Percy McDonald Wins By 1/1000 In Bob & Jackie Vogt Memorial

By Jay Pees

Conneaut, OH (August 7, 2015): Bob and Jackie Vogt were remembered for their contributions to Raceway 7 with a memorial event Friday for the Bonnell Collision Center E-Mods with time trials, heat races, and two “Dashes” to set the starting line-up to set the field for the $1000 to win feature sponsored by the Chris Brecht State Farm Insurance Agency of Conneaut, OH. Dave Scott and Points leader Percy McDonald set identical times of 18.691seconds and 84.591 MPH to pace the field. Third fastest was Dan Davies at 18.974 and 83.008 MPH. At the end of the twenty-five laps Percy McDonald was the winner by the slimmest of measurable margins, just one one-thousandths of a second as measured by the track’s AMBit scoring system.

In Evergreen Lake Park Campground CARS Crate Late Model action points leader Chad Wright was awarded his eighth feature win of the season after apparent winner Bob Pifer came up light at the scales in post-race inspection. Ed Bolyard collected his fourth win of the season in the Campbell’s Mini-Storage Street Stocks finale and defending champion Josh Ferry won the Bonnell Auto Sales Economods finale. The night-capper was the Specialty Products Mini-stock feature, won by former class champion Bud Sergeff.

In the memorial event preliminaries Dave Scott, Troy Johnson, and Percy McDonald won their heats but Scott had problems and did not run his “Dash”. Percy McDonald won the first Dash, tagged the Bob Vogt Dash while Leonard Enos was victorious in the second dash, the Jackie Vogt Dash.

In the 25-lap Bob & Jackie Vogt Memorial Presented by Chris Brecht State Farm Insurance Agency was brought to green by track points leader Percy McDonald and former Super Late Model pilot Troy Johnson. Yellow was shown when Mike Potosky and John Woodward got together in turn two. On the restart Rob Middleton looped it in turn two, again slowing the event. Under caution Ken Zimmer, a three-time winner this season, pitted. By the end of one lap under green Percy McDonald was leading with third starting Dan Davies now second. Davies challenged McDonald every turn but the 2009 champion maintained the advantage every lap in the straights until lap six, when caution again flew for three-time winner Brent Rhebergen who had lost his left rear tire. When racing resumed Johnson got back to second with Davies now third, Leonard Enos fourth and Dave Scott sixth. Middleton again spun in turn two at lap eight, slowing the event a second time. Davies came to second at green and again began challenging for the lead and Scott got to third at ten laps complete. At halfway the top five were McDonald, Davies, Scott, Johnson, and Enos. By sixteen compete McDonald was starting to pull out to a lead. With the white flag flying Davies made a final charge, drawing even then slightly ahead as they came to the checkers but McDonald nosed ahead to the line with the transponders showing McDonald winning by 0.001 second.

Only seven Campbell’s Mini Storage Street Stocks signed into the pit so only a feature was run for the class with Ed Bolyard, looking for his fourth win of the season, starting from position one and leading all fifteen laps. Rob Bates came to the runner-up spot on the first lap and closed in on Bolyard with four laps to go and tried to get by on the low side on lap thirteen but Bolyard held on to the lead, getting win number four on the season over Bates. Points leader Shaun Fawcett was third at the finish, despite blowing a tire on the final straight, with pieces of rubber flying high. Chris Withers was fourth with Chris Hochschild fifth.

Reigning champion Josh Ferry was on the pole for the Bonnell Auto Sales Economods feature with Eric Reinwald outside. The field only got to turn one when James Myers and John Jones spun into the retaining wall. Ferry led from the drop of the green flag but racing was slowed at the end of one lap when Chuck Steinle Sr slowed to enter the pit. Steve Haefke came to second from his third place on the restart as soon as the race resumed with fifth starting Rick Prosser coming to third. With one lap remaining Reinwald spun in turn two, bringing caution over the race and bunching the field for a single-file restart. After the final restart Ferry went on to his sixth win of the season with Heafke second, Prosser third, Mickey Wright fourth, and Kyle Fellows fifth.

The Evergreen Lake Park Campground CARS Crate Late Models took to the track with Dave Airgood and Bob Pifer scheduled to be on the front row. However Airgood experienced problems, stalling as he pulled onto the track and requiring push-truck help to get back pitside. With Airgood unable to start Joe Long was advanced to the pole position. Pifer, a winner on week two, took the lead with Breyton Santee coming to second and seven time winner Chad Wright coming to third from his sixth starting spot, then to second at lap four. Yellow then flew. After green Pifer again led with Wright getting alongside in turn four but was unable to close the deal. Defending champion Kyle Zimmerman ran third with Billy Henry fourth and Breyton Santee fifth at the halfway point. At eleven laps complete Wright nosed ahead at turn four but slipped back behind the leader as the line just as Yellow appeared for a spin in turn two, slowing the event again. On green Zimmerman came to second then caution flew when Khole Wanzer spun in turn one. Wanzer retired to the pit with a flat tire under caution. From the high side on the restart, Wright came back to second and was again fighting for the lead, drawing even in turn four several times but Pifer was able to pull back ahead in the straight through to the end of the event, winning his second of the season. Zimmerman was third with Henry fourth and Santee fifth. In post-race inspection Pifer failed to make the required weight, resulting in his disqualification and advancing Wright to his eighth win of the season, Zimmerman second, Henry third, Santee fourth, and Dennis Lunger to fifth.

