Martz has competition covered at New Egypt

NEW EGYPT - Sam Martz of Somerville finally got the monkey off his back on Saturday night at New Egypt Speedway as he broke through for his first DIRTcar Modified win of 2007.

Martz, who ended the 2006 season on a three-race win streak, took the lead at the halfway mark and went on to claim the $3,000 top prize.

"We finally got it all together," exclaimed an excited Martz. "We went back to our setup from last year, and the car worked great."

Jim Robertson had the early lead in the event when the first stoppage occurred on lap seven as the red flag flew when Tad Cox flipped on the backstretch. On the ensuing restart, 2001 champion Keith Hoffman hit the front stretch wall, ending his evening. On the following restart, Modified rookie Rick Wegner spun coming off turn four, triggering a 15-car pileup resulting in several cars being towed off for the evening, including point leader Matt Sheppard.

Things finally settled down on the restart as Robertson continued to lead, with Ron John Koczon, Martz, Bucky Kell and Jimmy Horton giving chase. Koczon quickly worked his way by Robertson and tried to run away and hide, but Martz had other ideas. Martz tracked him down and applied constant pressure until he finally wrestled the lead away at the halfway mark. Once in the lead, Martz was never headed as he cruised to his first win of the season. Frank Cozze was fast over the final 10 laps, but still did not have enough to challenge for the win, settling for second. Koczon came home third, with Kell fourth and Bob Drayton rounding out the top five.

In the Bar's Leaks URC Sprint Series 25-lap feature event, Michael Carber of Pipersville, Pa., won his first career URC A Main. Carber took the lead from Randy West on lap seven and then held off the challenges of Brian Seidel to take the checkered. Seidel finished a strong second, chased by Kevin Welsh in third. West and Mark Bitner completed the top five.

Rocco Infante of Robbinsville won his third feature of the year in the 20-lap Sportsman event. John Romano Jr. finished second, followed by Jack Swain, Gary Butler and Rich Scagliotta. Kory Fleming of Easton, Pa., took his third feature win of the season in the 20-lap Super Stock feature event. Mick Search finished second, Todd Cray was third, Matt Kall finished fourth and Al Cheney was fifth.

The Super Late Model feature was another crowd-pleaser as David and Kenny Pettyjohn raced each other hard throughout the entire event, with David coming out on top to the cheers of the crowd. Third brother Mark Pettyjohn completed the family sweep coming home third, followed by Dave Graber and Jason Miller.

Saturday night, June 30, will be the Independence Day Explosion, with the DIRTcar Big-Block Modifieds running a 35-lap feature event. Sportsman, Super Stocks, SS Sprints, Outlaw Stocks and Crate 1 Sportsman will also be on the card. All divisions will compete for double points. For more information, call the speedway office at (609) 758-1900 or log on to www.newegyptspeedway.net.