Rich Johnson and Robin Vollmoeller each
picked up victories Monday in the third ABC Car Crushing, NEETS Holiday
Stock Car Series (NEETS HSCS) points race of the season, the Busy Bee
Pest Control ‘Freedom 100’ and ‘Victory 100’.
Unlike what seems to be the normal for
the NEETS series, the sun was shining as a total of 128 cars and trucks
were set to take the green flag for the Valley Service four cylinder and
the Cottman Transmission 6/8 cylinder feature events. However, by the
end of the second feature, Mother Nature dumped moisture on the
speedway, just like ‘old times’.
John Saccomandi started from the pole
in the 100-lap Valley Service four cylinder spectacular. On the drop of
the green, Dorrance, PA’s Ollie Stewart hopped out front, bringing a
slew of cars with him, past Saccomandi.
The red flag was displayed on lap
thirty, when Sam Schlosberg’s #70s caught fire on the front stretch.
Scholsberg was unable to continue.
Berwick, PA’s Dale Garrison worked his
way into the second spot and set his sights on Stewart. Unfortunately
Garrison’s day ended when he slammed the turn three wall, making very
hard contact. The Butler Township ambulance crew quickly approached the
accident scene when the red flag waved. Although he was shaken up,
Garrison was unhurt.
When the action resumed, Stewart looked
unstoppable. That was until lap seventy-three, when current point
leader, Robin Vollmoeller, caught, and made the pass on Stewart for the
lead.
When the checkers flew, it was
Vollmoeller, taking his second straight Valley Service four cylinder win
in the NEETS HSCS, over Ollie ‘Jabber Jaws’ Stewart, Mark Hammer, Bobby
‘Peaseman’ Pease and ‘Bumpin Bob Haeger.
In victory lane, Robin credited his
success to his family, especially his son, who gave him the car that he
drove to victory.
At intermission, fans enjoyed the NEETS
‘Busy Bee’ mascot, who gave away tee shirts, frisbees and lollipops.
Carl Heater jumped out to the early
lead in the Cottman Transmission 6/8 cylinder main event, but was passed
by Ed ‘Speedo’ Jager for the top spot before one lap was scored. The
lead swapped again, on the following lap when Hazleton, PA’s Shawn
Gallucci made the pass stick on Jager.
The red flag was displayed on lap
eleven, when the #61L, driven by Evan Zlock, caught fire near turn one.
Zlock was not injured, but did retire from the event.
Racin’ Rich Johnson was gaining on
Gallucci, and knew that it would only be a matter of time before he
would shoot to the front. As the two dueled for many circuits, Johnson
finally made his move on lap twenty-three, dropping Gallucci to second.
Gallucci held the second position for
many laps. Meanwhile, ’04 NEETS champion, Joe ‘Millionaire’ Jentile
move his way into third. At this point, Jentile was at least a half of
lap behind Gallucci.
Unfortunately for Gallucci, he had car
problem on lap fifty-six, and took his machine to the pits, ending his
day. Jentile now inherited the second spot, but was a very distant
second to Johnson.
The red flag was not displayed again
until lap sixty-three, when Phil Lomonaco, Aaron Miller and Ryan Klingel
all collected each other in turn three. Lomonaco was not able to
continue, dashing his hopes for victory.
By lap sixty-eight, clouds began to
cover the speedway, but since NEETS enduros are run rain or shine, the
race continued. Rain began pouring on the asphalt, therefore greatly
reducing the speeds of the cars.
Johnson, who admitted that he does not care to race
in the rain, beat Jentile by nearly a lap, and by doing so, picked up
his first NEETS HSCS victory of ’05. Jeff Walls, Brian Moses and Tim
Pauch, brother of dirt legend, Billy Pauch, rounded out the top five.
During his victory lane interview,
Johnson thanked his crew, family and friends. Rich also noted that he
recently picked up a sponsor, Clean Burn Waste Oil Heaters, who he
dedicated the win to. “It’s great to have a sponsor as great as Clean
Burn”, noted Johnson.
Richard ‘Uncle’ Petey and Harry Sager
both won ‘best appearing’ awards for the sleek appearing automobiles.
Being this event was held on Memorial
Day, NEETS set aside $1 from each general admission for a veteran’s
memorial plaque, which will be displayed at Mountain Speedway.
