When flagger Rich Peterson dropped the green flag on the 35 lap Modified main event, Bodie Bellinger went right from his third place starting spot to the race lead.  Despite constant position changes right behind him and knowing that the dominant runners had to be on their way up through the pack, Bellinger just did his thing.  On the 22^nd time around Stewart Friesen was up on top and had the advantage over Bellinger but the caution came out and the 17 year old was back in the race lead.

From that point on the 2012 Rookie of Year just focused and went on to take his first career Modified feature event over some of the best in the business.

“The first thing I can do is thank the Lord because without him nobody would be here,” said Bellinger.  “We got to lap traffic and I saw Friesen and then the caution came out and I never got off the top again.  I’ve got to thank my dad — he does the set up and he’s great at what he does.”

Youth prevailed again as Jeremy Wilder, who was also in search of his first Mod win at the Malta oval, crossed the line right behind Bellinger. Friesen was third and was followed by Marc Johnson and Kenny Tremont who came all the way from spot 20.

In sportsman action, Mike Tholin was a man on a mission.  He started 14^th on the field and was already in sixth place before the eighth time around the speedway. But Brett Wright wanted his first win of 2013 and he was in command of the 25 lap Sportsman feature event.  Tholin started closing in on Wright but went high on lap 15, giving up some of his effort.  But two laps later ‘Rollin Mike Tholin’ was able to take control of the event.  A few laps later Tholin came into the fourth turn to find a car sideways in front of him, but he escaped without harm and went on for his sixth career win at the ‘Great Race Place.’

“The guys worked on the car right to the last minute,” said the highly excited Tholin during post race ceremonies. “They said it would be fast so I said ok, we’ll take it to the front.”

Wright was second and was followed by Jeremy Pitts, Paul Dunham and Leo Sousie.

Pitts, the point leader for the division, came from the 18^th starting spot.

Jesse Edwards took the race lead on the third circuit of the 12 lap Novice Sportsman feature event and went on to take his first win on the Malta clay.

“The car was really good tonight — we really didn’t know how it was going to be,” said Edward explaining that he bent the car two weeks ago.  “So we had no clue until we got out there tonight, but hey it worked out.”

Edwards had one of the divisions dominant drivers, Jack Bublak, behind him but Bublak spun [and kept going] losing some valuable positions.  Pete Jeske was the one right there behind Edwards and he was followed by Chris Murray, David Emigh and Colin Bokus.

Pro Stock racer Dean Charbonneau knows how to get to victory lane — in past years he’s been there on three occasions.  Charbonneau took the lead on lap six and appeared to ‘own it’ but he spun on lap 17, giving the race lead to Dave DePaulo.  Unfortunately for DePaulo, four-time race winner Rob Yetman had already picked his way through the field and appeared very strong.  On lap 23 Yetman stole the lead and went on to another win with his Lazzaro’s Auto Body sponsored car.

“With about six or seven to go Dave came out of nowhere and he was real strong so we had to keep digging and find a weak spot and we got it,” said Yetman.  “Tonight the bottom was the way to go, we didn’t have anything for the top.”

DePaulo followed Yetman, as did Brandon Emigh, Kim Duell and three-time winner Ken Martin.

The Street Stock division went 30 laps this week in their feature event and from the drop of the green flag it was all Dave Stickles.  Stickles was in control of the caution plagued event but as the laps were clicked off the competition began to close in on him.  With 10 circuits remaining Yule Cook was all over Stickles back end.  In the final stages you could throw a blanket over the top three, which included former winner David Shippee who started 20^th in the feature.  On the final time around the speedway Cook took the lead and went on for his second win of the season.

“That was really exciting,” said Cook.  “I want to thank all of my sponsors, my family and a couple of my friends that have been helping out by pitching in some sponsorship — I really appreciate it.”

Things…   It was another packed house for the ‘Christmas in July’ night at the speedway this week.  Sowle’s Tractor Trailer Repair was the sponsor for the event which graciously included increased payouts and $100 to the leaders of lap 7 and lap 11 in the features (all regular Friday night divisions)…  Bodie Bellinger (Modified), Brett Wright (Sportsman), Jesse Edward (Novice Sportsman), Dean Charbonneau (Pro Stocks), Dave Stickles (Street Stocks) … Good run by Justin Boehler in the first Modified qualifying event, Boehler’s ProTech sponsored car was sporting a a new design… Jeff Trombley spun in his qualifying event but got it back together and finished fifth in his QE… Modified shoe Pete Britten brought his younger brother (Kevin) with him to the Malta oval.  Kevin was behind the wheel of the Rich Scag automobile… Novice Sportsman runner Matt Pappa failed to make the call for his qualifying event…   Jack Bublak was behind the wheel of a former Stewart Friesen automobile.  If Bublak wins another feature event he will be forced to advance to the Sportsman division… Walt Brownell pulled right off the race surface and into the pits when his qualifying event began…  Marc Johnson turned heads on Tuesday with a sixth place run in Hearn’s Big Show 5 and now he was the fastest in hot laps prior to the feature event…  Contact between Paul Dumham and Brett Wright in the late stages of the Sportsman event found Dunham bouncing off the wall…  Two time Street Stock winner, Randy Miller, was sent to the rear of the feature due to contact with Justin Smith… Matt Delorenzo looked like he was really enjoying himself during the 35 lap Modified feature.  Delorenzo was riding the track high and fast but fell victim to two flat tires… After the races concluded Modified driver Pete Britten had permission to shake a new automobile down for a few laps.  Britten would be driving that ride on Saturday night at Canandaigua Speedway…  All the drivers were very thankful to Mike Sowle for all the extra cash…

