Danny Johnson Edges Danny O’Brien in Thriller at Cornwall
CORNWALL, Ontario – July 3, 2011 – A pair of Dannys thrilled a big crowd Sunday night at Cornwall Motor Speedway with a late-race duel that saw Danny Johnson pick up his first Big-Block Modified Super DIRTcar Series victory of 2011 in the ‘D&A Tractor Sales 100’ over a hard-charging Danny O’Brien. (Rick Young photo)
Jimmy Phelps and Super DIRTcar Series point leader Billy Decker paced the field of 30 Big-Block Modifieds to the green at Cornwall Motor Speedway with Phelps jumping out into the early lead. Matt Sheppard made quick work of Decker and quickly moved into the second spot.
The caution flag quickly flew for Gage Morin who spun in turn 3. On the ensuing restart, Sheppard used the outside line to move around Jimmy Phelps and take the lead on lap 8.
As Sheppard began to open up his lead, Cornwall Motor Speedway track regular, O’Brien was using the outside line to move up through the field, passing his brother Pat O’Brien for fourth place by lap 16.
The quarter-mile layout of the Cornwall Motor Speedway meant lapped traffic played a major role in the feature event. By lap 20 the race leaders found themselves in heavy lapped traffic, Sheppard and Jimmy Phelps thrilled the crowd as they battled for the lead while slicing through traffic at a torrid pace.
A lap-30 caution for Steve Bernard would give the leaders clear race track. The ensuing restart would see a five car break-away at the front of the field. Sheppard, Phelps, Danny O’Brien, Decker and Johnson battled at the front of the field.
All five leaders round around the top of high-banked Cornwall Motor Speedway until lap-64 when Johnson jumped to the inside in search of bite. It didn’t take him long to find some as he moved into fourth on lap-67, then passed Danny O’Brien for third on lap-66.
Phelps and Johnson, locked in a battle for second place, split the lapped car of Bruno Lepage. Contact between Johnson and Lepage send the Lepage machine up the racetrack into the side of the Phelps machine, everyone regrouped but the contact allowed Johnson to move into second place.
Johnson then used the inside to take the lead on lap-71 from Sheppard. Johnson’s charge on the inside lane forced most of the leaders to run the bottom in hopes of experiencing the success Johnson was having running the inside, which opened the door for O’Brien.
O’Brien kept his Kendrick Racing 17D 358-modified wound up along the outside, and moved around Matt Sheppard and into the runner up position. O’Brien then focused on running down leader Johnson.
As the laps wound down, O’Brien began cutting down the lead Johnson had bestowed upon the field. With just three laps to go O’Brien was able to catch that back of the Mike Payne-owned 27J of Johnson as the leaders were attempting to negotiate lapped traffic.
O’Brien keeping the momentum running around the outside was able to get alongside the Johnson car, but wasn’t able to complete the pass, as Johnson picked up the thrilling win by a margin of 0.102 seconds over O’Brien.
“Everyone was running the top so I went down to the bottom to try to find some bite,” commented Johnson after the win. “The car worked really well down there for us.”
Sheppard held on for third while Decker and Jimmy Phelps rounded out the top 5.
With his fourth place finish, Decker still leads Super DIRTcar Series points, now with Sheppard in second, trailing by 45-points.
Super DIRTcar Series Race #4-Cornwall Motor Speedway, July 3, 2011 ‘D&A Tractor Sales 100’ Event Summary
Feature Results: 1. (27J) Danny Johnson; 2. (17D) Danny O’Brien; 3. (9s) Matt Sheppard; 4. (91) Billy Decker; 5. (98H) Jimmy Phelps; 6. (673) Gary Tomkins; 7. (66x) Carey Terrance; 8. (21) Yan Bussiere; 9. (3) Justin Haers; 10. (8R) Rob Bellinger; 11. (20) Brett Hearn; 12. (40) Joel Doiron; 13. (38) Luke Whitteker; 14. (115) Stephane Lafrance; 15. (23) Laurent Ladouceur; 16. (62s) Tommy Sears; 17. (4J) Jeff Sykes; 18. (8) Rich Scagliotta; 19. (6) Pat O’Brien; 20. (16w) Lance Willix; 21. (54) Steve Bernard; 22. (124) Pierre DaGenais; 23. (97) Michele Chicoine; 24. (16) Gage Morin; 25. (21A) Peter Britten; 26. (99B) Bruno Lepage; 27. (10) Tim Currier; 28. (99L) Larry Wight; 29. (96) Kyle Dingwall; 30. (151KB) Brian McDonald. LAP LEADERS: Phelps 1-8, Sheppard 9-71, Johnson 72-100. BILSTEIN FAST TIME AWARD: Matt Sheppard
Heat Races (8 laps, top 5 finishers transferred to the feature, top 3 went to redraw)
#1: Sheppard; Phelps; La. Ladouceur; Doiron; Sykes; Chicoine; Lafrance; Morin; Planck; Valade
