Gary Tomkins Waits to the Last Lap to Grab Tuesday’s Hall of Fame 100 Super DIRTcar Series Feature
Story By: MATT NOLES / RACERSGUIDE.COM Photos By: DAVE DALESANDRO and MATT NOLES / RACERSGUIDE.COM
SPRAKERS, NY- August 10, 2016- It will never matter how many laps you lead in a race; it only matters if you lead the last one.
After jumping out to the lead at the start of Tuesday night’s Hall of Fame 100 Super DIRTcar Series event at the Weedsport Speedway, Erick Rudolph led 99-laps and held off challenges from Stewart Friesen in the process, but he couldn’t lead the circuit that counted most.
With a crowd-pleasing move to the outside of Rudolph entering turn one on the final lap, Gary Tomkins found enough bite to move around the driver of the familiar No. 25 and led only one circuit on his way to the win and a $10,000 payday.
Though Tomkins ran the outside lane for the majority of the event, and made it look easy in doing so, his journey to the lead was anything but that. “It didn’t feel like I was getting enough heat in the tires,” stated Tomkins after his victory Tuesday night. “It actually felt like I was sealing them over and that was my biggest fear that we’d seal the tires over and be done.”
It was by fortuitous circumstance that the driver of the No. 84 modified found himself in the outside lane to begin with. “I got put to fourth during that first caution,” He continued. “It sort of made me a little mad because I wanted to be on the bottom and I knew that I was better than Friesen but I just couldn’t get by him.”
Tomkins discovered quickly that being stuck on the outside wasn’t a bad place to be by any means. “I drove it into turn one on that restart and it just stuck,” said Tomkins. “I’d been around this track enough times that I knew how to run the top, I just had to get a rhythm going.” It didn’t take long for the Clifton Springs, New York resident to get into a groove and begin working his way to the front.
“I just started rolling the track in the middle and running the top down the backstretch,” Tomkins stated. “So I kept on rolling the car through the corners and I got to second then we had that last restart and I tried it again but the car felt terrible.”
There’s something to be said for experience and with all the years Tomkins has behind the wheel of a center-steer dirt modified, his knowledge came into play ten-fold in the closing laps. “I went back to the bottom and caught back up to Erick [Rudolph],” He remarked. “I didn’t want to finish second so I went for it and went back up to the top and holy cow, we got him.”
Racing will never afford a driver the chance to say ‘what if’ when victory is on the line; that statement superbly describes the last ditch effort that played out in turn one on Tuesday evening. “I knew I wasn’t going to give up I can tell you that,” Tomkins said with a smile. “I looked to see how many laps I had left and I said to myself that I had a couple of laps to do it so I was either going to be a hero or a zero.”
Patience played a significant role in Tomkins triumph; both the practice of it, and the lack thereof. “I thought I had a better car but I just needed to be patient and I wasn’t at times,” He continued. “I was paying attention to him [Rudolph] and I should have been paying attention to what I was doing and that last time I went up top on the last lap, I just worried about me and it paid off.”
Erick Rudolph ran an incredible race, there’s no doubting that fact, and yet he made one error that cost him dearly. “He was leaving me a lane up top on the frontstretch,” remarked Tomkins. “And nobody does that. Usually the leader moves right up to the wall but he didn’t and that allowed me to keep my momentum up heading into turn one.”
Once Gary Tomkins moved alongside Rudolph, it was almost smooth sailing from there. “I knew it would stick going into turn one I just didn’t want it to get tight,” He stated. “Then he saw me and I think that rattled him a little bit and he missed his mark coming off the bottom in turn two and once I got to turn three, I figured we had it.”
Victory in the Hall of Fame race at Weedsport would mean a lot for any driver; for Gary Tomkins though, it seems to mean a little more. “This is really my home,” He recalled. “When Glenn Donnelly bought this place, my parents worked for him so I ran around this place all the time when I was a kid. I’ve been here a long time so this win means a lot.”
For Tomkins to be victorious over an extremely stout modified field leaves many with the impression of David versus Goliath; they wouldn’t be too far from the truth. “This is Darren Kendrick’s car,” concluded Tomkins. “This is his baby; he pays the bills and he told me he was going to get me to victory lane and he believed in me and I have to thank him for that.”
Matt Noles is a contributing writer for Racers Guide and Dirt Track Digest. He currently resides in Sprakers, New York and can be reached via e-mail at matt_noles@yahoo.com.
