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Brian DeFebo Holds off Rusty Smith to Solidify Second Mountain Win of
the Season
By: Gene Ostrowski
August 9, 2008
Berwick’s
Brian DeFebo started tenth and held off Rusty Smith of Oxford, NY to
score his second modified main event Saturday night at Mountain
Speedway. Joe Hoffman of Drums, PA notched his second late model win of
the season, and Todd Barbush, also of Drums, PA scored his first street
stock main event win in the last two seasons. Rookie driver, Nick Ross
of Mountaintop, PA, grabbed his fifth feature win of the season in the
thriller class.
Twenty-one modifieds registered at the speedway with hopes of taking the
win in the 40-lap main event.
After winning his heat race earlier in the evening, Todd Baer started
from the pole and grabbed the early lead over Lew Hallock, Geary
Rinehimer, Barry Callavini and Kyle Ebersole.
Rinehimer got by Hallock for the second spot and after starting tenth on
the grid, Brian DeFebo quietly moved through traffic and completed the
pass on Rinehimer to take second on lap number five.
With eleven laps complete, Rusty Smith, who began the race from twelfth,
blasted by Ebersole and Callavini to take third.
The first of four yellow flags waved when Bobby Jones, who was running
fifth, slowed on the speedway after going up in a flume of smoke.
Green flag racing resumed and Rusty Smith managed to get past Baer to
take second.
Despite having to endure three more restarts throughout the remainder of
the show, DeFebo held off a hard charging Smith to score his second main
event win of the season. Smith tied his worst Mountain finish with
second, followed by Ebersole, Callavini and Baer.
“It feels really good to win one of these over Rusty (Smith)”, said
DeFebo in victory lane. He spoke of the great season that the second
place finisher has had thus far at the speedway, as DeFebo has been in
that situation during previous years, “We’re the under dogs here this
season”, he said.
Todd Baer, Brian DeFebo and Geary Rinehimer won the qualifiers.
Joe Brown began the 30-lap late model feature from the pole position,
but Tony Volpe shot to the top spot before a single lap was scored.
With Volpe in command, Mike Sweeney moved into second, followed by Joe
Hoffman.
The red flag was thrown when flames erupted from under the hood of
Volpe’s car while he raced out of turn four. After another stellar run,
Volpe was forced to retire from the event.
The turn of events moved Sweeney to the point with Hoffman, Jim
Lamoreaux, Paul Koehler and Travis Fisher in tow.
Koehler ran out of real estate while coming out of turn two after the
restart. His car climbed the back stretch wall, then landed on all
fours. He continued on, only to drop back a number of positions later
in the race.
Although he appeared to have a quicker car than the leader, Sweeney
continued to fend off Hoffman. That was until lap twenty-two when
Hoffman completed the pass for the top spot.
Hoffman led the remaining laps to score his second win of the season.
Sweeney retained second, followed by Lamoreaux and Fisher. Ricky Ross,
Jr. rounded out the top five.
Heat race wins went to Joe Hoffman and Mike Sweeney.
CJ Lehmann led the sixteen-car strong street stock field down to the
drop of the green in the 25-lap feature event. Lehmann led the first
circuit, and then was overtaken by Elliott Wohl.
Wohl retained the top spot and with six laps in the books Steve Shultz
worked his way into second, followed by Steve Clark, Brian Sones and
Richie DiMarco.
Clark moved by Shultz and into second. While attempting to take the
race lead, Clark and Wohl tangled in turn one. The incident also
collected Sones. The exchanged moved Shultz to the top spot, followed
by DiMarco, Wanamaker, Brad Barbush and Eric Gerchak.
Without a lap completed, Brad Barbush attempted to take the top spot
from Shultz. The two tangled in turn four and DiMarco moved into the
lead for the restart.
DiMarco appeared to have the car to beat, but Gerchak came on strong and
challenged the current points leader for the top spot on numerous
occasions. Meanwhile, Tony Zastko retained third, followed by Todd
Barbush and John Stonier.
The white flag flew with DiMarco and Gerchak side-by-side. The drivers
made contact in three and four, causing them both to spin. The
situation set up a one-lap shoot out with Zastko as the leader.
However, he had to head pit side due to a dragging exhaust pipe.
With one lap remaining, Todd Barbush had the lead and held off his
brother Brad to score his first victory in a couple of seasons.
Stonier, Wanamaker and Wohl completed the top five.
Barbush noted that the victory was in memory of his father Joe, Sr. It
was the first victory for the car that his father had built prior to
passing away during the summer of last year.
Richie DiMarco and Chip Wanamaker won heat races.
Mike Moyer, Sr. led the majority of the 20-lap thriller main event after
starting from the pole position.
With only five laps complete, the elder Moyer began to feel a threat
from his son Mike, Jr. Nick Ross ran a close third, followed by Scott
Adams and Paul Morgan, Jr.
By lap fifteen, Adams moved by Ross for third, then passed the Moyer duo
to take the top spot on the following lap. His lead was short-lived, as
Mike Moyer, Jr. made contact with Adams in turn four. Both drivers were
able to continue, but had to restart from the tail end of the field.
The exchange handed the lead back to Mike Moyer, Sr. for the restart.
Moyer, Sr. held the top spot for a moment, and then was overtaken by
Ross. Wayne Lowe slipped by and into second.
Ross held on to score his fifth win in his strong rookie campaign. Lowe
was second, followed by Nick Shaw, Mike Moyer, Sr. and Paul Morgan, Jr.
Results
Modifieds (40-laps) 1. BRIAN DEFEBO 2. Rusty Smith 3. Kyle Ebersole 4.
Barry Callavini 5. Todd Baer 6. Geary Rinehimer 7. Lewis Hallock 8.
Wayne Szerencsits 9. Amber Levandowski 10. Dave Cranmer 11. Keith
Mullineaux 12. Tom Casagrande 13. Harry Buchman 14. Lenny Fischer 15.
Andy Walko 16. Robert Fink 17.Kevin Orlando 18. Ron Smith 19. Bobby
Jones 20. Rich Parker DNQ: Gerry Brighthaupt
Late Model (30-laps) 1. JOE HOFFMAN 2. Mike Sweeney 3. Jim Lamoreaux 4.
Travis Fisher 5. Ricky Ross Jr 6. Joe Brown 7. Mike Radocha Jr 8. Justin
Onderko 9. Bob Baker 10. Frank Hughes 11. Paul Koehler 12. Tony Volpe
Street Stocks
(25-laps) 1.
TODD BARBUSH 2. Brad Barbush 3. John Stonier 4. Chip Wanamaker 5. Elliot
Wohl 6. CJ Lehmann 7. Keith St Clair 8. Rich DiMarco 9. Josh Oswald 10.
Eric Gerchak 11. Brian Sones 12. Jeff McGrath 13.
Steve Shultz 14. Tony Zastko 15. Mike Tillett 16. Steve Clark
Thrillers (20-laps)
1. NICK ROSS 2. Wayne Lowe 3. Nick Shaw 4. Mike Moyer Sr 5. Paul Morgan
Jr 6. Scott Adams 7. Bob Wink 8. Mike Moyer Jr 9. Pat Verwys
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