VARIN WINS AS THE LIGHTS GO OUT AT FONDA
It was a wild night at the Fonda Speedway last Saturday as Coors Light presented a regular card of racing in all divisions along with a 360-Sprint Car Open. During the first street stock feature an accident involving Frank Guiffre and John Babcock occurred on the backstretch with Babcock’s car ending up on its side while Guiffre’s car actually took down a light pole in turn three. Both drivers were okay but there was a delay of over an hour to get the lights back on so that racing could resume.
When all of the feature events were completed Bobby Varin was the modified feature winner while Butchie Irwin (pro stock), George Catanzano (IMCA), Dan Kaszubinski (360-sprint), Jeff Crosier and Dan Hartgraves (street stock) were the winners in the other divisions. For Hartgraves it was the first feature win of his career. The sportsman feature was not run due to a curfew at the track and will be run on Saturday, May 21.
The modified feature began in a very strange way with no laps completed before Jeff Trombley and Bobby Vedder were involved in a crash in turn three. Trombley who was the point leader at the beginning of the night was done for the evening while Vedder was able to continue. On the original restart another yellow flew before the first lap was completed so a third restart was needed to get the race going.
On the third restart, the outside row moved first as Jerry Pennock Jr. and Ken Aanonsen took off from their second and fourth place starting positions to the front of the pack with Pennock the leader. Varin started the event in the fourteenth position but was already up to the third spot on lap four after getting by Craig Hanson. At that point Pennock was out to a comfortable lead with Aanonsen trying to close the gap on the leader.
It was Varin who was actually closing the gap between himself and Aanonsen and by lap ten he got by Aanonsen for the second spot. On lap eleven Varin made a great move under both Pennock and a lap car to take over the top spot and he wasn’t seriously challenged for the remainder of the event even in heavy lap traffic. Just after Varin took over the lead another caution was out for Ray Zemken who was in the turn three wall.
Veterans Dave Lape and Jack Johnson started the feature event in the twelfth and seventeenth positions respectively and were coming up through the pack together early on in the event as was Jack’s son Ronnie Johnson who started eleventh. Ronnie made it to the front first with Lape in tow as they both got by Aanonsen and Billy Osta for the third and fourth positions by the halfway point. Next for Ronnie was Pennock who he raced side by side with for the second spot on lap sixteen as Varin was out to a half-track lead.
Ronnie and Lape both got by Pennock on lap seventeen but neither were able to catch a glimpse of the leader as he was long gone on his way to his twenty-first career win. Ronnie Johnson, Lape, Dave Camara, and Jack Johnson completed the top five.
As is always the case the pro stock feature was one of the most exciting features of the night with multiple cars looking like they could win the event. Chucky Dumblewski was the leader as the green flag flew with Lori Cary in the second spot. Hondo Carpenter started the event in the sixth spot but was on the move early as he was already in the third position at the completion of lap one. And he wasn’t done yet either.
Carpenter was racing for the lead on lap two when he spun coming out of turn four and in the scramble Cary was able to take over the top spot. The yellow was out for Carpenter at that point as he was unable to re-fire right away after the spin. He restarted in the rear of the field. Cary’s lead was short lived however as Kenny Gates came up from his eighth place starting spot to take the lead on lap five.
New Fonda regular Roy Fifield was also making some nice moves on the way to the front after starting seventh as he took over the second spot from Cary on lap six. Gates and Fifield ran side by side for the lead for two laps before Fifield was able to wrestle the lead away on lap fifteen. Butchie Irwin was coming up through the pack from his twelfth place starting spot and when Fifield broke coming out of turn two he scrambled the field allowing Irwin to get by for the top spot and go on to his fourteenth career win at Fonda followed by Gates, Cary, Luke Klob, and Dumblewski.
The IMCA feature began with Phil Balmen the early leader when the green flag flew. George Catanzano started the event in the fourth spot and was second at the completion of lap one. Jeff Jones took over the second spot from Catanzano momentarily on lap five but Catanzano fought back to retake the position.
