Jankowiak Wins Third in a Row at WCIS

PERRY, NY… Sunny skies and warm temperatures welcomed race fans from all over Western New York to Wyoming County International Speedway for the June 17th racing program. The annual bike race and giveaway is one of the nights that area kids circle on their schedules for the chance to race their bikes on the historic Perry oval. Racing action at WCIS saw Andy Jankowiak pick up his third win on the season in the SST Modifieds. 2010 Track Champion Phil Alhart Jr won his first feature of 2011 in the Super Stocks and Matt Druar picked up the win in the 4 Cylinders.

Ed Schueler and heat winner Andy Jankowiak were on the front row for the SST Modified feature event with Jankowiak getting the early race lead. TJ Zacharias moved up to the runner up spot and began to reel in Jankowiak. Zacharias would throw “everything at him but the kitchen sink” early on until a lap 11 caution for debris. The restart saw Jankowiak and Zacharias leading the way with Jankowiak back out front ahead of the class. Dick Kluth would loop his 27 machine on the front straightaway to slow the field down on back to back laps.

Back under green flag conditions, John Barber would move up from the rear of the field to battle Ed Schueler for third place on the halfway mark of the 35 lap feature. The caution would fly for a third time after race leader Jankowiak received a mechanical black flag. The tracks position on this matter was that “we (the speedway) brought out the caution, not the driver”. Therefore Jankowiak was allowed to reclaim his first place spot.

The race would then resume with Jankowiak and Zacharias up front and yellow lights would come back on for Brittany Jack as she looped her Atlas Pizza sponsored 6x around on the back stretch. Jankowiak would hold off TJ Zacharias and Ed Schueler to collect his third straight win on the Bullring.

Jeremy Gray and Dale Wolfer were on the front row for the Super Stock feature with Gray out front early. Mike Chenaille slowed his Just Us Renovations number 20 on the second go around to slow the field down for the first time. Jay Canonico looped his 13 on the back stretch to slow the field for the second time.

Off the restart, defending track champion Phil Alhart Jr showed the way with Gray back in second and Daniel Majchrzak running a strong third. Alhart and Majchrzak would hold the top two spots when a caution came out for a slowing Canonico. Back to back feature winner Canonico would pull his Dago-Fast Fabrication, Vic’s Auto Service entry pit side and his night would come to an end. An overheating Dale Wolfer would pull his 76 machine to the pits just a couple of laps later.

That set up a three car battle to settle the score and pick up the victory as Alhart would continue to lead Gray and Majchrzak around the 1/3rd mile Bullring. Alhart would lead the remaining laps to pick up his first win of the 2011 campaign in his Alhart Construction entry out of Fairport. Jeremy Gray would finish second and Daniel Majchrzak would finish third.

Eric Haistreiter and Brian Johnson led the 4 Cylinders to the green flag and it was Johnson out to the early advantage. Third place starter Charles Buchanan got around Haistreiter for second on lap one as did Matt Druar on lap two to take over the third position.

Heat winner Druar got around Buchanan for second a few laps later and began to put pressure on Johnson for the race lead. The pressure would be just enough as Druar would pass Johnson for the lead just before the halfway mark and rolled on for the victory. Johnson would finish second and Buchanan would round out the top three.

WCIS will be back in action on Friday June 24th on Aloha to Summer Night. The Hawaiian night theme is joined by the Crash and Smash Series plus a regular show. The Crash and Smash event is Junkyard Hockey and that will follow the racing action featuring the SST Modifieds, Super Stocks and 4 Cylinders. Pit gates and grandstand gates open at 5:00pm and racing gets underway at 7:30pm. For more information, log on to www.wyomingcountyinternationalspeedway.com or follow the speedway on Facebook. You can also call the speedway office at 585-237-2580 or on race day at 585-237-2510.

Official Finish 6-17-11
SST MODIFIEDS: ANDY JANKOWIAK, TJ Zacharias, Ed Schueler, Jim Love, Dick Kluth, John Barber, Brittany Jack

SST SUPER STOCKS: PHIL ALHART JR, Jeremy Gray, Daniel Majchrzak, Dale Wolfer, Jay Canonico, Mike Chenaille, Brad Collings (DNS), Austyn Fugle (DNS)

4 CYLINDERS: MATT DRUAR, Brian Johnson, Charles Buchanan, Eric Haistreiter, Troy Collings, Joe Horvatits

pictures courtesy of Rob Micoli - MM Sports Photos and Facebook