Weedsport, has always been one of the most technical race tracks the League of Outlaws IMCA Style Modifieds has on the schedule. It has produced some amazing racing in the past but this week in particular, there was lots of mayhem. That didn’t affect James Murphy though as he won his heat race putting himself on the pole for the feature and walked away from the Empire State 40 with yet another feature win.
In heat one, Mason Setting was supposed to start on the pole but missed the start which moved everyone on the inside row up one position. This put Jared Murphy on pole with Ty Dickenson on the outside of row one and James Murphy in 3rd. Once the green flag came out, Ty Dickenson did not get going and the entire outside line suffered. Jared and James quickly separated themselves from the field heading into turn one. Dickenson fell back all the way to around the 5th position was a few laps into the race, he was able to get back to the 3rd position as he worked his way around Robert Floyd and Scooter Black.
Back up front was the battle between the Murphy brothers. Jared ran the high line all race and was able to get a little bit of a gap between he and James. James kept working the bottom in 1 and 2 and moved up high in 3 and 4 and was able to run down Jared coming into the final laps. White flag out, Jared still with the lead, James ran the low line into 3 and 4 and was able to complete the pass. Off of 4, Jared shot down low to cross over his brother and the two crossed the line side by side with James beating his brother Jared for the heat race 1 win.
In the second heat race, Mason Bistodeau would sit on the pole with AJ Hunsinger to his outside. 3rd would be Tyler Bickford, 4th, Braden Jarvis, 5th Matt Taylor, and Thomas Levister in 6th. Bistodeau, brought the field to the green and began accelerating early in 3 and 4 but Hunsinger hung with him as did the rest of the field and everyone fired off down the front stretch. As the field threw their cars into the tricky turn 1, Hunsinger prevailed up top off of turn 2 with the lead. Down into 3 and 4, Tyler Bickford would try to battle for the 2nd position down low on the bottom.
Most of the race, it was Hunsinger out front but Bistodeau and Bickford would battle for 2nd spot, side by side every lap with Jarvis, Levister, and Taylor in pursuit. With two to go, Bistodeau would throw it into turn one a little too hard and get up into the outside wall in turn 2. This allowed Bickford to complete the pass for 2nd and charge towards Hunsinger for the lead. Hunsinger would win heat #2 with Bickford comfortably in the 2nd position. Bistodeau, would hang onto 3rd, Jarvis 4th, Levister 5th, and Taylor 6th.
Just prior to the feature event, the drivers were able to hit the track once more for a 5 minute warm up session to get in a few more practice laps before they did battle for 40 laps in the Empire State 40 at Weedsport. James Murphy, would top the charts with a lap time of 16.80, Jared with a 16.82, Hunsinger with a 16.85, Bickford with a 16.86, and Mason Settling rounding out the 5th quickest time with a 16.88.
Heat winners James Murphy and AJ Hunsinger would start from the front row. Jared Murphy and Tyler Bickford on the second row. James Murphy, rolled into turns 3 and 4 to bring the field to the green flag. James jumped out to the lead quickly and Jared Murphy was almost able to clear Hunsinger for the 2nd position but Hunsinger fought back on the top side. Coming to the line to complete lap 1, Jared Murphy, running the bottom, came up towards the wall on the straighaway but Hunsinger was still at his outside door and the two drivers made slight contact.
No harm, no foul and they drove into turn 1. The two drivers would remain side by side the following lap as well but this time across the line, Jared Murphy had the slight advantage. Hunsinger, would back off the throttle a little early into turn 1 to try cross over Jared. Jared, still expecting Hunsinger to be up on the top, unintentionally chopped Hunsinger on the exit of turn 2 and Hunsinger would hit the wall with his LF wheel. The contact broke the LF and Hunsinger would not be able to turn the car. Heading into turn 3, Hunsinger’s car went straight and Bickford, who was coming up top with momentum, would get hit and Bickford would make hard contact with the wall bringing out the first yellow flag. Both drivers would go pitside and use their one and only quick repair.
Green flag back out, now the top 3 in the Murphys 1 and 2, with Ty Dickenson in 3rd. The first lap after the restart was clean but not the next lap. Bistodeau, trying to work on the outside of Dickenson, made contact with the RR of Dickenson off of turn 2 and the contact hooked Ty Dickenson head on into the wall on the front stretch. Dickenson, would then flip his car up and over. Several cars got a piece of it, but for the most part everyone did a great job avoiding the accident without too much damage.
