One new face in Victory Lane at Raceway 7, four repeat winners!

By Jay Pees

Conneaut, OH, August 2, 2013: Twin State Auto Racing Club paid a visit to Raceway 7 for a regular night of racing. The weather was cool and the skies overcast as the fans filed into the raceway. To start the evening Breyton Santee was interviewed in Victory Lane. Santee had won his first-ever feature which occurred July 19 under threatening skies. Due to the weather conditions that night it was decided to hold off the usual winner’s interview and photo session until this week. All night long the skies threatened to open up and several times sprinkles were falling but never enough to interfere with the racing.

When the final checkered flag had fallen one new victor had stood in the Winner’s Circle when Steve Burns won his first of the season in the Economod feature, reigning champion Bud Sergeff had another Victory toward his fight to repeat as Mini-Stock Champion, current point’s leaders Chad Wright (FASTRAK Late Models) and Chris Withers (Street Stocks) extended their leads with wins, and Rich Michael made the lengthy tow all the way from Ishua, NY pay off with his second trip to Victory Lane.

Announcements were made that the August 23 Super Late Model race has been cancelled and the FASTRAK Late Model Touring event scheduled for later this month has been moved up to August 9, next Friday night.

The McDonalds Meats Economods were the first feature on the track as rain threatened with Jamie Scharba and Ty Rhoades leading the way. After a lap one yellow leading to a complete restart, Scharba led lap one with Tony Hyde coming to second. Debris in turn two, apparently from Brian Hathaway’s car, brought yellow again after two laps. Hathaway, the point’s leader dropped to the rear for the restart. After four laps Steve Burns was the leader with Hyde also getting by Scharba to run second. On lap seven Ty Rhoades and last week’s winner Alan Atkinson both got by Scharba then caution was again shown when Jodi Woodworth Jr spun. At halfway the order was back to Burns, Hyde, Scharba, Rhoades, and Atkinson. One lap later Rhoades and Atkinson got together on the front straight with Rhoades suffering enough damage to retire to the pit area. Russ Kapalan also retired to the pits during the caution period but returned to the event. With eleven complete last week’s winner Atkinson spun in turn two. Burns led the remaining laps, winning his first of the season over Hyde, Scharba, Hathaway, and Russ Kapalan.

The Specialty Products Mini Stocks were led to the green by Dillon Goodman and Cale Sousa, after original outside front row sitter Joe Plesniak withdrew from the event. Goodman led lap one with Sousa second. Sergeff got to second at the end of three with Fraschetti coming to third. At the end of four Sergeff was leading with Fraschetti second and Goodman back to third. Sergeff went on to the win with the four-way battle for the runner-up spot going to Jason Easler using the outside line to advance from fourth to second on the back stretch on the final lap. Points leader Brad Cole wound up third with Fraschetti fourth and Goodman fifth.

Matt Latta and Jamie Brown were on the front row for the Evergreen Lake Park Campground FASTRAK Late Model feature but chaos ensued in turn two as Dave Airgood spun then Max Blair and Kyle Zimmerman spun into the outside retaining rail. Kevin Decker then crashed into the stopped cars. Zimmerman was able to continue after a visit to the pit but Decker was done for the night. When the race restarted Latta surged to the lead with point’s leader Chad Wright coming to second. Khole Wanzer spun in turn three of lap one, collecting Bob Pifer. A the end of the next green flag lap Wright and Latta were side by side, then Wright had sole possession of the lead on the next circuit. With four complete Breyton Santee was third. Another restart was necessary at lap five for a three car wreck involving Joel Watson, Mark Tatalovic, and Dave Airgood. During the caution, second running Latta retired pitside. With green back on the raceway Wright continued to lead with Brown immediately coming to second and Max Blair back up to third after eight laps. One lap past halfway Blair moved to second. With five to go Wright had a quarter lap lead over Blair but Blair was closing. After clearing lapped traffic Wright again lengthened his lead, winning over Blair by a quarter lap with Mitchell third, Brown fourth, and Santee fifth. It was Wright’s fourth win of the season.

Rich Michael, a winner two weeks ago, and Dan McDonald started the Bonnell Collision Center E-Mod feature from the front row with Michael blasting off to the immediate lead, looking for his second feature win in as many days, having won at McKean County Raceway Thursday night. On lap two Gary Eicher and McDonald came across the strip side by side with Eicher second at the end of three. Point’s leader Joel Watson dropped McDonald another spot at the end of four laps, looking for his second win in as many weeks. At halfway Watson nosed ahead of Eicher at the line and set out to catch Michael. Watson caught Michael with six to go. With lapped traffic becoming an issue at lap seventeen, Michael again lengthened his lead. Michael went on to his fifteenth overall win of the season, his second at Raceway 7. Watson settled for second with Eicher third, Mike McGee fourth, and Mike Potosky fifth. The race ran green to checkers with no caution periods. In Victory Lane, Michael praised his crew, noting that the transmission failed during the heat and they got it changed before the feature.

