ROMANO BROTHERS FINISH ONE-TWO AT FONDA SPEEDWAY
Depending on your outlook, the Romano brothers were either a week late or a week early.
Mike and A.J. Romano gave their father, Andy, an early Father’s Day present by finishing one-two in Saturday night’s 30-lap modified feature at Fonda Speedway.
The one-two finish came a week after Mike had finished second to Jack Johnson on the night that Andy’s Speed Shop, operated by Andy and Mike Romano, sponsored the races.
Either way, it was an impressive night for the Romano brothers, who were the major part of the show for most of the night.
Defending track champion Bobby Varin, who has had more than his share of bad luck this season, started sixth in the feature field and only needed two laps to charge past Ken Hanson and move into the lead.
But Mike Romano didn’t waste any time getting to the front and was racing right behind Varin after two laps.
What they couldn’t see was A.J. , who was running a higher groove and coming to the front like a freight train.
Mike Romano stayed anchored to the rear of Varin’s car, while A.J. kept working the top, gaining momentum. On the 12th lap, A.J. moved past Craig Criscone for third, and the next time around, made the best move of the race, swinging wide coming through the third and fourth turns to pass both his brother and Varin and take the lead.
When Mike saw his brother go by, he then charged past Varin into second and on a restart on the 18th lap, drove by his little brother to get the lead. A.J. kept the pressure on his big brother for the rest of the race, but Mike Romano wasn’t going to be beaten on this night, and drove to his first victory of the season.
A.J. Romano was second, with Criscone third, Hot Shoe Ronnie Holmes fourth and Varin fifth.
Jumpin Jack Johnson, who was looking for his second straight win, finished sixth, but that was after pitting on lap 17 to replace a flat left front tire.
After a night of already exciting action, the Sportsman took the field and did not let the fans down for a second. In the end, John McAuliffe took home his 3rd victory this year. While the second place cars were so close that they finished in a “Dead Heat”.
Giving Mike Ballestero and Tim Clemons both the second place spot. The Sportsman race had a rough start as the drivers got ready to finish their first lap, when something went wrong with Josh Pieniazek’s #44 and he caused a bit of a spin between himself and four other cars. When the cars lined up to take the field again, we found the #18 driven by Tony Farone heading to the front of pack. He was able to maintain his lead position for a couple more laps until the #27 driven by Ballestero took over the lead. It was after another caution in lap seven that McAulliffe took over the lead.
Coming out of the caution he was able to overtake Ballestero and grab that lead position that he held onto for the rest of race.
Drew Fallis had the T-31 across the finish line fourth, and Jimmy Davis was fifth. Travis Stevens drove to his second straight victory in the IMCA feature, but only after surviving a strong run by George Catanzano, who is obviously hungry for his fourth victory.
Willie Reed set the early pace, with the No. 27A of Keith Ackerknecht looking good early in the race. But on lap 9, Cory Fachini, who had made a quick charge from the rear, made contact with the Ackerknecht car as they battled for third, sending Ackerknecht into the infield near the second turn.
Catanzano, who had started 11th, had the Z1 running flawlessly again and was right in the thick of the battle for the lead in the last half of the 15-lap feature. It looked like he got the break he needed with two laps left, when Kurt Olsen spun out in the fourth turn to bring out the caution.
Catanzano pulled even with Stevens as they went down the backstretch on the final lap, and the two cars were still side-by-side coming out of the fourth turn, bringing the packed house in the covered grandstand to its feet, expecting a spectacular finish.
That’s just what they got, as the two cars crossed the finish line side by side, and then raced together for another cool down lap. But the video tape showed the Stevens had nipped Catanzano by about the width of a bumper to get the win.
Although he was never in a position to challenge for the lead, Steve Bidwell ran a consistent race and finished third, with Willie Reed fourth and Jim Rajczi coming back to finish fifth after spinning out on the eighth lap.
The 20-lap pro-stock feature had some a controversy, and finally a late decision, as Mark Sullivan picked up his second win of the season in the Jake Spraker-owned car.
Sullivan put his red no. 28 into the lead on lap six and started to pull away from the field. But the one driver who had just as much motor at Sullivan did was Chris Morris in his beautiful No. 619.
Morris moved into second place on lap 10 of the 20-lap event, and then was able to close right up on Sullivan on lap 14, when Dave Viall spun out in the fourth turn.
Morris kept the heat on Sullivan for the rest of the race, but it looked like the Spraker Team had the win when Sullivan took the checkered flag.
