A Leaty Owns Spencer Once Again as Jan Takes Opening
Round of RoC Championship Series
It’s a fact that when the Race of Champions Dart Asphalt Modified Tour
races at the Spencer Speedway there is a pretty good chance that a Leaty
will be in victory lane at the end of the night.
Back in June at the first race held at the track this year Mike Leaty
stole the spotlight from his dad Jan as he raced to the feature win.
On Friday night Jan paid his son and 22 other competitors back big time
with some lucky draws which led to him dominating the 100 lap feature on
this night. Jan drew outside pole for his heat which he won and pulled the
pole for the feature.
In the feature Jan led the first 50 laps before the entire field with the
exception of Tommy Cloce and Pete Brittain all pitted. Jan came out third on
the track after the pit stop and regained the lead on lap 59 with an outside
turn four pass of Brittain.
Jan basically put it on cruise control form that point but he was
challenged over the final 23 laps by T J Potrzebowski for the $3,000 win.
Defending RoC champion Matt Hirschman finished third with Rusty Smith in
fourth and Eric Beers in fifth.
Jan Leaty and Eric Beers brought the 24 car field down to green with Jan
out dragging Eric to get the lead they were followed by Mike Leaty, TJ
Potrzebowski, and Earl Paules. With all drivers knowing that they would have
to pit to get a new right rear tire sometime during the race, many drivers
focused on lagging behind the field. With only one caution period taking
place in the first 47 laps some drivers decided at that point it was time to
start moving to the front.
Mike Leaty and Potrzebowski drove around the Beers machine to take second
and third respectively on lap 48. Just after this took place the yellow
lights came on and everyone knew pit stops were going to happen.
With caution laps counting pit lane opened up just after the halfway
point as 23 of the 24 competitors brought their cars down pit road. Pete
Brittain who hung around at the back of the pack did a drive through and
picked up 15 positions.
Tommy Cloce who did not pit assumed the lead followed by Brittain, Jan
Leaty, Mike Leaty and Beers. When the race resumed under green on lap 53
Cloce on used tires pushed up the track in turn one and this allowed
Brittain and Jan Leaty to get by. Cloce was dropped back to fifth on the
next lap as Mike Leaty and Beers both got by.
Up front Brittain was trying his best on used tires to hold off Jan Leaty
for the lead. Entering turn three on lap 58 Jan jumped to the outside groove
to pull even with Brittain and exiting turn four the Brittain car wiggled
and this gave Jan the lead.
The wiggle by Brittain caused the final caution period of the race as
when he corrected he nearly spun out the car out. This caused the rest of
the field on new tires to bottle up and the resulting contact saw Mike Leaty
slam into the turn four outside wall on the driver’s side door. Mike emerged
from his wrecked race car uninjured as the foam blocks that are placed at
this point in front of the wall did their job. The strong runs of Tim
McMullen and Chuck Hossfeld also ended at this point as they were also
involved.
When the race resumed on lap 64 Jan Leaty held the lead over Beers,
Wilbur Hebing, Potrzebowski, and Billy Putney.
Defending RoC Champion Matt Hirschman started to make his presence felt
as he moved into fifth on lap 67. With Potrzebowski battling Hebing for
third and Hirschman closing in on this battle TJ pulled off two successive
turn two inside passes to keep Hirschman at bay.
The first pass by Potrzebowski occurred on lap 73 as he moved into third.
After Hirschman moved into fourth on lap 75 followed by Rusty Smith who took
fifth from Hebing a three car battle for third now turned into a four car
battle for second as the trio caught Beers.
Potrzebowski then pulled off his second consecutive inside turn two pass
on lap 77 as he took second from Beers. It took Hirschman three additional
laps to make the pass of Beers and one lap later Smith took fourth.
With the race staying under green flag conditions Leaty and Potrzebowski
opened up a huge advantage over Hirschman as these two veteran drivers were
going to decide who was going to win the race. Even as the top two cars
raced in heavy lap traffic over the final ten laps Hirschman still didn’t
have enough time to track down the leading duo.
At the checkers Jan Leaty in for the popular home town win over
Potrzebowski, Hirschman, Smith, and Beers who held off Rick Kluth at the
line for fifth.
Qualifying for the 24 car field saw heat wins go to Jan Leaty, Mike Leaty,
and Putney.
SPENCER SPOTLIGHTS; A second pace vehicle was used to keep pit road speed
at 25 mph during pit stops. Many drivers before the feature expressed
concerns over this but in the end the move worked wonders as pit lane was a
much safer place for all pit crews and officials. The truck which hauls the
cars of Eric Beers and Chip Santee broke down in Clarks Summit, Pa. and
after a new truck was summoned both cars arrived at the track after hot
laps. Don Stevens was wheeling the second Rick Kluth owned car. For the
first time in a long time both John Markovic and Matt Clemens missed the
show.
RACE REPORT RACE OF CHAMPIONS DART ASPHALT MODIFIED TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP
SERIES RACE # 1 FINISH: Jan Leaty, T J Potrzebowski, Matt Hirschman, Rusty
Smith, Eric Beers, Rick Kluth, Billy Putney, Earl Paules, Daren Scherer,
Daryl Lewis, Jr., Jim Storace, Tommy Cloce, Pete Brittain, Chip Santee, Mark
Tychoniewicz, Wilbur Hebing, Kyle Ebersole, Mike Leaty, Chuck Hossfeld, Jeff
Hamman, Tim McMullen, Doug Reaume, Tom Wiest, Don Stevens.
LAP LEADERS; J. Leaty ( 1 – 50 ), Cloce ( 51 – 53 ), Brittain ( 54 – 58
), J. Leaty ( 59 – 100 ).
DART MACHINERY AWARD SET OF $1,500 HEADS; Wiest.
HOOISER RACING TIRE HARD CHARGER AWARD; Hirschman ( 21st to 3rd ).
HOOSIER RACING TIRE HARD LUCK AWARD; M. Leaty ( 3rd to 18th ).
NEXT RoC RACE; Saturday September 5th – Oswego Speedway – Parts Plus 125
- $5,000 to win – Final Regular Season Point Race.