Strada Jr, Mele Win Eastern States Qualifiers At Lake Moc-A-Tek

(Lakeville, Pa.) Ed Strada Jr. picked up his second win of the 2001

season at Lake Moc-A-Tek last Saturday night in 358 Modified action. The

win came on a good night as Strada earned the right to represent Lake

Moc-A-Tek in the 358 Modified event during Eastern States Weekend at the

Orange County Fair Speedway. Defending Sportsman champion Ralph Mele

also earned a guaranteed starting spot in the Barbara Luce Memorial 75

for the DIRT Sportsman division during Eastern States Weekend with his

win in Saturday night's Sportsman feature. Defneding champion and

current point leader Mike Loney picked up the Street Stock win in a wild

finish while Richie Hartman won yet another 250cc Micro Sprint features.

The Pure Stocks had a pair of features on Saturday night with Todd

Houghtaling winning his first ever in the first one while Franklin Bush

drove his four cylinder powered car to victory in the nightcap.

Tom Rudalavage took advantage of a pole starting position to grab

the lead at the start of the 25 lap 358 Modified feature. Rudalavage led

the early stages of the event, but by halfway he was under heavy pressure

from Mike Ricci. Ricci made the pass for the lead on lap 13 and looked

to be on his way to yet another victory, but the entire complexion of the

race changes when the caution flag was displayed with two laps remaining

for an incident in the middle of the pack.

As the field came down for a restart, leader Ricci had mechanical

problems as a broken universal joint found his #76 not coming up to speed

and setting off a wild scramble behind him. In addition to Ricci, this

incident also spelled disaster for Bobby Puckett, who had raced in the

top five the entire distance, but was eliminated when he got tangled up

as the field took evasive action to clear Ricci's stalled mount. When

the race went back to green it was Strada now setting the pace over

Rudalavage and Joey Grammes. There would be no changes among the top

five over the remaining distance and Strada stated in victory lane that

he will accept the Eastern States spot and represent Lake Moc-A-Tek in

that event. Rudalavage finished second with Joey Grammes third. Gary

Griffin and Jason Rudalavage completed the top five. Bill Thornton Jr.

Everett Haubrich, Tom Oleski, Bill Grammes and Brian Malcolm completed

the top ten.

The 20 lap Sportsman feature saw longtime Lake Moc-A-Tek veteran Ron

Shauger take advantage of a front row starting position to grab the early

lead. Shauger looked like a man on a mission in search of his first ever

victory, leading the first 17 laps of the feature. A late race restart

would prove to be Shauger's downfall as the restart found defending

champion and current point leader Ralph Mele right on Shauger's tail.

The two battled hard for the top spot, coming together several times as

they raced for the win. Mele was able to get a run under Shauger to take

the lead on lap 18 as there was considerable contact made during what

would prove to be the winning pass. Mele was able to complete the pass

and go on for the win. Shauger held off a late charge from Tom Laner Jr.

to finish second while Laner settled for third at the finish. Ted Stout

and Darren Stout completed the top five. Previous winner Brian Ace, Cory

Jennings, Tom Gervasi, Greg Morgan and Mike Marold completed the top ten.

The Street Stock feature was also not decided until the final lap.

First year campaigner Rick Smith grabbed the early lead and looked to be

on his way to his first career victory, but it was not to be as there was

a major shake-up on the final alp. Rick Lazar mounted a late charge art

Smith and on the final lap the two made contact which resulted in Smith

spinning out while Lazar went on to cross the line for the apparent

victory. Track officials enforced a penalty on Lazar for his contact

with Smith, dropping him one position behind Smith in the final rundown.

This gave the win to point leader Mike Loney, who was running third

behind Smith and Lazar on the final lap. David Luff scored his best

finish of the season with a second place effort ahead of last week's

winner Joe Krisovich. Ed Kudrako and Nick Petrilak finished fourth and

fifth respectively. Jim Redner Jr., Adam Jones, Jerry Liford, Tony

Nalaschi, and Jim Sykes were the sixth through tenth place finishers.

The Pure Stocks ran a pair of features on Saturday night. The first

feature saw Todd Houghtaling pick up his first ever Lake Moc-A-Tek

victory as he held off a late run by Franklin Bush to pick up the win.

Floyd Schmidt, Keith Villano, and Jason Martin finished in the top five.

Behind them were Don Leiper, Nate Evans, Grant Hilfiger, Tom Cliurso, and

Jim Bargabus. After finishing second in the first feature, Franklin Bush

came back to win the nightcap, his second win of the season aboard his

four cylinder powered entry. Jim Bargabus, Erick Schmidt, Todd

Houghtaling, and Nate Evans made up the remainder of the top five.

Positions six through ten in the nightcap went to Gary Schoch, Don

Leiper, Keith Villano, Gregg Brunges, and Tom Cilurso.

Shoemakersville, Pa.'s Richie Hartman won his sixth Micro Sprint

feature of the season. Hartman defeated Terry Schaffer to take the win

and lengthen his point lead in the 250cc Micro Sprint division. Davie

Franek, Jason Frantz, and Greg Stevens all scored top five finishes while

Mike Garber, Kevin Dries, Stephanie Stevens, Todd Hanlin, and Eric Eckert

rounded out the top ten.

