WILLIAMSON, NY - Long after the last fans left the raceway, in the wee hours of the long night, the tech inspectors declared the night’s NASCAR Cornerstone Reality 100, Tim McMullen’s car illegal and handed the 100 lap win over to the second place finisher Chuck Hossfeld. Ironically this will be Hossfeld’s ninth Spencer Speedway career win, tying him with McMullen in Spencer victories.

Also found illegal was the third place finisher Bill Hebing, driving Kenny Troyer's number 66x.

In other night action it was Daryl Lewis, Jr. taking the win in the SST Modifieds, his first win at Spencer in this division since May 2004, thus ending a long draught. Jim Steffenhagen, Jr. took his first ever Street Stock victory at Spencer. Chris Hillegeer continues to dominate the Super Six division.

The 100-lap NASCAR Modified race followed an extremely drawn out SST Modified event and never got the green flag until nearly 10:30 p.m. When the green dropped it was pole sitter, by virtue of a driver redraw, Buck Catalano, who grabbed the front spot. But before the tires could even get warmed up, Tim McMullen looped his car in the fourth turn to bring out the first of eight yellow flags.

Patsy Catalano took the lead on the restart from his father Buck, with Chuck Hossfeld running third followed by Chris Finocchario and Jan Leaty. On the move was the 66x of Bill Hebing, who worked his way up into the top five. On lap 14, the seventh place runner Dave Catalano slowed on the backstretch grass and fell in near the end of the field, but kept the green flag flying.

On lap 28, it was McMullen spinning again in the fourth turn to bring out the yellow for the second time. During this yellow, two cars, Mark Tychoniewicz and Dave Korleski decided to pit.

After the race resumed only one lap went into the record books under green, but Chuck Hossfeld was able to grab the lead from Patsy Catalano during this lap. Lap 35 saw heavy contact in the fourth turn by Tony Hanbury causing the race to be red flagged. Also involved in this melee were Daryl Lewis, Jr., Tom Kinsella and Dean DeMarree. Neither Hanbury nor DeMarree were able to continue.

Hossfeld continues on the point for just one lap before Patsy regained the lead on lap 40. Jan Leaty also was able to take third from Hebing with Todd Smith now running in fifth. Patsy was then able to draw away from the rest of the cars. Then on lap 53, the yellow flew when Tom Kinsella slowed on the front stretch with a flat left front tire. During this yellow both Jan and Mike Leaty pitted, as did Hebing, Tom Keyes and Scott Bleskoski. Bleskoski was able to cross the start-finish line in the pits and tag on at the back of the field as it went green on lap 58.

Patsy Catalano then lost the lead back to Hossfeld, with Todd Smith also passing Patsy and taking second. The fifth, and last yellow when laps were counting, came on lap 62 when Korleski looped his number 4* in the third turn. All of the top runners then pitted, including the leader Patsy Catalano. This left the front of the field on the green to be Hossfeld, Buck Catalano, McMullen, Tychoniewicz and Kinsella.

Tychoniewicz worked his way up to second before falling back in the pack. Up front Hossfeld was then challenged by McMullen, who passed for the lead going down the back stretch on lap 76. From then on McMullen set sail building up a lead of some seven car lengths.

Dave Catalano looped out in the third turn on lap 86 to bring out a yellow, then dropped out of the race. Up front Jan Leaty was able to work his way into second behind McMullen. Leaty, with fresher tires then challenged McMullen for the lead. McMullen was able to hold back Leaty with blocking moves for the next 12 laps. A yellow on lap 96, for a spin by Todd Smith, also helped McMullen maintain his lead.

With just two laps remaining Leaty and McMullen made contact exiting the fourth turn resulting in Leaty slowing into the infield with a broken suspension. McMullen then held off Hossfeld over the final two circuits to take the win. He was greeted in victory lane by a chorus of “boos”, by those that thought he had taken Leaty out intentionally.

Hossfeld finished second followed by Hebing, Patsy Catalano and Scott Bleskoski. Following tech the top five would turn out to be Hossfeld, Patsy Catalano, Bleskoski, Eddie Hawkins and Tommy Keyes.

The SST feature was filled with yellow flags again, eight in total causing the 25-lap race to last nearly an hour.

Phil Johnson took the lead at the drop of the green and led the race for some six laps, before going off the track on the back stretch and causing the yellow to fly. On lap seven it was Daryl Lewis, Jr. taking control of the lead, and when the yellow did not spoil it, he was able to build a substantial lead under green flag conditions.

Bill Hebing, driving his now renumbered Troyer machine as number 14, had to turn pit-side, out of the lead, on the lap six yellow.

