Ricci Completes Lake Moc-A-Tek Hat Trick, Wins Third Straight
Kingston, NY's Mike Ricci continued his domination of victoy lane at
the Lake Moc-A-Tek Speedway, winning his third straight feature in as
many events at Lake Moc-A-Tek this season. Defending Sportsman champion
Ralph Mele picked up his first Sportsman victory of the season with
15-year-old Nick Petrilak taking his first Street Stock win of the
season. Tom Cilurso won hi first Pure Stock feature of 2000 with Richie
Hartman winning his first Micro Sprint feature of the season.
For Ricci, his third straight win came in convincing fashion. Mike
dodged several early incidents to work his way from deep in the pack into
contention. The early part of the event featured a spirited battle
between 358 Modified rookie Brian Cobb and longtime racing veteran Barry
White. Each took turns leading before Ricci moved into contention and
passed both to assume control of the race which he would never
relinquish.
The race ended on lap 21, four laps short of the scheduled distance
due to the township imposed curfew at the speedway. An improbable chain
of events leading up to the expiration of curfew led to a confusing end
to the race. What would turn out to be the final caution of the race for
an incident near the back of the pack set events in motion. During that
caution period, third running Brian Cobb had a left rear tire go flat and
headed to the pits. As officials tried to rush things along to get the
final four laps in, second running Barry White had the left rear tire
come off. The curfew expired as track crews were preparing to remove
White's car from the track and the race was never restarted. Lake
Moc-A-Tek rules dictate that the finish be determined by the running
order on the last green flag lap scored. This meant that White was
credited with second at the finish with Cobb recording his best ever 358
Modified finish in third. Bobby Puckett and Gary Griffin completed the
top five. Nick Barassi, Tom Rudalavage, Dom Roselli, Bill Barna, and
Bill Thornton Jr. made up the remainder of the top ten.
Defending track champion Ralph Mele picked up his first win of the
2001 campaign in Sportsman action. Mele defeated Alex Knopka, who
continued his string of top three finishes with a runner-up finish this
time out. Alex has finished either second or third in every feature to
date this season at Lake Moc-A-Tek. Rookie Darren Stout had his best
ever Sportsman finish with a third place run. Tom Laner Jr. and newcomer
Bobby Yeager completed the top five. Position six through ten went to
Bog Grammes, Kevin Kresge, LeRoy Long, Anthony Reggie, and Ronnie
Shaugger.
Greenfield Twp., Pa's Nick Petrilak came home the winner of a
crowd-pleasing Street Stock feature. The 15 year old high school student
had to work for his win as he had defending track champion Mike Loney all
over his back bumper for the majority of the event. Loney pressured
Petrilak all the way, but the youngster showed to poise of a veteran as
he hled Loney at bay all the way to earn the victory. Loney finished
second trailed by Bill Saxe, Bill Price Jr., and Bob Beatty. Jim Hughes
Jr., Kevin Simko, Jerry VanTassel, Jim Sykes, and Chuck Davis rounded out
the top ten.
Franklin' NJ's Tom Cilurso led every lap of the Pure Stock feature
to pick up his first win of the season. Eric Schmidt, Nate Evans, Jeff
Simko, and Todd Houghtaling completed the top five.
Richie Hartman won his second consecutive Micro Sprint feature
event. Hartman held off the challenges of Terry Schaffer to pick up the
win. Scott Tate claimed a solid third place finish in his first ever
Lake Moc-A-Tek appearance. Jerry Mack and Jason Frantz rounded out the
top five.
Racing continues this Saturday night at the Lake Moc-A-Tek Speedway.
Racing gets underway at 6PM sharp with a regular five division racing
card on tap. Promoter Charlie Bray can be contacted at 610-759-0809.
The race day weather hotline is (570)-226-5602.
LAKE MOC-A-TEK SPEEDWAY RACE SUMMARY
358 MODIFIEDS: 1. MIKE RICCI 2. Barry White 3. Brian Cobb 4. Bobby
Puckett 5. Gary Griffin 6. Nick Barassi 7. Tom Rudalavage 8. Dom Roselli
9. Bill Barna 10. Bill Thornton 11. Bill Grammes 12. Joey Grammes 13.
Brian Malcolm 14. Tom Oleski 15. Don Keefer 16. Alan Kellogg 17. Josh
Beierle 18. Ed Strada Jr. 19. Jim Allen 20. Troy Weisenfluh 21. Jason
Rudalavage 22. John Ferguson
SPORTSMAN: 1. RALPG MEME 2. Alex Knopka 3. Darren Stout 4. Tom Laner Jr.
5. Bobby Yager 6. Bob Grammes 7. Kevis Kresge 8. LeRoy Long 9. Anthony
Reggie 10. Ronnie Shauger 11. Tom Gervasi 12. Pete Gardner 13. Bob Reese
14. Art Bray 15. Steve Kyzer 16. Brad Grammes 17. Mike Marold 18. Jim
Kledorfer 19. Ted Stout 20. Chris Hamer
STREET STOCK: 1. NICK PETRILAK 2. Mike Loney 3. Bill Saxe 4. Bill Price
Jr. 5. Bob Beatty 6. Jim Hughes Jr. 7. Kevin Simko 8. Jerry Van Tassel 9.
Sim Sykes 10. Chuck Davis 11. Neil DiBlasi 12. Adam Jones 13. Ray
LaMonica 14. Bill Metschulat 15. Tom Herman 16. Brian Duffin 17. Joe
Krisovich 18. Ed Kudrako 19. David Luff 20. Rick Lazar
PURE STOCK: 1. TOM CILURSO 2. Eric Schmidt 3. Nate Evans 4. Kevin Simko
5. Todd Houghtaling 6. Keith Villano 7. Andy Belles 8. Ray LaMonica 9.
Michael Lartz 10. Ira Landrum 11. Jim Bargabus 12. Willie Landrum 13. Rom
Blake 14. Floyd Schmidt
MICRO SPRINTS: 1. RICHIE HARTMAN 2. Terry Schaffer 3. Scott Tate 4. Jerry
Mack 6. Jason Frantz 6. Davey Franek 7. Randy Schmoyer 8. Ralph Utter 9.
Alan Shiffler10. Scott Pense 11. Rich McKay 12. Todd Hanlin 13. John
Hagen 14. Joe Hogan 15. AJ Bast 16. Michelle Conway 17. Kayne Hillis 18.
Greg Stevens 19. Stephanie Stevens 20. Richard Drake 21. Fred Crist 22.
Kevin Nolf