Tracks: Tony Pepicelli and Mike Romano take modified wins at Fonda
21 May 2000
May 20, 2000- Fonda, NY - Tony Pepicelli chased Matt DeLorenzo from lap eleven of the modified feature at Fonda Speedway on Saturday. DeLorenzo came under the checker first but the win was awarded to Pepicelli after DeLorenzo was disqualified for being light at the scale in the post race inspection. The win gave Pepicelli his second career win at the track. His first came last season.The second leg of the 358 Modified Tour event at Fonda saw Mike Romano of Johnstown, NY score his second win of the season and also of the tour. Two events; two wins, not a bad payday for Mike.
Ryan Odasz of Ballston Spa, NY started 16th and moved quickly to the front to recorded win number two in the sportsman action. Odasz continued his unique winning celebrations by taking a reverse victory lap right through the middle of the IMCA feature that was lined up on the backstretch.
The IMCA modified win went to George Catanzano of Ghent, NY. The Pro-Stock feature win went to Rob Noviczski of Schenectady, NY. Jerry Pepper of Mayfield, NY and Bob VanAernam of Johnstown, NY were the winners in the Street Stock A and B events.
Modifieds:
The 30 lap Modified feature came to the green with Bob Sitterly in the lead. With only two laps complete the caution flew for Ronnie Holmes who spun mid-field and collected the No. 73 of John Marsh and the No. 333 of Bobby Albert. The caution flew again for the No. 19 of Brian Gathan.
Sittlerly led on the restart and held it until lap four when Matt DeLorenso moved outside in turn one and slipped by to take the lead.
DeLorenzo pulled away from the field. The two orange 12A machines, renumbered 12H of Hotaling and 12S for Savoie quickly moved to the front from their starting positions in the middle of the pack. Dave Lape battled with Savoie and Hotaling and managed to move into fifth spot with only five laps remaining. Hotaling was forced to pit on lap 23. Savoie posted a fifth place finish.
A. J. Romano had his No. 16 in the battle for a top five spot and on the final lap he and Lape slipped under Bob Sitterly to take third and fourth postions.
On lap eleven, Tony Pepicelli slipped under Sitterly for second and was now in the hunt for the lead.
On lap twelve DeLorenzo put his No. 3d high in turn four giving Pepicelli the chance to slip under him, but DeLorenzo hung on and Pepicelli could only manage to stay side by side with the No. 3d at the line.
DeLorenzo began to stretch out his lead and was well on his way to his first win until he came up light at the scales and the win went to Pepicelli who sat second at the checker.
Modified heat wins went to Bob Sitterly, Dave Lape, A. J. Romano, and Mike Romano. Bobby Albert won the modified consi.
358 Modified Action:
Jerry Pennock, Jr. led the field to the green in the 25 lap 358 Modified event. Pennock led until lap two when Tim Clemons who had started third, took over. Clemons led for the next 16 laps with constant challenges from first Pennock, then DeLorenzo.
Mike Romano was on the move from the middle of the pack and on lap seven got into the side of Alton Palmer in the No. 07 and both cars slid sideways toward the turn one wall. Romano was able to recover but Palmer spun around and collected four other cars. After a trip to the pits Palmer returned and was able to make his way back to ninth before something broke in the rear forcing him back to the pits.
Romano continued his march to the front. By lap 18 he was close enough to leader Clemons to move high in turn four and take the lead.
Romano continued on to the checker followed by Clemons, DeLorenzo, Albert and Pennock.
Heat winners in the 358 Mod qualifying were Tim Clemons, Alton Palmer, and Jerry Pennock, Jr. The consi win went to Jim Davis.
Pro Stocks:
Mike Noble, Chuck McSpirit and Luke Klob were three wide at the green in the 20 lap Pro Stock feature.
Mike Noble prevailed as the leader until lap six when the caution closed up the field and on the restart Jim Burton was headed for the lead when Rob Noviczski came flying through at the line to take the top spot.
Noviczski pulled away leaving the battle for second and third to Burton and Mike Fritz. Soon Ken Gates was in the mix.
Although Burton and Fritz rode nose to tail for the remainder of the event, they were not fast enough for the high flying Noviczski.
Novicizski went on to pick up his seventh career win at the track.
Pro Stock heat wins went to Jay Resch, Rob Noviczski and Brian Jordan.
Sportman Action:
Ryan Odasz avoided the multiple cautions in the sportsman feature and moved to the second position by lap five of the 20 lap event.
Odasz who started 16th in the event caught Bobby Hackel on lap five but fought him for the lead for five more laps before taking the lead.
Odasz continued on to take the checker followed by Hackel, Ballestero, Fallis and Hoard, Jr.
Sportsman qualifying wins went to Mike Ballestero, Bob Hackel, Frank Hoard, Jr., and Ryan Odasz.
IMCA:
George Proctor was in the lead at the green, being chased by the No. Z1 of George Catanzano. Catanzano took the lead on the backstretch.
