Rick Grosso Hits New Egypt Jackpot

New Egypt, NJ (September 7) - Rick Grosso of Belle Mead, NJ, had the golden

touch Saturday night at New Egypt Speedway, holding off a hard play by

two-time champion Billy Pauch to hit for the first Modified victory of his

career on Fan Appreciation Night, sponsored by Bally's Park Place Casino,

Atlantic City.

"I couldn't have done it without these guys," Grosso, 33, said of his crew,

engine man John Burnett and advisor Mark Blackwell. After scrambling to

replace a broken rear axle earlier in the night, the $2,500 win seemed

especially sweet to the team. "My family's all here tonight, Bally's is here

tonight. . . It's just a really good night."

Starting outside pole in the 30-lap Modified main, Grosso battled a spirited

bid by Jimmy Reppert early in the run, taking the top spot on lap 3. A

flurry of cautions slowed the action, but Grosso remained in command. Tad

Cox's flat tire, while running second, set up a five-to-go finale with all

the ingredients for an upset. Billy Pauch, hungry after three winless

months, clawed his way into second on lap 26 and could almost smell the

money. But he couldn't shake Grosso from the point: Pauch dove to the bottom

with two laps remaining to set up a pass that didn't happen, and the

cool-as-a-cuke Grosso became the 13th different Modified winner this season.

Current point leader Pauch, Bobby Drayton in a great comeback, two-time 2002

victor Mark Bitner and Frank Cozze followed Grosso.

It was Number Two on the year for Chatham, NJ's Chris Wasson in the

Sportsman 20. The determined Wasson held off an equally determined charge by

Jack Swain for the win. Bill Tanner IV, Jim Scherer and Rich Scagliotta

trailed Wasson and Swain at the line.

It was the Mario show again, for the ninth time this season in the Super

Stock ranks. Mario Page of Somerset, NJ, aced lucky number nine with current

point leader Ralph Gargiulo edging Gary Butler by a whisper for second. Kory

Fleming and Pat Freiberger completed the top five.

Jeremy Strausser won the 15-lap SS Sprint event.

The Herman's Trucking Lightning Lap Awards for fastest lap in a feature

event were won by Bob Drayton (Mods, 18.526), Chris Wasson (Sportsman,

19.271) and Mario Page (Super Stock, 20.676).

A crammed-full field of 156 race cars competed in 21 events during the

evening. The long-awaited Match of the Mouths, a one-on-one dash between

announcers Nick Leach and Pete Wortman, was won by Leach, with the duo

raising $1,648.88 for Frank Grippaldi, a tow truck operator scheduled for

complicated hip surgery.

In honor of Fan Appreciation Night, Bally's Park Place Casino distributed

2,500 sweatshirts to adult spectators, and a bunch more giveaways to big and

little fans, both.

Next Saturday night, September 14, it's big-block Mods, Sportsman and Super

Stocks on the New Egypt card, sponsored by IMI and Dirt Wheels Race Cars.

Gates open at 4 pm, with first race at 6. Adult admission is $14, children

7-12 are $4, and kids 6 and under are free. For more information, call the

track office at (609) 758-1900.

9/7/02

MODIFIED RESULTS

1st Heat: 1.Drayton 2.Dmuchowski 3.McCaughey 4.Pauch 5.G.Hager 6.Martz

2nd Heat: 1.Brightbill 2.Cox 3.Hoffman 4.Burley 5.Laureno 6.Bitner

3rd Heat: 1.Bohn 2.Grosso 3.Godown 4.Reppert 5.Cozze 6.Pakenham

B Main: 1.Velenger 2.Radd 3.Tanner Jr. 4.VanGorder 5.Worthington

6.Scagliotta

Feature (30 laps):

1.Rick Grosso 2.Billy Pauch 3.Bob Drayton 4.Mark Bitner 5.Frank Cozze 6.Todd

Burley 7.Eddie Bohn 8.Darren McCaughey 9.Kenny Brightbill 10.Keith Hoffman

11.Tim Tanner Jr. 12.Gary Hager 13.Jimmy Reppert 14.Bob Worthington 15.Gary

Velenger 16.Roger Laureno 17.Scott VanGorder 18.Sam Martz 19.Tad Cox 20.Tom

Carberry 21.John Pakenham 22.Ryan Godown 23.Fred Dmuchowski 24.Donny Radd

DNQ: Steve Moss, Korey Keimig, Doug Leidl, Mark Tranquilli, Craig

Mitchell, Jake Roveda, Mike McAleer, John Miloszar, Mickey Kessler, Tom

Hager, Ron John Koczon, Joey Tinnes.

