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Darren Scherer Doubles at Mountain Speedway
By: Gene Ostrowski
April
19, 2008
Plenty of Jersey
Shore racers made the haul Saturday to the 1/3-mile asphalt oval at
Mountain Speedway. By the end of the afternoon, Darren Scherer
found himself in victory lane after winning the sport modified main and
added another victory an hour later in the legend feature event.
Ron Frees grabbed the checkered flag in the super stock division, as did
Tom Ervin in the micro stocks. Sandi Stull grabbed her first
career win after taking down the bandolarro
feature.
A total of sixteen sport modifieds took the green flag for the start of
the 30-lap feature. John Wilber took the lead after starting from
the pole and paced the field with Darren Scherer, Earl Paules, Rick
Zacharias and Robert Sutphin in tow.
With Wilber
still out front, Shaun Carrig looped his machine in turns one and two
and brought out the first caution on lap five. He rejoined the
tail end of the field.
Scherer wasted no time planning the move on Wilber for the top spot.
He completed the pass for the lead on lap nine and began to distance
himself from the rest of the field.
With ten laps in the books and Scherer still out front, Wilber retained
the runner-up spot with Zacharias, Paules and Sutphin in pursuit.
While battling for second down the backstretch on lap sixteen, Zacharias
got into Wilber. Zacharias gained the position and Wilber slipped
back a few spots.
The battle for second between Paules and Zacharias began to heat up.
The two drivers ran side-by-side over the closing laps, with Paules just
edging Zacharias for second.
Scherer, of
Binghamton, NY,
seemed untouchable as the laps ticked off and drove off to victory lane
over Paules, Zacharias, Wilber and Sutphin.
Wilber, Scherer and Sutphin were heat race winners.
Fast lap: Earl Paules, 13.906
Ron Frees, of Brick, NJ started from the pole and jumped into the early
lead in the in the 25-lap super stock feature.
The first of five cautions flew on lap two when Sue Collins had problems
and made contact with the turn four wall. Collins headed pit side
with heavy damage to her vehicle and did not return to the speedway.
With five laps in the books, Frees remained out front, followed by Frank
Reakes, Jerry Stanzione, John McCormack and Rob Gargiulo.
Just after the mid-race point, McCormack moved around Stanzione and into
third. Meanwhile, Reakes began to apply pressure to Frees for the
lead.
With the laps winding down, Reakes attempted inside and outside
maneuvers on the leader, and the two crossed the finish line
side-by-side, with Frees getting the win.
Reakes settled for second with McCormack, Stanzione and Nick Gargiulo
completing the top five.
Scott Meckes, Stanzione and Frees were heat race winners.
Fast lap: Ron Frees, 15.833
The legend cars took to the track for their 25-lap feature with Darren
Scherer starting from the pole. Much like the sport modified
feature, Scherer shot out front and began to put distance between
himself and the competition.
Meanwhile, Mike Alcaro grabbed second and with five laps recorded, Derek
Hopkins, Steven Stull and Roger Coss completed the top five.
At that point in the race it seemed that Scherer’s only competition was
Alcaro, but that changed.
The top two drivers caught up with Katrine Lotti to put her a lap down.
Scherer got by without a problem, but Alcaro wasn’t as lucky. The
two drivers made contact and Alcaro’s car shot into the wall. His
car sustained heavy damage and his day was done.
Several more cautions plagued the race with the worst being a red flag
condition on lap twenty-seven when Francis Cottreu, Casey Robicheau and
Tyler Pappas collected on the front stretch during a restart.
No one could touch Scherer on the restart and he cruised to his second
win of the afternoon over Steven Stull, Coss, Hopkins and Michael Stull.
Scherer, Hopkins and Alcaro were heat race winners.
Fast lap: Darren Scherer, 16.175
Mike Me started from the pole position in the 15-lap micro stock feature
event. However, it didn’t take long for Andy Hiddemen to grab the
top spot.
Hiddemen’s lead was short lived, as last place starter, Tom Ervin, took
command of the race on lap four.
Ervin drove away from the field and off to victory lane over Denny
Hiddemen, Brian Braddock, Nick Cottone and John Kazmierski.
Three bandolarros
took the green flag for an exciting 15-lap feature. Sandi Stull
led the event early on with Robert Vassilatos running a distant second.
Vassilatos closed the gap and applied a few taps after a few
unsuccessful passes on the leader.
Finally, Vassilatos made the pass, but Stull exchanged the taps she
received earlier on and Vassilatos was left in a spin.
The win was Stull’s first of her career. Vassilatos finished
second and Brian Hawkins, Jr. was third.
The next Mountain Speedway event for the sport modifieds, super stocks
and legends is slated for Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 11.
Sport
Modifieds (30-Laps)
Pos No. Name 1 3 Daren Scherer 2 8 Earl Paules 3 27Z Rick Zacharias 4 4 John Wilber 5 50 Robert Sutphin 6 69 Chas Okerson 7 9 Scott Riggleman 8 41 Mike Skarbowski 9 91 Shaun Carrig 10 0 John Thomas 11 17 Randy MacConnell 12 27 Mike Speeney 13 32 Sam Riggleman 14 44 Anthony Aquilino 15 86 Stephen Voorhees 16 6JR Bobby Richards DNS 5 Richie Knell Super Stocks (25-Laps) Pos No. Name 1 43 Ron Frees 2 14 Frank Reakes 3 12 John McCormack 4 6 Jerry Stanzione 5 7 Nick Gargiulo 6 3 Rick Kopf 7 9 Gregg Miranda 8 26 Scott Meckes 9 8 Rob Gargiulo 10 44C Chip Wanamaker 11 8 John Kopf 12 0 Billy Cole 13 85 Brian Wozniak 14 42x Dan Cascioli 15 25 Steve Shultz 16 26S Michelle Moormann 17 19 William Vanderveen 18 14W Elliott Wohl 19 5 Dave Green 20 16 Sue Collins PAL Legends (25-Laps) Pos No. Name 1 3 Darren Scherer 2 88 Steven Stull 3 17X Roger Coss 4 17 Derek Hopkins 5 87 Michael Stull 6 2 Jordan Adams 7 89 Pat Johnson 8 19 Drew Weisser 9 90 Bruce Heisler 10 11H Matt Mescera 11 25 Vinny Troia 12 24 Tyler Pappas 13 44 Francis Cottreu 14 23 Casey Robicheau 15 23D Joe Degracia 16 1 AJ Wright 17 40 Matt Maring 18 113 Katrine Lotti 19 8 Mike Alcaro DNS 3H Brian Hawkins Sr Micro Stocks (15-Laps) Pos No. Name 1 99 Tom Ervin 2 6 Denny Hiddemen 3 82 Brian Braddock 4 5 Nick Cottone 5 90 John Kazmierski 6 93 Billy Kriegner, Sr. 7 16 Billy Kriegner, Jr. 8 76 Mike Me 9 88 Andy Hiddemen 10 3 John Paulson Bandolarros (15-Laps) Pos No. Name 1 88 Sandi Stull 2 57 Robert Vassilatos 3 3H Brian Hawkins, Jr.
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