Only Steve Bidwell was able to get close enough to challenge Catazano in the final laps but Catanzano held on to record win number two at Fonda Speedway.
Street Stock "A"
The first street stock event saw Rocky Warner in the action right away from his top spot. Warner was in a battle with Randy Cannell from the drop of the green.
Warner and Cannell battled for eight laps before eventual winner, Jerry Pepper grabbed the lead and went on to record win number two of the season.
Street Stock "B"
The street stock B event began with a melee of spinning cars on the backstretch when the No. 11 of Eric Harper lost a wheel.
Bob VanAernam was the leader at the halfway point of the event and was challenged all the way by his son Rob VanAernam.
The younger VanAernam was not able to overtake the senior and Bob went on to be the first VanAernam to win this season.
Modified finish (30 laps) 1) TONY PEPICELLI, 2) A. J. Romano, 3) Dave Lape, 4) Bob Sitterly 5) Bob Savoie, 6) Mike Romano, 7) Alton Palmer, 8) Tim Clemons, 9) Bobby Varin, 10) Craig Criscone, 11) Ron Holmes, 12) Bob Vedder, 13) Frank Hoard, 14) Lee Nutting, 15) Brian Gathan, 16) Harry Shaffer, II, 17) John Kollar, 18) Rich Pennock, Jr., 19) Brian Purdy, 20) Randy Hotaling, 21) Ken Hanson, 22) John Marsh, 23) Jerry Pennock, Jr., 24) Bobby Albert, 25) Dave Sargent Matt DeLorenzo DQ
358 Modified finish (25 laps) 1) MIKE ROMANO, 2) Tim Clemons, 3) Matt DeLorenzo, 4) Bobby Albert, 5) Jerry Pennock, Jr., 6) Bob Vedder, 7) Frank Hoard, 8) Jim Rothwell, 9) Hector Stratton, 10) Ron Holmes, 11) Ray Zemken, 12) Jim Davis, 13) Ken Hanson, 14) Steve Mothon, 15) Rick Davis, 16) Denny Young, 17) Paul Luskin, 18) Brian Gathan, 19) Tony Pepicelli, 20) Alton Palmer, 21) Bob Savoie, 22) Paul Parker, 23) Chuck Higley, 24) Dave Sargent.
Sportsman finsih (20 laps) 1) RYAN ODASZ, 2) Bobby Hackel, 3) Mike Ballestero, 4) Drew Fallis, 5) Frank Hoard, Jr., 6) Jeff Holt, 7) Rich Wozniak, 8) Jim Davis, 9) Steve Akers, 10) John McAuliffe, 11) Tony Farone, 12) Joe Geniti, 13) Jeremiah Munson, 14) Ray Zemken, 15) John Constantino, 16) Jeff Jones, 17) Mike Ketchum, 18) Tim Mayne, 19) Eddie SanSouci, 20) Robert Perry, 21) Frank Greco, 22) Johnny LeClair, 23) Mike Fraiser, 24) Craig Boehler, 25) Joe Rando.
I.M.C.A. Modified finish (15 laps) 1) GEORGE CATANZANO, 2) Steve Bidwell, 3) Mike Bungay, 4) Kevin Priest, 5) George Proctor, 6) Pete Campione, 7) Bud Herberg, 8) Bill Ward, Jr., 9) Joe Locorini, 10) Aaron Jacobs
Pro-Stock finish (20 laps) 1) ROB NOVICZSKI, 2) Jim Burton, 3) Mike Fritz, 4) Ken Gates, 5) Bubba Tanner, 6) Jay Resch, 7) Mike Noble, 8) Dave Viall, 9) Jeff Patrick, 10) Brian Jordan, 11) Chuck McSpirit, 12) Chris Morris, 13) Phlan Hart, 14) Steve Welch, 15) Luke Klob, 16) Steve Burega, 17) Jim Duncan, 18) Joe DiSenio, 19) Larry Rabe, 20) Tom LaPlante, 21) Joe Duncan, 22) Evan Gahan, 23) Brian Unser, 24) Hondo Carpenter, 25) Kerry Jordan, 26) Steve Cosselman, 27) Jim Normoyle, 28) Nick Stone.
Street Stock "A" finish (12 laps) 1) JERRY PEPPER, 2) Randy Cannell, 3) Don Warner, 4) Skip Pabis, 5) Dave Bayes, 6) Carl Biallargeon, 7) Rocky Warner, 8) Mike Walters, 9) Andrew Snider, 10) Dan Rickare, 11) Ken Barth, 12) Guy Klob, 13) Joe Moore.
Chris White DQ
Street Stock "B" finish (12 laps) 1)BOB VANAERNAM, 2) Rob VanAernam, 3) Paul Chichester, 4) Dick Nichols, 5) Keith Ackerknecht, 6) John Babcock, 7) Jim Olson, 8) Chris Porcari, 9) Dave Horning, Jr., 10) John Johnson, 11) Shawn Simmons, 12) Dave Hewitt, 13) Eric Harper, 14) Mark Saglimbeni.