Column By: MIKE TRAVERSE / RPW – FONDA, NY – It was championship night at Fonda Speedway and the track saw a new face emerge as it’s 2024 Modified Champion and a long-time racer also recorded his first Modified win in nearly 10 years.
JaMike Sowle led from start to finish and was never much challenged for the lead as he recorded his 2nd career Modified win and his first since 2013.
“We had a pretty good car in the heat race. We made some changes and it just got better,” Sowle said.
Driving the Carole and Alton Palmer #76, Sowle took the lead at the start and he drove flawlessly throughout the race, keeping the lead when the race had it’s only caution.
Just at the halfway point of the feature, Contact at the front of the field saw the 2nd place car of Ryan Odasz and Brian Calabrese make contact entering turn one with Jason Reome also involved. The result saw Odasz taking a slow rollover with Calagrese sent to the rear for his part in the crash.
From there, it was smooth sailing for Sowle as he ran out the laps to take that special ride into Victory Lane.
“I would like to thank Carole and Alton and the whole crew, I couldn’t do it without them,” Sowle said. “It’s a blessing to be able to drive their race car. I never thought I would have the chance.”
The Modified championship came down to a battle between Alex Yankowski and Jack Lehner. Yankowski came into Championship Night with a 14 point lead over Lehner and although Jack had the better finish on Saturday, it was not enough as Alex was able to win the title by 6 points, despite being held without a win during the 2024 Fonda season.
“We came up here to New York and just tried to get better,” Yankowski said post race. “We drove a lot of miles to get here every week. I’m just proud of everybody. It’s great to be able to win any kind of championship. We’re going to enjoy it and be back here for the 200.”
Dave Constantino chased Sowle for the whole 30 lap distance in the feature, and although he kept pace pretty well, he finished 2nd. Lehner finished 3rd, falling just a bit short in his bid to grab the championship. Jessica Friesen finished 4th and Rocky warner 5th. Completing the top 10 were Bobby Hackel IV 6th, Yankowski 7th, Calabrese 8th, Mike Maraseca 9th and Brian Pessolano 10th.
Chad Edwards scored his 3rd win of the season in the Crate 602 Sportsman as he took the lead on lap 12 from Brett Mortensen and went on to take the victory. Butchie Irwin finished 2nd, Mortensen 3rd, Blain Klinger 4th and Jeremy Tyler 5th. Brendan Gibbons finished 6th with Mark Mortensen 7th, Dylan Madsen 8th, Payton Talbot 9th and Stephen Gray 10th.
Talbot is the 2024 Sportsman champion.
“This car has been awesome. I can’t thank Andy Belmont enough for giving us a stout ride,” Talbot said. “It’s been kind of an up and down year for us, we were either running in the top 3 or wrecking. I felt that I was more inconsistent than in year’s past. But we still got it done and I can’t thank everyone enough.”
Nick Stone had recorded a number of good finishes this season at Fonda, but it was Saturday night’s Pro Stock feature that saw him taking the win.
Stone was out front as the race entered it’s final stages. AJ Walters was gradually cutting into the lead and a caution with 3 laps to go gave him a restart shot. But Stone was able to take the win with Walters 2nd. 2024 Pro Stock champion Ken Gates was 3rd Jason Morrison 4th and Ivan Joslin 5th.
Mason Gray, in his 4th ever race in the Limited Sportsman, was Saturday’s winner. Kirsten Swartz was 2nd, Corky Warner 3rd, Timothy Wilmot 4th and Josh Perrse 5th.
AJ Greco finished 13th and is the 2024 Limited Sportsman Champion.
Jay Ingersoll was the overall and dual cam winner in Saturday’s 4 Cylinder division. John Napoli was 2nd and Ken Hollenbeck was 3rd and the single cam winner. Ingersoll and Hollenbeck are the 2024 dual and single cam champions respectively.
The Mohawk valley Vintage Dirt Modified Series was also in action on Saturday. Frank Hoard Jr., Jack Miller, Jim Fugel, Bryon Seyfried and Harry Baldwin won races in their classes.
Racing returns one final time to Fonda on September 12-14 for the big 200 weekend.
