Smith, Fisher, Schlenker and Alcaro Take Mountain Openers
Following Saturday’s time trials, both fans
and drivers alike poured in to Mountain Speedway for the “B
Program” Opening Weekend features. When it was all said and
done, Rusty Smith of Oxford, NY cruised to the Sport Modified
victory and Larry Fisher of Fern Glen, PA took his ill handling
Late Model to victory lane. Matt Schlenker of Walnutport backed
into the Factory Stock victory and Mike Alcaro of Newton, NJ
brought home the first INEX Legends feature win of the season.
Rusty Smith timed the fastest in time trials and sat on the pole
for the 40-lap Sport Modified feature. He led the opening lap
over Dave Brigati, Todd Baer, Chris Orlando and Nick Pecko
before the caution flew on the second circuit when Dan Speeney
and Scott Adams tangled in turn three.
A cone was placed on the start finish line during the yellow and
the drivers chose which land they wanted to restart in (inside
or outside). Many drivers chose the preferred inside groove, but
Orlando, who was riding in fourth before the caution, chose the
outside and restarted in second.
Smith wasted no time pulling away from the field and in the
meantime, Zane Zeiner, who started the feature in eleventh, got
by both Baer and Pecko to overtake the fourth spot. He then went
on to overtake Orlando for third on lap seven and shot by
Brigati for second on lap 20.
Even though Zeiner had the fastest car in practice, Smith had a
straightaway lead, which didn’t change much over the remaining
caution free laps. Smith captured the win in dominating fashion
over Zeiner, Brigati, Pecko and Orlando.
Smith commented on his win from the pole by saying, “I did what
I could and raced as fast as I could”. When asked about winning
from the pole, his only comment was, “It was easy”.
After running the quickest qualifying time on Saturday, Travis
Fisher started from the pole position in the 30-lap Late Model
feature. He led the first circuit over Mike Sweeney, Larry
Fisher, Craig Lutz and Kyle Harvell.
Appearing to have one of the quickest cars, Lutz overtook L.
Fisher on lap two and then shot under Sweeney for second on lap
12. Two quick Rick Smith spins slowed the event and with the
cone out on the track, Austin Kochenash moved from sixth to
second. However, he faded once green flag racing resumed.
With T. Fisher fending off Lutz, the yellow flag waved when
Kochenash caught the apron in turn two and then shot into
Sweeney. Both drivers headed to the pits and retired from the
event.
Green flag racing resumed and Lutz hounded T. Fisher for the top
spot. With only three laps remaining, Lutz got his nose
underneath T. Fisher in turn three. T. Fisher tried to slam the
door and the duo tangled, which gave the lead to L. Fisher.
Harvell lined up second for the restart and Francis Gross III
held third, followed by Lutz and Adam Cox.
Despite pressure from the competition behind him, L. Fisher
fought his ill handling racecar to score his first Mountain
feature win since 2007. Harvell settled for second, followed by
Gross, Lutz and Cox.
“We uncovered the car at noon on Friday and here we are”, said a
very surprised L. Fisher in victory lane. He commented on the
car’s handling and said, “It was definitely a handful to drive”.
After running the quickest lap in Saturday’s time trials, Tom
Cassagrande started from the pole and led the opening circuit of
the 20-lap feature. Matt Schlenker tucked into the second spot,
followed by Chris Parry, Kermit Jacoby and Jeff Searfoss.
Searfoss overtook Jacoby for the fourth spot and Brandon Oltra
cracked the top five by lap eight.
After he crossed the strip for the victory in the caution-free
event, it appeared that Cassagrande had won his first main event
in years at the speedway, but that all went by the wayside when
he failed post race inspection because of frame height.
Schlenker was awarded the victory, followed by Parry, Searfoss,
Oltra and Jacoby.
Nineteen INEX Legend drivers took to the speedway with Kevin
Nowak on the pole position for the 25-lap feature. Nowak led the
opening lap over Mike Alcaro, Mark Tischler, Scott Hubler and
Brandon DeBrakilmer.
Following a caution flag on lap three when Raven Schrantz went
into a spin off the front bumper of Jason Sendlewski, green flag
racing resumed and Nowak continued to lead the herd.
Alcaro made the pass on the leader stick on lap five when Nowak
slid up the track in turn one. Hubler worked his way into third,
with DeBrakilmer and Andrew Shotler in tow.
Hubler then overtook Nowak for the runner up spot, but it was
short-lived, as the caution flag waved on lap 10 for a tangle
between the two drivers.
Green flag racing resumed and with Alcaro still in command with
a lap remaining, Zach Truesdall was spun in the middle of turns
one and two. That collected several drivers, including Rob
McCormick, Sendlewski and R. Schrantz.
With the green flag back in the air, Alcaro held off advance
from eight-place starter, Tony Hanbury, Shotler, DeBrakilmer and
Nowak to claim the victory.
Mountain Speedway is just minutes from Hazleton, Pa, located on
St. John’s Road, between Routes 93 and 309. Grandstand admission
for all regular events is just $10 for ages 11 and older.
Children 10 years of age and younger are admitted for free.
Please visit
www.mountainspeedway.com for the entire 2011 schedule, point
standings and up to date news and information.
Sport Modifieds (40-Laps) 1. RUSTY SMITH 2. Zane Zeiner 3.
Dave Brigati 4. Nick Pecko 5. Kevin Orlando 6. Dan
Speeney 7. Todd Baer 8. Barry Callavini 9. Todd Geist 10. Scott
Adams 11. CJ Lacatvia 12. Dean Ficarro 13. William Schneider
14. Mike Kline
Late Model (30-Laps) 1. LARRY FISHER 2. Kyle Harvell 3.
Craig Lutz 4. Francis Gross III 5. Adam Cox 6. Travis
Fisher 7. Austin Kochenash 8. Mike Sweeney 9. Rick Smith DNS:
Jerry Tunney DNS: Brian Brown
Factory Stock (20-Laps) 1. MATT SCHLENKER 2. Chris Parry 3. Jeff
Searfoss 4. Brandon Oltra 5. Kermit Jacoby 6. Richard Paciotti
7. Tom Szoke 8. Eric Banashefski 9. Ned Coolbaugh 10. Eric Boyer
11. Keith Frankenfield DQ: Tom Casagrande
INEX Legends (25-Laps) 1. MIKE ALCARO 2. Tony Hanbury 3. Andrew
Shotler 4. Brandon DeBrakilmer 5. Kevin Nowak 6. Jason
Sendlewski 7. Raven Schrantz 8. Carl Jones 9. Barry Schrantz
10. Scott Hubler 11. Bobby Rafferty 12. John Bacon 13. Robert
Silver 14. Joe Fresco 15. Zach Truesdail 16. Rob McCormick
17.Mark Tischler 18. Stephen Qual 19. Stephan Hershey
Source: Geno Ostrowski/Mountain
Speedway PR
Posted: April 9, 2011
