ANDREW KRAUSE GRABS 6TH WIN, 2ND WALL MODIFIED CROWN SATURDAY

WALL TOWNSHIP, N.J. ~ Andrew Krause of Holmdel raced from ninth on the grid to win his sixth Modified stock car main event of the season at Wall Stadium Speedway Saturday night. Krause's impressive performance also nailed down his second straight Modified driving title at the third mile paved oval.

Tyler Truex of Egg Harbor Township was the first leader of the test before Jackson's Steven Reed and Brick's Eddie McCarthy moved in to challenge as Krause continued his climb towards the front. The battle for the top spot then continued well past halfway before Truex and Reed tangled on the front stretch. McCarthy and Krause then advanced into the top two spots on the restart before Truex and Reed again tussled on the front stretch with Truex tangling with the first turn guard rail as a result.

On the ensuing restart Krause used the outside lane to rocket into the lead and raced on to the win and the title. McCarthy was the runner-up, with Derek Hopkinson of Toms River, Reed and New Egypt's Jason Hearne wrapping up he top five.

“These guys killed it again!” Krause said in the winner's circle as he pointed twoard his pit crew. “We took home our sixth win of the year to finish out the regular season and wrap up the championship! Thanks to everyone involved! This is what it's all about!”

Billy Both of Rahway moved into contention early and raced on to his first ever Factory Stock 25 lap win. Both battled with title contender and former champ Elliot Wohl of Beachwood late in the race before Wohl spun from contention for both the win and the season-long title. Bryan O'Shea of Neptune City, who also suffered a spin early in the test, recovered to finish sixth to secure the driving crown. Scott Riggleman of Manchester, Farmingdale's Doug Ashford, Nick Catone of Brick and Robert Stack of Manahawkin completed the top five.

Carsten DiGiantomasso of Jackson overcame early race trouble and a flat tire to finish sixth in the Sportsman main event and that was enough for him to secure that division's driving crown. Kevin Davison of Howell, the eventual champ's closest rival, did all he could to steal way the title as he won his third race of the year but fell two points short. Jake Nelke of Manahawkin, Chris Silvestri of Hazlet, Parlin's Larry Thompson and Ryan Fisher of Howell were second through fifth.

Ian Ashford of Farmingdale grabbed his second win of the year in the 25-lapper for the Fast 4 cars, taking the lead on lap four and then holding off challenger Billy Pross of Hazlet late in the event. Mike Lavery of Orangeburg, N.Y., Alex Graetz of Wall and Nicole Razzano of Cookstown completed the top five, while Burlington's Alonzo Morales earned the 2021 driving crown by finishing sixth.

Mike Alcaro of West Milford topped the 25-lapper for the Legend Cars, taking the lead on lap five. Kevin Nowak of Medford, N.Y., Long Island's Allan Pederson, Richie Davidowicz of Center Moriches, N.Y. and Tanner Jones wrapped up the top five. Mason Magee of Northeast, Md. overcame early race trouble to recover for a sixth place finish that earned him the 2021 driving title.

The 2021 Saturday night post season begins this Saturday (Oct. 9) evening with the annual running of the 127-lap Cliff Krause Memorial for the Modifieds. Sportsman cars, Fast 4 cars and Factory Stocks will compete in 27 lap races. Grandstands will open at 3:00 p.m., qualifying starts at 4:00 p.m. and main event action starts at 6:00 p.m.

The post season will then continue with the 48th annual running of Turkey Derby on November 20, 26 and 27 during the daylight hours. More information is available at wallspeedwayracing.com.

Wall Stadium is located on Route 34 in Wall Township, N.J., just one mile north of Garden State Parkway exit 98 and Interstate 195 exit 35B. The speedway hotline number is 732-681-6400 and email address is ckmotorsports@aol.com.

MODIFIED FEATURE – 40 Laps – 1. ANDREW KRAUSE, HOLMDEL, 2. Eddie McCarthy, 3. Derek Hopkinson, 4. Steven Reed, 5. Jason Hearne, 6. Joey Merlino, 7. Blake Barney, 8. Shaun Carrig, 9. Marc Rogers, 10. Mike Brennan, 11. Jason Treat, 12. Carsten DiGiantomasso, 13. Tommy Martino, Jr., 14. Tom Catanzaro, 15. Kenny Matlach, 16. Kenny Van Wickle, DQ Tyler Truex

CHAMPION: ANDREW KRAUSE, HOLMDEL

FATORY STOCK FEATURE – 25 Laps – 1. BILLY BOTH, RAHWAY, 2. Scott Riggleman, 3. Doug Ashford, 4. Nick Catone, 5. Robert Stack, 6. Bryan O'Shea, 7. Brian Osborn, 8. Gregg Moench, 9. Ricky Collins, 10. Elliot Wohl, 11. Brian DeSarno, 12. AJ Jadacki, 13. Nick Kilmer, 14. Tom Rajkowski, 15. Matt Guadagno, 16. John Carpenter, 17. Matt Badessa, 18. Nancy Riggleman, 19. Kevin Flores

CHAMPION: BRYAN O'SHEA, NEPTUNE CITY

SPORTSMAN FEATURE – 25 Laps – 1. KEVIN DAVISON, HOWELL, 2. Jake Nelke, 3. Chris Silvestri, 4. Larry Thompson, 5. Ryan Fisher, 6. Carsten DiGiantomasso, 7. Jimmy Wolcott, 8. Kenny Reaves, 9. Dave Bailey, 10. Neil Rutt III, 11. Jarret DiGiantomasso, 12. Jeffrey Loesch, 13. Robert Sutphin

