Godown Claims Inaugural STSS Elite Series Race # 1 and $25,000 at Cherokee Speedway & Pit Notes

Ryan Godown showed patience and persistence once again as he moved from 6^th on lap 25 to the lead on lap 40 while holding Larry Wight at bay during five restarts during the final 7 laps to take the $25,000 victory of Race 1 of 6 of the inaugural season of the STSS Elite Series.

The first half of the 50 lap feature ran green with pole setter HJ Bunting with NY upstart Bobby Hackel in second until the first caution on lap 25.  A 5 car tangle brought on the second caution on lap 27. On the ensuing restart Larry Wight took over the lead with Godown moving into 2^nd from 4^th.  Godown patiently stalked Wight until lap 39 when he made his first move and it stuck sending him into the lead.  On lap 43 the first of five additional cautions came out as right rear tires began to expire throughout the field.  Wight challenged Godown on all 5 of the restarts in the final 7 laps but in the end Godown was able to hold Wight off each time and take the first trip to the inaugural STSS Elite Series victory lane by 1.5 second margin of victory.

With only three laps remaining in the 50-lap feature; the top ten took a seismic reshaping when Friesen, Sheppard, Perrego, Buffalino and Marc Johnson went to the pits for a flat or mechanical problems which allowed several drivers to move into the top ten for the first time all day.  The top ten was rounded out by Larry Wight in second place followed by Billy Pauch Jr., Jimmy Horton, Michael Maresca, Max McLaughlin, Ronnie Johnson, Darren Smith, Billy Vaninwegen and Matt Williamson in 10^th place.

The heat race winners on Friday night were Larry Wight, Matt Sheppard, Stewart Friesen, and Danny Creeden.  The heats paid $1,000 to win and were 20 laps with 15 cars each. 

‘REBEL 50’ RESULTS SUMMARY – CHEROKEE SPEEDWAY FEBRUARY 26, 2022

 ‘Elite’ Series Round No. 1 Modified Feature Finish (50 laps): 

 1.RYAN GODOWN, 2. Larry Wight, 3. Billy Pauch Jr., 4. Jimmy Horton, 5. Michael Maresca, 6. Max McLaughlin, 7. Ronnie Johnson, 8. Darren Smith, 9. Billy Van Inwegen, 10. Mat Williamson, 11. Alex Yankowski, 12. Ryan Watt, 13. J.R. Heffner, 14. Alan Johnson, 15. Dominick Buffalino, 16. Matt Sheppard, 17. Marc Johnson, 18. Stewart Friesen, 19. Anthony Perrego, 20. Jeremy Pitts, 21. H.J. Bunting, 22. Bobby Hackel, 23. Billy Decker, 24. Danny Creeden, 25. Jeff Taylor, 26. Demetrios Drellos, 27. Jack Lehner, 28. Andy Bachetti, 29. Jimmy Phelps, 30. Rocky Warner.

Did Not Qualify:

Adam Pierson, Ryan Krachun, Doug Snyder, David Schilling, Brett Haas, Allison Ricci, Neil Stratton, Jared Umbenhauer, Sean Metz, Matt Smith, Bob McGannon, WB James, Steve Davis, Peter Britten, Francois Bellemare, Mike Mahaney, Mike Gular, Sean Beardsley, Marshall Hurd, Daniel Morgiewicz, Derrick McGrew Jr., Jacob Dgien, Mike Trautschold, Erick Rudolph, L.J. Lombardo, Matt Stangle, Corbin Millar.

Modified Pit Notes

61 modifieds were in attendance and 30 cars took the green for the 50-lap feature on Saturday.  The field was qualified from heats and last chance races with no provisional starting positions awarded. 

It may had been South Carolina instead of Louisiana; but Ryan Godown has started his 2022 season in the same place he ended his 2021 – victory lane.  With a win at the 76er and 10 wins at Bridgeport Speedway in 2021; Godown is in contention with Billy Pauch Jr. for the title of “ STSS King of the South.”   Both Godown and Pauch have had consistent success at the Short Track Super Series and any where else they go in the post Covid-19 racing seasons.

Godown started the weekend with a 3^rd place finish from a 10^th starting draw in his heat race and he quietly got the 6^th redraw position for the feature.  Nothing flashy or overwhelming just quietly moving forward to get where the #26 needs to be.  Starting 6^th in the 50-lap feature Godown stayed in 6^th for the first 25 laps and then he moved from 6^th to 2^nd in 3 laps.  Once he got the lead on lap 39, he turned away challenges for the lead by Larry Wight and Stewart Friesen on 5 restarts in the final 7 laps of the race.

