Things Break Right for Laubach, Wins Race and Title at New Egypt

New Egypt, NJ (Sept. 30, 2009) –  Rick Laubach of Hellertown, PA entered Wednesday evening trailing point leader Billy Pauch by 32 points, and when he crashed on the first lap of his heat race sending him to the pits and the B Main, no one in attendance gave him much of a chance. However in the 30 lap Big-Block Modified double-point championship event things broke right for him as he charged to the front to win his second feature of the year and stun everyone as he picked up his first ever track championship at New Egypt Speedway. What broke right for Laubach was Pauch, who was caught up in a second lap 12-car pileup in turn two finding him sitting upside down in the middle of the track. Despite his crew thrashing feverishly to get him back out without losing a lap, the damage was so severe to his front end that it caused Pauch to bring out three consecutive yellows over the next 2 laps resulting in him being forced to retire from the event.

“Sometimes things go your way and sometimes they don’t” exclaimed a happy Laubach in victory lane, “It seemed that most of the year when Billy had problems we could not take advantage of it, but tonight we did. We are going to enjoy this one for a while!”

Ron John Koczon grabbed the early lead on the first lap and was leading when several cars got together in turn two triggering the big pileup on the outside of the speedway. Pauch dove to the bottom with most of the back half of the field and looked like he would make it thru, but it was not meant to be as he got sideways and ended up on top of Jimmy Horton rolling onto his roof. What transpired next was a valiant effort on the part of Pauch’s crew to get the car repaired enough to continue. He returned without losing a lap, but it was evident that the right front wheel was farther back than normal. On the restart the field only made it to turn three when Pauch spun with a right front flat. Again his crew got him out quickly only to have the car get out from under him again in turn one. With the car obviously almost undrivable, Pauch shot to the pits for the crew to give it one final try, but as Pauch raced onto the track behind the field as the green flew, he made it only as far as the flagger stand before the car snapped around again, putting an end to his evening. At this point Laubach was up to 11th, and now all he had to do was finish in the top ten and he would win the title.  But Laubach never even thought about changing his style and playing it conservative as he drove as hard as he could to the front, grabbing the lead from Koczon on lap 17. Ryan Godown followed him into second and many thought he was going to have something for him, but it was not to be as Laubach’s car seem to get better as the race progressed and he went on to win his second feature of the year along with the 2009 track title, his first at NES.  Ken Carberry charged up late & settled for second five car lengths back, while Godown held on for third. Richie Pratt Jr. finished fourth after starting at the rear due to a move into his back-up car, and Koczon completed the top five.

After several strong runs, Mike Lyons finally broke into the winners circle for the first time this year in the Sportsman 20 lap feature. Lyons held off the persistent challenges of Rookie champ DJ Ruppert to win for the first time in 3 years. Ruppert drove an impressive race to finish second, followed by Jack Swain returning to NES to post a solid third. Tim Apgar and John Cornell rounded out the top five.

Vern McLaughlin captured his third win of the year in the 20 lap Outlaw Stock feature event. With the win, McLaughlin pulls to within 8 points of point leader Shannon Mongeau, who finished fourth, with just one point race remaining. John Carpenter chased him the whole race but didn’t have enough to pull off a pass and settled for second.  PJ Oliver was third, followed by Shannon Mongeau and Bill Connolly.

This Saturday, October 3, New Egypt Speedway presents Rocktoberfest 2009, the final show of 2009. The Modifieds will headline the event as they will compete in a 40-lap, $3000 to win, Tri-Track Series point race. Drivers will have the option to race for $5000 to win if they put up a $60 gamblers fee at the beginning of the show. Sportsman, Crate1 Sportsman, Super Stocks, and Outlaw Stocks will all be in competition as well; each racing in their own season ending 20-lap double point championship event. A live band will provide entertainment before the races get underway. Gates open at 1:00 p.m., Warm-ups begin at 3:30pm with the first race starting at 4:30 pm.  For more information, call the speedway office at (609) 758-1900 or log on to www.newegyptspeedway.net.

