11/15/2009

Pauch, Saccomandi Score Mutha of All Enduros Wins

The North East Enduro Tour Series (NEETS) final dirt event of the season took place on Saturday at Grandview Speedway with the popular “Mutha of all Enduros” event. John Saccomandi scored his first career win in four-cylinder action and Dave Bentley, Jr. secured the division championship. Tim Pauch not only took the 6/8-cylinder victory, but also claimed the division championship.

The reverse order of the points battle set the field for start of the 150-lap Four Cylinder enduro. Gary Guise led the field to the drop of the green flag with forty hungry competitors growling behind.

Guise wasted no time leading the pack around the dirt oval until Mike Ventura took command on lap 18.

The red flag was displayed on lap 46 for Wayne Krause, whose car began to smoke and small flames began to appear. The fire was quickly extinguished and green flag racing resumed with Ventura still leading.

However, John "Sac-Man" Saccomandi wasn't far behind in the second spot and appeared to be faster than the leader.

Saccomandi of North Whales, Pa, made the pass for the lead by lap 66 and Ventura battled back and into the race lead. Saccomandi, however, was relentless and took the spot back again.

Ventura began to fade as Mike Wahl took second, but disaster struck Wahl and he was forced to retire to the pits with a flat tire.

By that point Steve Todorow had worked his way into the third spot, Chuck Miller held fourth and championship contender Dave Bentley, Jr ran fifth.

Saccomandi took a commanding lead and never looked back as he took his first victory in his career with NEETS, followed by Todorow, Ventura, Bentley and Travis Schwenk.

Bentley’s fourth place effort earned him the division crown on dirt.

Darrel Herman started from the pole in the 150-lap 6/8-cylinder enduro and shot out to an early lead, but Jeremy Krause would have none of it and took over by lap 6.

Jason Brown was moving swiftly through the pack and began challenging Krause for the top spot. A terrific battle waged between Krause and Brown as they swapped positions several times until Krause began to have trouble and had to make a pit stop.

But then Shawn Naftzinger wasn't far behind Brown and decided that he wanted the top spot by lap 45. Another battle ensued with Brown and Naftzinger until a red flag was displayed for John Sacks who got himself hung up on the inner guardrail.

Naftzinger had to make a quick pit stop, leaving Brown to battle with Duane Eidem for the lead. However, Brown had to pit giving the lead to Eidem by lap 69.

Eidem now had Shon Elk and Chris Reichert closing in. Eidem was forced to retire with transmission woes shortly after. Reichert took the lead as Elk began to slow, with Tim Pauch and Justin Steigerwalt making their moves toward the front.

A violent rollover by Scott Bergey left the crowd gasping as an immediate red flag was thrown on lap 111. As Bergey crawled out under his own power to the relief of all, applause erupted throughout and racing resumed.

Reichert had a rearview mirror full of Pauch when green flag conditions resumed and Reichert did all that he could to fend off Pauch for the lead.

Reichert blew a tire and had to make a trip into the pits on lap 120. Inheriting the lead, Pauch began to put quite a distance on the rest of the field as he took the race win over Steigerwalt, Elk, Reichert and Richard Petey.

Not only did Pauch win the big event, he also took the 6/8-cylinder division dirt title.

A ten lap "Dash for Cash" was held for the top ten drivers in points for both divisions. Although the entire top ten didn't participate, it was an exciting shootout as both divisions were combined for separate payouts. Richard Petey won the big car event and Steve Todorow snagged the small car victory.

The next NEETS event, “Run What Ya Brung”, is slated for Sunday, November 29, in conjunction with the popular “Turkey Derby” at Wall Stadium. For more details on this event, please visit the Official NEETS Racing Website at www.neetsracing.com.