Rolling Wheels Win On Saturday Locks Brachmann Into Sunday’s Rite Aid 200

Elbridge, NY – October 10, 2009 – By Kevin Kovac, DIRTcar Racing PR

Chad Brachmann punched his ticket into the World’s Richest Big-Block Modified Race with a victory on Saturday night at Rolling Wheels Raceway Park.

The Sanborn, N.Y., resident captured the 25-lap DIRTcar Big-Block Modified ‘Win & You’re In’ feature before a standing-room-only crowd, earning himself $2,000 and the 47^th starting position in Sunday’s prestigious Rite Aid 200 Presented By Ferris & Snapper Mowers at the nearby Syracuse Mile.

Adding more significance to Brachmann’s performance on a chilly fall evening, the triumph was his first-ever in Big-Block Modified competition at Rolling Wheels and was his first checkered flag anywhere in 2009.

Brachmann, 34, started from the outside pole and chased Chad Homan of Macedon, N.Y., until grabbing the lead on lap 11. The remainder of the distance belonged to Brachmann, who beat the 27-year-old Homan to the finish line by 1.843 seconds after the race’s third and final caution flag, on lap 22, tightened the field for a final sprint.

Kevin Bates of Lake Ariel, Pa., moved up from the fifth starting spot to finish third. Steve Paine of Waterloo, N.Y., started and finished fourth, while Chad Phelps of New Haven, N.Y., climbed forward from 14th to complete the top-five.

“I had my doubts (about outrunning Homan) at the beginning,” said Brachmann, who drove his familiar Bicknell No. 3 machine with a big-block engine buttoned under the hood. “He was real fast, but I made some adjustments inside the car during those cautions (on laps four and seven) and it just kept getting better and better the rest of the way.”

The victory helped Brachmann end what had been a disappointing day on a high note. He was the first driver to retire from Saturday’s 358-Modified Syracuse ‘Salute To the Troops 150’ at the Syracuse Mile, finishing 39th after a wicked vibration that developed in his car during hot laps forced him to park the malfunctioning mount immediately after taking the green flag.

Brachmann did not enter this year’s Super DIRT Week Big-Block Modified activity at the ‘Moody Mile,’ but his Rolling Wheels score put him in Sunday’s Rite Aid 200 starting field. He said he would definitely use his guaranteed position in the race, but he was uncertain whether he would attempt to run the distance or settle for the $1,500 start money.

“We have at least three hours of work ahead of us to get this car ready to run the 200,” said Brachmann, who finished 36th (completing 78 laps) in last year’s Rite Aid 200 after gaining entry to the field by winning the ‘Win & You’re In’ event across town at Cayuga County Fair Speedway in Weedsport, N.Y. “We have to change shocks and springs, add a fast-fuel (for pit stops) and do some other stuff to the car.”

Twenty-four cars entered the event, which was run as a companion to the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series program at the Wheels.

Heat winners were Homan, Brachmann and Pete Cosco of St. Catharines, Ont., who later was involved in a scrape with Chuck Bower of Lansing, N.Y., following the feature’s final restart. The contact caused Bower to fall from fifth to seventh in the finishing order.

Super DIRT Week XXXVIII ends on Sunday (Oct. 11) at the New York State Fairgrounds with the running of the $50,000-to-win Rite Aid 200. The 25-lap BNC Motorsports Pro Stock Championship and ‘Futures’ features for the Big-Block Modifieds and Pro Stocks are also on the afternoon’s agenda. For more information, visit www.superdirtweekonline.com.