Catanzano took over the lead on lap eight and with only one caution slowing the field on lap nine Catanzano was able to cruise to an easy win over Jones, Danny Ody, Aaron Jacobs, and Balmen. Catanzano took a Polish Victory Lap in honor of his friend Steve Bidwell who was killed in an automobile accident last fall. For Catanzano it was his twenty-eighth career win at Fonda.
The 360-Sprint Open was led by Doug Emery early on with John Karklin spinning out in turn one and stalling the car bringing out an early caution. With the race clean and green after the one caution flag it allowed the cars to spread out around the track with some very high speeds being turned.
At the halfway point of the 20-lap event, Emery was still the leader followed by Dan Kaszubinski, Jeff VanDusen, Brooke Bowman, and Chuck Hebing. When Emery got into heavy lap traffic on lap twelve, Kaszubinski closed in and took over the lead one lap later and went on to the win followed by Emery, Bowman, Hebing, and Alain Bergeron. Kaszubinski was also the winner of this event last year.
One of the wildest street stock features in the history of the Track of Champions took place during the first twelve-lap event with Sam Surnear leading early on until Luke Horning took over the lead before lap one was completed. Dan Pollock was the new leader on lap two with Jeff Crosier in the second spot. Pollock and Crosier were racing side by side for the lead when the red flag came out on lap four for the accident on the backstretch involving John Babcock and Frank Guiffre. Guiffre’s car took down a light pole causing a delay of over an hour before the race was restarted. Both Guiffre and Babcock who got up on his side were not injured.
Crosier was the new leader when the race was restarted but three laps later the red flag was out again, this time for defending track champion Bob VanAernam who wrecked his car into the wall at the pit exit. VanAernam’s car flew high in the air before hitting the wall and he was taken to St. Mary’s Hospital in Amsterdam, NY by ambulance. No report on his condition was available at the completion of the racing program. While waiting for another ambulance to arrive at the speedway as racing can’t take place without one on hand the checkered flag was thrown handing Crosier the win in the shortened seven lap event.
Dan Hartgraves started the second street stock feature from the outside of the front row and immediately took the lead at the drop of the green flag. Hartgraves led the event flag to flag taking his first career win over John Bradt, Don Warner, Pete Broderson, and Guy Klob.
Next week at Fonda a regular show in all divisions is on the racing card sponsored by PYX 106 radio. The Eye Rock 500 will also take place for blind drivers who will be coached around the track by drivers from the different divisions at Fonda who will be in the passenger seat of the cars. Starting time will be 6:00 p.m.
MODIFIED QUALIFYING – 34 total cars – 5 qualify
HEAT 1 – Ken Aanonsen, Jeremy Matthies, Dave Camara, Jeff Trombley, Erik Mack
HEAT 2 – Jerry Pennock Jr., Matt DeLorenzo, Billy Osta, Ronnie Johnson, Steve Akers
