BONESKY: Burley on top of points at Big R

By Michael Bonesky

RANSOMVILLE — Before a race driver buckles into his or her car, before they tighten the strap on the helmet, he or she usually has one goal in mind and that’s to win the race. This changes for some drivers as they find themselves in the middle of a division championship points battle as the season begins to wind down. Instead of taking chances, you find yourself being more conservative and not wanting to risk making a mistake, which in turn would cause the loss of valuable championship points.

Ransomville Speedway will name a Sportsman and Modified champion in six short weeks. Both classes of six shows remaining in which to garner points toward those championships. Spencerport’s Todd Burley led the Modified point standings going into Friday night’s action by 47 markers over St. Catharines’ Pete Bicknell. A nice margin, but not what one would call comfortable by any means. Burley held close to the same margin over Bicknell going into last August, and saw it all slip away in two short weeks because of a couple on track mishaps.

Bicknell benefited from Burleys misfortunes and went on to capture the Mighty Taco 2008 Modified championship. Sanborn’s Chad Brachman sits third in the standings and ready to pounce if the two leaders falter. Ransomville’s Jeff McGinnis and Newfane’s Scott Kerwin are fourth and fifth in the standings.

Ransomville’s Ryan Susice leads Ransomville’s Don Spatarico by a scant six points in the battle for the Sportsman championship. Both drivers have four wins to their credit this season. This chase will go right down to the wire as both drivers are in equal equipment and can almost always be found at the front of the finishing order. Lurking in third place is Piffard’s Justin Wright, who picked up his first checkers of the season Friday night and is sitting in third place well over 100 markers behind. Niagara Fall’s John Smith is fourth in points, while North Tonawanda’s Steve Schumacher is fifth.

The Street Stock division will also name a champion in 2009, but their season continues a week longer, which finds them running seven more weekends until a winner is determined. Niagara Fall’s Derrick Borkenhagen heads up the list of drivers chasing the Street Stock crown. Ransomville’s Ricky Washburn trials Borkenhagen by only 11 points, and is second place.

Racing action Friday night headlined by the Modifieds saw Spencerport’s Burley pick up his fourth win of the 2009 racing season at the Big R. St. Catharines Travis Braun took advantage of his front row starting spot and opened up a large margin over his nearest competition early in the 30-lap feature, but that lead was a erased by caution for Bicknell who had over shot turn one. Burley, who had worked his way into second from the third row, lined up for the restart next to the sophomore Braun. As the green waved Burley made quick work of Braun and rocketed away to the lead. The rest of the event saw Burley pulling away for the win while Braun would have to settle for second on this night.

The final Modified results were, Todd Burley, Travis Braun, Chad Brachmann, Stewart Friesen, Dave Just, Erick Rudolph, Scott Kerwin, Mat Williamson, Jeff McGinnis, Robbie Krull, Pete Bicknell, Jeremy Wilder, Todd Gordon, Joe Kubiniec, Mark DiLario, Ricky Richner, Anthony Rizzardo, Rick Hoctor, Bob Broomfield, Pete Cosco, Boyd MacTavish, Justin Sharp, Rich Vinson, Tommy Flannigan, Jon Miller, and Nick Joy.

In Sportsman competition Piffard’s Wright was the winner of the 25-lap feature. Newfane’s Nate Reynolds grabbed the early lead in the Sportsman race and looked set to win his first Sportsman main event, but Wright had other ideas as he began reeling Reynolds in as the laps ticked down. Wright made his move on lap 13 to get by Reynolds and from there it was Wright race to lose, but he never wavered and drove on for the victory.

The final Sportsman order finish was, Justin Wright, Ryan Susice, Don Spatorico, Tony Purgarich, Jesse Cotriss, Nate Reynolds, Derek Smith Allan Wills, John Smith, John Panattoni, Mike Williams, Chris Purgarich, Gordon Hermanson, Scott Just, Jeff Cosgrove, Steven Miller, Brett Martin, Ricky Newton, Sandy Pembleton, and Steven Schumacher

The first 15-lap Street Stock feature finish was, Kenny Washburn, Jaren Israel, Stuart Kumm, Ricky Washburn, Brian Lonneville, Mike Greenawalt, Dave Conant, Randy Zimmerman, Pat Dell, Dustin Gorhan, Roger Israel, Derrick Borkenhagen, Brandon Poole, Kirk Sherwood, and Mike Childrose

The Second 15-lap Street Stock finish was, Jamie O’Donnel, Ryan Stephenson, Mark Brown, Chris Lederhouse, Jim Stone, Lori Brown, Tyler Strassburg, Gordon Dietz, Matt Wendler, Todd Brunning, Erick Gunio, Fred Baldwin, James Pringle, and Justin Stoelting.

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