VARIN WINS THIRD OF THE SEASON AT FONDA
Rain for most of the afternoon in the Fonda area last Saturday saturated the Track of Champions but the track crew worked very hard to try and get the racing card in at the Fonda Speedway. All of their hard work paid off and even though the racing card began an hour and forty-five minutes late it was definitely worth the wait as the track was super fast for the remainder of the evening.
Proof of that was Ryan Odasz who set a new track record with his big block modified in the consolation event with a lap of 18.87sec. The old mark was set by Tim McCreadie on July 17, 2003 with a lap of 18.981 sec. The track was still fast later in the evening during the modified feature event with eventual winner Bobby Varin turning a lap of 19.578 on lap twenty-three of the thirty-five lap feature.
Along with Varin other feature winners on CW Custom Builders & PCE Plumbing night at Fonda were John McAuliffe (sportsman), Roy Fifield (pro stock), Danny Ballard (IMCA), Phil Pearson and Dave Horning Jr. (street stock).
Erik Mack and Ken Aanonsen started the modified event on the front row with Mack taking the early lead at the drop of the green flag. The yellow flag was out before lap one was completed when Josh Pieniazek spun in turn four collecting at least five other cars. Only Tony Pepicelli was unable to restart the event.
An original restart ensued with Mack again taking the point with Aanonsen second, Robert King third, and Jim Davis fourth. Last weeks winner Jack Johnson started the event in the eleventh position but was already up to the fifth spot by lap eight with Dave Lape following closely in sixth. When Davis got out of shape on the frontstretch on lap thirteen he lost three spots and was back to sixth as Johnson and Lape continued their march to the front now sitting in the fourth and fifth positions.
On lap fifteen, Johnson got by both King and Aanonsen for the second position and one lap later Johnson was the new leader after getting by Mack. The yellow came out shortly afterwards for Jeremy Matthies who was in the back stretch wall and on the restart, King, Varin, and Lape all got by Mack for the second through fourth place spots.
Another yellow slowed the field on lap eighteen when Aanonsen’s great run came to an end as he came to a stop in turn four. On the restart, Varin got by King for the second spot, ducking under him in between turns three and four. When another yellow came out on lap nineteen Varin timed the restart just right and got by Johnson for the lead in the same spot.
One more caution flag slowed the field on lap twenty-one for Billy Osta who flipped over after hitting the wall on the backstretch. Osta was uninjured in the accident. From that point on Varin cruised out to a big lead and took his twenty-second career win at Fonda over Johnson, Lape, King, and Matt DeLorenzo who started the event in the twentieth position.
“That restart gave us the opportunity to get by Jack,” Varin said. “Jack helped me out when I started racing and it is an honor to run with him because you know that he will race you clean. You can’t pull off a win like this without good equipment and I have to thank car owners Jake and Nancy Spraker for this great Bicknell car with JPM power under the hood.”
Last week the sportsman drivers at Fonda voted to run one 35-lap feature for double points and double purse instead of running the curfew delayed feature from 5/7 and another regular 20-lap feature. Multi car wrecks caused three caution flags to fly before lap one was completed in the event but a single file restart on the fourth try finally got the race underway with Tom LaPlante the leader of lap one.
Mark Kislowski started the event in the fourth position and took over the lead on lap two with John McAuliffe now second after starting twelfth. On lap five, McAuliffe was the new leader after getting by Kislowski on the inside of turn two. Three laps later McAuliffe was out to a straightaway lead with Elmo Reckner now second after getting by Kislowski. Tony Farone got by both Kislowski and a lap car for the third spot on lap ten with Josh Hohenforst following him through for the fourth spot.
On lap seventeen David Towns who was involved in one of the early cautions and had to restart in the rear of the field was already up into the top ten while McAuliffe was setting a blistering pace in the lead. Towns was in the top five at the lap thirty mark of the race when he was forced to retire from the event with mechanical problems. One more caution flag slowed the field at that point when Farone came to a stop on the inside of the backstretch ending his fine run after fading from his position in the top five.
