Latta, Eicher, Covey, Ferry, Conant, And Mihalak Score Wins At Raceway 7

Matt Latta won Friday’s Crate feature at Raceway 7 (Jimmie Porter Photo)

By Jay Pees

August 15, 2014: The RUSH Crate Modifieds made their second appearance of the season at Raceway 7 with upstate, New York’s Dave Conant taking the win. Matt Latta led the Evergreen Lake Park Campground Crate Late Models every lap for his third win of the year and taking over the points lead. Gary Eicher solidified his points lead in the Bonnell Collision Center E-Mods feature while Jason Covey got his first Raceway 7 win in only his second visit. Hoyt Mihalak triumphed in the Specialty Products Mini Stocks for the first time ever in his career in a race that went green from start to checkers.

The first feature on the track was the Campbell’s Mini-Storage Street Stocks with Kenny Lamp and Jason Covey leading the pack. Covey led right from lap one with Jimmy Kennerknecht coming to second by lap three. Caution flew at lap four for a Dave Myers spin in turn four. After green Lamp came back to second with caution flying again at lap six, again for Myers, this time in turn two. With Kennerknecht outside this time he immediately came back to second with Ed Bolyard coming to third. At lap eight Bolyard came to second after a restart then points leader Chris Withers, running fourth, spun in turn two, having a tire go down and retiring to pits. Withers managed to rejoin the field after changing the errant tire before the race was back under green. With five to go Covey led Bolyard, Kennerknecht, Lamp, and Shaun Fawcett. The order remained the same through to the checkers with the win being the first-ever for Covey at Raceway 7.

The Sweeney Chevrolet RUSH Crate Modifieds were led to the green by Dave Conant and Andy Paden with Conant leading after one lap. Jeremy Paup came to second at two laps with Adam Hilton, winner on the tour’s first visit to Raceway 7, came to second at lap ten. At the finish Conant had a near half-lap lead with Paup third, Rocky Kugel fourth, and Ken Moy fifth.

Dylan Goodman and Aris Charnas led the sixteen Specialty Products Mini Stocks to Roger Osburn’s green flag for their feature with Goodman leading at the end of lap one with Hoyt Mihalak coming to second and defending points champion Brad Cole coming to third. Mihalak came to the lead at the end of three laps with Cole taking over second a lap later. 2012 champion Bud Sergeff and Goodman got together on lap six in turn two and spun to the infield but kept moving, negating the need for caution and allowing points leader Dale Fraschetti to get to third. In the final laps Cole was able to get alongside Mihalak but Mihalak held on for the win, his first ever, with Cole second, Fraschetti third, last week’s winner Jason Easler fourth, and Bud Sergeff fifth. The race was all green with no cautions.

Dave Airgood and points leader Matt Latta led the Evergreen Lake Park Campground Crate Late Models to green with Latta leading fourth starting Dennis Lunger after one lap. Latta opened his lead over Lunger with sixth starting Kyle Zimmerman third, and Airgood back to fourth at the halfway point. At eleven complete Latta had a quarter lap lead looking for his third win of the season. Latta came into lapped traffic at thirteen complete and began weaving his way through the field. With four laps to go Airgood tangled with the lapped car of Dennis Dellinger but kept going after ‘leap-frogging’ Dellinger. Dellinger spun bringing yellow over the field and erasing Latta’s lead. Zimmerman motored around Lunger on the green but Latta was pulling away to the win and sole possession of the points lead. Zimmerman wound up second with Lunger third, Airgood fourth, and Breyton Santee fifth.

Justin Carlson and Dan McDonald led the Bonnell Collision Center E-Mods to the green with Carlson leading the way from the drop of the green. Before one lap was in the books three cars, including defending points champion Joel Watson. Gary Eicher, current points leader, retired to the pit during the yellow, rejoining the field before green fell again. On the second try to get the race going McDonald led Carlson by half a car length at the end of one and by a bumper at the end of two. At the end of three laps yellow flew again, again for a multiple car incident in turn three. After green McDonald again led with Carlson right behind and Jack Young up to third from thirteenth on the grid. Carlson spun on lap eight with Young charged with rough driving and sent to the rear. For the green McDonald led Nathan Hill, Percy McDonald, Joel Watson, and Gary Eicher. Eicher charged to second by nine laps complete and was alongside Dan McDonald at eleven complete and into the lead a lap later. Eicher went on to score his third win of the season with Dan McDonald second, Jack Young, Percy McDonald, and Joel Watson.