But when Sullivan got on the scales and the tech crew began its regular post race inspection, they discovered that the wheelbase on the right side of Sullivan’s car was too short. It was less than an inch off, but according to rules, didn’t meet requirements. As a result, Sullivan was disqualified, and Morris went to victory lane for the photo session.
But later, as the powder puff race was concluding, word went to the tower that the tech inspector had reversed his decision, giving the win back to Sullivan. So as the lights began to go out around the speedway, Sullivan and his crew rushed to victory lane for a belated victory photo.
Morris got second place, with Kenny Gates third, Rob Noviczski fourth and Dave Bayes fifth.
Father-and-son teams in victory lane after the street stock features at Fonda are no surprise, as Dave Horning Sr. and Dave Horning Jr. are regular visitors to the checkerboard square.
But on Saturday night, it was a different father-son team, as Bob and Rob Van Aernam each picked up a victory in the street stock events.
Because of the huge field of street stocks, the division was split into three features for the first time this season. That allowed Dave Horning Jr. to get his fifth victory of the season in what became the street stock C feature.
Bob Van Aernam got to victory lane firth, winning the street stock A over Kevin Barth and Jeff Davis.
Then he sat and watched as his son, Rob, won the street stock B, holding off Jimmy Olsen to get the victory.
There was no doubt that Horning Jr. had the fastest car on the track in the street stock C event, as he came from way back in the pack to drive to a pretty easy victory over John Johnson and Lori Cary, who is looking more confident every week.
The Powder Puff Competition hit the track once again this past Saturday night and added just as much excitement to the field as they always do. As we know the Powder Puff race is for females that want to take the track and take their turn at the 1/2 mile Track of Champions.
This week’s winner of the Powder Puff Race was Billy Jo Skinner. She managed to gain the lead on the first lap of the race and she held on strong through this ten lap feature.
MODIFIED FINISH: MIKE ROMANO, A.J. Romano, Craig Criscone, Ronnie Holmes, Bobby Varin, Jack Johnson, Jeff Trombley, Seth Gano, Dave Lape, Bobby Albert, Matt DeLorenzo, Alton Palmer, Brian Borst, Bob Sitterly, John Kollar, Randy Hotaling, Rick Achzet, Jerry Pennock Jr., Kan Hanson, Craig Hanson, Ansel Collins, Tony Pelicelli, Don Bellen, Bob Savoie, Bob Vedder, John Marsh.
SPORTSMAN FINISH: JOHN MCAULIFFE, dead heat between Mike Ballestero and Tim Clemons for second, Drew Fallis, Jimmy Davis, Mike Ketchum, John LeClair, Steve Akers. Jason Otty, Ryan Odasz, Bob Perry, Jessica Zemken, John Constantino, Pat O’Hanlon, Bobby Hackel, Frank Greco, Jimmy Burton, Doug Hutchinson, Josh Pieniazek, Craig Bohler, Billy Osta, Tony Farone, Tim Mayne, Mike Frasier.
PRO-STOCK FINISH: MARK SULLIVAN, Chris Morris, Kenny Gates, Rob Noviczski, Dave Bayes, Mike Fritz, Jim Normyle, Hondo Carpenter, Jay Resch, Scott Govertsen, Mark Lighthall, Phlan Hart, Nick Stone, Wayne Walker, Brian Jordan, Chuck McSpirit, Dave Viall, Brian Keough, Erik Yager, Jeff Patrick, Tom Laplante, Luke Klob, Kerry Jordan.
IMCA MODIFIEDS: TRAVIS STEVENS, George Catanzano, Steve Bidwell, Willie Reed, Kevin Priest, Cory Fachini, Dan Ballard, Skip Pabis, Darcy Volans, Steve Healey, Jim Rajczi, Steve Hough, Kurt Olsen, Bud Hernberg, Pete Knapp, Joey Williams, Keith Acherknecht, Joe Hollenbeck, Aaron Jacobs, Kevin Buff, Dennis Vrooman, Jimmy Duncan, Lou Gancarz, Walter Cook.
STREET STOCK A: BOB VAN AERNAM, Kevin Barth, Jeff Davis, Jeff Crosier, Steve Casselman, Buck Gasner, Randy Moore, Don Warner, Rich Walters, John Anderson, Luke Horning.
STREET STOCK B: ROB VAN AERNAM, Jimmy Olsen, Dave Horning Sr., Dave Hewitt, Wayne Gaige, Cory Laport, Joe Smith, Rocky Warner, John Babcock, Shawn Laport.
STREET STOCK C: DAVE HORNING, JR., John Johnson, Lori Cary, Shawn Simmons, No. 60, Rod Slater, Guy Klob, John Ketchum, Ken Carson, No. 25.