#2: Hearn; Scagliotta; D. O’Brien; Dingwall; DaGenais; Willix; Currier; Therrien; Humes; Raabe
#3: P. O’Brien; Bernard; Decker; Sears; Whitteker; McDonald; Lepage; Back; T. O’Brien; Forbes
#4: Johnson; Bellinger; Tomkins; Bussiere; Terrance; Haers; Britten; Wight; Stacey; Le. Ladouceur
Consolation Races (10 laps, top 4 finishers transferred to the feature)
#1: Haers; Lafrance; Lepage; Chicoine; Morin; Back; Valade; Forbes; Planck; T. O’Brien (DNS)
#2: Wight; Willix; McDonald; Britten; Currier; Therrien; Le. Ladouceur; Humes; Stacey; Raabe (DNS)
Cornwall Motor Speedway Super DIRTcar Series Race #4 Roster
0 Dan Humes/Canaan, CT
01 Chris Raabe/Napanee, ONT
1x Dexter Stacey/Kahnawake, ONT
3 Justin Haers/Phelps, NY
4J Jeff Sykes/Edwards, NY
4L Lee Ladouceur/Maxville, ONT
6 Pat O’Brien/Kingston, ONT
8 Rich Scagliotta/Bound Brooks, NJ
8R Rob Bellinger/Dexter, NY
9s Matt Sheppard/Waterloo, NY
10 Tim Currier/Auburn, NY
12 Travis Back/Hogansburg, NH
16 Gage Morin/Cornwall, ONT
16w Lance Willix/Theresa, NY
17 Marc Therrien/Williamstown, ONT
17D Danny O’Brien/Kingstone, ONT
20 Brett Hearn/Sussex, NJ
21 Yan Bussiere/Drummondville, QUE
21A Peter Britten/Brisbane, Aus
23 Laurent Ladouceur/Alexandria, ONT
27J Danny Johnson/Rochester, NY
29R Preston Forbes/Potsdum, NY
38 Luke Whitteker/Iroquis, ONT
40 Joel Doiron/Alexandria, ONT
54 Steve Bernard/St. Paul Abbotsford, QUE
62s Tommy Sears/Clay, NY
66x Carey Terrance/Hogansburg, NY
77x Dale Planck/Cortland, NY
88 Tim O’Brien/Kingstone, ONT
91 Billy Decker/Unadilla, NY
96 Kyle Dingwall/Brockville, ONT
97 Michele Chicoine/Ste-Cecile de Milton, QUE
98H Jimmy Phelps/Baldwinsville, NY
99 Ron Valade/Alexandria, ONT
99B Bruno Lepage/Maple Grove, QUE
99L Larry Wight/Phoenix, NY
115 Stephane LaFrance/St. Albert, ONT
124 Pierre DaGenais/Gatineau, QUE
151KB Brian McDonald/Cornwall, ONT
673 Gary Tomkins/Clifton Springs, NY
2011 Big-Block Modified Super DIRTcar Series Schedule
DAY-DATE-WINNER
Sun-May 30 Rolling Wheels Raceway Tim Fuller
Tues-June 14 Canandaigua Motorsports Park Billy Decker
Tues-June 21 Orange County Fair Speedway Billy Decker
Sun-July 3 Cornwall Motor Speedway Danny Johnson
Mon-July 4 Rolling Wheels Raceway
Mon-July 18 Autodrome Drummond
Tues-July 19 Autodrome Granby
Mon-Aug 1 Merrittville Speedway
Thurs-Aug 25 Lebanon Valley Speedway
Sun-Sept 4 Cayuga County Fair Speedway
Sat-Sept 10 Autodrome Drummond
Sat-Sept 17 Mohawk International Speedway
***Super DIRT Week XL***
Sun-Oct 9 New York State Fairgrounds
Sun-Oct 16 Brockville Ontario Speedway
***Eastern States Weekend***
Sun-Oct 23 Orange County Fair Speedway
***World Finals***
Fri-Nov 4 Dirt Track at Charlotte
Sat-Nov 5 Dirt Track at Charlotte
2011 Big-Block Modified Super DIRTcar Series Standings, through 7-3-2011
|
Rk. |
No. |
Driver |
Total |
Wins |
T5 |
T10 |
Starts |
|
1 |
91 |
Billy Decker |
350 |
2 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
|
2 |
9s |
Matt Sheppard |
315 |
0 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
|
3 |
66 |
Danny Johnson |
301 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
|
4 |
20 |
Brett Hearn |
275 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
|
5 |
21a |
Pete Britten |
256 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
|
6 |
98h |
Jimmy Phelps |
249 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
|
7 |
673 |
Gary Tomkins |
249 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
|
8 |
3 |
Justin Haers |
233 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
|
9 |
8R |
Rob Bellinger |
217 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
4 |
|
10 |
62s |
Tom Sears Jr. |
193 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
|
11 |
74F |
Tim Fuller |
188 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
|
12 |
99L |
Larry Wight |
171 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
|
13 |
8 |
Rich Scagliotta |
169 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
|
14 |
4* |
Tim McCreadie |
154 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
|
15 |
77x |
Dale Planck |
128 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
|
16 |
49 |
Billy Dunn |
127 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
|
17 |
10 |
Tim Currier |
123 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
|
18 |
1F |
Stewart Friesen |
112 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
|
19 |
03 |
Lance Willix II |
104 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
|
20 |
33 1/3 |
Tommy Meier |
100 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
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