Anthony Sesely Outguns
Champ to Earn First “King of the Mountain” Victory at Sundance
The final weekend of points racing kicked
off Saturday with the running of the 10th annual “King of the
Mountain” event at Sundance Vacations Speedway. With big money
and double points on the line, Anthony Sesely of Matawah, NJ
held off a late race charge by Zane Zeiner to take the checkers
in the Sport Modified main event. Travis Fisher of Fern Glen, PA
held off a challenge from Jerry Hildebrand to score his second
Late Model victory of the season and Jay Gould drove off to his
second career Factory Stock win in the popular event. Robin
Johnston took top honors in TQ Midget action.
Time trials were run earlier in the afternoon to lock in the top
fifteen starters in the 100-lap Sport Modified main event. The
top quickest qualifiers redrew for starting positions at
intermission and after running the quickest qualifying lap
earlier, Ricky Ross, Jr. pulled the pole. The remaining starters
that made it to the feature earned their starting spots via
consi, and Barry Callavini took top honors in the 15-lap show.
Ross led the field to the drop of the green flag in the 100-lap
feature and quickly drove off to a few car length advantage over
Anthony Sesely, Rick Zacharias, Zane Zeiner and Bobby Geibel.
A trio of cautions slowed the show during the first 10 laps, but
a long green flag run from there set the early tone.
After starting deep in the field, Callavini worked his way into
the fifth spot on lap 15. Meanwhile, R. Zacharias began to fight
an ill handling car and slid back a few positions.
Ross continued out front with 30 laps complete, over Sesely,
Zeiner, Geibel and Rusty Smith, who had cracked the top five a
few laps earlier.
Trouble struck Smith at the halfway mark when he received a flat
tire. The change of events moved Mike Skarbowski into the fifth
spot.
The early portion of the second half of the event saw Sesely
work over the Ross machine. Trying to win his first Sport
Modified championship, Zeiner retained third with Skarbowski and
Jason Hearne in tow.
Unable to hold on to the lead any longer, Sesely raced around
Ross and into the race lead on lap 76. Zeiner followed suit and
climbed to second.
Callavini’s day ended early, when his car slowed with mechanical
problems on lap 83. Just three laps later Skarbowski made slight
contact with Ross as the two battled for third on lap 94. Both
drivers had to restart from the tail end of the lead lap cars.
Without success, Zeiner hounded Sesely over the remaining
circuits and tried several in and outside moves to take the
lead.
Sesely drove off to his second victory of the season with Zeiner
right behind in second. Hearne managed a third place effort,
followed by Geibel and Skarbowski.
The “King of the Mountain” win marks the first of Sesely’s
career and also earned him a guaranteed starting spot in this
season’s North/South Shootout in Concord, NC and also a
guaranteed starting spot in this season’s Turkey Derby at Wall
stadium in NJ.
Happy to finish as the runner-up, Zeiner clinched the 2009 Sport
Modified track championship.
Joe Hoffman started from the pole and led the opening laps of
the 50-lap Late Model feature over Zane Zeiner, Kevin Metzger,
Travis Fisher and Jimmy Wismer. Zeiner started second and raced
side-by-side with Hoffman before he overtook the leader on lap
four.
The caution flag flew on lap 15 when Metzger bounced off of the
front stretch wall and shot across the track in front of Wismer
and Mike Coll. Both drivers headed pit side for repairs and
rejoined the field.
Zeiner continued to be in command on lap 15, followed by Hoffman
second and Fisher, Mike Sweeney and Tommy Spencer, Jr.
Following a lap 16 restart, Hoffman worked the outside of the
leader and retook the lead on lap 18.
Will Schneider started deep in the field and had worked up to
the sixth spot but a spin on lap 40 brought out the yellow and
took him from contention. Fisher had overtaken Zeiner for second
and Jerry Hildebrand held third, followed by Zeiner and Metzger
by that point in the event.
Green flag racing resumed and Fisher made a bid for the lead on
lap 42. Hoffman slipped back to second and continued to regain
the advantage until his car caught a piece of the front stretch
wall on lap 45, resulting in a spin.
Despite a hard charge out of turn four on the final lap, Fisher
held off Hildebrand to take his first career King of the
Mountain win. Zeiner finished in third, followed by Metzger and
Sweeney.
The fifth place effort for Sweeney earned him his second
consecutive Late Model track title.
