Sundance Vacations Speedway- Awesome Asphalt Racing in The Pocono Foothills

Modified ace Paules turns up the heat to pad points lead

By: Mike Odwazny

June 19, 2010

After a fifth place finish at Spencer Speedway in an R.O.C. event on Friday night, Tour Type Modified points leader Earl Paules of Palmerton, PA. towed into Sundance Vacations Speedway on Saturday with his favorite race car and proceeded to drive away to the $1500 top prize. Chip Wanamaker of Walnutport, PA. would lead all 25 circuits of the exciting Street Stock caution free feature event. And Dave Freundt of Lehighton, PA. would edge Robert Fink by .006 at the line for the thrilling FWD feature win.

Josh Oswald would lead the Street Stocks to the green, but before the first lap was complete Chip Wanamaker would grab the top spot. Steve Schultz, who won the last Street Stock feature two weeks ago, began to move forward. Mitch Hawk, who is a teammate to Chip Wanamaker, moved into the 2nd spot early. By lap 10, the top five would be Wanamaker, Hawk, Schultz, Joe Barbush, and Scott Meckes. Schultz would move to 2nd by lap 12, but Wanamaker would prove to be too strong and marched to victory in the caution free event. Wanamaker had engine problems in practice which kept the crew busy, and he thanked them in victory lane.

John Smith of Plymouth, PA. lead the start of the FWD feature, but Eric Banashefski would wrestle the lead before lap 1 was in the books. The caution would fly on lap 1 for an incident involving Bill Verwys Jr. and Jay Skupski. Banashefski would continue to lead until lap 7, when Robert Fink began to challenge Banashefski on the outside. The side by side battle would allow Mike Kline, Dave Freundt, and Bill Verwys Jr., to join the mix. Kline would attempt to pass Banashefski on lap 10, but they would make contact, bringing out the caution. By lap 15, Robert Fink continued to lead, with Freundt following closely behind. Kline had worked his way back to 3rd, as the caution flew on lap 15 for Banashefski's single car spin. After the final restart, Freundt and Fink would battle side by side over the final circuits, with Kline running a close third. However, Freundt would use the outside, to power ahead of Fink off turn four back to the checkered, and grab the top prize by a bumper.

In the Modified feature, Tom Wanick III would start from the pole position and lead early. Meanwhile, Earl Paules began rocketing toward the front from his 7th place starting spot. By lap 7, Paules would move into the 4th spot. The caution flag would wave on lap 8, for the #19A of Dave Schneider. The restart would see the #1w of Tom Wanick III, not get up to speed and after the field bottled up, several cars would be scattered in turn one including Schneider, Jim Bojohnny, and Pete Brittain, who would receive the most damage and end up in the turn 1 foam. Wayne Szerencsits would begin to mount a charge and enter the top five by lap 14, as the caution flew once again for Schneider and "Nitro" Nick pecko, who were tangled together and would take a brief delay to seperate them, with help from the track welder. A few more single cars spins would plague the Modified feature, but Earl Paules would prove to be dynamite on restarts and power his way to the top spot. Earl commanded the lead over the last last half of the event, as Bobby Jones was his only threat. Bobby Jones trailed Earl Paules at the line by just a car length, and continued his string of solid runs, despite no practice after an oil leak was discovered upon arrival at the speedway. Hazleton, PA.'s Tom Wanick would have a career best 3rd place finish, followed by Todd Baer, and Wayne Szerencsits at the checkered. Heat race winners were Baer and Paules in the Modifieds, Hawk and Wanamaker in the Street Stocks, and Fink and Freundt in the FWDS. Contingency winners were Josh Oswald, Mike Kline, and Todd Baer.

Modified (40-laps)
1 8 Earl Paules
2 1 Bobby Jones
3 1W Tommy Wannick III
4 41 Todd Baer
5 3S Wayne Szerencsits
6 71 Allen Creveling
7 28 CJ Jones
8 27B Harry Buchman
9 42 Nick Pecko
10 19 Travis Fisher
11 19A David Schneider
12 22 Pete Brittain
13 2 Jim Bojohnny
14 7 Wayne Kocher

Street Stock (25-laps)
1 44C Chip Wanamaker
2 25 Steve Shultz
3 4H Mitch Hawk
4 22 Joe Barbush
5 26 Scott Meckes
6 4 Brad Barbush
7 78 Robert Fink
8 17 Josh Oswald
9 55 Mike Garris Sr
10 85 Brian Wozniak
11 73 Robert Haueisen
12 31 Jeff McGrath

FWD (20-laps)
1 24 Dave Freundt
2 75 Robert Fink
3 20 Mike Kline
4 38 Jay Skupski
5 8 Bill Verwys
6 68 Eric Banashefski
7 67 John Smith
8 19 Brian Kunkel