August 24, 2003 Hossfeld Wins Mr. Modified 50 For DeLange Racing The DeLange Racing Team pulled off their 3rd victory of the 2003 season in the Mr. Modified/Tommy Druar Memorial 50 at Lancaster Motorsports Park in Lancaster, NY on August 23, 2003. The field was unusually small for such a special event with only 19 cars, and comprised mainly of Lancaster regulars. Fellow NASCAR Featherlite Modified Series driver Ted Christopher was in attendance driving the #00 Joe Brady owned modified. The field was split into two heats, with the top six qualifying for the event and the top four from each heat to redraw for starting position. Chuck went out in the first heat and finished in 4th spot, then went on to draw 4th position for the starting grid. #88 Billy Putney drew the pole position, followed by #5 Dave Wollaber and #77 Sege Fidanza. After a restart on lap 3, Putney spun coming out of turn 4 and several cars got tangled up on the front straight, with only half of the field making it through cleanly. With Fidanza in the lead, the field settled in for a long green flag run. Sege pulled away from the pack while Wollaber and Hossfeld battled for second. It seemed as though Fidanza would run away with the win until with 8 laps to go, #8F Chris Finocchario and #12 Tom McGrath made contact in turn 2 causing McGrath to slide sideways. The leaders were working through lapped traffic and Fidanza couldn't get slowed down in time as he ran into McGrath. This bumped Wollaber into the lead and moved Chuck into second. On the restart, Chuck was able to get past Wollaber on the backstraight, but the caution flew and forced the field to revert to the last completed lap and Wollaber in the lead. With 7 laps to go, and time running out, Chuck dove underneath Wollaber in turn 2 on the following restart to take the lead. Caution came out again as #8 Brett Scherrer got loose and spun #99 Don Staubitz in turn 4. This time however Chuck had crossed the start/finish line before the caution came out and was able to maintain the lead spot. Chuck held off Wollaber for the next few laps and began pulling away following a restart for the final caution, as Wollaber and #04 Kirk Rutherford mixed it up for 2nd place. The Hot Shoe went on to take the win followed by Wollaber in 2nd and #93 Tim Mangus in 3rd. #00 Ted Christopher, who was fast in practice but not much of a threat in the race, finished 4th followed by #72 Matt Alix to round out the top five. This is Chuck's third win at Lancaster this season in only six races. The DeLange Racing Team is back at Lancaster tomorrow Monday August 25, 2003 for their final appearance at Lancaster in the 2003 season.
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