SPORTSMAN RESULTS

1st Heat: 1.Toth 2.Ploski III 3.Scagliotta 4.Smith 5.Woolston Sr.

2nd Heat: 1.Wasson 2.Swain 3.Meisner 4.Farina III 5.Beamer

3rd Heat: 1.Lyons 2.Tanner III 3.Scherer 4.Geiges 5.Frankenfield Jr.

4th Heat: 1.M.Papiez 2.Ely 3.Buffalino 4.Tanner IV 5.Tomasko

C Main: 1.Flesch

B Main: 1.Godown 2.Reid 3.J.Papiez 4.Carpenter 5.Kuhl 6.Plumstead 7.Reutter

Jr. 8.Hoffman

Feature (20 Laps):

1.Chris Wasson 2.Jack Swain 3.Bill Tanner IV 4.Jim Scherer 5.Rich Scagliotta

6.G.R. Smith 7.Dominick Buffalino 8.Brian Godown 9.Bill Tanner III 10.Stan

Ploski III 11.Matt Papiez 12.Ken Meisner 13.Scott Reid 14.Jeff Carpenter

15.Mike Reutter Jr. 16.Chuck Flesch 17.Dave Woolston Sr. 18.Dave Hoffman

19.Joe Papiez 20.Jeff Geiges 21.Mike Toth 22.Todd Kuhl 23.Mike Lyons

24.Keith Plumstead 25.Tommy Beamer 26.Brien Ely 27.Tom Tomasko 28.Lou Farina

III 29.Stan Frankenfield Jr.

DNQ: (B Main): Glenn Hisko, Rick Raisner, Bryan Coffey, Larry Lippincott,

Brad Brightbill, Pete Telesco, Rick Holsten, Anthony Moran, Larry Kline,

Dave Seip, Fred Monk, Chuck Flesch (C Main): Rich McTighe, Anthony

Tramontana, Rob Pfister, Keith Fleming, Joe Szwed, Gene DeVos, Drew Grosso,

Dave Gorbatuk, Lenny Przemylewski, Brian Pearson, Mike Mongiello III, Lee

Taylor Jr., Gene Stravinsky, Nick Vasquez, Rich Kuiken, Rob Morris, J.T.

Trstensky, Derek Jones, Andy Weeks.

SUPER STOCK RESULTS

1st Heat: 1.M.Page 2.Freiberger 3.Gerber 4.Bauer 5.Wagner 6.Jm. Hewitt

2nd Heat: 1.Nixon 2.R.Gargiulo 3.Ormsbee 4.Liedtka 5.Butler 6.Scarpati Jr.

3rd Heat: 1.Whitehouse 2.R.Page 3.Jn. Hewitt 4.Fleming 5.Garey 6.Cooke

B Main: 1.Dorry 2.Dewey 3.Coverly 4.Conoway 5.N.Gargiulo Jr. 6.Cheney

Feature (15 laps):1.Mario Page 2.Ralph Gargiulo 3.Gary Butler 4.Kory Fleming

5.Pat Freiberger 6.Jim Hewitt 7.Nick Gargiulo Jr. 8.Pat Conaway 9.Brian

Wagner 10.Bill Gerber 11.Billy Bauer 12.Kim Cooke 13.Jon Hewitt 14.Ron

Coverly 15.John Scarpati Jr. 16.Joe Garey 17.Bill Liedtka 18.Al Cheney

19.Dan Dewey 20.Carol Whitehouse 21.Rob Ormsbee 22.Rich Page 23.Brian Nixon

24.Frank Dorry

DNQ: Al Burdge, Eric Hilbert, Jason Saredy, Kenny Guyer, Whitey Miller, Bob

Vaccaro, Norm Saxton, Jeff Saxton, Bill Miscoski, Weldon Collier, George

Marrero Jr., Steve Biles, Mike Dzingleski, George Quinlan, Steve Mongiello,

Richie Rutski, George Idell Jr., Kevin Bifulco, Tom Bentz, Craig Martin,

Rocco Infante, Larry Bubeck, Ron Barnstead, Don Shipley.

SS SPRINTS RESULTS

1st Heat: 1. Scott Lutz 2. Denny Willie 3. Jeremy Strausser 4. John Snook 5.

Tom Wyckoff 6. Mike David 7. Chad Mullen 8. Dave Hursi

Feature (10 laps):1.Jeremy Strausser 2.Mike David 3. Scott Lutz 4.Denny

Willie 5.Chad Mullen 6.Tom Wyckoff 7.John Snook DNS: Dave Hursi