Brian DeFebo Finally Scores First Win of the Season At
Sundance
Punished with bad luck this season, Berwick’s Brian DeFebo finally got
the monkey off of his back and went to victory lane with his Modified
Saturday at Sundance Vacations Speedway. For the third straight time this
season, Zane Zeiner of Bath scored the Late Model victory and Mike Moyer, J.
of Hazleton visited victory lane for the sixth time this season. With two TQ
Midget features on tap, Austin Fehr picked up his first career victory and
Matt Janisch scored the win in the second feature. A fiery crash in the
second TQ Midget main sent Dave Williams to the hospital with burns, but
thanks to heroics performed by track workers, Williams was pulled to safety.
Wayne Szerencsits led a full field of modifieds to the drop of the green
flag in the 40-lap Modified main event. He continued to hold the lead five
laps in with Wayne Kocher in second, followed by Harry Buchman, Nick Pecko
and Bobby Jones.
The caution flew on lap 12 when Eric Kocher suffered damage following
contact with another car in turn two. Buchman had taken over the second spot
by that point in the contest with Pecko and Kyle Ebersole close behind.
Green flag racing resumed and Buchman grabbed the race lead. Szerencsits was
slow getting up to speed on the restart, which allowed Ebersole to take
second. After starting ninth, Brian DeFebo shot into third.
A lap 14 yellow tightened the field and with a three-wide maneuver, DeFebo
overtook the leaders in turn three and the third-to-first pass gave the
three time Modified champion a good shot at winning his first main event of
the season.
Ebersole fought hard to catch the leader but was forced to settle for second
when the checkers flew. Buchman had his best finish of the season with a
third place effort and Jones and Rusty Smith completed the top five.
Heat race wins went to Nick Pecko, Wayne Szerencsits and Lew Hallock.
Jennifer Kutz, a “Rookie of the Year” contender in the Late Model division
led the Late Models to the drop of the green flag in the 30-lap feature
before Kyle Harvell overtook her. Mitch Hawk worked into second and after a
lap was complete Joe Hoffman moved behind Kutz to take fourth, followed by
Joe Burns.
Hoffman disposed of Hawk on the second lap and set his sights on the leader
before completing the pass for the lead on lap four. Meanwhile, Zane Zeiner
and Mike Sweeney cracked the top five.
Zeiner quickly moved his way by Harvell on lap five and chased down Hoffman.
He overtook the leader four circuits later.
The caution waved on lap ten when Burns got into Kutz in turns three and
four. Another caution followed after the restart, which involved Jerry
Hildebrand and Harvell. Shortly after the yellow flew, Hildebrand slammed
into the back of Sweeney, not realizing that the green flag wasn’t out. Both
Sweeney and Hildebrand headed to the pits for repair.
Still out front and looking for a record breaking three-peat in a Late Model
(to match his previous three-peats in a Sport Modified and INEX Legends
car), Zeiner went on to take the checkers over Hoffman, Hildebrand,
Schneider and Sweeney.
From the pole position, Kendall Faulk led the Factory Stocks to the drop of
the green in the 20-lap feature. While taking the green, Faulk ran outside
pole sitter, Mike O’Byrne, into the front stretch wall. Jay Gould spun,
which forced a complete restart.
The restart was furious, as sixth place starter, Mike Moyer, Jr, wasted no
time and somehow drove into the race lead. Paul Morgan, Jr. followed into
second with Wayne Lowe, Jeff Biegley and Eric Wink in pursuit.
Lowe battled for the runner up spot and overtook Morgan for it by mid race.
Meanwhile, Gould worked his way by E. Wink for a top five spot, as did Bob
Wink.
Extending his championship points lead, Moyer drove off to take his sixth
win of the season over Lowe, Morgan, Gould and B. Wink.
Twin TQ Midget features highlighted the evening with Rookie Kyle Gardner on
the pole for the first 20-lap event. Gardner led two laps before Matt
Roselli overtook him on the second circuit.