Modifieds
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 76-Jamike Sowle[1]; 2. 34-Dave Constantino[2]; 3. 85-Jack Lehner[8]; 4. 1Z-Jessica Friesen[6]; 5. 1-Rocky Warner[15]; 6. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[9]; 7. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[10]; 8. 21C-Brian Calabrese[7]; 9. 7MM-Michael Maresca[11]; 10. 24P-Brian Pessolano[13]; 11. 3-Luciano (Pep) Corradi[12]; 12. 47-Simon Perreault[18]; 13. 23X-Tommy D’Angelo[17]; 14. 93-Ryan Odasz[3]; 15. 27-Jason Reome[14]; 16. 4-Cody Clark[5]; 17. 44T-Brandon Daley[19]; 18. 2RJ-Ronnie Johnson[4]; 19. 16-Aaron Jacobs[16]; 20. Z-Ed Kitchell[20]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 76-Jamike Sowle[1]; 2. 93-Ryan Odasz[2]; 3. 2RJ-Ronnie Johnson[3]; 4. 85-Jack Lehner[5]; 5. 1Z-Jessica Friesen[4]; 6. 7MM-Michael Maresca[6]; 7. 24P-Brian Pessolano[8]; 8. 1-Rocky Warner[7]; 9. 23X-Tommy D’Angelo[9]; 10. 44T-Brandon Daley[10]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 34-Dave Constantino[1]; 2. 4-Cody Clark[3]; 3. 97-Bobby Hackel IV[5]; 4. 21C-Brian Calabrese[4]; 5. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[6]; 6. 3-Luciano (Pep) Corradi[2]; 7. 27-Jason Reome[7]; 8. 16-Aaron Jacobs[8]; 9. 47-Simon Perreault[9]; 10. Z-Ed Kitchell[10]
Hot Laps: 1. 84Y-Alex Yankowski, 00:18.935[20]; 2. 1Z-Jessica Friesen, 00:19.080[7]; 3. 85-Jack Lehner, 00:19.082[12]; 4. 7MM-Michael Maresca, 00:19.139[13]; 5. 34-Dave Constantino, 00:19.144[3]; 6. 4-Cody Clark, 00:19.274[2]; 7. 93-Ryan Odasz, 00:19.298[14]; 8. 97-Bobby Hackel IV, 00:19.298[8]; 9. 1-Rocky Warner, 00:19.445[19]; 10. 24P-Brian Pessolano, 00:19.531[16]; 11. 2RJ-Ronnie Johnson, 00:19.607[10]; 12. 21C-Brian Calabrese, 00:19.690[1]; 13. 23X-Tommy D’Angelo, 00:20.623[6]; 14. 27-Jason Reome, 00:20.884[17]; 15. 44T-Brandon Daley, 00:21.488[5]; 16. 47-Simon Perreault, 00:21.540[15]; 17. (DNS) 3-Luciano (Pep) Corradi; 18. (DNS) 16-Aaron Jacobs; 19. (DNS) Z-Ed Kitchell; 20. (DNS) 76-Jamike Sowle
2024 Modified Track Champion – Alex Yankowski
Crate 602 Sportsman
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 10%-Chad Edwards[10]; 2. 117-Butchie Irwin[4]; 3. 1B-Brett Mortensen[2]; 4. 9K-Blaine Klinger[5]; 5. 14J-Jeremy Tyrrell[6]; 6. B62-Brendan Gibbons[7]; 7. 1M-Mark Mortensen[16]; 8. 89-Dylan Madsen[15]; 9. 14T-Payton Talbot[14]; 10. 25-Stephen Gray[12]; 11. 55-Jonny Feagles[18]; 12. 8-Josh Kane[17]; 13. 63-Chip Constantino[8]; 14. 4-Al McCoy[20]; 15. 7J-Dan Santabarbara[1]; 16. 99-Clyde Peek[21]; 17. 4M-David Manchester[19]; 18. 1H-Harry Shaffer[3]; 19. 12T-Tyler Peet[11]; 20. 78-Tanner Warner[9]; 21. 5C-Mike Kalkbrenner[13]
