A good-sized crowd was entertained by great racing all
throughout the King Of The Mountain weekend at Mountain Speedway
in PA on Saturday and Sunday. 6 divisions of racing spread over
two days, marked by clear skies and comfortable temperatures,
made for a great racing experience for all participants. The
pits were jam packed with racers, and good car counts all across
the spectrum made a full weekend of racing a great value for the
fans in the stands.
Qualifying on Saturday, along with Features for the Quarter
Midgets, Thrillers and 4 Cylinders. Thrillers made for a full
day. As featured earlier, Ryan Tidman won the Quarter Midget
race over Tim Buckwalter. Steve Shultz won the Thriller race
over Nick Ross, and the season’s championship went to Ricky
Ross, Jr. Nikki Watts won the 4-Cylinder Thrillers race in a
convincing manner over Harry Sager, as Travis Fisher, with his
4th place finish, wrapped up the Championship.
Sunday began with the 50-lap Street Stock feature, with Rich
DiMarco on the pole, and Bobby Hunsicker Jr. to the outside. It
was a caution filled affair, with 10 during the race, as DiMarco
and Frank Reakes battled early in the race after Reakes had
taken the lead on lap 3, leaving DiMarco to chase him after side
by side battles on the early race restarts. Reakes at times had
an advantage of 8 car lengths, but cautions wiped them out each
time, and he convincingly held onto the lead each time. Just
past lap 35, Paul Frantz entered the picture after getting 2nd
when DiMarco and Jimmy White Jr. collided on lap 32, with
DiMarco spinning, and White placed at the rear as the cause. On
the restart, Reakes pulled away into a commanding lead, and
through 2 more restarts due to cautions, held on for a
convincing victory over Frantz. Frantz, by virtue of his finish,
locked up the Street Stock Championship for 2007.
The 75 lap Late Model race came next, with Joe Hoffman on
the pole and Earl Paules on the outside. Hoffman and Paules ran
side by side until Paules took control on lap 3, while Jimmy
Wismer watched the action form 3rd spot. A debris caution on lap
4 slowed the race, but on the restart, Paules took off, and
Wismer followed through to takeover 2nd, while Dave Macomber
moved up to 3rd, Glenn Heckman moved up to 4th, and Larry fisher
dropped back to 5th. Paules and Wismer took off from other 3,
and were lapping cars by lap 14, as they weaved their way
through the traffic, with Paules maintaining about a 2-car
length lead over Wismer. Wismer saw an opening on lap 19 and
took the lead away, followed by a caution on lap 22 as Joe
Hoffman spun in turn 4. On the restart, Wismer took of, but
another caution was out quickly as Todd Geist spun. On the next
attempt, Wismer took off, but so did Paules, staying right on
Wismer’s bumper, with Larry Fisher running a close 3rd, and
Macomber 4th. Wismer stretched his lead out to about 3 cars,
but a caution on lap 27 closed up the field once more. On the
next restart, Wismer took off, but Joe Hoffman’s car dumped
fluid all down the front stretch, and caution was out
immediately. On the restart, Wismer pulled away over Paules by
about 2-3 car lengths, and as lapped traffic came into play,
stretched that out to a 10-car length margin by lap 47. That was
wiped out by a spinning car on the backstretch on lap 50 as the
caution flew once more, but on the restart, Wismer took off once
more, and was again 10 car lengths ahead by lap 63 and
stretching that out until a lap 67 caution for Joe Brown’s spin.
Wismer got another good start, but a spin in turn 1 on lap 672
by Roger Maynor set up a 3 lap dash to the finish, with Wismer
held on nicely to take the victory in one of his infrequent
appearances at Mountain Speedway.
The Modified 150 took to the track, with pole sitter
Chaz Surman and Zane Zeiner on the front row. Zeiner edged out
front on the initial start, but a spin involving Donny Wagner
and Todd Baer brought out the caution before a lap was complete.
