Patriot Sprint Tour To Make First Visit To Raceway 7

By Jay Pees

Conneaut, OH, (May 29, 2013): The central NY-based Patriot Sprint Tour will make its first ever visit to Raceway 7 this Friday May 31. Raceway 7 will be the 33^rd track ever visited by the tour, which features 360 cubic inch, alcohol-burning, winged sprinters. Several local drivers are expected to join the tour regulars including Adam Anderson of Meadville, PA, who ended up on his side last week at Eriez during the feature, New Castle’s Dennis Wagner, and Columbiana, OH’s Gary Edwards. Last week’s Eriez winner Scott Kreutter is expected as well as points leaders Bryan Howland (a 4-time champion), Justin Barger, who led last week’s event until spinning a complete 360 without stopping. Jared Zimbardi, the winner at Bradford Speedway earlier this season, is also expected to be in the thick of the battle for the win.

The Evergreen Lake Park Campground FASTRAK Late Models had their first repeat winner last week in the person of young Chad Wright, who came from eighth on the starting grid to the lead by the halfway point. Wright won his heats over the past two week as well and holds a 27-point edge in the standings as a result. The opening night winner, Dennis Lunger, the 2009 season champion, holds down second in the standings with 31-point edge over Jamie Brown, looking for his first-ever feature win but showing signs of improvement every week.

Jamestown, NY’s Greg Johnson made his first visit of the season to Raceway 7 last week and made it a profitable one by getting his first-ever feature win at the track. Meadville, PA’s Mike Potosky, with no wins, yet this season, 2009 track champion Percy McDonald currently rides second in the standings.

With consistent top ten feature finishes and a pair of heat race wins, former Stock car competitor Russ Kapalin leads the McDonald’s Meats Economods point chase by 12 points over Jace Ferringer. Both drivers are looking for their first-ever Raceway 7 feature wins. Another 18-markers behind Ferringer is 14-year old Casey Bowers, who won his first of the year at Raceway 7 last week. Bowers, a Cranesville, PA native, was the 2012 Cavalcade of Racing Rookie of the year and collected one feature win last summer, the youngest driver to do so in the history of Raceway 7, at 13 years of age. Bowers, the youngest driver in the class, holds a 2-point edge over Chuck Steinle Sr, the oldest driver in the class.

The Western Reserve Animal Clinic Street Stocks had a paucity of cars last week, likely due to the bitter cold, but a more complete field is expected this week as the weather appears to be much better at this time with high temperatures forecasted to be in the low eighties as of this writing. Former class champion Ed Bolyard is the points leader, gaining his first win of the season two weeks ago. Bolyard has a 27-point lead over Chris Withers, last week’s feature winner. Third is former champion Rusty Wheeler. 36 points behind Withers. Wheeler’s best run of the season thus far was last week, a second.

2012 Specialty Products Mini Stock champion Bud Sergeff won opening night but has not had a great season since then, falling out of the last two week’s racing (slamming the wall last week!) and falling to fifth in the standings. The leader at this point is Brad Cole, who won his first of the season last week, winning both heat and feature. Cole leads Dylan Goodman (no wins…yet) by nine points while Goodman has the thinnest of margins, one point, over second week winner Jason Easler. Rookie contender Dale Fraschetti currently is fourth, nine points behind Easler.

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 $15 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