stock car championship racing

Updated Nov. 16, 2015

2015 WBC Report

2016 Status: pending 2016 GM commitment

Jim Bell, MD

2015 Champion

Event History

1999 Rebekah Garton 37
2000 Tim Dolan 68
2001 Devin Flawd 60
2005 Seth Gunar 47
2006 Seth Gunar 42
2007 Jean Younkin 49
2008 Steve Caler 51
2009 Phil White 53
2010 Bill Beckman 43
2011 Luke Koleszar 37
2012 Phil White 42
2013 Brian Mongold 50
2014 Ralph Gleaton 46
2015 Jim Bell 50

Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Phillip White      MD    14    117
  2.  Seth Gunar         NJ    13    102
  3.  Jim Bell           MD    15     69
  4.  Ralph Gleaton      SC    14     48
  5.  Mike Buccheri      MD    15     42
  6.  Steve Caler        OH    13     42
  7.  Luke Koleszar      VA    11     42
  8.  Brian Mongold      MD    13     36
  9.  Mark Mitchell      VA    15     33
 10.  Bill Beckman       SC    10     30
 11.  Kevin Brown        GA    08     30
 12.  Jean Younkin       VA    07     30
 13.  Devin Flawd        PA    01     30
 14.  Tim Dolan          NJ    00     30
 15.  Fabio Pellegrino   it    14     24
 16.  Keith MacFarland   NJ    15     21
 17.  Steve Cameron      PA    13     20
 18.  Haim Hochboim      il    09     18
 19.  Derek Miller       VA    07     18
 20.  Dan Hoffman        NC    01     18
 21.  Andy Lewis         DE    00     18
 22.  Dan Dolan Jr       NJ    14     15
 23.  John Weber         MD    11     15
 24.  Curt Collins       PA    11     12
 25.  Henry Pfeiffer     SC    10     12
 26.  Carol Caler        OH    10     12
 27.  Steve May          MD    01     12
 28.  Bill Place         PA    00     12
 29.  Rebekkah Garton    VA    99     10
 30.  Doug Porterfield   VA    15      9
 31.  Rob Schoenen       PA    12      9
 32.  Tom McCorry        VA    08      9
 33.  Nate Timko         PA    07      9
 34.  Chad Gormly        MA    06      9
 35.  Stuart Tucker      MD    05      9
 36.  Adam Gugliemini    PA    01      9
 37.  Darren Velez       NY    00      9
 38.  John Koski         NC    15      6
 39.  Rob Buccheri       MD    07      6
 40.  Bob Olivere        AZ    00      6
 41.  Ken Sheffield      VA    99      4
 42.  Daniel Lewis       DE    14      3
 43.  Matt Deuber        OH    10      3
 44.  Angelo Ricchiuto   PA    09      3
 45.  Cameron Spaner     MD    08      3
 46.  Marshall Daw       NM    07      3
 47.  Mike Garton        VA    06      3
 48.  Rex Lehman         FL    05      3
 49.  Dave Bohnenberger  PA    01      3
 50.  Brian Carr         VA    00      3
 51.  Joe Sposito        NJ    99      1
2015 Laurelists Returning Laurelists: 1

Mike Buccheri, MD
2nd

Mark Mitchell, VA
3rd

Doug Porterfield, VA
4th

John Koski, NC
5th

Keith MacFarland, NJ
6th

Past Winners

Rebekkah Garton, VA
1999

Tim Dolan, NJ
2000

Devin Flawd, PA
2001

Seth Gunar, NJ
2005-2006

Jean Younkin, VA
2007

Steve Caler, OH
2008

Phil White, MD
2009, 2012

Bill Beckman, SC
2010

Luke Koleszar, VA
2011

Brian Mongold, MD
2013

Ralph Gleaton, SC
2014

Jim Bell, MD
2015

Jim Bell had to qualify with AGM John McLaughlin before hitting the big oval.

Defending Champ Ralph Gleaton and Rob Buccheri watch the current 12-lap turn unfold.

The pack is tight as they pass Chris Gnech, Steve Caler, Jim Bell and Doug Porterfield.

Those with just learning permits are here also it seems. To heck with the Juniors room—the adults have cool cars to play with.

A Victory 11 Years in the Making ...

Three heats generated six qualifying 150-lap shootouts with no pit stops. The qualifying races ranged from nine to 12 turns with an average length of 11 turns.  That meant there wasn’t much time for those in the back to move to the front to qualify for the big race.  

Chris Gnech started Race 1 in the sixth position while James McCarthy started third.  McCarthy dominated, leading seven turns out of 11, but on the last turn fell out of the lead to finish sixth. Gnech, who didn’t lead at all, made his move on the last turn to win the race.  Defending champ Ralph Gleaton started Race 2 in fifth, but by Turn 5 (of 9) moved into the lead to dominate and lead the rest of the way.  Race 3 had Graham Buccheri starting on the pole and two-time champ Philip White in fifth.  On Turn 4 of 11, Buccheri went from first to last.  White slogged his way through the pack to take the lead on Turn 5 and dominated thereafter.  Jim Bell started on the pole in Race 4, Carol Caler second, and Nicole White in the fifth position.  Caler moved quickly to first, hung on throughout Turn 2, but then lost the lead to Paul Martz.  Martz led until the last turn when White took the checkered flag with Martz settling for second.  Doug Porterfield started ninth (last) while Graham Buccheri, trying again to qualify for the Final started in the pole position in Race 5.  Porterfield drove quickly to the front where Buccheri and he dueled throughout the race.  On the last turn Josh Githens entered the mix, passing Buccheri, but Porterfield held him off to take the flag. Trevor Shoenen started Race 6 in second with Eric Ritter in sixth.  Shoenen dominated the first half of the race, but faded with Bruce Rae taking the lead on Turn 6.  Ritter made his move on Turn 9 to grab the lead and held it to the checkered flag two turns later.

The 250-lap Final took place on a Tri-Oval track for 24 cars with pit stops. It turned into a 16-turn marathon going over the allotted time.  Thanks to all for their patience in sticking with us to the very end.  The top five starting positions were, 1.  Shannon Keating (#36), 2. Tom Bivens (#35), 3. Mark Mitchell (#3), 4 Eric Ritter (#23) and 5. Josh Githens (#71).  Only Mitchell remained ahead of the pack, finishing third.  Bivens crashed on Turn 3 while leading the race and taking Githens down with him. 

There were ten lead changes in the 14 turns with Mitchell the dominant force—either leading or challenging the leader for nine turns.  Jim Bell (#2) started the race in 17th and worked his way up to second on Turn 10 before falling back to sixth on the next turn.  Bell hung back in sixth for the next four turns letting the lead pack wear themselves out.  On the last turn Bell made his move leap frogging from sixth to first, with a little help from the field, to take the checkered flag and his first SCC shield.

It is the 72nd lap of the Final as GMs Michael Garton
and John McLaughlin officiate the race for 24 qualifiers.
GM Michael Garton [8th year] NA
mcgartlin95@gmail.com NA

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