriello, 23. Derek Hopkinson, 24. Chris Reynolds

FACTORY STOCK FEATURE – 25 Laps – 1. ELLIOTT WOHL, BEACHWOOD, 2. Scott Riggleman, 3. Joey Helberg, 4. Tom Rajkowski, 5. Whitey Miller, 6. Tim Majek, 7. John Carpenter, 8. Mike Montano, 9. Bryan O’Shea, 10. Matt Badessa, 11. Theresa Collins, 12. Tony Bartone, 13. Nancy Riggleman, 14. John Bowers, 15. Ray Fattarusso, 16. Gerry Koenig

4 CYKINDER STOCK FEATURE – 1. BRIAN OSBORN, HOWELL, 2. Todd Pilla, 3. TJ Graves, 4. Christian LaCicero, 5. Darren Burdge, 6. Jay Conrad, 7. JC Duvall, 8. Chris Silvestri, 9. Frank Ciancitto, 10. Nicole Razzano, 11. Joe Barbaria, 12. Jennifer Schultz, 13. Mike Lavery, 14. Jeff Loesch, 15. Darianne McLaren, 16. Richard Smith

LEGEND CARS FEATURE – 25 Laps – 1. ROBERT FRENCH, HOWELL, 2. Louie Keraitis, 3. Vinny Troia, 4. Tony Hodgson, 5. James Van Wickle, 6. Peter Bruno, 7. Rob Silver, 8. Roger Nickerson, 9. Nick Van Wickle, 10. Anthony Colandro, 11. Mitchell Dowd, 12. Artie Pederson, 13. Steve Woytysiak, 14. Danny Doyle