CHANCE OF A LIFETIME!!!

Watson and Wheeler repeat, Potosky and Dickenson get first wins of season at Raceway 7

by Jay Pees

Conneaut, OH, (May 30, 2008): Rain threatened all night but Raceway 7 managed to get all events into the books with Mike Potosky picking up his first win of the season and Jay Watson getting his second win of the season. Rusty Wheeler picked up his third triumph of the year. Kyle Dickenson won his first-ever feature event in the Challenger Mini Stocks. Rod Jones won the Mod Lite feature in their first appearance of the season.

The Precision Weld Fab FASTRAK Late Models had Bob Dorman leading the first lap with Dave Osterberg. The race went green until lap five with Bobby Diver spun in turn two. Watson soon was battling Dorman for the lead, but Dorman held on until he spun in turn one on a restart from a caution at lap twelve. Watson then led with last week's winner Dick Barton second. With Watson going for his second win of the season and Barton looking to three-peat, the racing was close at the front with Bobby Powell joining the battle at lap eighteen, gaining second at lap twenty. The last five laps saw two cautions for spins in turn two with Powell able to get by Barton and get alongside Watson but not able to complete the pass. On the final turn Barton stormed by Powell to regain the second at the flag. Fourth was Roger French with Kevin Meadows fifth.

The Applebee Motorsports E-Mod feature started with a caution period, then Mike Potosky grabbed the lead on the restart. Hugo Litwiler held second for three laps until Scott Stiffler took over the runner-up position. By the halfway point, Potosky had Stiffler right on his rear bumper when Tim Deutsch lost it in turn two, spinning and coming to a halt, bringing caution over the raceway. After green was redeployed Potosky lengthened his lead until caution again erased it on lap sixteen. The night's most spectacular moment came on this restart when Jack Young and former class champion Hugo Litwiler made contact vat the flagstand with Litwiler getting upside down, landing on Percy McDonald's car and bringing out the red flag. Young emerged from the fracas unscathed. During the red flag period, second-running Scott Stiffler pitted, dropping him to the rear for the restart, leaving Young second with Gary Eicher third. One more yellow slowed the action, then Potosky cruised to his first victory of the season with Jack Young second over Gary Eicher, opening night winner Rich Michael, and Scott Stiffler.

Charlie Beck led the first lap of the Joslin-Landis Insurance Agency Street Stock finale and continued to lead until lap five when sixth starting Rusty Wheeler took over. At lap six, last week's winner, Ken Zimmer, coming from twelfth, came to second. Several cautions slowed the action, including a hard hit to the turn four wall by Jamie Brown but Wheeler was never challenged, defeating Zimmer by several car-lengths. Shawn Fawcett was third followed by Dave McLaughlin and Jason Stanke.

Seven Mod Lites appeared for their fist run of the season with Rod Jones starting from the pole and leading the entire fifteen lap event, winning over Levi Spinneweber and Garrett Krummert.

Ed Huge led the Mini-Stock feature until the final lap. A caution at the white flag set up a one lap dash to the finish in with Kyle Dickenson and Chris Pildner, both getting by Huge.

Precision Weld Fab FASTRAK Late Models:

Heat 1: Dennis Lunger, Kevin Meadows, Bob Diver, Bert Blackson, Jack Nutter, Ben Black, Bobby Powell

Heat 2: Dick Barton, Jay Watson, Bob Dorman, Dave Osterberg, Roger French, Alex Anderson

Feature: Jay Watson, Dick Barton, Bobby Powell, Roger French, Kevin Meadows, Dennis Lunger, Bob Dorman, Bob Diver, Dave Osterberg, Ben Black, Bert Blackson, Jack Nutter, Alex Anderson

Applebee Motorsports E-Mods

Heat 1: Jack Young, Gary Eicher, Joe Gabrielson, Craig Bedell, Dustin Fraley, Gary Vanryswyk, Justin Tatlow, Rich Michael Jr

Heat 2: Joel Watson, Hugo Litwiler, Scott Stiffler, Tim Deutsch, Ron Roncaglione, Gerry Kielar, Paul Phillips, Chuck Steinle

Heat 3: Mike Potosky, Percy McDonald, Dan McDonald, Andy Sweetland, Billy Henry, Rick Pratschler, Bill Taylor

Feature: Mike Potosky, Jack Young, Gary Eicher, Rich Michael Jr, Scott Stiffler, Craig Bedell, Justin Tatlow, Andy Sweetland, Gerry Kielar, Ron Roncaglione, Bill Taylor, Hugo Litwiler, Joe Gabrielson, Percy McDonald, Dan McDonald, Billy Henry, Tim Deutsch, Rick Pratschler, Chuck Steinle Jr, Dustin Fraley, Joel Watson, Gary Vanryswyk, Paul Phillips

Joslin-Landis Insurance Agency Street Stocks

Heat 1: Dave McLaughlin, Dan Lewis, Shawn Fawcett, Jamie Brown, Jason Stanke, Charlie Beck, Steve Horvath, Chuck Fultz, Art Gilchrest

Heat 2: Rusty Wheeler, Ken Zimmer, Mike Cross, Jamie Duncan, Ed Bolyard, Charles Ramsey, Ed Snyder, Carlos Aponte

Feature: Rusty Wheeler, Ken Zimmer, Shawn Fawcett, Dave McLaughlin, Jason Stanke, Ed Bolyard, Carlos Aponte, Art Gilchrist, Charlie Beck, Jamie Brown, Steve Horvath, Chuck Fultz, Mike Cross, Ed Snyder, Dan Lewis, Charles Ramsey

Mod Lites:

Heat 1: Rod Jones, Garrett Krummert, Bud Watson, Ken Meadows, Todd Canter, Levi Spinneweber, Mark Marcucci

Feature: Rod Jones, Levi Spinneweber, Garrett Krummert, Todd Canter, Bud Watson, Mark Marcucci, Ken Meadows

Challenger Mini Stocks:

Heat 1: Bud Sergeff, Darren Hart, Jim Bish, Chris Pildner, Vince Simms, Chuck Simms Jr

Heat 2: Joe Plesniak, Kyle Dickenson, Ed Huge, Rick Tackett, Ben Bouchot, Paul Dickenson

Feature: Kyle Dickenson, Chris Pildner, Ed Huge, Joe Plesniak, Jim Bish, Ben Bouchot, Bud Sergeff, Chuck Simms Jr, Darren Hart, Paul Dickenson, Vince Simms, Rick Tackett