CAMARA DRIVES NEW PMC CHASSIS TO VICTORY LANE
Three weeks ago Dave Camara debuted a brand new Pete Chuckta built PMC chassis and the change in chassis builders from Teo to PMC certainly paid off for the 1998 and 1999 Fonda Speedway Track Champion. Last Saturday evening Camara visited victory lane for the first time at Fonda in 2005 and the 17th time in his career at the ˝ mile oval. It was also his first win at Fonda since July 17, 1999 after not competing at the Track of Champions for many years.
“This has been a long time coming,” Camara said in victory lane. “We have won a lot of features at other tracks since we left but there is nothing like winning at Fonda.” Camara started the event in the eighth position, took the lead on lap six, and survived a strong challenge from both Bobby Varin and Mitch Gibbs late in the event to take the checkered flag.
The big holiday crowd was ready for an exciting evening of racing and they weren’t disappointed as Robert Perry and Cassidy Wilson took first career wins in the sportsman and street stock divisions respectively while Butchie Irwin (pro stock), Danny Ballard (IMCA), and John Babcock (street stock “b” feature) were the other winners on a night sponsored by Morris Ford Mercury & Snapple. A giant fireworks display closed out the racing program which was completed by 9:15 p.m.
Also part of the racing program was a Salute to Local Heroes in honor of Steve Bidwell, Bob VanAernam, and Skip Pabis who all sadly passed away in the last few months. All three of the driver’s cars were at the track on Saturday and they were placed on victory lane as the fireworks were lit off at the end of the racing program. Three fireworks called “Announcement Salutes” were the first to be fired off in honor of the three drivers.
Erik Mack took the lead at the drop of the green flag only to have the yellow come right out because officials felt that Mack jumped the restart. Mack was penalized to the rear and an original restart ensued. This time Floyd Billington was the leader when the race was restarted with Tony Pepicelli in tow.
Camara started his march to the front immediately, taking the fourth position on lap two and two laps later getting by Jack Johnson for the third spot. Next for Camara was Pepicelli who he got by for the second spot on lap five with the yellow coming out for John Marsh Sr. who came to a stop on the backstretch.
On the restart, Camara got the lead from Billington and stretched his advantage out to a half straightaway shortly afterwards. Bobby Varin started the event in the 11th position and got by both Pepicelli and Billington for the second spot on lap six. When lap traffic slowed the leader on lap 14, Varin closed in with the top five consisting of Camara, Varin, Billington, Craig Hanson, and Mitch Gibbs.
Jim Davis brought out another yellow flag on lap 19 when he lost a tire after hitting the wall in turn one. Davis was not injured but was done for the evening. Camara got away on the restart to a half straightaway lead but the yellow was out again on lap 22 when Dustin Purdy came to stop in turn four. On the restart, Varin ducked under Camara in a side-by-side battle for the lead but coming out of turn four Camara survived the challenge and held on to the top spot.
When Purdy came out of the pit area on lap 24 he drove down to the bottom of the speedway to get out of the way. Unfortunately that was where Varin was running at the time which slowed his momentum and allowed Gibbs who started 12th to get by him for the second spot. When Todd Morey spun on the frontstretch just out of turn four it brought out the final caution on lap 27 setting up one last dash to the finish. On the restart Camara got away from Gibbs and went on to the win as Ronnie Johnson put the pressure on Varin for the third spot. Coming out of turn four on the final lap, Johnson got by Varin on the outside of the speedway with barely enough room between Varin and the outside wall for him to make the pass.
Gibbs, Ronnie Johnson, Varin, and last week’s winner Ryan Odasz completed the top five.
“Bobby (Varin) ducked under me on the one restart but raced me hard and clean,” Camara said. “I want to thank my brother Danny and Randy Ross for talking me into this new PMC chassis. I also want to thank my entire family because without them I couldn’t do this and the Armed Forces on Independence Day weekend for letting us race and do what we love to do.”
The sportsman feature began with Mark Kislowski (who works for Morris Ford Mercury who was the sponsor of the evenings racing activities) the early leader until lap three when John Scarborough took over the point from his fifth place starting position. The yellow flag was out on lap four for Elmo Reckner who spun on the backstretch and again on the restart for Jeremiah Munson who spun out on the backstretch after someone checked up in front of him and he was hit in the rear of the car causing him to spin. He was able to continue on in the rear of the field.
