CAMARA TAKES FIFTH WIN OF SEASON AND FIRST TITLE
August 22, 1998- Fonda, NY- Dave Camara of Poultney, Vt. pulled off the win and won his very first point title in the final feature of the night at the "Track of Champions." Camara was mobbed by well wishers, in victory lane, who had come to congratulate him. "These guys have put some good equipment under me all season, said Camara and I thank them for all their efforts." Gable Motorsports sponsored the "Night of Features" and the Gable Motorsports sponsored car driven by Tim Dwyer played the key roll in Camara's two point victory over Mike Romano for the 1998 Fonda Track Championship.
At the end of the evening four track champions stood in victory lane for champagne and celebration. Camara was the Modified Champion for the first time, Alton Palmer was Sportsman Champion for the fourth and Bryan Peters in Street Stock and Rob VanAernam in Hobby Stock took their very first titles.
The qualifying events were won by: Modified "B" feature - Ray Zemken of Charleston, NY. Sportsman "B" feature - Mike Fraiser of Northville, NY. The Street Stock "B" event was won by Frank Guiffre.
"Dash for Cash" events were held for the top five in points in the Modifieds, Sportsman and Street Stocks. The $500 Modified dash was won by Jack Johnson, driving the #7 of son Ronnie. The Sportsman dash winner, Brian Borst picked up $200 and the Street Stock dash winner, Bryan Peters took home and extra $100 for his effort.
The first Modified 20 lap main was won by A. J. Romano, the second modified main winner was Dave Camara. The Sportsman features were won by John McAuliffe and first time winner, Mike Ballestero. Street Stock main event winners were Dave Viall (first time winner) and Mark Sullivan. The Hobby "A" main was won by Dick Nichols and the Hobby "B" main winner was Corey LaPort, another first time winner.
The first modified feature came to the line with Frank Hoard, Sr. and Dave Lape on the front row. Before one lap was complete the caution came out for the #57 of Seth Gano when he spun in turn four. Hoard took the lead on the restart with Lape close behind. On the next lap A. J. Romano put his #16 behind Hoard and by lap three was able to motor around Hoard for the lead. Romano stretched out his lead and only lap traffic could slow him enough for his brother, Mike to move in. Mike never got close enough to challenge, A. J. and the younger Romano went on for the win followed by Mike Romano, Dave Camara, Randy Snyder and Jeff Trombley for the top five.
When the second modified feature came to the line and Ronnie "hot shoe" Holmes jumped into the lead ahead of his front row partner, Frank Hoard, Sr. Hoard was shuffled back to fifth as Jeff Trombley, Dave Camara, Tim Dwyer and Randy Snyder quickly moved to their respective positions behind Holmes. Point leader Mike Romano sat directly behind Hoard, but shot by him on the backstretch to claim the sixth spot. On lap two Trombley took the lead from Holmes, and the #26 of Camara soon followed for second. Camara and Trombley then pulled away from the field until lap eight when Mike Romano and Tim Dwyer began their battle that would ultimately decide who would be point champion for 1998. The only caution of the event came when Jack Johnson, driving the #7 of son Ronnie, blew the motor and dumped oil down the front stretch and into turn one, causing the #16 of A. J. Romano to spin, hit the wall and flip before the yellow was thrown. After the restart, the top three men in points were running one, two, three in the final laps and if the race ended that way, Mike Romano and Dave Camara would have shared the point title, due to a tie. Enter the #1A Gable Motorsports car of Tim Dwyer. Dwyer and Mike Romano had swapped the third place position for several laps and on the final circuit Dwyer got by Romano, giving the point lead to Camara by only two points.
The first sportsman feature saw the #30 of George Audi, Jr. jump to an early lead. Audi was pulling away to a commanding lead. Bob Vedder and Pete Campione battled for the second spot until lap six when Frank Hoard, Jr. made his way around Campione in turn one for third. Eventual winner, McAuliffe now sat behind Hoard. When the yellow flew on lap nine for the #27A of Steve Akers who spun in turn two, the restart brought the #76 of Alton Palmer into the top five. Audi held the lead on the restart and the yellow flew once again on lap eleven for Jim Senzio when he spun his #44 in turn two. Audi led once again on the restart but by the time he reached the backstretch, John McAuliffe had put his #23 on his bumper. McAuliffe pulled around Audi bringing the #76 of Alton Palmer with him. Palmer and McAuliffe battled for the final two circuits with McAuliffe winding up in victory land. McAuliffe went to the line in the lead followed by Palmer, Hoard, Borst and Fusco to round out the top five.
The second Sportsman feature of the night saw Mike Ballestero move out to an early lead. On lap two Brian Borst moved into second and George Audi slipped to third. Audi stayed in the third spot for the remainder of the event. A strong race was waged by John McAuliffe who had won the first 15 laps feature, Alton Palmer, Mike Fusco and Ron Constantino. Ballestero could not be caught by Borst and Audi held off Fusco and McAuliffe. Ron Constantino held onto his sixth place ahead of Alton Palmer who was not running seventh. As they came across the finish line, Ballestero was out in front, Borst was second, Audi third, Fusco Fourth and McAuliffe fifth.
The first Street Stock event of the night gave the Fonda record books another first time winner and the fans along pit road and real scare. On lap one a melee developed in turn three and four. Steve Burega put his #B26 to the outside of the cars who had stopped on the track and was hit by another car. Burega spun and hit the pit wall, knocking him unconscious. His car then bounced off the Fonda pace car that sat at the end of pit road. Still unconscious he then did a series of doughnuts and came to a stop in front of the ambulance that sat in front of the cow palace. He was extricated from his car and taken to the ambulance for observation. Burega was shaken but okay and the car was a real mess. As the race resumed Jeff Jones came to the line in the top spot on lap one. Jones continued to lead until lap eleven when Dave Viall powered by him on the backstretch. Viall stretched out his lead and as he came upon some lap cars was able to get around them and hide. Viall went on to take his first ever checker at the track.