Up front Lewis, Jr. was now able to pull away from Jeff Polaski, Kirk Rutherford, Mike Florio and last week’s feature winner, Zach Shove.

Three consecutive yellows, laps 19, 20 and 21, did bunch the field together near the end of the race, however Lewis, Jr. was able to maintain his lead and take his first SST feature win since 2004, when the class was then referred to as Grand American Modifieds. Polaski finished second followed by Florio, Shove and Phil Johnson who worked his way back to the front following his lap six infield excursion.

“I have to thank Ricky Knapp for the borrowed motor,” stated Lewis, Jr. in victory lane. “Without his help this win would not have been possible.”

The 20-lap Street Stock race almost went green-to-checkers. Phil Alhart, Jr., the initial leader of this race lost the lead to Jim Steffenhagen, Jr. on lap six. Both Steffenhagen, Jr. and Roger Worden were able to pass Alhart on that lap.

A spin by Will Strusz on the front straight, lap 17, was the only yellow of the race. Steffenhagen, Jr. held on for the win followed by Worden, Duke Wolanski, Dean Burdick and Luke Cino.

“The car was really loose,” commented Steffenhagen, Jr. “I guess we’ll just have to keep it loose the rest of the year based on how it ran tonight.”

The Super Six class saw only two cars on hand. Their feature was shortened to just six laps after one of the cars started to falter. Chris Hillegeer took his fifth win of the year.

SPENCER SPOTLIGHTS: Street Stock driver John VanHooydonk donated two bicycles for a drawing at the track, one for a girl, the other for a boy. Two happy children left the speedway with their new prizes…The top three from each NASCAR Modified heat race redrew to line up the feature. Buck Catalano drew the pole, with Todd Smith picking the outside pole.

This Friday, July 14, will see a Four Star program of NASCAR Modifieds, SST Modifieds, Street Stocks and Super Six’s. Race time will start at 7:30 p.m.

Spencer Speedway is located just fifteen minutes east of Rochester, NY along Route 104. This flat half mile oval is Rochester's NASCAR "Place to Race" each and every Friday evening throughout the summer.

CORNERSTONE REALITY 100 NIGHT SUMMARY

SUPER SIX
HEAT: C. Hillegeer, B. Semmler
FEATURE (6-laps): CHRIS HILLEGEER, Billy Semmler

STREET STOCKS
HEAT 1: J. Steffenhagen, Jr., D. Wolanski, J. VanHooydonk, R. Worden.
HEAT 2: D. Burdick, B. Minacapelli, P. Alhart, Jr., L. Cino.
FEATURE (20-laps): JIM STEFFENHAGEN, Jr., Roger Worden, Duke Wolanski, Dean Burdick, Luke Cino, Bob Minacapelli, Shawn Kelly, John VanHooydonk, Phil Alhart, Jr., Will Strusz, Mitchell Wright, Ryan Corso, Thomas Carino, Jr., Don Stevens.

SST MODIFIEDS
HEAT 1: K. Meyn, T. Hanbury, S. Malin, T. Wiest, T. Bradshaw, D. Pringle.
HEAT 2: B. Hebing, M. Florio, D. Lewis, Jr., K. Rutherford, J. Polaski, P. Johnson.
FEATURE (25-laps): DARYL LEWIS, Jr., Jeff Polaski, Mike Florio, Zach Shove, Phil Johnson, Bill Hebing, Don Pringle, Kirk Rutherford, Tom Wiest, Kris Meyn, Dick Warner, Jr., Toad Bradshaw, Tony Hanbury, Fred Taylor, Will Hirsch, Jody London, Ron Wildey II, Scott Combs, Steve Malin, Jeff Hamman, Chuck Hebing (DNS), Rob Green (DNS), Chris Finocchario (DNS)

NASCAR MODIFIEDS
HEAT 1: T. Hanbury, T. McMullen, C. Finocchario, J. Leaty, M. Leaty.
HEAT 2: B. Catalano, T. Keyes, T. Smith, E. Hawkins, D. Catalano.
HEAT 3: B. Hebing, C. Hossfeld, P. Catalano, S. Bleskoski, D. DeMarree.
FEATURE (100-laps): CHUCK HOSSFELD, Patsy Catalano, Scott Bleskoski, Eddie Hawkins, Tommy Keyes, Mike Leaty, Chris Finocchario, Tommy Kinsella, Buck Catalano, Mike Tychoniewicz, Todd Smith, Daryl Lewis, Jr., Joey Catalano, Jan Leaty, Dave Korleski, Dave Catalano, Mike Marollo, Tony Hanbury, Dean DeMarree, Matt Lees, Daryl Lewis Sr., Tim McMullen (DQed), Bill Hebing (DQed)