Cozze hits a home run at New Egypt Speedway

NEW EGYPT - Frank Cozze of Wind Gap, Pa., raced to the front of the pack twice on Saturday night, winning his first Modified feature of 2007 on Grand Slam Little League Night sponsored by Lucas Motors.

Cozze tangled with Tom Carberry while battling for the lead on lap 8, sending both to the rear, and then charged back to the front to capture his 18th career win at NES.

Outside-pole sitter Dominick Buffalino grabbed the lead at the start, chased by Scott Van Gorder, Tom Carberry and Rich Rutski. Cozze, who started seventh, picked his way to the lead by lap 4. Carberry and Cozze then put on a crowd-pleasing duel till lap 8, when Cozze made slight contact with Carberry that sent him spinning. Carberry was forced to pit at this point with a left rear flat. The restart then saw Van Gorder take off until Rutski ran him down and took the lead on lap 16. Meanwhile, Cozze and Carberry were flying back up through the pack. Rutski, the 2005 Sportsman track champ, was denied his first-ever win in any division feature when Cozze bested him on the final restart with six laps remaining. At the finish it was Cozze taking home the $3,000 for the win. Carberry also completed his comeback by finishing a close second, while Rutski settled for third. Brian Godown drove home in fourth followed by Ron John Koczon in fifth.

"I ran as hard as I could," said an elated Cozze. "I think I was off the track more than I was on.

"We needed a win bad, we needed one quick, we needed one now, and I wasn't going to sit back and wait for it," added Cozze. "I want to thank Brent Tittle and my whole crew; after we broke last week, they worked very hard to get this here tonight."

The Sportsman division saw two features, since the track made up the feature rained out last week. Mike Krachun of Neshanic took top honors in the make-up feature, with Lou Farina III, Rich Scagliotta, Tim Apgar and John Salvatore Jr. chasing him across the line. In the regularly scheduled event, Willie Osmun of Bloomsbury took the win ahead of Justin Hoffman, Chad Barney, Krachun and Jack Swain.

Kory Fleming grabbed his seventh career feature event in the 20-lap Super Stock feature as he won a hotly contested battle over Norm Saxton, who finished second. Tony Bozowski finished third, with Al Cheney fourth and Billy Bauer fifth.

In the third race of the Advantage Financial/Cradle Rock Developers Rookie Sportsman series, Danny Bouc of Plumsteadville, Pa., came from the eighth starting spot to the lead in just two laps and cruised to his second win. Last week's winner, Bobby Butler, was second over Joe Systo, Wayne Bechtel and Eddie Prentice Jr.

Friday night, NES will be in action as the first event of its every-other-Friday series begins, featuring the Super Late Models doing battle for $2,500 to win. SS Sprints, Outlaw Stocks and Crate 1 Sportsman will also be in action, with gates opening at 5:30 p.m. and racing getting under way at 7 p.m. Adult admission is $16, children ages 7-12 are $5.50, and kids age 6 and under are free.

Saturday night will be Wing Night as the URC Sprint Car Tour makes its first of five appearances in 2007.

Joining URC will be a full card of big-block Modifieds, Sportsman, Super Stocks & the Advantage Financial/Cradle Rock Developers Rookies. Gates open at 3:30 p.m. with first green at 5 p.m. Adult admission is $20, children 7-12 are $7.50, and kids 6 and under are free. For more information, call the speedway office at (609) 758-1900 or log on to www.newegyptspeedway.net.