By George, Brunnhoelzl Does It Again
Last-Lap Pass Leads To 9th Caraway Win For 3-Time Champ
ASHEBORO, N.C. – After dominating a week ago George Brunnhoelzl III used a different technique this time to score the win.
Brunnhoelzl, hailing from West Babylon, N.Y., made a dramatic last-lap pass of Tim Brown to pick up a NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour on Saturday night in the Spring Fling 150 at Caraway Speedway.
Brunnhoelzl started from the pole position after winning his 20th career pole award earlier in the day, but lost the lead to Brown on the race’s first lap. Brunnhoelzl behind the wheel of his No. 28 Epox-Z/Oval Speed Chevrolet spent the rest of the race looking at the rear bumper of Brown. An opportunity presented itself, though, on Lap 146 when the caution flag flew for a multi-car incident in Turn 1 of the .455-mile oval which set up a green-white-checkered finish. After Brown took the white flag Brunnhoelzl tapped the leader’s rear bumper in Turns 3 and 4 opening a window for Brunnhoelzl to slip through to victory.
Brunnhoelzl had little reservations after the fact about the bump-and-run move that led to yet another Caraway victory.
“Tim had a good car, we had a great car … every restart, every time I got outside of him he put me up in the third groove, and during a race there’s no need for it,” Brunnhoelzl said. “The green-white-checkered comes, he ran me into the hot dog stand in Turn 1, so he cleared me down the backstretch, and I gave him a little bump-and-run.”
On the cool-down lap Brown made contact with Brunnhoelzl and attempted to disrupt the Victory Lane proceedings, but race officials cleared things out with little incident.
It was the second agonizing defeat for Brown, who held on to finish second, at Caraway in as many starts this season. In the season’s opening race on March 16 at Caraway, Brown started from the pole and led a race-high 96 laps before running out of fuel on Lap 146 of the 150-lap affair.
Kyle Ebersole finished third for the third straight race. Last year’s Sunoco Rookie of the Year Danny Bohn scored a season-best finish of fourth followed by Brian Loftin in fifth. Rookie Luke Fleming, Burt Myers, Andy Seuss, Jason Myers and Gary Putnam rounded out the top-10 finishers on the night.
For Brunnhoelzl, it was his 19th tour career win which extends his own all-time tour record. He’s won five of the last eight Whelen Southern Modified Tour events at Caraway, and he’s finished either first or second in nine of the last 11.
It was also Brunnhoelzl’s ninth career win at Caraway which gives him the all-time mark at the track. He and Loftin were tied atop the list coming into the evening.
“It feels great [to be atop the list],” Brunnhoelzl said. “Every time you win it’s great. To take the most wins here just makes it that much better.”
The three-time tour champion in Brunnhoelzl led wire-to-wire to pick up his first victory of the season on April 13 at South Boston (Va.) Speedway. After his two consecutive wins, Brunnhoelzl has an 18-point advantage over Ebersole in the championship standings with Brown closely trailing.
With four of 12 races in the books, the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour takes a break and will be on the track next on Friday, July 5 at Caraway Speedway.
NWSMT Caraway 4/20/13 Unofficial Results
Whelen Southern Modified Tour
Race: NWSMT Caraway 4/20/13
Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Points B/Points Status
1 1 28 George Brunnhoelzl, III Epox-Z/Oval Speed Chevrolet 155 47 4 Running
2 2 02 Tim Brown Hayes Jewelers/T&C Motorsports Chevrolet 155 44 2 Running
3 3 5 Kyle Ebersole Ebersole Excavating Ford 155 41 Running
4 4 65 Danny Bohn Cedar Peaks/Rustoleum Chevrolet 155 40 Running
5 7 23 Brian Loftin L&R Trans./QMF Metal & Electronics Chevrolet 155 39 Running
6 9 40 Luke Fleming * Koma Unwind/AutosByNelson.com Ford 155 38 Running
7 10 1 Burt Myers Citrusafe/Adam’s Towing & Recovery Ford 155 37 Running
8 6 11 Andy Seuss Doug Strickland Recovery Chevrolet 154 36 Running
9 11 4 Jason Myers Wendell Edwards Performance Ford 154 35 Running
10 15 77 Gary Putnam Stock Car Steel Chevrolet 154 34 Running
11 14 2 JR Bertuccio Gershow Recycling/Hagerman Systems Chevrolet 154 33 Running
12 5 25 John Smith G-Oil/Shady Grady Racing Chevrolet 154 32 Running
13 12 97 Bryan Dauzat O.B. Builders Chevrolet 153 31 Running
14 13 04 David Calabrese * Diamond Back Towing Chevrolet 151 30 Running
15 16 70 Jeremy Gerstner * GMR Complete Lawn/Fountain Mtspts. Chevrolet 149 29 Running
16 8 44 Brandon Ward Crane & Rigging Chevrolet 60 28 Mechanical
17 17 12 Mike Norman Auto Sols. Mag./Lewisville Motors Chevrolet 0 27 DNS
RACE STATISTICS
Fastest Qualifier: George Brunnhoelzl, III, Time: 15.792 Seconds, Speed: 103.723 mph
Time of Race: 0 hrs., 55 mins, 39 secs Average Speed: 76.038 mph Margin of Victory: 0.126 Seconds
Caution Flags: Laps 72-74 (Car #70 spin Backstretch); 86-89 (Cars #77 & 04 accident Turn 2); 147-152 (Cars #11, 4, 40 accident Turn 1 ). 3 for 13 laps.
Lap Leaders: Tim Brown 1-154, George Brunnhoelzl, III 155. Total Laps Led: Tim Brown 154, George Brunnhoelzl, III 1. 1 changes involving 2 drivers.
Sources: Shon Sbarra/NASCAR WSMT PR