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| 10/1/06 Fifteen drivers from all over Western New York State converged on the Slot Car Club Of the Twin Tiers in Horseheads, NY on Saturday September 30 to compete in the Thunderjet 43rd Anniversary 500. The race is a celebration of the highly revered Aurora Thunderjet which was introduced in 1963. Thunderjet 43rd Anniversary 500 Entry List Driver, Home Town - Entrant - Car Rob Haught, Springville, NY Haught Dog Racing - Aurora Lola GT Dave Hendrickson, Erin, NY KRD Racing Aurora Lola GT Kevin Hendrickson, Erin, NY KRD Racing Aurora Lola GT Ryan Hendrickson, Erin, NY KRD Racing Johnny Lightning Chevy Camaro Z-28 Ernie Langford, Holland, NY - Self Aurora Ford GT40 Warren Lux, Springville, NY Lux Racing - Aurora Ferrari Dino George Mest, Springville, NY - Aurora Ford GT40 CrashNBurn Raceway Matt Metcalf, Corning, NY Damage Inc.; KRD Racing Dave Phillips, Springville, NY - Self Model Motoring Chevy Camaro Tyler Reed, Erin, NY KRD Racing Aurora Ferrari 250 GTO Joe Saccomano, Alden, NY Joe Jets Aurora AMC AMX Scott Udave, Buffalo, NY - Self Aurora Lola GT Dave Van Duzer, Horseheads, NY - Van Duzer Hobbies Johnny Lightning Chevy Camaro Z-28 Gary Weber, Horseheads, NY - Self Aurora Ferrari 250 GTO Mike Wulff, West Valley, NY Team Wulff - Aurora Porsche 904 QUALIFYING Each driver had 12 minutes to cover as much ground as possible for qualifying. Ryan Hendrickson was the first driver to go through all four lanes, turning 86 laps to take the initial pole. His father, Dave, was the next to go all the way and topped his son by a lap to steal the pole away. It was good enough to stand up for his 11th career Majors pole. Ryans 86 was good enough for second. Gary Weber grabbed 3rd with 85 followed by Kevin Hendrickson. Scott Udave filled out the top five. Sixth place and the final automatic transfer spot into the Semis belonged to Dave Van Duzer. Tyler Reed surprised with 7th, followed by George Mest in 8th. 9th place belonged to Ernie Langford who was the best of the drivers making their SCCOTTT debuts. Dave Phillips rounded out the top ten. Mike Wulff grabbed 11th, Joe Saccomanno 12th, Warren Lux 13th, Matt Metcalf 14th and Rob Haught filled out the 15 entry field. Pos.| Laps Driver 1| 87 Dave Hendrickson 2| 86 Ryan Hendrickson 3| 85 Gary Weber 4| 83 Kevin Hendrickson 5| 81 Scott Udave 6| 80 Dave Van Duzer 7| 80 Tyler Reed 8| 79 George Mest 9| 77 Ernie Langford 10| 74 Dave Phillips 11| 72 Mike Wulff 12| 72 Joe Saccomanno 13| 71 Warren Lux 14| 67 Matt Metcalf 15| 67 Rob Haught LCQ George Mest took off at the start of the Last Chance Qualifier and never looked back. 83 laps was a four lap improvement and put him solidly in the Semi Final round. Reed gained two laps over qualifying to make the transfer. When Dave Hendrickson decided to withdraw Langford also made the transfer with his two-lap improvement. Pos. | Laps Driver 1| 83 George Mest 2| 82 Tyler Reed 3| 79 Ernie Langford 4| 76 Dave Phillips 5| 74 Warren Lux 6| 72 Matt Metcalf 7| 71 Mike Wulff 8| 70 Joe Saccomanno 9| 69 Rob Haught Semifinal #1 The first semi consisted of Ryan and Kevin Hendrickson, Reed and Van Duzer. Kevin pulled into a surprising lead in the first segment over Ryan. From there he never looked back. Ryan looked like he was going to mount a challenge at one point, but he could not quite get to Kevin. At the finish Kevin had moved himself into the #1 seed with a stunning 88 laps five better than he did in qualifying. Ryan held on for second with 85. Reed and Van Duzer ran third and fourth the entire race and finished with 83 and 81 respectively. Ryan and Reed would have to wait to see the results of the second semi, but the day was over for Van Duzer. Pos. | Laps Driver 1| 88 Kevin Hendrickson 2| 85 Ryan