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Robin Schweire, Dominic Ranieri Jr., & Harry
Sager Victors in the Frostbite II
By Ginger Kline –
January 6, 2008
Mountain Speedway got its 2008 season underway this
Saturday with the Frostbite II. This is the first race of the Mountain
Madness Enduro Series sponsored by ABC Car Crushing and Auto Parts out
of Hunlocks Creek, PA. Several fans braved the cold to watch the first
races of 2008. The fields were set with the drivers pulling for position
and the coin toss which inverted the field for all three classes. The 4
cylinders got underway with 42 drivers hungry for the win. Robin
Schweire of East Quogue, NY in his #99 emerged victorious. Dominic
Ranieri Jr. kept himself ahead of defending champion Jeff Walls for the
win in the 6/8 cylinders. Harry Sager of Hanover Township, PA won the
first race of the added “Trophy Trucks” series for 2008. The day may
have been cold outside, but the action on the track was very hot.
The 4 cylinders took to the track first with an
impressive 42 car field. David Bentley Jr. led until lap 41. At that
point the red flag flew as a couple cars came together. One of the cars
who stopped on under the red was the 19X of Jimmy White Jr. As the field
got back underway, White did not get restarted and was slammed from
behind by the #28 of Allen Myers who had no where else to go. The red
flag flew once again on lap 42 to remove White by ambulance. White would
be fine and return for the next 6/8 cylinder event. On the restart,
Robin Schweire in the #99 took over the lead with a great jump on
Bentley. The red flag was displayed once more on lap 50 to remove Mike
Ventura from his #27V. Ventura got caught up a lap earlier when the #38
of Bob Haeger and the #83 of Randy Ahner Jr. got together. Twice more
during the event the red flag waved. But the flag that mattered to
Schweire was the last one. As the checkered flag dropped, Robin Schweire
claimed the win over David Bentley in the 100-lap event.
Added to the Mountain Madness Enduro Series for
2008 and next to take the track for their 25-lap event was the “Trophy
Trucks.” Six trucks began the race with Rich Onorato in his #7 leading
the field to the green flag. By lap 7 Onorato had his hands full with
the #61 of Harry Sager. The two of them raced side by side for several
laps. The #44 of Mike Mujusce caught up with them to make it a three-way
battle for the lead. On lap 12, Sager pulled passed Onorato and took
over the top spot. While running third, Mujusce spun around on the front
stretch into the snowy field of turns one and two. He would end up a lap
down. Harry Sager, pulling triple duty running in all three of the day’s
events, pulls into victory lane earning the win for the first Trophy
Truck event of 2008.
The last event of the day was the 6/8 cylinder
endures for their 100-lap race. The #78 of Vinnie Green led the 42 cars
to the start. The red flag came out quickly on lap 4 as the #53 of Joe
Cardiello died in turn four and he needed to be removed from his
vehicle. Kevin Nowak in his #53 truck ran the Trophy Truck event earlier
and decided to run it in this event as well. Unfortunately he would have
trouble early bringing out the red flag on lap eight. A hard shot from
behind snapped the rear axle of his machine sending the pieces across
the track. On lap 11, Joe Jentile in the #41 took the lead. Third place
runner #78 Vinnie Green took a spin on lap 44. Lap 50 saw the #266 of
Bob Kulik and the #61 of Harry Sager got together and Sager’s day would
end at the halfway point of the race. The #98 of Dominic Ranieri Jr.
moved into the lead on lap 56. Defending 2007 Champion Jeff Walls in his
#31X did everything possible to stay out of trouble and catch the
leader, but was never successful. Ranieri Jr. utilized the lapped traffic
to keep a safe distance between himself and Walls. With three to go,
Walls threw caution to the wind taking things three-wide trying to catch
up to Ranieri Jr. Things got very exciting with two laps to go and the
fans saw cars spinning all over the track trying to gain positions. In
the end, Dominic Ranieri Jr. emerged victorious claiming the first win of
the 2008 series in this division.
Final Results:
4 Cylinder Enduros:
1 - Robin Schweire, 2 - David Bentley Jr., 3
- Luke Colleran, 4 - Ed Brown Jr., 5 - Harry Sager, 6 - Duane Garrison,
7 - Robert Fink, 8 - Robin Vollmoeller Sr., 9 - Ollie Stewart, 10 - Bob
Haeger, 11 - John Saccomandi, 12 - Charles Barbesch, 13 - Sam Ryan, 14 -
Art Kulik, 15 - Mike Dunn, 16 - Travis Fisher, 17 - Josh Oswald, 18 -
Anthony Pizzo, 19 - Jack McElrath, 20 - Scott Adams, 21 - Lou Honeywell,
22 - Brandon Brown, 23 - Randy Ahner Jr., 24 - Larry Spencer III, 25 -
Allen Myers, 26 - Travis Schwenk, 27 - Jeff Sheetz, 28 - Tony Arcaro, 29
- Ken Harper, 30 - Mark Foreman, 31 - Bobby Coco, 32 - Mike Ventura, 33
- Shawn Wanat, 34 - Larry Spencer Jr., 35 - Jeremy Krauss, 36 - Larry
Fisher, 37 - Denise Siegel, 38 - Jimmy White Jr., 39 - Bob Wohlgemuth,
40 - Keith Llewellyn, 41 - Justin Dunn, 42 - Patrick Thomas
6/8 Cylinder Enduros:
1 - Dominic Ranieri Jr., 2 - Jeff Walls, 3 - Joe Jentile, 4 - Mark
Spencer, 5 - Bob Wink, 6 - Drew Atchison, 7 - Mike Parisi, 8 - Brian
Brown, 9 - Bobby Coco, 10 - Stu Paer, 11 - Rich DiMarco, 12 - Angelo
Speziautti, 13 - Steve Tito, 14 - Vince James, 15 - Joe Marko, 16 - Rich
Graboske, 17 - Brad Krause, 18 - Tom Slee, 19 - Robin Schweire, 20 -
Richard Paciotti, 21 - Dean Woolford, 22 - Shawn Gallucci, 23 - TJ
Kapish, 24 - Tracy Berger Carmen, 25 - Joe Helberg, 26 - Rich Moyer, 27
- Tom Szoke, 28 - David Schneider, 29 - Bob Kulik, 30 - Aaron Miller, 31
- Cory Student, 32 - Harry Sager, 33 - James Presley, 34 - Jimmy White
Jr., 35 - Frank Reakes, 36 - Keith Frankenfield, 37 - Ed Brown Jr., 38 -
Kevin Nowak, 39 - Donny Oliver, 40 - Joe Cardiello, DQ - Vinnie Green
Trophy Trucks: 1
- Harry Sager, 2 - Rich Onorato, 3 - Kevin Nowak, 4 - Frank Katona, 5 -
Jeff Gregor, 6 - Mike Mujusce Jr.
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