VARIN WINS ROC TOUR EVENT AT FONDA
The Race of Champions (RoC) Dirt Tour made their second stop of the 2005 season to the Fonda Speedway Wednesday night with the results being the same as they were back in April when the first race was held. Bobby Varin was in victory lane again for the fifth time this season and the 24th time in his career at the Track of Champions.
“Andrew Harpell does a fantastic job with this RoC tour and my hat is off to him,” Varin said in victory lane. “2005 has been a blast so far and my car owners Nancy and Jake Spraker have made it all possible.”
Varin is now three for three in the northern region RoC events held so far in 2005 as he has now won both races at Fonda along with the one held at Utica Rome in May.
The street stock division was also on the racing card with Dave Horning Jr. the winner of the 15-lap feature event. The racing program was sponsored by Morris Ford/Mercury and Coors Light and was completed by 9:30 p.m.
By the luck of the draw Bob McCreadie and Varin started the 50-lap event on the front row with Varin taking the lead at the drop of the green flag. Fonda Speedway regular Jack Johnson took over the second spot from McCreadie on lap two after starting fourth and for awhile it looked as though he might have something for Varin. With the entire race going flag to flag without any cautions it would be a difficult task however.
On lap three Varin was already out to a straightaway lead and was running the car so hard on the outside that he almost hit the frontstretch wall coming out of turn four on many occasions. The only time that he strayed from the high line was in lap traffic as he would get by the lap cars and move right back to the top. Mitch Gibbs started the event in the eighth spot and moved into the third spot on lap 20 after a side by side battle with McCreadie.
At the halfway point in the event Varin was a straightaway ahead of the rest of the field with Johnson, Gibbs, McCreadie, and Ronnie Johnson in the top five. Gibbs made his way around Jack Johnson for the second spot on lap 29 but with no cautions to slow the field he would never mount a challenge on the leader. The race back further in the field started to heat up at the halfway point as Dave Lape and Ryan Odasz who started the event side by side in the 11th row made their way to the front.
Odasz and Lape both got by McCreadie for the fourth and fifth positions on lap 33 as Varin was out to a half track lead at that point. Jack Johnson battled back to get to the rear bumper of Gibbs with just seven laps to go with Odasz and Lape now in the thick of the battle. Lape got by Odasz for the fourth spot on lap 45 and two laps later got by Jack Johnson for the third spot. With Gibbs close ahead the battle to the finish was one to remember as Lape tried every trick in the book to take over the second position.
Lape’s best shot came with two laps to go as he momentarily got by Gibbs for the second spot before Gibbs fought back to regain the position. Lape tried one more time on the outside of Gibbs on the final lap but lost some momentum out there as his car was working better on the low side of the speedway.
Varin went on to the $4,000 win followed by Gibbs, Lape, Odasz, Jack Johnson, Ronnie Johnson, A.J. Romano who was in his Albany Saratoga small block car, Jerry Higbie who was in Dave Camara’s No. 26 PMC car, Matt DeLorenzo, and McCreadie. Romano collected a $500 bonus for being the first small block car across the finish line. With no cautions during the feature event the race was completed in 18 minutes 8 seconds.
“After warm-ups I made a call to Randy Williamson of Bicknell Racing Products and said that I didn’t have a car good enough to win the feature event,” Varin said. “He told us what to do to the car, we made the changes to it, and here we are in victory lane.”
Gibbs was happy to finish where he did after losing the power steering with 10 laps to go in the feature. “I probably would have lost more spots if there were too many more laps to go but fortunately there wasn’t,” he said. “It was difficult to keep the car down low with no power steering but thanks to my crew chief Alan Barker who had a great setup in the car I was able to hold on.”
After what has been a very frustrating season so far for Lape he was happy with his third place finish. “My car came on pretty good at the end as it was running very well on the bottom of the speedway,” he said. “I have to thank Andy and Mike Romano for all of their hard work on the car as it has been going a lot better lately.”
The 15-lap street stock feature began with Pete Broderson the early leader until lap five when Dave Horning Jr. took over the lead after starting on the pole but falling back in the early laps. Dan Hartgraves started the event in the sixth spot and was in the second position by lap two after getting by Don Warner. Hartgraves pressured Horning for most of the event from that point on and took the lead lap 14 after a side by side battle for the spot.
Horning wasn’t going to be denied the victory however as took the lead back on the final lap with no less than seven cars running nose to nose to the finish. Horning’s win was his second feature win of 2005 and 44th of his street stock career at Fonda. “This win is for my former boss and good friend Hondo Carpenter,” Horning said in victory lane. John Bradt, Hartgraves, Dwight Oldorf, and Rocky Warner completed the top five.
Fonda is back in action on Saturday, July 30 with a regular show in all divisions starting at 6:00 p.m.
MODIFIED QUALIFYING – 33 total cars – 5 qualify – 3 redraw
HEAT 1 – Bob McCreadie, Ryan Odasz, Jack Johnson, Mike Fusco, Jerry Pennock Jr.
HEAT 2 – Craig Hanson, Jim Davis, Jason Barney, Brian Weaver, Tony Pepicelli
HEAT 3 – Jerry Higbie, Mitch Gibbs, Ronnie Johnson, Alton Palmer, Matt DeLorenzo
HEAT 4 – Dave Lape, Bobby Varin, A.J. Romano, Steve Akers, Todd Morey
MODIFIED CONSOLATIONS – 2 qualify
CONSI 1 – Ted Lamb, Elmo Reckner
CONSI 2 – Bobby Vedder, Ryan Bartlett
MORRIS FORD & MERCURY/COORS LIGHT MODIFIED FEATURE – 50-LAPS – BOBBY VARIN, Mitch Gibbs, Dave Lape, Ryan Odasz, Jack Johnson, Ronnie Johnson, A.J. Romano, Jerry Higbie, Matt DeLorenzo, Bob McCreadie, Jim Davis, Craig Hanson, Tony Pepicelli, Mike Fusco, Brian Weaver, Alton Palmer, Jason Barney, Jerry Pennock Jr., Steve Akers, Elmo Reckner, Ted Lamb, Bobby Vedder, Todd Morey, Ray Zemken, Ryan Bartlett, J.R. Crouse
STREET STOCK QUALIFYING – 21 total cars – 5 qualify
HEAT 1 – Ivan Joslin, Don Warner, Dave Horning Jr., Jack Hamm, Dan Clemens
HEAT 2 – Dan Hartgraves, Pete Broderson, Phil Pearson, John Bradt, Rocky Warner
MORRIS FORD & MERCURY/COORS LIGHT STREET STOCK FEATURE – 15-LAPS – DAVE HORNING JR., John Bradt, Dan Hartgraves, Dwight Oldorf, Rocky Warner, Don Warner, Jeff Crosier, Phil Pearson, Ivan Joslin, Cassidy Wilson, Dave Horning Sr., D.T. Pickard, Sam Surnear, Dan Clemens, Howard Smith, Jack Hamm, Pete Broderson, John Babcock, Joe Smith
by Fonda Speedway