VARIN WINS HISTORICAL RACE AT FONDA
The Fonda Speedway has built up a lot of history in over fifty years of operation. A new chapter was added to the history books on Saturday afternoon when Bobby Varin drove the Jake Spraker owned #1J to the win in the opening event of the new Race of Champions (RoC) Dirt Modified Tour. McDonald’s has been a long time sponsor at the Track of Champions and they were the sponsors of the 50-lap event which paid $4,000 to win.
“Jake has put together a great race team with a new race car, new engine, and today we were even on the new American Racer tires,” Varin said in victory lane. “The crew spends a lot of time in the shop and I want to thank all of them for all of their hard work.”
The car that took Varin to the victory at Fonda was a 2005 Bicknell car that was new for Syracuse last year. Alan Johnson drove the car for Spraker at Super DIRT Week as Varin had a ride in another car for the Eckerd 200. The only thing different with the car from when they ran it at Syracuse was that there was a different motor in the car.
Gus Schmidt and Ryan Odasz brought the field down to the green flag with Schmidt taking the early lead. An early caution flag on lap two slowed the field with Varin going from fifth to third on the restart after starting sixth.
Mitch Gibbs dropped back at the start of the event but as soon as he moved up to the outside groove his car came to life. Gibbs fell back out of the top five at the start but got by both Varin and Odasz for the second spot on lap five. One lap later he blasted by Schmidt for the lead on the outside of turn three.
As Gibbs built up his advantage to a full straightaway by lap seven, Varin was making his way to the front getting by both Odasz and Schmidt for the second spot. While Varin chased Gibbs through lap traffic he began closing the big gap that Gibbs had built up.
Alan Johnson started the event in the sixteenth position but made his presence known by lap twenty-two when he moved by Schmidt into the fourth spot. Two consecutive yellow flags slowed the field on laps twenty-three and twenty-four allowing Varin to close in on the leader.
On the restart, Varin was the new leader of the event with Ronnie Johnson now second after also getting by Gibbs. Alan Johnson moved into the second position on lap twenty-five as he got by both Gibbs and Ronnie Johnson. Ronnie Johnson and Tony Pepicelli were both running great races in their own right as they were in the top five at the halfway point in the event.
With fifteen laps to go, Varin continued to hold a comfortable lead as he was able to get through lap traffic better than Alan Johnson. One more driver came into play in this event towards the end as Jerry Higbie was running in the top five with less than ten laps remaining. But Higbie wasn’t done yet.
When Pepicelli got by both Ronnie Johnson and Gibbs for the third spot, Higbie followed him through for the fourth spot. With four laps remaining, Higbie got by Pepicelli for the third spot as Varin went on to the win by a comfortable margin over Alan Johnson, Higbie, Pepicelli, and Gibbs. Alan Johnson won a $500 bonus for being the first small block across the finish line.
Former Fonda Speedway Track Champion Dave Camara ended up twelfth and will be back at Fonda as a regular in 2005. A full field of Modifieds forced six heat races and three consolation events to be run.
“Jake has had a lot of really good drivers in his cars in the past and it is tough for me to live up to all of the success that other drivers have brought him,” Varin said.
“I think that it would have been a little better race if not for the lap cars,” Alan Johnson said after finishing second. “But Varin knows his way around this track and how to get by lap cars here at Fonda.”
“This was a great run for us,” Higbie said after finishing third. “This is actually our Middletown (Orange County) car after we broke something in the motor in our other car during warm-ups.”
Next week at Fonda the regular points season starts in the Modified, Sportsman, Pro Stock, and Street Stock divisions with a racing program starting at 1:00 p.m. The IMCA division begins their regular season on April, 23.
MODIFIED QUALIFYING – 58 total cars – 3 qualify – 2 redraw
HEAT 1 – Erik Nelson, Billy Osta, Randy Snyder
HEAT 2 – Mitch Gibbs, Alton Palmer, A.J. Romano
HEAT 3 – Bobby Varin, Jamie Christian, Elmo Reckner
HEAT 4 – Ronnie Johnson, Willy Decker, Alan Johnson
HEAT 5 – Gus Schmidt, David VanHorn, Dave Camara
HEAT 6 – Ryan Odasz, John Marsh, Ken Hanson
MODIFIED QUALIFICATIONS – 2 qualify
CONSI 1 – Tony Pepicelli, Jerry Higbie
CONSI 2 – Ray Zemken, Jack Johnson
CONSI 3 – Bobby Vedder, Jeff Trombley
MCDONALD’S/ROC TOUR MODIFIED FEATURE – 50-laps – BOBBY VARIN, Alan Johnson, Jerry Higbie, Tony Pepicelli, Mitch Gibbs, Brian Weaver, Ronnie Johnson, Willy Decker, Jeff Trombley, Alton Palmer, Gus Schmidt, Dave Camara, Elmo Reckner, Erik Nelson, John Marsh, Ryan Bartlett, Ray Zemken, Jamie Christian, Bob Vedder, Billy Osta, J.R. Crouse, Ryan Odasz, Jack Johnson, Randy Snyder, A.J. Romano, Ken Hanson, Dave Lape, David VanHorn