Patrick Emerling Goes Wire-to-wire to Win Whittaker Ford F-50 at Spencer Speedway
– Gary Noe; Ashley Schoonmaker; Jacob Gustafson; Andrew Lewis, Jr., all visit Spencer Victory Lane –
Williamson, N.Y (July 30, 2021) – Patrick Emerling of Orchard Park, N.Y. dominated the Race of Champions Modified Series Billy Whittaker Ford F-50 on Friday night at the Spencer Speedway. Emerling led all 50 laps to earn his second RoC Modified Series win of 2021. Andy Jankowiak of Tonawanda, N.Y. finished second followed by Matt Hirschman of Northampton, PA.
A near-capacity crowd took in the action that featured five divisions of racing. Gary Noe of Barton, N.Y. won the Race of Champions Super Stock 30-lap feature. Jacob Gustafson of Webster, N.Y. captured the Wilbert’s U-Pull It 4-Cylinder race. The Super Sixes feature was won by Ashley Schoonmaker of Williamson, while Andrew Lewis, Jr. won his third Rocket Performance 602 Sportsman Modified feature of the season.
Emerling started third in a stacked field of 24 Race of Champions Modifieds. He was able to overtake front row starters Zane Zeiner and Ricky Knapp on the opening lap by the time the field of Modifieds exited the fourth turn. Zeiner chased Emerling for the opening 12 laps before giving up the runner-up position to Jankowiak, who started fourth.
While the duo of Emerling and Jankowiak paced the field for most of the event, it was Hirschman that played the role of hard charger. Hirschman started eighth and it took him 20 laps before landing in the third position.
In the end, the race came down to Emerling being able to grab the lead on the opening lap to keep himself ahead of Jankowiak and Hirschman all the way to the finish.
“My guys gave me a great car, but track position is so important here,” said Emerling. “It was awesome to win in front of this great crowd at Spencer and now we’re 2-for-2 with the Race of Champions this year.”
Emerling now has 20 career Race of Champions Modified Series wins, which is fourth best in series history. The three-time and defending series champion is just two wins behind George Kent for third place on the win list. Hirschman padded his series points lead over Austin Beers, who finished tenth.
It was a hard-fought first career Race of Champions Super Stock win for Gary Noe as he bested a season-high field of 24 Super Stocks. Noe had to deal with lapped traffic while holding off a hard-charging Travis Montgomery to secure the victory. He did all that with most of the left side sheet metal hanging off the car after it was damaged in an early race incident.
Noe passed Montgomery for the lead on lap 7 after Montgomery led the opening circuits from the pole. He then pulled out to a sizable lead during the first half of the race. Montgomery did not give up, however, as he reeled Noe back in the closing laps while the pair negotiated the lapped cars. Montgomery gave Noe a bump from behind on the final lap, but it was not enough to derail Noe’s path to the checkered flag. Joe Mancuso finished third followed by Matt Druar and Andy Cocilova.
Jacob Gustafson scored his second-straight Wilbert’s U-Pull It 4-Cylinder feature win. Gustafson passed David Heimes for the lead in the opening laps of the 15-lap event and never looked back. It was a similar story in the Wilbert’s Super Sixes as Ashley Schoonmaker backed up her win from two weeks ago with another victory. Brandon Allen and her father Josh Schoonmaker completed the Super Sixes podium.
Andrew Lewis, Jr. remained perfect in the inaugural season for the Rocket Performance 602 Sportsman Modifieds with his third win in a row. Lewis came out on top over Andrew Cook and Alyssa Leaty with Cook and Leaty battling for second all the way to the finish.
Detailed results for the Race of Champions Billy Whittaker Ford F-50 can be found here; https://www.rocmodifiedseries.com/profile/schedule/results.aspx?r=378780&rt=sch
Next up for the Race of Champions Modified Series is “The Night Before The Glen” Rod Spalding Classic 75 at the Chemung Speedrome on Saturday, August 7. NASCAR Cup Series driver and Modified standout Ryan Preece will be on hand to challenge the best of the “RoC Stars” before competing the following day at Watkins Glen International. The RoC Super Stocks will battle in the $1,000-to-win “Tribute to Ed McGuire” plus the return of the Race of Champions FOAR Score 4-Cylinder Dash Series.
Racing returns to Spencer Speedway on Friday, August 20 featuring the Race of Champions Sportsman Modified Series along with the RoC Super Stocks, Rocket Performance 602 Modifieds, Wilbert’s U-Pull It 4-Cylinders and Super Sixes.
The Race of Champions is a sanctioning body presenting Modified and Stock Car racing on asphalt and dirt surfaces throughout the Northeast, with events in New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey with primary marketing partners Hoosier Racing Tire, VP Racing Fuels, Waddell Communications, Image X Graphic Designs, Sherwood Racing Wheels, DirtTrackDigest.com, FX Caprara and Billy Whittaker Ford. The 71st annual Race of Champions weekend will take place in 2021 at Lake Erie Speedway in North East, Pennsylvania and is the second longest consecutive auto-racing event in North America, second only to the Indianapolis 500.
For more information, contact Race of Champions Media at media@rocmodifiedseries.com
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Sources: ROC PR