Cozze Cruises To Bumpy Victory In New Egypt Opener

New Egypt, NJ (April 13) - It was a day late, and a solid week of soaking

rains came close to canceling the whole shebang, but Wind Gap, PA's Frank

Cozze was mighty glad the track and the racers persevered on Sunday

afternoon, as Cozze had the opportunity to ink in his fourth career Modified

win at New Egypt Speedway.

"They worked real hard to get the track in shape and everybody made the

decision to race. And I'm glad we did," said Cozze, after taking his victory

lap with the American flag waving proudly. "We couldn't disappoint the

fans."

With rains continuing through Saturday afternoon, the track crew worked

valiantly to bring the dirt surface to racing condition for the Sunday

raindate, but it was rough going. Drivers elected to race, but the decision

was made by track management to make all but the Rookie Sportsman race

non-point events, and cut the Modified feature by five laps.

Cozze had the upper hand in the Modified 25, cruising high, wide and

handsome to show second by lap 4 and steal the lead on lap 8. Both Billy

Pauch, in the Biever #114, and Keith Hoffman, back in the Bashore #5, tried

to challenge Cozze from the low side. Winging around the top of the track,

Cozze had the momentum and rode home well ahead of Pauch, Keith Hoffman,

Kenny Brightbill and Fred Dmuchowski for his first checker of the season.

Jim Scherer of Jamesburg, NJ, looked strong in the Sportsman 20-lapper,

putting a big bid by Tommy Beamer in check to score his first career

victory. Beamer, Gary Butler, Rich Scagliotta and Bill Tanner III followed

the stout Scherer to the stripe.

Former division champion Pat Conaway of Williamstown, NJ, passed Kenny Guyer

to win his first of the year in the Super Stock class. Second through fifth

were Jon Hewitt, Al Cheney III, Ron Coverly and Hilton Buckalew Jr., after

Guyer and Ralph Gargiulo tangled and retired on lap 12.

Frankie Herr of Harrisburg, PA, was the winner in the 15-lap SS Sprint

feature. Herr held off a persistent Steve Cannon for the victory, with

Cannon settling for runner-up. Ian Borden, Pat Freiberger and Rick Cozze

completed the top five.

Thirteen novice drivers took the wheel for the first time in the initial

race in the Mid-State Communications Rookie Sportsman series, with Scott

Merritt, Phillipsburg, NJ, taking the checker and the trophy. Early race

leader Herman Solderich finished second, with Fred Dmuchowski Jr. in third,

Mike Howardson fourth and Sean Carman fifth.

Just under 150 cars competed in the day's events.

Next week, it's the annual Bunny Hop at New Egypt Speedway, with big-block

Modifieds leading a bill of Sportsman, Super Stocks, SS Sprints and Rookies.

The Easter Bunny, himself, is also scheduled for a visit. Gates open at 2:30

p.m. with first green at 5 p.m. Adult admission is $15, children 7-12 are

$5, and kids 6 and under are free. For more information, call the speedway

office at (609) 758-1900.

4/13/03

MODIFIED RESULTS

Heat 1: 1.Tim Tanner Jr. 2.John Pakenham 3.Doug Hoffman 4.Ryan Godown

5.Donny Radd 6.G.R. Smith

Heat 2: 1.Billy Pauch 2.Mark Bitner 3.Keith Hoffman 4.Bob Drayton 5.Bucky

Kell 6.Jimmy Reppert

Heat 3: 1.Rick Grosso 2.Eddie Bohn 3.Sam Martz 4.Frank Cozze 5.Kenny

Brightbill 6.Gary Hager

B Main 1: 1.Fred Dmuchowski 2.Scott VanGorder 3.Stan Ploski III

B Main 2: 1.Ron John Koczon 2.Darren McCaughey 3.Doug Manmiller

Feature: 1.Frank Cozze 2.Billy Pauch 3.Keith Hoffman 4.Kenny Brightbill

5.Fred Dmuchowski 6.Scott VanGorder 7.Bob Drayton 8.Eddie Bohn 9.Donny Radd

10.Ron John Koczon 11.Mike Hendershot 12.Doug Manmiller 13.Stan Ploski III

14.Mark Bitner 15.Doug Hoffman 16.Ryan Godown 17.G.R. Smith 18.Sam Martz

19.Darren McCaughey 20.Jimmy Reppert 21.Gary Hager 22.Tim Tanner Jr. 23.John

Pakenham 24.Bucky Kell

DNQ: Tad Cox, Matt Papiez, Bob Worthington, Tom Hager, Korey Keimig, Ricky

Elliot, Wade Hendrickson, Art Liedl, John Dixon, Mike Hendershot, Joey

Tinnes Jr., John Miloszar, John Romano, Lee Taylor Jr., Fritz Epright, Mike

McAleer, Pete Telesco, Eddie Cranmer.

