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Rusty Smith Untouchable During Mountain Speedway Main Event
By: Gene Ostrowski
July 12, 2008
Plenty of fans were treated to six feature events Saturday at Mountain
Speedway. They were witness to Rusty Smith, who picked up his third
modified victory of the season. Brian Wozniak held off Elliott Wohl to
score his second street stock victory of the year. Matt Janisch and
Ryan Tidman took wins in the two TQ midget features, as did Jeff Biegley
and Jess McGlynn in each of the 4 Cyl. FWD features.
Lew
Hallock started from the pole and set the pace for the start of the
40-lap modified feature. Before a single lap was scored, Tommy Wanick
III stormed around Hallock and into the lead.
Andy
Walko moved into the second spot and with three laps in the books, Kyle
Ebersole, Rusty Smith and Hallock rounded out the top five. Only one
lap later, Smith disposed of Walko to move into third.
Ebersole began to work on the competition and slipped by Walko for
second. He overtook Wanick for the top spot on lap six.
The
caution flew eight laps in when Harry Buchman spun in turn one. At this
point, Ebersole led over Smith, Walko, Wanick and Brian DeFebo.
Smith
glued himself to the rear bumper of Ebersole and completed the pass for
the race lead on lap twelve. After completing the pass, Smith began to
check out from the rest of the field.
DeFebo began to charge toward the front and slipped by Walko for third
on lap thirty-two. Only a few laps later, Ebersole relinquished the
second spot when he spun in turns three and four. The exchange moved
DeFebo to second.
Smith
was untouchable over the closing laps and notched his second regular
modified victory and third overall at the speedway this season. DeFebo
crossed the stripe second, followed by Walko, Wanick and Hallock.
“The
car’s really fast here and the competition wasn’t as tough as last week,
but a wins a win”, said Smith in victory lane.
DeFebo experienced engine troubles earlier in the day and did not start
his heat race. He climbed into the Bill Moffett #7 for the feature and
placed a respectable second. “It’s a good little piece here, just down
a little bit on horsepower”, said DeFebo of his lent ride. “Eric
(Kocher) does a good job at setting it up”.
Andy
Walko finished third and commented on his car’s handling, “It could have
been better, but it could have been a whole lot worse. “I was up on the
wheel for a good part of that race”, said Walko.
Rusty
Smith and Lew Hallock won heat races.
The
TQ midgets were on hand to run a set of 15-lap features. Line-ups were
set for the first via Formula One style qualifying.
Twenty cars started the first feature, and Matt Janisch lead the field
to the drop of the green flag.
Only
five laps into the event, the red flag was thrown when Richie Coy’s car
slowly rolled onto its roof on the backstretch. Another red flag flew
just after the restart. This time it was for a fire on the Alison
Cumens entry. Cumens lost a motor and the car erupted into flames in
turn four. After quickly exiting her car, Cumens appeared to be okay
and returned to the pit area.
Green
flag racing resumed and Janisch remained atop the field. Just before
halfway, Ian Cumens held second, followed by Don Adams, Robin Johnston
and Tim Behmer.
The
red flag flew for the third time and with only four laps remaining when
Adams, lost an engine. His car caught fire and he quickly pulled into
the infield.
Janisch remained out front over the closing laps to score his first win
of the season. Austin Fehr worked his way up to finish in the second
spot. Johnston was third, followed by Ryan Tidman and Tim Behmer.
The
top fifteen finishers were inverted for the second 15-lap feature, which
put Rudy Botticher on the point.
Botticher led the field down for the start, and then Jeff Kot came up
from the third position to take the race lead.
The
only caution of the race came when second place runner, Paul Lotier, got
out of shape and nailed the front stretch fence.
Randy
Cobral, the current NEMA point leader, grabbed the top spot after the
restart and appeared to have the win in the bag. That changed on lap
seven when Tidman came from his twelfth starting spot to take the lead.
Cobral dropped to second, followed by Kot, Chris Deritis and Fehr.
Janisch made a late race charge through the field and fought for second
with one lap remaining.
Tidman held on to win his third feature of the season. Cabral held off
Janisch for second, followed by Deritis and Kot.
Brian
Wozniak shot out from the pole to take the early race lead in the 25-lap
street stock main event. Elliott Wohl tucked into the second spot,
followed by Ron Babula, Steve Shultz and Brad Barbush.
Richie DiMarco started sixth and began to work toward the front, as did
Chip Wanamaker, who started dead last. Scott Meckes failed to start the
heat race due to a fluid leak and began to mount a charge toward the
front as well.
