Leaty Grabs Third at Richmond
Richmond, VA - Jan Leaty, of Williamson, NY, piloted his Pace Electronics Pontiac to a third place finish in the Richmond Times-Dispatch 150 at Richmond International Raceway. Only 0.36 seconds separated the top three cars at the green-white-checkered finish in the NASCAR Featherlite Modified Series event. Tony Hirschman of Northampton, PA, was the race winner, followed by Mike Ewanitsko.

From his 23rd starting position, Leaty steadily moved up through the field. Hirschman was leading the race with 11 laps to go in the 150 lap event, but Leaty, running second, closed the gap. At lap 146 Leaty was able to get a run on Hirschman at the flagstand, only to have the caution flag fly for a multicar incident on the backstretch of the 0.75 mile D-shaped oval. Because the NASCAR Modified races don't end under the caution, the race was extended to accommodate the green-white checker finish. In the ensuing two lap shootout that began on lap 155, Hirschman held off Ewanitsko, who was able to nip Leaty for second in a photo finish, much to the delight of the reported crowd of 5,000.

"We came into the race wanting to be competitive and shooting for a top-10 finish," said Leaty. "The car was awesome and we obviously exceeded our expectations."

Rounding out the top 5 was Mike Stefanik and Ken Wooley. Leaty and the rest of the Schum-Branich Motorsports team will travel to Loudon, NH, for the next stop on the NASCAR Featherlite tour. The New England 100 will be held on Friday, July 19, 2001, at New Hampshire International Speedway.

For more information about Leaty and Schum-Branich Motorsports, visit the team website at www.speedwayad.com/BranichMod.

Branich Motorsports
P.O. Box 897
Williamson, NY 14589
Call: 315-589-4444
E-Mail: FKae4@aol.com