SPORTSMAN RESULTS

Rookie Feature: 1.Scott Merritt 2.Solderich 3.F.Dmuchowski Jr. 4.Howardson

5.Carman 6.Perley 7.Irber 8.J.Hoffman 9.B.Hendershot 10.R.Taylor 11.Beatty

12.Marini 13.Williams (DNS)

Heat 1: 1.Buffalino 2.M.Page 3.Beamer 4.Tramontana 5.Meisner

Heat 2: 1.Swain 2.Apgar 3.Stravinsky 4.R.Page 5.J.Papiez

Heat 3: 1.Scherer 2.Tanner IV 3.Tanner III 4.D.Kline 5.Plumstead

Heat 4: 1.Reutter 2.Brightbill 3.L.Kline 4.DeVos 5.Frankenfield

B Main 1: 1.Flesch 2.Scagliotta 3.Butler 4.Hisko

B Main 2: 1.Kuiken 2.Farina III 3.Spence 4.Bush

Feature: 1.Jim Scherer 2.Tommy Beamer 3.Gary Butler 4.Rich Scagliotta 5.Bill

Tanner III 6.Larry Kline 7.Chuck Flesch 8.Glenn Hisko 9.Joe Papiez 10.Scott

Merritt 11.Lou Farina III 12.Jimmy Spence 13.John Bush 14.Gene Stravinsky

15.Rich Kuiken 16.Donnie Kline 17.Bill Tanner IV 18.Mike Reutter Jr.

19.Dominick Buffalino 20.Brad Brightbill 21.Ken Meisner 22.Rich Page 23.Gene

DeVos 24.Jack Swain 25.Keith Plumstead 26.Mario Page 27.Anthony Tramontana

28.Stan Frankenfield Jr. 29.Tim Apgar

DNQ: Jeff Carpenter, Brian Pearson, Bryan Coffey, John McClelland, Dave Van

Dyke, Herman Solderich, Rich Taylor, Phil McCloughan, Jeff Harrison, Art

Liedl, Mike Howardson, Lee Perley, Justin Hoffman, John Marini Jr., Sean

Carman, Stan Frankenfield, Dave Gorbatuk, Freddy Dmuchowski Jr., Frank

Irber, Todd Kuhl, Jeff Geiges, Lou Farina III, Dave Wisniewski, Rob Morris,

Brian Godown, Lee Lawrence, Bob Hendershot, Rich Beatty, Pat Williams.

SUPER STOCK RESULTS

Heat 1: 1.Gerber 2.Guyer 3.Conaway 4.Coverly 5.Jm.Hewitt 6.Dorry

Heat 2: 1.Roveda 2.Gargiulo 3.Infante 4.Idell Jr. 5.Fleming 6.Cheney

Heat 3: 1.Quinlan 2.Jn.Hewitt 3.Marra 4.Ormsbee 5.Whitehouse 6.Kall

B Main: 1.Ensinger 2.Asay 3.Buckalew 4.Miscoski 5.Shipley 6. Boytis

Feature: 1.Pat Conaway 2.Jon Hewitt 3.Al Cheney III 4.Ron Coverly 5.Hilton

Buckalew 6.Don Shipley 7.Bill Miscoski 8.George Idell 9.Kenny Guyer 10.Ralph

Gargiulo 11.Carol Whitehouse 12.George Quinlan 13.Rob Ormsbee 14.Bill Gerber

15.Rocco Infante 16.Paul Marra Jr 17.Wayne Asay 18.Spider Ensinger 19.Matt

Kall 20.Frank Dorry 21.Kory Fleming 22.Jim Hewitt 23.Jake Roveda 24.Al

Boytis

DNQ: Pete Fogarty, Bill Liedtka, Jeff Saxton, Kevin Bifulco, Joe Garey, Norm

Saxton, Billy Bauer, Rich McTighe, Tom Lainhart, George Idell Sr., Jason

Newbon, Al Derlinger, Eric Hilbert

SS SPRINT RESULTS

Feature: 1.Frankie Herr 2.Steve Cannon 3.Ian Borden 4.Pat Freiberger 5.Rick

Cozze 6.Mike David 7.Phil Meisner Jr. 8.Tiger Martin 9.Dave Newman (DNS)