BEDFORD SPEEDWAY
May 20, 2011
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DICKSON QUALIFIES FOR SPEEDWEEKS, BLACK WINS LIMITED SPECIAL

by Dave Harclerode
BEDFORD, PA – For the first time in three weeks, Mother Nature let up just enough to allow the Bedford Speedway to slip in an evening of racing Friday night. Nick Dickson won the Super Late Model main event, guaranteeing him a starting spot in Bedford's final leg of the Appalachian Mountain Speedweeks for Late Models in June. Robbie Black dominated the Limited Late model special $1,000 to win, which was also the first leg of the Bedford/Rock speedway shootout dubbed the BedRock shootout. Brian Duffy became the first repeat winner of 2011 with his Street Stock feature win, and Chad Gambol picked up his first career Bedford victory in the Hobby Stocks. Robert Pluta took top honors in the 4 Cylinders.

Nick Dickson, who hasn't visited Bedford's victory lane for three years, earned his 6th career victory at the big oval in convincing fashion. Dickson was overcome with emotion in victory lane as he dedicated the win to young Tyler Ritchey, a former Bedford Hobby Stock driver who was seriously injured recently in an accident. He also dedicated the win to his uncle and crew member Rick, who has been very ill the past several months. Nick started the 25 lap event on the pole, but his win wasn't a walk in the park. Fourth starting Jack Pencil charged his way to second, and started reeling in Dickson, who had a healthy lead. With seven laps to go, the pair encountered lapped traffic and Pencil was able to duck underneath Dickson several times until a lap 21 caution bunched the field. Dickson distanced himself from the pack and took the checkered with ease. Pencil finished the race in second, but was relegated to last place when he failed to make weight at the scales following the race. This put second generation driver Andy Haus in the second position, followed by Jeff Rine, Chuck Clise, and Jeff Miller. Sixth through tenth was Brian Booze, Dylan Yoder, Scott Haus, Derek Byler, and Matt Parks. Yoder and Rine won the heats.

Robbie Black put his York Racing Engines powered Limited Late Model in Bedford's victory lane for the fifth time of his career. Much like Dickson in the Super Lates, Robbie started on the pole but winning was no easy task. Rick Singleton, from his fifth starting spot, never let Black get out of sight. Singleton never seriously challenged for the lead, but hung close enough to keep the leader thinking. Grant Adams posted his career best Bedford finish with a third, and Justin Kann and DJ Troutman completed the top five. Tim Smith, Jr. finished sixth after re-starting last, a result of a first lap incident that brought out the yellow. Daniel Cornman, Mike Duck, Randy Wible, and Brian Lowery finished the top ten. Cornman and Adams won the qualifying events.

Brian Duffy tied Bob Jay Friday for the most all-time Street Stock wins at Bedford when he took the checkers for the 22nd time of his career. It took three attempts to the start the feature event. Seven cars tangled on the first attempt, with all seven cars including Duffy suffering damage. Cody Buterbaugh suffered the most, as he was unable to finish the event. On the next attempt, the yellows were thrown again and this time Jesse Snyder's evening was cut short. Finally, success was found on the third attempt at starting the race, and veteran division driver Kerry Molovich assumed the top position. Molovich held the lead for eight laps as Bob Jay, Zane Weicht, Bill Henney, and Brian Duffy swapped positions and paint directly behind him. Duffy worked into the second spot on lap eight, and was the race leader by the ninth circuit. Duffy won the race convincingly over Bob Jay, Chris Chamberlain, Zane Weicht, and Bill Henney. Jay and Henney won the heats.

Chad Gambol made his first visit of the season a good one as he won both his heat and the feature event in the Hobby Stock division. Gambol's win was his first of his career at Bedford, and he did it convincingly. Terry Norris ran second for much of the race, but with two to go Rick Potter, Charlie Walter, and Travis Group all decided to gang up on Norris and the four cars in a phone booth for half a lap until the inevitable happened. Rick Potter left the speedway on a wrecker and Travis Group went to the tail after making contact with the wall. On the restart it was all Gambol, with Walter, Norris, Lou Wannyn, and Group completing the top five. Group and Gambol won the heat events.