NES RESULTS 9/30/09

MODIFIED RESULTS
1st Heat: 1. Ron John Koczon 2. Billy Pauch 3. Willie Osmun 4. John Stangle 5. Mark Forte Jr. 6. Frank Cozze Jr.
2nd Heat: 1.Ryan Godown 2. Richie Pratt Jr. 3. Jim Robertson 4. Mike Hendershot 5. John Salvatore Jr. 6. Steve Haggan  
3rd Heat: 1. Frank Cozze 2. Jimmy Horton 3. Brad Freeman 4.John McClelland 5. Kenny Carberry 6. Dominick Buffalino
B-Main: 1. Billy Pauch Jr. 2. Bobby Drayton 3. Rick Laubach 4. Mike McAleer 5. Sammy Martz 6. Chic Cossaboone
Point Provisional: Tom Carberry
Fan Provisional: Jeff Acolia

Feature (30 Laps): 1. Rick Laubach 2. Kenny Carberry 3. Ryan Godown 4. Richie Pratt Jr. 5. Ron John Koczon 6. Jimmy Horton 7. Bobby Drayton 8. Willie Osmun 9. Billy Pauch Jr. 10. Mike Hendershot 11. Jim Robertson 12. John Stangle 13. John McClelland 14. Frank Cozze Jr. 15. Frank Cozze 16. Mark Forte Jr. 17. Chic Cossaboone 18. Bruce Gsell 19. Mike McAleer 20. Jeff Acolia 21. Tom Carberry 22. Brad Freeman 23. Jimmy Horton IV 24. Dominick Buffalino 25. John Salvatore Jr. 26. Sammy Martz 27. Billy Pauch 28. Steve Haggan

DNQ: Brian Truppi, Marc Herman, Kevin Nagy, Tommy Carberry Jr., Bobby Sandt
 
SPORTSMAN RESULTS
1st Heat: 1. Tim Apgar 2. Lou Farina III 3. Mike Howardson  4. Rocco Infante 5. Mike Lyons 6. Bill Liedtka
2nd Heat: 1. Pat Wall 2. Chad Barney 3. Kevin Vaclavicek 4. Jack Swain 5. Jeff Geiges 6. Gene Stravinsky
3rd Heat: 1. DJ Ruppert 2. Brian Roemer 3. JT Trstensky 4. John Cornell 5. Will Dupree 6. Bob Lineman Jr.
B-Main: 1. Ryan Forte 2. George Quinlan 3. Darrell Delnero 4. Alan Bleacher 5. Jeff Marcucci 6. Everett Taylor

Feature (20 Laps): 1. Mike Lyons 2. DJ Ruppert 3. Jack Swain 4. Tim Apgar 5. John Cornell 6. George Quinlan 7. Rocco Infante 8. Kevin Vaclavicek 9. Alan Bleacher 10. Gene Stravinsky 11. Pat Wall 12. Will Dupree 13. Bob Lineman Jr. 14. Brian Roemer 15. JT Trstensky 16. Chad Barney 17. Jeff Marcucci 18. Bill Liedtka 19. Mike Butler 20. Lou Farina III 21. Jeff Geiges 22. Everett Taylor 23. Ryan Forte 24. Darrell Delnero 25. Mike Howardson

DNQ: Joe Baumann, Harris Kohen, Doug Urbano, Wayne Bechtel, John Marini Jr., Sean Gunther, Robin McTighe, Marc Herman, Scott Hyland
 
OUTLAW STOCK RESULTS
1st Heat: 1. PJ Oliver 2. Doug Debray 3. Rich Mongeau 4. Spider Ensinger Jr. 5. Gary Klimeczak 6. Kevin Bifulco
2nd Heat: 1. John Carpenter 2. Vern McLaughlin 3. Dan Collamer 4. Shannon Mongeau 5. Joe Mongeau 6. Jason Saredy

Feature (20 Laps): 1. Vern McLaughlin 2. John Carpenter 3. PJ Oliver 4. Shannon Mongeau 5. Bill Connolly 6. Nick Gargiulo 7. Rob Longo 8. Joe Mongeau 9. Rich Mongeau 10. Billy Wroble 11. Jason Saredy 12. Tom Wolfe 13. Scott Dugan 14. Spider Ensinger Jr. 15. Tony Klimeczak 16. Jason Kosch 17. Jay Bundy 18. Ray Posick 19. Ted Walters 20. Dan Collamer 21. Kevin Bifulco 22. Gary Klimeczak 23. Doug Debray 24. Tom Princiotta 25. Brian Ludwig DNS: Joe Reid, Jarrod Burdge