Heat race wins went to Joe Hoffman, Zane Zeiner and Travis
Fisher.
Bob Wink started from the pole and was overtaken by Paul Morgan,
Jr. for the race lead before a lap was scored
In the 40-lap Factory Stock feature.
Morgan held a sizable advantage over Wink, Jay Gould, Mike
Moyer, Jr. and Wayne Lowe on lap seven, but his car slowed
quickly three laps later.
Wink retook the lead and then the caution flag flew when Morgan
stopped on the speedway with mechanical issues.
Green flag racing resumed and Gould overtook Wink for the lead.
Moyer took second with Lowe and Joey Helberg in pursuit.
Lowe squeaked by Moyer later in the race to take second and
Helberg snagged the third spot.
Gould held off Lowe for his first-ever King of the Mountain race
win. Helberg, Jeff Searfoss and Moyer completed the top five.
With a solid fifth place run, Moyer solidified the championship,
which is the first of his promising career.
Heat race victories went to Bob Wink and Paul Morgan, Jr.
After starting from the pole position, Matt Roselli led the
first two laps of the 25-lap TQ Midget main event before Ian
Cumens out challenged him.
Robin Johnston quickly drove to the second spot, with Kyle
Gardner, Alison Cumens and Roselli in his rear view on lap
seven.
Setting a blistering pace, I. Cumens and Johnston began to run
away from the field and the duo encountered lapped traffic.
While working around a lapped car on lap 22, I. Cumens was spun
out and the lead was handed to Johnston.
Green flag racing resumed and Johnston took the King of the
Mountain victory over Gardner, Frank Fisher, Tim Behmer and
Alison Cumens.
With his fourth place effort, a very emotional Tim Behmer
climbed from his race car after winning the Sundance Vacations
Speedway TQ Midget championship. He dedicated his consistent
season to his father, who had passed away two weeks ago.
Heat race wins went to Ian Cumens and Austin Fehr.
Sundance Vacations Speedway is just minutes from Hazleton, Pa,
located on St. John’s Road, between Routes 93 and 309.
Grandstand admission for the upcoming 10th annual “King of the
Mountain” event is just $25 for Sunday. As always, children ages
10 and younger are admitted for free.
For further information, please visit the track site at
www.sundancevacationsspeedway.com.
Sport Modifieds (100-laps) 1. ANTHONY SESELY 2. Zane Zeiner 3.
Jason Hearne 4. Robert Geibel 5. Mike Skarbowski 6. Mike Gervais
7. Joe Wielgosz 8. Rick Zacharias 9. Jim Zacharias 10. Rob
Schultz 11. Paul Frantz 12. Pat Verwys 13. Joe King Jr 14. Ricky
Ross Jr 15. Scott Brannick 16. Barry Callavini 17.Mike Speeney
18. Rusty Smith 19. Billy Cole 20. Brian Sones 21. Frank Scimeca
22.Dave Garfinkel DNS: Dean Ficarro
Late Models (50-laps) 1. TRAVIS FISHER 2. Jerry Hildebrand 3.
Zane Zeiner 4. Kevin Metzger 5. Mike Sweeney 6. Jim Wismer 7.
Tommy Spencer Jr 8. Don Holland 9. Joe Hoffman 10. Kyle Harvell
11. Mike Coll 12. Austin Kochenash 13. Joseph Burns 14. Geno
Steigerwalt 15. Bill Catania 16. Jennifer Kutz 17.William
Schneider 18. Dave Macomber 19. Paul Monkoski
Factory Stocks (40-laps) 1. JASON GOULD 2. Wayne Lowe 3. Joe
Helberg 4. Jeff Searfoss 5. Mike Moyer Jr 6. Bob Wink 7. Eric
Wink 8. Rob Longo 9. Kendal Foulk 10. Mike O'Byrne 11. Tim
O'Shea 12. Paul Morgan Jr
TQ Midgets (25-laps) 1. ROBIN JOHNSTON 2. Kyle Gardner 3. Frank
Fischer 4. Tim Behmer 5. Alison Cummens 6. Austin Fehr 7. Mike
Tidaback 8. Ian Cummens 9. Jeff Kot 10. Dan Lane 11. Matthew
Roselli 12. Mark Pell 13. Howard Boss 14. Paul Lotier Jr 15.
Mark Janisch
Source: Geno Ostrowski/Sundance
Vacations Speedway PR
Posted: October
12, 2009
