St. Johns, PA -
High temperatures and
sunny skies set the
stage for the running of
the ABC Car Crushing
NEETS Holiday Stock Car
Series ‘Racin Rich
Johnson Memorial Monday
at Mountain Speedway.
Johnson’s long time
friend and former
teammate, Ray
Fitzgerald, took the
hard fought win over Tim
Pauch in the Cascioli
Roofing 6/8 cylinder
division, while Ollie
Stewart grabbed the
Steel Seal 4 cylinder
win over Joe Sherman.
Bobby “Peaseman” Pease
took the 49-lap Custom
Classic TRUX victory
over Rob McCormick and
dedicated the win to
Johnson’s family.
First on the card was
the 6/8 cylinder
division. Cindy Johnson
was in attendance with
Rich Johnson’s former
Riverhead enduro car,
which she paced the
field with from the pole
position in memory of
her late husband. The
fans all showed the #1
signal, in memory of
‘Racin Rich Johnson as
Cindy came down the
front stretch before
pulling off the
speedway.
“Slippery” Tom Slee led
a field of sixty-four
Cascioli Roofing 6/8
cylinder to the drop of
the green flag, but was
immediately overtaken by
Richard Petey. Terry
Nansteel worked through
the traffic up front and
passed Petey for the top
spot with five laps in
the books. However,
Petey regained command
after a red flag was
thrown for April
Makarewicz and Phil
Lomanco when they
collected on the front
stretch.
Only a few laps after
green flag racing
resumed, Ray Fitzgerald
caught and passed
Petey. The two fought
side-by-side for a
number of laps, which
allowed Ray Rothfuss and
Dave Cascioli to close
in. Rothfuss took
command of the event on
lap twenty-seven, but
hit the pits with
problems only nine
circuits later.
Petey and Fitzgerald
swapped the lead on six
separate occasions over
the remaining laps, but
problems for Petey
forced him to the
infield for a couple of
circuits. Over the laps
remaining, it was
Fitzgerald out front,
but a hard charging Tim
Pauch closed in fast.
When the white flag
flew, the two were nose
to tail. Pauch
attempted a low side
pass out of turn four to
the checkers, but was
beaten by a tenth of a
second, as Fitzgerald
picked up his fourth
NEETS win in his last
four starts. Bobby
Pease, Howie Bott and
Dave Cascioli rounded
out the top five.
The NEETS Custom Classic
TRUX was up next with
their 49-lap event. Jim
Rotalano started on the
pole and led the first
fifteen circuits, but it
didn’t take Harry Sager
long to reel in the
leader and take the top
spot. In the meantime,
Bobby Pease and Rob
McCormick dueled
side-by-side for second.
Pease disposed of
McCormick and set his
sights on Sager. With
twenty-four laps in,
Pease took control of
the race and never
looked back as he took
the win over McCormick,
John Cozza, Sager and
Frank Katona. “It was a
great day for me here
today”, noted Pease.
“My buddy Rich (Johnson)
is here with all of us
in spirit. This is for
his family, in honor of
him”.
The Steel Seal four
cylinders were last to
run, with a 99-lap
enduro. Kenny Ferrer
led the eighty-two-car
field to the drop of the
green, but Bob Haeger
immediately shot out
front. Without even a
lap completed, the red
flag flew when Gwen
Sakowski and Bobby Coco
collected off of turn
four. Scott Ball then
slid into the mix and
his car rolled onto its
side. Ball was
uninjured, but not able
to continue.
Jim Sykes grabbed the
lead when racing
resumed. At one point,
Sykes had almost a half
lap advantage on Ollie
Stewart, who was running
second, but that all
changed when Sykes
machine began
overheating with
thirty-five laps in the
books. With Stewart in
command, Joe Grocholski
and Robin Vollmoeller
battled their way into
second and third
respectively. Joe
Sherman and Mike Mujsce
also entered the top
five.
Vollmoeller and
Grocholski got around
Stewart on lap sixty-two
when a car stalled in
turn three. When racing
resumed Vollmoeller
flattened a tire and
headed pit side.
Grocholski still led
over Stewart, but with
only four laps
remaining, the leader
encountered heavy lapped
traffic. While working
the traffic, Grocholski
cut a tire and lost the
lead. Stewart led the
remaining circuits
enroot to his first
NEETS win. In victory
lane, he commented that
he used to race at
Freeport Speedway and
also at Riverhead
Raceway with Robin
Vollmoeller.
NEETS driver, Joe
Cooper, sponsored lap 29
in the two car races.
Joe gave $100 to the
driver who led that lap
in each division, along
with $75 to the second
and third place
runners. Ray Rothfuss
took the top cash in the
6/8 cylinders. Later,
Ollie Stewart grabbed
the top bonus in the 4
cyl. class. The same
bonus was applied for
the TRUX at lap 25.
