Sundance Vacations Speedway- Awesome Asphalt Racing in The Pocono Foothills

Barry Callavini Notches First Career Sport Modified Event at Sundance

By: Gene Ostrowski

April 18, 2010

Despite the threat of rain showers in the area, drivers and fans made the trip to Sundance Vacations Speedway on Sunday to witnessed history in the making when Barry Callavini of Harwood, Pa notched his first career Sport Modified feature victory. Long Island’s Mike Coll took the Late Model lead on the final circuit to take his first victory at the track in five years and Mountaintop’s Paul Morgan, Jr. grabbed the Factory Stock victory. Matt Janisch took home the Wingless Micro Sprint laurels.

Scott Brannick ran the quickest lap during time trials on Saturday and had to roll the dice, which decided the invert for the feature lineup. Brannick rolled a nine, which put Nick Pecko on the pole for the 40-lap main.

Paul Frantz shot by Joe Wielgosz and Pecko and into the race lead at the drop of the green flag. Pecko held second with one lap complete, followed by Jason Hearne, Jimmy Zacharias and Brian Sones. Frantz pulled out to a sizeable advantage before Hearn got by Pecko for second on lap four.

Several cautions plagued the event early on and following a lap six restart, Ricky Ross, Jr. overtook Zacharias for third. The twelfth place starter, Barry Callavini, overtook Ross for the spot two laps later.

The yellow flag waved on lap 11 when Sones spun to the infield. Hearne gave up his second place position to head pit side and Callavini suddenly found himself behind the leader.

Green flag racing resumed and Callavini tried high and low to get around Frantz until the caution flag waved on lap 19 when Will Schneider made contact with Sones entering turn three. The contact caused a brake line to come disconnected on Sones’ car, which prevented him from stopping. His car slammed into, and then climbed the turn three fence. He was not injured and his car was sidelined with substantial damage.

Green flag racing resumed and with only four laps remaining, Callavini finally got Frantz out of shape enough to drive into the lead. Crossing the stripe, he earned his first career Sport Modified victory. Frantz settled for second, which is his best career finish in the division and Ross, Zacharias and Pecko completed the top five.

Mike Coll ran the quickest lap during Late Model time trials and rolled an eight for the redraw, which gave the pole position to Justin Onderko. Onderko decided to start at the tail end of the feature and that put Jerry Hildebrand at the point for the start of the 30-lap Late Model feature.

The green flag flew and Hildebrand led the first circuit with Travis Fisher, Lorin Arthofer, Coll and Dave Macomber in tow. However, the caution flag flew on lap four when Coll got into Arthofer as they race out of turn four. Several cars were collected in the incident, including Kyle Harvell, Craig Lutz, Mike Sweeney and Todd Stehle. Both Lutz and Harvell were forced to retire from the event.

Green flag racing resumed and Hildebrand was slow getting up to speed. That gave Fisher the opportunity to take command. He remained out front with near the halfway point with Macomber in second, followed by Hildebrand, Coll and Onderko.

Two quick cautions followed and Coll capitalized on each of them to gain a position closer to Fisher.

While battling for the lead in turns three and four with only five laps remaining, the pair of drivers tangled. Coll spun and had to restart from the rear of the field. Fisher on the other hand had cosmetic damage and continued as the leader.

With four laps remaining, Coll quickly disposed of the drivers ahead of him and caught Fisher. They battled over the final lap with Stehle following from a close third.

Coll nearly cleared Fisher, who tried to battle back on the outside. Fisher’s car slid up the track, which allowed Stehle to gain the advantage for the second spot behind Coll.

The victory was the first for Coll at the speedway in nearly five years. Stehle finished second, followed by Fisher, Onderko and Austin Kochenash.

Paul Morgan, Jr. ran the quickest lap during the Factory Stock time trials and rolled a three for the field invert, which put Matt Schlenker on the pole for the 20-Lap event. Schlenker dropped to the rear of the field for the start and Eric Wink led his fellow competitors to the green.

Morgan wasted no time and overtook Wink for the lead before a lap was scored. Wink settled into to second, followed by Brandon Oltra, Joe Barbush III and Kenny Kleppinger.

A quick yellow flew on lap three when Kleppinger spun off the front bumper of Jeff Searfoss in turn four. Both drivers tagged on to the rear of the field.

Meanwhile, Wayne Lowe cracked the top five and then overtook Wink for the second spot following the restart.

The second caution of the race came on lap twelve when Searfoss, Oltra and Wink tangled in turn two. With nowhere to go, Kendall Foulk broadsided Wink. Both cars sustained significant sheet metal damage. Meanwhile, Lowe’s car was spewing liquid and he was forced to give up the second spot to head into the pits for service.

With a handful of laps remaining, Morgan continued out front to notch the opening day win over Searfoss, Schlenker, Oltra and Wink.

A pair of Wingless Micro Sprints hit the speedway for a short feature. Matt Janisch took the win over Mark Janisch in the 15-lap contest.

Barry Callavini, Joe Burns and Eric Wink each won $50 apiece when their finishing position was pulled in victory lane for the Sundance Vacations contingency program.

Sundance Vacations is a national wholesale travel company that specializes in providing wholesale travel and discount vacations to travelers who appreciate budget-friendly travel. Founded in 1991 by John and Tina Dowd, Sundance Vacations’ mission is to provide quality discount vacations at a fraction of the retail rate. A destination-based discount travel program, Sundance Vacations enables customers to enjoy discount vacations in many popular resort areas across the United States.

Sundance Vacations Speedway is just minutes from Hazleton, Pa, located on St. John’s Road, between Routes 93 and 309. Grandstand admission for all regular events is just $10 for ages 11 and older. Children 10 years of age and younger are admitted for free.

Please visit www.sundancevacationsspeedway.com for the entire 2010 schedule, point standings and up to date news and information.

Sport Modified (40-Laps) 1. BARRY CALLAVINI 2. Paul Frantz 3. Ricky Ross Jr 4. Jim Zacharias 5. Nick Pecko 6. Jason Hearne 7. William Schneider 8. Todd Baer 9. Joe Wielgosz 10. Scott Brannick 11. CJ Lacatvia 12. Gordan Buchman 13. Frank Scimeca 14. Brian Sones

Late Model (30-Laps) 1. MIKE COLL 2. Todd Stehle 3. Travis Fisher 4. Justin Onderko 5. Austin Kochenash 6. Jerry Hilderbrant 7. Joe Burns 8. Mike Sweeney 9. Geno Steigerwalt 10. Adam Cox 11. Dave Macomber 12. Lorin Arthofer 13. Craig Lutz 14. Kyle Harvell DNS: Troy Bollinger

Factory Stock (20-Laps) 1. PAUL MORGAN, JR 2. Jeff Searfoss 3. Matt Schlenker 4. Brandon Oltra 5. Eric Wink 6. Joe Barbush III 7. Keith Frankenfield 8. Kendall Foulk 9. Mike O'Byrne 10. Ken Kleppinger 11. Wayne Lowe 12. Kermit Jacoby

Wingless Micro Sprints (15-Laps) 1. MATT JANISCH 2. Mark Janisch