BY JAMES A. ELLIS
FONDA — Early-season engine problems in the modified Magsarus have plagued Danny Varin at Fonda Speedway this season.
However, his 360 ESS sprint car season was going really well because last Saturday, after a run from last to first position, Varin parked his 360 ESS sprint car on the winning lane at Fonda Speedway to celebrate his third win of the season.
Varin kept his momentum going this week, leading each round of Sunoco’s 30-round modified feature to claim his first modified feature win on the Track of Champions since August 2019.
“We had to blow up every engine we had in the shop to get here, but that’s tried and true from last year’s Fonda 200,” said Varin on the winning streak. “We put it back in and, I’m telling you, the thing ran badly in the heat race, spat and stuttered. Ed Munger changed the carburetor and called us. I am speechless to be here. A few weeks ago I didn’t think we would make it back.”
Other CDL Associates Insurance Agency Night in Fonda winners included Chad Edwards (Swagger Factory Apparel Crate 602 Sportsman), Harold Robitaille (Montgomery County Office for Aging Inc. Limited Sportsman), Nick Stone (Algonkin Motel Pro Stocks), Kerrie Hollenback (DOHC) and Ken Hollenback (SOHC) in the Fonda Fair Four Cylinders.
In the Mohawk Valley Vintage Dirt Modified Series (MVVDMS) Added Features, Jimmy Feugel won the Antique Division, Carl Cram won the Mystique Feature, Joe Rando won the Sportsman Feature, John Roese won the Late Model Feature and John Flach won the Modified Division.
Ryan Odasz and Varin brought the field of 22 mods to the green flag, with Varin immediately bringing the #93 Magsarus to the front while Pep Corradi, Odasz, Jack Lehner and Jessica Friesen fought for second place.
On lap five, Varin immediately had a full advantage over Corradi as Friesen moved into third ahead of Lehner and Dave Constantino.
With Varin leading by a half lane by lap 20, Rocky Warner, Stewart Friesen, Matt DeLorenzo, Bobby Varin and Ronnie Johnson had worked their way into the top 10 and were hoping for a booking to put Varin back in the field.
Caution never came as Danny Varin secured his 11th modified career win at Fonda Speedway in dominating fashion. Jessica Friesen was second, Lehner third, Stewart Friesen, who won Friday night’s Camping World NASCAR Truck Series race in Texas, starting 17th, fourth and Corradi fifth. Constantino, Warner, Bobby Varin, Johnson and Demetrios Drellos complete the top 10.
Jeremy Tyrrell shook off a losing streak and led the early rounds of the 602 Sportsman’s 25-round feature before relinquishing the lead to Chip Constantino in round five.
Constantino was unable to break away from Tyrrell when the warning was raised on lap eight when Mark Mortensen came to a halt with a flat left rear tyre. Mortensen and Payton Talbot headed into the hot pit to make repairs and rejoined the field at the back of the pack.
Edwards, who had started 12th, started eighth again and was second behind Constantino when a second warning was issued a lap later.
Constantino opted to restart on the outside and held off Edwards in the restart.
The leading duo distanced themselves from third-placed Troy Palmer as they battled side-by-side before Edwards took the lead out of turn four on lap 18.
Edwards worked his way through the back markers to take his third win of the season while Constantino achieved his best result of the young season with second place. Talbot recovered from his early pit stop and finished third, with Palmer fourth and Tanner Warner fifth. Cody Clark, Troy Zilles, Mortensen, Tyrrell and Tim Dwyer complete the second five.
“It was a great run and a great two lane course,” said Edwards on the eve of his birthday at Victory Lane. “We were side by side there for most of the race when I got second. I just kept going into turn one and tried to catch him. I was able to settle down and kept hitting my marks and was able to get past him before sliding up to take away his line.
It was Edwards’ third win of the season by two seconds.
Nick Stone kept his season perfect, starting from 10th on the grid to his fifth straight win in the 20-lap Pro Stock feature.
Chuck Dumblewski set the early pace ahead of Steve Cosselman before Jason Morrison took the point on lap eight.
Stone moved up to the lead a lap later and was beginning to break away when on lap 15 the warning went off putting Morrison on the front row for the restart and Luke Horning on his bumper.
Horning dove under Stone towards Turn One to take the lead, but Stone countered the move with a crossover move at Turn Two to reclaim front spot. Horning had his momentum broken by contact while staying outside of Stone. Horning’s night ended a lap later after making hard contact with the wall at turn two while fighting for position with Jason Morrison.
Beau Ballard took over the fight to end Stone’s winning streak in the restart, briefly holding the lead before caution flared again, setting up a three-round shootout for the win.
Stone repelled Ballard’s challenges to record his 67th career Pro Stock Feature win. Ballard was second followed by Kenny Gates, Devon Camenga and Shane Playford.
“It wouldn’t be anything down here without a good set of tires,” Stone said on the winning streak. “You could have the best chassis and suspension, but if the tires aren’t well prepared and maintained, it’s no use. We are in the fourth race with these tires. I think a lot of guys are doing the same thing to get through the season, so we’ll probably have at least a few due, but we’ll keep them going as long as we can. Other guys probably feel the same way. So we are definitely all on an even playing field.”
Harold Robitaille led the 15-round limited sportsman from green to checkers to record his first career feature win in the division. Ryan Sweet finished second followed by Tony D’Angelo, Josh Kane and Lance Hill.
Zach McSpirit led the opening lap of the Fonda Fair Four Cylinder feature before John Napoli took over circuit two.
