Blair, Williams, Schweikart return to Victory Lane, Bidwell and Tarabori First Time Winners at MCR
East Smethport, PA (May 31, 2014) 104 race cars graced the pit area Saturday night at the NDRL McKean County Raceway for autograph night. Rob Blair, Jeremy Williams and Roger Schweikart all returned to victory lane for the second time this year, while Darren Tarabori and Damien Bidwell picked up their first ever wins at MCR! Larry Mitchell Jr of Smethport drove his dads car to the 4cyl mini stock win.
Butch Southwell and Nathan Hill paced the Close Racing Supply modified field to the 20 lap feature event. Southwell charged past Hill as they raced into turn three with newcomer, Darren Tarabori moving into third and would get around Hill on the second lap. Tarabori would take the lead on lap four from Southwell with Hill in third. By the halfway point it was Tarabori impressively opening up a big lead over Southwell, Vic Vena, Dan Davies and Hill sliding back to fifth. As Tarabori was out in front Vic Vena and Dan Davies were working on Southwell with the #01 of Vena moving into second on lap 16 followed by Davies who kicked Southwell back to fourth. Tarabori wasn’t contested the last three laps to grab the very popular win over Vena, Davies, Southwell and Hill. Tarabori stated in victory lane that his v6 powered modified lost a cylinder around lap five, even have three less cylinders than his v8 competitors, Tarabori still impressively dominated the field.
The Highway Auto Stock Cars saw Ted Mascho take the from his pole position starting spot with Jeremy Williams quickly in tow. Rick Wojtowicz moved into second on lap three behind Mascho. A the field hit the halfway point, Mascho, was holding off a torrid challenge from Wojo and Williams. Williams would get past Wojtowicz for second on lap 13 and pull beside Mascho on the last lap. As the leaders raced into turn three on the final lap, Williams had a slight advantage and drove over the inside berm giving Mascho a shot coming out of turn four but Williams would be able to hold off Mascho for his second win of the year. Wojtowicz was third followed by last week’s winner, Gary Fisher and Kurt Stebbins finding the fifth spot.
The “Captain” Jason Dupont and defending track champion Rob Blair paced the super late model field to Curtis Peters green flag. Blair charged into the lead at the start with Dupont and Matt Urban in third. With five laps in, Blair was leading Dupont and Urban still with Greg Oakes and Dick Barton rounding out the top five. Lap eleven saw the first yellow for Dylan Fenton. Oakes would grab third from Urban on the restart with Max Blair moving into fifth. Oakes would move into second with ten to go as the younger Blair was now up to fourth and Urban was fifth. David Scott moved from sixth to fourth with three to go to make a late race charge but was unable to get past Dupont for third as Rob Blair crossed the stripe for his second win of the year over Greg Oakes, Jason Dupont, Scott and Max Blair was fifth.
Pat Mitchell and Brandon Buchanan led the mini stocks to the start of their 15 lap event. Fourth place starting Holden Heinemann took the lead by the end of the first lap. By lap five, Heinemann was leading over Buchanan, Todd Hanlon, Larry Mitchell Jr and Thomas Cupp Lap 7 would see the first yellow for point leader Mitch Boylan by the end result of contact with Hanlon. Mitchell would grab second on the restart from Buchanan and the car on the move was Lyndsay Carlson Jr. who was now in fourth and Boylan came back up to fifth. Heinemann and Mitchell Jr raced each other for the lead with some contact being made till Mitchell Jr taking the lead on with four to go. Boylan would get around Heinemann with two to go but would not be able to overtake Mitchell Jr, who grabbed the win in his first start driving his dads #47 machine. Boylan was second, Heinemann, Buchanan and Carlson Jr rounded out the top five.
Art Peterson took the lead from his third starting position on the opening lap only to too see Roger Schweikart take the top spot on lap three. Peterson night would end on that lap with last week’s winner Jason Dobson being sent to the rear for rough driving. On the restart, Dennis Cummings was now in the second position with point leader, Joe Layfield in third. Layfield would grab second at the halfway point with Dobson claiming third on lap nine. Schweikart raced his way to his second win of the year with Dobson passing Layfield for the runner up position on lap 13. Donnie Williams and 12th starting Robert Murray came home fifth.
