Sundance Vacations Speedway- Awesome Asphalt Racing in The Pocono Foothills

Bobby Jones Notches Sundance Modified Victory at Evergreen Reunion

By: Gene Ostrowski

June 5, 2010

In conjunction with the third annual Evergreen Raceway Reunion and after finishing as the runner up in his last outing, Bobby Jones of Lehighton wheeled his Modified to his first feature win of the season Saturday at Sundance Vacations Speedway. Steve Shultz of Drums notched his first Street Stock victory of the season and East Stroudsburg’s Bill Verwys, Jr. scored his second main event win of the year. Robin Johnston held off his fellow ATQMRA competitors to notch his first win of the year at the speedway.

Alan Creveling started from the pole and led the field to the drop of the green flag in the 40-lap Modified main event. Dave Schneider took command before a lap was complete and with one lap in the books and from his fourth starting spot, Bobby Jones took the top spot.

Jones began to drive away from the field during the opening laps and Schneider retained the second spot. Nick Pecko ran third with Kyle Ebersole and Earl Paules in tow.

Ebersole overtook Pecko for the third position on lap five and then Paules took fourth from Pecko three laps later.

With Jones still in command and with Schneider in second, Ebersole and Paules ran door to door for third. Eventually Paules completed the third place pass on lap 17 and then moved by Schneider for second four circuits later.

The first of two caution flags waved on lap 25 when Wayne Szerencsits spun in turns one and two. Jones had a stellar lead prior to the yellow flag and knew that he’d have his hands full with Paules on the restart. Ebersole lined up third, followed by Schneider and Todd Baer.

Green flag racing resumed and Jones took off like a rocket. Meanwhile, Ebersole and Paules battled for second.

After finishing second to Paules two weeks ago, Jones cruised on to take the checkered flag and the $1500 prize for his first win of the second over Paules, Ebersole, Baer and Pecko.

Nick Pecko and Alan Creveling picked up heat race wins and Baer picked up $50 because his finishing position was pulled in victory lane for the Sundance Vacations Contingency Program.

Mike Garris, Sr. led the Street Stock field to the drop of the green flag in the 25-lap feature and was quickly overtaken by Josh Oswald. However, contact between the top two ended in a turn four spin by Oswald before a lap was complete.

The exchange moved Brian Brown to the point for the complete restart and was challenged by Mitch Hawk for the lead. Hawk overtook Brown and Steve Shultz followed for second with Chip Wanamaker and Joe Barbush in pursuit.

Shultz jumped to the outside groove and battled Hawk. The duo came across the strip to complete lap three and Shultz had a small advantage and led the lap.

Problems stuck Harry Sager as he came out of turn two on the fourth circuit. With a flat right rear tire and unable to turn, Sager shot up the racetrack. With nowhere to go, Richie DiMarco jumped to the outside and Sager collected him. With damage, both drivers were forced to retire from the event.

Green flag racing resumed and Shultz began to distance himself from the rest of the field over the remaining green flag laps. He crossed the stripe and took his first $500 feature win of the season over Hawk, Wanamaker, Scott Meckes and Joe Barbush. Shultz was awarded another $100 for the victory, which was courtesy of Dale Fey, the 1990 Street Stock champion and owner of Wheel’s Bar & Grill.

Steve Shultz and Scott Meckes were heat race winners.

Jay Skupski sat on the pole and led the opening circuit of the 20-lap 4 Cyl. FWD feature before he was overtaken by Bill Verwys, Jr. Skupski retained the runner up spot on lap three with Robert Fink, Dave Freundt and Brian Kunkel in tow.

With Verwys out front, Fink worked around Skupski for the second spot on lap four and then began to reel in the leader.

Verwys continued to hold off Fink at halfway and Freundt, Kunkel and Mike Kline pursued the pair.

Only slowed once for a yellow involving Eric Banashefski, Verwys held off Fink to notch his second win of the season. Freundt finished third, followed by Kline and Banashefski.

Jeff Kot started from the pole in the 25-lap ATQMRA feature and appeared to have the car to beat. However, from out of nowhere, Robin Johnston overtook the leader with four laps remaining to take the checkered flag over Kot. Ian and Alison Cumens finished third and fourth respectively, followed by Matt Janisch.

Frank Fischer and Robin Johnston earned heat race victories.

Several drivers from the yesteryears of Evergreen Raceway come out to enjoy the third annual Evergreen reunion. The event program book focused on the speedway’s stars from 1990. All three champions from that season were in attendance, which included Roger Heffelfinger (Modified), Dale Fey (Street Stock) and Brian Wozniak (Thriller). Wozniak competed in his Street Stock.

Several other Evergreen drivers and/or champions were in attendance. Just to name a few were Chuck Schartzer, Kenny Sones, Mike Rodriguez, Sr., Todd Geist and Gordy Buchman. The Garden State Vintage Stock Car Club even brought out a handful of cars so that fans could see the cars of yesterday on the speedway.

Modified (40-laps) 1. BOBBY JONES 2. Earl Paules 3. Kyle Ebersole 4. Todd Baer 5. Nick Pecko 6. David Schneider 7. Alan Creveling 8. Harry Buchman 9. Tommy Wannick III 10. Tom Casagrande 11. Wayne Szerencsits

Street Stock (25-laps) 1. STEVE SHULTZ 2. Mitch Hawk 3. Chip Wanamaker 4. Scott Meckes 5. Joe Barbush 6. Brad Barbush 7. Robert Fink 8. Josh Oswald 9. Brian Brown 10. Brian Wozniak 11. Mike Garris Sr 12. Jeff McGrath 13. Robert Haueisen 14. Harry Sager 15. Rich DiMarco

4 Cyl. FWD (20-laps) 1. BILL VERWYS, JR 2. Robert Fink 3. Dave Freundt 4. Mike Kline 5. Eric Banashefski 6. Brian Kunkel 7. Jay Skupski 8. John Smith

ATQMRA (25-laps) 1. ROBIN JOHNSTON 2. Jeff Kot 3. Ian Cummens 4. Alison Cummens 5. Matt Janisch 6. Frank Fischer 7. Paul Lotier Jr 8. Buddy Sload 9. Joe Lord 10. Chris DeRitis 11. Dan Lane 12. John Dalrymple 13. Chad Jones 14. Matt Roselli