CHAMPION: CARSTEN DIGIANTOMASSO

FAST 4 FEATURE – 25 Laps – 1. IAN ASHFORD, FARMINGDALE, 2. Billy Pross, 3. Mike Lavery, 4. Alex Graetz, 5. Nicole Razzano, 6. Alonzo Morales, 7. Deanna McLaren, 8. Sean Vuksanic, 9. Cody Critelli, 10. Lianne Sharry, 11. Bill Schwarz, 12. Ryan Maher, 13. James Hall

CHAMPION: ALONZO MORALES, BURLINGTON

LEGEND CARS FEATURE – 25 Laps – 1. MIKE ALCARO, WEST MILFORD, 2. Kevin Nowak, 3. Allan Pederson, 4. Richie Davidowicz, 5. Tanner Jones, 6. Mason Magee, 7. Quinn Trimmer, 8. Malcolm Campbell, 9. Eugene Drew, 10. Justin Emmons, 11. Phil Bogdan, 12. Lianne Sharry, 13. Roger Nickerson, 14. Matt Verlangieri

CHAMPION: MASON MAGEE, NORTHEAST, MD.

For those interested, the DQ for Tyler Truex in the modified feature was for some back and forth between Tyler in the #69, and Steven Reed in the #55.   The two were battling for the lead when Reed got on the inside of Truex for the lead, and then took a wide line through the next set of corners, which appeared to not be appreciated by Truex.  (For those who were there last week, the same thing happened to Truex as he was passed by Eric Mauriello for the lead and then run up the track as the leader took a somewhat higher line thorugh the corners with Truex still trying to work the outside.)

With the green still out, Truex caught back up to Reed, and showed his frustration by getting together with Reed on the next lap or so, with the result being Truex spinning down off the frontstretch into the infield, bringing out the yellow, and Truex being told to go to the rear for bringing out the caution, with Reed maintaining his spot up near the front. 

After sitting under the flagger for a while during the yellow, Truex eventually rolled off and took the restart about a half a track behind the pack, and then drove at a reduced rate of speed as the field was once again given the green.  When the pack caught up to Truex's #69 under green a few laps later, the first few lead cars raced past him without incident, but for those who hadn't figured it out by then, it became obvious that Truex was looking for Reed (who was running around 3rd or 4th I think at the time.)

As the lead cars successfully made their way by Truex in the #59, it was then turn for Reed to go by Truex, and as the two met up on the homestretch, contact was made, with Truex ending up spinning off of Reed's #55 into turn 1, and eventually coming to a stop backed up against the fence. Reed was able to continue on as the yellow flag now waved again. 

The Reed fans loved it...  The Truex fans... not so much.

The track crew immediately pulled the wreckers in front of Truex's #69 so that he could not move.  Truex was escorted from the scene by the track crew.  Although the #69 didn't appear to have much damage, it was quickly hooked by a wrecker and brought off the racing surface, and pulled to the inside of the track where it was then loaded onto the rollback and hauled off.

My cousin Buck Kelly and I were at this past Saturday night and, except for the lengthy intermission, enjoyed the races a ton.  After the "initial' encounter between Truex and Reed, we both wondered why Reed wasn't sent to the rear because he was involved in a accident.  Maybe some Wall regulars in 3Wide land can explain.  Truex running around a track " a little slower" than the field made me think of the recent Harvick - Elliott  dust up.  Scott Ely

Scott agree with your statement. Reed should of been put to the rear. Truex was given a raw deal the week before. Thing is as Joe said, certain cars run the outside cars up to the fence. Wish Wall would deal with the issue. A certain well known winner started that issue a few years ago.

As for Reed not going to the rear when they got together the first time on the homestretch, I don't remember if Reed ever stopped and if he didn't, and if the folks in the tower did not think he caused Truex to spin into the infield the first time, that would explain why he didn't go to the rear.  Truex definitley thought he should though and showed his displeasure by parking under the flagstand while the field continued making pace laps under yellow.

To be clear, nobody was run up to the fence, but what's been happening at Wall more now than I've ever seen in the past few years is when a car moves to the inside to pass the leader, you can bet that on the next set of corners, if the car that they are overtaking is still along side of them, the car doing the overtaking takes a very intentional wide line through the next set of corners, and continues to do so until the driver they are overtaking ends up getting pushed out of the racing grooves.

There are a few driver's that don't do this, (off the top of my head I've never seen Andrew Krause do this) but it is becoming the norm with a lot of drivers in most of the divisions.

Seems like Wall really cracked down over the past two years of guys hitting the driver in front to punt them out of the groove so they can overtake them.  Unfortunately, from what I have seen, especially over the past few weeks, they are looking the other way when it comes to an overtaking car running the car they are attempting to pass way up out of the bottom 2 1/2 racing grooves.

It's an old trick at Wall, pretty much every good car does it. You run the guy a little high the first time, if he's still out there, you run him a little higher the next corner. Passing is tough on asphalt and you need to use what you can and it's at the discretion of the driver, how far do you push it, until you realize the guy is faster. It's also tighter on the bottom, so cars naturally push more on the bottom, so it makes it look worse.

That's the old trick and I've seen that forever over the years..... after a few corners... sometimes even a few laps, the inside car gets a little higher until it looks like they pushed up a little more than expected and son of a gun, now they are in the lead.  Probably an acceptable racing move.

The new trick is as soon as you're alongside a guy, you take him to almost lane 3 on the next set of corners, and for the most part, Wall doesn't have a lane 3.  Not something I like seeing as a fan and would probably like less if I was the outside car!