Hearne Stands in Victory Lane at Sundance
Without leading a single lap and crossing the finish line in the second
spot, Steve Shultz of Drums took the Street Stock feature win following post
race tech in the 77-lap Mark Corbisiero Memorial Saturday at Sundance
Vacations Speedway. New Jersey’s Jason Hearne held off charges by Zane
Zeiner to notch his first career Sport Modified victory at the speedway and
Mark Tischler notched his first win of the season in the INEX Legends
division. Robert Fink notched his fourth FWD verdict of the year and Matt
Custer scored the Mini Cup victory.
With double point, lap money to the leaders and $777 to win, many drivers
attempted to make the 20-car starting field for the 7th annual Mark
Corbisiero Memorial Street Stock event, which was sponsored by AAMCO
Transmissions of Stroudsburg, Dave Cook from Hallet’s Cozy Corner Restaurant
and Mike Odwazny.
Mike Shadder overtook polesitter, Robert Haueisen before a single lap was
scored and led the first two circuits before Harry Sager overtook him.
The first yellow flag flew on lap four when Haueisen and Kevin Higgins made
contact in turn four, which also collected Mitch Hawk.
Green flag racing resumed and Ron Babula motored his mount by Brian Wozniak
to take second. Brad Barbush held fourth with Steve Shultz in tow. Not long
after, Shultz overtook B. Barbush for the fourth spot.
Chip Wanamaker started eleventh and cracked the top five on lap 15 when he
got by B. Barbush. Meanwhile, Babula began to reel in Sager for the top
spot.
The leaders got into lapped traffic and Babula used one of the lapped
vehicles to take the lead on lap 36. Sager slipped into second, followed by
Wozniak, Wanamaker and Shultz, who swapped positions nearly every lap.
The yellow waved when Shultz spun in turn two. Steve Clark, one of the
drivers running in the top five took his car to the infield with mechanical
problems under the same yellow.
Green flag racing resumed and with ten laps remaining, Babula held the lead
over Sager, Wanamaker, Shultz (who had worked his way back into the top
five) and Joe Barbush.
While entering turn four on the final lap, Sager did his best to steal the
win, but pushed up in the marbles and slid back a few positions. Babula
crossed the finish line first, followed by Shultz, Wanamaker, J. Barbush and
Robert Fink. However, Babula failed the vigorous post race tech inspection
and Shultz was awarded the victory and the $777 paycheck.
Many drivers, track workers and fans sponsored laps. Because of the winner
disqualification, Sager took home well over $500 in lap money.
Heat race wins went to Harry Sager, Zane Zeiner and Kevin Higgins. Mitch
Hawk won the consi.
Notes- Headed into the event as the points leader, Richie DiMarco popped a
motor during his heat race. Scott Meckes, a fellow Street Stock competitor
offered his car to DiMarco for the consi. While leading the event, smoke
began to bellow and then a small fire erupted under the hood of the loaner
ride.
Joe Wielgosz started from the pole and led the early laps of the 36-lap
Sport Modified main event. Paul Frantz retained the second position in the
early going, followed by Scott Brannick, Bob Wilson and Harry Schaefer.
Following a quick caution, Frank Reakes, who was running third on a lap
eight restart, made a daring pass and motored by Frantz and Wielgosz in turn
three to take the race lead.
The yellow flag flew a lap later when Marc Nappi spun on the backstretch and
collected Schaefer and Dan Berlitz.
Green flag racing resumed and another three-wide pass was made for the lead,
but this time it was Jason Hearne making the move, as he squeezed by Frantz
and Reakes.
Plagued with cautions throughout the event, Hearne stayed in command restart
after restart.
With only ten laps remaining in the originally scheduled 40-lap feature,
Zane Zeiner sat in second, followed by Ricky Ross, Jr, Barry Callavini and
Frantz.
