Column By: MIKE TRAVERSE / RPW – FONDA, NY – On a very warm early July weekend, It was Stewart Friesen and Jack Lehner taking the Modified wins on the Palmer’s Service Center Hall of Fame Night.
The opening Modified feature was one held over from May 25th. On that night, Friesen made a great draw and from 2nd starting spot, he quickly drove to the lead and pretty much had things his own way during the race.
“Big thanks to the Halmar team. It’s a big group. It’s been a long week with a lot of racing. Really appreciate my guys. Obviously, we had a good draw back in May,” Friesen said. “It paid off. The track was really fast.”
The original start saw Michael Maresca having a flip on the backstretch, heavily damaging his car. Maresca was able to walk away from the crash and continue to compete in the regular feature.
With the race only slowed once more with Brian Calabrese slowing and pulling into the infield, Friesen was off and running. He was lapping cars at a quick clip and by the time the checkered flags flew, only 5 cars had completed the 30 laps.
Jack Lehner gave chase, but at the finish, he was 7 seconds behind the 44. Alex Yankowski finished 3rd, Jessica Friesen 4th and early leader Ryan Odasz 5th.
Finishing 6th was Darwin Greene, Brian Pessolano 7th, Bobby Hackel IV 8th, Cody Clark 9th and Pep Corradi 10th.
In the regularly scheduled feature, Lehner got a break. It appeared that Cody Clark was on his way to a win. Clark had led the first 24 laps. But with 6 to go, he slowed on the frontstretch and Lehner, racing the Nelson Racing 85, was able to outrun Yankowski to the finish to record his 2nd Fonda Speedway win.
“The first win was very memorable. We’ve had a lot of good runs since then, but we hadn’t found our way back to Victory Lane, Lehner said. “We’re excited to be able to do that tonight. It was just one of those night’s to have a great race car all night. It’s great to get this done for Eric and Bill Nelson.”
Yankowski, who took over the Modified point standings lead after the holdover feature, had another great finish of 2nd that will certainly help in his quest for the championship. Pessalano finished 3rd, Ronnie Johnson 4th and Stewart Friesen was 5th.
Completing the top 10 were Hackel IV 6th, Rocky Warner 7th, Odasz 8th, Maresca 9th and Calabrese 10th.
Brendan Gibbons won his first ever Fonda Speedway Crate 602 Sportsman feature as he was able to beat the red hot Payton Talbot to the checkered flag.
“It’s about damn time,” said an elated Gibbons in Victory Lane. “We’ve struggled here. We’ve been good here and all over the map. But tonight on the first lap, I knew we had something.”
Gibbons took the lead just before halfway from Connor Prokop and was able to hold off the charge of Talbot.
“After getting the lead, I just had to stay clean. This is awesome.”
Following Talbot in the top 5 were Chad Edwards 3rd, Prokop 4th and Dylan Madsen 5th. Rounding out the top 10 were Tanner Warner 6th, Brett Mortensen 7th, Tyler Bobar 8th, Ricky Quick 9th and Tyler Peet 10th.
Ken Gates was Saturday’s Pro Stock winner. Gary Silkey was 2nd, Ivan Joslin 3rd, Beau Ballard 4th and Jason Morrison 5th.
“The track was perfect for me. It was locked down. And we’re really good on the bottom,” Gates said. “The car seemed to be getting faster and faster as the race went on. I was surprised how good it was.”
The Limited Sportsman also ran a pair of features. In the holdover feature from May 25th, it was Corky Warner recording his first ever Limited Sportsman win at Fonda.
“It’s definitely awesome. To go from a kid flagging in the stands to getting a win at Fonda Speedway it’s pretty cool,” Corky said. “It’s not easy, we put in a lot of hours in the shop. It’s just awesome.”
AJ Greco finished 2nd with Jeff Boblin 3rd, Walter Cook 4th and Lance Hill 5th.
In the regularly scheduled feature, Steve Wagoner raced to Victory Lane in a close one.
“It’s unbelievable, I don’t know what to say,” said an almost stunned Wagoner in Victory Lane. “It was a crazy night with the red flags and cautions. Started on the front row. The wolves were behind me.”
Cook finished 2nd, Hill 3rd, Kirsten Swartz 4th and Greco 5th.
Jim Ingersoll was Saturday’s 4 Cylinder Dual Cam winner. Kerrie Hollenbeck was 2nd and Ken Hollenbeck was 3rd and the Single Cam winner. It was a milestone win for Ken as it was his 100th.
The Mohawk Valley Vintage Dirt Modified Series brought their great brand of cars and racing to Fonda on Saturday. The winners:
Jim Fugel, Antique
Will Reed, Late Models
Joe Rando, Mystiques
Randy Delaney, Modifieds
Brian Gray, Sportsman
Next Saturday at Fonda Speedway, it will be Infinity Custom Harvesting Night: Thunder on the Thruway Series Modifieds ($4,000 to win), Crate 602 Sportsman ($1,500 to win), Pro Stocks ($1,000 to win) – All divisions.
