PATRICK EMERLING KICKS OFF 65TH ANNUAL SEASON OF RACING AT SPENCER SPEEDWAY PRESENTED BY WILBERT’S U PULL-IT WITH A WIN IN THE TRIBUTE TO DON PRATT 62
PATRICK EMERLING KICKS OFF 65TH ANNUAL SEASON OF RACING AT SPENCER SPEEDWAY PRESENTED BY WILBERT’S U PULL-IT WITH A WIN IN THE TRIBUTE TO DON PRATT 62
Story By: Spencer Speedway
Photos By: Mark Ranalletta/RacersGuide.com
Patrick Emerling of Orchard Park, N.Y., made a dramatic move in traffic to get past Andy Jankowiak of Buffalo, N.Y., to take the lead and go on and win the Tribute to Don Pratt ‘62’ at Spencer Speedway presented by Wilbert’s U Pull-It in Williamson, N.Y., which began the tracks 65th consecutive season of competition.
The win was the 15th of Emerling’s Race of Champions career and his third Series victory at Spencer. He’s just 1 win away from tying his crew chief, Jan Leaty, for 4th on the all-time win list.
“We had a good night tonight,” stated Emerling in victory lane. “Things went our way. We raced Andy (Jankowiak) really hard and I knew Eric (Beers) and Mike (Leaty) my teammate were coming behind me. It’s great to pay tribute to another great Modified competitor in Don Pratt and thank you to Curt Tooley for working extra hard to raise additional lap money.”
Jankowiak ended up in the turn four wall on a restart, before Eric Beers of Northampton, Pa., gave Emerling a challenge to the finish.
Beers finished second with Mike Leaty of Williamson, N.Y., recovering from an early race spin to finish third.
Daren Scherer of Binghamton, N.Y., finished fourth and Daryl Lewis, Jr., of Ontario, N.Y., rounded out the top-five.
Chuck Hossfeld of Ransomville, N.Y., posted the Speed51.com “Top of the Board” overall fast time in group time trials with a lap of 18.893 seconds with an average speed of 95.273 mph.
Leaty; Tommy Catalano of Ontario, N.Y., and Hossfeld won the qualifying races.
Tom Barron of Ontario, N.Y., scored the win in the Race of Champions Super Stock opener. Barron topped Tommy Krawczyk of West Seneca, N.Y., who finished second and Zack Willis of Williamson, N.Y., who finished third.
Dave Milbrand of Clarence, N.Y., won the Wilbert’s U Pull-It Four Cylinder division race. Milbrand topped Ryan Brown of Ontario, N.Y., (second) and Allison Montgomery of Ontario, N.Y. (third).
The Race of Champions is a sanctioning body presenting Modified and Stock Car racing on asphalt and dirt surfaces throughout the Northeast, with events in New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey with primary marketing partners Hoosier Racing Tire, VP Racing Fuels, US Army, Upstate Automotive Group, Waddell Communications, Pilat Graphic Design, TDH Refrigeration, Sherwood Racing Wheels, PavedTrackDigest.com and Speed51.com. The 69th annual Race of Champions weekend will take place in 2019 at Lake Erie Speedway in North East, Pennsylvania and is the second longest consecutive auto-racing event in North America, second only to the Indianapolis 500.
For more information, contact;
Race of Champions Media at media@rocmodifiedseries.com
Follow us on Twitter; Instagram and Facebook; @RoCModSeries or visit our website: www.rocmodifiedseries.com
Feature Finish
Tribute to Don Pratt ‘62’ (62-laps)
Spencer Speedway, Williamson, N.Y.
Finishing Position, Car Number, Driver, Laps Completed, Reason Out (If Any)
Finish
1
Starting Position
4
No.
07
Name
Patrick Emerling
Laps
75
2
3
45
Eric Beers
3
6
25
Mike Leaty
4
2
3
Daren Scherer
5
5
10
Daryl Lewis, Jr.
6
14
66
Austin Kochenash
7
18
88
Scott Wylie
8
15
2
Kevin Miller
9
7
54
Jack Ely
10
24
45
Timmy Catalano
11
9
64
Amy Catalano
12
19
01
John Barber
13
8
32
Tyler Rypkema
14
20
40
Jake Rought
15
11
22
Chuck Hossfeld
50 Mechanical
16
22
1
Chris Risdale
47 Mechanical
17
1
12
Andy Jankowiak
41 Accident
18
21
8
Chris Finnachario
39 Mechanical
19
17
19
Austin Beers
38 Accident
20
13
59
Karl Hehr
23 Mechanical
21
10
65
George Skora, III
8 Accident
22
12
54
Tommy Catalano
8 Accident
23
16
72
TJ Potrzebowski
8 Accident
24
23
40
Alan Bookmiller
7 Mechanical
Time of Race: 53 minutes & 38 seconds Average Speed: 34.676 mph Margin of Victory: .740 seconds Lead Changes: 1 among 2 drivers. [12, Andy Jankowiak 1-41, [07, Patrick Emerling] 41-62,
Speed51.com “Top of the Board” Award; Chuck Hossfeld (18.893 seconds @ 95.273 mph)
Dirt Track Qualifying Race Winners; Mike Leaty (2); Tommy Catalano; Chuck Hossfeld (2)
US Army Top Performer Award; Patrick Emerling (19.284 seconds @ 93.342 mph)
Wilwood Engineering Certificate Award (5th Place) – Matt Hirschman
MyRacePass “Free Pass” Award – Jake Rought