Despite the field being closed up by the caution, McAuliffe pulled away again and went on to his twenty-seventh career win followed by Reckner, Hohenforst, Kislowski, and Ricky Quick who graduated from Penn State Tech last week. “I didn’t have any brakes for most of the event and had to use the lap cars in order to slow down,” McAuliffe said in victory lane.
The rain delayed pro stock feature from last week was the first race on the track at the start of the night with Steve Welch taking the lead at the drop of the green flag. Roy Fifield started the event in the fourth position and at the completion of lap one he was already up to second.
Only one yellow slowed the field during the feature event and that came on lap five when Chip Smith came to a stop in turn two. Ironically the racing was so close in this event that Fifield actually had the door panel from Smith’s car lodged into the side of his car for part of the feature after some close side by side racing during the first few laps. When Welch was held up by the lap car of Justin Forsthoffer on lap thirteen, Fifield tried a three wide move down the center of the two cars but Welch was able to hold on at that point.
The handling on Welch’s car went away towards the end of the feature and when he pushed up high in turn two on lap seventeen Fifield was the new leader of the event. Fifield was slowed by the lap car of Rick Fosby with two laps to go with Welch getting into the rear of Fifield at that point because of it. Fifield recovered quickly and went on to his first career pro stock win at Fonda over Welch, Hondo Carpenter, Nick Stone, and Kenny Gates.
The IMCA feature event began with Steve Vrooman the early leader from his outside front row starting spot. Danny Ballard started the event in the sixth position and when Vrooman was slowed by the lap car of Justin Labombard on lap twelve Ballard was the new leader. Only one caution slowed the field during the event on lap fourteen when Labombard stopped against the backstretch wall. George Catanzano took over the second spot from Vrooman on lap sixteen but Ballard held on to a comfortable lead and went on to his eighth career win followed by Catanzano, Vrooman, Danny Ody, and JoJo Donato
The rain delayed street stock features from last week were also run with D.T. Pickard the leader at the start of the first twelve lap event. The leader’s car started smoking on lap three but he continued on despite of it. Phil Pearson was the new second place car on lap five and on the inside of turn four on lap nine he was the new leader. Pearson’s car also started to smoke late in the event but he held on to get his second career win over Rocky Warner, Pickard, Neil Cosselman, and Dan Hartgraves. Cosselman actually pushed the smoking car of Pickard across the finish line as the checkered flag flew when Pickard’s car finally gave out.
The second street stock feature was led by Howard Smith at the start with Jeff Crosier in the second position on lap seven after starting eleventh. Crosier got out of shape in between turns one and two on lap seven after being tapped in the rear by Dwight Oldorf with the caution out for those two cars along with Luke Horning. Crosier was the only one able to continue. After a side by side battle for the lead between Smith and Dave Horning Jr. on lap eight, Horning took over the lead and never looked back, taking his forty-third career win at Fonda. Smith, John Bradt, Pete Broderson, and John Palmer completed the top five in the event.
Jeff Kraufe was the winner of the four cylinder feature followed by Dave Klob and Dan Flofek.
The regular scheduled pro stock feature was on the track when the rain came in again and cancelled the remainder of the racing card. The pro stock feature along with two street stock features will now be run on Saturday, June 4.
Next Saturday the URC Sprint cars will be at Fonda for their annual Memorial Day weekend visit along with a regular show in all divisions except for the IMCA class which will be off that night. Roosevelt’s Towing & Recovery will sponsor the Memorial Day weekend racing card starting at 6:00 p.m.
