ROBERT KING VISITS VICTORY LANE AT FONDA
Robert King raced as a rookie in the Modified division at Fonda Speedway last season and turned many heads both in the pits and in the grandstands. Last evening at the Track of Champions the nineteen year old took his Bicknell chassis to victory lane for his first career Modified feature win on Leader Herald Night. The win came in just his third start of the 2004 season and after a fifth place finish in the Modified feature the week before he showed that he was ready to run up front.
King was so fast that not even contact with the wall in between turns one and two could slow him down. “I hit the wall and didn’t know if the car would stay together after that,” King said in victory lane. “I figured that Lape was back there because there were a lot of yellows and he wasn’t in any of them. This is awesome.”
Jerry Pennock Jr. and Craig Hanson brought the field down very slowly to the green flag with many of the back markers having to check up to keep from crashing into the car in front of them. Hanson took the early lead into turn one with Steve Akers in the second spot. On lap two, King made a sweeping move around the outside of both Pennock Jr. and Akers for second with Alton Palmer also getting by for third.
Lap six saw Hanson and King racing side by side for the lead which King took on the outside of turn four. Going into turn one, King got into the turn too hard and got into the wall with the right side of the car climbing halfway up the wall. Amazingly King kept going as Hanson retook the lead.
On lap thirteen, King caught back up to Hanson with the first caution of the event coming out for Josh Pieniazek who came to a stop in turn three. On the restart, King was the new leader with the yellow coming right back out for A.J. Romano who broke in turn two. King maintained the lead over Hanson on the restart while Dave Lape got by both Bobby Varin and Matt DeLorenzo for the fourth position.
The yellow was out again with the lap counter still on lap thirteen, this time for Varin who spun on the backstretch. One complete lap was run before another yellow was thrown with King, Hanson, Lape, Palmer, and DeLorenzo in the top five. The race went clean and green the rest of the way with Lape getting by Hanson for second on lap fifteen. By that point, King had stretched out his lead to a half straightaway.
Lape caught King on lap seventeen but with ten laps to go in the 30-lap event King got away from Lape again by a few car lengths. As the top two were dicing it out in a repeat performance for Lape of last weeks feature, Hanson and DeLorenzo were battling side by side for third. On lap twenty-two, DeLorenzo got by for the spot as the top two were way ahead of him at that stage of the event.
King continued to use the outside lane of the race track as he was really fast out there while Lape fished around for a way to get by the young man from Granville, NY. Lape moved to the low groove in the turns and got alongside of the leader a couple of times but King would pull away on the straight-aways each time.
With three laps to go, lap traffic came into play but King maintained his high line on the speedway, made no mistakes, and went on to the win followed by Lape, DeLorenzo, Jeff Trombley, and Tony Pepicelli.
“This is something that I wanted to do all of my life,” King said after the win.
Keith Nichols and Pat O’Hanlon started the Sportsman feature on the front row with O’Hanlon taking the early lead. Michael Ballestero started the feature in the sixth position and by lap five he was already up to the fifth spot after getting by Jim Burton. The first caution flag of the event came out at that point and on the restart Ballestero was the new leader.
Jeremiah Munson got by both Burton and O’Hanlon for the second spot on lap six while David Towns went in between the same two cars to take over the third position. At that point Ballestero was out to a straightaway lead. Munson and Towns caught up to Ballestero by the lap fourteen mark with Munson getting by for the lead as lap fifteen was completed.
Towns also tried to get by Ballestero for the second spot but when he did Ballestero made contact with Towns almost taking them both into the turn four wall. Towns escaped without any damage and continued on while Ballestero wasn’t as lucky as he hit the wall and was done for the night with heavy front end damage.
Towns ducked low under Munson in turn four with two laps remaining and took the lead but Munson wasn’t about to let the win go by the wayside that easily. Munson came right back and ran side by side with Towns for the final lap with Towns edging Munson for the win. John McAuliffe, Tony Farone, and Bobby Hackel completed the top five in the event.
Five caution flags slowed the Pro Stock feature event but in between there was some good racing on the track. Joey Duncan led at the start but at the completion of lap one it was Hondo Carpenter who was in the lead. Kenny Gates also got by Duncan for the second position with the first yellow of the event coming out at that point. Carpenter was strong on the restart as he held on to the lead with Gates still second.
