Carlson Captures BNC Motorsports SDW Pro Stock Championship

Syracuse, NY - October 7, 2007 – By Dave Medler, DIRTcar NorthEast Series Reporter
 
Don Carlson battled current Hoosier Tire-Sunoco Race Fuels Mr. DIRTcar Series points leader Pete Stefanski then held off a late race challenge from Eric Marin to win the headline BNC Motorsports 25 Championship for Pro Stocks on Sunday at the "Moody Mile" as part of Super DIRT Week XXXVI.

 

"I wasn’t worried about only the 2 car (Stefanski), I was aware of everyone around me, said Carlson, after scoring his first-ever Pro Stock Series win. “There were some good cars out there today."
 
At the start of the BNC 25 Super DIRT Week Championship, pole-sitter Stefanski got the jump on the 36-car starting field into turn one and opened up a 15-car length advantage over the rest of the field. As soon as Stefanski opened the big lead the first yellow flew on the initial circuit for the slowing car of Jay Corbin in turns three and four.
 
On the restart, sixth-place starting Kenny Martin got the jump and moved into the runner-up slot. With Martin in second, Stefanski wasn’t able to build up the lead he had on the original start as Martin stayed right with the series points leader. 
 
Just when the race was starting to set a solid pace the caution came out again on lap four, this time for Kevin Arnold who made hard contact with the wall on the back straightaway and his mount was taken pitside. The yellow came out again on the next lap as Dave Teidman appeared to have something break and launched his no.115 hard into the outside turn four wall. Teidman’s car was heavily damaged and done for the day.
 
Once the race resumed Stefanski continued to lead, still being chased by Martin and Carlson. Tom Kuck and Eric Marin were now starting to make their presence known, running fourth and fifth in a tight pack up front. Canadian challenger Gilles Godard got turned around in turn two and couldn’t slow down in time before hitting the outside wall on lap seven to force another slowdown.
 
Martin was staying with Stefanski yet making no progress getting by the leader and swung his car to the high side out of turn four in what turned out to be his final attempt. He was hoping to gain enough speed to out-race the leader into turn one but it didn’t work as Martin got freight-trained on the bottom and shuffled back to eighth allowing Stefanski to once again open up a comfortable margin on the field. 
 
With Stefasnski out front, all eyes turned to the intense battle for second between Lebanon Valley Speedway runner Carlson and Orange County Fair Speedway regular Marin as the pair battled nose-to-tail and side-by-side with neither able to gain an advantage or cut into Stefanski’s seemingly solid lead.
 
Another caution slowed the race on lap 11 as Rick Dempsey, who was trying to progress forward on the top side, went a little too high in the marbles and got sucked into the turn three wall. When the green lights came back on, Carlson found the speed he needed to outrace Stefanski into turn one to grab the top spot.
 
Just before the halfway point the top-five of Carlson, Stefanski, Marin, Nick Stone and Tom Kuck ran bumper-to-bumper around the Syracuse Mile. Just when this battle was heating up, Super DIRT Week rookies Bill Woodard and David Papineau got collected up into the turn three wall.
 
On lap17 Stefanski, who was on Carlson’s bumper, suddenly swung to the high side of Carlson trying to grab the lead back going into turn one. The move was unsuccessful and Stefanski settled back in behind Carlson. The next lap Stefanski tried the same move again going down the front straight, although this time an alert Marin who was sitting in third watching the battle for the lead, went to the inside of Stefanski to take over second.
 
The yellow flew for the last time for debris on lap 21 to set up a four-lap shootout to the finish. Carlson, Marin Stefanski, Stone and Sean Corr were all within striking distance of the win to keep the crowd on edge over the final laps.
 
On the final restart Carlson and Marin were able to open a small distance over the rest of the top-five, setting up their own race for the mile win. Marin would start to pull even with Carlson and each time Carlson had just enough speed to hold back every challenge. On the final lap coming out of turn four Marin gave it one last shot to the high side but at the finish but came up a 3/4 car-length shy.
 
Carlson finally got his Syracuse victory after coming close before. Marin settled for second ahead of Stefanski, Camping World race rookie Nick Stone and Sean Corr to complete the top-five.

