PEPICELLI GETS THIRD WIN
On most weekends, big blocks dominate the competition at Fonda Speedway. But Saturday night, no one could touch Tony Pepicelli’s small block. Running with a fresh Jack Boyd 358 engine under his hood, Pepicelli easily picked up his third win of the season in the 30-lap modified feature at the Track of Champions. Able to stick to the bottom of the track and still make full use of his horsepower, Pepicelli got the front quickly, got the lead on a restart on lap 10, and finished with a comfortable lead over a hard-charging A.J. Romano.
Saturday night was BBL Construction Night at the speedway, and second-year driver Matt DeLorenzo, who drives the BBL-sponsored car, gave the huge contingent of BBL employees a big thrill by leading the first lap. But Alton Palmer, who is still searching for the right combination, used a restart on lap two to grab the lead and stayed there for the next nine laps. But the man on the move was Pepicelli. Despite starting 11th, he was flying from the start, and picking off cars in bunches. By lap six, he had already moved up to fourth, and in the next two laps, passed both Dave Lape and DeLorenzo to take over second. The caution flew on lap 10 when John Marsh Jr. came to a stop with a broken driveshaft, and on the restart, Pepicelli rocketed past Palmer to get the lead. At the same time, Romano, who had been struggling to pass cars on the bottom of the track, moved back to his favorite position, against the cushion, and began to make his move. He got past DeLorenzo for third in the third turn on lap 14, and three laps later, took the No. 2 position away from Palmer. By that time, Pepicelli had a full straightaway lead, but lapped traffic came into play later in the race. At one time, it took Pepicelli three laps to get through a logjam of cars, but Romano could only draw to within five car lengths of the finish as Pepicelli chalked up win No. 3. Bobby Varin was third, with Ronnie Holmes, also in a small block, fourth and Lape fifth.
Point leader Jeff Trombley finished eighth and goes into the final point night of the season with a 35-point lead over Holmes. But Saturday night’s last point race also offers double features, so Trombley hasn’t locked up his first track championship yet.
Jimmy Davis kept his hopes for a second straight track title alive in the sportsman division, as he drove to his third win of the season in the 20-lap feature. Davis has been chasing John McAuliffe in the points race all year long, but with just double features left, Davis has cut McAuliffe’s lead to 14, as McAuliffe finished sixth Saturday.
The race got off to a bad start, as 13 cars were involved in a tangle in the second turn on the first lap. Although a couple of cars got over, there were no injuries. Davis, who had started far enough back to avoid the wreck, got the lead on the restart, and stayed out front for the rest of the way to get the win in the Troyer four-link that he recently purchased from Bobby Varin. Jimmy Burton, who is completing his first full season in a sportsman, chased Davis across the finish line, coming away with his best career finish. Tim Clemons was third, Mike Ballestero finished fourth and Jason Otty was fifth.
Kenny Gates, one of the most consistent drivers in the pro-stock division, finally got his first victory of the season in the 20-lap feature in that class. Gates, who has had a number of top-five finishes in his Schoolhouse Pools-sponsored car, got the lead on lap 11 and dominated the rest of the race, which was run caution-free. Chuck McSpirit started on the pole and led the first 10 laps, but Gates was able to hug the bottom of the race track and used that line to get the lead. By getting his first win of the season, Gates was able to move past Chris Morris into the No. 2 spot in the point race. McSpirit was second, his best finish of the season, with Bob Gile third, Mark Sullivan fourth and Jim Normyle fifth.
George Catanzano chalked up win No. 6 in the IMCA modified division, and the point lead again changed hands. For a while, it looked like Steve Bidwell was going to come away with his third consecutive win in the 20-lap feature. After starting deep in the pack, Bidwell charged into the lead coming out of the fourth turn on lap eight, but two turns later, he was heading to the pits with mechanical problems, handing the lead back to Joe Hollenbeck. But Catanzano, who had also eaten up a lot of ground early in the feature, was sitting second when Bidwell went to the pits, and snatched the lead away from Hollenbeck on lap 10 and breezed to an easy win. The 20th-place finish was costly to Bidwell, as he lost the point lead to Cory Fachini, who finished sixth. Fachini goes into the final point night with an 11-point lead.