Bobby Pease won the top
cash prize in that
division.
The next NEETS Holiday
Stock Car Series event
is the “Firecracker
Smacker” on July 2nd.
For more info on the
NEETS enduros, please
visit
www.neetstour.net
ABC Car Crushing NEETS
Holiday Stock Car Series
Racin Rich Johnson
Memorial Races
Cascioli Roofing 6/8
Cyl. (99-laps)
Pos Name
1 Ray Fitzgerald
2 Tim Pauch
3 Bobby Pease
4 Howie Bott
5 David Cascioli
6 Joe Kmetz
7 Richard Petey
8 Jeff Walls
9 Terry Nansteel
10 Bob Wink
11 Joe Helberg
12 Robert Benz
13 Glenn Osburn
14 James White
15 Joe Jentile
16 Kory Stevens
17 Bob Kulik
18 TJ Kapish
19 Ryan Klingel
20 Mike Baglin
21 Jason Carpenter
22 Tom Szoke
23 Jon Carl
24 Frank Gallucci
25 Nick Shaw
26 Cory Student
27 Harry O'Neil
28 Keith Bissinger
29 Joe Cooper
30 Rob Wickersheim
31 Alex Fletcher
32 April Makarewicz
33 Phil Lamonaco
34 Don Veasy
35 Mark Wolf
36 Steve Rossics
37 Randy Parsons Jr
38 Mike Parisi
39 Daryl Debetta
40 Dave Moore
41 Sal Russo
42 Carl Altemose
43 Ray Rothfuss
44 Charlie Nansteel
45 Tom Moses
46 Steve Tito
47 Frank Destromte
48 Josh Oswald
49 Robin Schewire
50 Mark Paine
51 Wayne Lowe
52 John Fowler Jr
53 Dan Cascioli
54 Mark Spencer
55 James White Jr
56 James Presley
57 Chris Arner
58 Terry Johnson
59 Aaron Miller
60 Tom Slee
61 Charles Bossert
62 Jim Batalano
DQ Robert Pyle
DQ Mike Skelly Jr
Steel Seal 4 Cyl.
(99-laps)
Pos Name
1 Ollie Stewart
2 Joe Sherman
3 Bob Haeger
4 Matt Guida
5 Joe Grocholski
6 Duane Garrison
7 Scott Rhodes
8 Tim Pauch
9 Sam Schlosberg
10 Mike Ventura
11 Dave Bentley Jr
12 Harry Sager
13 Robin Vollmoeller Sr
14 John Saccomandi
15 Keith Boehm
16 Chris Seigel
17 Steven Sapp
18 Bob Darde
19 Brad Vollmeller
20 Denise Seagle
21 Art Kulik
22 Mike Wilcox
23 Maurice Ott
24 Auburn Lyons
25 Sig Albarron
26 Mike Mujsce Sr
27 Robert Watson
28 Brandon Guyer
29 Kenny Ferrer
30 Laura White
31 William Albright
32 Brett Beitler
33 Steve Todorow
34 Brian Moses
35 Jack McElrath
36 Bob Belcher
37 Steve Petry
38 Eric Lehr
39 Gwen Sakowski
40 Mike Dunn
41 John McCleary
42 Ken Harper
43 Skeet Allen
44 Larry Fisher
45 Mike Mujsce Jr
46 Steve Haegele
47 Dan Caciolo
48 Greg Kopin
49 Larry Spencer
50 Dale Garrison
51 Mark Neberdosky
52 Wendy Molinaio
53 Stiart Weidow
54 Jim Sykes
55 Brandon Brown
56 Mark Forman
57 Terry Nansteel
58 Amanda Spotts
59 Mike "Willy Wynn"
Odwazny
60 TJ Stevens
61 Steven Kane
62 Carl Majer
63 Cory Student
64 Mike Racho
65 Nikki Wachs
66 Luke Colleran
67 Fluffy White
68 Todd Pinto
69 Keith Deleman
70 Bob Wohlgemuth
71 Jimmy White Jr
72 Josh Moser
73 Ken Cornell
74 Greg Zeman
75 Sam Cajevic
76 Gary Walls
77 Jen White
78 Bobby Coco
79 Scott Ball
80 Robin Vollmoeller Jr
81 John Galloto
82 Sam Ryan
Custom Classic TRUX
(49-laps)
Pos Name
1 Bobby Pease
2 Rob McCormick
3 John Cozza
4 Harry Sager
5 Rich Onorato
6 Frank Katona
7 Ray Voss
8 Edward Colon
9 Brian Qwilliam
10 Anthony Daleo
11 Gil Smith
12 Mike Pollack
13 Jake Sharrow
14 Jim Rotalano
15 Erin Bartley
16 Anthony Vecchio
17 Terry Stiles
18 Alex Fletcher