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6th Edition of Mountain Madness; Friday, May 27th


Welcome to the 6th edition of Mountain Madness!

Fans saw some close and entertaining racing Friday, even with the threat of bad weather in the area. The only hint we saw of Mother Nature’s presence was two quick showers during the late model feature. Thankfully they didn’t lay down much moisture and passed by quickly.

I know it’s still early in the year, but really, we’re about a third through the regular season already! Now’s a good time to start looking at those point standings!

Larry Fisher, along with Brian Defebo and Bill Price, Jr. are on a streak of three-straight feature wins at the speedway! Not long ago, Defebo was down deep in the standings. He currently sits second, while Fisher and Price are atop the standings in their divisions.

Really quick, I want to give a pat on the back to Joe Cutri (track photographer) and Joan Dancho (track programs). They spent the past few months preparing for this season, not knowing what was in store. That new photo booth looks fantastic, and Joe has taken a ton of great pictures so far this season! Stop by the photo booth and say hi to them.

Oh yeah, racing….

It was great to see Rodriguez back in winning form after the vicious crash he suffered two weeks ago. His heat win earned him the pole for the feature, but the young talent spun out twice and was forced to the pits. I also have to apologize to Fisher. In the press release I listed that he inherited the lead. In all actuality, Fisher completed the pass on Rodriguez on lap seventeen.

Don Holland joined the late models for his first run of the season at Mountain. Don had a great run, finishing second to Fisher.

Joe Barbush, Jr. has shown us over the past few weeks that he is hungry for his first win of ’05. Joe finished fourth in the feature, which throws him on the fast track in late models at Mountain Speedway.

As usual, the street stocks put on one hell of a show! Smith, Ahner, Barbush and Meckes all had a legitimate shot to win. Kline, Yamelski and Wanamaker battled back into the top five.

Typically, the driver on the fast track isn’t the feature winner. However, in the case of Scott Meckes, that changed for this week. Scott’s win came after good runs over the past five weeks, however, skirmishes in the other features dwindled his chance for victory. This previous champion is now a feature winner, second in the standings, and has proved he is on the fast track to success in ’05.

When the Balliet Country Corners modifieds took to the track, last week’s ‘fast track’ driver, Dave Pecko looked like he had the vehicle to beat..that was until Brian Defebo took his third straight win, making Pecko settle for second.

My hats off to Jason Arthofer for his fourth place effort. Like Pecko, Arthofer has been in racing for years. Lately, Arthofer has run very well, picking up a couple of heat wins. However, small problems have plagued the team so far this season during the features. Coming off his first top five run this season, Arthofer can add his name to the list of drivers on the fast track at Mountain.

There’s a whole lot you can say about the thriller feature! Heck, it was hard just to keep up with who had spun in turn two, yet alone three and four! As always, that Speedo was something else…sideways & smokin’. Speaking of which, scorers, Donette and Brad manually scored the field. It kind of reminded me of the old Flemington enduro days, as numbers were yelled out and pencils racing across the paper! Didn’t Speedo race at Flemington? It’s believed that the transponder location on most of the cars in the class needs to be addressed.

Just as in the past two thriller features, Bill Price, Jr. was in victory lane. But, the biggest mover of the race had to be Steve Hoffman. He has run well so far this season, but has failed to finish well. Friday, Hoffman went from front to back, then back into the top five enroot to his third place finish! Congrats to Steve Hoffman. Now on the fast track, next visit: victory lane.

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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