On lap seven Duncan did a 360 degree spin in turn two and kept on racing until turn four of the same lap when he spun out and brought out the caution. He was done for the night at that point. On the restart, Gates got the best of Carpenter and took over the lead with Carpenter spinning out in turn two taking Steve Welch and Nick Stone with him. All were able to continue. From that point on Gates was unchallenged and went on to his third win of the season followed by Butchie Irwin, Mark Lighthall, Rob Noviczski, and Welch.
The IMCA feature was also caution filled with JoJo Donato leading the first lap of the event. Steve Vrooman took over the point on lap two with Danny Ballard coming to the front quickly from his eighth starting spot. On lap four, Ballard was the new leader after getting by Vrooman in turn four. George Catanzano was also on the move getting by Vrooman for second after starting ninth.
Just as Ballard pulled out to a commanding lead the yellows started coming out with three of them coming out between laps ten and twelve. That allowed Catanzano to close in but Ballard was on his game and maintained the lead through each restart. Behind the top two Danny Ody, Steve Bidwell, and Jeff Jones had a battle of their own going on for the third through fifth positions. Ballard went on for his first win since May of 2003 followed by Catanzano, Ody, Jones, and Bidwell.
The Street Stock “A” feature began with Joe Smith in the lead early before Jeff Crosier took over the top spot as lap one was completed. A wreck in turn four on a lap four restart collected a few cars including John Babcock, Don Warner, and Mike Budka Jr. Rocky Warner just escaped the wreck and moved into the second spot at that point. On lap six, Rocky Warner took over the lead and went on to his first win of the season followed by Crosier, Dwight Oldorf, Neil Cosselman, and Dan Clemens.
Four different leaders took turns leading the Street Stock “B” feature the first one being Howard Smith. Paul Hughes was next to lead laps two and three before Luke Horning took over on lap four. Last years Street Stock champion Bob VanAernam started the event in the twelfth spot but took over second from Phil Pearson on lap five. VanAernam caught the leader on lap six and on the next lap took over the lead going into turn one. He went on to his fourth win of the season followed by Horning, John Bradt, Hughes, and Smith.
Randy Davis led all eight laps of the four cylinder feature but the race for second through fifth positions was heated all race long. Keith Wright and Bob Snyder battled for the fourth spot for most of the race as Tom Delaney was second and Greg Davis third. Randy Davis went on for the dominant win followed by Greg Davis, Tom Delaney, Wright, and Snyder.
The Bev Caputo Memorial Dash for Cash is held on a yearly basis for non-winners in the Pro Stock division by the Caputo and Champion families. Bev Caputo passed away from Breast Cancer a few years ago and the family uses this race as a way to remember her and also to raise money for Breast Cancer research.
Rod Slater led the first lap of the event before Luke Klob took over on lap two. Joey Duncan challenged Klob for the lead on lap five but spun out one lap later in turn four with Slater making contact with the stopped car. They were both done for the night at that point as Klob went on for the win followed by Dan Rickard, Chip Smith, Chuck McSpirit, and Jason Brownell.
A test and tune warm-up session will be held at Fonda this Wednesday, June 9 at 5:00 p.m. with free spectator admission. Next Saturday a regular show is on tap at Fonda in all divisions along with the four cylinder cars with a starting time of 6:00 p.m.
MODIFIED QUALIFYING – 31 total cars – 5 qualify
HEAT 1 – Robert King, Alton Palmer, Bobby Varin, Bobby Vedder, Ronnie Holmes
HEAT 2 – Jack Johnson, Dave Lape, Steve Akers, Ken Aanonsen, Jeff Trombley
HEAT 3 – Matt DeLorenzo, A.J. Romano, Tony Pepicelli, Ronnie Johnson, Erik Gall
HEAT 4 – Jerry Pennock Jr., Craig Hanson, Mike Fusco, Billy Osta, Jim Davis
MODIFIED CONSOLATION – 3 qualify – Chic Chandler, Ken Hanson, John Marsh Sr.