The start of the 4 Cylinder feature was rain delayed for several minutes, and when the green flag dropped it was all Pluta. Robert and Andrew Pluta ran bumper to bumper, with Robert taking home the victory and Andrew claiming second. Casey Fleegle, Mike Lauffer (from the tail after re-starting last), and Jeremy Miller completed the top five. Phil Best, Lauffer, and Robert Pluta won the heats.

Next Friday at the speedway is the Memorial Day Special. The Super Late Models will be racing for $2,000 to win, and the Limited Late Models will have another $1,000 to win show. The Street Stocks, Hobby Stocks, and 4 Cylinders will also be on hand with increased pay for the winner. The rain date for this event will be Monday, May 30th. For more information, call the speedway office at 814-623-0500 or visit www.bedfordspeedway.com

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SUPER LATE MODELS

FEATURE: 1. Nick Dickson 17D 2. Andy Haus 76 3. Jeff Rine 92 4. Chuck Clise 5 5. Jeff Miller 57 (Tri-State Racing Photos Hard Charger) 6. Brian Booze B2 7. Dylan Yoder 8. Scott Haus 21 9. Derek Byler 5* 10. Matt Parks 15p 11. Eric Zembower 49 12. Mason Zeigler 25z 13. Tyler Hershey 74 (DNF) 14. Wayne Johnson 17j (DNF) 15. Jack Pencil 14 (DQ)

HEAT 1: Yoder, Pencil, Johnson
HEAT 2: Rine, Booze, S. Haus

LIMITED LATE MODELS

FEATURE: 1. Robbie Black 01 2. Rick Singleton 99 3. Grant Adams 64 4. Justin Kann 66 5. DJ Troutman 7 6. Tim Smith, Jr. 39 7. Daniel Cornman 3 8. Mike Duck 73 (Tri-State Racing Photos Hard Charger) 9. Randy Wible 35 10. Brian Lowery 13 11. Rance Garlock 19 12. Craig Perigo 1a 13. Donnie Farlling 48 14. Brian Lessley 5z 15. Corey Weaver 10 16. Eric Irvin 87 (DNF) 17. Matt Sponaugle 8 (DNF)

HEAT 1: Cornman, Troutman, Singleton
HEAT 2: Adams, Kann, Black

STREET STOCKS

FEATURE: 1. Brian Duffy (Tri-State Racing Photos Hard Charger) 38 2. Bob Jay 4J 3. Chris Chamberlain 31c 4. Zane Weicht 45 5. Bill Henney 50 6. Kerry Molovich 63 7. Daryl Whetstone 78 8. Bill Pluta, Jr. 73c 9. Scott Grubb 55x 10. Paul Gambol 85 11. Cody Buterbaugh B1 (DNF) 12. Jesse Snyder 22 (DNF)

HEAT 1: Henney, Snyder, Weicht
HEAT 2: Jay, Duffy, Chamberlain

HOBBY STOCKS

FEATURE: 1. Chad Gambol 13 2. Charlie Walter 42 3. Terry Norris 73 4. Lou Wannyn 77 5. Travis Group 7 (Tri-State Racing Photos Hard Charger) 6. Tim Brown 22 7. Mike Ott 21m (DNF) 8. Rick Potter 77xxl (DNF) 9. Chuck Weyant 88c (DNF) 10. Bill Replogle 60 (DNF) 11. George Beckett 58 (DNF)

HEAT 1: Group, Walter, Replogle
HEAT 2: Gambol, Norris, Weyant

4 CYLINDERS

FEATURE: 1. Robert Pluta 67 2. Andrew Pluta 88 3. Casey Fleegle 113 4. Mike Lauffer 38 5. Jeremy Miller 93 6. John Lamer 46 7. Ronnie Valentine 8r (Tri-State Racing Photos Hard Charger) 8. Phil Best 11 9. Juan Ryan 3j 10. Kevin See 17k 11. Dan Jackson 11j 12. Dave Lambert 21 13. Ralph Miller 86 14. Steve Frederick 12 15. David Reaugh 34 16. Nathan Kaminsky 7 17. Ray Wright 68 (DNF) 18. Sean Fitzpatrick 726 (DNF) 19. Tim Lamer 903 (DNF)
DNS: Rick Lamer 414, Irvin Fleegle 2

HEAT 1: Best, J. Lamer, Jackson
HEAT 2: Lauffer, Miller, Ryan
HEAT 3: R. Pluta, C. Fleegle, A. Pluta