With
the top three remaining the same, DiMarco grabbed fourth from Shultz on
lap seven. Wanamaker followed to take fifth. Wanamaker fought DiMarco
for the position, then made contact in turn four, which sent DiMarco
into a spin.
The
exchange moved Meckes into fourth and Brad Kline to fifth for the lap
twelve restart.
Shortly after the restart, Babula grabbed second from Wohl, but the
position was short lived, as Wohl powered back around for the spot.
Wozniak remained out front and DiMarco began to climb back toward the
front, while racing around the top of the speedway.
With
only five laps remaining, Meckes headed into the pits because of smoke
fluming from his machine.
Wozniak stayed out front and went on to win his second feature of the
season. Wohl and DiMarco crossed the stripe side-by-side for second
with Wohl getting the advantage. Babula finished fourth and Kline
completed the top five.
Qualifiers went to Richie DiMarco and Brad Kline.
The 4
Cyl. FWD division took to the speedway for the first of two 15-lap
features. Bill Verwys, Sr. started from the pole and quickly lost the
lead to Jake Oswald.
With
two laps complete, Eric Banashefski moved to second, followed by Jess
McGlynn, Nikki Wachs and Ken Kleppinger.
Kleppinger motored his way into the second spot and began to apply
pressure to Oswald. Oswald did all that he could do to retain the top
spot and by lap thirteen Jeff Biegley moved into the mix.
While
the leaders swapped paint for the lead, Biegley pulled a three-wide move
down the backstretch on the final lap to take the lead. The win was
Biegley’s fourth of the season.
Oswald settled for a career best of second, followed by McGlynn, Verwys
and Kleppinger.
Nikki
Wachs started on the pole after an invert of the first feature finish.
Right
after the start of the event, McGlynn moved to the outside and out in
front of the pack.
With
two laps in the books, Verwys held second with Biegley, Wachs and Oswald
in tow.
The
battle on the speedway heated up for the second spot between Verwys and
Biegley. The two swapped positions on numerous occasions and eventually
Biegley came out the victor.
McGlynn drove off to notch her second win of the season. Biegley was
second, followed by Verwys, Kleppinger and Wachs.
Results
Modifieds (40-laps) 1. RUSTY SMITH 2. Brian DeFebo 3. Andy Walko 4.
Tommy Wanick III 5. Lewis Hallock 6. Kyle Ebersole 7. Amber Levandowski
8. Geary Rinehimer 9. Harry Buchman 10. Barry Callavini 11. Cal Snyder
TQ
Midgets Feature #1 (15-laps) 1. MATT JANISCH 2. Austin Fehr 3. Robin
Johnston 4. Ryan Tidman 5. Tim Behmer 6. Randy Cabral 7. Ian Cumens 8.
Paul Lotier Jr 9. Chris Deritis 10. Ken Wismer Jr 11. Matthew Roselli
12. Jeff Kot 13. Scott Campbell 14. Mike Tidaback 15. Rudy Botticher 16.
Don Adams 17.Frank Fischer 18. Richie Coy 19. Alison Cumens 20. Phil DiMario
TQ
Midgets Feature #2 (15-laps) 1. RYAN TIDMAN 2. Randy Cabral 3. Matt
Janisch 4. Chris Deritis 5. Jeff Kot 6. Robin Johnston 7. Ken Wismer Jr
8. Matthew Roselli 9. Paul Lotier Jr 10. Tim Behmer 11. Frank Fischer
12. Austin Fehr 13. Ian Cumens 14. Scott Campbell 15. Rudy Botticher
16. Mike Tidaback
Street Stocks (25-laps) 1. BRIAN WOZNIAK 2. Elliott Wohl 3. Rich DiMarco
4. Ron Babula 5. Brad Kline 6. Todd Barbush 7. Steve Shultz 8. Steve
Clark 9. Mike Schadder 10. Keith St Clair 11. Jeff McGrath 12. CJ
Lehmann 13. Scott Meckes 14. Chip Wanamaker 15. Norm Barnes 16. Brad
Barbush
4 Cyl.
FWD Feature #1 (15-laps) 1. JEFF BIEGLEY 2. Jake Oswald 3. Jess McGlynn
4. Bill Verwys Sr 5. Ken Kleppinger 6. Nikki Wachs 7. Eric Banashefski
4 Cyl. FWD Feature #2 (15-laps) 1. JESS
MCGLYNN 2.
Jeff Biegley 3. Bill Verwys Sr 4. Ken Kleppinger 5. Nikki Wachs 6. Jake
Oswald 7. Eric Banashefski
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