Perry started the event in the fourth position and was bump drafting Kislowski around the speedway on lap eight. One lap later Perry decided that enough was enough and he made the three wide pass around Kislowski in turn one on the extreme outside of the speedway for the second spot. Shortly afterwards Perry was the new leader after sweeping around the outside of Scarborough for the spot. Perry held a straightaway lead on lap 11 with John McAuliffe now in the second position with another caution coming out on lap 16 for Randy Meka who spun in turn four.
On the restart the yellow was out again for David Towns who ended up in the turn one wall after contact with Tony Farone. Both were able to continue. This set up a three lap dash for the win and on the restart McAuliffe got alongside Perry as the two raced side by side for one lap before Perry was able to secure the top spot with two laps remaining. Perry wasn’t about to be denied and went on to his first career sportsman win at Fonda over McAuliffe, Kislowski, Justin House, and Farone. “This has been seven years in the making,” Perry said in victory lane. “After that first restart I went to the top and found my groove.”
Chucky Dumblewski was the early leader in the pro stock feature until lap four when Chip Smith took over the lead on the inside of turn three. Kenny Gates took over the second spot from Dumblewski on lap five with Butchie Irwin following him through for third. On lap seven Irwin got by Gates for the second spot and began to reel in the leader who ironically is his teammate.
Irwin got by Smith for the lead on lap 13 after a side by side battle for the position where the two teammates swapped the top spot many times. Gates also got by Smith for the second spot with three laps to go in the event but nobody had anything for Irwin who cruised to his third win of 2005 and 15th of his career at Fonda in the pro stock division. Gates, last weeks winner Hondo Carpenter, Smith, and Nick Stone completed the top five.
Steve Bidwell’s #111 paced the field at the start of the IMCA feature with the pole position left empty in a missing man formation in honor of Skip Pabis. Kenn VanWert was the early leader in the feature event with Danny Ody second. On lap seven, Ody was the new leader with Jeff Jones now second and making a bid for the lead. Jones got into turn two too hard while going for the lead on the outside of Ody and spun but was able to restart in the rear of the field.
Meanwhile Danny Ballard who started the event in the eighth spot was making his way to the front, getting by VanWert for the second spot on lap 10 with the caution coming out for a three car crash in turn four. On the restart Ballard was the new leader and from then on was on cruise control as he went on to his fourth win of 2005 and 11th of his career over Ody, Jeremy Cramer, George Catanzano, and Aaron Jacobs.
Luke Horning was the early leader in the street stock “a” feature with two cautions slowing the field on laps five and seven. Cassidy Wilson started the event in the seventh position and by lap eight was in the second spot. Wilson got alongside Horning for the lead on lap nine and took over the spot after a side by side battle for the position. Wilson went on to his first career street stock win at Fonda followed by Horning, Dave Horning Sr., Dan Pollock, and Dan Clemens.
The pole position was left open for Bob VanAernam in a missing man formation in the street stock “b” feature with John Babcock leading at the drop of the green flag from his third place starting spot. Only one caution flag slowed the field at the completion of lap one allowing Babcock to lead flag to flag for his second win of 2005 and 20th of his career at Fonda. John Bradt, Dan Hartgraves, Howard Smith, and Phil Pearson completed the top five. In post race inspection Pearson was disqualified moving Don Warner up to the fifth position.
Next Saturday at Fonda a regular show in all divisions is on the racing card that will start at 6:00 p.m. The NVDM Antiques and NESCOT will also be a part of the racing program along with the Race Invaderz bike giveaway. Race Invaderz is a kid’s motorsports network that Fonda Speedway announcer Kim Hart started this year to award children for their achievements in school and also to give them missions to do with a racing theme involved in those missions.
The “Wheels in Motion” bike contest is the first program in the Race Invaderz network and to win the pace car bikes the kids must join the free network and receive a membership card. The kids who bring their membership cards to Fonda on Saturday, July 9 will receive one raffle ticket and to increase their chances to win the bikes they will gain more raffle tickets based on their latest report card from school. For every “A” they get on their report card they will get two more tickets and for every “B” on the report card they will get one more raffle ticket. Pace car bikes have been donated by Fonda Speedway and Racing with Heart.
To win the racecar bikes the kids must complete the 10 missions which can be printed out from the Race Invaderz website www.raceinvaderz.com and bring the completed missions to the speedway on Saturday, July 9. Each mission completed is worth points towards winning the race car bicycles. The following race teams, owners, and sponsors have donated race car bicycles: Jack Johnson, Billy Osta, Bobby Varin, Justin House, Chip Smith, Danny Ballard, Walter Cook, Matt DeLorenzo, Mike Fusco, Jeremiah Munson, Hondo Carpenter, Danny Ody, and Howard Smith.