On the next restart, Murphy brothers still out front but now with Jarvis and Floyd in 3rd and 4th. Jarvis, began working the bottom to try and get around Jared for the second spot. Jarvis, would pull up along side Jared every corner, but Jared would get the forward drive off the corner, riding the momentum of that high line all the way down the straightaways.
A little further back, Big Matty D, Matt Pridgen, was all the way up to the 5th spot after starting all the way back in the 11th position. Right behind him was Bistodeau, continuing his strong performance tonight as well as Thomas Levister. Right behind those two was the two drivers involved in the first yellow flag of the night, Hunsinger and Bickford as they were both trying to make their way back up front, running in the 8th and 9th position.
Through the next 10-12 laps, the top 6 didn’t change but there was a bunch of racing mid-pack through the rest of the field. The top line seemed like it started to be the faster line but guys were also making good pace on the bottom as well. This produced some great 2 and 3 wide racing. On lap 21, Hunsinger who had been passing the majority of the cars on the bottom, began to run the top. He was able to catch Bistodeau for 7th position but Bistodeau was running the top so Hunsinger had to try making something work on the bottom. Hunsinger, would just barely grave the inside wall going into turn 3 and would again break his LF. This time, nobody else was collected. The yellow flag would come out and Hunsinger would take his #33A machine into the pits for repairs.
The Murphy brothers, bring the field back to the green flag on lap 22. James and Jared both ran the high line and once again, Jarvis was trying to work the bottom around Jared for the runner up spot. Jarvis had a great 3 and 4 and thought he had cleared Jared off of turn 4 but he didn’t. Jarvis, was turned sideways into the wall under the flag stand off the nose of Jared Murphy. Robert Floyd, just behind this battle and having a great run, got into the rear of Jared Murphy causing Jared’s car to go airborne and tumble over and over. Matt Pridgen, drove right underneath Jared’s flipping car. Cars involved in the wreck would be Jarvis, Jared Murphy, Floyd, Ty Dickenson, Thomas Levister, and Hunsinger would also get a little piece of Dickenson at the end. Several drivers would go pitside for repairs.
Heading into the next restart, it was James Murphy still out front, Robert Floyd in 2nd but with RF damage as his RF wheel was pointed way right front a bent tie rod, and Matt Pridgen now all the way up to 3rd position. Floyd, hung on well for most of the first lap after the restart with the RF damage but fell back to 3rd as Pridgen was able to get around him for 2nd. Heading into turn 3, Floyd went in a little too deep and got into Pridgen causing Floyd’s #02 machine to suddenly check up as he got very sideways. This caused a stack up on the bottom line as Smith got into Floyd and then Hunsinger’s night just kept getting worse and worse as he had nowhere to go and got into Smith. Matt Taylor had to go all the way into the infield and Hunsinger, Jared Murphy, Jarvis, and Bistodeau were about 4 wide off of turn 4 after the stack-up. Hunsinger, getting ping-ponged around and hooked from the rear from both corners, finally gathered it up and would come out of the mess in 6th, but now with even more damage than he had before from earlier incidents.
There was so much rubbing from 6th place on back, so much 2 and 3 wide racing, the drivers did an amazing job keeping things straight. Back up front with about 10 to go, James Murphy was in the lead still, Pridgen 2nd, Bickford made his way back up to 3rd, Robert Floyd doing an amazing job hanging onto his damaged car in 4th, with Jarvis and Jared Murphy trying to chase Floyd down. Jarvis and Jared Murphy would both get around the wounded #02 car of Robert Floyd and Floyd would fall to 6th position.
With 4 to go, our last yellow flag would wave. Mason Bistodeau, trying to work the bottom around Mason Setting, would clip the inside wall entering turn 3 and break his LF. The damage caused him to go up the track into Mason Setting a little bit and Bistodeau would spin his car around, bringing out the yellow flag.
Green flag back in the air with a single file restart. Murphy, Pridgen, Bickford, Jarvis, and Jared Murphy as the top 5 and Robert Floyd still hanging on strong in 6th. The battle for 3rd, 4th, and 5th heated up as Bickford, Jarvis, and Jared Murphy were 3 wide with 1 lap to go. James Murphy would take the win, Pridgen coming home in 2nd, Bickford hanging onto 3rd with Jarvis 4th and Jared Murphy 5th. 6th was Robert Floyd, 7th Levister, 8th Matt Taylor, Mason Setting 9th, and Ty Dickenson in 10th. Bistodeau, Hunsinger, and Scooter Black would all get a DNF finishing 11th, 12th, and 13th.
FULL RESULTS
RACE REPLAY
PHOTO GALLERY
Leave a Reply