The final feature of the night was the Specialty Products Mini Stocks with former champions Carlos Aponte and Bud Sergeff leading the way. Sergeff, already a four time winner this season, quickly built a big lead with Derick Tuttle coming to second. Kyle Adkins got by Tuttle by five laps into the event. At six laps complete Tuttle slammed the infield barrier on the front straight. Sergeff again led with Boardman second and points leader Brad Cole coming to third. With two laps left Cole was challenging for the runner-up spot while Hoyt Mihalak and Kyle Adkins were fighting for fourth. Cole got by Boardman on the final turn with Adkins emerging fourth over last week’s winner, Mihalak.

Evergreen Lake Park Campground CARS Crate Late Models:

Heat 1: Breyton Santee, Bob Pifer, Dave Airgood, Dennis Lunger, Billy Henry, Khole Wanzer, William Pinckney

Heat 2: Chad Wright, Wendall Pinckney, Joe Long, Kyle Zimmerman, Darrell Bossard, Bryan Salisbury

Feature: Chad Wright, Kyle Zimmerman, Bill Henry, Breyton Santee, Dennis Lunger, Darrell Bossard, Bryan Salisbury, Joe Long, Wendall Pinckney, William Pinckney, Khole Wanzer, Dave Airgood (DNS), Bob Pifer (DW)

Dennis Lunger, Darrell Lunger,

Bonnell Collision Center E-Mods Bob & Jackie Vogt Memorial Presented by Chris Brecht State Farm Insurance Agency Dash

Time Trials: Dave Scott (18.619), Percy McDonald (18.619), Dan Davies (18.974),

Heat 1: Dave Scott, Dan McDonald, Leonard Enos, Josh McDonald, John Woodward, Howard Fraley, Bill Taylor

Heat 2: Percy McDonald, Chuck Steinle Jr, Ken Zimmer, Mike Potosky, Jesse Gould, Rob Middleton

Heat 3: Troy Johnson, Dan Davies, Brent Rhebergen, Alan Atkinson, Butch Southwell, John Jones

Bob Vogt Dash: Percy McDonald, Troy Johnson, Dan Davies, Dan McDonald, Chuck Steinle Jr, David Scott (DNS)

Jackie Vogt Dash: Leonard Enos, Brent Rhebergen, Ken Zimmer, Alan Atkinson, Mike Potosky, Josh McDonald

Feature: Percy McDonald, Dan Davies, Dave Scott, Troy Johnson, Leonard, Dan McDonald, John Woodward, Chuck Steinle Jr, Howard Fraley, Jesse Gould, Mike Potosky, Rob Middleton, Ken Zimmer, Alan Atkinson, Butch Southwell, Brent Rhebergen, John Jones, Jimmy Diabo, Bill Taylor (DNS), Josh McDonald (DNS)

Campbell’s Mini-Storage Street Stocks:

Feature: Ed Bolyard, Rob Bates, Shaun Fawcett, Chris Withers, Chris Hochschild, John Bailey, Brian Mohawk

Bonnell Auto Sales Economods:

Heat 1: Rick Prosser, Eric Reinwald, Josh Ferry, Mickey Wright, James Myers

Heat 2: Steve Haefke, Chuck Steinle Sr, Kyle Fellows, Cole Longwell, Mike Harmon

Feature: Josh Ferry, Steve Haefke, Rick Prosser, Mickey Wright, Kyle Fellows, James Myers, Eric Reinwald, Mike Harmon, Chuck Steinle Sr, Cole Longwell

Specialty Products Mini Stocks:

Heat 1: Hoyt Mihalak, Bud Sergeff, Justin Boardman, Zoey Gill, Casey Harmon, Ed Roberts, Jason Easler

Heat 2: Derek Tuttle, Dylan Goodman, Kyle Adkins, Carlos Aponte, Brad Cole, Scott Gill

Feature: Bud Sergeff, Brad Cole, Justin Boardman, Kyle Adkins, Hoyt Mihalak, Dylan Goodman, Carlos Aponte, Zoey Gill, Casey Harmon, Derrick Tuttle, Scott Gill, Ed Roberts (DNS), Jason Easler (DNS)