SPORTS

Haers rallies for Big-Block title at Land of Legends Raceway

Tom Skibinski
Land of Legends Raceway PR

The stars were aligned for the final 'Saturday Spectacular' of the month at Land Of Legends Raceway and it was Justin Haers shining brightest as he captured his first-ever Pepsi Big-Block Modified Championship in come-from-behind fashion.

Justin Haers rallied in the finale to win his first Big-Block track title at Land of Legends Raceway.

“Numerous second-place finishes, tied Matt (Sheppard) a few years ago, and to finally get it is unbelievable,” said Haers, 41, after the popular pilot from Phelps outgained his biggest adversary Erick Rudolph by a mere two points in the season-long battle for Big-Block supremacy at the Ontario County Fairgrounds half-miler. His third-place finish in the 35-lap feature proved just enough to emerge as the fourth different Modified titlist since Paul Cole took over LOLR promotions.

Ironically, it was in 2018 that Rudolph overcame a 22-point deficit to Sheppard on the final night to nip him by a single marker while on this occasion Haers made up 11 points to steal the title from Rudolph, the only driver to finish among the Top-5 in all 14 point races.

“We had a really good race car, just kinda tough getting going,” said Haers. “Didn't know where Erick was, just knew I had to stay in front of him. Trying to get past Alan on the last lap it was balls to the wall all the way around. Got a special hat with me, my dad's hat, he wore it when he used to come to the races. Put that thing in my suit before we started tonight and he was definitely riding with me. Pretty special.”

Not lost in the final rundown was north country regular Tim Fuller registering his first Big-Block victory at the fairgrounds in five years while all-time Canandaigua winner Alan Johnson secured runner-up honors ahead of Haers.

A full field of winged machines returned and it was second-generation leadfoot Jordan Thomas edging Paulie Colagiovanni in the A-Verdi Storage Containers Patriot Sprint Tour 25-lap A-Main postponed from Aug. 7 due to rain.

Trevor Years joined Thomas as first-time winners at LOLR, outlasting Brandyn Griffin in the 20-lap Mike Emhof Motorsports 305 Sprint Car finale while Zach Payne (Speed Connection Sportsman) and Josh Pangrazio (Eldredge & Sons Scrap Recycling Street Stock) copped their own checkered flags in the five-star special.

Strong family ties were also apparent in the Patriot Sprint ranks as the flag-to-flag winner matched his father, Jeff 'Spider' Thomas, in a fitting victory lane appearance.

“Definitely have to thank my dad, he puts in a ton of time and just kills it on the set-up,” said Jordan, 23, whose father Jeff won an Empire Super Sprint A-Main at then-named Canandaigua Speedway in 1991. The younger Thomas from Harding, Pa. is the ninth winner in 19 PST events staged at LOLR since 2003, logging his only other Top-5 finish (3rd) in 2019.

Colagiovanni settled for runner-up laurels yet on the heels of his third-place tally in the ESS event at LOLR run Aug. 7 topped the LOLR 360 Series points chart to pocket an additional $1,000. Joe Trenca, Jason Barney and recent ESS winner Matt Farnham completed the front-five in Saturday's 15-minute shootout

Heading into the next PST event scheduled at Utica-Rome Speedway on Sept. 5, Thomas (999) holds a slight advantage over Franek (982) in the point standings, with Dave Axton (854), Colagiovanni (845) and Steve Glover (832) in closest pursuit.

The standard MEM 305s shared the spotlight with their 360 series counterparts and matching Thomas' inaugural run to the checkers was weekly Canandaigua campaigner Years. After Matt Rotz looped his mount high between turns one and two, Years charged past front-row partner Dan Craun on the ensuing lap three restart and kept his blue #13T Doc's Tackle-Lake Shore Auto Mall-Racing For Autism/Happiness House/Maxim on cruise control the rest of the way.

“Honestly, this is probably the last night I thought I'd be here,” figured Years, 28, who ran a Sportsman at LOLR when Cole took over in '18 before strapping into a sprint car to open the '19 season. “I always struggle on these real slick tracks and going out last this (finish) was a big surprise. Trying to hold back tears right now, haven't been in victory lane since 2017 so its been awhile.”

The 25-lap Sportsman finale featured a pair of lead changes with Payne finally wrestling away the lead from Kane Bristol two-thirds of the way through in his blue #7z MP Delivery-Page Trucking-Honeoye Auto Parts/Bicknell car en route to victory number two on the season.

The 20-lap Street Stock feature kicked off the night's card and to no one's surprise it was defending track champion Pangrazio posting his fifth win in seven starts. The only unexpected aspect of his latest romp was an early race miscue that dropped the Oakfield ace to 12th after filing in 10th on the original 18-car starting grid.

Land of Legends Raceway Event Summary

August 28, 2021

Pepsi & Geneva Club Beverage, Ontario County Fairboard and Monroe Mechanical Services present Saturday Spectacular

Modified Season Championship Night

Pepsi Big-Block Modified(DOUBLE POINTS)

*Feature (35 laps): 1. 19-Tim Fuller ($2,000), 2. 14j-Alan Johnson, 3. 3-Justin Haers, 4. 21a-Peter Britten, 5. 25-Erick Rudolph, 6. 11j-James Sweeting, 7. 34-Kevin Root, 8. 22g-Gil Tegg Jr., 9. 23c-Kyle Coffey, 10. 33j-Robbie Johnston III, 11. 56-Garrison Krentz, 12. 31m-Jimmy Maier, 13. 10m-Henry Maier, 14. 66-Dan Wiesner, 15. 77-Lance Dusett, 16. 27j-Daniel Johnson Jr.