Points Peek… A look at the points after last Friday night…

Modifieds:  Hearn 458, Tremont 418,  M. Johnson 410, R. Johnson 394, Delorenzo 390

Sportsman:  Pitts 432, Tholin 414, McGrew 404, Duell 383, Bleau 372

Novice Sportsman: Murray 438,  Edwards 381, Davis 374, Potter 360, Lindeblade 356

Pro Stocks:  Yetman 478, Martin 430, Older 400,  Westcott 376, Kneer 376

Street Stocks: Lawrence 172, Duprey 165, Conroy 162, Shippee 147, Coonradt 142

Modified Results (35 Laps) – 1) BODIE BELLINGER, 2) Jeremy Wilder, 3) Stewart Friesen, 4) Marc Johnson, 5) Ken Tremont Jr, 6) Brett Hearn, 7) Mark Kislowski, 8) Jeff Trombley, 9) Matt Depew, 10) Peter Britten, 11) Don Ronca, 12) Keith Flach, 13) Ronnie Johnson, 14) Brian Gleason, 15) C.G. Morey, 16) Jimmy Cottrell, 17) Pep Corradi, 18) Chris Busta, 19) Rob Pitcher, 20) Neil Stratton, 21) Matt Delorenzo, 22) Rich Ronca, 23) Ray Hoard, 24) Justin Boehler, 25) Kevin Britten, DNS) Floyd Billington, DNS) John Proctor, DNS) Jamike Sowle, DNS) Mike Perrotte DNS) Hector Stratton

Sportsman Results (25 Laps) – 1) MIKE THOLIN, 2) Brett Wright, 3) Jeremy Pitts, 4) Paul Dunham, 5) Leo Sousie, 6) Derrick McGrew, 7) Frank Hoard Jr, 8) Mike Ostrander, 9) Mike Jeske, 10) Andy Durie, 11) Scott Duell, 12) Dave Baranowski Jr, 13) Robert Bublak, 14) Nick Lussier, 15) Nick Anatriello, 16) Connor Cleveland, 17) Dan Santabarbara, 18) Joey Scarborough, 19) Jack Gentile, 20) Joe Orlando, 21) Frank Hoard III, 22) Stan Lemiesz, 23) Jack Speshock, 24) Jim Osgood, 25) Jake Scarborough, 26) Mike Burdo, 27) Cody Bleau, 28) Justin Barber, 29) Jon Miller, DNS) Tony Ballestero, DNS) Dan Boni, DNS) L.J. Lombardo, DNS) Elliott Lussier, DNS) Skip Shippee, DNS) Jack Swinton

Novice Sportsman Results (12 Laps) – 1) JESSE EDWARDS, 2) Pete Jeske, 3) Chris Murray, 4) David Emigh, 5) Colin Bokus, 6) Zach Daurio, 7) Jack Bublak, 8) Ricky Davis, 9) Jeff Donnely, 10) Anthony Alger, 11) Wally Potter, 12) Ron Casey, 13) Collin Clow, 14) Brandon Pitcher, 15) John Linblade, 16) Alissa Cody, 17) Bob Schmidt, 18) Timothy Davis

Pro Stock Results (25 Laps) – 1) ROB YETMAN, 2) Dave Depaulo, 3) Brandon Emigh, 4) Kim Duell, 5) Ken Martin, 6) Byron Wescott, 7) Bill Smith, 8) Dan Older, 9) Jeff Washburn, 10) Cale Kneer, 11) Dean Charbonneau, 12) Cole Lawton, 13) Tony DeRose, 14) Matt Freckleton, 15) Ed Thompson, DNS) Walt Brownell, DNS) Dave Emigh

Street Stock Results (30 Laps) – 1) YULE COOK, 2) Dave Stickles, 3) David Shippee, 4) Scott Lawrence, 5) Ken Conroy, 6) Damon Anderson, 7) Al Relyea, 8) Randy Miller, 9) Justin Smith, 10) Paul Braymer, 11) John Hayes, 12) Chase Aussicker, 13) Jay Severson, 14) Luke MacIsaac, 15) Rowdy Burch, 16) Matt Mosher, 17) Tyler Michel, 18) Jody Thew, 19) Jason Barrett, 20) Fred Harris, 21) Bill Duprey, 22) Josh Coonradt

4 Cylinder Combined Results (15 Laps) – 1) TODD GOLDSTEIN, 2) Steve Ryan, 3) David Frame, 4) Mark Lindblade, 5) Pete Vila, 6) Dan Older, 7) Lance Robertson, 8) Mike Duncan, 9) Shawn Bonner, 10) Jake Currier, 11) Jeff Donnelly Jr, DNS) Brett Horlacher, DNS) Christian Mulrain

4 Cylinder Single Cam Results – 1) MARK LINDBLADE, 2) Dan Older, 3) Lance Robertson, 4) Jeff Donnelly Jr

4 Cylinder Dual Cam Results- 1) TODD GOLDSTEIN, 2) Steve Ryan, 3) David Frame, 4) Pete Vila, 5) Mike Duncan, 6) Shawn Bonner, 7) Jake Currier