Rob Niedermaier
An emotionally charged Saturday night at Wall Stadium for a multitude of reasons including honoring the man who helped save and revive the ⅓ mile oval back to glory in the late great Cliff Krause. The annual August 127 lap memorial race for the Patriarch of the Krause family has become a crown jewel to win at Wall. Winners like Eddie McCarthy, Steven Kopsik, and 2 time winner of the event Andrew Krause have all won the race since it’s inception.
The night started in qualifying everyone got through qualifying without issue beside the #69 of Tyler Truex who stalled out in turn 3 while coming to the green flag for his first of two laps of qualifying. Truex ended up qualifying p15 after his issue at the start of his run. At the end of qualifying it was the #16 car of Anthony Sesley who ended up having the quick time at 12.442 second lap.
At the drop of the green flag the #55 of Steven Reed who got the pole in a draw pre race proceeded to shoot out of a cannon on the start to take the early lead. He didn’t lead for long as Andrew Krause stormed from 6th to 2nd in just 15 laps before catching and passing Reed on lap 22. From there on out it was the Krause show out front as he led the majority of the race from there on out.
A caution for a spin on lap 54 changed the whole dynamic of the race. That caution had the entire back half of the field at that point to come in for tires and adjustments including the 69 of Truex who pitted a lap before the pits officially opened under yellow to fix the cap of his brake master cylinder and get a new tire as well. Truex had to start at the tail of the field because of pitting early.
The green flag came back out on lap 71 and it was business as usual for the 27 of Krause who continued to dominate the race. As the laps ticked away it seemed Andrew Krause had the race in the bag but that all changed on lap 111 when his car which led a race high 89 laps went up in smoke when his motor expired.
The motor blowing up on the 27 of Krause proceeded to bring out a caution and made the front runners who didn’t pit on the lap 54 make a difficult decision. Pit and lose your track position to the guys who pitted on lap 54 caution or stay out and hope your older tires can hold on for 16 more laps. The answer for most of the front runners was to pit and get some fresh rubber on the car.
Only 2 cars of the front runners didn’t pit on either lap 54 caution or the lap 111 caution. The 14 of Blake Barney and the 44 of Joey Merlino. The decision not to pit had both the 14 and 44 starting on the front row for the restart on lap 111. That start also had the cars who pitted on lap 64 directly behind the 2 of them for the restart.
The green flag came back out and it was the 14 of Barney who jumped out front to the lead while the rest of the field behind him jockeyed for every position. The 69 of Truex who pitted on lap 56 before pits opened made his way up to 6th on strategy and had the speed on the start to get up to 3rd. Just when everything settled back down another caution came out. This time for the 5 car of Kevin Davidson who blew a tire and hit the wall hard on the exit of turn 4.
That caution changed everything for the 14 and 44 who stayed in 1st and 2nd after staying out. With just 8 to go the 2 of them knew that they had to stay out and stick to the strategy they were on. When it came time to choose for lanes on the backstretch the leader Barney chose the high side and the 44 chose the bottom. That left the 3rd place running 69 with a choice to follow the leader up high knowing he can get the run and make the pass or go low and hope the 44 gets a good start. Truex ended up going up high and following the leader Blake Barney in his lane choice.
Green flag waves on the restart with 8 to go. Blake Barney continues to lead with a good enough start to clear the 44 of Merlino by turn 3 in the same lap. Barney was closely tailed by the 69 of Tyler Truex who started in 3rd behind him on the restart and also cleared Merlino in turn 3 of lap 119.
Coming out of turn 2 on lap 121 Truex made his move and darted low into turn 3 to pass and clear the 14. After that pass for the lead he didn’t look back and led the last 5 laps en route to his first Modified win in 6 years at the track and a paycheck of $7,127.
In Victory Lane while talking to track reporter Jeff Garvatt. Truex said “I never thought I’d be here at the end of this race”. He also commented on the brake issues in VL “The cover came off my brake master cylinder and was dumping brake fluid all over my feet early in the race. We had to go to the pits to fix that and then come from the rear.” And ended with “I am just so glad to win this for my father. He has been having some health battles for a long time.”
For those interested in my interview with the winner Tyler Truex. Listen to the audio file that is attached to the article for it!
MODIFIED FEATURE – 127 Laps – 1. Tyler Truex, 2. Steven Reed, 3. Carsten DiGiantomasso, 4. James Blewett, 5. Blake Barney, 6. Joey Merlino, 7. Jake Nelke, 8. Bryan O’Shea, 9. Anthony Sesely, 10. Jonathan Laureigh, 11. Adam LaCicero, 12. Jarret DiGiantomasso, 13. Kevin Davison, 14. Tommy Martino, Jr., 15. Shaun Carrig, 16. Tyler Ferris, 17. Andrew Krause, 18. Teddy Cranmer, 19. Derek Hopkinson, 20. Eddie McCarthy
Bradon Kelliher-Lisson