The Zimmer Service Center Economods finished off the evening with their feature having Josh Ferry and Jace Ferringer on the front row. Ferry led the way from green with two-time winner Rick Prosser coming to second before the end of lap one. At the end of two it was sixth-starting Brandon Blackshear up to second and points leader Steve Burns fourth from his seventh place on the starting grid. Caution flew at lap six when Kevin Sergeff came to a halt in turn four. Caution again appeared at halfway for a four car mess in turn one. Point leader Steve burns spun on lap one of the restart, putting him to the rear for the restart. Two more yellows slowed Ferry’s march to his fourth win of the season over Blackshear, Prosser, Kyle Fellows, and Jace Ferringer. Ferry will also take over the points lead with two nights left in the season.

Results:

Evergreen Lake Park Campground Late Models:
Heat 1: Bryan Salisbury, Kyle Zimmerman, Bob Pifer, Dave Airgood, Cody Dawson, Tony Mariano, Khole Wanzer
Heat 2: Matt Latta, Breyton Santee, Bob Dorman, Dennis Lunger, Chad Wright, Kevin Hill, Dennis Dellinger
Feature: Matt Latta, Kyle Zimmerman, Dennis Lunger, Dave Airgood, Breyton Santee, Bob Pifer, Chad Wright, Bryan Salisbury, Tony Mariano, Cody Dawson, Bob Dorman, Khole Wanzer, Kevin Hill, Dennis Dellinger

Bonnell Collision Center E-Mods:
Heat 1: Mike Potosky, Josh McDonald, Justin Carlson, Percy McDonald, Bill Henry, Chuck Steinle Jr, Jack Young, Gary Murphy
Heat 2: Gary Eicher, Joel Watson, Nathan Hill, Dan McDonald, John Schenker, John Boardman, Jim Turley
Feature: Gary Eicher, Dan McDonald, Jack Young, Percy McDonald, Joel Watson, Justin Carlson, Mike Potosky, John Boardman, Bill Taylor, Nate Hill, Josh McDonald, John Schenker, Gary Murphy, Chuck Steinle Jr, Jim Turley

Campbell’s Mini-Storage Street Stocks:
Heat 1: Jimmy Kennerknecht, Chris Withers, Mark Frontera, Shaun Fawcett, Dave Myers, Mike Harmon
Heat 2: Jason Covey, Kenny Lamp, Ron Boardman, Kyle Reinwald, Ed Bolyard
Feature: Jason Covey, Ed Bolyard, Jimmy Kennerknecht, Kenny Lamp, Shaun Fawcett, Chris Withers, Mike Harmon, Kyle Reinwald, Ron Boardman, David Myers, Mark Frontera

Zimmer Service Center Economods:
Heat 1: Rick Prosser, Josh Ferry, Brandon Blackshear, Russ Kapalin, Kyle Fellows, Devon Henry, Kevin Sergeff, Wayne Mohawk (DNS)
Heat 2: Jace Ferringer, Josh Mueller, Steve Burns, Derek Dellinger, Eric Reinwald, Jody Woodworth, Chuck Steinle Jr, Jim Dellinger
Feature: Josh Ferry, Brandon Blackshear, Rick Prosser, Kyle Fellows, Jace Ferringer, Steve Burns, Russ Kapalin, Josh Mueller, Chuck Steinle Sr, Jim Dellinger, Jodi Woodworth, Devin Henry, Eric Reinwald, Kevin Sergeff

Specialty Products Mini Stocks:
Heat 1: Brad Cole, Dylan Goodman, Hoyt Mihalak, Aris Charnas, Jeannie Fowler, Ron Armstrong, Mitch Stokes, Cody Miner (DNS)
Heat 2: Bud Sergeff, Dale Fraschetti, Jason Easler, Mary Hammond, Mary Hammond, Cale Sousa, Hunter Holley, Zoey Gill, Alex Forbes
Feature: Hoyt Mihalak, Brad Cole, Dale Fraschetti, Jason Easler, Bud Sergeff, Dylan Goodman, Cody Miner, Mary Hammond, Cale Sousa, Aris Charnas, Alex Forbes, Hunter Holley, Zoey Gill, Jeannie Fowler, Ron Armstrong, Mitch Stokes (DNS)

RUSH Crate Modifieds:
Heat: Rocky Kugel, Jeremy Paup, Adam Hilton, Chad Conant, Andy Paden, Larry Kugel, Ken Moy
Feature: Dave Conant, Adam Hilton, Jeremy Paup, Rocky Kugel, Ken Moy, Larry Kugel, Andy Paden