Brian Malcolm Completes Moc-A-Tek Homecoming
By BRETT DEYO
LAKEVILLE, PA - Brian Malcolm completed his homecoming.
After making a late off-season decision to return to his old stomping grounds, Malcolm roared to his first 358-Modified victory of the year last Saturday night at Lake Moc-A-Tek Speedway.
The Lake Ariel, Pa., driver led from green to checkered in the 25-lap affair en route to the $1,000 payday.
"I'm thrilled to be back," exclaimed an enthusiastic Malcolm, a multi-time Sportsman winner at the quarter-mile oval who departed for weekly competition at Orange County (N.Y.) Fair Speedway in 2003.
After winning the night's first heat, Malcolm led the field to the green flag in his Sharkey's Fuels No. 119 and quickly powered into the top spot with Barry White in tow.
Numerous caution flags slowed the race's first half, setting up restarts that Malcolm, piloting a Jeff Murray-powered Bicknell, executed perfectly, using the front row starting position to his advantage.
"Anytime you start up front here it's an advantage," the 34-year-old remarked. "We won the heat race, but just barely. We made a bunch of changes before the feature and the car was a whole lot better."
Once the event took a green flag run, Malcolm and White distanced themselves from the field, as the leaders remained only a few car lengths apart over the final laps.
"We broke a left rear shock with about five to go," quipped Malcolm, who last recorded a win at the track on Sept. 14, 2002.
"She was hopping around on me pretty good. I kept an eye on Barry toward the end. I knew where he was."
The win moved Malcolm into the point lead three weeks into the season.
White, of Mertztown, Pa., had a fine run in second, breaking out of the bad luck that plagued him early in the season. The 46-year-old credited set-up changes to his Olsen mount as a reason for his success.
"I really have to thank Allan Kellogg," White, whose No. 131 carries a Curt Neiman-built 9:1 powerplant, said. "He helped me out tremendously with the set-up.
"I thought I had a chance if I could have just stayed on the bottom, but I just couldn't go on restarts."
Ninth starter Ed Strada Jr. nursed his car home third on seven cylinders after a rock broke a spark plug midway through the main.
Troy Weisenfluh of Taylor, Pa., finished a solid fourth and Buddy Altemose rounded out the top five after being collected in a lap three incident that sent him to the pits for repairs.
The emergence of Eric Palmer continued in the Sportsman division, as the Cresco, Pa., rookie scored his second straight win in the 20-lap feature.
Palmer's victory run was far from easy. A hard-charging Rick Raisner made a serious late race bid, almost pulling even with Palmer as the lead duo powered off the fourth turn to take the white flag.
The former 250cc Micro-Sprint standout used his momentum to hold onto the position and score his second victory in just his third career start.
"Rick was there," Palmer said. "He and I talked before the race and said we were going to race each other clean. It was a good show."
Raisner, of Easton, Pa., was second, just ahead of a stout Mike Mondak, newcomer Scott Merritt and 19th starter Ricky Rutt.
Again, the Street Stock main came down to the final corner, and this week it was a battle of champions with 2002 champ Dave Luff fighting off 1990 titlist Bill Trego for the win in the 20-lap affair.
Luff, who was not a Moc-A-Tek regular in 2003, worked by Jim Sykes on lap four to take the lead away, then beat Trego to the line for the win. Brian Petrilak, Adam Jones and Randy Tyler trailed.
Pulling off a final lap pass of Kevin Nolf, Joe Smith picked up the win in the 20-lap 250cc Micro-Sprint feature.
Smith actually passed Nolf on lap 13, but lost the lead on a lap 17 restart. However, a bobble by Nolf in turn two on the final lap was enough to let Smith slip to the inside and pick up his third win of 2004 in the Rainbow Roofing No. 92.
"He was running a little high and I got under him there," Smith said.
Nolf, Ralph Utter Jr., Matt Mountz and Jay Hartman rounded out the top five.
Back in his own equipment, Frank Bush of Belvidere, N.J., bested Todd Buskirk to win the 15-lap Pure Stock/Four Cylinder feature. The former champ repelled a final lap passing attempt by Buskirk to take his first win of the year.
Jason Walsh, Mike Spinks and James Insinga completed the front five.
Powder Puff feature winners were Jennifer Altemose (358-Modified), Laura Shaffer (Street Stock) and Kim Walsh (Pure Stock).