Only one caution flew for the second street stock event and that was on the first lap when the #7-11 of Noel Osborne road the frontstretch wall and came to stop in turn one. Mark Sullivan led the first lap of the original restart. Jim Burton and Ken Gates were close behind Sullivan until lap five when Sullivan began to pull away. Burton and Gates continued to gain on the front running Sullivan with the #7N of Normoyle and the 121D of Brate getting into the mix on lap ten. The top five remain the same for the last five laps and Mark Sullivan went on to win his second street stock event of the 1998 season.
Rocky Warner led the Hobby "A" field to the green. Hondo Carpenter spun his #9 in turn one on the very first lap and all the competitors were able to avoid him. The yellow did not come out and Warner continued down the back stretch in the lead. Bill Martish quickly put his #55 around Warner in turn three. By lap five Dick Nichols grabbed the lead from Martish. Nichols continued on for the win and is now tied with last year's Hobby Stock Champion, Steve Burega with eight wins on the season.
In Hobby "B" action Corey LaPort put his name in the Fonda record books as a first time winner. LaPort led the field of 21 hobby stock cars from lap two until the checker. LaPort was challenged by Alan Pabis and former Enduro racer, Dennis Joslin. As the field made the final lap, Joslin put his #94 along side LaPort on the back stretch but was unable to overpower the strong running LaPort. The top five came across the line as LaPort, Irvan, Joslin, Olsen and Alan Pabis.
Finish Modified #1 (20 laps) A.J. ROMANO, Mike Romano, Dave Camara, Randy Snyder, Jeff Trombley, Tim Dwyer, Ronnie Holmes, Frank Hoard, Sr., Jack Johnson, Jack Cottrell, Ray Zemken, Dave Lape, Billy Gray, Lou Lazzaro, John Kollar, Ronnie Johnson, Bobby Albert, Ken Hanson, Fred Bagley, John Gibson, Rick Achzet, David Towns, Jerry Pennock, Jr., Seth Gano.
Finsih Modified #2 (20 laps) DAVE CAMARA, Jeff Trombley, Tim Dwyer, Mike Romano, Ronnie Holmes, Randy Snyder, Billy Gray, Ray Zemken, Jack Cottrell, Lou Lazzaro, Bobby Albert, Ronnie Johnson, Ken Hanson, Frank Hoard, Sr., Fred Bagley, David Towns, John Gibson, Rick Achzet, Seth Gano, Jerry Pennock, Jr., A. J. Romano, Jack Johnson, Dave Lape, John Kollar.
Finish Sportsman #1 (15 laps) JOHN MCAULIFFE, Alton Palmer, Frank Hoard, Jr., Brian Borst, Mike Fusco, George Audi, Jr., Mike Ballestero, Mike Fraiser, Drew Fallis, Ron Constantino, Tony Farone, Dave Rosa, Brian Gathan, Jack Miller, Jim Senzio, Nick Nichols, Pete Campione, Mark Dillenbeck, Bob Vedder, John Constantino, Steve Akers, Jason Otty.
Finish Sportsman #2 (15 laps) MIKE BALLESTERO, Brian Borst, George Audi, Jr., Mike Fusco, John McAuliffe, Ron Constantino, Alton Palmer, Mike Fraiser, Frank Hoard, Jr., Drew Fallis, Dave Rosa, Tony Farone, Jim Senzio, Brian Gathan, Jack Miller, Steve Akers, Bob Vedder, Pete Campione, Nick Nichols, Mark Dillenbeck, Jason Otty.
Finish Street Stock #1 (15 laps) DAVE VIALL, Jeff Brate, Jim Burton, Jim Langenback, Ken Gates, Mark Sullivan, Jim Normoyle, Bryan Peters, Jeff Jones, Steve Welch, Noel Osborne, Geoff Manning, Jay Resch, Tom LaPlante, Kerry Jordan, Wayne Patrick, Corey Dutcher, Phlan Hart, Chuck McSpirit, Ram Kowalczyk, Steve Burega, Frank Guiffre, Kyle Wadsworth.
Finish Street Stock #2 (15 laps) MARK SULLIVAN, Jim Burton, Steve Welch, Ken Gates, Jim Normoyle, Jeff Brate, Bryan Peters, Dave Viall, Jeff Jones, Jay Resch, Geoff Manning, Nick Stone, Corey Dutcher, Tom LaPlante, Jim Langenback, Phlan Hart, Rob Noviczski, Chuck McSpirit, Kerry Jordan, Wayne Patrick, Noel Osborne, Frank Guiffre.
Finish Hobby "A" (10 laps) DICK NICHOLS, Dan Clow, Bill Martish, Bob VanAernam, Chris White, Jay Ingersoll, Skip Pabis, Wayne Gaige, Steve Richardson, Rob VanAernam, Ken Hollenbeck, Joe Sweet, Mike Budka, Jr., Don Warner, John Bradt, Hondo Carpenter.
Finish Hobby "B" (10 laps) COREY LAPORT, Ron Irvan, Dennis Joslin, Jim Olsen, Alan Pabis, Jim Colson, Steve Cosselman, Dave Hewitt, Joe Proctor, Harry Flansburg, Matt Sweet, Don Savage, Paul Chichester, John Bradt, Lester Moore, Brian Houghtaling, Todd Austin.