Martz takes two; Horton clinches NES title

NEW EGYPT - Sam Martz, of Somerville, backed up last week's victory, his first of the year, with another winning run in Saturday's final night of point racing at New Egypt Speedway, sponsored by C&S Equipment.

But it was Jimmy Horton, Neshanic Station, who locked down his second New Egypt Modified track championship, worth $10,000, for the Grosso Motorsports team.

"This car is just running great. I bought this car from Mark Blackwell, and I've got to thank him and Jimmy Horton, who helped me set it up," said Martz, 38, after his impressive back-to-back triumphs. "I'd like to dedicate this one to Ken Hoffman, who passed away a few weeks ago. His son, Dave Hoffman, runs Sportsman here."

In the 30-lap Modified main event, it looked like Horton would win both the battle and the war, jumping out to enjoy a comfortable lead by lap three. But Martz's mount was a rocket ship once again: with that firepower under him, Sam was capable of propelling himself from 16th to the front in no time flat. On a lap 10 restart, Martz nosed under both Keith Hoffman and Horton, to make it three-wide. Two laps later, Martz blew by Horton and waved bye-bye. Although the savvy Horton got close in lapped traffic at the end, the grand finale was all Martz, his second strike in as many weeks. All Horton had to do was start to clinch the 2006 championship, but he ran a great race to finish second. Hoffman was third, with Bucky Kell in fourth and Billy Pauch finishing fifth.

With six victories on the season, 2004 Modified champ Horton became the track's 2006 champion. Horton had an awesome season, tallying up 18 Top 10 finishes in 21 starts, including 16 Top 5 finishes, to take the coveted title.

"Yeah, we ran good this year. We ran good tonight - but Sam just ran a little better," the veteran Horton, 50, stated postrace. "I'd like to thank everyone who put this car underneath me - Mr. and Mrs.Grosso, Ricky, Mary. This is really for them."

John McClelland, Martinsville, inked his second win of the season in the caution-riddled Sportsman race, while Gary Butler, of Phillipsburg, never made it to the winner's circle all season, finished 11th on the night, and still claimed his second division championship. Rich Scagliotta, the division's all-time winningest driver, finished second behind McClelland, with Pat Wall, Willie Osmun and Mike Howardson completing the Top 5.

Al Cheney III, of Cranbury, put in an absolutely flawless performance in the Super Stock 20 to do what he had to do - pass George Quinlan in the points chase and win the second NES championship of his career. It was a heartbreaker for Quinlan, who came into the night on top of the point standings but was collected in two separate wrecks and retired to the pits. Jake Roveda, Todd Cray, Spider Ensinger Jr. and Larry Reed trailed Cheney at the checkers.

Flemington's Art Liedl swept the night in the Haldeman Ford SS Sprint ranks, winning his fifth race of the year and his third consecutive championship title. It was an incredible record: Liedl never finished out of the Top 3 in any race this year. Scored behind the champ this night were John Snook, Steve Wilson, Frank Smith and Brian Nixon. Tom Wyckoff and Ed Hughes came across the line in second and third respectively, but neither made minimum weight in postrace tech and were disqualified.

This Saturday, New Egypt Speedway will present its final show of 2006. With the points season complete, the track will toss out the rule book for a night of Run Watcha Brung, for Modified, Sportsman, Super Stock and SS Sprint cars.

New Egypt Speedway

2006 Final Point Standings

Modifieds

Driver (*denotes wins) Points

1Jimmy Horton*(6) 1,016

2 Ryan Godown* 906

3Keith Hoffman* 892

4Billy Pauch ** 847

5 Rick Grosso* 846

6 Bucky Kell 818

7Tim Tanner Jr.** 794

8 Ron John Koczon 758

9Brian Godown** 750

10 Sam Martz**733

Sportsman

1Gary Butler 933

2Willie Osmun** 926

3Mike Krachun* 914

4 Rich Scagliotta***** 884

5 Jack Swain** 867

6Mike Howardson 802

7 John McClelland** 793

8 Billy Tanner IV *780

9Mike Lyons**** 762

10Chad Barney 756

Super Stocks

1Al Cheney III** 991

2 George Quinlan**934

3 Jake Roveda** 928

4 Billy Bauer875

5Spider Ensinger Jr.** 807

6 Jason Bubeck*772

7Kory Fleming** 757

8 Larry Reed* 745

9 Bryan Reed* 733

10 Mick Search*662

Haldeman Ford S.S. Sprints

1Art Liedl*(5)748

2 Kevin Nagy*** 646

3John Snook* 628

4Ian Borden593

5 Steve Wilson** 533

6 Dale Gardner510

7 Ed Hughes507

8 Dave Martin 488

9 Craig Martin 460

10 Nick Bardsley 395

(*denotes wins)