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HOLMES REPEATS AT FONDA




FONDA - Ronnie Holmes of Oneida parlayed home-track advantage and lapped traffic into a huge upset Wednesday night, as he outran Brett Hearn to win the 100-lap Sunoco/Aplus Super DIRT Series race at Fonda Speedway.

Holmes put the Sam and Linda Smith owned small block into the lead on lap 67 and went on to record the biggest win of his career.

Unlike many small block tour stops, which are hurt by a dearth of passing, this one kept the fans on their feet, as Holmes and Hearn, who has yet to win a Sunoco Series race this season, swapped the lead twice before Holmes finally took the lead for good.

The win was worth $3,000, and also guaranteed Holmes a starting spot in October’s Sunoco/Aplus 150 at Syracuse.

Early in the race, it didn’t even look like Holmes was going to be a factor. Despite drawing the No. 4 starting position, he soon found himself sitting fifth, as series pointleader Danny Johnson, who had started sixth, was on the charge early.

The first half of the race saw incredible side-by-side racing all over the race track, as the leaders were in traffic early, but the lapped cars were also racing for positions, creating some nerve-wracking situations for the leaders.

Steve Paine, who had set the fast time of 20.069 seconds during time trials, also drew the pole for the feature and went right to the front. But Hearn, who had started fourth, found some bite in the outside groove and quickly moved up to challenge.

Hearn then switched lanes, and passed Paine for the lead on lap 15, the first time in 2001 that the Brioschi-sponsored small block has had the lead in a series race.

Holmes was building momentum of his own, but on the inside, which opened up, as nearly everyone on the track had figured out that the outside lane was the quickest way around the speedway. Using lapped traffic to his advantage, Holmes grabbed the No. 3 spot away from Danny Johnson on lap 18, and the next time around, charged past Paine in his unsponsored Smith Racing small block for second.

Mike Romano developed engine trouble in the Spraker Racing modified on lap 20, but pulled off the third turn, keeping the race under green and allowing Holmes to continue to reel in Hearn. On lap 32, Hearn found his path blocked by the lapped car of Ricky Davis, and Holmes ducked low to get the lead for the first time.

Danny Johnson pulled out on lap 40, another victim of engine trouble, and four laps later, Hearn had the lead back. This time, it was Holmes who got crossed up by a lapped car, as Hearn used the car of Ryan Baye to block Holmes, and then charged back to the lead.

But Holmes wasn’t going to concede anything. Again, he stuck right with Hearn and on lap 67, shot past Hearn on the low side and regained the lead.

"My job was to protect the bottom, and I didn’t do it," said Hearn after the race. "I opened the door for him."

A number of top-10 cars ran into problems in the last 25 laps of the race. Jeff Trombley had nowhere to go when Vince Quenneville Jr. spun in the second turn on lap 77, and Trombley was done for the night.

Matt Sheppard saw a top-10 finish go out the window on lap 87, when he suffered a flat tire.

At the end, there were only nine cars still running on the lead lap.

Following Holmes and Hearn across the finish line were Paine, Fonda Speedway regular Tony Pepicelli and Vic Coffey. Pepicelli had a strong car all night, and was always around the lead pack, while Coffey charged from a 14-starting position.

Completing the top 10 were Todd Burley, Pat Ward, Alan Johnson, Frankie Caprara and Bob Vedder.

Danny Johnson, who went into the race with an 81-point lead over Paine, finished 26th.

Butchie Irwin and Chris Morris turned the 20-lap pro-stock feature into a two-car race, but it featured an incredible finish.

Irwin, who had started fourth, went right to the front in the 20-lap feature and held the top spot, despite a number of restarts. Morris, who started 11th, had moved to to second by the halfway point of the race, and kept the pressure on Irwin.

With two laps to go, Morris finally made his move, pulling under Irwin coming out of the second turn and getting the lead going down the backstretch. But Irwin never backed off, and on the white flag lap, he pulled even with Morris going down the backstretch, and rocketed back into the lead going through the third turn, preventing Morris from getting his fourth win of the season.

Bob Gile got up for third, with CVRA invader Fred Little fourth and Dave Bayes fifth.

SUNOCO/APLUS 100: RONNIE HOLMES, Brett Hearn, Steve Paine, Tony Pepicelli, Vic Coffey, Todd Burley, Pat Ward, Alan Johnson, Frankie Caprara, Bob Vedder, Ryan Baye, Tommy Meier, Tim Clemons, Donnie Elliott, Scott Noel, Rich Ricci Jr., Alex Hoag, Vince Quenneville Jr., Matt Sheppard, Ricky Davis, Don Mattison, Jeff Trombley, Brian Borst, Harry Shaffer, Mitch Gibbs, Danny Johnson, Bobby Varin, Mike Romano, Alton Palmer, Mike Fusco.


PRO-STOCKS: BUTCH IRWIN, Chris Morris, Bob Gile, Fred Little, Dave Bayes, Rob Noviczski, Dave Teidman, Steve Burega, Hondo Carpenter, Kenny Gates, Kerry Jordan, Mike Halachek, Nik Rogers, Wayne Patrick, Chuck McSpirit, Eric Yager, Mark Sullivan, Jim Normyle, Nick Stone, Sean Laport, Joe Santoro, Jay Resch, Joe DeSieno.