Larry Wight has been out of the top ten only once in 9 races so far this season and tonight makes his 4^th second place finish of the season.  Wight started the weekend strong with a 20-lap heat race heat win on Friday night from a 14^th place starting position.  Wight’s strong run continued in the feature taking the lead on lap 27 from his 5^th starting position but ultimately, he finished 2^nd to winner Ryan Godown.     

In the feature Billy Pauch finished a strong 3^rd from a 19^th starting position.  Pauch may have struggled with heat race draw luck and missing the feature redraw but made up for it with a solid car moving forward and working anywhere on the track.  Pauch finished 5^th in his 20 lap heat from a 12^th starting position placing him 19^th in the 50 lap feature. 

Billy Pauch Jr. continues to consistently make solid top 5 runs no matter where he starts in the field.  This season he has two 2^nd place finishes, a 3^rd, and a 4^th place finish which is just a continuation of his 2021 STSS success.   Next up on the STSS Elite schedule is Georgetown which without a doubt is a home track advantage for Billy Jr. as demonstrated by his absolute dominance last year winning nearly every appearance at Georgetown in 2021.    

He’s back.  On Friday it was clear that the long-lost Jimmy Horton was back when he finished 6^th from a 10^th starting position in his heat as Horton looked smooth and back to form.  That assessment was proven to be true on Saturday; when Horton finished 4^th from his 22^nd starting position and he once again looked like the pre-pandemic Jimmy Horton.   Horton went from 7^th to 4^th in the final three laps and looks ready to make some noise again in victory lane during the 2022 season.

A late race tire & mechanical failure epidemic took Friesen, Sheppard, Perrego, Marc Johnson and Buffalino out of the top ten with 3 laps to go.

For the 6^th to 10^th feature finishers; the story was staying with it and back to front runs being rewarded with top ten finishes.

Ronnie Johnson making the strongest run of them all; finishing 7^th from a 29^th starting position and coming from the last transfer position in his last chance race.

Darren Smith had a flat tire and went into the pits on lap 25 and 39.  On lap 40 he was in 25^th place and in 10 short laps along with 5 long cautions managed to get a well-deserved 8^th place finish.

Billy VanInwegen had also fell back to 22^nd position on lap 30 and managed to finish in 9^th place.

Max McLaughlin made a solid back to front run with a 6^th place finish from a 20^th starting position.

Ryan Krachun and Adam Pierson both just missed qualifying by one position and battled to the checkered flag for the final transfer position.

Doug Snyder and the JRM Racing team missed qualifying by 2 positions but were delighted by the progress of their new team so far this season.  Doug commented “We came here with an underpowered spec 358 motor since we hurt our open motor in Florida.  We learned a lot about our 21 Teo Elite chassis and really got comfortable racing at a high level with 60 of the best modified talents in the Northeast.  We were really able to improve more than we expected and got some great notes to advance our preparation for the 2022 season.” 

Mike Gular had a flat tire take him out of 2^ND place and a redraw position on Friday’s heat race and send him to a last chance race on Saturday.  Gular was again running in 2^nd and  in a transfer position in the last chance consolation when mechanical issues end his night taking him from a qualifying position to an DNQ. 

Mike Mahaney is the defending STSS South Region Points champion and continues to have a rough start to the 2022 season.  The bad draws in the heat races have been complicated with a race car that can’t move forward from the back of the field.  Mahaney had a successfully final race at Volusia with a 4^th place finish. But it was back to the drawing board at Cherokee with a 14^th pill pull for the heat and a car unable to move forward in his heat race.  Nonetheless Mahaney has two weeks to find and expel his gremlins and he will be ready to defend his 2021 South Region STSS championship at the season opener on March 10-12 at Georgetown Speedway.

Eric Rudolph had another disappointing week for the second week in a row that ended with a contact incident ending his weekend early again.  Rudolph got off to a great start to his season on the Sunshine Swing with all top 5 finishes and then he has been beset with bad racing luck.  This week it was contact in his heat race that couldn’t be repaired at the track.

The Melvin L. Joseph Memorial at Georgetown Speedway in Georgetown, Del. is on deck for the ‘Elite Series’, scheduled for just two weeks, Thursday-Saturday, March 10-12. Once again, the field will battle for $25,000, $1,000 for 16th and $500 to start.