HEAT 3 – Craig Hanson, Mike Fusco, Bobby Varin, Todd Ryan, Dave Lape
MODIFIED CONSOLATIONS – 5 qualify
CONSI 1 – Bobby Vedder, Mario Clair, Ancel Collins, Ray Zemken, Ryan Odasz
CONSI 2 – Jack Johnson, Alton Palmer, Jim Davis, Dustin Purdy, Jeff Holt
COORS LIGHT MODIFIED FEATURE – 30-LAPS – BOBBY VARIN, Ronnie Johnson, Dave Lape, Dave Camara, Jack Johnson, Billy Osta, Jerry Pennock Jr., Craig Hanson, Mike Fusco, Matt DeLorenzo, Ryan Odasz, Jim Davis, Alton Palmer, Steve Akers, Todd Ryan, Jeremy Matthies, Ancel Collins, Ray Zemken, Bobby Vedder, Mario Clair, Dustin Purdy, Ken Aanonsen, Ken Hanson, Erik Mack, Jeff Holt, Jeff Trombley
SPORTSMAN QUALIFYING – 27 total cars – 5 qualify
HEAT 1 – Mark Kislowski, Erik Nelson, Robert Perry, Mark Mortensen, Tony Farone
HEAT 2 – Elmo Reckner, John McAuliffe, Jeremiah Munson, Chris Garrity, Tom LaPlante
HEAT 3 – David Towns, Ricky Quick, Josh Hohenforst, Vinnie Sanganetti, John Constantino
SPORTSMAN FEATURE CURFEW DELAYED TO 5/21/05
PRO STOCK QUALIFYING – 18 total cars – 5 qualify
HEAT 1 – Lori Cary, Roy Fifield, Luke Klob, Kenny Gates, Roger Keeny
HEAT 2 – Steve Welch, Hondo Carpenter, Chucky Dumblewski, Chip Smith, Rod Slater
COORS LIGHT PRO STOCK FEATURE – 20-LAPS – BUTCHIE IRWIN, Kenny Gates, Lori Cary, Luke Klob, Chucky Dumblewski, Rod Slater, Jeff Patrick, Roger Keeny, Cale Kneer, Justin Forsthoffer, Steve Welch, Roy Fifield, Jim Duncan, Hondo Carpenter, Rick Langenbach, Wayne Patrick, Nick Stone
IMCA QUALIFYING – 13 total cars – 5 qualify – 10 qualifiers from the two heats re-draw
HEAT 1 – George Catanzano, Danny Ody, Shawn Simmons, Tom Funk, Jeremy Cramer
HEAT 2 – Danny Ballard, JoJo Donato, Jeff Jones, Phil Balmen, Aaron Jacobs
COORS LIGHT IMCA FEATURE – 20-LAPS – GEORGE CATANZANO, Jeff Jones, Danny Ody, Aaron Jacobs, Phil Balmen, JoJo Donato, Shawn Simmons, Carol Parker, Tom Funk, Danny Ballard
360 SPRINT CAR QUALIFYING – 24 total cars – top 3 re-draw
HEAT 1 – Brooke Bowman, Warren Alexson, Russ Bennett, Rick Hart, Brian Glasser, Frank Senzio, Jim Livingston, Jim McCaffrey
HEAT 2 – Chuck Hebing, Doug Emery, Dan Kaszubinski, Nick Frotto, Don Sharp, Anthony Cain, Luke Eriksen, Blaise Regina
HEAT 3 – Jeff VanDusen, Bobby Podolak, John Karklin, Alain Bergeron, Cory Sparks, Ken Swan, Ron Zagata, Bob Wade, Billy White
COORS LIGHT 360-SPRINT OPEN FEATURE – 20-LAPS – DAN KASZUBINSKI, Doug Emery, Brooke Bowman, Chuck Hebing, Alain Bergeron, Bobby Podolak, Russ Bennett, Don Sharp, Frank Senzo, Billy White, Nick Frotto, John Karklin, Cory Sparks, Brian Glasser, Anthony Cain, Jim McCaffrey, Jim Livingston, Ron Zagata, Ken Swan, Jeff VanDusen, Bob Wade, Luke Erikson, Rick Hart, Warren Alexson
COORS LIGHT STREET STOCK “A” FEATURE – SHORTENED TO 7 LAPS – JEFF CROSIER, Dan Pollock, Phil Pearson, Dave Horning Jr., Dwight Oldorf, Ivan Joslin, Mark Sullivan Jr., Sam Surnear, Warren Pollock, John Quintana, Joe Smith, Bob VanAernam, John Babcock, Frank Guiffre
COORS LIGHT STREET STOCK “B” FEATURE – 12-LAPS – DAN HARTGRAVES, John Bradt, Don Warner, Pete Broderson, Guy Klob, Rocky Warner, Howard Smith, Neil Cosselman, Cassidy Wilson, Howie Clark, D.T. Pickard, Luke Horning, Bruce Whitefield, Dan Clemens
by Fonda Speedway