By Steve Ovens
(WEEDSPORT, NY) – For the first time since 2019, the Weedsport Speedway was open to fans for a night of Memorial Day Weekend racing and the fans turned out in droves to support the Heroes Remembered 100 event. The Super Gen Products with Champion Power Equipment CRSA Sprints were first on the feature card and set the table in a big way for the Big Block Modified fans awaiting the Modified 100-lapper.
CRSA Rookie and Weedsport Kartway graduate Jordan Hutton brought the field to Dave Farney’s green flag for the 25-lap A-Main. Hutton would lead the first ten laps of his CRSA Sprints career but was being quickly chased down by 9-time CRSA Sprints winner and defending Series Champion Darryl Ruggles.
On a Lap 10 restart it would be Ruggles who got alongside Hutton and would officially take the top spot as the field completed Lap 11. This would set up one of the most intense battles for the race lead that has been logged in some time in CRSA competition.
Trombley made a big move for the lead to take the top spot at the halfway mark on Lap 13. On that same lap, Land of Legends Raceway Round 2 winner Bobby Parrow had scratched his way from the tenth starting spot to a podium spot in third.
Ruggles would fight back at Trombley and make a slide job pay off in Turn 3 to regain the lead on Lap 16. Trombley wasn’t done battling, but while trying to work the top side caught the outside concrete wall in Turn 1 and ended his night on the seventeenth lap.
This gave Parrow a crack at the race lead and he took it with a huge slider on Ruggles to lead Lap 20 and sent the frontstretch fans at Weedsport into a frenzy. They again stood as Parrow clipped the Turn 1 wall- handing the lead back to Ruggles who would lead Lap 21.
But slower traffic would set up one of the many exciting moves of the race on that same lap. Ruggles while leading went to the outside of Hank Katz entering Turn 3- opening the door down low for Parrow. Parrow dove down low, splitting the slower Katz and Ruggles three-wide, and slid his Tom Fletcher-owned No. 53 all the way to the top in front of Ruggles to again regain the lead on Lap 22.
The race was slowed on Lap 23 for a spinning Dan Craun in Turn 4. The red was displayed on the restart as Dana Wagner got upside down after making contact of his own with the Turns 1 & 2 outside wall. Wagner was uninjured but the same could not be said for the Hardwood Hills Golf Course No. 25W.
After pushing off from the red flag delay, Parrow held off Ruggles over the final two laps to score his second career and second-straight CRSA Series victory. It was Parrow’s first trip to Victory Lane at Weedsport since July 5, 1992 when he won the A-Main with the Empire Super Sprints 360 sprint cars. Ruggles, Dalton Herrick with his second podium in three races was third, the impressive rookie Hutton fourth and an impressive drive from another former go-kart champion Chase Moran completing the Top 5.
“The track came to us, we kept playing with the car all night and kept getting quicker and quicker,” noted Parrow who had to start from twelfth per CRSA rules but started tenth due to other redraw cars dropping out prior to the A-Main.
It would be slower traffic ahead of the leaders that gave Parrow a ray of hope while battling Ruggles for the top spot.
“Lapped traffic helped a lot, it was really good for us. Thanks to Tom Fletcher as we are a low budget team out here.”
Ruggles had a fast car and was trying to keep the CRSA record books at Weedsport with only his name in them following a win in 2019. He would fall one spot short.
“That was a great race up front (with Bobby) and Jeff. We mixed it up quite a bit. I think I was just a little too tight. Congrats to Bobby, they’ve been on a roll lately.”
Dalton Herrick was again strong, scoring his second podium finish in three races (Penn Can, Weedsport).
“We were just a little too tight to start on the top and had to wait for the car to come to us. As the race went on it just got better and better.”
Next on the schedule for the Super Gen Products CRSA 305 Sprints is a trip to the Fonda Speedway on Saturday June 5. Promoter Brett Deyo has done wonders to the facility located on the property of the Fonda Fairgrounds and CRSA is thrilled to make their return to “The Track of Champions.” Weekly sanctioned 305 Sprint Car racing at Land of Legends Raceway will take the night off in support of the series show at Fonda.
Capital Region Sprintcar Agency
Weedsport Speedway
Weedsport, New York
Sunday, May 30, 2021
Heat Race #1 (8 Laps)
1. 45-David Ferguson[1]
2. 48JR-Darryl Ruggles[4]
3. 25W-Dana Wagner[2]
4. 29-Dalton Herrick[5]
5. 410-Jerry Sehn Jr[7]
6. 18C-Dan Craun[3]
7. 22M-Matt Priscott[6]
Heat Race #2 (8 Laps)
1. 3A-Jeff Trombley[2]
2. 13T-Trevor Years[3]
3. 56D-Peter Dance[1]
4. 66K-Erik Karlsen[4]
5. 41-Chase Moran[7]
6. 9K-Kyle Pierce[5]
7. X-Dan Bennett[6]
Heat Race #3 (8 Laps)
1. 53-Bobby Parrow[1]
2. 48A-Alysha Bay[6]
3. 28-Ron Greek[2]
4. 66-Jordan Hutton[5]
5. 41J-Josh Flint[4]
6. 4-Hank Katz[7]
7. 17E-Ethan Gray[3]
A-Main (25 Laps)
1. 53-Bobby Parrow[10]
2. 48JR-Darryl Ruggles[5]
3. 29-Dalton Herrick[2]
4. 66-Jordan Hutton[1]
5. 41-Chase Moran[12]
6. 41J-Josh Flint[13]
7. 410-Jerry Sehn Jr[11]
8. 13T-Trevor Years[7]
9. X-Dan Bennett[17]
10. 66K-Erik Karlsen[3]
11. 56D-Peter Dance[4]
12. 18C-Dan Craun[14]
13. 9K-Kyle Pierce[15]
14. 45-David Ferguson[9]
15. 25W-Dana Wagner[6]
16. 48A-Alysha Bay[19]
17. 22M-Matt Priscott[16]
18. 4-Hank Katz[20]
19. 3A-Jeff Trombley[8]
20. 17E-Ethan Gray[18]
DNS: 28-Ron Greek