New Egypt Speedway Honors 2015 Season Champions at Annual Awards Banquet
Ryan Godown Collects $10,000 Modified Championship Payday
New Egypt, NJ– This past Saturday, January 16th, New Egypt Speedway honored their 2015 season champions at their annual awards banquet at the Hibernians Club in Hamilton, NJ. This year’s point fund, courtesy of Lias Tire, paid $31,585 spread through five divisions. In addition, the Crate Modified point fund received an extra $802 from the $.25 from each gallon of the spec fuel purchased during the 2015 season.
Taking home the big $10,000 Modified division top prize for the second year in a row was Ringoes, NJ’s Ryan Godown. Godown scored six Saturday night 358 Modified victories in 2015 to help secure the championship over rival Billy Pauch by 82 points and thanked his long-time sponsor John Chemidlin of EG Tire and Auto Center as well as his entire crew and other long time sponsors dating back to his street stock driving days. Also in attendance to receive their 2015 point earnings was new dad and third place finisher Billy Pauch Jr., fourth place finisher and soon to be new dad David VanHorn, fifth place finisher Sammy Piazza, sixth place finisher Neal Williams, and tenth place finisher Jimmy Blewett, who gave a heartfelt goodbye to his dirt racing career at New Egypt Speedway.
For the second time in his racing career Clay Butler of Medford, NJ was crowned the Sportsman champion. Butler thanked his long-time sponsor David Cray of Cray Electric for all of his support on their way to their second Sportsman championship together. Steve Davis and Brandon Grosso were also in attendance to collect their second and third place point earnings.
Eric Palmer of Cresco, PA celebrated his third Crate Modified championship in four years with his crew. In a division that sees a lot of youth starting their careers, Palmer proves year in and year out that experience at point racing can make a huge difference. With the addition of the spec fuel money, the top 10 finishers in the Crate Modified division received point fund earnings. Second place finisher Jordon Cox, third place finisher Frank Dorry, fourth place finisher Ryan Simmons, fifth place finisher Brandon Grosso, sixth place finisher Brian Papiez, eighth place finisher Jeremy Maritino, and tenth place finisher rookie Tom Tanner were all on hand to collect their point earnings.
John Carpenter of Howell, NJ on his way to becoming the all-time winningest Street Stock driver at New Egypt Speedway also collected his second championship in 2015. Carpenter collected seven wins during the 2015 season to beat second-place finisher Bill Liedtka, who was also in attendance, by a mere four points to claim the title.
Mark Bitner of Trenton, NJ added to his impressive sprint car racing resume by capturing the 2015 NERS Sprint championship. Bitner scored a season-ending victory to capture the championship by 10 points over second place. Also on hand to collect their 2015 point earnings was fifth place finisher Joe Lord. The NERS Sprints will once again be under the TSRS banner at New Egypt Speedway for the 2016 racing season.
Matt Stangle, who at just 16 years old, captured the 2015 HCI/Metal Fab Rookie division championship. Stangle was presented his 2015 point earnings by sponsors Mike Lyons of HCI and Mark Blackwell from Metal Fab Race Shop. Also on hand to receive their point earnings from Lyons and Blackwell was second place finisher Dan Fleming.
For the third year, New Egypt Speedway awarded one driver with their unique Overall Champion award that is designed to highlight the underrated qualities of a champion including leadership, a team mentality, sportsmanship, and determination. This year’s Overall Champion award was given to 16-year-old Modified rookie Ryan Krachun who showed his maturity both on and off the track when racing in a division full of legends.
The biggest surprise of the night was a special award presented to track General Manager Allyse Wolfinger by her staff. After presenting the Overall Champion award, track announcer Nick Leach lamented the hard work Wolfinger does to keep the Speedway going each and every day.
Track announcers Pete Wortman and Nick Leach served as MC’s for the event and track hostesses Lindsey Webster and Nola Martino awarded the drivers with their trophies. Special awards were presents to sponsors Jim and Leslie Potts of Mid State Mobile Radio, Mike Lyons of HCI, and Mark Blackwell of Metal Fab for their 2015 season sponsorships. The night ended with music by DJ Paul Desisto.
Sources: New Egypt Speedway PR