Mike Ricci and Brad Grammes were the stars of the special Labor Day
racing card at the Lake Moc-A-Tek Speedway. Ricci came home
the winner
of the 50 lap 358 Modified feature while Brad Grammes earned the victory
in the 50 lap Sportsman event. Tom Laner Jr. won the held-over Sportsman
feature that was postponed from Saturday night by curfew.
The luck of the draw saw Bobby Puckett pace the field
to the green
flag flanked by Ricci. At the drop of the green Ricci immediately jumped
out to the early lead with Puckett chasing. The man on the move in the
early stages of the event was Brian Davis. Davis worked past Puckett and
set his sights on Ricci. Brian was able to make the pas for the lead,
but Ricci was able to re-take the top spot on an ensuing restart.
Problems developed for Davis as he retired his #119 to the pits shortly
thereafter.
With Ricci now firmly entrenched in the lead he would
lead the rest
of the way to pick up the $1,500 victory aboard his Apple Greens Golf
Course/Gen Plus Electric sponsored Teo Pro Car. The win also clinched
the 2001 358 Modified championship for Ricci, his second straight
championship.
Behind Ricci, the battle for second place went down to
the wire.
Newly crowned Sportsman champion Ralph Mele bolted on a four-barrel
carburetor and entered 358 Modified competition for this special event.
Ralph started deep in the field but charged his way forward to finish
second with a last lap pass of Ed Strada Jr. for that spot. Strada
finished third trailed by Bobby Puckett and Tom Rudalavage. Joey
Grammes, Gary Griffin, Tom Oleski, Nick Barassi, and Brian Cobb completed
the top ten.
The 50 lap Sportsman feature saw Brad Grammes win his
third of
the season for the pilot of the Slug and Slam Construction sponsored #5.
Grammes drew the pole starting position and led the entire 50 lap
distance to pick up the win. Alex Konopka made a late run at Grammes,
but could not find a way past and settled for a runner-up finish. Rookie
Chris Kresge finished third with Ronnie Shauger fourth. Rick Mill
recovered from an early race incident to finish fifth. Ted Stout was
sixth with brother Darren Stout seventh. Invader Rick Raisnor was eighth
with Rocky Rosetti and Mike Marold completing the top ten.
The Sportsman division also ran a held-over feature
from Saturday
night that was postponed by curfew. Tom Laner Jr. picked up the win in
that event with a dominating run. He got the lead early and held off a
challenge from Rocky Rosetti to pick up his third win of the 2001
campaign. Rosetti picked up his best finish of the season with a second
place effort while Brad Grammes finished third. Alex Konopka finished
fourth and Ralph Mele wrapped up the 2001 Sportsman championship with his
fifth place finish. Chris Kresge, Greg Morgan Jr., Mike Marold, Tom
Gervasi, and Chris Clemons rounded out the top ten.
RACE SUMMARY:
358 MODIFIEDS: (50 laps) 1. MIKE RICCI 2. Ralph Mele 3. Ed Strada Jr. 4.
Bobby Puckett 5. Tom Rudalavage 6. Joey Grammes 7. Gary Griffin 8. Tom
Oleski 9. Nick Barassi 10. Brian Cobb 11. Jim Allen 12. Troy Weisenfluh
13. Phil Recchio 14. Don Hildebrandt 15. Brian Malcolm 16. Bill Thornton
Jr. 17. John Leiby 18. Scott Frack 19. Everett Haubrich 20. Phillip
McCoughlin 21. Bill Grammes 22. Tom Hager 23. George Kostelansky 24. Mike
Frost 25. Brian Davis
SPORTSMAN: (50 laps) 1. BRAD GRAMMES 2. Alex Konopka 3. Chris Kresge 4.
Ronnie Shauger 5. Rick Mill 6. Ted Stout 7. Darren Stout 8. Rick Raisnor
9. Rocky Rosetti 10. Mike Marold 11. Jeff Geigas 12. Ricky Rutt 13. Tom
Gervasi 14. Bob Grammes 15. Larry Hendershot 16. Gene Stravinski 17. Jim
O'Hara 18. John Patchowski 19. Jason Boyce 20. Chris Hamer 21. Mike
Schane 22. Mike Lyons 23. LeRoy Long 24. Jim Sykes 25. Keith Fleming
SPORTSMAN (20 laps) 1. TOM LANER JR. 2. Rocky Rosetti 3. Brad Grammes 4.
Alex Konopka 5. Ralph Mele 6. Chris Kresge 7. Greg Morgan 8. Mike Marold
9. Tom Gervasi 10. Chris Clemons 11. Ted Stout 12. Buddy Altemose 13. Bob
Grammes 14. BillMoyer 15. Nick Search 16. Ronnie Shauger 17. Mike Mondak
18. Larry Hendershot 19. Steve Kizer 20. Jason Boyce