New Egypt Speedway News: Sammy Piazza Wins Season Finale, Godown Captures 2nd Championship

NEWS FROM NEW EGYPT SPEEDWAY Route 539, New Egypt, NJ Track Phone: 609-758-1900 Contact: Pete Wortman, PR Director

Sammy Piazza Wins Season Finale, Godown Captures 2nd Championship

Five Divisions Crown Champs Saturday at NES

New Egypt, NJ (Sept. 27, 2014) – Sammy Piazza of Lawrenceville, NJ won his first feature event of the season on Championship Night at New Egypt Speedway. The 2014 champion was crowned earlier when former (2012) champ Ryan Godown clinched is second championship in three years when he drove thru the gate at the start of the evening, as his show up points put him out of reach of his competition. Piazza led wire to wire in what could be called a dominant performance in the 30 lap Modified feature claiming his second career victory.

Championships were on the line in all five divisions on this evening, and the four support divisions all had first time champions celebrating at nights end. Johnny Cornell III clinched his first ever Sportsman title by winning the 20 lap feature, as did NERS 305 Sprint car chauffeur Phil Meisner Jr. The other two champs won their first title on this evening by racing home second in the main event to the defending 2013 champion. Mike Butler won the Crate Modified title by virtue of his second place finish to Eric Palmer, while Bill Liedtka was crowned Street Stock champ when he ran runner-up to Dan Collamer.

#29 Sammy Piazza (WoS photo)

Piazza grabbed the lead from his pole starting position at the onset, controlling the field at the start as Tad Cox made his way to the front quickly. Piazza led by a comfortable 5 car lengths for the first 20 laps as every time the duo approached lapped traffic a caution would reset the action. With a late green flag run from halfway, Cox closed in on the leader with 5 laps remaining bringing the crowd to their feet. Cox caught Piazza in the heavy traffic and actually pulled alongside of him at one point before the red flag came out for 2 separate incidents as Billy Pauch Jr.’s car caught fire in the infield 1 lap after pulling out of the event while running third, & Chris Grbac’s car broke the driveshaft as he tried to stop in turn two causing him to exit his car quickly. With “clean air” in front of the leaders, Piazza went right back out in front by the same five car lengths over Tad Cox to the checkered flag. Neal Williams raced through the field to finish third, David Van Horn brought his fast #71 home fourth and Jimmy Blewett passed Billy Pauch on the final lap to grab fifth.

#87 John Cornell III (WoS photo)

Johnny Cornell III of Neshanic Station, NJ was crowned the 2014 Sportsman champion after he won his second feature of the season. Alan Bleacher was impressive with a strong second place run, with Brian Roemer third, Mike Hendershot fourth and defending champ and the point leader coming into the event Bob Lineman Jr. settling for fifth.

#1 Phil Meisner Jr. on his way to victory (WoS photo)

Phil Meisner Jr. started the night 22 points behind Mike Haggenbottom for the NERS 305 Sprint Car championship. He then took full advantage of his pole starting spot as he led all 20 laps of the non-stop feature event holding off a very fast Stef Palmai in lapped traffic for his first win of the season and collecting the first ever NES 305 Sprint Car championship. Palmai came home second, followed by Bobby Devault, Joe Lord and Tommy Carberry Jr. Four-time winner Haggenbottom, who needed to finish in the top four to clinch the title, was moving up quickly on the second lap from eighth to fifth when contact in traffic sent him bouncing high in the air. He quickly settled the car down finding himself out of the top ten and could only rebound to finish 8th.

#42 Dan Collamer on his way to victory (WoS photo)

Dan Collamer of Waretown, NJ had hopes of winning his second straight NES Street Stock championship, and he did what he had to do by winning the event; however it wasn’t enough as Bill Liedtka finished second and took his first ever title. Following these two across the finish line were Gary Klimeczek, Bill Connolly and Todd Dige.