2024 Sportsman Track Champion – Payton Talbot
Greco’s NAPA Hard Charger Chad Edwards +9
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 78-Tanner Warner[6]; 2. 1H-Harry Shaffer[2]; 3. 9K-Blaine Klinger[4]; 4. 7J-Dan Santabarbara[1]; 5. B62-Brendan Gibbons[5]; 6. 12T-Tyler Peet[10]; 7. 5C-Mike Kalkbrenner[7]; 8. 89-Dylan Madsen[3]; 9. 8-Josh Kane[9]; 10. 4M-David Manchester[11]; 11. 99-Clyde Peek[8]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 1B-Brett Mortensen[1]; 2. 117-Butchie Irwin[3]; 3. 10%-Chad Edwards[6]; 4. 14J-Jeremy Tyrrell[4]; 5. 63-Chip Constantino[5]; 6. 25-Stephen Gray[7]; 7. 14T-Payton Talbot[10]; 8. 1M-Mark Mortensen[8]; 9. 55-Jonny Feagles[9]; 10. 4-Al McCoy[2]
Hot Laps: 1. 117-Butchie Irwin, 00:20.066[6]; 2. 14T-Payton Talbot, 00:20.070[19]; 3. 12T-Tyler Peet, 00:20.151[16]; 4. 10%-Chad Edwards, 00:20.159[2]; 5. 25-Stephen Gray, 00:20.466[5]; 6. 63-Chip Constantino, 00:20.474[1]; 7. 4M-David Manchester, 00:20.580[11]; 8. 55-Jonny Feagles, 00:20.672[3]; 9. 9K-Blaine Klinger, 00:20.703[9]; 10. B62-Brendan Gibbons, 00:20.733[4]; 11. 8-Josh Kane, 00:20.737[8]; 12. 14J-Jeremy Tyrrell, 00:20.737[20]; 13. 7J-Dan Santabarbara, 00:20.841[17]; 14. 1H-Harry Shaffer, 00:20.846[18]; 15. 99-Clyde Peek, 00:21.132[15]; 16. 1M-Mark Mortensen, 00:21.544[14]; 17. 78-Tanner Warner, 00:22.968[21]; 18. (DNS) 5C-Mike Kalkbrenner; 19. (DNS) 89-Dylan Madsen; 20. (DNS) 4-Al McCoy; 21. (DNS) 1B-Brett Mortensen
Pro Stocks
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 8N-Nick Stone[2]; 2. 22W-AJ Walters[5]; 3. 35-Ken Gates[6]; 4. 715-Jason Morrison[13]; 5. 49-Ivan Joslin[14]; 6. 74N-Jim Normoyle[1]; 7. 96-Andy Graves[3]; 8. 1D-Nick Santuccione[4]; 9. 75-Gary Silkey[12]; 10. 76-Kyle Hoard[8]; 11. 62-Nick Danna[11]; 12. 44-Ray Richer[9]; 13. 35A-Brandon Karram[10]; 14. 39-Matt Wells[7]
2024 Pro Stock Track Champion – Kenny Gates
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 8N-Nick Stone[3]; 2. 22W-AJ Walters[5]; 3. 74N-Jim Normoyle[1]; 4. 76-Kyle Hoard[7]; 5. 44-Ray Richer[6]; 6. 62-Nick Danna[4]; 7. 715-Jason Morrison[2]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 35-Ken Gates[5]; 2. 96-Andy Graves[3]; 3. 1D-Nick Santuccione[4]; 4. 39-Matt Wells[6]; 5. 35A-Brandon Karram[7]; 6. 75-Gary Silkey[1]; 7. 49-Ivan Joslin[2]
Hot Laps: 1. 22W-AJ Walters, 00:22.461[13]; 2. 35-Ken Gates, 00:22.548[2]; 3. 49-Ivan Joslin, 00:22.613[5]; 4. 75-Gary Silkey, 00:23.007[11]; 5. 76-Kyle Hoard, 00:23.220[4]; 6. 1D-Nick Santuccione, 00:23.664[10]; 7. 39-Matt Wells, 00:24.179[14]; 8. 44-Ray Richer, 00:25.069[9]; 9. 62-Nick Danna, 00:25.331[1]; 10. (DNS) 96-Andy Graves; 11. (DNS) 35A-Brandon Karram; 12. (DNS) 715-Jason Morrison; 13. (DNS) 74N-Jim Normoyle; 14. (DNS) 8N-Nick Stone
