4/27/2008

Brian DeFebo Adds Another Victory to All-Time Mountain Record

   St. Johns, PA- Brian DeFebo of Berwick propelled from fourth to the lead after a restart in the modified feature event Sunday at Mountain Speedway. Brian Wozniak scored his first career victory in street stock competition and Mike Moyer, Jr. scored his first thriller verdict of the season. For the second straight week, Nikki Wachs grabbed the gold in the 4 cyl. FWD division and “Rocket Man” Ryan Tidman bested the field in ATQMRA midget competition. Representatives from the Checkered Flag Fan Club were on hand to help raise money and sign on new members for the non-profit organization. The club also presented jackets to each feature winner who is enrolled in the organization.
   Fifteen open wheel modifieds took the green flag of the 30-lap feature with Tommy Wanick III starting from the pole. The field was set from “Pole Day” time trials a few weeks ago, with Rusty Smith taking fast time. After a nine-position invert, Smith found himself taking the green from the ninth starting spot.
   The green flag flew with Wanick taking command early on. Barry Callavini moved to second by the second circuit, with Andy Walko, Brian DeFebo and John Markovic in tow.
   The only caution flag of the race waved when Markovic spun in turn two, which set up an interesting restart for DeFebo.
   Using the outside groove to his advantage, DeFebo quickly disposed of Walko and Callavini to take second. Within two more laps, DeFebo caught Wanick in turns one and two and made the pass for the lead down the backstretch.
   With DeFebo driving toward another zip code, the battle raged on for second and third between Wanick, Callavini and Smith. Smith shot by Callavini for third with eight laps in the books. Then he followed Wanick, waiting for the perfect opportunity to snag the second spot.
   That window of opportunity opened thirteen laps later.
   Smith got by Wanick, as did Earl Paules for the third spot. Wanick dropped to fourth and Walko held fifth.
   With nine laps remaining, Kyle Ebersole worked his way to fourth after starting from the tenth position, but ran out of time during the closing laps.
   DeFebo, the most winningest driver at the speedway, drove his popular Sophie’s Tiki Lounge #53 to victory over Smith and Paules, who put on a terrific battle for second. Ebersole and Walko completed the top five.
   “It’s great to be back here in victory lane,” said DeFebo, after adding another modified victory to his resume. “I can’t thank my mom (Sophie Welch) enough. “She puts the best of everything into this car”, he said.
   It’s been eighteen years since Brian Wozniak visited victory lane in a stock car. His last win took place in 1990 when he ran in the thriller division.
   That has now changed.
   Wozniak paced the 25-lap street stock field after starting from the pole position. With only a single lap scored, Richie DiMarco climbed to second with Brad Kline, Steve Shultz and Danny Cascioli on his tail.
   The top three remained unchanged by lap three with Cascioli moving to fourth. Shultz and Kline battled for fifth.
   Kline did the bump and run on Shultz to take the fourth spot on lap nine. Three laps later he overtook Cascioli for second.
   The battle for third on back continued behind Wozniak and the racer from Freeland, PA held on to score his first career street stock verdict over DiMarco, Kline, Shultz and Cascioli.
   For Wozniak, the win was bittersweet in many ways. “I’d like to dedicate this win to my crew chief, Chico Mensinger, he was definitely riding with me today”, he said immediately after exiting his car. Robert “Chico” Mensinger passed away a month ago.
   He continued, “The guys put together a great car this week and I owe this win to them as well”.
   Richie DiMarco and Brian Wozniak were heat race winners.
   Nick Ross led the thriller field to the green flag after starting from the pole in the 20-lap feature. Immediately, Ross shot out front with Mike Moyer, Jr. in second.
   Bill Price, Jr. made the race interesting when he went three wide down the front stretch after starting fourth on the grid. Later in the race he moved Moyer for second and Scott Adams followed for the third spot.
   Adams worked Price for second and finally completed the pass on lap ten. However, the caution flag flew the following circuit when Price got a fender on Adams and spun him in turn two. Both drivers restarted from the tail end of the field.
   Moyer was all over Ross after a lap twelve restart, and took the top spot after the duo swapped paint numerous times. Ross attempted an inside maneuver off of turn two and the two leaders tangled. Luckily for Moyer, the caution flag flew at the same moment due to a spin by Rob Shutter in turn one.
   Moyer was on top of his game for the restart, but had hand his hands full fending off Nick Shaw, who quietly worked his way to second. Wayne Lowe was having a terrific run in third and was forced to the infield on the restart because of mechanical problems.
   Shaw made several attempts to grab the lead over the closing laps, but Moyer held on to notch his first win of the season over Shaw, Adams, Price and Ross.
   Mike Moyer, Jr. and Scott Adams won heat races.
   From the pole position, Bill Verwys, Sr. led the 4 cyl. FWD division to the drop of the green flag in the 15-lap feature.
   Without a lap in the books, Ken Kleppinger grabbed the lead with Jeff Biegley and Nikki Wachs getting by Verwys as well.
   Wachs moved by Kleppinger and into second on the second circuit, but it took several laps for her to catch the leader. She did so on lap eight.
   Wachs ran on the outside of Kleppinger for three complete circuits before gaining the advantage.
   Although the race amongst the top three was close, Wachs held on for her second straight victory of the season over Kleppinger, Biegley and Verwys.
   Zach Martini brought the ATQMRA midget field down toward the green flag for the start of the 25-lap feature. Being chased by “Rocket Man” Ryan Tidman, Martini held the top spot until a turn two crossover move shot Tidman to the front.
   With five laps complete, Martini trailed Tidman, followed by Mike Tidoback, Matt Janish and Tim Beamer, Jr.
   Tidman pressured Martini for second and he finally overtook the position with nine laps on the scoreboard. Shortly after, Deritis took third from Martini.
   With 20 laps scored and a big lead by Tidman, Tidoback needed a caution. It flew on the next lap when Ian Cuming lost an engine entering turn one.
   Although he tried on several occasions, Tidoback could not get by Tidman, who ran laps at over 95 MPH en route to the checkers. Tidoback settled for second with Deritis, Johnston and Martini completing the top five.
   Mike Tidoback and Ryan Tidman were heat race victors.
   The next Mountain Speedway event will kick off on Sunday, May 4th with the running of the Modifieds, Late Models, Street Stocks (40-laps, double points) and Thrillers. For all up-to-date information on Mountain Speedway, please visit the track website at www.mountainspeedway.com.



