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Paules, Wismer, DiMarco and Truex Wear Saturday “King of the Mountain”
Crowns
Mike Sweeney takes first career late model title, as does
Richie DiMarco in Street Stocks
By: Gene Ostrowski
October 4, 2008
After being pushed back from last weekend’s rain, the 9th
annual “King of the Mountain” events kicked off Saturday at Mountain
Speedway. On a daring last lap pass in lapped traffic, Earl Paules took
the race lead and the checkered flag in the sport modified 75-lapper.
Jimmy Wismer, the defending “King of the Mountain” late model winner
last season made it two in a row and Richie DiMarco closed out his
championship campaign by winning the street stock main event. Ryan
Truex fought a very loose race car to earn his second legend main event
of the season.
The top nine qualifiers redrew for starting spots for the 75-lap sport
modified main event. Jason Willet pulled the pole position and led the
25-car strong field to the drop of the green flag.
Zane Zeiner quickly lurched into the race lead, as Anthony Sesely
slipped into second. With one lap complete, Willet held third, followed
by Mike Skarbowski and Adam Lacicero.
A few quick cautions slowed the event in the early going, one of which
took Lacicero out of contention on lap six. The change of events moved
Marc Nappi into the top five.
Green flag racing resumed and Shaun Carrig, who started back in the
seventeenth position, grabbed fifth from Nappi.
Just past a third of the way through the event, Paules got by Sesely for
second and set his sights on Zeiner. Paules hunted the leader for
several laps before completing the outside pass in turn two on lap
thirty-three.
Paules held the lead with twenty-five laps remaining and Zeiner
continued to run second. Sesely held third with Skarbowski and Carrig
completing the top five.
Paules slipped up the speedway in turn three with five laps remaining.
Zeiner pounced on the opportunity and took the race lead. The duo
approached lapped traffic on the white flag lap and Paules drove
underneath Zeiner and back into the race lead. He took the checkered
flag over Zeiner to claim the exciting victory. Sesely held on for
third, followed by Skarbowski. Rick Zacharias edged Carrig to finish
fifth.
The feat also earned Paules a guaranteed starting spot in SK modified
main event at the upcoming North/South Shootout at the Concord Speedway
next month.
Heat race winners were Earl Paules, Adam Lacicero and Anthony Sesely.
The top six qualifiers redrew for positions to start the 50-lap late
model “King of the Mountain” event. Larry Fisher drew the pole position
and bolted into the race lead at the drop of the green.
Rick Zacharias held second, followed by Ricky Ross, Jr, Tommy Spencer
and Zane Zeiner. Joe Hoffman began to dispose of the competition and
overtook Zacharias for second on lap eight.
The caution flag waved on lap fourteen when Hoffman attempted to driver
underneath Fisher for the top spot in turn one. Spencer was also
collected in the incident. Fisher and Spencer were forced to restart
from the tail end of the field and Hoffman needed the dreaded hook back
to the pit area. The exchange handed the lead to Ross with Mike Sweeney
in second.
Wismer, who was running third on the speedway, quickly took the lead
after the restart. The caution waved on the following lap when Joe
Brown got into Ross, which sent him into a spin. Zeiner, Sweeney and
Frank Hughes were also collected.
Quietly, Tony Volpe moved into the second spot followed by Dave Macomber.
The duo never had the chance to reel in Wismer, as he appeared destined
to visit victory lane for his second straight King of the Mountain
victory.
Wismer crossed the stripe a few car lengths ahead of Volpe to notch the
race win. Macomber finished in the third position, followed by
Spencer. Zeiner overtook Sweeney to finish fifth.
With his sixth place finish, Mike Sweeney sealed his first late model
championship at the speedway.
Larry Fisher and Zane Zeiner were heat race winners.
Richie DiMarco pulled the pole position in the nine-car redraw for the
street stocks. The green flag flew for the 50-lap King of the Mountain
main event and Chip Wanamaker tucked in line behind DiMarco. Bill
Vanderveen held the third spot, followed by Jason Arthoefer and Brad
Barbush.
Steve Shultz and Elliott Wohl began to show some muscle and broke into
the top five just before lap ten.
The first seventeen laps went caution free until Arthoefer had a solo
spin in turn four.
Green flag racing resumed and DiMarco, who appeared to have spun his
tires, was overtaken by Wanamaker for the race lead. Meanwhile, Steve
Clark began to charge into the top five.