Heats (8 laps)

#1: Haers, A.Johnson, Krentz, Tegg, J.Maier, Dusett, H.Maier, D.Johnson.

#2: Coffey, Sweeting, Britten, Fuller, Root, Rudolph, Johnston, Wiesner.

2021 Track Champion: Justin Haers

A-Verdi Storage Containers Patriot Sprint Tour

*A-Main (25 laps): 1. 79-Jordan Thomas ($3,000), 2. 10-Paulie Colagiovanni, 3. 98-Joe Trenca, 4. 87-Jason Barney, 5. 7ny-Matt Farnham, 6. 10c-Jeff Cook, 7. 28f-Davie Franek, 8. 90-Matt Tanner, 9. 35-Jared Zimbardi, 10. 17-Sammy Reakes IV, 11. 22-Jonathan Preston, 12. 67-Steve Glover, 13. 2-Dave Axton, 14. 42-Jesse Pruchnik, 15. 36-Mike Stelter, 16. 4s-Johnny Smith IV, 17. 21-Randy Years, 18. 10h-Kelly Hebing, 19. 47-Kyle Drum, 20. 36b-Brian Preston, 21. 45-Chuck Hebing, 22. 48jr.-Darryl Ruggles, 3z-Bobby Parrow(DNS).

Heats (8 laps)

#1: Zimbardi, Farnham, J.Preston, Pruchnik, Reakes, Glover, Franek, Drum.

#2: Trenca, Thomas, Barney, Tanner, Years, Stelter, B.Preston, Parrow.

#3: Colagiovanni, C.Hebing(dsq), Cook, Ruggles, K.Hebing, Smith, Axton.

Bonnell's Rod Shop presented by On The Rocks Bar & Grill Dash (4 laps): 1. Tanner ($100), 2. Ruggles ($75), 3. K.Hebing ($50), 4. Reakes ($25), 5. Pruchnik ($25), 6. Years ($25).

Speed Connection Sportsman Modified

*Feature (25 laps): 1. 7z-Zach Payne ($750), 2. 31-Kane Bristol, 3. 36m-Zachary George, 4. 38-Zach Sobotka, 5. 1f-A.J. Lloyd, 6. 7-Paul Guererri, 7. 12g-Matt Guererri, 8. 20x-Kevin Ridley, 9. 113jr.-Frank Guererri Jr., 10. 3-Justin McKay, 11. 35-Nick Cooper, 12. 11n-Ricky Newton, 13. 00-Sam Hoxie, 14. 61-Andrew Jacobson, 15. 90-Nathan Peckham, 16. 51-Tim Lafler, 17. 31k-Kennedy Payne, 18. 9-Tim Baker, 19. 132-Dalton Martin, 20. 70a-Alex Payne, 21. 34-Tyler Murray, 22. 7x-Troy Sperring, 23. 7j-J.T. Sperring, 24. 56a-Angel Sperring.

Heats (8 laps)

#1: JT Sperring(dsq), Lloyd, Bristol, Z.Payne, Sobotka, Cooper, Jacobson, Peckham.

#2: Baker, McKay, F.Guererri, P.Guererri, M.Guererri, Newton, Martin, K.Payne.

#3: T.Sperring, Ridley, George, A.Payne, Lafler, Hoxie, Murray, A.Sperring.

Mike Emhof Motorsports 305 Sprint

*Feature (20 laps): 1. 13t-Trevor Years ($500), 2. 75-Brandyn Griffin, 3. 18c-Dan Craun, 4. 48a-Alysha Bay, 5. 48jr.-Darryl Ruggles, 6. 41-Chase Moran, 7. 53-Bobby Parrow, 8. 66-Jordan Hutton, 9. 2-Randy Years, 10. 25h-Tyler Emmons, 11. 38-Jason Whipple, 12. 18-Timmy Lotz, 13. 4t-Ray Preston, 14. 77-Matt Rotz, 15. 62-Jacob Lynch, 36-Todd Kaplin(DNS).

Heats (8 laps)

#1: Craun, Parrow, Ruggles, T.Years, Bay, Hutton, Moran, Kaplin.

#2: R.Years, Griffin, Rotz, Whipple, Lynch, Preston, Lotz, Emmons.

Eldredge & Sons Scrap Recycling Street Stock

*Feature (20 laps): 1. 7-Josh Pangrazio, 2. 36-Jimmy Grant, 3. 57j-Adam DePuy, 4. 55p-Parker Smith, 5. 25b-Marc Minutolo, 6. 00-Mike Welch, 7. 93-Jared Hill, 8. 64b-Bob Buono, 9. 12s-Dakota Sharp, 10. 5c-Rick Crego, 11. 74-Ronald “Bundy” Metcalf, 12. 12-John Burritt, 13. 14-Ron Hawker, 14. 63-Mike Fellows, 15. 9-Aksel Jensen, 16. 3-Patrick Hobbs, 17. 122-Chris Beyea, 99-Nick Dandino(dsq).

Heats (6 laps)

#1: DePuy, Hill, Grant, Jensen, Smith, Dandino, Buono, Fellows, Hawker.

#2: Pangrazio, Minutolo, Welch, Beyea, Crego, Hobbs, Sharp, Burritt, Metcalf.