HEARN UNSTOPPABLE AT FONDA
There were many factors that almost kept Brett Hearn out of victory lane at Fonda Speedway last night including rain, lap cars, and Tim McCreadie. The key word in that sentence was almost as Hearn went on to win the 100-lap Advance Auto Parts Modified Super DIRT Series at the Track of Champions.
“Coming from the eleventh starting position in a quality field like this was quite an accomplishment,” Hearn said in victory lane. “I didn’t find any one groove better than the other so I kept moving around on the track. Tim McCreadie is a great talent and a good clean racer and even if I finished second tonight it was still a great race.”
Kevin Buff was the winner of the 20-lap IMCA feature event on Frontier Communications & Millennium Motorsports Night.
The start of the Modified feature saw Tim Fuller in the early lead with Gary Tomkins second. The Romano brothers, Mike and A.J. were battling side by side for third for a couple of laps before Mike took over the position. Steve Paine also got by A.J. for the fourth position and on lap eight he got by Mike for the third as the yellow came out.
On the restart, Gary Tomkins got by for the lead but it was short lived as Fuller got back by him on the next lap. With ten laps in the record books, Hearn was fifth and one lap later he got by both Mike Romano and McCreadie for fourth. Paine came to life on lap fifteen catching the leader and pressuring Fuller for the number one position.
When the caution flag came out on lap sixteen, rain began to fall but it never got heavy enough to stop the event. On the restart, Paine was the new leader of the event as Hearn made his way up to third. Next for Hearn was Fuller who he got by with twenty laps in the record books and by lap twenty-four Hearn was right on the rear bumper of the leader.
Hearn kept pace with the leader but could never get close enough to get by as Paine held his groove on the outside to perfection. The yellow flag was thrown on lap forty-seven and didn’t get restarted until eight laps later as it took that long to get the field realigned. As the rain continued to fall, Hearn finally got by Paine for the lead on the outside of turn four on lap fifty-seven.
McCreadie was coming on strong towards the middle of the race, taking the second position away from Paine on lap fifty-eight and quickly closing in on the leader. For the remainder of the event these two stars of the DIRT Motorsports circuit would put on a great battle for the win keeping the fans on the edge of their seats.
When Hearn bobbled coming out of turn two on lap eighty-nine, McCreadie took over the top spot but lap traffic would turn out to be his downfall as on lap ninety-two Hearn would retake the lead on the inside of turn two after a lap car blocked McCreadie’s lane.
McCreadie never gave up and stayed close to Hearn but Brett went on to the win in a close finish. McCreadie ended up second followed by Paine, Fuller, and Danny Johnson. Paine won the qualifying spot for the Eckerd 200 in Syracuse this October.
“My car took ten to fifteen laps to get going on restarts but once the tires warmed up it was fast,” McCreadie said afterwards. “I made a mistake in lap traffic which cost us the lead but I want to thank my crew for taking time off from work to come here to Fonda tonight.”
As cars raced four wide at the start of the IMCA twenty lap feature event, Curt Olsen grabbed the lead. Coming under the starters stand to complete lap two, last Saturday nights feature winner Kevin Buff took over the number one position. The first caution of the event came out on lap three with Joe Williams taking over the second position from Olsen on the restart.
Last years champion Steve Bidwell got by both Williams and Olsen for the second position while point leader Danny Ballard moved into fourth by the halfway point. By the lap twelve point, Buff was a half straightaway ahead of the second place running Bidwell. Buff maintained the lead the rest of the way and went on to an easy win followed by Bidwell, Williams, Ballard, and Olsen.
This Saturday at Fonda will be a regular show in all divisions sponsored by Roosevelt’s Towing & Recovery. It will also be 50’s night at the speedway with the green flag waving to start the racing action at 6:00 p.m.
MODIFIED TIME TRIALS – top two drivers locked into the feature without running heat races – 40 total cars took time – Tim McCreadie 19.158, Brett Hearn 19.163, Steve Paine 19.409, A.J. Romano 19.498, Billy Decker 19.619, Bob McCreadie 19.635, Mike Romano 19.680, Chuck Bower 19.697, Todd Burley 19.697, Jeff Trombley 19.720, Tim Fuller 19.757, Jack Johnson 19.773, Gary Tomkins 19.834, Pat Ward 19.835, Alan Johnson 19.883, Ronnie Johnson 19.923, Dave Lape 19.996, Danny Johnson 20.079, Vic Coffey 20.087, Wade Hendrickson 20.092, Bobby Varin 20.093, Tony Pepicelli 20.100, Mike Fusco 20.126, Alton Palmer 20.155, Jerry Pennock, Jr. 20 196, Kenny Tremont 20.319, Ronnie Holmes 20.363, Bob Savoie 20.464, John Marsh, Sr. 20.474, Ken Hanson 20.739, Bob Sitterly 20.751, Randy Snyder 20.767, Craig Criscone 21.021, Jim Lavalla 21.052, Joe Geniti 21.087, Craig Hanson 21.219, Erik Gall 21.241, Mike Ketchum 21.538, Ron Proctor No Time, Bobby Vedder 20.743 (DQ)
MODIFIED HEAT RACES – 5 qualify – 3 redraw
HEAT 1 – Steve Paine, Tim Fuller, Mike Romano, Alan Johnson, Vic Coffey
HEAT 2 – A.J. Romano, Jack Johnson, Chuck Bower, Ronnie Johnson, Wade Hendrickson
HEAT 3 – Billy Decker, Gary Tomkins, Bobby Varin, Todd Burley, Dave Lape
HEAT 4 – Pat Ward, Jeff Trombley, Bob McCreadie, Danny Johnson, Kenny Tremont
CONSOLATION 1 – 3 qualify – Mike Fusco, Ronnie Holmes, Frankie Caprara
CONSOLATION 2 – Tony Pepicelli, Alton Palmer, Bob Savoie
ADVANCE AUTO PARTS MODIFIED SUPER DIRT SERIES FEATURE – 100 laps – BRETT HEARN, Tim McCreadie, Steve Paine, Tim Fuller, Danny Johnson, Jack Johnson, Jeff Trombley, Pat Ward, Tony Pepicelli, Alan Johnson, Ronnie Holmes, Frankie Caprara, Ronnie Johnson, Gary Tomkins, Kenny Tremont, Wade Hendrickson, Bob Savoie, Bobby Varin, Chuck Bower, Bob Sitterly, Craig Hanson, Randy Snyder, Bobby Vedder, Jerry Pennock, Jr., Alton Palmer, Mike Romano, A.J. Romano, Todd Burley, Billy Decker, Mike Fusco, Craig Criscone, Vic Coffey, Bob McCreadie, Dave Lape
DID NOT QUALIFY – John Marsh, Sr., Joe Geniti, Ron Proctor, Ken Hanson, Jim Lavalla, Mike Ketchum, Erik Gall
IMCA HEAT RACES – 21 total cars – 5 qualify
HEAT 1 – Danny Ody, Steve Bidwell, Keith Ackerknecht, George Proctor, Bob Wilkie
HEAT 2 – Kevin Buff, Billy Dunn, Joe Williams, Danny Ballard, Curt Olsen
IMCA FEATURE – 20 laps – KEVIN BUFF, Steve Bidwell, Joe Williams, Danny Ballard, Curt Olsen, George Proctor, Steve Hough,
Willy Reed, Darcy Volans, Pete Knapp, Dennis Vroman, Kevin Klintrowsky, Jason Miller, Bob Wilkie, Skip Pabis, Billy Dunn, Danny Ody, Mike Keeler, Tom Costanza