Modifieds (40-laps) 1. BRIAN DEFEBO 2. Rusty Smith 3. Earl Paules 4. Kyle Ebersole 5. Andy Walko 6. Tommy Wanick III 7. Todd Baer 8. Barry Callavini 9. John Markovic 10. Geary Rinehimer 11. Matt Clemens 12. Tom Casagrande 13. Robert Fink 14. Daren Scherer 15. Eric Kocher

Street Stock (25-laps) 1. BRIAN WOZNIAK 2. Rich Dimarco 3. Brad Kline 4. Steve Shultz 5. Dan Cascioli 6. Chip Wanamaker 7. Scott Meckes 8. Josh Oswald 9. Keith St Clair 10. Paul Frantz

Thriller (20-laps) 1. MIKE MOYER, JR 2. Nick Shaw 3. Scott Adams 4. Bill Price Jr 5. Nick Ross 6. Kyle Heckman 7. Eric Wink 8. Rob Shutter 9. Joe Cooley 10. Wayne Lowe

4 Cyl. FWD (15-laps) 1. NIKKI WACHS 2. Ken Kleppinger 3. Jeff Biegley 4. Bill Verwys Sr.

ATQMRA Midgets (25-laps) 1. Ryan Tidman 2. Mike Tidoback 3. Chris Deritis 4. Robin Johnston 5. Zack Martini 6. Matt Janish 7. Don Zrinski 8. Tim Beamer Jr 9. Richie Coy 10. Scott Campbell 11. Ian Cuming 12. Paul Lotier 13. Jim Perruto