The street stock features were a study in contrasts, as Kenny Barth got his fourth win of the season in the professionally run street stock A feature, and Steve Cosselman earned his second win in the caution-marred street stock B. Street stock A featured great racing early, as Steve Skinner, Rob Van Aernam and Rob Slater were racing three-wide at the front, and when Barth joined the group, they were runing in a diamond pattern, with Skinner at the front point. But Dave Horning Sr. then came out of nowhere, and split right through the formation on the fitth lap to move into the lead, going from fifth to first. But Barth was strong, and took the lead away from Horning on lap nine coming out of the second turn, and Barth stayed out front for the rest of the race, beating John Johnson and Horning to the finish line. Cosselman got the lead on lap 2 on a restart in street stock B and then had to survive a number of cautions to get the victory. The biggest roar from the crowd came when Ron Tollner had his hood fly up coming out of the fourth turn on the white flag lap, forcing Tollner to dive into the grass to avoid hitting anyone. Bob Van Aernam finished second, with Ray Hall Jr., making his first appearance of the season, third.
MODIFIEDS: TONY PEPICELLI, A.J. Romano, Bobby Varin, Ronnie Holmes, Dave Lape, Alton Palmer, Jack Johnson, Jeff Trombley, Matt DeLorenzo, Craig Criscone, Mike Fusco, Mike Romano, Bob Vedder, Brian Borst, Randy Hotaling, Brian Purdy, Elmo Recker, Dave Sanchez, John Kollar, Paul Cirincione, Ken Hanson, Rob Enright, Ansel Collins, Ron Proctor, John Marsh Jr., Harry Shaffer, Ken Hanson.
SPORTSMAN: JIMMY DAVIS, Jimmy Burton, Tim Clemons, Mike Ballestero, Jason Otty, John McAuliffe, Ryan Odasz, Randy Delaney, Bobby Hackel, Jeremiah Munson, Dennis Pennock, Paul Dunham Jr., Frank Greco, Josh Pieniazek, Jeff Jones, John Constantino, Tony Farone, Drew Fallis, Jeff Holt, Billy Osta, Steve Jaszeboski, Tom Proctor, Doug Hutchinson, Bob Perry, Steve Akers.
PRO-STOCKS: KENNY GATES, Chuck McSpirit, Bob Gile, Mark Sullivan, Jim Normyle, Dave Bayes, Rob Noviczski, Hondo Carpenter, Dave Viall, Chris Morris, Jay Resch, Mark Lighthall, Mike Fritz, Jerry Pepper, Frank Guffrie, Ray Hall, Kerry Jordan, Brent Hollenbeck, Luke Klob, Nick Stone, Dan Rickard.
IMCA MODIFIEDS: GEORGE CATANZANO, Joe Hollenbeck, Willie Reed, Steve Hough, Jim Rajczi, Cory Fachini, Travis Stevens, Dan Ballard, Joey Williams, Kevin Priest, Darcy Volans, Lou Gancarz, Dennis Vrooman, Billy Ward, Steve Healey, Kevin Olsen, Pete Knapp, Kevin Buff, Aaron Jacobs, Steve Bidwell, Keith Ackerknecht.
STREET STOCK A: KEN BARTH, John Johnson, Dave Horning Sr., Rob Van Aernam, Randy Moore, Jeff Davis, Rod Slater, John Babcock, Steve Skinner, Wayne Gaige, Jeff Crosier, Joe Smith, Tim Smith, Luke Horning, Don Warner, Buck Gasner, Mike Hornbeck.
STREET STOCK B: STEVE COSSELMAN, Bob Van Aernam, Ray Hall Jr., Dave Hewitt, Jimmy Olsen, Roy Fifield, Joe Donato, Dave Horning Jr., Bill Karp, A.J. Marley, Mike Walters, Lee Carroll, Ron Tollner, Eric Harper, Shawn Simmons, John Ketchum, Rick Anderson.