Modifieds
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 85-Jack Lehner[6]; 2. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[7]; 3. 24P-Brian Pessolano[1]; 4. 2RJ-Ronnie Johnson[9]; 5. 44-Stewart Friesen[13]; 6. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[8]; 7. 1-Rocky Warner[10]; 8. 93-Ryan Odasz[16]; 9. 7MM-Michael Maresca[12]; 10. 21C-Brian Calabrese[18]; 11. 21P-Luciano (Pep) Corradi[11]; 12. 20C-Craig Hanson[14]; 13. 42-Tucker O’Connor[2]; 14. 1G-Darwin Greene[19]; 15. 4-Cody Clark[3]; 16. 34-Dave Constantino[4]; 17. 15M-Daniel Morgiewicz Jr[17]; 18. 96-Andy Graves[21]; 19. 76-Jamike Sowle[15]; 20. 66-Don Bellen[20]; 21. 27-Jason Reome[22]; 22. 1Z-Jessica Friesen[5]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 42-Tucker O’Connor[2]; 2. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[5]; 3. 34-Dave Constantino[4]; 4. 1-Rocky Warner[6]; 5. 44-Stewart Friesen[8]; 6. 93-Ryan Odasz[7]; 7. 1G-Darwin Greene[3]; 8. 27-Jason Reome[1]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 4-Cody Clark[2]; 2. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[5]; 3. 1Z-Jessica Friesen[4]; 4. 21P-Luciano (Pep) Corradi[6]; 5. 20C-Craig Hanson[3]; 6. 15M-Daniel Morgiewicz Jr[7]; 7. 66-Don Bellen[1]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 2RJ-Ronnie Johnson[5]; 2. 85-Jack Lehner[4]; 3. 7MM-Michael Maresca[6]; 4. 24P-Brian Pessolano[1]; 5. 76-Jamike Sowle[2]; 6. 21C-Brian Calabrese[3]; 7. 96-Andy Graves[7]
5/25 Makeup Feature (30 Laps): 1. 44-Stewart Friesen[2]; 2. 85-Jack Lehner[7]; 3. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[10]; 4. 1Z-Jessica Friesen[6]; 5. 93-Ryan Odasz[1]; 6. 1G-Darwin Greene[3]; 7. 24P-Brian Pessolano[9]; 8. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[17]; 9. 4-Cody Clark[12]; 10. 21P-Luciano (Pep) Corradi[16]; 11. 76-Jamike Sowle[21]; 12. 1-Rocky Warner[14]; 13. 34-Dave Constantino[15]; 14. 15M-Daniel Morgiewicz Jr[13]; 15. 27-Jason Reome[18]; 16. 20C-Craig Hanson[11]; 17. 66-Don Bellen[20]; 18. 42-Tucker O’Connor[8]; 19. 21C-Brian Calabrese[4]; 20. 2RJ-Ronnie Johnson[19]; 21. 7MM-Michael Maresca[5]; 22. (DNS) 111-Demetrios Drellos; 23. (DNS) 35-Chris Curtis; 24. (DNS) 9S-Matt Sheppard
Crate 602 Sportsman
Feature (25 Laps): 1. B24-Brendan Gibbons[5]; 2. 14T-Payton Talbot[14]; 3. 10%-Chad Edwards[8]; 4. 12P-Connor Prokop[1]; 5. 89-Dylan Madsen[12]; 6. 78-Tanner Warner[10]; 7. 1B-Brett Mortensen[3]; 8. 12B-Tyler Bobar[4]; 9. 84-Ricky Quick[7]; 10. 12T-Tyler Peet[17]; 11. 14J-Jeremy Tyrrell[9]; 12. 63-Chip Constantino[11]; 13. 9K-Blaine Klinger[15]; 14. 42H-Kadon Hohensheldt[2]; 15. 1H-Harry Shaffer[16]; 16. 43-Tavien Blowers[19]; 17. 96-Michael McCallion[24]; 18. 2K-Mike Kalkbrenner[21]; 19. 25-Stephen Gray[13]; 20. 40D-Butchie Irwin[18]; 21. 8-Josh Kane[20]; 22. 1M-Mark Mortensen[26]; 23. 4-Al McCoy[27]; 24. 6-Pat Mann[28]; 25. 31J-John Dumond[22]; 26. 312-Bill Port[23]; 27. 99-Clyde Peek[25]; 28. 74-Matt Perry[6]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 84-Ricky Quick[4]; 2. 