Labor Day weekend finds two nights of racing action at Lake

Moc-A-Tek with both nights having special events planned. The Saturday

night card finds all five racing divisions in action with the Street

Stocks taking center stage for the annual running of the Mike Petrilak

Memorial. The Mike Petrilak Memorial will find the Street Stocks running

for a double purse while the 358 Modifieds, Sportsman, Pure Stocks and

250cc Micro Sprints will see action in a regular show. This will be the

final point event on the 2001 season for the Street Stocks, Pure Stocks,

and Micro Sprints. Racing gets underway at 6 PM sharp.

The traditional Labor Day special will find the 358 Modifieds and

Sportsman teams taking center stage as each division will take part in a

50 lap feature. The 358 Modifieds will be running for $1,500 to win

while the Sportsman class will have a $750 winner's share on the line.

These events will run under Open Competition rules with all handicapping

being done via luck of the draw. Also, the tire rule will be opened up

to allow any 92" tire so long as that tire is not any harder than the

American Racer tires run regularly at Lake Moc-A-Tek. DIRT legal Hoosier

tires are permitted as are the American Racer tires used in the Southern

Tier area as well as those used at Big Diamond and Grandview. This will

be the final point race of the 2001 season with track champions being

crowned in both classes.

Lake Moc-A-Tek Speedway is located on Pennsylvania Rte 590

approximately seven miles East of Hamlin, Pa. To get to Lake Moc-A-Tek,

take Exit 17 (formerly Exit 5) off I-84 and head toward Hamlin to the

stop light. Turn right onto Pa. Rte 590 and travel about seven miles

where signs are posted leading right into the speedway parking lot.

Promoter Charlie Bray can be contacted at 610-759-0809. The race day

weather hotline is (570)-226-5602.

RACE SUMMARY:

358 MODIFIEDS : 1. ED STRADA JR. 2. Tom Rudalavage 3. Joey Grammes 4.

Gary Griffin 5. Jason Rudalavage 6. Billy Thornton 7. Everett Haubrich 8.

Tom Oleski 9. Bill Grammes 10. Brian Malcolm 11. Bill Reese 12. Troy

Weisenfluh 13. Joe Uliana 14. Josh Beierle 15. Mike Ricci 16. Bob Puckett

17. Jim Allen 18. Don Hildebrandt 19. Phil Recchio 20. Brian Cobb 21.

Nick Barassi

SPORTSMAN: 1. RALPH MELE 2. Ron Shauger 3. Tom Laner Jr. 4. Ted Stout 5.

Darren Stout 6. Brian Ace 7. Cory Jennings 8. Tom Gervasi 9. Greg Morgan

10. Mike Marold 11. Larry Hendershot 12. Alex Konopka 13. Bob Grammes 14.

Chris Kresge 15. Brad Grammes 16. Rocky Rosetti 17. Steve Kizer 18. Mike

Schane 19. Jim O'Hara 20. Mike Trautschold 21. Chris Clemons

STREET STOCK: 1. MIKWE LONEY 2. David Luff 3. Joe Krisovich 4. Ed Kudrako

5. Nick Petrilak 6. Jim Redner 7. Adam Jones 8. Jerry Liford 9. Tony

Nalaschi 10. Jim Sykes 11. Rick Smith 12. Rick Lazar 13. Neil DiBlasi 14.

Gene Beadle 15. Tom Herman 16. Bill Rosengrant 17. Jared Hayes 18. Mike

Van Tassel 19. Brian Petrilak 20. Chuck Davis 21. Nate Evans 22. Brian

Duffin 23. Carl Heater

PURE STOCKS: 1. FRANKLIN BUSH 2. Jim Bargabus 3. Eric Schmidt 4. Todd

Houghtaling 5. Nate Evans 6. Gary Schoch 7. Don Leiper 8. Keith Villano

9. Gregg Brunges 10. Tom Cilurso 11. Grant Hilfiger 12. Floyd Schmidt 13.

John Walsh 14. Jason Martin

PURE STOCKS (HELD OVER) 1. TODD HOUGHTALING 2. Franklin Bush 3. Floyd

Schmidt 4. Keith Villano 5. Jason Martin 6. Don Leiper 7. Nate Evans 8.

Grant Hilfiger 9. Tom Cilurso 10. Jim Bargabus 11. Eric Schmidt 12. Gregg

Brunges 13. Ron Blake

250cc MICRO SPRINTS: 1. RICHIE HARTMAN 2. Terry Schaffer 3. Davie Franek

4. Jason Frantz 5. Greg Stevens 6. Mike Garber 7. Kevin Dries 8.

Stephanie Stevens 9. Todd Hanlon 10. Eric Eckert 11. Pat Potter 12. Geoff

Quackenbush 13. Rich McKay 14. Don Colaluce 15. Kyle Pickering16. Joe

Scanlon 17. Mike Ricci 18. Glen Clark 19. Cheryl Clark 20. Mike Keppler

21. Ralph Utter Jr. 22. Richard Croaker