Zimbardi wins first-ever Patriot Sprint feature at Raceway 7!

By Jay Pees

Conneaut, OH, August 30, 2013: The Patriot Sprint Tour, a New York based 360 Sprinter Series, made its first-ever visit to Raceway 7, originally scheduled for Memorial Day weekend but rained out. With lightning flashing to the north of the track, seventeen of the winged racecars took to the track for 25 laps of hard racing, only slowed once by caution.

In regular racing Kyle Zimmerman picked up his first win of the season at Raceway 7, his first here since 2009 but Chad Wright, unable to start the feature due to mechanical ails, had wrapped up the championship a week early. Percy McDonald also returned to the Winner’s Circle for the first time since 2009, his championship year while Joel Watson had sealed his third consecutive championship the previous week. Shawn Fawcett also returned to the Street Stocks Winner’s Circle after an extended absence. Chris Withers, who accumulated enough points through last week to be crowned champion, suffered mechanical problems and retired to the infield partway through his feature. Alan Atkinson drove to his second Economod win of the season and the evening was called off by Pete Blaczak winning in his first appearance of the year at Raceway 7 in the Mini Stock night capper as Brad Cole finished close enough to defending champion Bud Sergeff to win the point’s title by a mere 18 markers..

Dave Just and Jared Zimbardi led the Patriot Sprint Tour feature to the green after qualifying set starting spots. Zimbardi, the 2011 series champion currently is only seven points behind series leader Scott Kreutter, who started back in fifth spot. Zimbardi took the lead at the green with Justin Barger quickly coming to third behind Just. The leaders caught the rear of the field at lap seven. A eight complete Steve Collins spun in turn in turn two, forfeiting fourth place and setting up a restart. The order for the restart was Zimbardi, Just, Barger, Bryan Howland, and Chuck Hebing. Point’s leader Scott Kreutter went wide at lap ten, losing several positions and the points lead. Just got wide a lap later allowing Barger to get by for the runner-up spot, then fell back through the field with apparent mechanical problems. Zimbardi went on to his third win of the season of Barger, Bryan Howland finished third with Chuck Hebing fourth and Tommy Wickham fifth. With the season nearing its end, Zimbardi is the point’s leader. It was his third win of the season.

The Evergreen Lake Park FASTRAK Late Models started with Kyle Zimmerman and Mike Mitchell on the front row. Notably absent from the starting lineup was Chad Wright, who had wrapped up the championship last week. After two cautions for multi-car incidents the race got underway with Zimmerman leading the way. It was reported that the newly crowned champion had terminal engine problems. Jay Watson ran second until lap four when Dave Airgood got by. At halfway Zimmerman had a half-straight lead over Airgood with Dennis Lunger third, Watson fourth, and Mitchell fifth. Zimmerman went on to his first Raceway 7 feature win since 2009. Airgood wound up second with Lunger third. Mitchell and Latta both got by Watson near the end for fourth and fifth at the finish.

The Bonnell Collision Center E-Mods took to the track with the veteran Bill Taylor on the pole and Mike Kinney outside. Kinney, looking for his first-ever Raceway 7 feature win was the immediate leader with fourth starting Percy McDonald coming to second. McDonald was looking for his first feature win since his championship year of 2009. At seven complete Mike Potosky came by Kenny Zimmer to third. McDonald challenged Kinney both from the top side and the bottom of the raceway while Potosky closed the gap, catching the leaders with eight laps remaining. With lapped traffic coming into play at lap fourteen McDonald got by Kinney. With sixteen complete Gary Murphy came to a halt in turn one, bringing caution over the field. After restarting McDonald opened his lead while Kinney and Potosky and Zimmer fought for second, third, and fourth. Kinney wound up second with Kenny Zimmer getting back by Potosky for third. Chuck Steinle Jr wound up fifth.

Shawn Fawcett, looking for his first 2013 win at Raceway 7, and Eric Reinwald, who got his first win earlier this season, brought the Western Reserve Animal Clinic Street Stock feature to the green with Fawcett taking the lead. With two laps complete former champion Rusty Wheeler slammed the outside wall coming out of turn two. Wheeler retired to the pits after taking out his frustration on Reinwald. Wheeler was disqualified from the event for unsportsmanlike conduct. When racing resumed Fawcett again led with Jimmy Kennerknecht second, Mark Ramsey third, and former champion Ed Bolyard fourth. Newly crowned champion Chris Withers pulled to the infield at lap seven with apparent mechanical problems but did not go far enough off the track, causing yellow to be thrown. Second running Kennerknecht came to a halt in turn one of lap eight, again slowing the event. With five remaining Ed Bolyard was getting alongside Fawcett and was right next to the leader at three to go. After a final yellow, Fawcett went on to the win over Bolyard, Mark Ramsey, Kenny Lamp, and Mike Harmon. During post-race inspection the cars of John Bailey and Mike Harmon were disqualified for illegal parts and Kenny Lamp was light at the scales and disqualified.

Alan Atkinson led from the start of the McDonald Meats Economods feature from the pole with Steve Burns getting by Jodi Woodworth Sr for second before the end of one lap. A the end of three laps, last week’s winner Casey Bowers was third, up from his sixth spot on the starting grid. Zack Wright looped his mount on turn two at lap six, tightening the pack. Atkinson led Burns, Bowers, Tim Deutsch, and Jamie Scharba back to the green. Deutsch nearly got by Bowers just as caution again slowed the field. Deutsch got by Bowers a lap after green. Deutsch got sideways with eleven laps complete, losing ground on the leader but maintaining his position. Zack Wright spun in turn two with three laps to go, setting up a dash to the checkers. Atkinson was able to hold on to the lead over the remaining laps for his second win of the season. Burns was second with Deutsch third, Jamie Scharba fourth, and Russ Kapalin filling out the top five.

