1/6/2008

Robin Schewire, Dominic Ranieri Jr., & Harry Sager Victors in the Frostbite II

   Mountain Speedway got its 2008 season underway this Saturday with the Frostbite II. This is the first race of the Mountain Madness Enduro Series sponsored by ABC Car Crushing and Auto Parts out of Hunlocks Creek, PA. Several fans braved the cold to watch the first races of 2008. The fields were set with the drivers pulling for position and the coin toss which inverted the field for all three classes. The 4 cylinders got underway with 42 drivers hungry for the win. Robin Schewire of East Quogue, NY in his #99 emerged victorious. Dominic Ranieri Jr. kept himself ahead of defending champion Jeff Walls for the win in the 6/8 cylinders. Harry Sager of Hanover Township, PA won the first race of the added “Trophy Trucks” series for 2008. The day may have been cold outside, but the action on the track was very hot.
   The 4 cylinders took to the track first with an impressive 42 car field. David Bentley Jr. led until lap 41. At that point the red flag flew as a couple cars came together. One of the cars who stopped on under the red was the 19X of Jimmy White Jr. As the field got back underway, White did not get restarted and was slammed from behind by the #28 of Allen Myers who had no where else to go. The red flag flew once again on lap 42 to remove White by ambulance. White would be fine and return for the next 6/8 cylinder event. On the restart, Robin Schewire in the #99 took over the lead with a great jump on Bentley. The red flag was displayed once more on lap 50 to remove Mike Ventura from his #27V. Ventura got caught up a lap earlier when the #38 of Bob Haeger and the #83 of Randy Ahner Jr. got together. Twice more during the event the red flag waved. But the flag that mattered to Schweire was the last one. As the checkered flag dropped, Robin Schewire claimed the win over David Bentley in the 100-lap event.
   Added to the Mountain Madness Enduro Series for 2008 and next to take the track for their 25-lap event was the “Trophy Trucks.” Six trucks began the race with Rich Onorato in his #7 leading the field to the green flag. By lap 7 Onorato had his hands full with the #61 of Harry Sager. The two of them raced side by side for several laps. The #44 of Mike Mujusce caught up with them to make it a three-way battle for the lead. On lap 12, Sager pulled passed Onorato and took over the top spot. While running third, Mujusce spun around on the front stretch into the snowy field of turns one and two. He would end up a lap down. Harry Sager, pulling triple duty running in all three of the day’s events, pulls into victory lane earning the win for the first Trophy Truck event of 2008.
   The last event of the day was the 6/8 cylinder endures for their 100-lap race. The #78 of Vinnie Green led the 42 cars to the start. The red flag came out quickly on lap 4 as the #53 of Joe Cardiello died in turn four and he needed to be removed from his vehicle. Kevin Nowak in his #53 truck ran the Trophy Truck event earlier and decided to run it in this event as well. Unfortunately he would have trouble early bringing out the red flag on lap eight. A hard shot from behind snapped the rear axle of his machine sending the pieces across the track. On lap 11, Joe Jentile in the #41 took the lead. Third place runner #78 Vinnie Green took a spin on lap 44. Lap 50 saw the #266 of Bob Kulik and the #61 of Harry Sager got together and Sager’s day would end at the halfway point of the race. The #98 of Dominic Ranieri Jr. moved into the lead on lap 56. Defending 2007 Champion Jeff Walls in his #31X did everything possible to stay out of trouble and catch the leader, but was never successful. Ranieri Jr. utilized the lapped traffic to keep a safe distance between himself and Walls. With three to go, Walls threw caution to the wind taking things three-wide trying to catch up to Ranieri Jr. Things got very exciting with two laps to go and the fans saw cars spinning all over the track trying to gain positions. In the end, Dominic Ranieri Jr. emerged victorious claiming the first win of the 2008 series in this division.


Final Results:

4 Cylinder Enduros: 1 - Robin Schewire, 2 - David Bentley Jr., 3 - Luke Colleran, 4 - Ed Brown Jr., 5 - Harry Sager, 6 - Duane Garrison, 7 - Robert Fink, 8 - Robin Vollmoeller Sr., 9 - Ollie Stewart, 10 - Bob Haeger, 11 - John Saccomandi, 12 - Charles Barbesch, 13 - Sam Ryan, 14 - Art Kulik, 15 - Mike Dunn, 16 - Travis Fisher, 17 - Josh Oswald, 18 - Anthony Pizzo, 19 - Jack McElrath, 20 - Scott Adams, 21 - Lou Honeywell, 22 - Brandon Brown, 23 - Randy Ahner Jr., 24 - Larry Spencer III, 25 - Allen Myers, 26 - Travis Schwenk, 27 - Jeff Sheetz, 28 - Tony Arcaro, 29 - Ken Harper, 30 - Mark Foreman, 31 - Bobby Coco, 32 - Mike Ventura, 33 - Shawn Wanat, 34 - Larry Spencer Jr., 35 - Jeremy Krauss, 36 - Larry Fisher, 37 - Denise Siegel, 38 - Jimmy White Jr., 39 - Bob Wohlgemuth, 40 - Keith Llewellyn, 41 - Justin Dunn, 42 - Patrick Thomas

6/8 Cylinder Enduros: 1 - Dominic Ranieri Jr., 2 - Jeff Walls, 3 - Joe Jentile, 4 - Mark Spencer, 5 - Bob Wink, 6 - Drew Atchison, 7 - Mike Parisi, 8 - Brian Brown, 9 - Bobby Coco, 10 - Stu Paer, 11 - Rich DiMarco, 12 - Angelo Speziautti, 13 - Steve Tito, 14 - Vince James, 15 - Joe Marko, 16 - Rich Graboske, 17 - Brad Krause, 18 - Tom Slee, 19 - Robin Schweire, 20 - Richard Paciotti, 21 - Dean Woolford, 22 - Shawn Gallucci, 23 - TJ Kapish, 24 - Tracy Berger Carmen, 25 - Joe Helberg, 26 - Rich Moyer, 27 - Tom Szoke, 28 - David Schneider, 29 - Bob Kulik, 30 - Aaron Miller, 31 - Cory Student, 32 - Harry Sager, 33 - James Presley, 34 - Jimmy White Jr., 35 - Frank Reakes, 36 - Keith Frankenfield, 37 - Ed Brown Jr., 38 - Kevin Nowak, 39 - Donny Oliver, 40 - Joe Cardiello, DQ - Vinnie Green

Trophy Trucks: 1 - Harry Sager, 2 - Rich Onorato, 3 - Kevin Nowak, 4 - Frank Katona, 5 - Jeff Gregor, 6 - Mike Mujusce Jr.