Double Checkers To Holmes At Fonda On Friday
Wozniak is Sportsman Winner
July 7, 2000, Fonda, NY- It took another Romano car, driven by Ronnie Holmes to break Mike Romano's stranglehold on the Fonda 358 Modified Tour. Up until Friday, Mike Romano had picked up the checker in every one of the special 358 Mod Tour events at Fonda this season. Ronnie Holmes of Oneida, NY survived an horrific wreck on lap two of the rained out 358 modified feature on Friday at Fonda Speedway and continued on to record his second win in a week. Holmes was a first time winner last Saturday.
In the second 358 Modified feature of the night, Ronnie Holmes made it three wins in a row for the week. Holmes' win also gave him a guaranteed spot for the 358 Modified event in Syracuse during Super DIRT Week in October.
Rich Wozniak of Amsterdam, NY was the winner in the Sportsman 20 lap event on Friday. Wozniak has one other win at the track.
With only two laps complete in the held over 358 Mod event, a huge wreck occurred on the frontstretch as the cars of John Kollar and Bob Vedder got together in turn four and Vedder got sideways. The rest of the field made every attempt to avoid the tangle but with nowhere to go they all piled up on the frontstretch. The incident caused a 20-car melee on the frontstretch with only eight cars actually making it through. As the dust cleared the No. 12 of Denny Young, Jr. sat atop the cars of Hanson, Dwyer and Fusco, squeezing the No. 87 of Hector Stratton against the outside frontstretch wall. No one was injured and all drivers involved walked away or were towed away in their cars. After a lengthy clean up many of the cars were able to continue.
Eventual winner, Ronnie Holmes took the lead on the restart and tried to pull away from Alton Palmer in the No. 07. Holmes and Palmer battled for the next 15 laps, when suddenly Bobby Varin drove past Palmer into second to challenge Holmes. Varin chased Holmes for the remainder of the event but was never close enough to make a move for the lead.
Dave Lape, Brett Hearn and Alton Palmer fought for positions three through five. The sixth spot was up for grabs between Bob Vedder and Mike Romano.
John Constantino led the field of Sportsman to the green in their 20-lap feature. By lap four Rich Wozniak had closed in on the bumper of the "Dancing Bear" and on lap five took over the lead.
Just prior to the halfway point of the event the "Dancing Bear" now running third, picked up a couple dancing partners in turn three and they all spun toward the entrance to the pits, bringing out the second yellow.
Wozniak led on the restart but by now the No. 32 of Holt was closing in. McAuliffe and Mike Ballestero followed Holt.
As the laps ticked off John McAuliffe moved into second. This set up a scorching battle for the win between McAuliffe and Wozniak. For the final five laps the two drivers exchanged the lead several times with Wozniak in the lead at the line on each lap.
McAuliffe powered under Wozniak on the white flag lap as Wozniak drifted high. Wozniak was able to recover and grab enough bite on the outside to overtake McAuliffe as they came to the line.
Sportsman heat winners were Rich Wozniak, Jeff Holt and Ray Zemken. Drew Fallis was the winner of the Sportsman consi.
As the regular 358 Modified event of the night took the green, David Towns was in the lead with Frank Hoard in second.
Towns led for the first 12 laps with Frank Hoard, Ronnie Holmes, Dave Lape, and Alton Palmer locked in a battle for the other top five spots. Towns hung on for second until lap 17 when he suddenly pulled into the pits.
With seven laps remaining, Brett Hearn who had started 13th was now second having made his way by Lape, Varin and Palmer after reaching the top five on a lap 12 restart. This set up the chase as Hearn began to put on the power trying to reel in Holmes who was 1/4 of a track ahead.
As Holmes came upon the lap traffic in lap 23, Hearn made his move and closed in. Holmes skillfully made his way around the lap cars and set out toward the checker. With only two laps to go, Mike Romano moved into sixth but ran out of time to challenge the front runners.
A final lap caution flag flew for Jerry Pennock who stopped against the turn one wall. This closed up the field for the final circuit. Holmes accelerated quickly on the restart and move out ahead of the No. 20 to take his third win in a week at Fonda.
358 Modified heat winners were David Towns, Bobby Varin, Mike Romano, and Dave Lape. The consi winner was Jeff Trombley.
358 Modified finish (rained out from June 22nd) (25 laps) 1. RONNIE HOLMES, 2) Bobby Varin, 3) Alton Palmer, 4) Brett Hearn, 5) Dave Lape, 6) Bob Vedder, 7) Mike Romano, 8) Bobby Albert, 9) Jeff Trombley, 10) John Marsh, 11) Paul Luskin, 12) John Marsh, 13) Frank Hoard, 14) Mike Ballestero, 15) Mike Fusco, 16) Brian Borst, 17) John Kollar, 18) Matt DeLorenzo, 19) Ken Hanson, 20) Todd Morey, 21) Paul Parker, 22) Denny Young, 23) Hector Stratton, 24) Tim Dwyer, 25) Seth Gano, 26) Brian Gathen, 27) Bob Savoie.
Sportsman finish (20 laps) 1. RICH WOZNIAK, 2) John McAuliffe, 3) Mike Ballestero, 4) Jim Davis, 5) Jeff Holt, 6) Drew Fallis, 7) Frank Hoard, Jr., 8) Ryan Odasz, 9) Johnny LeClair, 10) John Constantino, 11) Nick Nichols, 12) Tim Mayne, 13) Mike Ketchum, 14) Frank Greco, 15) Steve Akers, 16) Craig Boehler, 17) Joe Geniti, 18) Bob Hackel, 19) Jeremiah Munson, 20) Ray Zemken, 21) Robert Perry, 22) Tony Farone, 23) Mike Fraiser, 24) Joe Rando.
Regular 358 Modified finish (25 laps) 1. RONNIE HOLMES, 2) Brett Hearn, 3) Dave Lape, 4) Bobby Varin, 5) Tim Clemons, 6) Mike Romano, 7) Alton Palmer, 8) Frank Hoard, 9) Brian Borst, 10) Bobby Albert, 11) Jeff Trombley, 12) Harry Shaffer, 13) Hector Stratton, 14) Brian McKenzie, 15) Ken Hanson, 16) Paul Luskin, 17) John Alberti, 18) Mike Fusco, 19) Chuck Higley, 20) Matt DeLorenzo, 21) Rich Pennock, Jr. 22) Jerry Pennock, Jr., 23) Rick Davis, 24) Bob Vedder, 25) David Towns, 26) John Marsh, 27) Gary Gates, 28) Mike Ballestero.