Former champion Ed Bolyard and Kenny Lamp led the Western Reserve Animal Clinic Street Stocks to the green with Lamp, looking for his first-ever Raceway 7 win, leading lap one. Shawn Fawcett quickly came to second with point’s leader Chris Withers third. Jonny Boyd spun at lap three for the race’s first caution. At green Withers immediately came to second then to the lead by the time the field reached turn three. Eric Reinwald, Ed Bolyard, Jonny Boyd, and Dave Ferringer spun in turn two with four complete. Two more yellows before the next lap could be completed also slowed the event. On lap ten Eric Reinwald spun his mount in two two and was hit hard by Ed Bolyard, who had no way to avoid the hard hit. Neither Reinwald nor Bolyard were able to continue. Last week’s winner Joe Rohrer came to second with five laps remaining just as Art Gilchrist, back after an exceptionally rough flip last week, spun in turn two. Withers went on to the win, lengthening his point’s lead with his fifth feature win of the season. Rohrer held on for second, followed by Lamp, Dave Ferringer, and Mike Harmon.

Evergreen Lake Park Campground FASTRAK Late Models:

Heat 1: Mike Mitchell, Max Blair, Kyle Zimmerman, Jamie Brown, Joel Watson, Dave Shagla, Khole Wanzer, Bruce Hordusky

Heat 2: Chad Wright, Dave Airgood, Matt Latta, Breyton Santee, Mark Tatalovich, Tony Mariano, Bob Pifer, Kevin Decker

Feature: Chad Wright, Max Blair, Mike Mitchell, Jamie Brown, Breyton Santee, Dave Airgood, Dave Shagla, Mark Tatalovic, Kyle Zimmerman, Joel Watson, Tony Mariano, Khole Wanzer, Matt Latta, Bob Pifer, Kevin Decker, Bruce Hordusky (DNS)

Bonnell Collision Center E-Mods:

Heat 1: Rich Michael, Mike Potosky, Josh McDonald, Gary Eicher, Percy McDonald, Bud Watson, Brian Douglas, Tom Hagberg

Heat 2: Mike McGee, Dan McDonald, Joel Watson, Russ Dunn, Kenny Zimmer, Chuck Steinle Jr, Brian Fardink, Bill Taylor (DNS)

Feature: Rich Michael, Joel Watson, Gary Eicher, Mike McGee, Mike Potosky, Russ Dunn, Percy McDonald, Bud Watson, Chuck Steinle Jr, Ken Zimmer, Josh McDonald, Brian Fardink, Dan McDonald, Brian Douglas, Tom Hagberg, Bill Taylor (DNS)

McDonald Meats Econo Mods:

Heat 1: Steve Burns, Tony Hyde, Chuck Steinle Sr, Jamie Scharba, Jodi Woodworth Sr, Bobby Wright, Gene Crouch, Kevin Sergeff, Jace Ferringer

Heat 2: Alan Atkinson, Kyle Fellows, Ty Rhoades, Brian Hathaway, Casey Bowers, Russ Kapalin, Josh Ferry, Jodi Woodworth Jr

Feature: Steve Burns, Tony Hyde, Jamie Scharba, Brian Hathaway, Russ Kapalin, Chuck Steinle Sr, Casey Bowers, Bobby Wright, Josh Ferry, Jodi Woodworth Sr, Alan Atkinson, Jace Ferringer, Jodi Woodworth Jr, Kyle Fellows, Ty Rhoades, Kevin Sergeff, Gene Crouch

Western Reserve Animal Clinic Street Stocks:

Heat 1: Ed Bolyard, Kenny Lamp, Jonny Boyd, Eric Reinwald, Art Gilchrist, John Bailey

Heat 2: Chris Withers, Shawn Fawcett, Joe Rohrer, Dave Ferringer, Mike Harmon

Feature: Chris Withers, Joe Rohrer, Kenny Lamp, Dave Ferringer, Mike Harmon, Art Gilchrist, Eric Reinwald, Ed Bolyard, Jonny Boyd, John Bailey, Shawn Fawcett

Specialty Products Mini-Stocks:

Heat 1: Brad Cole, Joe Plesniak, Mitch Stokes, Hoyt Mihalak, Scott Gill, Pat Drennan, Nelson Johnson (DNS)

Heat 2: Dale Fraschetti, Bud Sergeff, Cale Sousa, Dillon Goodman, Jason Easler, Alex Forbes

Feature: Bud Sergeff, Jason Easler, Brad Cole, Dale Fraschetti, Dillon Goodman, Mitch Stokes, Cale Sousa, Hoyt Mihalak, Scott Gill, Pat Drennan, Nelson Johnson, Alex Forbes, Joe Plesniak (DNS)