6/10/2023
Brewerton Speedway
Todd Root Wins First Brewerton Speedway Big Block Modified Feature
By Dave Medler
BREWERTON, NY - (June 9, 2023) - Friday night at the Brewerton Speedway Todd Root, a Tracey Road DIRTcar Big Block Modified rookie, looked anything but like a rookie grabbing his first career victory against one of the toughest weekly fields in the Northeast.
The streak of no repeat modified feature winners continues. Root is the fifth different feature winner in five races at the speedway in 2023.
Root would take the lead on lap seven of the 35-Lap feature and would never look back. He would see big leads evaporate through cautions and even a red flag. Each restart, Root was on rails on the top side of the speedway, winning by over one second at the checkers.
Other winners on Thompson & Johnson Equipment Company Family Autograph Night. Richard Murtaugh (DOT Foods DIRTcar Sportsman) Kyle Demo (AmeriCU Credit Union Mod Lites) Chris Bonoffski (Mirabito Four-Cylinder Super Stocks).
Jeff Prentice and Jim Witko Jr. would bring the 29-car starting field to the green, with Witko taking the early lead in the 35-Lap Modified feature.
After an early caution, Root, who was hammering the top of the speedway, would power by Witko to be scored the new leader on lap seven.
By lap ten Root would open a straightaway lead over Witko as Jeff Taylor, Prentice, and Darren Smith were locked in a tight battle for third through fifth.
Root would open a 2.5 second lead just before halfway as he started catching the back of the field. Witko, Taylor, Smith, and Max McLaughlin were using every inch of the speedway, not only racing each other but looking for a way to close in on Root.
By lap twenty, Root still had a sizable lead as he was trying to put lap cars between himself and the rest of the top-five as Witko and Taylor raced side by side for second and third with Smith and McLaughlin in the top-five.
A yellow on lap twenty-one would erase Root’s 2.5 second lead. The top-three rows for the restart would be Root, Taylor, Witko, Smith, McLaughlin, and Larry Wight who started fourteenth.
A red would come out on lap twenty-four when Andrew Ferguson rolled in turns three and four. Ferguson was okay. Also involved were Nick Krause, Tyler Trump, Ronnie Davis III, and Taylor Caprara. Everyone but Ferguson drove away.
With ten laps to go, Root, Taylor, and Wight were in a three-car breakaway at the front of the field as the final laps started clicking off the scoring tower.
The yellow flag would wave on lap twenty-seven and would give the field one last shot at Root to steal away the win.
When the race went back to green, there was no stopping Todd Root as he drove away from the field for his first career DIRTcar Big Block Modified feature win. Jeff Taylor, Larry Wight, Tim Sears Jr., and Darren Smith completed the top-five.
AJ Miller would take the lead on the opening lap of the 25-Lap Sportsman feature and by lap five would open a straightaway lead. Behind him, you could throw a blanket over Richard Murtaugh, Earl Rudy, Zach Sobotka, and Stephen Marshall racing for top-five positions.
A yellow on lap eight and restart would see Murtaugh use the top of the speedway to drive by Miller into the lead.
Murtaugh was on cruise control at the front of the field with ten laps remaining as he opened a half a straightaway lead over Marshall and Miller, with Sobotka and Cody Manitta in fourth and fifth. A yellow on lap twenty-four would set up a green, white, checkered dash to the finish.
When the race went back to green, there was no stopping Richard Murtaugh as he outran Stephen Marshall to the checkers. AJ Miller, Brandon Carvey, and Cody Manitta finished third through fifth.
Murtaugh would say in victory lane he ran the entire feature with no brakes, making his win more impressive.
Chris Bonoffski would continue his winning ways in the Four-Cylinder Super Stocks. He would take the lead on lap five and would never look back in the 15-Lap feature. Zak Petrie, Colby Herzog, Clayton Koch, and Nate Powers completed the top five.
Kyle Demo would go from the sixth starting spot and would have the lead on lap one and from there would cruise to the 20-Lap Mod Lite feature win. Joe Garafolo, Brad Harris, Matt Kitts, and Mike Mullen finished second through fifth.
A big thank you to the following who made kids' night with bike giveaways.
Ellen Krassowski, Allstate Insurance weekly Jr. Fan Club, Burdick Ford Bike giveaway.
Event Sponsor Thompson & Johnson Equipment Company: One Girl's bike, and one Boy's bike.
Richard Murtaugh Racing: Eleven bikes for Jr. fans.
This coming Friday, June 16 Ameritool Manufacturing and the Wild Animal Park & Safari will present an action-packed night of racing on the ‘D-Shaped Dirt Demon.'
The Power-Four program will feature the Tracey Road Equipment DIRTcar Big Block Modifieds, Dot Foods DIRTcar Sportsman, AmeriCU Credit Union Mod Lites and Mirabito 4-Cylinder Superstocks.
Adult G/A: $15
18 Years & Under: Free
Pit Passes:
DIRTcar/IMCA Member: $35
Non-Member: $40
Pits Open: 4:30 PM
Grandstands: 5:30 PM
Hot Laps: 6:10
Racing: 7:00 PM
The Wild Animal Park & Safari will be bringing six bikes to give away to Jr. Fans.
