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Mountain Madness from Friday, May 20th.


What a miserable day it was during the day on Friday. But, later toward late afternoon/early evening, the skies cleared and the sun was shining. What a great evening for racing!

I won’t go into a huge speech about the track employees, but the past few weeks (in my opinion), have been simply awesome! Donette and Brad have the scoring back to its usual form, Erica is right on time with points, Ed has the site updated by the end of the weekend, and Billy B. has ideas out the wazoo….The list goes on, but one thing is for sure, it has shown over the last few weeks.

How about the drivers? The car counts weren’t extreme in all divisions Friday, but my guess is that rain had some part of that. I was surprised that Balliet’s Country Corners modified point leader, Rusty Smith, didn’t show. He lost his point lead to Jim Long, Jr., but still sits second in the standings.

How about we just get on with things….
Although, the Balliet’s Country Corners modified feature was plagued with nine cautions, it was a good show. Defebo proved that his past championships were no fluke, and Jim Long Jr. displayed his usual consistency, finishing second.

Over the last couple of weeks, Dave Pecko has had his share of misfortune. Coming off last week’s DNF, Pecko mounted a strong charge on Defebo, but ended up spinning when he got in to some of Mother Natures ‘juice’ coming off four.

Pecko restarted from the tail of the field to score a third place finish. Dave, for your comeback, and ending a streak of bad luck, you are on the Fast Track at Mountain Speedway. I keep saying, look for this guy in victory lane, and mean it. There’s plenty more weeks of racing left!

Now two-time ’05 late model winner, Larry Fisher can enjoy a comfortable point lead. After all, it wasn’t so many years ago he was tagged ‘luckless’ Larry Fisher. Fisher has been the class of the field, contending for the win week in and week out.

Joe Hoffman’s only win this year came on opening day. Since then, Joe has had strong runs, but has been in the wrong place at the wrong time. When Hoffman started from the pole Friday, how many thought he would win the feature? Well, feature win or not, rebounding from two straight weeks of rough finishes, Hoffman showed the fans that he’s back on the fast track at Mountain.

Brad Kline edged out Brad Barbush in the nail-biting street stock feature. In victory lane, Brad thanked speedy dry!

It was a rough night for some drivers and officials (glad ya didn’t get run over Marky!), but for others, it was a banner night.

By far, Barbush had his best run thus far in ’05, and it was good seeing Babula back in that #37.

Former factory stock standout, Danny Cascioli, finished fourth in the feature, and also picked up a heat win. So far this season, Cascioli has had disappointing runs, but he changed that Friday. For his efforts in the early season turn around, Cascioli too, showed fans that he could be on the fast track.

After watching the 4 cyl. thriller heat race, I was happy to be out of the drivers seat for a season! Kidding, LOL! However, it was caution filled, with Travis Fisher receiving the worst of it. Fisher didn’t finish the heat, which caused him to start tenth in the feature.

When the green flew for the feature, Shoemaker got to see all those sponsors on his hood, as he pulled from the pole to the infield.

Grocholoski looked sharp, but with two to go, one of the ‘Killer V’s’, Pete Verwys, powered by Grocholoski for the win. Verwys did a great job, after starting dead last in the field, due to missing his heat.

One driver, imparticular, has turned his season around Friday. Here’s a kid who almost won his first feature back in week one, but was taken out. Weeks following that first race, Travis Fisher ran well, but seemed to inherit the ‘luckless’ from his father’s younger years in racing. Friday, Fisher started tenth and finished fourth, picking up six positions in the ultra-competitive 4 cyl. thriller feature, entering his name on the fast track.

Congrats to all the drivers who are ‘on the fast track’ to success at Mountain Speedway! You can pick up your awards at the photo booth after the drivers meeting. See you soon for more Friday night thunder. Tune in next week for more ‘Mountain Madness’, brought to you by Valley Service, J&J Contractors and CAD Visers, Inc.

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