RANSOMVILLE, N.Y. – Chad Brachmann took advantage of the misfortune of some of his competitors to pick up his second-straight Krown Undercoating 358 Modified win on Friday night at Ransomville Speedway.
Erick Rudolph and Mike Bowman led a stacked field of Krown Undercoating 358 Modifieds to the green flag. Rudolph quickly pulled away from the pack with Bowman settling into second and points leader Mat Williamson in third. Williamson started the event with a slim two-point advantage over Rudolph.
Rudolph was in control of the field as he caught lapped traffic by lap 9 of the 30-lap feature. It looked like he was on his way to a dominating win until lap 12 when Jesse Cotriss hit a slick area on the inside of turn one and spun out just in front of Rudolph. The leader had nowhere to go and made contact with Cotriss. Bowman, Williamson and the lapped car of Steve Lewis, Jr. also piled up to bring out the yellow flag for the first time in the event.
With the top three collected in the incident, the fourth place running Brachmann assumed the lead followed by Gary Lindberg, Greg Martin, Ryan Susice and Pete Bicknell. Rudolph and Williamson tangled again on the ensuing restart when the pair locked nerf bars in turn two. Williamson sustained further damage and had to be towed to the pits.
The race resumed with Brachmann and Susice battling for the lead. Susice made several attempts to pull off a slide job pass on Brachmann, but Brachmann carried enough speed on the outside to hang on to the top position.
The final stretch run to the finish saw some intense battles inside the top five. Lindberg, Susice and Rick Richner took turns in the runner-up position. Rudolph was working his way back to the front after his earlier incidents. He got past Susice, Bowman as he looked to try and maximize his points with Williamson in the pits.
Brachmann cruised for the final laps to pick up his second-straight win. The victory moved him to third in the Modified points standings. Lindberg finished second for his best finish of the season at Ransomville.
Rudolph rallied to finish third. He took the points lead from Williamson, and now has a 23-point lead with three points races remaining. Richner and Bowman rounded out the top five.
In support division action, Brett Senek scored his fourth win of the season in the Investor’s Service Sportsman. Pete Stefanski earned his third win in the Ki-Po Chevrolet Street Stocks. In the Ransomville/Genesee Mini Stock Series event, Chris Leone picked up the win. Sam Junkin became the latest first time winner in the Stevenson’s Hardware Novice Sportsman.