DiMarco, who had already clinched the street stock points title a few
weeks ago, drove to the outside of Wanamaker for the lead. DiMarco
regained the spot on lap nineteen, and then Wanamaker took it back two
laps later. Finally, DiMarco retook the lead for good on lap
twenty-two.
Shultz and Clark battled for third with Clark gaining the position.
Clark then overtook Wanamaker for second on lap thirty-nine.
Clark made several attempts to reel in DiMarco over the closing laps,
but was forced to finish in second. Shultz overtook Wanamaker to finish
third and Wohl completed the top five.
Qualifying races went to Steve Clark, Chip Wanamaker and Bill
Vanderveen.
The top nine legend drivers redrew for starting positions for the 30-lap
King of the Mountain main event. Matt Maring pulled the pole position
and brought the twenty-four strong field to the drop of the green flag.
Maring led the first circuit before Ryan Truex, who started third,
overtook him.
With three laps recorded, Truex led over Maring, Drew Weisser, Joey
Mattis and Casey Robicheau.
The caution waved on lap eight when Robicheau spun in turns one and
two. Derek Hopkinson moved into the fifth spot for the restart.
Green flag racing resumed and Mattis and Weisser overtook Maring for
second and third respectively. Hopkinson tried to get by Maring in turn
one, but the two tangled, which brought out the lap ten caution. AJ
Wright was also collected in the incident.
With seventeen laps in the books, Truex continued to lead in what seemed
to be a very loose race car. Mattis retained second, followed by John
Beatty, Kevin Nowak and Weisser.
Despite several attempts by Mattis, Truex manhandled his legend car and
went on to take the prestigious King of the Mountain victory. Mattis
settled for second, followed by John Beatty and Kevin Nowak. Division
points leader, Roger Coss, started dead last and made his way through
the field to finish in the fifth spot.
Heat race wins went to Max Zachem, Derek Hopkinson and Ryan Truex.
Sport Modifieds
(75-laps) 1. EARL PAULES 2. Zane Zeiner 3. Anthony Sesely 4.
Mike Skarbowski 5. Rick Zacharias 6. Shaun Carrig 7. Jason Hearne 8.
Adam Lacicero 9. Robert Geibel 10. Marc Nappi 11. Scott Riggleman 12.
Mike Carpenter 13. Jason Willet 14. Ron Smith 15. Rob Hyer 16. Richie
Knell 17.Randy MacConnell 18. Dan Curtis 19. Bobby Richards 20. Mike
Speeney 21. Robert Sutphin 22.Kevin Orlando 23. Stu Paer 24. Joe King
25. Frank Reakes
Late Models
(50-laps) 1. JIM WISMER 2. Tony Volpe 3. Dave Macomber 4. Tommy
Spencer Jr 5. Zane Zeiner 6. Mike Sweeney 7. Kevin Metzger 8. Ricky Ross
Jr 9. Rick Zacharias 10. Joe Brown 11. Roger Maynor 12. Kyle Harvell 13.
Larry Fisher 14. Frank Hughes 15. Joe Hoffman
Street Stocks (50-laps) 1. RICHIE DIMARCO 2. Steve Clark 3. Steve Shultz
4. Chip Wanamaker 5. Elliot Wohl 6. Brad Barbush 7. Rick Kopf 8. Bill
Vanderveen 9. Earl Paules 10. Eric Gerchak 11. Steve Hoffman 12. Eric
Danyluk 13. Jimmy White 14. CJ Lehmann 15. Jason Arthoefer 16. Jeff
McGrath 17.Scott Reagan 18. Michelle Mooremam 19. Josh Oswald 20. Keith
St Clair 21. Tony Hilliard
Legends (30-laps) 1. RYAN TRUEX 2. Joey Mattis 3. John Beatty 4. Kevin
Nowak 5. Roger Coss 6. Drew Weisser 7. Steven Stull 8. Dan Roslin 9.
Mark Tischler 10. Casey Robicheau 11. Karl Heisler 12. Tommy Barton 13.
Eddie McCarthy 14. Bruce Roslin 15. Glenn Maningo 16. Max Zachem
17.Steve Gaul 18. Johnnie Gloor IV 19. Vinny Troia 20. Matt Maring 21.
Derek Hopkinson 22.Kenny Van Wickle 23. Greg Rittenhouse 24. AJ Wright
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