News Director 
Story By: STEVE PADOS / ACCORD SPEEDWAY – ACCORD, NY – Accord Speedway Promoters Gary and Donna Palmer have enjoyed a great season thus far in 2018 even though there have been evenings when the skies were threatening and even doused the speedway with precipitation. Through all of the challenges they have been able to promote some of the very best racing action around.
They have been able to throw caution to the wind and continue on with their season and the solid fan base has appreciated the hard work and effort the Palmer Family has put into the facility and the ability to dodge most of the challenges they have been faced with. Friday night produced another of those great nights as another great crowd was on hand to enjoy the evening of speed sponsored by the good folks at HO Penn. (www.http://hopenn.com)
“The Montgomery Missile” Anthony Perrego rocked the house with an outstanding drive to capture his first Modified win of the season at Accord and in doing so keeping the Modified win list at seven different drivers winning after seven events in the Insinger Fuels Modified finale. “The Bushkill Bullet” Kyle Rohner captured his fourth win of the season in in the Arkel Motors Sportsman main event. Steve Williams claimed his second win of the season as he captured the Upstate Auto Pure Stock encounter. “The Captain” Jeremy Quick raced to his third win of the season in the WRWD Radio NEWS Sprint Car feature. Garden Stater “The Angle” Cole Stangle was triumphant in the WRWD Radio Rookie Sportsman feature event and became the first driver to double down in the division. Ray See Sr was triumphant in the Northeast Vintage Modifed finale. The Emmanuel’s Marketplace Fireball 4-Cylinder feature competed in two feature attractions and Jerry Kingeter and Shawn Maloney each captured a win.
“The Lightning Bolt” Modified rookie Rich Ricci III jumped into the lead from his front row starting spot and immediately found the center lane of the speedway much to his liking as he was able to control the top spot easily though the first ten laps. Seventh starting Anthony Perrego worked his magic through the field and would begin to pressure Ricci with some baseline moves from both ends of the speedway. Perrego would vault into the lead on lap-13 and began to carve out some distance on those behind him. Mike Ricci would move into second with Jerry HIgbie following suit into third place. Mike Ricci would quickly find the lane he enjoyed and would close in the ranks on Perrego and the two would be nose to tail when a spin slowed the action. On the restart Perrego quickly raced out to a four car length lead he would maintain as the checkered flag fell for Perrego as he captured his first Accord Speedway win of the season. Mike Ricci would earn runner-up honors with Jerry Higbie, Richard Smith and Rich Ricci III completing the top five. Danny Creeden headed up the second five with Rich Ricci Jr, the returning Tyler Boniface, Michael Storms, and Allison Ricci completing the top ten.
The Arkel Motors Sportsman event found Matt Shultz in the lead for one lap before spinning out in front of the field in turn three with the drivers doing some great work in avoiding a potentially dangerous situation. When racing resumed Chris VanDuser would lead for a lap before yielding to the high flying Kyle Rohner. Rohner would carve out a huge advantage over the field as he separated himself from the pack and he would easily race to his fourth win of the season. Cole Hentschel was second with Hunter Lapp, Nick Plumstead and Chris VanDuser completing the top five. Anthony Recchio would head the second five with Matt Shultz, Kevin Stevens, Mike Senecal and Alex VanPelt rounding out the top ten.
Charles Loiodice raced into the lead at the start of the WRWD Radio Rookie Sportsman feature attraction. Loiodice enjoyed a quick breakaway from the field as he appeared headed for his second win of the season. On lap-12 Charles Loiodice came to a rolling stop in turns three and four and would be pushed into the pits. Cole Stangle inherited the lead and that was all he needed to lead the final three laps and claim his second win of the season. Travis Green rallied to finish in the runner-up slot while Joe Coppola, Brian Durbin and newcomer Bryan Jones would complete the top five positions.
In the Upstate Auto Pure Stock event Travis Brockner would lead for a lap before yielding to Steve Williams. Williams would lead until a lap-4 crash would take Brockner from the field. On the restart it would again be Williams and he would be challenged each step of the way by John Hechinger. Hechinger pulled close on occasion and on lap-12 smoke began to billow from the Williams race car. He would hold on to capture his second win of the season with Hechinger, Emerson Cargain, Ray Tarantino and Steve Kanuk following.
Mick D’Agostino would jump into the lead off of turn four at the start in the WRWD Radio NEWS Sprint feature. D’Agostino would lead until a scary wreck would put Dan Malley upside down in turn one. Malley would walk away from the incident. On the restart Jeremy Quick would step hard on the gas pedal and take over the lead and the power move would take him all of the way to the checkered flag for his third win of the season.
Mick D’Agostino would ern runner-up honors while the returning Bobby Tersillo, Jordan Lawrence and newcomer Gary Huston would complete the top five.