MODIFIED QUALIFYING – 29 total cars – 6 qualify – 4 handicapped
HEAT 1 – Jerry Pennock Jr., Billy Osta, Jim Davis, Ronnie Johnson, Floyd Billington, John Marsh Sr.
HEAT 2 – Tony Pepicelli, Mitch Gibbs, Jack Johnson, Dave Camara, Josh Pieniazek, Ryan Odasz
HEAT 3 – Craig Hanson, Bobby Varin, Erik Mack, Bobby Vedder, Ancel Collins, Matt DeLorenzo
MODIFIED CONSOLATION – 8 qualify – Steve Akers, Dave Lape, Ray Zemken, Todd Morey, Tim Clemons, Dustin Purdy Joey Duncan, Ken Aanonsen
MORRIS FORD MERCURY/SNAPPLE MODIFIED FEATURE – 30-LAPS – DAVE CAMARA, Mitch Gibbs, Ronnie Johnson, Bobby Varin, Ryan Odasz, Craig Hanson, Jack Johnson, Tony Pepicelli, Floyd Billington, Dave Lape, Jerry Pennock Jr., Ray Zemken, Josh Pieniazek, Steve Akers, Matt DeLorenzo, Bobby Vedder, John Marsh Sr., Tim Clemons, Ancel Collins, Todd Morey, Dustin Purdy, Joey Duncan, Jim Davis, Billy Osta, Erik Mack
SPORTSMAN QUALIFYING – 27 total cars – 4 qualify – 4 handicapped
HEAT 1 – Robert Perry, Jeremiah Munson, Mark Mortensen, Luke Monroe
HEAT 2 – Tony Farone, Elmo Reckner, Mark Kislowski, John Scarborough
HEAT 3 – Josh Hohenforst, Erik Nelson, Drew Fallis, David Towns
MORRIS FORD MERCURY/SNAPPLE SPORTSMAN FEATURE – 20-LAPS – ROBERT PERRY, John McAuliffe, Mark Kislowski, Justin House, Tony Farone, John Scarborough, Mark Mortensen, Jeremiah Munson, Josh Hohenforst, David Towns, Drew Fallis, Dave Constantino, Pete Sisler, Chris Garrity, Keith Nichols, John Constantino, Dan Papa, Vinny Sanganetti, Luke Monroe, Erik Nelson, Elmo Reckner, Ricky Quick, Randy Meka, Mike Bellinger, Jim Meka
PRO STOCK QUALIFYING – 13 total cars – 5 qualify – 5 handicapped
HEAT 1 – Hondo Carpenter, Rod Slater, Roy Fifield, Lori Cary, Robert Langevin
HEAT 2 – Nick Stone, Butchie Irwin, Chip Smith, Kenny Gates, Chucky Dumblewski
MORRIS FORD MERCURY/SNAPPLE PRO STOCK FEATURE – 20-LAPS – BUTCHIE IRWIN, Kenny Gates, Hondo Carpenter, Chip Smith, Nick Stone, Robert Langevin, Roy Fifield, Chucky Dumblewski, Speed Felon, Lori Cary, Rod Slater, Scott Liese, Wayne Patrick
IMCA QUALIFYING – 12 total cars – all qualify
HEAT 1 – Aaron Jacobs, George Catanzano, Danny Ballard, Tom Funk, Jeremy Cramer
HEAT 2 – Steve Vrooman, Jeff Jones, Danny Ody, Kenn VanWert, Carol Parker, JoJo Donato, Malcum Warner
MORRIS FORD MERCURY/SNAPPLE IMCA FEATURE – 20-LAPS – DANNY BALLARD, Danny Ody, Jeremy Cramer, George Catanzano, Aaron Jacobs, Ken VanWert, Malcum Warner, Jeff Jones, Steve Vrooman, Tom Funk, Carol Parker, Eric Stumpf
MORRIS FORD MERCURY/SNAPPLE STREET STOCK “A” FEATURE – 12-LAPS – CASSIDY WILSON, Luke Horning, Dave Horning Sr., Dan Pollock, Dan Clemens, Ivan Joslin, Joe Smith, John Palmer, Ron Tollner, Sam Surnear
MORRIS FORD MERCURY/SNAPPLE STREET STOCK “B” FEATURE – 12-LAPS – JOHN BABCOCK, John Bradt, Dan Hartgraves, Howard Smith, Don Warner, Jeff Crosier, Dwight Oldorf, Dave Horning Jr., Neil Cosselman, Rocky Warner, Phil Pearson
by Fonda Speedway