Stroud, Trimboli and
Nowak Win to Close Out Mountain Season
With Winter approaching, the final
racing event of the season was held Saturday at Mountain
Speedway. With championships on the line, Walter Stroud and
Steve Trimboli drover off to wins in the 150-lap Mountain
Madness Enduro Series events and Kevin Nowak took his second
straight INEX Legends victory. With a healthy advantage over his
competition, Alex McCollum drove off with the Bandolero victory.
Eyeing his second straight championship, TJ Kapish came into the
day as the points leader in the 6/8-cylinder enduro division. He
started from the pole and led the opening circuit of the 150-lap
double points paying event over Tom Szoke, James Pressley,
Walter Stroud and Scott Sipe.
Stroud climbed to second and then took the lead from Kapish on
lap 18. Meanwhile, Rob McCormick and Dominic Ranieri moved into
the top five. McCormick worked his way into second and then
battled with Stroud for the top spot. He completed the pass for
the lead on lap 32 and Stroud slipped back to second.
The first and only red flag of the afternoon flew on lap 50 when
Szoke climbed the protective foam and guiderail in turn one.
Track crews took his car from the wall and Szoke continued in
the event.
With the green flag back out, trouble struck McCormick on lap 57
and his machine began to dump fluid on the speedway. He headed
to the pits and retired from the race. The turn of events gave
the lead back to Stroud.
Behind the wheel of a four cylinder Mercedes, Steve Trimboli
rocketed up to the second spot. He grabbed the race lead from
Stroud on lap 67 and began to distance himself from the field.
With just over 50 laps remaining, Trimboli held the lead,
followed by Stroud, Shaun Burd, Don Carasiti and TJ Kapish.
It appeared that Trimboli would take the victory, but Stroud
closed in fast. The pair ran side by side toward the checkered
flag on the final lap and Stroud came out on top. Trimboli
settled for second, followed by Carasiti, Burd and Kapish, who
clinched his second straight championship.
Sam Ryan started from the pole position in the 150-lap 4 cyl.
Enduro and led the opening lap over Tony Rispin, Bruce Miller,
Justin Martinson and Larry Spencer III. Trimboli cracked the top
five early and then climbed to the second spot with Robert Fink
in tow.
Looking for his second straight championship, Ken Harper motored
toward the front of the pack. However, lady luck didn’t shine on
Harper and he lost a right front wheel, which forced him out of
the show on lap 25.
Ryan continued out front on lap 40 and had to contend with both,
Trimboli and third place, Rispin, as the trio ran nose to tail
lap after lap. Rispin finally overtook the leader on lap 86 and
Trimboli followed. Trimboli has his shot at the lead on lap 93
and both he and Ryan swapped the spot before Ryan was back in
command.
Many laps passed before Trimboli regained the top spot on lap
148. He went on to take his first victory at the speedway over
Ryan, Rispin, Fink and Spencer.
Rispin, who appeared to have a car to beat earlier in the race,
had mechanical problems and his car limped around the track in
the closing laps. In a gallant effort to endure the situation,
Rispin clinched his first enduro championship.
Cole Fuatesi Started from the pole position and was overtaken by
Carl Jones before a lap was complete in the 30-lap INEX Legends
Fall Championship. With one lap in the books, Scott Hubler held
second, followed by Raven Schrantz, Rob McCormick and Kevin
Nowak.
Hubler took the race lead on the second lap and then Nowak, who
had climbed to second, challenged him. Nowak made the pass stick
and Hubler dropped to second.
Hubler made several attempts to retake the lead in doing so,
brought out the yellow flag on lap 17 when he spun in turns
three and four. Nowak continued to lead at that point, trailed
by Kyle Soper, Tony Hanbury, Schrantz and Jones.
Green flag racing resumed and Nowak seemed untouchable over the
closing laps, as he drove off with his second straight victory
at the speedway. Hanbury, who had climbed to second earlier, was
forced to settle for second, followed by Schrantz, Zach
Truesdail and Jones.
Despite his DNF, Hubler took the championship, which was his
second in three seasons at the speedway.
Heat race victories went to Kyle Soper and Kevin Nowak
6/8-Cylinders (150-laps) 1. WALTER STROUD 2. Steve Trimboli 3.
Don Carasiti 4. Shawn Burd 5. TJ Kapish 6. Rich Galante 7. Mike
Parisi 8. Steven Fabb 9. Scott Sipe 10. James Presley 11. Sam
Ryan 12. Tom Szoke 13. Steven Brooks 14. Bill Schwenck 15. Ralph
Bankess 16. David Baker 17.Dominic Ranieri 18. John O'Ruke 19.
Rob McCormick
4-Cylinders (150-laps) 1. STEVE TRIMBOLI 2. Sam Ryan 3. Tony
Rispin 4. Robert Fink 5. Larry Spencer III 6. Bruce Miller 7.
Doug Johnson 8. Jay Skupski 9. Justin Martinson 10. Jake McGrath
11. Costas Efantis 12. Mark Spencer 13. Howard Effron 14. Edward
Michael 15. Ken Harper 16. Joseph Martinson 17.Justin Hughes
INEX Legends (30-laps) 1. KEVIN NOWAK 2. Tony Hanbury 3. Raven
Schrantz 4. Zach Truesdail 5. Carl Jones 6. Cole Fuatesi 7.
Stephen Gaul 8. David Chapman 9. Kyle Soper 10. Rob McCormick
11. Byron Warthing 12. Scott Hubler 13. Barry Schrantz
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 like Mountain Speedway on
Facebook or visit
www.mountainspeedway.com for the entire 2011 schedule, point
standings and up to date news and information.
Source:
Geno Ostrowski/Mountain Speedway PR
Posted: November 9, 2011