78-Tanner Warner[6]; 3. 14J-Jeremy Tyrrell[5]; 4. B24-Brendan Gibbons[3]; 5. 25-Stephen Gray[7]; 6. 1H-Harry Shaffer[2]; 7. 43-Tavien Blowers[10]; 8. 31J-John Dumond[8]; 9. 99-Clyde Peek[1]; 10. 6-Pat Mann[9]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 1B-Brett Mortensen[2]; 2. 10%-Chad Edwards[4]; 3. 12P-Connor Prokop[1]; 4. 63-Chip Constantino[6]; 5. 14T-Payton Talbot[8]; 6. 12T-Tyler Peet[7]; 7. 8-Josh Kane[3]; 8. 312-Bill Port[9]; 9. 1M-Mark Mortensen[5]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 42H-Kadon Hohensheldt[1]; 2. 89-Dylan Madsen[6]; 3. 12B-Tyler Bobar[2]; 4. 74-Matt Perry[3]; 5. 9K-Blaine Klinger[4]; 6. 40D-Butchie Irwin[5]; 7. 2K-Mike Kalkbrenner[7]; 8. 96-Michael McCallion[9]; 9. 4-Al McCoy[8]
Pro Stocks
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 35-Ken Gates[2]; 2. 49-Ivan Joslin[4]; 3. 715-Jason Morrison[5]; 4. 15-Beau Ballard[3]; 5. 15M-Mike Hill[6]; 6. 75-Gary Silkey[1]; 7. 1D-Nick Santuccione[7]; 8. 62-Nick Danna[8]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 35-Ken Gates[5]; 2. 75-Gary Silkey[1]; 3. 49-Ivan Joslin[8]; 4. 15-Beau Ballard[7]; 5. 715-Jason Morrison[4]; 6. 15M-Mike Hill[6]; 7. 1D-Nick Santuccione[3]; 8. 62-Nick Danna[2]
Limited Sportsm
Feature (15 Laps): 1. 32-Steve Wagoner[1]; 2. 47-Walter Cook[3]; 3. 22L-Lance Hill[4]; 4. 24-Kirsten Swartz[5]; 5. 12AJ-AJ Greco[8]; 6. 618-Bobby Rhinehardt[10]; 7. 1B-Jeff Bobilin[2]; 8. 37-Ryan Sweet[6]; 9. 797-Corky Warner[17]; 10. 44-Rocco Constantino[14]; 11. 13J-Jim Mallia[13]; 12. 11-Josh Persse[12]; 13. 57-Ben Balzer[11]; 14. 55-Kolton Weiler[9]; 15. 44J-Adam Tranka[7]; 16. (DNS) 14W-Timothy Wilmot; 17. (DNS) 85R-Bob Rowback
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 32-Steve Wagoner[2]; 2. 24-Kirsten Swartz[5]; 3. 37-Ryan Sweet[7]; 4. 44J-Adam Tranka[8]; 5. 55-Kolton Weiler[9]; 6. 57-Ben Balzer[1]; 7. 13J-Jim Mallia[3]; 8. 14W-Timothy Wilmot[6]; 9. 797-Corky Warner[4]
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 1B-Jeff Bobilin[2]; 2. 47-Walter Cook[3]; 3. 22L-Lance Hill[4]; 4. 12AJ-AJ Greco[8]; 5. 618-Bobby Rhinehardt[5]; 6. 11-Josh Persse[1]; 7. 44-Rocco Constantino[6]; 8. (DNS) 85R-Bob Rowback
5/25 Makeup Feature (15 Laps): 1. 797-Corky Warner[2]; 2. 12AJ-AJ Greco[6]; 3. 1B-Jeff Bobilin[5]; 4. 47-Walter Cook[7]; 5. 22L-Lance Hill[4]; 6. 618-Bobby Rhinehardt[10]; 7. 32-Steve Wagoner[3]; 8. 57-Ben Balzer[12]; 9. 85R-Bob Rowback[1]; 10. 44J-Adam Tranka[8]; 11. 11-Josh Persse[9]; 12. 44-Rocco Constantino[11]; 13. (DNS) 26B-Maddy Broedel; 14. (DNS) 2-Brandon Tyler; 15. (DNS) 5C-Randy Cosselman; 16. (DNS) 16H-Dylan Hutson; 17. (DNS) 87J-Joel Knudsen Jr
Four Cylinders
Feature (12 Laps): 1. 97JD-Jay Ingersoll[10]; 2. 33D-Kerrie Hollenbeck[6]; 3. 12S-Ken Hollenbeck[11]; 4. 54S-Wayne Russell Jr[5]; 5. 42D-Hayleigh Gates[8]; 6. 212S-TJ Marlitt[3]; 7. K1S-William Liberatore[4]; 8. 420XS-Tim Warner[2]; 9. 29JD-John Ray[12]; 10. 17RD-Joe Bouck Jr[13]; 11. 29D-Howard Marlitt[9]; 12. 223S-Josh Beals[7]; 13. 23TD-Keith Tesiero Jr[14]; 14. 98S-Stephanie Maille[1]