Racing resumes at the Thrill Track on May 8 with a full program of 358-Modifieds, Sportsman, Street Stocks, Pure Stock/Four Cylinders and 250cc Micro-Sprints plus the 300cc Modifieds. Gates open at 3 p.m. with hot laps at 5 p.m. and racing promptly at 6 p.m.
A Sunday rain date is in place with gates opening at 1 p.m., hot laps at 3 p.m. and racing at 4 p.m.
For more information, contact the track office at (570) 676-8665 or check out the website: www.lakemocatekspeedway.com. The race day phone is (570) 226-5602.
NOTABLE: Making his first 2004 start in the 358-Modified division was Ken Lindaberry, a former regular at Grandview (Pa.) Speedway. The Coopersburg, Pa., driver, looking to have a "little fun," will run at Moc-A-Tek off and on for the remainder of the year….
The win for Malcolm all but squashed his ideas of taking his big-block Modified to Five Mile Point (N.Y.) Speedway on Saturday nights. "We're staying," he said….
After a strong second in his heat race, George Hildebrant was forced to tag onto the back of the feature field when the starter failed. The Nazareth, Pa., racer said it was smoking inside the car as he sat on the line….
A broken fuel pump in hot laps proved to be the least of Allan Kellogg's problems. Entering the night as the point leader, Kellogg's No. 99 lacked one straight piece after involvement in no less than three incidents….
Brad Grim's charge in the Sportsman feature reached an abrupt stop at third place on lap 10 when heavy contact from John Leiby Jr. flattened his left rear tire. Grim had raced from 16th to the top three….
Scott Frack made at least three kamikaze runs through the field in his No. 39x before settling for tenth in his Teo-Pro car.
"I didn't even know who I was passing after a while."….
A graduate of the 2003 New Egypt (N.J.) Rookie Sportsman class, Scott Merritt looks to run a full season in the Sportsman division….
During the week, the track crew completely "turned over" the track, installed more drainage and pulled out several bucket loads of rocks. The result was a much improved surface offering the racers significant bite and the fans little dust….
358-Modified Feature Finish: BRIAN MALCOLM, Barry White, Ed Strada Jr., Troy Weisenfluh, Buddy Altemose, Tom Oleski, Dom Roselli, Tom Gervasi, Rick Yetter, Scott Frack, Carl Pittenger, Allan Kellogg, Ken Lindaberry, Ryan Taylor, Brian Cobb, Jeremy Markle, Joe Eisenhauer, Bernie Kelly, Gary Griffin, Jesse Kline, Tom Solderich, George Hildebrant, John Leiby.
Sportsman Feature Finish: ERIC PALMER, Rick Raisner, Mike Mondak, Scott Merritt, Ricky Rutt, Chris Riddle, John Micek, Ryan Olsommer, Greg Morgan, Archie Myers III, Mike Van Tassel, Ted Stout, Brad Grim, Bill Moyer, Andy Stout, Mike McCollum, John Bush, Tom Laner, John Leiby Jr., Kyle Pickering, Bob Grasic.
Did Not Start: Don Hildebrant.
Did Not Qualify: Willard Knecht, Ron Hartrum, Kevin Heafy, Peach Cole.
Street Stock Feature Finish: DAVE LUFF, Bill Trego, Brian Petrilak, Adam Jones, Randy Tyler, Bill Saxe, Neil DiBlasi, Clark Bradford, Gene Beadle, Les Gillette, Paul Tannura, Tony Ferri, Greg Buchanan, Tom Cilurso, Jim Sykes, Jim Hughes Jr., Billy Price Jr.
Did Not Start: Kevin Mandic.
Pure Stock/Four Cylinder Feature Finish: FRANK BUSH, Todd Buskirk, Jason Walsh, Mike Spinks, James Insinga, Ron Blake, Kyle Moon, Ted Mills Jr., Mike Toothman, Bobby Melovitz, Randy Richards, Bob Cole, John Richards, Serafino Raggi, Jon Walsh, Ralph Scarfo, Allen Metzgar.
250cc Micro-Sprint Feature Finish: JOE SMITH, Kevin Nolf, Ralph Utter Jr., Matt Mountz, Jay Hartman, Jeff Hartman, Greg Stevens, Neil Petock, Stephanie Stevens, Mike Storms, Ken Wismer Jr., Joe Buchanan, Marty Reinsmith, Darrell Cobb, Angela Caruso, Frank Venezia, Tim Manieri, Mike Rasley, Scott Dech.