#12e Eric Palmer on his way to victory (WoS photo)

In the Crate Modified event, 2-time defending champ Eric Palmer ended the season on a winning note with point leader Mike Butler of Milford, NJ finishing a strong second and earning his second championship in a week, as he was crowned the All-Star Cup Crate champ last Saturday here. Steve Hicks rebounded back from two tangles showing heavy sheet metal damage to finish third, with Mike Carman and Jimmy Martin rounding out the top five.

This event brings an end to the 2014 season at New Egypt Speedway. Keep track of all of the off season news by logging onto the speedway website, www.newegyptspeedway.net or on Facebook /newegyptspeedwayofficial. You can also follow us on Twitter @nesspeedway. Speedway management would like to thank all of the race fans, drivers, and race teams for helping to make 2014 a success.

NES RESULTS 9/27/14

MODIFIED RESULTS
1st Heat: 1. Danny Bouc 2. Willie Osmun 3. Ryan Godown 4. Duane Howard 5. David Van Horn 6. Chris Grbac
2nd Heat: 1. Sammy Piazza 2. Neal Williams 3. Billy Pauch Jr. 4. Billy Pauch 5. John Stangle 6. Dave Witte
3rd Heat: 1. PJ Oliver 2. Tad Cox 3. Gary Butler 4. Jimmy Horton 5. Tommy Farrell 6. Jimmy Blewett
B-Main: 1. Dominick Buffalino 2. Kevin Vaclavicek 3. Lou Cicconi 4. Andrew Bohn 5. DJ Ruppert 6. Chris Esposito
Feature (30 Laps): 1. Sammy Piazza 2. Tad Cox 3. Neal Williams 4. David Van Horn 5. Jimmy Blewett 6. Billy Pauch 7. Ryan Godown 8. Duane Howard 9. Jimmy Horton 10. Willie Osmun 11. Gary Butler 12. Lou Cicconi 13. Danny Bouc 14. Kevin Vaclavicek 15. PJ Oliver 16. Andrew Bohn 17. Chris Esposito 18. Dave Witte 19. Dominick Buffalino 20. Chris Grbac 21. John Stangle 22. Billy Pauch Jr. 23. Tommy Farrell 24. DJ Ruppert
DNQ: Doug Ostwald, Eric Engstrom, Chuck Potts, Bill Lester.

SPORTSMAN RESULTS
1st Heat: 1. Bob Lineman Jr. 2. Brian Roemer 3. Marty Saxton 4. Alan Bleacher 5. J.T Trsensky 6. Erik Renniger
2nd Heat: 1. Mike Howardson 2. Mike Hendershot 3. John Cornell III 4. Derek Krum 5. Ryan Simmons 6. Doug Snyder
Feature (20 Laps): 1. John Cornell III 2. Alan Bleacher 3. Brian Roemer 4. Mike Hendershot 5. Bob Lineman Jr. 6. J.T Trsensky 7. Mike Howardson 8. Marty Saxton 9. Erik Renniger 10. Duane Nixon 11. Jimmy Amato 12. Andy Visinsky 13. Robin McTighe 14. Heidi Hedin 15. Doug Snyder 16. Ryan Simmons 17. Derek Krum

CRATE MODIFIEDS RESULTS
1st Heat: 1. Mike Everett 2. Chuckles Stone 3. Eric Palmer 4. Frank Dorry 5. Jordan Cox 6. Jason Bittner 7. Steve Hicks
2nd Heat: 1. Ryan Simmons 2. Mike Carman 3. Bryan Kuhl 4. Brian Papiez 5. Paul Hartwig 6. Jimmy Martin 7. John Micek
Feature (20 Laps): 1. Eric Palmer 2. Mike Butler 3. Steve Hicks 4. Mike Carman 5. Jimmy Martin 6. Ryan Simmons 7. John Micek 8. Jordan Cox 9. Mike Everett 10. Adam Cox 11. Bryan Kuhl 12. Kevin Dale 13. Chuck Steuer 14. Jason Bittner 15. Lauren Emmons 16. Jarrett Rozycki 17. Brian Papiez 18. Chuckles Stone 19. Frank Dorry 20. Matt Carman
DQ Paul Hartwig Jr.