Last seasons “Rookie of the Year”, Austin Fehr, grabbed the second spot and
with four laps complete had Matt Janisch and Paul Lotier, Jr. on his tail.
It didn’t take much time before Fehr grabbed the race lead, as he appeared
to be the class of the field.
A string of lap six cautions slowed the pace and took top five runner, Matt
Janisch. This allowed Ian Cumens to join the top five. Cumens made a serious
charge over the final laps and moved into second. Unsuccessful, he attempted
to overtake Fehr on several occasions, but Fehr had none of it, as he drove
away with his first career TQ win over Cumens. Lotier finished third,
followed by Roselli and Tim Behmer.
Cars rolled on the track for the second 20-lap TQ Midget main with Dave
Williams at the point. Before a single lap was scored, Lotier grabbed the
race lead followed by Williams, Roselli, Matt Janisch and Kyle Gardner.
Things got ugly on lap two when Roselli and Williams tangled while racing
out of turn four. Williams’ car slammed the front stretch wall and burst
into flames. The red flag was thrown and spectators watched as Williams
attempted to exit his machine. While the speedway infield track crew
extinguished the inferno, track workers Mike Odwazny and Rob Fredericks
pulled Williams from his ride. Alert, he walked to the ambulance before
being flown to the Lehigh Valley Medical Center for further evaluation.
Green Flag racing resumed following the extended red flag period and Lotier
held the lead over Matt Janisch, Ian Cumens, Allison Cumens and Bing Metz.
With three laps remaining, Matt Janisch overtook the leader and went on to
take the win over Lotier, I. Cumens, A. Cumens and Metz.
Heat races wins went to Austin Fehr and Ian Cumens.
Sundance Vacations Speedway is just minutes from Hazleton, Pa, located on
St. John’s Road, between Routes 93 and 309. Grandstand admission for all
regular events is just $10 for ages 11 and older. Children 10 years of age
and younger are admitted for free.
For further information, please visit the track site at
www.sundancevacationsspeedway.com.
Modified (40-Laps) 1. BRIAN DEFEBO 2. Kyle Ebersole 3. Harry Buchman 4.
Bobby Jones 5. Rusty Smith 6. Barry Callavini 7. Todd Baer 8. Nick Pecko 9.
Allan Creveling 10. Lewis Hallock 11. David Schneider 12. Wayne Szerencsits
13. Jerry Woody 14. Geary Rinehimer Jr 15. Wayne Kocher 16. Brian Romig
17.Jim Bojohnny 18. Mike Andrews 19. Eric Kocher DNS: Mike Quinn
Late Model (30-Laps) 1. ZANE ZEINER 2. Joe Hoffman 3. Jerry Hildebrand 4.
William Schneider 5. Mike Sweeney 6. Joseph Burns 7. Mitch Hawk 8. Kyle
Harvell 9. Jennifer Kutz
Factory Stock (20-Laps) 1. MIKE MOYER, JR 2. Wayne Lowe 3. Paul Morgan Jr 4.
Jason Gould 5. Bob Wink 6. Eric Wink 7. Mike O'Byrne 8. Jeff Biegly 9.
Kendal Faulk
TQ Midget feature #1 (20-Laps) 1. AUSTIN FEHR 2. Ian Cumens 3. Paul Lotier
Jr 4. Matthew Roselli 5. Tim Behmer 6. Dan Lane 7. Mark Janisch 8. Jeff Kot
9. Matt Janisch 10. Dave Williams 11. Bing Metz 12. Kyle Gardner 13. Steve
Craig
TQ Midget feature #2 (20-Laps) 1. MATT JANISCH 2. Paul Lotier Jr 3. Ian
Cumens 4. Alison Cumens 5. Bing Metz 6. Kyle Gardner 7. Tim Behmer 8. Mark
Janisch 9. Steve Craig 10. Austin Fehr 11. Matthew Roselli 12. Dave Williams
DNS: Jeff Kot
Source: Geno Ostrowski/Sundance
Vacations Speedway PR
Posted:
August 16, 2009