Hendrickson 3| 83 Tyler Reed 4| 81 Dave Van Duzer Semifinal #2 Semi #2 featured Weber, Udave, Mest and Langford. Weber jumped into the lead at the start but spun exiting the final corner on the first lap, allowing Udave into the lead. Weber chased him down and took the lead on lap four and then simply walked away. Behind him Mest grabbed second. A tremendous run in the final segment saw him close to within one lap of Weber, but more importantly, he slipped by Reed for the final transfer spot into the final. A close battle between Udave and Langford eventually went Udaves way, but both drivers were eliminated. Pos. | Laps Driver 1| 85 Gary Weber 2| 84 George Mest 3| 80 Scott Udave 4| 77 Ernie Langford Thunderjet 43rd Anniversary 500 Final The Final featured the two Hendrickson brothers, Kevin and Ryan, Weber and Mest. Mest had earned his first appearance into a SCCOTTT Major final, and became the first person in Majors history to make if from the LCQ into the final. All four were looking to join the ranks of 500 lap winners at Pocket Rocket Raceway and SCCOTTT. Only Frank Spena Jr. and Dave Hendrickson had won 500s in the past, and neither was involved here. Kevin was still hot from his semi at the start and he went into the lead. He built his lead up to a half a lap over the battle between Weber and Ryan. Mest could not keep pace with the others and faded back. A quarter of the way into the segment Weber began to inch away from Ryan and close in on Kevin. With 9 minutes remaining he grabbed the lead when Kevin made an error and went off course. It was the first of a series of mistakes that would take him out of contention. Weber continued to take advantage of starting in the fastest lane and put more distance between himself and the two brothers. At the end of the first segment he lead Ryan by two laps and Kevin by three. The second segment was Kevins big chance to close on Weber. He clearly had the faster car and quickly reeled Weber in. Every time he closed, however, he would make a mistake and fall back again. At the end of the segment he had gained a lap on Weber, and regained second from his brother, but with him going into blue for the third segment, his shot at the lead was gone. From there on the race was all Webers. He cruised to a six lap win. Kevin held off his brother by three laps for second, with Mest coming home in fourth. Pos. | Laps Driver 1| 500 Gary Weber 2| 494 Kevin Hendrickson 3| 491 Ryan Hendrickson 4| 473 George Mest Overall Finishing Order Pos. | Total Laps Driver 1| 670 Gary Weber 2| 665 Kevin Hendrickson 3| 662 Ryan Hendrickson 4| 719 George Mest 5| 245 Tyler Reed 6| 161 Dave Van Duzer 7| 161 Scott Udave 8| 233 Ernie Langford 9| 150 Dave Phillips 10| 144 Warren Lux 11| 139 Matt Metcalf 12| 143 Mike Wulff 13| 142 Joe Saccomanno 14| 136 Rob Haught 15| 087 Dave Hendrickson Thanks to support from KRD Racing, CrashNBurn Raceway and Joe-Jets, every driver left with a race prize. T-Jet 43rd Anniversary 500 Sponsors: KRD Racing Erin, NY E-Mail: KRDRacing@stny.rr.com Crash'N'Burn Raceway 56 East Main St. Springville, NY 14141 Phone: 716-592-2118 E-Mail: KingRichard4T3@aol.com Joe-Jets joeslotcar@juno.com Next SCCOTTT Major: The 8 Hours of Horseheads - Oct. 28, 2006. Team Enduro. E-mail sccottt1@yahoo.com for more info or to get on a team. The Slot Car Club Of The Twin Tiers is a non-profit group of enthusiasts dedicated to promoting slot car racing in the Southern Tier of NY and the Northern Tier of PA. Please stop in or check out the club web site. Slot Car Club Of The Twin Tiers 2117C Grand Central Ave. Horseheads, NY 14845 Web Site: http://www.reocities.com/sccottt1/clubmain.html E-mail: sccottt1@yahoo.com Race pictures and race summary spreadsheet available upon request. E-mail: sccottt1@yahoo.com |