Lunger, Zimmer, Crandall, Prosser, Mihalak All Score Wins At Raceway 7
6 min readBy Jay Pees
Conneaut, OH (July 31, 2015): The weather was perfect for racers and fans arriving at Raceway 7 for the thirteenth night of fast-paced action which ended with a new winner in Victory Lane and and four ‘regular’ visitors.
In the Crate Late Model finale former champion Dennis Lunger drove into the Winner’s Circle for the third time in 2015. The E-Mod feature went to Ken Zimmer, having a stellar season, this being his third win this year. Brian Crandall picked up his first-ever Raceway 7 feature win in the Street Stock finale. Rick Prosser also visited Victory Lane for the third time this season, handily dominating the Economods, leading from green to checkers. Hoyt Mihalak started from the outside front row and turned into Victory Lane twelve laps later for his second win this season.
Rob Bates and Chris Withers, the two-time defending track champion, brought the Campbell’s Mini-Storage Street Stocks to the green flag but caution was immediately shown for Mark Hopkins and Ed Bolyard, spun in turn one. Withers led to turn two after green when Bates got back by for the lead, then points leader Shaun Fawcett spun in turn three. At green Brian Crandall came to the lead on the back stretch of lap two with Bates second and Withers falling back to third. By halfway Crandall led with Bates still second, and Fawcett back up to third after restarting at the rear, with Withers now back to fourth. On the final lap Bates slipped back to fourth. At the checkers the top five were Crandall, Fawcett, Withers, Bates, and Ed Bolyard.
The Evergreen Lake Park Campground CARS Crate Late Models were brought to green by Bob Pifer, a winner earlier this season, and Dennis Lunger, a former class champion and two-time winner in 2015. Lunger grabbed the immediate lead with Dave Airgood coming to second by the end of lap one. As the cars completed lap four Khole Wanzer hit the front straight wall hard enough to come to a stop. Although Wanzer was able to drive away, he suffered enough damage that he retired pitside. Points leader Chad Wright, looking for feature win number eight, came to third after green. Airgood and Wright put on a good race for second from lap nine through the mid-stages of the race with Wright getting alongside Airgood several times but unable to close the deal, falling off the pace with two laps remaining, suffering a flat right front tire. Lunger went on to the win over Airgood with Pifer winding up third, defending champion Kyle Zimmerman fourth, and Wright holding on for fifth.
Josh McDonald and Leonard Enos brought the Bonnell Collision Center E-Mod feature to the start with Enos taking the lead in turn two. Debris on the front straight slowed the event at lap three with Enos leading Josh McDonald, Percy McDonald, Ken Zimmer, and Chuck Steinle Jr. In turn two after green three cars, including Dale Fuller, Bill Taylor, and Troy Carr, tangled, again slowing the race. Percy McDonald, the current points leader, was penalized two spots for ‘jumping’ the restart. After green Enos again led with Ken Zimmer coming to second and Josh McDonald slipping back to third. Caution again flew at five laps when Amanda Stiffler spun to the infield with damage to the left front. Only one more lap got in before Percy McDonald spun into the turn one wall. On lap eight John Woodward got to third then a lap later Enos suddenly slowed, coming to a halt in turn four, again slowing the race and turning the lead over to Zimmer, looking for his third win of 2015. Zimmer, Woodward, Brent Rhebergen Josh McDonald, and Butch Southwell brought the field back to green with Rhebergen, looking for his fourth win of the season, coming to second by the halfway point. With six laps left Josh McDonald pulled to the infield from fourth position. With three laps left Rhebergen was challenging Zimmer but not able to get by, falling back to three lengths behind the leader at the white flag. Zimmer lengthened his lead to five car lengths at the checkers with Woodward winding up third, Southwell fourth, and Dan McDonald fifth.
