It was a beautiful summers night up at Lake Moc A Tek Speedway. Track conditions were in great shape, which called for side by side, rub rail to rub rail racing action in all divisions.
Mike Ricci driving the Gen-Plus JPM powered #76 Teo pro scored his fifth win of the season at Lake Moc A Tek and "number 12" overall in the northeast. Mike’s evening started out on a bad note as he noticed after hot laps a possible problem with the radiator. His crew made changes to the car and Mike was ready to go. Ricci ran a smooth heat race and the car was really dialed into the track. In the other heats Russ Stausser ran strong and showed that he had a fast car as he won the second heat. Bill Grammes blew the field away in the other modified heat as he is always tough to beat. The field was set and the crowd was ready. John Lieby took the early lead with Everitt Haubrich right on his tail. Ricci started 16th his favorite spot and quickly diced through the field. Passing cars lap after lap and on lap nine found himself in second place. With Haubrich and Lieby battling for the lead Ricci jumped right into the mix and going into turn one Haubrich had the inside and Lieby on the outside. The both pushed high going through the turn and Mike jumped to the bottom and drove right passed for the lead on lap 10. Haubrich and Lieby battled tightly for second until Lieby spun in turn two. Mike checked out on the field. Meanwhile coming through the pact were Bill Grammes and last week winner Dom Roselli. They both ran out of time as Mike cruised to the win. Mike, who has the most small block modified wins this year in the Northeast, has become a short track master. Mike loves the small tracks. Although a driver can’t do it all, his crew deserves a lot of credit as they spend countless hours keeping the car in top form. If there had to be a hard luck award, I think it would go to Ed Strada Jr. Ed got banged around in his heat and got tossed around in the feature and never really had a chance to show what the car could do. RESULS: 1. MIKE RICCI 2. Everitt Haubrich 3. Bill Grammes 4. Dom Roselli 5. Tom Rudalavage 6. Nick Barassi Jr 7. Gary Griffin 8. John Leiby 9. Russ Strausser 10. Brian Malcolm 11. Tom Oleski 12. Billy Thornton 13. George Hildebrandt 14. Troy Weisenflluh 15. Jim Allen 16. Alan Kellogg 17. Ed Strada Jr. 18. Johnny Sanders 19. Bill Reese 20. Joey Grammes 21. Bobby Puckett 22. Barry White 23. Jason Rudalavage HEAT WINNERS Mike Ricci, Bill Grammes, Russ Strausser CONSI Billy Thorton
Ralph Mele is having a spectacular season aboard the R.R. Wilmont Excavating # 711 sportsman. He picked up his sixth win of the year Saturday night.. The heats smooth and fats as Chris Kresge made some nice moves and held on for the first heat win. Buddy Altemose who has a strong car and has been on and off this year at Moc A Tek had the right stuff to take the second heat win. Alex Knopka blew the field away as his car seemed to be zoned in.The stage was set and speaking with Ralph before the event he said "it’s going to be tough since the track in better the drivers are faster and smoother so it going to be tough to win again." Mele started in 10th starting spot and flew to the front of the field.. Early leader Mike Mondak had pressure from both Kresge and Altemose. Also creeping through the field was the m16 of Mike Schane. Mike who won the fifty lap fourth of July event has been back at Moc A Tek the past two weeks. Schane started way back and moved through the field until he was involved in a wreck and had to start from the back again. Once Mele got the lead he never looked back. Buddy Altemose mounted little charges as he had to settle for second. RESULTS: 1. RALPH MELE 2. Buddy Altemose 3. Chris Kresge 4. Mike Schane 5. Alex Knopka 6. Tom Laner Jr. 7. Mike Marold 8. Bob Grammes 9. Chris Clemons 10. Mike Mondak 11. Rocky Rosetti 12. Mike Trautschold 13. Paul McCollum 14. Greg Morgan 15. Brad Grammes 16. Ted Stout 17. Tom Mazurak 18. Darren Stout 19. Tom Gervasi 20. Ron Frable HEAT WINNERS Chris Kresge, Buddy Altemose, Alex Knopka
Bill Saxe picks up first career feature win. Saxe who was an outstanding rookie last year finally got a chance to show everyone how good he is. Saxe driving the Lowes Performance #20s started on the outside pole grabbed the early lead and pulled away but creeping through the filed were Mike Loney and Chris Piasecki. Loney, started 10th while Piasecki 14th. Mike got up to the second spot by lap 6 and began to pressure Saxe. But Bill just held his line and ran a smooth fast race holding off Mike on restarts and throughout the track. Piasecki flew into third And closed the gap but going into turn four a lap car spun in front of the leaders and Saxe and Loney were able to get through but Piasecki wasn’t so fortunate as his night was over. The rest of the race between Loney and Saxe was clean and thrilling to watch. Saxe was just too perfect not leaving the door open at all for Mike to get by. RESULTS: 1. BILL SAXE 2. Mike Loney 3. Neil DiBlasi 4. Joe Krisovich 5. Adam Jones 6. Kevin Simko 7. Mike Malloy Jr. 8. Jim Hughes Jr. 9. Ed Kudrako 10. Jerry Liford 11. Nick Petrilak 12. Brian Duffin 13. Chuck Davis 14. Tom Herman 15. Mike VanTassel 16. David Luff 17. Neil DiBlasi Jr. 18. Bill Metschulat 19. Carl Heater 20. Chris Piasecki 21. Jim Sykes HEAT WINNERS Jim Sykes, Joe Krisovich, Bill Saxe CONSI Tom Herman
Floyd Schmidt wins second of the season. Andy Bellis grabbed the early lead and looked like he was the car to beat. Floyd came from starting spot seven slowly moved to the front. Once in second Schmidt battled Bellis side by side. Finally going into turn one Floyd got underneath Andy and drifted up and the two bumped and Floyd was able to bring it home the rest of the way. Bellis has been coming on these past few weeks and just came up short this week. RESULTS: 1. FLOYD SCHMIDT 2. Andy Bellis 3. Nate Evans 4. Franklin Bush 5. Todd Houghtaling 6. Michael Lartz 7. Ron Blake 8. Gary Schouck 9. George Ippolito 10. Ira Landrum 11. Gregg Brunges 12. Keith Villano 13. Jim Balutis 14. Ron Lieper 15. Jason Martin 16. John Villano 17. John Walsh 18. Eric Schmidt HEAT WINNERS Andy Bellis Todd Houghtaling
Terry Schaffer buzzes passed the field to record his third win of the year. Early race leader Greg Stevens pulled away from the field with Jason Frantz following. On the move were Davie Franek, Richie Hartman and Schaffer. Hartman was the first to reach the top two and battled side by side. Schaffer was however able to pass Hartman and Frantz to get to second. Richie and Jason fought a little too hard for position as Frantz spun and Hartman rolled on his side. He was uninjured but the car was done for the night. Schaffer was able to get by Stevens for the lead on the restart and never looked back as he cruised to the win. RESULTS: 1. TERRY SCHAFFER 2. Greg Stevens 3. Kevin Nolf 4. Ralph Utter Jr. 5. Davey Franek 6. Don Colaluce 7. Rich McKay 8. Todd Hanlon 9. Alan Shiffler 10. Darrell Cobb 11. Fred Crist 12. Jim Muffett 13. Rob Nolf 14. Jason Frantz 15. Richie Hartman 16. Gary Stevens 17. Kayne Hills 18. Kevin Horton DQ: John Valenza