Damien Bidwell shot into the lead at the start of the 20 lap RUSH crate late model feature over Doug Ricotta. By lap four the car on the move was three time winner and point leader, Chad Ruhlman who was up to fifth from his ninth place starting spot. Bidwell was keeping the field behind him as Ricotta was fending off the challenges of defending track champion, Max Blair. At the halfway point it was still Bidwell looking for his first win with Ricotta and Blair hounding the black #17. Ruhlman was fourth and Ward Schell in the famous Ron Baker #74 in fifth. A lap fifteen yellow for Critter Hemphill, Mike Robinson and Bill Mesler caused a post caution incident with Bob Rohrer and Jason Genco with Genco’s car up ontop of Rohrer’s. Bidwell shot ahead again on the restart over Blair and Ricotta. Ruhlman would grab third Ricotta with three to go. As the Bidwell took the white flag, Ruhlman was going for second and got too high in turns 1 and 2 to lose several positions allowing Ricotta to re-grab third with Brad Mesler sliding by Ward Schell for fourth. Bidwell’s win was his first ever at MCR and will no doubt not be his last in the RUSH Crate Late Models.
Race fans and teams are reminded that MCR will have a rare Friday night event this week due to the fairgrounds being used over the weekend. The Bill Law Memorial for the RUSH Crate Late Models presented by Andrews Auto Salvage will pay $1000 to win. Race time will be 7:30pm Friday night.
RESULTS:
CLOSE RACING SUPPLY MODIFIEDS:
DARREN TARABORI, Vic Vena, Dan Davies, Butch Southwell, Nathan Hill, John Woodward, John Boardman, Randy Hall, Al Brewer, Dan Sasso, Carl Ballinger, Adam Peterson, Mike McGee (DNS)
HIGHWAY AUTO STOCK CARS:
JEREMY WILLIAMS, Ted Mascho, Rich Wojtowicz, Gary Fisher, Kurt Stebbins Jason Dobson, Randy Taylor, Butch Talbot, Vaughn Nystrom Brad Curran, Ryan Snyder, Elaine Best, Chris Dunn, Victor Earle Jr.
SUPER LATE MODELS:
ROB BLAIR, Greg Oakes, Jason Dupont, David Scott, Max Blair, Matt Urban, Dick Barton, Chris Hackett, Brent Rhebergen, Bob Dorman, Michael Oakes, Chris Tripodi, Wally Fox, Dave Norton Jr., Devin Lewis, Joe Layfield, Dylan Fenton, Denny Fenton
MINI STOCKS:
LARRY MITCHELL JR, Mitch Boylan, Holden Heinemann, Brandon Buchanan, Lyndsay Carlson JR., Michael Rotunda, Thomas Cupp, Andy Proper, Aaron Bartas Leo Hanlon, Shawn Kemp, Pat Mitchell Jr., Dave Lowe Jr., Cody Egnar, Lee Brown, Damen Palmer, Kurt Babcock, Todd Hanlon (BF), Mike Eastman (DNS), Richard Kline (DNS), Jacob Andrews (DNS)
PURE STOCKS:
ROGER SCHWEIKART, Jason Dobson, Joe Layfield, Donnie Williams, Robert Murray, RJ Pistner, Rod Winans, Dennis Cummings, Tim Burkett, Cliff Easton, Jeff Johnson Jr., Art Peterson, Zach Hamer (DNS)
RUSH Crate Late Models:
DAMIEN BIDWELL, Max Blair Doug Ricotta, Brad Mesler, Ward Schell, Bobby Rohrer, Steve Watson, Chad Ruhlman, Wyatt Scott, Bob Kish, Scott Waters, Garrett Mott, Justin Smith, John Haggerty, Bill Mesler, Dave Shagla, Craig Dean, Critter Hemphill, Jason Genco, Steve Fitch, Cody Dawson, Mike Robinson
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