Dylan Goodman and Hoyt Mihalak started the Specialty Products Mini Stock feature on the front row with opening night winner Mihalak grabbing the immediate lead. Kyle Adkins ran second in the early going with former champion Bud Sergeff third. At six laps complete Dylan Goodman spun into the infield on turn four, bringing caution over the race. At green it was Mihalak leading Adkins, Sergeff, points leader Brad Cole, and Scott Gill. Gill got sideways in turn two with the resulting accordianing of the field collecting Cole, who then caught fire on the right front of his car. At green Sergeff came to second with Jason Easler, looking for his third win in a row, coming to third. Gary Olson hit the outside retaining rail in turn two at eight laps complete, again slowing the event and setting up a single-file restart. Sergeff drew even with Mihalak at the green but slipped back into line in turn one. At two laps remaining Mihalak extended his lead while Easler was starting to challenge for second place. Mihalak continued to extend his lead, winning handily over Sergeff, who held off Easler for second. Kyle Adkins, wound up fourth with Derrick Tuttle fifth.
The Bonnell Auto Sales Economods were the night-capper with points leader Rick Prosser on the pole position with Eric Reinwald to his right. Prosser took the early lead with Brad Blackshear coming to second. On lap four Reinwald spun to the infield but kept going, avoiding a caution. The first caution came at six laps complete when Kevin Sergeff spun into the infield off turn two. At green Josh Ferry, the defending champion and five-time winner, came to second, then, with seven complete Blackshear and Chuck Steinle Sr looped their mounts in turn one. Prosser, Ferry, Mitch Wright, Reinwald, and James Myers were the top five coming back to green. Prosser extended his lead over the remaining laps. With three laps left Reinwald got by Wright. Myers spun from fifth at lap twelve, setting up a three lap dash for the cash. At the checkers it was Prosser over Ferry, Reinwald, Wright, and Chuck Steinle Sr.
Evergreen Lake Park Campground CARS Crate Late Models:
Heat 1: Chad Wright, Bob Pifer, Darrell Bossard, Wendall Pinckney, Joe Long, Ron Santee
Heat 2: Dennis Lunger, Dave Airgood, Kyle Zimmerman, Khole Wanzer, William Pinckney, Billy Henry
Feature: Dennis Lunger, Dave Airgood, Bob Pifer, Kyle Zimmerman, Chad Wright, Wendall Pinckney, Darrell Bossard, Billy Henry, Joe Long, Mickey Wright, William Pinckney, Khole Wanzer
Bonnell Collision Center E-Mods:
Heat 1: Percy McDonald, Josh McDonald, Ken Zimmer, John Woodward, Bill Taylor, Butch Southwell, Brent Rhebergen, Troy Carr
Heat 2: Dan McDonald, Leonard Enos, Chuck Steinle Jr, Jimmy Diabo, Amanda Stiffler, Gary Murphy, Dale Fuller
Feature: Ken Zimmer, Brent Rhebergen, John Woodward, Butch Southwell, Dan McDonald, Chuck Steinle Jr, Percy McDonald, Jimmy Diabo, Dale Fuller, Josh McDonald, Leonard Enos, Amanda Stiffler, Bill Taylor, Troy Carr, Gary Murphy (DNS)
Campbell’s Mini-Storage Street Stocks:
Heat 1: Chris Withers, Chris Hochschild, John Bailey, Ed Bolyard, Dan McEwen
Heat 2: Brian Crandall. Shaun Fawcett, Rob Bates, Mark Hopkins
Feature: Brian Crandall, Shaun Fawcett, Chris Withers, Rob Bates, Ed Bolyard, John Bailey, Chris Hochschild, Mark Hopkins, Dan McEwen
Bonnell Auto Sales Economods:
Heat 1: Brad Blackshear, Josh Ferry, Chuck Steinle Sr, Kevin Sergeff, James Myers
Heat 2: Rick Prosser, Eric Reinwald, Mitch Wright, Mike Harmon
Feature: Rick Prosser, Josh Ferry, Eric Reinwald, Mitch Wright, Chuck Steinle Sr, Mike Harmon, Kevin Sergeff, James Myers, Brad Blackshear
Specialty Products Mini Stocks:
Heat 1: Brad Cole, Jason Easler, Dylan Goodman, Bud Sergeff, Derrick Tuttle, Scott Gill, Gary Olson
Heat 2: Hoyt Mihalak, Kyle Adkins, Zoey Gill, Casey Harmon, Brian McGarvie, Justin Boardman
Feature: Hoyt Mihalak, Bud Sergeff, Jason Easler, Kyle Adkins, Derrick Tuttle, Zoey Gill, Dylan Goodman, Brian McGarvie, Gary Olson, Brad Cole, Scott Gill, Casey Harmon, Justin Boardman (DNS)
