Three New Faces Find Raceway 7 Victory Lane
7 min read
Monroe Center, OH (Aug 20, 2021)After last weeks torrential rains that hit just after drivers meeting, postponing Raceway 7’s 7th event of 2021, fans were comforted with spacious skies and five divisions of action packed racing. The Campbells Mini Storage RUSH Modified Points Championship would go down to the wire between four drivers. In racing action Brian McGarvie would pick up his first ever Sunnyside Farm Transit Mini Stock Feature. Jacob Eucker would pick up his first Lakeview Ford Econo Mod feature win since 2019. Chas Wolbert would pick up his third Campbells Mini Storage RUSH Modified feature of 2021. Bud Watson would go back to back to pick up the Evergreen Campground RUSH Crate Late Models main event. And, Regional standout Dave Hess Jr. would claim The Whelen Engineering UMP Modifeds thriller for his first UMP Modified win at Raceway 7 since 2012.
First feature to hit the track was The Sunnyside Farm Transit Mini Stocks. At the drop of the green pole sitter Jacob Wheeler would get the jump. Wheeler would hold the point until Brian McGarvie would pull alongside of him going down the backstretch and take the lead away on lap five. With Wheeler diagnosing some jumping out of gear problems, two time winner Chris Bugielski would take the runner-up spot on lap six. As McGarvie was maintaining the advantage, Wheeler who fell back to seventh would come back through the pack and take over second from Bugielski on lap nine. Wheeler was seemingly the fastest car on the track and started tracking down the leader McGarvie. But, once again a lap later Wheeler would encounter issues, as Bugielski and points leader Jessica Harvey would get by. McGarvie would go the disatance to pick up his first ever Sunny Side Farm Transit Mini Stock win, Bugielski would ride home second, Wheeler would find momentum once again to secure third, Jessica Hravey, and Austyn Richards would round out the top five.
Second up would be The Lakeview Ford Sponsored Econo Mods. Garrett Calvert would grab the lead at the outset. Calvert and Jacob Eucker would engage in a fierce battle for the lead for the first four circuits, until Eucker would take the lead coming out of turn two on the fifth circuit. On lap six, tenth starter, Mitchell Wright would grab the third spot then would take second from Calvert a lap later. Seventh starter Jordan Simmons would take the third spot from Calvert on lap nine as Wright started pressuring the leader Eucker. Eucker would find some breathing room the remaining five laps to go on to post his first Raceway 7 win of 2021. Wright sailed home in second, Calvert took away the third spot from Simmons on the final lap, Simmons setteled for fourth, and former Mini Stock Champ John Boyd came home fifth.
Next up would be the Campbell Mini Storage RUSH Modifieds 2021 Finale. Going into the classes final event of the season. There were four drivers (Kole Holden, Kyle Martell, Brandon Ritchey, Preston Cope) in the hunt for the 2021 Points Title which the four were only seperated by a total of fourteen points. At the drop of the green Tony Tatgenhorst would take the lead. The first seven laps would see a great four car battle for the top four spots going on between, Tatgenhorst, Kyel Martell, Rob Krystiak, and Chas Wolbert. On lap five Wolbert would take over the second spot from Martell, then pick off Tatgenhorst for the lead on lap six. With Martell looking like if he could just hold on to a top five, he would claim the 2021 crown, disaster would strike the #8 team. Martell was collected in a multi-car pile up going into turn three on lap seven. Martell would go pitside with a flat right front tire, and some other damages, but would return to the tail before getting back underway. As the race would resume, Wolbert started to drive away from the field, with eleventh starter and points championship contender, Brandon Ritchey cracking the top five on lap twelve, then to third on lap sixteen. Wolbert would go the rest of the way unscaved, Tatgenhorst would bring home second, Kristyak would get around Ritchey with two laps remaining for third, Ritchey would sew up the 2021 championship with his fourth place finish, and Ben Easler would round out the top five.
Previous weeks winner, Bud Watson would bring the thirteen car Evergreen Campground RUSH Crate Late Models feature to green. Watson would jump out front with Breyton Santee and Cory Sines in towe. A good battle would develop for second between Santee and Sines, until Sines would hit the yuke tires in turns one and two on lap five bringing out the races first caution for debris. Sines would retire from the event with heavy front nose damage. As the field got back under green, Chad Sines would get the jump on Santee for second, but Santee would return the favor on lap six. As Watson maintained the top spot, Santee was valiantly trying to take away the lead from Watson using the extreme high side of the race track. Santee almost pulled even with Watson a few times, but Watson would maintain his line to hold down the lead and go the rest of the distance for his second consecutive win. Chad Sines would get around Santee on the final lap for the runner-up spot, Santee would settle for third, Joe Long, and Jim Rasey would round out the top five.
