Scott Tomasik called it “pretty eventful.”
By any description, the late season partnership between Tomasik and the Tony D’Ambrose-owned T1 Racing team has been a success.
In only his second night out, Tomasik found his way into victory lane Friday at Grundy County Speedway, outdueling short track master Larry Schuler in the 30-lap late-model feature.
The 28-year-old from Indianapolis, Ind., did it in pretty dramatic fashion, passing Schuler with only one lap remaining and prevailing by 0.477 seconds.
“Any time you can beat the old short-track veterans like Mr. Schuler or Mr. (Eddie) Hoffman or any of those guys, it’s pretty big,” he said.
Tomasik had a fourth-place finish in his Grundy debut the week before, and finished second in the late-model main Aug. 22 at Illiana Speedway.
“It’s just hard work and dedication,” Tomasik said. “I don’t think you’ll find a team that works any harder than these guys do.”
Billy Knippenberg jumped from the front row into an early lead. He was able to hold off James Gregait, but on lap 17 Schuler was able to ease by, taking Tomasik with him.
With five laps remaining a wreck in Turns 1 and 2 took out, among others, points leader Eddie Hoffman. Hoffman went briefly to the pits for repairs, and returned to finish ninth.
On the green, Tomasik hovered behind Schuler until one lap remained. Tomasik then went to the high side, and when Schuler moved up to block he dove to the bottom and made the winning pass.
“(Schuler) was using up as much of the track as he could and we were getting aggressive there at the end,” Tomasik said. “He slid up a little bit when he got in the gas and slowed her back down to get to the bottom We got to the bottom first and ended up passing him.”
John Nutley was third, followed by Knippenberg, Gregait and Nathan Kelly.
In the street stock feature, Zach Sontag claimed his first victory of the season, taking the lead on lap 7 from Craig Matteson. Points leader Christy Penrod stayed glued to his bumper, and was within 0.166 at the finish. Seth Blommaert was third, ahead of heat winner Cheryl Hryn and Tim Stewart.
With her second-place finish, Penrod added to her division lead over Hryn, which was at 13 points going into the night. Penrod is still looking for her first victory, but has been a runnerup seven times.
“(Sontag) had a strong lead and deserved the win,” Penrod said. “I’m still not disappointed about finishing second yet again, because all racers know that consistency is key. It would be crazy to win a championship without a heat or feature win.”
Tom Knippenberg won for the seventh time this season in the Mid-American feature. Knippenberg made an inside move to pass Luke Baldwin for the top spot on lap 18, and beat Josh Nelms by 0.384 seconds.
Matt Clemens and Chuck Yuris, running in the top two spots in points, were fifth and sixth in the feature, respectively.
Bryce Leake captured the 4-cylinder feature with a wire-to-wire run. It was Leake’s second win of the season. Second went to Cirk Lindemuth, ahead of Will Shepherd, Chris Mihalski and Alex Gay.
Twitter: @tbaranek
SUMMARY
Late-model
Fast time: Scott Tomasik. 1st heat: 1. Billy Knippenberg, 2. Brian Tomasi, 3. Jim Weber. 2nd heat: 1. Larry Schuler, 2. Brandon Clubb, 3. Eddie Hoffman. 30-lap feature: 1. Tomasik, 2. Schuler, 3. John Nutley, 4. Knippenberg, 5. James Gregait, 6. Nathan Kelly.
Mid-American
Fast time: 1. Tom Knippenberg. 1st heat: 1. Jim Kachel, 2. Luke Baldwin, 3. Aaron Shelton. 2nd heat: 1. John Ventrello, 2. Chuck Yuris, 3. Knippenberg. 25-lap feature: 1. Knippenberg, 2. Josh Nelms, 3. Baldwin, 4. Ventrello, 5. Matt Clemens, 6. Yuris.
Street stock
Fast time: Seth Blommaert. 1st heat: 1. Craig Matteson, 2. Spencer Leake, 3. Darrell Gay. 2nd heat: 1 Cheryl Hryn, 2. Rita Fields, 3. Bill Serviss. 25-lap feature: 1. Zach Sontag, 2. Christy Penrod, 3. Blommaert, 4. Hryn, 5. Tim Stewart, 6. Fields.
4-cylinder
Fast time: Cirk Lindemuth. 1st heat: 1. Bryce Leake, 2. Ricky Wilson, 3. Jim Gross. 2nd heat: 1. Dylan Marshall, 2 Alex Gay, 3. Dan Schmeissing. 15-lap feature: 1. Leake, 2. Lindemuth, 3. Will Shepherd, 4. Mihalski, 5. Schmeissing, 6. Gay.