The final race of the season was the Specialty Products Mini Stocks, the only class with the championship going to the final week. Jason Easler led from the pole but Pete Blaczak took over after three laps. The point’s race was between Brad Cole and defending champion Bud Sergeff. Sergeff trailed Cole by 45 points coming into the night but had gained 15 points on Cole in the heat, entering the feature with a thirty point deficit. Blaczak went on to the win over Easler, Sergeff, and Joe Plesniak, who got by Dale Fraschetti right at the finish line. Sergeff close the gap with his third place finish but Cole was the champion by 18 points. Sergeff had won opening night but had several difficult weeks early in the season while Cole had a steady season, always finishing near the front.

Patriot Sprint Tour:

Heat 1: Bryan Howland, Steve Collins, Justin Barger, Scott Just, Geoff Quackenbush, Dave Just, John Smith, Jimmy Morris, Brandan Warner

Heat 2: Scott Kreutter, Jared Zimbardi, Chuck Hebing, Kevin Ward, Tommy Wickham, Clint Ide, Brad Knab, Tyler Graves

Dash: Kevin Ward, Tommy Wickham, John Sheldon Smith, Scott Just, Clint Ide, Brad Knab

Feature: Jared Zimbardi, Justin Barger, Bryan Howland, Chuck Hebing, Tommy Wickham, Steve Collins, John Sheldon Smith, Geoff Quackenbush, Kevin Ward, Scott Kreutter, Brad Knab, Clint Ide, Dave Just, Scott Just, Tyler Graves, Jimmy Morris, Brandan Warner

Evergreen Lake Park Campground FASTRAK Late Models:

Heat 1: Dennis Lunger, Jamie Brown, Kyle Zimmerman, Jay Watson, Mark Tatalovic, Billy Henry, Tony Mariano, Wendell Pinckney

Heat 2: Mike Mitchell, Matt Latta, Chad Wright, Dave Airgood, Bob Pifer, Nick Mohawk, Kevin Hill

Feature: Kyle Zimmerman, Dave Airgood, Dennis Lunger, Mike Mitchell, Matt Latta, Billy Henry, Jamie Brown, Jay Watson, Wendell Pinckney, Tony Mariano, Nick Mohawk, Kevin Hill, Mark Tatlovic, Bob Pifer, Chad Wright (DNS)

Bonnell Collision Center E-Mods:

Heat 1: Bill Taylor, Dan McDonald, Chuck Steinle Jr, Josh McDonald, Jim Dellinger, Gary Eicher, Brian Fardink, Brian Hathaway

Heat 2: Mike Potosky, Mike Kinney, Percy McDonald, Kenny Zimmer, Jeff Johnson, Jim Turley, Gary Murphy

Feature: Percy McDonald, Mike Kinney, Ken Zimmer, Mike Potosky, Chuck Steinle Jr, Bill Taylor, Josh McDonald, Gary Eicher, Jim Turley, Brian Fardink, Jim Dellinger, Gary Murphy, Dan McDonald, Brian Hathaway, Jeff Johnson (DNS)

McDonald Meats Econo Mods:

Heat 1: Tim Deutsch, Chuck Steinle Sr, Jodi Woodworth Sr, Casey Bowers, Russ Kapalin, Steve Samuelson, Josh Ferry, Zack Wright

Heat 2: Alan Atkinson, Jamie Scharba, Kyle Fellows, Steve Burns, Bob Bland, Jodi Woodworth Jr, Gene Crouch, Jace Ferringer

Feature: Alan Atkinson, Steve Burns, Tim Deutsch, Jamie Scharba, Russ Kapalin, Casey Bowers, Bob Bland, Chuck Steinle Sr, Kyle Fellows, Steve Samuelson, Josh Ferry, Jodi Woodworth Jr, Gene Crouch, Zach Wright, Jodi Woodworth Sr, Jace Ferringer

Western Reserve Animal Clinic Street Stocks:

Heat 1: Matk Ramsey, Jimmy Kennerknecht, Jonny Boyd, Eric Reinwald, Tim Burns, Art Gilchrist, John Bailey,

Heat 2: Shawn Fawcett, Chris Withers, Rusty Wheeler, Ed Bolyard, Mike Harmon, Kenny Lamp

Feature: Shawn Fawcett, Ed Bolyard, Mark Ramsey, Eric Reinwald, Art Gilchrist, Tim Burns, Jimmy Kennerknecht, Chris Withers, Jonny Boyd, Kenny Lamp (DQ), Mike Harmon (DQ), John Bailey (DQ), Rusty Wheeler (DQ)

Specialty Products Mini-Stocks:

Heat 1: Bud Sergeff, Jason Easler, Joe Plesniak, Brad Cole, Logan Keney, Tim Gilette, Pat Drennan, Chris Forbes

Heat 2: Dale Fraschetti, Mitch Stokes, Pete Blaczak, Hoyt Mihalak, Scott Gill, Cale Sousa, Alex Forbes

Feature: Pete Blaczak, Jason Easler, Bud Sergeff, Joe Plesniak, Dale Fraschetti, Mitch Stokes, Brad Cole, Tim Gillette, Scott Gill, Logan Keney, Chris Forbes, Alex Forbes, Hoyt Mihalak, Pat Drennan, Cale Sousa