The next ABC Car Crushing, NEETS
Holiday Stock Cars Series event at Mountain Speedway is scheduled for
July 3rd. The ‘Firecracker Smacker on the Fourth of Junkly’
will feature two 104-lap features for the Valley Service four cylinders
and Cottman Transmission 6/8 cylinders. A four-cylinder demolition
derby is also scheduled for intermission. At this event, $1 from each
general admission will be donated to the local chapter of the Cystic
Fibrosis Foundation.
For more information about the series
and its events, please visit
www.neetstour.net
Finishing Order:
Valley Service 4 Cyl.
Pos No. Name
1 2x Robin
Vollmoeller
2 57s Ollie Stewart
3 1974 Mark Hammer
4 97 Bobby Pease
5 21 Bob Haeger
6 39 Rob Pyle
7 34 Woot Lawrence
8 61S Harry Sager
9 62 Luke Colleran
10 88 Bill Verwys Sr
11 1002 David Holinbaugh
12 4 Harry Oneal
13 73 David Bentley
Jr
14 70D Denise Garrison
15 10X Shane
Snyder
16 81 Kenny Wallace
17 78 Robert Fink
18 800 Scott
Garrison
19 48 Bill Price Jr
20 M Maurice Ott
21 17 Art Kulik
22 22R Lloyd Riegel
23 477 Mike Racho
24 7 Mrs Busy Bee
25 br54 Jerry Reggie
26 91 Jamie White
27 5R11 TJ Stevens
28 106 Jennifer
White
29 43A Andy
Pluegfelder
30 2000 Sig Albarron
31 18 Pat Verwys
32 81 Billy Connolly
33 615 Mike Wilcox
34 666 Duane
Garrison
35 7C Dan Caciolo
36 32 Alex Fletcher
37 58R Andy Stout
38 2 Shawn Wanat
39 56 Brian Moses
40 20X Ken Cornell
41 22 Terry Johnson
42 70 Dale Garrison
43 143 Mike Venturn
44 30 Joe Grocholski
45 308 Ken Harper
46 72 Mark Paine
47 472 Steve
Elliston
48 18J Gary Reed Jr
49 84 Charlie
Feigles
50 210 Matt Keahey
51 17 Shawn Burd
52 69v Clyde Van
Horn
53 131 Ryan Nelson
54 0 Kyle Curtis
55 70S Sam
Schlosberg
56 118 Mark
Neberdosky
57 519 Ron Pierson
58 999 Lee
Schantzenbach
59 J61 Jon Haegele
60 13 Steve Elicati
61 7A Nicholas Adams
62 4 Ryan Hill
63 57BR Harry Dennis
64 8 Eric Haeger
65 27 John
Saccomandi
66 777a Jason
Shaffer
67 7 Kevin Higgins
68 64 Jeff Dauberman
(DQ)
69 51C Scott
Dunn(DQ)
Cottman Transmission 6/8
Cyl.
Pos No. Name
1 1 Rich Johnson
2 41 Joe Jentile
3 31x Jeff Walls
4 97 Brian Moses
5 5 Tim Pauch
6 15 Glenn Osborn
7 72H Carl Heater
8 10 Tom Slee
9 75 Howie Bott
10 124 Mark Spencer
11 F-1 Frank Katona
12 79X Richie Knell
13 76 James Presley
14 2 Pappy Herman
15 177 Shawn Burd
16 4 Chris Lamura
17 60 Ron Dirkes
18 669 Ryan Klingel
19 169 Mark Forman
20 69 Ed "Speedo"
Jager
21 266 Bob Kulik
22 20K Kory Stevens
23 17R Ray Rothfuss
24 1X Cory Student
25 28 Dean Wollford
26 26 Joe Kmetz
27 13B Brock Miller
28 13A Charles
Bossert
29 81 David Moore
30 17m Jeff Modoll
31 14 Phil Lomonaco
32 830 Kevin
Makarewicz
33 23G Shawn
Gallucci
34 78 Aaron Miller
35 81 Keith Boehm
36 34 Jimmy White
37 9LI Jim White
38 3C Mike Chambers
39 51 Eric Nobel
40 9 Bob Barker
41 96 Anthony Jager
42 3 Richard Deck
43 24 Gary Bauer
44 711 Dan Klein
45 410 Steve Tito
46 43 Richard Petey
47 78P Frank
Petroski
48 302 Joey Helberg
49 13X Nick Shaw
50 101 Tim Ripley
51 11X Robert Benz
52 8LI Laura White
53 7 Mike Rudolph
54 417 Bob Wink
55 61L Evan Zlock
56 MC17 Matt
Chambers
57 777A Bill Miller
58 13 John Plitsas
59 47 Joe
Intermaggio
