Pennsylvania Vintage Modifieds Return This Week At Raceway 7

By Jay Pees

Conneaut, OH (August 9, 2016): The Pennsylvania Vintage Modifieds will make their second appearance at Raceway 7 this Friday with May winner Gary Haupt expected to return to defend his win. Other crowd favorites in the “throwback” to the roots of dirt racing here include Les Myers, Alan Byerly, Bob Sloss, and Australian native Jim “Dingo” Kirkwood. Heats and a feature are on tap with the cars on display on the walkway behind the grandstands prior to the evening’s events.

As the points races wind down toward the end of the season September 2 only four chances remain for drivers to improve their season-long standings. With two wins this season, Dennis Lunger, a former champion, leads Darrell Bossard, a three time winner, by 23 points, a slim margin at this point of the year in the Evergreen Lake Park Campground CARS Crate Late Models championship run. Both are consistently at, or near, the front of every heat and feature. Kyle Zimmerman, also a former champion, is third another 72 points behind Bossard with Wendall Pinckney and Chris Withers rounding out the top five. The top six contenders are still possible points champions with four weeks remaining.

Joel Watson has missed two weeks of racing but with seven feature wins he leads the Bonnell’s Collision Service E-Mods by nineteen points over Dennis Lunger, pulling double duty this season. Lunger for his first E-Mod win on July 22 but has run up front all season long. Third is Troy Johnson, still looking for his first class win at 7. Johnson is another 39 markers back. Father and son racers, Dan and Josh McDonald are fourth and fifth. The championship is very much up for grabs among the top six points cars with all having a mathematical chance at defeating Watson.

Steve Haefke has six Bonnell Auto Sales Economods wins and leads their standings by 20 points over Rick Prosser, the defending champion and a two-time winner early in the season. Eric Reinwald, the June 10th winner, is third, a whopping 193 points out of the lead. Two-time winner Tyler Frankenberry is fourth with Mike Harmon fifth. Frankenberry and Harmon have both been eliminated from the title battle.

Two time winner, including opening night, Rob Bates, has not relinquished the Campbell’s Mini Storage Street Stock lead since the season opened and currently enjoys a 107 point margin over Shaun Fawcett, the defending champion and a three time winner this season. Chris McGuire, a four-time winner is third with Don McGuire fourth and Chris Hochschild fifth. Don McGuire and Hochschild are mathematically eliminated from the championship chase with four weeks remaining.

Jason Easler has dominated Victory Lane in the McDonald’s Sand & Gravel Mini Stocks this season with eight trips to it, buildings lead of 79 points over Hoyt Mihalak, who leads former champions Bud Sergeff by 106 markers. Kyle Adkins, without a win, has fourth, 87 points behind Sergeff. Defending champion Brad Cole if fifth 63 points behind Adkins. At 335 points out of the lead and only 75 points being available on any given night, Cole is now mathematically locked out of repeating the title.

Weather permitting, gates open every Friday at 5:30 PM with pill draw cut off at 7 PM and racing at 7:30 PM. VIP suites are available for rental for $250 a night which includes eight general admissions passes. Admission is set for $10 for adults for this special event, kids 7-14 are $5. Children 6 and under are free. Pit passes are $25. For more information please visit www.raceway7.com or call the track on race day after 12 noon at 440-594-2222.