In the regularly scheduled Fireballers feature, Jesse Torrens led the first five laps before giving way to Shawn Maloney. Maloney was fast from any part of the raceway and would go on to earn his first win of the season. Jerry Kingeter, Jeff DeGroat, Ryan Heady and Jesse Torrens completed the top five.
In the held over Fireballers event, Williw DeGraw led for the first three laps until Jerry Kingeter sailed by him. Kingeter would lead the rest of the way to pick up his third win of the season. DeGraw would finish second with Jeff DeGroat, Shawn Maloney and Russell Doland completing the top five.
The Northeast Vintage Modified main found third starting Ray See Sr taking the lead on the backstretch of lap one and then leading all of the way despite some final lap heroics from Mike Houghtaling. See Sr, Mike Houghtaling, Mike Brown, Charlie Houghtaling and Bob Harless completed the top five. A great car count was on hand for the event as 15-cars took the green flag to start the event.
GEMSTONES:
The hotly contested racing action was completed at 11 PM. Kudos again to Gary Palmer and crew for whipping the speedway into excellent shape for the evening of racing action.
Heat wins went to Richard Smith, Danny Creeden and Jimmy Wells in the Modified division while three heats were needed for the Sportsman with wins going to Matt Shultz, Danny Morgiewicz and Cole Hentschel. The Rookie Sportsman heats were claimed by John Brown and Charles Loiodice. Mick D’Agostino captured the sprint car heat win. The Pure Stock heat win was captured by Travis Brockner. Fireball heat winners included Jesse Torrens and Richard Smith. Mike Brown and Charlie Houghtaling were victorious in the Vintage heats.
Craig Cuneo returned to action in 2018 and has made the transition into the sportsman division. Unfortunately Craig was caught up in the crash at the start of the feature. Good to see Mark Pullen return to action in the Modifieds. “Double D” Dave Demorest returned to action in the Sportsman. Bryan Jones was a new addition to the rookie ranks in a car that appeared to be similar to a former Bloom owned race car. Good to see Bobby Tersillo return to action in the sprinters.
Mark Conolly got upside down in the sprint car heat but repaired the car in time for the feature although he was early casualty.
RESULTS:
Insinger Fuels Modifieds: Anthony Perrego, Mike Ricci, Jerry Higbie, Richard Smith, Rich Ricci III, Danny Creeden, Rich Ricci Jr, Tyler Boniface, Michael Storms, Allison Ricci, Joe Judge, Jesse Marks, Eddie Burgess, Jimmy Wells, Scott Ferrier, Mark Pullen, Kennie FErrier, Kyle VanDuser
Arkel Motors Sportsman: Kyle Rohner, Cole Hentschel, Hunter Lapp, Nick Plumstead, Chris VanDuser, Anthony Recchio, Matt Shultz, Kevin Stevens, Mike Senecal, Alex VanPelt, Shane Henion, Dave Demorest, Danny Morgiewicz, Tyler Johnston, Leo Fotopolous, Craig Cuneo, RJ Smith, Mike Murphy
WRWD Radio NEWS Sprint Cars: Jeremy Quick, Mick D’Agostino, Bobby Tersillo, Jordan Lawrence, Gary Huston, Kyle Pugliese, Dan Malley, Mark Conolly
WRWD Radio Rookie Sportsman: Cole Stangle, Travis Green, Joe Coppola, Brian Durbin,
Bryan Jones, John Brown, Erin Paulison, Jeff Higham, Charles Loiodice, Mike Travis
Emmanuel’s Marketplace Fireball 4-Cylinders: Shawn Maloney, Jerry Kingeter, Jeff DeGroat, Ryan Heady, Jesse Torrens, Anthony Tarantino, Marisol Torrens, Ed King, Nicole Nelson, Brandon Conklin, Richard Smith, Willie DeGraw, Geroge Barringer
Upstate Auto Pure Stock: Steve Williams, John Hechinger, Emerson Cargain, Ray Tarantino, Steve Kanuk, Travis Brockner
Northeast Vintage Modified: Ray See Sr, Mike Houghtaling, Mike Brown, Charlie Houghtaling, Bob Harless, Tom Laner, John Roese, Jimmy Halpin, Bill Leise, Bob Schmidt, Joe Judge, Doug Atkins, Dan McKiernan, John Atkins
Emmanuel’s Marketplace Fireball 4_Cylinders: (Heldover From June 1st) Jerry Kingeter, Willie DeGraw, Jeff DeGroat, Shawn Maloney, Russel Doland, Ryan Heady, Richard Smith, Brandon Conklin, Marisol Torrens, Ed King, Anthony Tarantino, Nicole Nelson, Jesse Torrens, Ken Brrainger, Samsara Torrens
