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DiMarco, Ross, Biegley, Cicconi and Tidaback Share Mountain Spotlight
By: Gene Ostrowski
May
10, 2008
Mountain Speedway held its first Saturday night racing program of the
season last weekend, where several drivers visited victory for the first
time this season. Richie DiMarco grabbed top honors in street stock
competition, as did first time winner, Nick Ross in the thrillers. Jeff
Biegley scored his first career win in an exciting 4 cyl. FWD division
triumph. “Liquid” Lou Cicconi and Mike Tidaback scored the feature wins
in the dual ATQMRA main events.
The afternoon began with ATQMRA midget qualifying, which was held
“Formula One style”. Tim Behmer ran the fastest lap with a time of
12.759 seconds and Lou Cicconi was second quickest with a 12.774.
Almost half of the field was inverted for the start of the 20-lap
feature, which put Jeff Kot on the pole position.
Kot led to the drop of the green, but outside pole sitter, Robin
Johnston, made a pass for the lead before a lap was scored. After three
laps of racing, Tim Behmer was second, followed by “Liquid” Lou
Cicconi,
Frank Fischer and Chris Deritis.
Slowly but surely, Matt Janish moved through the field from his eight
starting spot. Also moving through the field was Ryan Tidman, who found
himself in third, twelve laps into the contest.
Trouble struck Tidman on the following lap, when he lost an engine in
turns two. The track crew quickly rushed to the scene and extinguished
the flames, but Tidman’s hopes of victory were diminished.
After the restart, Cicconi shot by Johnston for the top spot and Janish
followed into second. Sicconi never looked back and cruised on to
victory over Janish, Johnston, Fischer and Tidaback.
After winning the street stock heat race earlier in the evening, Richie
DiMarco started on the front row, next to pole sitter, Brad Kline.
Kline leapt to the early lead and DiMarco tucked back in the second
spot. Paul Frantz grabbed third by the second lap with Steve Shultz and
Elliot Wohl rounding out the top five.
A lap six opportunity arose for DiMarco and he worked the high side
around Kline and into the lead. Frantz tried the same move but failed
on his first attempt.
DiMarco continued out front when the caution flew on lap twelve, when
Shultz tried to get underneath of Frantz for third in turns one and two.
DiMarco turned up the heat after the restart and began to put some
distance between himself and second place. Frantz finally cleared Kline
for second on lap fifteen, with Wohl running fourth. Jennifer Kutz
entered the top five.
Eventually Wohl caught and passed Kline for fourth and Shultz took the
fifth spot from Kutz, but no one was able to touch DiMarco, as he
notched his first win of the season over Frantz and Wohl.
Bill Price, Jr. started on the outside of pole sitter, Nick Ross, after
winning the thriller heat race earlier in the day.
Ross got a great start when the green flag dropped for the start of the
20-lap feature event and Mike Moyer, Jr. quickly grabbed second from
Price.
Ross remained out front and after five laps of competition, was trailed
by Moyer, Jr, Price, Mike Moyer, Sr. and Nick Shaw.
Division points leader, Scott Adams, started fifth on the grid and moved
into the fourth spot with seven laps in the books. He attempted to take
third from Price in turn two as well, but was nearly run down to the
infield.
With Ross sill out front, Moyer, Jr. moved to second. Eventually, Adams
cleared Price and Shaw to take the third spot.
After several disappointing weeks, Ross finally hit victory lane for his
very first career win, ahead of Moyer, Jr, Adams, Price and Shaw.
Bill Verwys, Sr. led the 4 cyl. FWD division to the drop of the green
flag from the pole position. Before a single lap was score, second
place starter, Jeff Biegley grabbed the top spot.
Verwys tucked into second and with five laps in the books, Eric
Banashefski ran third, followed by Jake Oswald and Nikki Wachs.
Biegley wasn’t running away with the show by any means and the rest of
the field proved throughout the event. Wachs and Oswald ran side-by
side for fourth, then with Verwys for third. However, all of the
drivers, including Banashefski in second place, began to reel in Biegley
for a five-car battle.
Things got even more interesting, and involved a three-wide battle
between Biegley, Wachs and Verwys over the remaining three laps.
Biegley held on to score his first career win. Wachs finished in the
runner-up spot, followed by Verwys, Oswald and Banashefski completed the
top five after winning the heat race earlier.
The ATQMRA midgets took the stage for their second main event of the
evening with Tim Behmer leading the field to the drop of the green
flag.
Immediately after the start, Robin Johnston shot out front and appeared
to have the victory wrapped up early, but things changed after he jumped
two restarts following several cautions. On the final lap four restart,
Johnston was sent to the rear of the field, which handed the lead to
Chris Deritis.
Deritis led one circuit after the restart before being overtaken by Mike
Tidaback as the two raced out of turn two. Unfortunately for Deritis,
the contact forced him to spin and brought out the caution. He rejoined
the tail end of the field for the restart.
Tidaback led the remaining laps and grabbed his first Mountain ATQMRA
win of the season over Matt Janish and Robin Johnston, who had worked
his way back towards the front. Dave Williams finished fourth and Frank
Fischer rounded out the top five.
The Doylestown Quarter Midget Racing Club was on hand for to help
promote their racing efforts and several of the young competitors ran a
handful of laps during intermission. The youngsters also gave the
command for the start of the first ATQMRA feature event.
Results-
ATQMRA feature #1 (20- laps) 1. LOU SICCONI 2. Matt Janisch 3.
Robin Johnston 4. Frank Fischer 5. Mike Tidaback 6. Tim Behmer 7. Dave
Williams 8. Chris Deritis 9. Jeff Kot 10. Paul Lotier 11. Scott Campbell
12. Lew Ingalls 13. Richie Coy 14. Ryan Tidman 15. Zack Martini 16.
Austin Fehr
Street Stock (25-laps) 1. RICH DIMARCO 2. Paul Frantz 3. Elliot
Wohl 4. Brad Kline 5. Steve Shultz 6. Jennifer Kutz 7. Scott Meckes 8.
Keith St Clair 9. Josh Oswald
Thriller (20-laps) 1. NICK ROSS 2. Mike Moyer Jr 3. Scott Adams
4. Bill Price Jr 5. Nick Shaw 6. Mike Moyer Sr 7. Kermit Jacoby 8. Kyle
Heckman
4 Cyl. FWD (20-laps) 1. JEFF BIEGLEY 2. Nikki Wachs 3. Bill
Verwys Sr 4. Jake Oswald 5. Eric Banashefski 6. Jess McGlynn 7. Ken
Kleppinger
ATQMRA feature #2 (20- laps) 1. MIKE TIDABACK 2. Matt Janisch 3.
Robin Johnston 4. Dave Williams 5. Frank Fischer 6. Austin Fehr 7. Tim
Behmer 8. Scott Campbell 9. Matt Roselli 10. Ryan Tidman 11. Lew Ingalls
12. Chris Deritis 13. Richie Coy 14. Paul Lotier 15. Zack Martini
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