NERS 305 SPRINT RESULTS
1st Heat: 1. Bob DeVault 2. Joe Lord 3. Phil Meisner Jr. 4. Neal Williams 5. Rick Stief 6. Brad Franks
2nd Heat: 1. Tommy Carberry Jr 2. Stefanie Palmai 3. Mark Bitner 4. Mike Haggenbottom 5. Rory Janney 6. Brendon Poff
Feature (20 Laps): 1. Phil Meisner 2. Stefani Palmai 3. Bob DeVault 4. Joe Lord 5. Tommy Carberry Jr. 6. Rory Janney 7. Neal Williams 8. Mike Haggenbottom 9. Adam Carberry 10. Mark Bitner 11. Rick Stief 12. Jeff Geiges 13. David Brown Jr. 14. Brad Franks 15. Erika Palmai 16. Brendon Poff 17. Harris Kohen

STREETSTOCKS RESULTS
1st Heat: 1. Bill Liedtka 2. Dan Collamer 3. Bill Connolly 4. Billy Wroble 5. Joe Reid 6. Darren Cox
2nd Heat: 1. Gary Klimeczak 2. Tom Princiotta 3. John Carpenter 4. Todd Dige 5. Ron Frees 6. Marty Derr
Feature (20 Laps): 1. Dan Collamer 2. Bill Liedtka 3. Gary Klimeczak 4. Bill Connolly 5. Todd Dige 6. Tom Princiotta 7. John Carpenter 8. Ron Frees 9. Joe Reid 10. Billy Wroble 11. Anthony Tortorello 12. Darren Cox 13. Marty Derr 14. Spider Ensinger Sr. 15. Mike Mongiello
DNS: Rich Mongeau

Final Top Ten Point Standings

358 Modifieds

DRIVER (* denotes wins) POINTS
1 Ryan Godown**** 1033
2 Billy Pauch*(7) 915
3 David Van Horn 872
4 Willie Osmun* 835
5 Jimmy Blewett* 829
6 Tad Cox 826
7 Sammy Piazza* 763
8 Neal Williams 723
9 Gary Butler 707
10 Danny Bouc* 702

Crate Modifieds

DRIVER (* denotes wins) POINTS
1 Mike Butler*** 586
2 Eric Palmer** 550
3 Bryan Kuhl 540
4 Chuck Steuer* 532
5 Steve Hicks* 515
6 Mike Carman 495
7 Ryan Simmons 480
8 Frank Dorry* 465
9 Chuckles Stone* 462
10 Brian Papiez* 438

NERS 305 Sprints

DRIVER (* denotes wins) POINTS
1 Phil Meisner Jr.* 630
2 Mike Haggenbottom**** 616
3 Bobby Devault* 504
4 Stefanie Palmai 496
5 Joe Lord 482
6 Jeff Geiges* 458
7 David Brown Jr. 409
8 Neal Williams 401
9 Mark Bitner* 398
10 Adam Carberry 389

Sportsman

DRIVER (* denotes wins) POINTS
1 Johnny Cornell ** 692
2 Bob Lineman Jr.*** 683
3 Mike Hendershot*** 676
4 Mike Howardson 583
5 Alan Bleacher 564
6 J.T. Trstensky 456
7 Brian Roemer* 371
8 Marty Saxton 366
9 Mike Butler* 363
10 Jimmy Amato 359

Street Stocks

DRIVER (* denotes wins) POINTS
1 Bill Liedtka*** 702
2 Dan Collamer*** 688
3 John Carpenter*** 671
4 Tom Princiotta 647
5 Todd Dige 632
6 Gary Klimeczak* 570
7 Darren Cox 552
8 Joe Reid 551
9 Ron Frees** 476
10 Bill Connelly 449