Tim Clemons Wins Thursday 358 Mod Event At Fonda
John McAuliffe Scores Win in Sportsman Feature and Laurie Fallis Wins Powder Puff
August 17, 2000- Fonda, NY- Tim Clemons of Gloversville, NY took the Jake Spraker No. 1 to victory lane for the first time of the season in the final points show for the special Fonda 358 Mod Tour at Fonda on Thursday night.
In the post race ceremonies, Clemons thanked his car owners and sponsors Jake and Nancy Spraker for sticking with him all season during the ups and downs.
Referring to the lap 21 red flag for the Matt DeLorenzo flip, Clemons said, "When I looked up and saw that No. 97, I said, this don t look good."
The points ended for the special Fonda 358-Mod Series with Thursday's race and Mike Romano was declared the 2000 Fonda Speedway 358-Mod Champion. He led the series in wins with three. Following Romano in the points were Ronnie Holmes, Tim Clemons, Bobby Albert and Alton Palmer.
Other winners on the Wm. Larned & Sons, Inc. mid-week sponsored show were John McAuliffe in the Sportsman event and Laurie Fallis in the Powder Puff event.
This Saturday night will be the final night of points. BBL will sponsor the annual Night of Features for Modifieds, Sportsman and Pro Stocks. The IMCA Mods and Street Stocks will run their regular program. Racing starts at 6:00 p.m.
Don't forget "The Shoe" Kenny Shoemaker will also be on hand this Saturday to meet the fans and sign his brand new book, They Called Me "The Shoe."
The No. 99 of David Townes sat on the point for the 25-lap 358-Mod feature. Townes quickly pulled away from second place runner, Harry Shaffer. For the first half of the event Townes and Shaffer continued to pull away from the rest of the field.
Paul Luskin was running third until lap eleven when Tim Clemons got by and brought Tim Dwyer with him.
Townes continued his dominance and by the halfway point caught the lap traffic. As the laps ticked off he continued to pull away from the field.
The first caution flew on lap 19 for debris on the frontstretch. Townes held the lead on the restart. By now second place, Harry Shaffer was nursing a smoking race car but was still holding onto to second. On lap 21 eventual winner, Clemons charged by Shaffer for second just before the red came out when Matt DeLorenzo flipped his BBL No. 3d in turn one.
On the restart Shaffer made a move for the lead around Townes and Tim Clemons made his move around Shaffer high in turn three. Clemons came away with the lead and Shaffer was shifted to fifth when Mike Romano made his move to second followed by Ronnie Holmes.
The finish at the checker saw Clemons first, Mike Romano second and a very close call gave David Townes third, followed by Ron Holmes, fourth and Harry Shaffer hung on for fifth.
The Sportsman 20 lap event ended in a barn burner of a finish when John McAuliffe overpowered leader Tony Farone on the backstretch on the final lap. McAuliffe had tried to get around Farone on previous laps but Farone who had taken the lead on lap seven, was always able to pull away. Farone tried to retake the lead by going outside of McAuliffe in turn three. The two touched and Farone drifted high outside losing two spots.
Three cautions slowed the event. The first on came for Ryan Odasz when he hit the pit road wall in turn three. The hit brought the ambulance crew to the scene for an evaluation. Two other cautions flew when both Craig Boehler and Steve Akers slammed the frontstretch wall on two separate occations. The hits did severe front-end damage to both cars.
Boehler and SanSoucie were the early leaders of the event.
Only three competitors came out for the mid-week powder puff event and once again Laurie Fallis ran away with the event in her Freeda, No. 1. While Laurie was running away with the event Gabriella in another No. 1 and Kelly in Rocky Warner's No. 79B were putting on the show. The two savvy racers came to the line side by side in the very close powder puff event.
358 Modified finish (25 laps) 1. TIM CLEMONS, 2) Mike Romano, 3) David Townes, 4) Ronnie Holmes, 5) Harry Shaffer, 6) Tim Dwyer, 7) Bobby Albert, 8) Ken Hanson, 9) Jerry Pennock, Jr., 10) Frank Hoard, 11) Brian Borst, 12) Paul Luskin, 13) Seth Gano, 14) Brian Gathen, 15) Bob Vedder, 16) Alton Palmer, 17) Jason Becker, 18) Kenny Martin, 19) John Marsh, 20) Mike Dillenbeck, 21) Todd Morey, 22) Matt DeLorenzo, 23) Ancel Collins, 24) Eddie SanSoucie.
Modified heat winners were Mike Romano, Ken Hanson and Alton Palmer. The consi win went to Brian Borst.
Sportsman finish (20 laps) 1.JOHN MCAULIFFE, 2) Drew Fallis, 3) Tony Farone, 4) Eddie SanSoucie, 5) Mike Fraiser, 6) Jim Davis, 7) Frank Hoard, Jr., 8) Johnny LeClair, 9) Jeff Holt, 10) Jeremiah Munson, 11) Robert Perry, 12) Jim Burton, 13) Joe Geniti, 14) Tim Mayne, 15) John Constantino, 16) Jessica Zemken, 17) Peter Lyon, 18) Craig Boehler, 19) Mike Ketchum, 20) Rich Wozniak, 21) Steve Akers, 22) Ryan Odasz.
DQ'd Mike Ballestero (weight) and Ray Zemken (illegal carb.)
Sportsman heat winner were John McAuliffe, Drew Fallis, Jeremiah Munson. The consi win went to Mike Fraiser.