Limited Sportsman
Feature (15 Laps): 1. 26-Mason Gray[2]; 2. 24-Kirsten Swartz[3]; 3. 797-Corky Warner[7]; 4. 14W-Timothy Wilmot[8]; 5. 11-Josh Persse[1]; 6. 216-Phil Arnold[6]; 7. 22L-Lance Hill[4]; 8. 5C-Randy Cosselman[12]; 9. 44J-Adam Tranka[11]; 10. 47-Walter Cook[10]; 11. 538-Gus Kamburelis[14]; 12. 1H-Kyle Corbett[13]; 13. 12AJ-AJ Greco[9]; 14. 1B-Jeff Bobilin[5]; 15. 21-Destry Scribner[15]
2024 Limited Sportsman Track Champion – AJ Greco
Greco’s NAPA Hard Charger – Corky Warner
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 24-Kirsten Swartz[2]; 2. 797-Corky Warner[4]; 3. 1B-Jeff Bobilin[3]; 4. 11-Josh Persse[1]; 5. 12AJ-AJ Greco[5]; 6. 44J-Adam Tranka[7]; 7. 1H-Kyle Corbett[8]; 8. 21-Destry Scribner[6]
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 26-Mason Gray[1]; 2. 216-Phil Arnold[3]; 3. 14W-Timothy Wilmot[5]; 4. 22L-Lance Hill[2]; 5. 47-Walter Cook[4]; 6. 5C-Randy Cosselman[7]; 7. 538-Gus Kamburelis[6]
Hot Laps: 1. 12AJ-AJ Greco, 00:20.551[7]; 2. 26-Mason Gray, 00:20.783[6]; 3. 1B-Jeff Bobilin, 00:20.808[2]; 4. 14W-Timothy Wilmot, 00:20.872[15]; 5. 5C-Randy Cosselman, 00:20.942[5]; 6. 797-Corky Warner, 00:20.975[14]; 7. 47-Walter Cook, 00:20.978[3]; 8. 24-Kirsten Swartz, 00:21.004[12]; 9. 538-Gus Kamburelis, 00:21.208[9]; 10. 44J-Adam Tranka, 00:21.349[13]; 11. 216-Phil Arnold, 00:21.455[1]; 12. 1H-Kyle Corbett, 00:23.633[4]; 13. 21-Destry Scribner, 00:26.422[11]; 14. (DNS) 22L-Lance Hill; 15. (DNS) 11-Josh Persse
Four Cylinders
Feature (12 Laps): 1. 97JD-Jay Ingersoll[10]; 2. 3D-John Napoli[8]; 3. 12S-Ken Hollenbeck[11]; 4. 17RD-Joe Bouck Jr[6]; 5. K1S-William Liberatore[2]; 6. 29D-Zach McSpirit[14]; 7. 212S-TJ Marlitt[3]; 8. 11D-Hayleigh Gates[5]; 9. 29JD-John Ray[1]; 10. 33D-Kerrie Hollenbeck[9]; 11. 57S-Jeremiah Paro[12]; 12. 420XXS-Jamie Warner[13]; 13. 54S-Wayne Russell Jr[4]; 14. 13D-Kyle Simmons[15]; 15. (DNS) 223S-Josh Beals; 16. (DNS) 09D-Kamrin Krause
2024 SOHC Track Champion – Ken Hollenback
2024 DOHC Track Champion – Jay Ingersoll
Hot Laps: 1. 3D-John Napoli, 00:25.256[11]; 2. 54S-Wayne Russell Jr, 00:25.694[14]; 3. 29JD-John Ray, 00:27.410[13]; 4. 57S-Jeremiah Paro, 00:30.505[12]; 5. (DNS) 223S-Josh Beals; 6. (DNS) 17RD-Joe Bouck Jr; 7. (DNS) 11D-Hayleigh Gates; 8. (DNS) 12S-Ken Hollenbeck; 9. (DNS) 33D-Kerrie Hollenbeck; 10. (DNS) 97JD-Jay Ingersoll; 11. (DNS) 09D-Kamrin Krause; 12. (DNS) K1S-William Liberatore; 13. (DNS) 212S-TJ Marlitt; 14. (DNS) 29D-Zach McSpirit; 15. (DNS) 13D-Kyle Simmons; 16. (DNS) 420XXS-Jamie Warner