The Empire State
Sweeps NELMA
In what has become known as a fall
classic at Mountain Speedway, the 7th annual NELMA Late Model
Challenge kicked off on Saturday. With $15,00 on the line for
the Late Model victor, the show was a season ending success and
many “outsiders” from the speedway drove off to victory. Three
Long Island drivers took victories in the show- Dave Brigati
took the exciting win in the Late Model main event and Chris
Turbush brought home the $750 Street Stock victory. Kevin Nowak
bested the Legends field to earn the victory and Luke Greenwood,
who traveled from New Hampshire won the Wingless Micro Sprint
event.
Glenn Tyler turned the quickest lap in Late Model time trials
and started from the pole in the 75-lap main event. He led the
opening circuit over Craig Lutz and Joe Burns.
A long green flag run in the early going allowed Tyler to open
up a gap between himself and Lutz. With 31 laps complete, Scott
Wylie held third, followed by Burns and Jim Lamoreaux.
The yellow flag waved on lap 33 when Burns spun in turn three
and then another yellow slowed the field two laps later when
Rick Smith spun in turn three. The incident also collected Raven
Schrantz and Geno Steigerwalt.
Green flag racing resumed and with a great restart, Lutz took
command. Dave Brigati moved into the third position when he
overtook Lamoreaux on the restart.
Lutz continued to lead just past the halfway mark and Brigati
had climbed to second, followed by Tyler, Wylie and Burns.
Tyler worked his way back to second and then overtook the leader
on lap 62 and then things got interesting in a hurry. Travis
Fisher, who had cracked the top five earlier, got by Wylie for
third. He then overtook Lutz for second on lap 64 and then
attempted to drive under Tyler for the race lead. Tyler slammed
the door and both drivers collected in turn three. The lap 65
incident also collected Lutz and Lamoreaux. The change of events
moved Brigati to the race lead.
With the green flag back in the air, Brigati held off his
competition over several restarts that followed and earned his
first Late Model victory in four years. The win also marks his
first Late Model victory at the speedway in his first Late Model
start there.
Fisher held on to finish in the runner up spot, followed by Lutz
and Wylie. Kevin Metzger, who had to be pulled from the infield
swamp with 10 laps remaining, rebounded to finish fifth.
Steve Shultz turned the fastest time for the 50-lap Street Stock
Fender Fury, but the invert moved Brian Wozniak to the point for
the start of the event.
Wozniak led the opening circuit with Ray Minieri, Derek
Stachecki, Nick Ross and Daryn Miller in tow. Minieri took his
turn at the lead on lap one and then Chris Turbush, who had
quickly worked his way to the front, grabbed the top spot on lap
six.
With Turbush still out front, Steve Shultz quietly worked his
way to the front and he overtook Minieri for the second spot on
lap 28. Minieri dropped back to third, followed by Robert Fink
and Miller.
The caution waved on lap 33 when Miller tried to get underneath
Fink in turns one and two. Both drivers were forced to restart
from the tail end of the field and Shultz had his opportunity at
Turbush for the restart.
Shultz pulled alongside the leader and nearly took the top spot,
but Turbush got sideways and to prevent himself from wrecking,
Shultz had to lift out of the throttle and lost several
positions.
Uncontested to the finish, Turbush took the victory over
McDermott, Wozniak, Brian Brown and Minieri.
Chris Young set fast time during time trials for the Legends
Fall Classic, but following the invert, Richie Coy started from
the pole position in the 30-lap event. With the green flag out,
coy led the opening lap over Scott Hubler, Rob McCormick,
Brandon Bock and Jim Byrne.
Hubler worked by Coy and into the lead on the second lap and
then the yellow flag waved when Matt Marring spun in turn two.
Raven Schrantz and Van Michael were also collected.
Green flag racing resumed and both, Chris Young and Kevin Nowak
made their presence known. First, Nowak moved to fourth on lap
three and then overtook Bock for third on lap five and Young
followed.
Nowak reeled in Hubler and attempted to make an inside maneuver
on the leader in turn one. The two touched hard and Nowak caught
air before taking to the infield in the lap seven incident. Both
drivers were forced to restart at the rear of the field and
Young came out with the race lead.
Just past halfway, Young continued to lead over Kyle Soper and
Dylan Slepian. Nowak had rebounded from the incident earlier to
hold the third spot, followed by Marring.
Nowak continued his charge and disposed of his competition. He
moved into second on lap 17 and then overtook the leader on lap
19.
In his fourth feature win of the season, Nowak claimed the
victory over Young, Soper, Slepian and Coy.
Raven Schrantz was the B-Main winner.
Several 600cc Wingless Micro Sprints competed in a 20-lap
feature event. After taking the lead from pole sitter, Rob
Vivona on lap six, Luke Greenwood drove off to take the
convincing victory.
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visit www.nelmaracing.com.
Late Model Challenge (75-laps) 1. DAVE BRIGATI 2. Travis Fisher
3. Craig Lutz 4. Scott Wylie 5. Kevin Metzger 6. Joe Burns 7.
Glenn Tyler 8. Rick Smith 9. Geno Steigerwalt 10. Jim Lamoreaux
11. Paul Skodacek 12. Jim Wismer Jr 13. Francis Gross III 14.
Glenn Slocum 15. Raven Schrantz DNS: John Dibble, Roger Oxee
Street Stock Fender Fury (50-laps) 1. CHRIS TURBUSH 2. Jeremy
McDermott 3. Brian Wozniak 4. Brian Brown 5. Ray Minieri 6.
Steve Shultz 7. Nick Ross 8. Brian Labar 9. Derek Stachecki 10.
Mitch Hawk 11. Daryn Miller 12. Robert Fink 13. CJ Lehmann 14.
Gene Bowers 15. Frank Scimeca
Legend Car Fall Classic (30-laps) 1. KEVIN NOWAK 2. Chris Young
3. Kyle Soper 4. Dylan Slepian 5. Richie Coy 6. Raven Schrantz
7. Brendon Bock 8. Brandon Michael 9. Todd McCollum 10. Van
Michael 11. Kyle Ellwood 12. Carl Jones 13. Jim Byrne 14. Ron
Poley 15. Andy Lewis 16. Cole Fratesi 17.Russell Sniffen Jr. 18.
Stephen Gaul 19. Scott Hubler 20. John Bacon 21. Jason
Sendlewski 22.Matt Marring 23. Rob McCormick 24. Stephen Hershey
25. John Visconti DNS: Tony Hanbury DNQ: Barry Schrantz DNQ:
Dave Chapman
Legend B-Main (30-laps) 1. RAVEN SCHRANTZ 2. Russell Sniffen Jr.
3. Stephen Hershey 4. Carl Jones 5. John Visconti 6. Jason
Sendlewski 7. Andy Lewis 8. Cole Fratesi 9. Stephen Gaul 10.
John Bacon 11. Barry Schrantz 12. David Chapman 13. Tony Hanbury
14. Todd McCollum
600cc Wingless Micros (20-laps) 1. LUKE GREENWOOD 2. Rob Vivona
3. Mark Yoder 4. Buddy Hines
Source:
Geno Ostrowski/Mountain Speedway/NELMA PR
Posted: October 22, 2011