CW CUSTOM BUILDERS & PCE PLUMBING SPORTSMAN FEATURE – 35-LAPS – LINE-UP CAME FROM HEATS RUN ON 5/7/05 WHEN FEATURE WAS CURFEW DELAYED – JOHN MCAULIFFE, Elmo Reckner, Josh Hohenforst, Mark Kislowski, Ricky Quick, Jeremiah Munson, Jeff Davis, Erik Nelson, John Scarborough, Mark Mortensen, Chris Garrity, Kyle Fallis, Tom LaPlante, Keith Nichols, Jim Meka, Mike Ketchum, Luke Monroe, John Constantino, Vinny Sanganetti, Dave Constantino, Neil Erickson, Pete Sisler, Tony Farone, Rich Salisbury, Randy Meka, David Towns, Justin House, Robert Perry, Frank Greco
CW CUSTOM BUILDERS & PCE PLUMBING PRO STOCK FEATURE RAIN DELAYED FROM 5/14/05 – 20-LAPS – ROY FIFIELD, Steve Welch, Hondo Carpenter, Nick Stone, Kenny Gates, Lori Cary, Chucky Dumblewski, Butchie Irwin, Rod Slater, Chip Smith, Jason Brownell, Wayne Patrick, Rick Fosby, Justin Forsthoffer, Luke Klob, Dan Rickard, Jimmy Duncan
CW CUSTOM BUILDERS & PCE PLUMBING STREET STOCK “A” FEATURE RAIN DELAYED FROM 5/14/05 – 12-LAPS – PHIL PEARSON, Rocky Warner, D.T. Pickard, Neil Cosselman, Dan Hartgraves, John Babcock, Dan Pollock, Don Warner, Cassidy Wilson, Sam Surnear, Scott Wells, Mark Sullivan Jr., Ivan Joslin, Joe Smith, Howie Clark
CW CUSTOM BUILDERS & PCE PLUMBING STREET STOCK “B” FEATURE RAIN DELAYED FROM 5/14/05 – 12-LAPS – DAVE HORNING JR., Howard Smith, John Bradt, Pete Broderson, John Palmer, Jeff Crosier, Dwight Oldorf, Dan Clemens, Guy Klob, John Quintana, Luke Horning, Bruce Whitefield, Warren Pollock
MODIFIED QUALIFYING – 30 total cars – 6qualify – 4 handicapped
HEAT 1 – Erik Mack, Dave Camara, Ken Aanonsen, Ancel Collins, Steve Akers, Billy Osta
HEAT 2 – Jim Davis, Josh Pieniazek, Floyd Billington, Jack Johnson, Dave Lape, Ray Zemken
HEAT 3 – Bobby Varin, Craig Hanson, Mike Fusco, Robert King, Jerry Pennock Jr., Alton Palmer
MODIFIED CONSOLATION – 6 qualify – Ryan Odasz, Matt DeLorenzo, Jeremy Matthies, Tony Pepicelli, Ronnie Johnson, Jeff Trombley
CW CUSTOM BUILDERS & PCE PLUMBING MODIFIED FEATURE – 30-LAPS – BOBBY VARIN, Jack Johnson, Dave Lape, Robert King, Matt DeLorenzo, Jim Davis, Ronnie Johnson, Dave Camara, Alton Palmer, Erik Mack, Jeff Trombley, Ryan Odasz, Steve Akers, Craig Hanson, Floyd Billington, Ray Zemken, Josh Pieniazek, Bobby Vedder, Billy Osta, Ken Aanonsen, Jeremy Matthies, Jerry Pennock Jr., Mike Fusco, Ancel Collins, Tony Pepicelli
PRO STOCK QUALIFYING – 16 total cars – 5 qualify
HEAT 1 – Chip Smith, Lori Cary, Kenny Gates, Jim Duncan, Chucky Dumblewski
HEAT 2 – Roy Fifield, Rod Slater, Dan Rickard, Hondo Carpenter, Luke Klob
FEATURE FROM QUALIFYING ABOVE WAS RAIN DELAYED TO 6/4/05
IMCA QUALIFYING – 12 total cars – all qualify
HEAT 1 – Danny Ody, Jeff Jones, Jeremy Cramer, Phil Balmen, Justin Labombard, Carol Parker
HEAT 2 – Steve Vrooman, JoJo Donato, George Catanzano, Aaron Jacobs, Danny Ballard, Tom Funk
CW CUSTOM BUILDERS & PCE PLUMBING IMCA FEATURE – 20-LAPS – DANNY BALLARD, George Catanzano, Steve Vrooman, Danny Ody, JoJo Donato, Jeff Jones, Aaron Jacobs, Tom Funk, Justin Labombard, George Proctor III