Mr. DIRTcar Pro Stock Series Race #7 – New York State Fairgrounds, October 7, 2007 BNC Motorsports Championship Event Summary

FIN      STR    CAR#            DRIVER                                                         LAPS  $WON$

1          2          26        Don Carlson / Ridgefield,CT                     25        2,000

2          8          214     Eric Marin / Carmel,NY                               25        1,000

3          1          2          Pete Stefanski / Wheatfield,NY                 25        700

4          3          27X     Nick Stone / Schenectady,NY®                25        500

5          19        81        Sean Corr / Goshen,NY                             25        400

6          7          3          Tom Kuck / Mahopac,NY                           25        300

7          13        92        Joey Ladouceur / Alexandria,ONT           25        275

8          10        4          Roch Aubin / Alexandria,ONT                   25        250

9          21        47        Dave Bissonnette / Apple Hill,ONT          25        225

10        22        17        Nick Hilt Jr. / Averill Park,NY                      25        200

11        11        73        P.J. Peters / Akwesasne,QUE                   25        190

12        5          18        Louie Jackson / Akwesasne,NY               25        180

13        15        116S   Chip Smith / Durham,NY®                                    25        170

14        26        322     Jay Casey / Canaan,CT                             25        160

15        25        72        Denis Gauvreau / Gatineau,QUE             25        150

16        17        88        Allen Peters / Massena,NY                                    25        150

17        12        324     Jason Casey / Canaan,CT                         25        150

18        20        8          Jay Corbin / Rensselaer,NY®                   25        150

19        6          93        Kenny Martin Jr. / Scotia,NY                      25        150

20        32        99        Mike Martin / Lockport,NY                          25        150

21        34        18W    Bob Waters Jr. / Stony Point,NY®                        25        150

22        27        12        Clayton Benedict / Akwesasne,ONT        25        150

23        33        48        Dion Oakes / Akwesasne,NY                    25        150

24        16        1          Mike Vigiletti / Stony Point,NY®                25        150

25        9          28        Don Barnes / Gasport,NY®                        25        150

26        30        77        Paul Rogers / Averill Park,NY®                25        150

27        31        05        Jocelyn Roy / St-Helene,QUE                   25        150

28        35        98T     Jack Terrell / Jamesville,NY®                    25        150

29        28        49        Bill Woodward Jr. / Norwood,NY®            21        150

30        23        188X   David Papineau / Akwesasne,ONT®       13        150

31        4          35        Rick Dempsey / Nassau,NY                      10        150

32        24        27        Gilles Godard / Cornwall,ONT®                5          150

33        18        76        Kevin Arnold / Averill Park,NY                  4          150

34        29        115     Dave Teidman / West Sand Lake,NY      4          150

35        14        00        Kim Duell / Porter Corners,NY                  2          150

36        36        BA98  Steve Johnston / Ingelside,ONT®                        1          150

LAP LEADERS:   Stefanski (1-12), Carlson (13-25).                            

CAUTIONS:   7 (lap 2, lap 5, lap 6, lap 7, lap 11, lap 14, lap 21).                                

ELAPSED TIME:  40 mins. 26 secs.                                

MARGIN OF VICTORY:   .112 secs.                                

CAMPING WORLD ROOKIE OF THE RACE:   Nick Stone.                                       

THOMPSON MOTORSPORTS HARD CHARGER AWARD:   Sean Corr.              

DIG SAFELY NEW YORK HALFWAY BONUS:   Don Carlson.                                

GATER RACING NEWS BEST APPEARING CAR:   #2 - Pete Stefanski.              

NYSSCA 'TOP MEMBER' AWARD:   Nick Stone.                                

TERRELL'S POTATO CHIPS POLE WINNER:   Pete Stefanski (36.852 sec/97.688 mph).                                 

TERRELL'S OUTSIDE POLE WINNER:   Don Carlson (36.889 sec/97.590 mph).

RACE ROOKIES®:   12.                            

CARS ENTERED:   53.                              

FINAL EVENT:

Top full-fender teams will have to wait two more weeks before the overall 2007 Mr. DIRTcar Pro Stock Champion will be crowned at Orange County Fair Speedway during Eastern States Weekend on Sunday, October 21.

2007 Mr. DIRTcar Pro Stock Series Championship Schedule

DAY-DATE    LAPS  TRACK                                  LOCATION/WINNER

Sun-May 6      25      Rolling Wheels Raceway   Allen Peters

Sun-Sep 2       50      Cornwall Motor Speedway Pete Stefanski

Fri-Sep 7          50      Autodrome Edelweiss         Pete Stefanski

Sat-Sep 8        35      Frogtown Int’l Speedway    Allen Peters

Sat-Sep 22      30      Rolling Wheels Raceway   Louie Jackson

Fri-Sep 28       30      Fulton Speedway                Pete Stefanski

Sun-Oct 7        25      New York State Fairgrnds  Don Carlson

Sun-Oct 21      25      Orange Co Fair SpeedwayMiddletown,NY

*All events subject to change.

The DIRTcar Advance Auto Parts Modified Series is brought to fans across the Northeast by several sponsors and partners, including series sponsors Advance Auto Parts, Hoosier Racing Tire and Sunoco Race Fuels. Promotional partners include AMB i.t., F.X. Caprara Car Companies and the University of Northwestern Ohio and the contingency sponsors are Bert Transmission, Bicknell Racing Products, Bilstein Shocks, Brodix Cylinder Heads, Integra Shocks, MSD Ignitions, Miller Electric Manufacturing Company and Wrisco Industries.