On the next attempt, Zeiner took the lead a lap into the race,
and by lap 4, had a 4-car length advantage as Surman and Rusty
Smith battled for 2nd behind him. Zeiner pulled away even more
as the laps passed, as Surman had his hand full holding Smith at
bay, while Earl Paules held 4th and Brian DeFebo ran 5th. On lap
18, caution flew for Marisa Niederauer’s spin into the turn 2
wall. On the restart, Zeiner held onto the lead, as Surman,
Smith and Paules followed, with DeFebo a ways back in 5th. By
lap 32, Zeiner had about a 12-car length lead, and started
lapping slower cars, building his margin over Surman to about a
quarter of a lap, by lap 40. On lap 46, caution flew again for a
spinning car in turn 4, and Zeiner’s margin disappeared. On the
restart, Zeiner pulled away once more, gaining a car length lead
over Surman as each lap passed. On lap 72, Donny Hartzell hit
the turn 4 wall, bringing out a convenient caution, as many
drivers, including Zeiner, took the opportunity during the
cleanup to pit for new tires with just 3 laps remaining before
the lap 75 fuel stop for the entire field. On the restart,
Surman, now the leader, led Andy Walko, Brain DeFebo and Dave
Sapienza to the mid race yellow. A 10-minute break for the cars
to take on fuel was followed by the caution being displayed
again, and many more, but not all, took advantage of that to pit
for tires. On the restart for the second half of the race,
Surman, who stayed out for track position, led off, but Walko
passed him quickly to take the lead, only to see the caution
wave as Barry Callavini’s car erupted in smoke, bringing out the
caution quickly. On the restart, Walko led Sapienza and DeFebo
away from the rest of the field. Very quickly, Walko and
Sapienza got away into a 2 car race, but Rusty Smith, who had
pitted on lap 72 for tires, is flying through the field,
catching Walko and Sapienza by lap 83, and Smith passed them
both a lap later to take the lead. On lap 86, caution was out
for Kyle Ebersole‘s spin on the backstretch, and all who’d not
pitted for tires, did so at that point. After a false restart,
the next one saw Smith take off once more, followed by Mike Bohn
and Donny Wagner, but Larry Fisher and Dave Sapienza collided in
turn 3 a lap later, and caution flew once more. On the next
restart, Smith flew out front once more, clearly much faster at
this point than anyone else near him, but Zeiner is coming on
strong and is up to 4th, closing in on DeFebo for 3rd. Zeiner
easily passes DeFebo, and made short work of passing Bohn on lap
96, but Smith has at least a 15-car length lead, and Zeiner
slowly closes in on him also. On lap 107, Smith’s lead
disappeared as Lou Strohl spun, bringing out a caution and
closing up the field. On the restart, Smith had Zeiner right on
his rear bumper, as DeFebo follows closely, but Smith and Zeiner
stretch it out a bit, as Zeiner looks for a way by, and Smith
holds his line, denying the pass. Caution flew on lap 120 for a
spin in turn 4, and JR Bertuccio was black flagged for rough
riding, ending his race hopes as he was sent to the pits. On the
restart, Smith held off Zeiner once more, and behind them, as
second race has developed, with DeFebo now having to deal Paules
for 3rd spot. Paules manages to get by DeFebo on lap 132, but
he’s still 10-car lengths behind Smith and Zeiner. All that
changed when Justin Bonsignore’s left rear hub broke and sent
him into the 4th turn wall on lap 140, bringing out the caution
once more. On the restart, Smith Zeiner and Paules were locked
together in a 3 car battle, as Paules looked to pass Zeiner, as
Zeiner battled to hold him off while looking for a way by Smith.
Paules got alongside Zeiner on lap 145, but Zeiner held him off.
Paules tried the move once more, getting under Zeiner, but
Zeiner shot by Smith on the outside on lap 147 to take the lead,
as Paules and Smith now battled for 2nd. Smith got under Paules,
but couldn’t get past him, as Paules held on to take 2nd at the
line, but Zeiner was the winner, not only of the race, but the
Mountain Speedway 2007 Modified title.
News and Notes: At the end of the show, the fans and
competitors were treated to a fireworks display by Tony’s
Fireworks, and they did a wonderful display of some of the
newest pyrotechnics around to the delight of the crowd…I’d like
to thank Joe Callavini and Mike Odwazny, along with the entire
Mountain Speedway staff, for all the help they extended to
myself and Mike Mercurio during the course of the weekend. A
great job by all to make our work easier, and we thank you once
again…till next time, be safe and live well.
Source: Walter Johnston/LongIslandJam.com
Posted:
October 1, 2007
