Small Block Modified Pit Notes – Delaware State Championships Day 1

Day 1 of the Delaware State Championships saw a full program of small block modified racing capped with a 50 lap feature event while the big blocks & crates qualified for their feature tomorrow. The unusually balmy October temperatures in the mid 70’s during the day also brought some surprising fog that briefly rolled onto the track during the small block modified feature.

The field was lead to green by Richie Pratt Jr and Ryan Krachun with Laubach a close 3^rd.  An early yellow turned into a red on lap 3 as a fog rolled into the turns of the track giving a dusty like visible haze.  The officials poled the drivers and the majority agreed that the visibility was acceptable and to continue racing.  As the race progressed the fog lifted and was no longer an issue.  After racing resumed; Laubach powered past Krachun on lap 4 and then inherited the lead on a lap 8 caution when the leader Pratt pulled into the pits during a caution for a Ryan Watt’s right front flat tire. Despite a flat left front tire Laubach continued to hold about a 1 second lead on a charging Krachun until lap 24 when lapped traffic was 2 wide and Laubach got bottled up on the high line and hindered by his left front flat while Krachun was able to get through with the low and make the pass for the lead.  From there Krachun was able to check out to nearly a 3 second lead and ride the next 26 green flag laps right into victory lane for his first win of the season.

In victory lane Ryan noted “I knew we were coming up on lapped traffic and Rick was dealing with a left front flat tire. From the start of my career Rick has been my mentor and it was great to run side by side with him on the way to my first win of the season.  I saw his car had been ill handling due to the front flat and knew it would eventually mess him up.  It was great to get this first win of the year in front of the Delaware fans.”

A very strong top ten was rounded out by Rick Laubach in 2^nd place, Ryan Watt, HJ Bunting, Richie Pratt, JoJo Watson, Jim Britt, Ryan Riddle, James Hill and Rick Regalski in 10^th.

In addition the preliminary heat races for the Big Block 50 lap feature and Crate 602 feature on Saturday was also completed during the Friday night program.

Top 10 big block qualifiers for tomorrow’s 50 lap feature were Jordon Justice, Kevin Sockriter, Rickey Elliot, Jordan Watson, Rick Laubach, Richie Pratt Jr, HJ Bunting, Austin Hubbard, Rick Regalski and Jojo Watson.

The top 8 crate qualifiers for tomorrow’s 25 lap feature were Justin Grosso, Trent Willey, Adam White, Scott Hitchens, Greg Humlhanz, Brad Trice, Sean Metz and David Jenkins.

Small Block Modified Pit Notes

Despite a temporary fog delay; Ryan Krachun parked his 29K in the Delaware International victory lane for his first win of the season in only his second trip to DIS.  Krachun has gotten red hot in the last month just in time for special events season with a # 1 qualifier at Bridgeport 100 lapper; 3^rd at New Egypt’s 100 lap All Star Cup; a 2^nd, 4^th & 4^th at the Big Diamond Nationals as well as finishing all 3 triple 20’s at Grandview with 50 cars on the grounds and now has added the long awaited trip to victory lane in only his second visit to Delaware International Speedway to top off a month long of strong performances week in and week out.  Krachun was ready for his long awaited trip to victory lane as he had entered the gambler’s race which increased his winnings from 3,000 to 5,000 for the night.  With two more big weekends to go in 2020 at Georgetown and Bridgeport Krachun is hoping this is just the beginning of the winning.

Rick Laubach made the trip to Delaware this year instead of going north and got his weekend of modified racing off to a good start with a 2^nd place finish in his 1K entry. Laubach got a flat left front tire around lap 5 but then showed his years of driving experience by taking the ill handling car to a second place finish only 3 seconds behind the winner Ryan Krachun and 10 seconds in front of the rest of the field. Post-race Laubach noted “I had to change my driving style and ease off the gas so the car didn’t lay over on the left front. When the lapped cars made erratic moves then I had to erratic moves to over-compensate for the left front and ultimately was the reason we gave the lead up.”

Ryan Watt had an early flat that sent him to the back of the field but Watt was able to run back through the field for a 3rd place podium finish.

Jim Britt has recently returned to racing with both a small block and big block entry.  Britt’s luck finally changed and he was able to secure his best finish of the season with 7^th place.

Jim Hill recently made the switch to small block modified with his # 1 entry and his 9^th place finish was his best small block modified finish so far.  Hill started in 6^th position but got shuffled back to 22^nd by lap 2 but quickly recovered and by lap 12 was back in 9^th place where he stayed to the end of the race.

A big surprise for the weekend was the attendance of Rick Regalski from Slippery Rock, PA.  Regalski made the 5 hour tow to DIS with high hopes in both small and big block features.  Regalski got off to a good start with a top 10 finish in 10th place.   

One of the most surprising occurrences of the weekend was to see fog roll into the turns of the track and cause the race to be red flagged at lap 4 due to poor visibility.  The drivers agreed 60 % to 40 % that the visibility was acceptable to race.  Within a few laps the fog dissipated and racing was back to normal.

11 of the 23 starters finished the race still running on the track at the checkered flag.

Delaware International Speedway has concluded their 2020 racing season and is looking forward to the start of their 2021 racing season in the spring of 2021.  Stay tuned for 2021 schedule announcements.