The Whelen Engineering UMP Modifieds would be the evenings final main event. Mike Potosky and Mark Titus would bring the twenty-four car field to green. Potosky would get the jump on Titus for the lead. On lap three Eric Reinwald would take over second with a hard charging Joel Watson into third. As the leaders were heading for lap five they were four wide coming out of turn four for the top spot. While this fierce battle was taking place, Tweflth place starter Dave Hess Jr. was making his way through the field and would crack the top five on lap five. You could throw a blanket over the top five for the next five laps, as the leaders, Potosky, Michael MCgee, and Joel Watson would go three wide coming out turn four for the lead on lap ten. Hess would move into third on lap eleven, and then pick off Watson for second on lap twelve. On lap fourteen Hess would use a slider to take the lead over from race long leader Potosky coming out of turn two. Potosky would not give an inch as he would uproot Hess’s rear bumper going down the backstretch. On lap fifteen Hess and Potosky would once again almost come together, until Hess would find breathing room the last four laps to pick up his first Raceway 7 UMP Modified win in nine years, and his 15th career victory in the E-Mod Division at Raceway 7. The battle for second third and fourth would heat up the final five laps, with McGee coming home second, Brent Rehebergen would garner a hard fought third place finish, Potosky faded to fourth at the end, and Joel Watson came back to finish fifth after fading during the middle stages of the race.
MINI STOCKS (28 Entries)
Heat Winners: Brain McGarvie, Andrew Smith, Jacob Wheeler, Zach Downes
B Main Winner: Alan Sousa
Feature: 1)Brain McGarvie 2)Chris Bugielski 3)Jordan Wheeler 4)Jessica Harvey 5)Austyn Richards 6)Derrick Randolph 7)Devin Haefke 8)Andrew Smith 9)Zoey Gill 10)Alan Sousa 11)Steve Campbell 12)Mike Barr 13)Jeremy Start 14)Tristan Start 15)Howard Garlick 16)Shawn McBride 17)Justin Bailey 18)Carl White 19)Trisha Jacklet 20)Zach Downes 21)Tyler Kirk 22)Alexis Vogt 23)Tylar Ferdorko 24)Dalton Speer
Lap Leaders: Wheeler(1-4) McGarvie(5-12)
ECONO MODS (26 Entries)
Heat Winners: Mitchell Wright, Jarett Young, John Boyd, Devin Henry
Feature: 1)Jacob Eucker 2)Mitchell Wright 3)Garrett Calvert 4)Jordan Simmons 5)John Boyd 6)Dennis Dellinger 7)Gary Sullivan 8)Branden Porter 9)Kevin Vanderhoof 10)Kyle Atkins 11)Alex Siekkinen 12)Willaim Pickney 13)Emily Stoyer 14)Zach Etzel 15)Drew Barnes 16)Mike Higgins 17)Ryan Wisniowski 18)Jarett Young 19)Tyler Dunmire 20)Norman Hare 21)Devin Henry 22)Lane Reinwald 23)Joe Dewoody 24)Dale Reiser DNS: Travis Creech, Mike Bahler
Lap Leaders: Calvert(1-4) Eucker(5-15)
RUSH MODIFIEDS (19 Entries)
Heat Winners: JC Boyer, Rob Kristyak, Tatennhorst
Feature: 1)Chas Wolbert 2)Tony Tatgenhorst 3)Rob Kristyak 4)Brandon Ritchey 5)Ben Easler 6)Greg Porter 7)Cole Edwards 8)Kole Holden 9)Dalton Gabriel 10)Dave Price 11)JC Boyer 12)Jake Rutana 13)Cameron McFadden 14) Brandon Techo 15)Kyle Martell 16)Lucas Canon 17)Preston Cope 18)Jacob Jordan 19)Ayden Cipriani
Lap Leaders: Tatgenhorst(1-5) Wolbert(6-20)
RUSH CRATE LATE MODELS (13 Entries)
Heat Winners: Cory Sines, Bud Watson
Feature: 1)Bud Watson 2)Chad Sines 3)Breyton Santee 4)Joe Long 5)Jim Rasey 6)Steve Hollbaugh 7)Jacob Peterson 8)John Stockdale 9)Gary Youngs 10)Albert Bull 11)Wendall Pinckney 12)Konar Loney 13)Cory Sines
Lap Leaders: Watson(1-20)
UMP MODIFIEDS (25 Entries)
Heat Winners: Dave Hess Jr., Brent Rhebergen, Joel Watson, Josh McDonald
Feature: 1)Dave Hess Jr. 2)Mike McGee 3)Brent Rhebergen 4)Mike Potosky 5)Joel Watson 6)Nate Young 7)Josh McDonald 8)Mike Kinney 9)Steve Swornberger 10)Troy Johnson 11)Dan McDonald 12)Mark Titus 13)Matt Alexander 14)Justin Sax 15)Jim Plance 16)Alan Atkinson 17)Percy McDonald 18)Chuck Steinle Jr. 19)Judson Fell 20)Joe DeFazio 21)Eric Reinwald 22)Gerry Kieler 23)Dan McEwen 24)Casey Bowers DNS: Jeff Johnson
Lap Leaders: Mike Potosky(1-13) Dave Hess Jr.(14-20)
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