LEADER HERALD MODIFIED FEATURE – 30-LAPS – ROBERT KING, Dave Lape, Matt DeLorenzo, Jeff Trombley, Tony Pepicelli, Craig Hanson, Ken Hanson, Jack Johnson, Alton Palmer, Billy Osta, Jim Davis, Ronnie Johnson, Bobby Vedder, Mike Fusco, Steve Akers, Erik Gall, Chic Chandler, Wayne Figler, Keith Shoemaker, Don Mattison, Ken Aanonsen, Bobby Varin, A.J. Romano, Jerry Pennock Jr., John Marsh Sr., Josh Pieniazek
SPORTSMAN QUALIFYING – 29 total cars – 5 qualify
HEAT 1 – Jeremiah Munson, David Towns, Tony Farone, Joe Williams, Erik Nelson
HEAT 2 – Michael Ballestero, Drew Fallis, Bobby Hackel, Pat O’Hanlon, Robert Perry
HEAT 3 – John McAuliffe, Keith Flach, Elmo Reckner, Jim Burton, Keith Nichols
LEADER HERALD SPORTSMAN FEATURE – 20-LAPS – DAVID TOWNS, Jeremiah Munson, John McAuliffe, Tony Farone, Bobby Hackel, Joe Williams, Jim Burton, Drew Fallis, Elmo Reckner, Mark Mortensen, Frank Greco, Erik Nelson, Keith Nichols, John Constantino, Randy Meka, Michael Ballestero, Tim Clemons Jr., Robert Perry, Pat O’Hanlon, Josh Hohenforst, Mark Kislowski, Randall Salisbury, Ricky Quick, Keith Flach
PRO STOCK QUALIFYING – 18 total cars – 6 qualify
HEAT 1 – Joey Duncan, Luke Klob, Kevin Ward, Wayne Patrick, Dan Rickard, Nick Stone
HEAT 2 – Butchie Irwin, Hondo Carpenter, Steve Welch, Kenny Gates, Mark Lighthall, Rod Slater
LEADER HERALD PRO STOCK FEATURE – 20-LAPS – KENNY GATES, Butchie Irwin, Mark Lighthall, Rob Noviczski, Steve Welch, Kevin Ward, Luke Klob, Nick Stone, Dan Rickard, Jason Brownell, Wayne Patrick, Chuck McSpirit, Dave Cook, Chip Smith, Hondo Carpenter, Joey Duncan, Bill Dona
IMCA QUALIFYING – 25 total cars – 5 qualify
HEAT 1 – Jeff Davis, Steve Vrooman, Kurt Olsen, Steve Bidwell, Tom Funk
HEAT 2 – Danny Ballard, Danny Ody, George Catanzano, Chris Reckner, JoJo Donato
LEADER HERALD IMCA FEATURE – 20-LAPS – Danny Ballard, George Catanzano, Danny Ody, Jeff Jones, Steve Bidwell, Kurt Olsen, JoJo Donato, Jeff Davis, Tom Funk, Shawn Simmons, Chris Reckner, Carol Parker, Rob VanAernam, Steve Vrooman, Hondo Carpenter, Eric Taber, Peter Knapp, Bob Wilkie, Malcum Warner, Eric Stumpf, Aaron Jacobs, Nick Candelaria, Tom Costanza
LEADER HERALD STREET STOCK “A” FEATURE – 12-LAPS – ROCKY WARNER, Jeff Crosier, Dwight Oldorf, Neil Cosselman, Dan Clemens, Pete Broderson, Mike Budka Jr., D.T. Pickard, Guy Klob, John Babcock, Don Warner, Dan Hartgraves, Joe Smith
LEADER HERALD STREET STOCK “B” FEATURE – 12-LAPS – BOB VANAERNAM, Luke Horning, John Bradt, Paul Hughes, Howard Smith, Phil Pearson, Ulysses Taylor, Ivan Joslin, Cassidy Wilson, Howie Clark, Dave Horning Jr., Sam Surnear, Brian Cosselman, Frank Guiffre
LEADER HERALD FOUR CYLINDER FEATURE – 8-LAPS – RANDY DAVIS, Greg Davis, Tom Delaney, Keith Wright, Bob Snyder, Lori Fallis, Jay Resch, David Klob, George Voght
BEV CAPUTO MEMORIAL DASH FOR CASH – 8-LAPS – LUKE KLOB, Dan Rickard, Chip Smith, Chuck McSpirit, Jason Brownell, Wayne Patrick, Rod Slater, Joey Duncan