NEW ERA AT FONDA BEGINS WITH A FAMILIAR FACE IN VICTORY LANE
Story By: RON SZCZERBA / FONDA SPEEDWAY MEDIA
Photos By:BOB LANSING / RACERSGUIDE.COM
Fonda NY – April 24, 2016- The 65th consecutive season of competition began at the “Track of Champions” Fonda Speedway on Saturday evening under the new management team of Demitraszek Enterprises. With over 100 race cars in the pit area and a good crowd on hand on a cool spring night it was Stewart Friesen who stood tall in victory lane at the conclusion of the 35-lap main event.
Other winners on Jeep Herbert Tribute Night at Fonda were Rocky Warner (sportsman), Luke Horning (pro stock), Josh Coonradt (street stock), Mike Peek (rookie sportsman), and Kyle Smith (CRSA Sprints).
During intermission promoter Pete Demitraszek stood on victory lane and thanked Jim King and Paul Szmal for their announcing expertise up in the tower where they will be weekly at both Fonda and Glen Ridge. He also thanked the crowd for coming out to the track on a cool night and also the Hall of Fame Committee for keeping the Fonda Museum going along with Dave & Jackie Lape and Ed & Betty Biittig for their contributions to the museum which will be open every Saturday this season from 3:00 p.m. until race time.
“There is a lot of history here at the Fonda Speedway and I don’t want to see it go the way of progress and close down like Flemington did,” Demitraszek said.
As stated Saturday night at Fonda was Jeep Herbert Tribute Night with a wonderful display of items on display at the Fonda Speedway museum as part of the tribute. Herbert was inducted into the Fonda Speedway Hall of Fame back in 1988 and was the track champion at Fonda back in 1959. Herbert is also 16th on the all-time modified win list at Fonda with a total of 25 victories in nine winning seasons with the first one coming on 7/11/1953 and the last on 8/10/1963.
During the offseason it was announced that four time and defending track champion Stewart Friesen wouldn’t be returning to defend his modified title at Fonda for the 2016 racing season and that he would be competing at the Orange County Fair Speedway this season. With the program at Orange County switching to 358-modifieds for Saturday evening Friesen was labeled as an “invader” on Saturday at Fonda.
Friesen made the most of his role as an “invader” winning his heat race and because of the “heads up” start he began the 35-lap feature event on the outside of the front row next to Alton Palmer. At the drop of Joe Kriss’ green flag it was Friesen who took the lead in the event with the yellow out at the completion of lap one after Korey Wilder came to a stop in turn four with a broken front end. Brandon Walter and Vinnie Sanganetti were also involved with Sanganetti the only driver able to continue.
In the “Delaware” restart which allows the leader to start on his own in row one while the second and third place drivers get to start side by side behind them in the second row, Friesen again took the lead with third place starter Larry Wight taking the second position away from Palmer on the restart. Friesen pulled away to a straightaway lead by the lap five point in the event with Bobby Varin the new third place car after starting sixth and new Fonda Speedway regular Danny Johnson in fourth after starting ninth.
Friesen was in lap traffic by lap 11 with the caution out on lap 12 for Jeff Trombley who came to a stop on the track. Varin was the new second place car on this restart with the caution out again one lap later for Jessey Mueller who spun in turn three with Bodie Bellinger also going to the hot pit at that point. On the restart the lineup showed Friesen, Varin, Wight, Danny Johnson, Palmer, and 14th place starter Pat Ward chasing the victory.
The event stayed green for the remaining laps with Friesen lapping up to the sixth place car on his way to his 41st career win at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds facility in the Halmar #44 over Varin, Wight, Danny Johnson, and Palmer.
“This is just a great race car with Jeff Daley, Tadd Parks, and Halmar joining resources,” Friesen told Paul Szmal in victory lane. “We won’t be here at Fonda every week and I will miss it but we will be here when we can.”
The 25-lap sportsman event began with outside pole sitter John McAuliffe the early leader with two cautions coming out on lap four for two separate incidents. When it was all said and done Billy Gray, Mark Mortensen, and Jack Lehner were done for the night with damage from those incidents.
On the restart fourth place starter Rocky Warner took the second position away from JaMike Sowle with two more cautions out on lap six for two separate incidents involving Adam McAuliffe and Nick Scavia before everything settled down and some good racing resulted.
Warner moved to the top of the speedway to gain ground on McAuliffe and by lap 11 he was right on McAuliffe’s back bumper. On the outside coming down the front straightaway to complete lap 12, Warner was the new race leader but lap traffic changed the completion of the event with five laps to go allowing McAuliffe to challenge Warner for the win.
On lap 21 McAuliffe retook the lead from Warner on the inside of turn four with McAuliffe’s car working well on the inside of the track but not so well on the outside. When McAuliffe was blocked by a lap car going into turn one with only two laps to go Warner swept around both of them to take the lead and from there he went on for the win in the Jake Spraker owned #1J over McAuliffe, Chad Edwards, Dave Constantino, and Sowle.
For Warner it was his 14th career win in the division placing him in a tie with Constantino for second on the all-time win list.
“After losing the lead with only a couple of laps to go I was trying everything that I could do to get it back,” Warner said in victory lane. “But I got a break with that lap car and was able to get the win.”
