Siri Dedicates Outlaw Grand Opening Victory To Dutch Hoag

Outlaw Speedway Grand Opening Night Kicks Off in Style

Story By:STEVE OVENS / OUTLAW SPEEDWAY MEDIA                                                                                                                                                   Photos By:DAVE DALESANDRO and MARK RANALLETTA / RACERSGUIDE.COM

Dundee, NY –May 13, 2016-  In a phone conversation Wednesday night, Tyler Siri said that he wanted to dedicate Thursday night’s season opener at Outlaw Speedway to Dutch Hoag. A Northeast legend and hero to so many, who we lost earlier this week.

Siri couldn’t have imagined celebrating his birthday while standing in victory lane to be able to make that dedication during Outlaw Speedway’s Grand Opening event- an event dubbed ‘Thursday Night Thunder.’

“The guy was just a legend,” said Siri while standing in the brand new victory lane between the catch fence and the grandstands.  “For me to buy the place and win on his night, it’s just special.  Just awesome!”

Siri started from the fourth position while ‘The Doctor’ Danny Johnson and Billy Van Pelt led the field to Steve Kellogg’s green flag for the Friendly Dodge & Ford Big Block/Small Block Modified thirty lap feature.

Johnson pulled out to the early advantage after re-drawing the pole for the event.  The caution would fall for the first time on lap one as Marcus Dinkins and Eldon Payne Jr. made contact in turn three.

Dinkins would get crossed up in front of the field and collect Gary Tomkins, Donnie Lawson and Matt Sheppard who spun to avoid contact.  Tomkins would suffer front end damage and not return, Lawson suffered cosmetic damage and a broken shock but would return.

Siri had muscled his way to the second position before the restart that put Johnson and Siri on the front row- rekindling the flame that has still burned with the Horseheads, NY driver since The Gobbler at Accord back in December.  Johnson would pull ahead on the restart, but started showing a big plume of smoke out of the back of the Shakelton NAPA Auto Parts No. 27J.

Jim Larock would bring the caution out on lap four with an apparent problem under the hood.  Under that caution, the smoke got worse for Johnson and he retired to the pit area for the night.

With the lead and control of the restart, Siri jumped out to a five to six car length advantage on Van Pelt.  But as Siri closed in on lap traffic and Van Pelt’s tires came in, the Westfield, PA driver reeled in Siri to challenge for the lead.  Van Pelt’s charge would end with a flat tire that brought out a caution on lap twenty-four.

This moved Alan Johnson to second, who made a classic ‘AJ Slideways’ type of charge late in the event to close in on Siri.  Johnson’s great charge would come to and end with three laps to go as the float stuck on the carburetor of the Friendly Ford No. 14J.

A late caution set up a two-lap dash for the win with Erick Rudolph on the back bumper of Siri for the restart.  Siri was absolutely flawless on the restart, driving two perfect laps to close out the opening night victory in front of a packed house.

“I saw the scoreboard up there, I knew they were coming,” said Siri.  “My car was getting a little loose so I dialed some more brake into it to tighten it up and that was the difference.”

Siri reflected on the huge crowd in attendance for a mid-week grand opening.

“I really want to thank the fans that all came out to support us.  I’ve been here two and a half months 24/7 and without the fans, we couldn’t do any of this tonight.”

Rudolph finished second, Steve Paine charged to third with Ron Cartwright Jr. fourth from the consi and Derrick Podsiadlo the top five.

Montour Falls, NY driver Dale Welty picked up a very popular win in the Crate Sportsman division, garnering a loud ovation from the crown in victory lane.

Doug Smith and Stacey Jackson led the field to the drop of the green for the twenty-five-lap affair with Smith taking the early lead.  The Canandaigua regular would lead the opening three laps before giving way to fourth place starting Welty.

Welty’s No. 123 was a rocket ship on Thursday night and pulled out to a half straightaway advantage over Addison, NY driver Mike Jackson.  Jackson would certainly make things interesting, closing in on Welty to challenge for the lead in lap traffic.

In the end Welty would be too strong and would pick up win number one on the season.  Jackson was second, Smith third, part-time runner Rob Humphreys fourth and last week’s Woodhull winner Josh Keesey filling out the top five.

“I have not had a car handle better than this car handled here tonight,” said Welty in Victory Lane.  “It was a lot of fun and it’s great to see this big crowd out here tonight.  My brother Darrell owns the car, I don’t know what he did to it in the winter, but it just handled perfect.”

Bryce Davis recently welcomed a new baby to his family, but on Thursday night, also got to welcome home an opening night victory in the Crate Late Model division.  Davis has been running extremely well early in the season, now with wins at Outlaw, Fulton and Canandaigua.

The race was led early on by Mike Wonderling in the No. 18, but Davis would squeak by on lap ten and go untouched to the victory in the twenty-lap feature.  Dave Lyon would finish second, John Waters third, Jason Knowles fourth and Brian Knowles the top five.

Dylan Cecce did just about everything he could have done to win the first event of 2016 for the Creekside Entertainment Street Stocks- except lead off the final corner.  Chuck Winslow diamonded turns three and four to perfect, and found a way by Cecce in turn four to score the opening night victory.

Winslow had thought he had passed Cecce on lap thirteen as a caution fell at the same time, with Cecce nosing ahead by the slightest of margins to maintain the lead.  Cecce could keep Winslow at bay on the restart, but the further the run went, the tighter Cecce’s car would get on corner exit.

Cecce held on as long as he could, but got snookered by Winslow at the stripe.  CJ Guererri started from the pole and ran a solid race to finish on the podium for week one.  Jeremy Potrzebowski and Nate Daggett rounded out the top five.

There were also some late-race heroics in the Four Cylinder division as Codie Baker made a nifty move on Rich Sharpsteen in turn four on the final lap.  Baker uncharacteristically used the bottom lane to pull up alongside Sharpsteen in turn three and made it stick in turn four.

Sharpsteen, who had dominated the race up to that point, could only watch as Baker nosed further and further ahead in the drag race to the checkered flag.  Scott Bradley is off to a great start to 2016 with a third place finish, ahead of Chad Ayers and Bruce Kinner.

In the Winners Circle Deli Bandit division, Ajay Potrzebowski Jr. took the feature win over Steven Perkins III and Austin Labar.  Potrzebowski Jr. was driving sister Kayley’s No. 72x and wheeled himself to his second victory of 2016, as he also has a win in the Warrior division at Woodhull Raceway.

In fact, ‘The Madman’ wrote his own little piece of history as he is the first driver to etch their name into the record books as a winner at Outlaw Speedway.

For more information visit www.outlawspeedwayllc.com

Full results pending and are anticipated to be posted Friday evening.