Direct any questions on race day activity or sponsorship opportunities to Cory Reed at (315) 668-6906 or cory@brewertonspeedway.com.
For all the latest news, visit www.brewertonspeedway.com and like the speedway social media pages.
Brewerton Speedway is located at 60 US – 11, Central Square, NY.
Thompson & Johnson Equipment Company Family Autograph Night June 9 Results
Tracey Road DIRTcar Big Block Modifieds – (35 Laps): 1. 15-Todd Root[3]; 2. 11T-Jeff Taylor[5]; 3. 99L-Larry Wight[14]; 4. 83X-Tim Sears Jr[15]; 5. 12-Darren Smith[7]; 6. 62S-Tom Sears Jr[12]; 7. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[13]; 8. X-Chad Phelps[16]; 9. 5HH-Amy Holland[17]; 10. 21-Derrick Podsiadlo[6]; 11. 5H-Chris Hile[11]; 12. 60-Jackson Gill[22]; 13. 32R-Ronnie Davis III[25]; 14. 79-Jeffrey Prentice[1]; 15. 29-Matt Caprara[10]; 16. 63-Adam Roberts[4]; 17. 3-Chris Mackey[23]; 18. 77-Alan Barker[26]; 19. 28-Alan Fink[20]; 20. 8H-Max McLaughlin[9]; 21. 7Z-Zachary Payne[29]; 22. 9X-Tyler Trump[19]; 23. 24K-Nick Krause[27]; 24. JD33-Joshua Landers[28]; 25. 24-James Witko Jr[2]; 26. 34-Andrew Ferguson[24]; 27. 160-Max Hill[8]; 28. 18$-Sean Beardsley[18]; 29. 27Z-Dylan Zacharias[21]
DIRTcar 358 Modified Bonus: 1. $300 2. $200 3. $100: Amy Holland, Jeff Prentice, Chris Mackey.
DOT Foods DIRTcar Sportsman – (25 Laps): 1. 33-Richard Murtaugh[5]; 2. 28X-Stephen Marshall[6]; 3. 14AJ-AJ Miller[2]; 4. 19C-Brandon Carvey[14]; 5. 6-Cody Manitta[8]; 6. 38-Zach Sobotka[12]; 7. R1-Riley Rogala[16]; 8. 30R-Nick Root[17]; 9. 83-Brett Sears[9]; 10. 31B-Ryan Dolbear[11]; 11. 16X-Savannah Laflair[10]; 12. 88H-Chris Hulsizer[7]; 13. 38JR-Jason Parkhurst Jr[19]; 14. 5-Kyle Devendorf[13]; 15. 16-Earl Rudy[4]; 16. 30-Michael Root[18]; 17. 72-Hunter Hollenbeck[21]; 18. 06W-Dorian Wahdan[20]; 19. 0-Tony Finch II[15]; 20. 80X-Mike Button[3]; 21. AONE-Bucky Hayes[1]
Sweet Frog Sweet 16 $50 Bonus: Mike Root.
NAPA Know How Chase Elliott Award: Brett Sears.
AmeriCU Credit Union Mod Lites – (20 Laps): 1. 22-Kyle Demo[6]; 2. 55-Joseph Garafolo[3]; 3. 19-Brad Harris[5]; 4. 5K-Matt Kitts[4]; 5. 06-Mike Mullen[7]; 6. 1-Thomas Mackey[10]; 7. 69D-Greg Zack[2]; 8. 9-Roger Olschewske Jr[8]; 9. 4J-Jacob Malbouf[9]; 10. 155-Nicholas Garafolo[11]; 11. 7J-Joel Moller[1]
Thompson & Johnson Equipment Company 5th Place $100 Bonus: Mike Mullen.
Mirabito Four-Cylinder Super Stocks – (15 Laps): 1. 16B-Chris Bonoffski[13]; 2. 13Z-Zak Petrie[12]; 3. 13-Colby Herzog[7]; 4. 67K-Clayton Koch[6]; 5. 113-Nate Powers[10]; 6. 21V-Corey Valade[8]; 7. 22-Daniel Valade[11]; 8. 0-Kyle Coley[14]; 9. 99-Walt VanEpps[5]; 10. 27A-Alexandra Parker[9]; 11. 171-Jacob Kimball[16]; 12. 09-Darik VanEpps[3]; 13. 9DB-Dylan Burdick[18]; 14. 212-Kenneth Mackey[1]; 15. 22E-Eric Inman[17]; 16. 4H-Emma Burdick[15]; 17. 55-Anthony VanEpps[2]; 18. R1-Donny Rider Jr[4]
Thompson & Johnson Equipment Company 5th Place $100 Bonus: Nate Powers.
Brian Mettler Racing Bonuses: 1. $50. 2. $30. 3. $20: Chris Bonoffski, Zak Petrie, Colby Herzog.
Submitted By: David Medler