While the day began with overcast skies and sometimes cool
temperatures, the racing action was hot at Mountain Speedway for
Race #2 of the 2008 Mountain Madness Enduro Series. Quite a few
Long Islanders made the trip to Pennsylvania to get their
pre-season racing fix.
The first event of the day was the 4 cylinder race, starting
35 cars for 100 laps. The #38 of Bob Haeger started on the pole
and took the early lead. By lap 3, however, Robin Schewire
mounted a challenge for the position, which he claimed on lap 5.
Notably, by lap 6, Pat Verwys, who had started deep in the
field, moved into the top 5. At the front of the field, Haeger
stayed with Schewire and passed him to reclaim the lead on lap
9. The two raced side-by-side, often making it difficult to tell
who was leading at any given time. On lap 10, Schewire was on
top again. The #81 of Anthony Pizzo overtook both cars and
gained the lead on lap 12. By this time, Verwys took the 3rd
position from Haeger. On lap 13, Schewire claimed the lead yet
again. The battle for the lead became hotly contested, with
Verwys taking it on lap 16, Schewire regaining it on lap 18,
Verwys taking it back on lap 20 and Schewire reclaiming it later
that same lap. On lap 27, Verwys shot into the lead once again.
The first red flag of the day flew on lap 32, and the top four
were Verwys, Schewire, Pizzo and Haeger. Pizzo moved into 2nd on
lap 35, but made contact with another car, allowing Schewire to
regain the spot. Pizzo did not give up, and moved back into 2nd
on lap 39, and Schewire made contact with the #89 of Danielle
Allen that shuffled him back in the field. Red waved on lap 40,
and again on lap 44. The race then went green until lap 60.
Verwys continued his march around the track, lapping Schewire on
lap 66 and lapping the 5th place car of Haeger on lap 67. On lap
75, the #5 of David Bentley began challenging Pizzo for the 2nd
spot. This led to a 3-wide battle involving the lapped #99 of
Schewire in the middle of Bentley and Pizzo. Bentley claimed the
2nd spot from Pizzo on lap 80. By this time, Verwys was leading
by over half a lap. Schewire, who had come into the race as the
series point leader by virtue of his win at the Frostbite II in
January, suffered a right front flat on lap 86 and had to pit,
but returned on lap 93. Verwys was untouchable up front, and
sailed to victory in the #18.
Next out were the “Trophy Trucks,” with 6 trucks on hand for
a 25-lap event. The #01 of Mariah Lawrence started on the pole,
but was quickly overtaken by the #61 of Harry Sager, while the
#53 of Kevin Nowak jumped into 2nd. On lap 1, both the #01 of
Mariah Lawrence and the #58 of Rob Bader went around on the
frontstretch, but both righted themselves and rejoined the
field. Both lost valuable time, however, as Sager would lap
Bader on lap 3 and Mariah Lawrence one lap later. On lap 6, Woot
Lawrence moved into 2nd in the #34. Nowak was shuffled back to
3rd, while Jim White was running 4th in the #9. By that time,
Sager had built a sizeable lead. Woot Lawrence managed to reel
Sager in, but he ran out of time. Sager took down his second
consecutive win.
A total of 36 6/8 cylinder cars took to the track for the
final event of the afternoon, a 100-lap race. The #59 of Rich
Moyer started on the pole, and jumped out to the early lead. On
lap 1, the #27 of Eric Hersey went into the wall hard. The #30
of Ed Brown Jr. moved into the lead before the red flag was
thrown for the #27 on lap 2. By lap 5, Brian Brown moved into
3rd in the #14x, but the car was smoking heavily. On lap 15, the
#14x of Brown spun, but quickly rejoined the field. Brown
suffered a right rear flat, however, and pitted the car on lap
17. On lap 19, the #41 of Joe Jentile took over the top spot,
shuffling Brown Jr. to 2nd. The red came out again on lap 20.
When the race resumed, the #14x returned to the track. Another
red was displayed on lap 34. At that time, Jentile was in the
lead, with Ed Brown Jr. 2nd, Dominick Ranieri 7th in the #98,
Robin Schewire 8th in the #99 and Kevin Nowak 9th in the same
#53 truck that he had run in the “Trophy Truck” race. One lap
after the race resumed, Brian Brown retired the #14x because of
a broken tranny mount, and Ranieri pulled off of the track with
his #98 losing fluid. Only laps later, race leader Jentile
pitted with a flat tire, and Ed Brown Jr. inherited the lead.
Nowak lost an axle out of the #53, and the red flag flew again
on lap 45. By then, Brown Jr. was the leader, with only 3 cars
being shown on the lead lap. Schewire was running 7th, Donny
“Boom Boom” Oliver was 9th in the #05 and Danny Grennan was 10th
in the #38. On lap 47, Oliver moved into 8th. Schewire was
forced to pit with a right rear flat on lap 69, but would return
following the next red flag on lap 72. At that time, Brown Jr.
was leading, Grennan was 6th and Oliver was running 7th. Oliver
pitted with a right front flat on lap 87, but returned to the
track on lap 91. Grennan spun between turns 1 and 2 on lap 96,
but rejoined the field. Meanwhile, Brown Jr. sailed to victory.
News and Notes: For several Long Islanders, the
day started with a brief stop on the side of the highway to help
a fellow competitor. Terry Stiles got a blowout on his trailer,
which he was using to tow Rob Bader’s “Trophy Truck” to the
track. As others passed, they stopped to help. When all was said
and done, the group congregated to offer assistance included
Frank and Vicki Curtis, Brian Brown, Kevin Nowak, Donny Oliver,
and Woot and Mariah Lawrence.
The weather turned out to be relatively nice, in spite of
forecasts early in the week that called for rain and snow. While
it was overcast during the earlier part of the day, the sun was
out for a good portion of the 6/8 cylinder race. The races ran
quickly and rather smoothly, and all events were completed by
around 4:00 p.m., which Mountain Speedway co-promoter Mike
Odwazny had set as his goal during the drivers’ meeting.
Special thanks go out to everyone who contributed in some way
to the Jam’s coverage of the Enduro, including Kyle Curtis and
Eric Harper, who snapped many of the action pictures in the
photo gallery.
Just to remind anyone who is planning to run Enduros this season
as part of the Mountain Madness Enduro Series, one-way scanners
will be mandatory beginning with the next event on May 18th.Source:
Tracy Chirico/LongIslandJam.com
Posted:
March 15, 2008