Zeiner tried high and low for a path around Hearne with no avail, until the
caution flew for the first time on lap 36 when infield debris was kicked up
on the racetrack. Another lap 36 yellow followed when Nappi and Scott Adams
made contact. The end result was a hard hit into the turn four fence by
Adams.
Attempting to get the entire feature in, track officials told the drivers
over the radio that if there were one more caution the race would be
checkered. That final yellow came following the restart when Zeiner came out
of turn four and slapped the front stretch wall.
Hearne was awarded the win, which was his first career at the speedway. Ross
was the runner-up, followed by Callavini, Frantz and Brannick.
With the win Hearne earned a guaranteed starting spot for the “Fall Brawl”
and Shangri-La II Speedway on October 3rd and said that he would not be able
to attend the event due to a racing commitment the following day.
Jason Hearne, Frank Reakes and Barry Callavini took heat race wins and Dave
Garfinkel won the consi.
Robert Fink took the race lead after Pete Maier was taken from contention on
lap three in the 20-lap Four Cylinder FWD feature. Fink went on to take the
win, which was his fourth of the season over Jon Smith, Ken Kleppinger,
Nikki Sager and Eric Banashefski.
Heat race wins went to Robert Fink and Jon Smith.
Mark Tischler overtook polesitter, Justin Grim before a single lap was
scored and drove off to his first INEX Legends victory at the speedway in
the 25-lap feature. Kevin Nowak crossed the stripe in second, followed by
Roger Coss, Matt Maring and Karl Heisler.
After winning the heat race and then spinning out while leading the feature
in the early going, Matt Custer rebounded and sealed the victory in the
15-lap Super Mini Cup main over Heath Hendershot, Mark Lockoff, Ken Stabley
and Steven Cox.
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.
Mark Corbisiero 77-Lap Street Stock Memorial 1. STEVE SHULTZ 2. Chip
Wanamaker 3. Joe Barbush 4. Robert Fink 5. Harry Sager 6. Kevin Higgins 7.
Brad Barbush 8. Shaun Burd 9. Mike Schadder 10. Mitch Hawk 11. Darryl
Schwartz 12. Robert Haueisen 13. CJ Lehmann 14. Frank Katona 15. Brian
Wozniak 16. Zane Zeiner 17.Steve Clark 18. Brandon Oltra 19. Todd Barbush DQ:
Ron Babula DNQ: Jeff McGrath, Richie DiMarco, Scott Meckes
Sport Modifieds (36-Laps) 1. JASON HEARNE 2. Ricky Ross Jr 3. Barry
Callavini 4. Paul Frantz 5. Scott Brannick 6. Dave Garfinkel 7. Marc Nappi
8. Joe Wielgosz 9. Bob Wilson 10. Zane Zeiner 11. Scott Adams 12. Frank
Reakes 13. Tony Aquilino 14. Brian Sones 15. Mike Speeney 16. Pat Verwys
17.Dan Berlitz 18. Harry Schaefer 19. Rob Schultz DNS: CJ Lacatvia DNQ: Dean
Ficarro
Four Cylinder FWD (20-Laps) 1. ROBERT FINK 2. Jon Smith 3. Ken Kleppinger 4.
Nikki Sager 5. Eric Banashefski 6. Jay Skupski 7. Joe Katona 8. Mike Kline
9. Frank Hughes 10. Pete Maier 11. Frank Katona DNS: Brian Kunkel, Cory
Dymond
INEX Legends (25-Laps) 1. MARK TISCHLER 2. Kevin Nowak 3. Roger Coss 4. Matt
Marring 5. Karl Heisler 6. Mike Carroll 7. Justin Grimm 8. AJ Wright 9. Greg
Rittenhouse
Super Mini Cups (15-Laps) 1. MATT CUSTER 2. Heath Hendeshot 3. Mark Lockcuff
4. Ken Stabley 5. Steven Cox 6. Casey Friese
Source: Geno Ostrowski/Sundance
Vacations Speedway PR
Posted:
September 20, 2009