The 20-lap pro stock feature was a battle for the win between the two drivers that started on the front row, pole position starter Luke Horning and outside pole starter Kenny Gates. Caution flags on laps one and three saw the lead change once after Horning led at the start but Gates taking over the position on lap three on the inside of the backstretch.
At the halfway point Gates was still the race leader followed by Horning, Nick Stone, Jason Casey, and 10th place starter Chuck Dumblewski. With Gates running his patented inside groove around the track Horning was trying everything to run down the leader but once he realized that the outside groove wasn’t working for him he moved to the inside and quickly caught the leader.
When Gates pushed up a little bit in turns one and two, Horning took advantage and got to the inside of Gates to take over the lead. Horning led the remaining laps for his sixth career win at Fonda in the RCT Roofing #2H followed by Gates, Jason Casey, Stone, and 11th place starter Jay Casey.
“I have to thank my guys for all the tire prep they did tonight as my tires came in late in the event just when I needed them to,” Horning said. “I can’t believe that I passed Kenny Gates on the inside to take the lead.”
Josh Coonradt took home his fourth career win at Fonda in the street stock division over Dave Horning Sr., 10th place starter Jason Samrov, John Young, and Bill Yager. Rob VanAernam started the event in the ninth position and was up as high as the second spot before falling out of the event on lap 11 of the 15-lap event while running third.
Mike Peek took home his first career win in the rookie sportsman division in his third year of competition. Peek led every lap of the 15-lap event after starting on the pole position but was pressured at the end by Willy Decker Jr. who was the second place finisher. Josh Neal, David Manchester, and Kyle Gray completed the top five in the event.
The 20-lap CRSA Sprint car feature was led at the start by outside pole position starter Mike Kiser with fourth place starter Kyle Smith moving past Kory Gurney for the second position on lap three. Smith was the new race leader on lap seven after a slide job pass in turn two to get by Kiser with Cory Sparks the new second place car at that point.
Seventh place starter Josh Pieniazek was making up ground on the front runners by lap nine as he was in the third position and two laps later he was the new second place car after getting by Sparks. The red flag was out on lap 12 when Josh Flint came to a stop on the front stretch with a collapsed front end. While trying to slow down for the caution flag Pieniazek went over the wheel of Dustin Purdy and flipped his race car ending his great run. Pieniazek was not injured in the accident.
A single file restart restarted the field for the final eight laps of the event but Sparks couldn’t gain enough on Smith to challenge for the lead as Smith went on for the win over Sparks, 14th place starter Scott Goodrich, Gurney, and Kiser.
Racing continues at Fonda on Saturday, April 30 with a regular show in all divisions along with a tribute to Lee Millington. Starting time will be 7:30 p.m. For more information about the “Track of Champions” you can go to their website www.fondaspeedway.com
MODIFIED FEATURE – 35-LAPS – STEWART FRIESEN, Bobby Varin, Larry Wight, Danny Johnson, Alton Palmer, Pat Ward, Ronnie Johnson, Darwin Greene, Jeremy Wilder, Craig Hanson, Mark Kislowski, Jeff Rockefeller, Justin Boehler, Jessey Mueller, Bodie Bellinger, Jeff Trombley, Josh Hohenforst, Vinnie Sanganetti, Korey Wilder, Brandon Walters, Willy Decker, DNS Pep Corradi, DNS Scott Huber
SPORTSMAN FEATURE – 25-LAPS – ROCKY WARNER, John McAuliffe, Chad Edwards, Dave Constantino, JaMike Sowle, Connor Cleveland, Cody Clark, Tim Hartman Jr., Tony Farone, Brian Pessolano, Ricky Quick, Chris Schaffer, Kurtis Hohensheldt, Aaron Burton, Ivan Joslin, Dan Santabarbara, Doug Hancock, Josh DeMagistris, Harry Shaffer, Nick Scavia, Chris Curtis, Adam McAuliffe, Ray Zemken, Jack Lehner, Mark Mortensen, Billy Gray
PRO STOCK FEATURE – 20-LAPS – LUKE HORNING, Kenny Gates, Jason Casey, Nick Stone, Jay Casey, Jim Normoyle, Shane Henderson, Chuck Dumblewski, Justin Knight, Dennis Joslin, Jim Normoyle Jr., Cassidy Wilson, Devon Camenga, Adam Warner, Jamie Warner, Todd Hoffman, Bill Knapp, A.J. Walters
STREET STOCK FEATURE – 15-LAPS – JOSH COONRADT, Dave Horning Sr., Jason Samrov, John Young, Bill Yager, Joey Wilson, Jim Groncki, Rob VanAernam, Jody Thew, Jerry Cohn
ROOKIE SPORTSMAN FEATURE – 15-LAPS – MIKE PEEK, Willy Decker Jr., Josh Neal, David Manchester, Kyle Gray, John Stowell, A.J. Miller
CRSA SPRINT FEATURE – 20-LAPS – KYLE SMITH, Cory Sparks, Scott Goodrich, Kory Gurney, Mike Kiser, Dan Hennessy, J.R. Hurlburt, Tyler Jashembowski, Brett Jaycox, Thomas Radivoy, Christian Rumsey, Billy Jaycox, Dana Wagner, Emily VanInwegen, Dalton Herrick, Sydney Prince, Eddie Strada, Josh Pieniazek, Josh Flint, Brian Purdy, Art Kiser, Warren Alexson, DNS Danielle Dickenson