Kerrie Hollenback moved to the lead from 11th on the grid on lap four, holding off his brother Ken for his second consecutive overall win.
Kerrie went down the road to victory for the DOHC trophy while Ken took home the SOHC trophy.
Next Saturday, Memorial Day Weekend, Fonda Speedway will be back in action, with the big block modifications up for grabs in the first leg of the FX Caprara Thunder on the Thruway Series for $4,000 while the Crate 602 Sportsman Division will be battling for victory with $1,500 up for grabs and the Pro Stocks will be vying for the winner’s $1,000 paycheck. Gates open next Saturday at 4pm with hot laps at 6pm and races at 7pm
PIT NOTES
With late afternoon thunderstorms forecast in the area, Glen Ridge Motorsports Park postponed its Sunday night race schedule.
Alex Yankowski, just 17, ended Matt Sheppard’s winning streak at Utica-Rome Speedway on Friday night by claiming the modified feature win. Dave Richer took the 602 Sportsman win and Jay Corbin fended off Jason Morrison and Beau Ballard to take the Pro Stock win.
Mike Mahaney scored his first win of the season in the modified feature at Albany-Saratoga Speedway on Friday.
FONDA SPEEDWAY RESULTS
SUNOCO MODIFIED FUNCTION – 30 laps – DANNY VARIN, Jessica Friesen, Jack Lehner, Stewart Friesen, Pep Corradi, Dave Constantino, Rocky Warner, Bobby Varin, Ronnie Johnson, Demetrios Drellos, Matt DeLorenzo, Brian Gleason, Craig Hanson, Darwin Greene, Rich Christman, Brian Pessolano, Chris Curtis, JaMike Sowle, Steve Akers, Ryan Odasz, Nick Heywood, Tucker O’Connor, Adam McAuliffe (DNS)
HEAT RACE WINNER – Corradi, Danny Varin, Heywood
SWAGGER FACTORY CLOTHING BOX 602 SPORTS FUNCTION – 25 rounds – CHAD EDWARDS, Chip Constantino, Payton Talbot, Troy Palmer, Tanner Warner, Cody Clark, Troy Zilles, Mark Mortensen, Jeremy Tyrrell, Tim Dwyer, Stephen Gray, Brett Mortensen, Michael McCallion, Anthony Cardamone, Greg Havlicek, Clayton DuMond, Cory White, Griffen Mansmith, Nikki Ouellette, Brendan Gibbons, Kurtis Hohensheldt, Jason Reome, Carter Gibbons, Harry Shaffer (DNS), Dan Santabarbara (DNS)
HEAT RACE WINNER – $50 for each Online Performance Parts/Nick Stone winner – Zilles, McCallion, Constantino
GRECO’S NAPA HARD CHARGER AWARD – Edwards from 12th to 1st
ALGONKIN MOTEL PER FLOOR FEATURE – 20 laps – NICK STONE, Beau Ballard, Jason Morrison, Kenny Gates, Devon Camenga, Shane Playford, Chuck Dumblewski, Steve Cosselman, Josh Coonradt, Gary Silky, Randy Cosselman, Slater Baker, Don Collins, Luke Horning, Caden Dumblewski
HEAT RACE WINNER – Ballard, Dumblewski
MONTGOMERY COUNTY OFFICE FOR AGING INC. LIMITED SPORTSMAN FEATURE – 15 Rounds – HAROLD ROBITAILLE, Ryan Sweet, Tom D’Angelo, Josh Kane, Lance Hill, Kyle Dingman, Walter Cook, Michael Kalkbrenner, Gus Kamburelis, Wesley Sutliff, Timmy Wilmot, Zach Dufel, Tim Deffer, Connor Prokop, Bob Rowback , John Anderson, Mark Lighthall
HEAT RACE WINNER – Sweet, D’Angelo
FONDA FAIR FOUR CYLINDER PROPERTY – 12 laps – KERRIE HOLLENBACK (DOHC), KEN HOLLENBACK (SOHC), John Napoli, Corey Valade, Zach McSpirit, Todd Morey, Len St Andrews, Lee Horning, Christopher Jennings Sr., David Peek-Britten, Dale VanAllen, Jack Minery, Heath Bush (DNS), Wayne Russell Jr (DNS)
MOHAWK VALLEY VINTAGE DIRT MODIFIED SERIES (MVVDMS) ANTIQUE PROPERTY – JIMMY FUGEL, Speedy Niedeheimer, Don Briggs, John Wood, Jimmy Hyde, Rick Leveque, Mike Wheeler
MOHAWK VALLEY VINTAGE DIRT MODIFIED SERIES (MVVDMS) LATE MODEL FUNCTION – JOHN ROESE, Will Reed, Ed Docskalik, Curtis Condon
MOHAWK VALLEY VINTAGE DIRT MODIFIED SERIES (MVVDMS) MYSTICAL FEATURE – CARL CRAM, Harry Baldwin, Mike Brown, Mark Anatriello, George Berbench, George Palmer
MOHAWK VALLEY VINTAGE DIRT MODIFIED SERIES (MVVDMS) MODIFIED FEATURE – JOHN FLACH, Jack Miller, Darrall Hulbert, Randy Delaney, Dan Wood
MOHAWK VALLEY VINTAGE DIRT MODIFIED SERIES (MVVDMS) SPORTSMAN FEATURE – JOE RANDO, Bryan Seyfried, Dan Colvin, Brian Gray, Mike Francisco, John Constantino, Merv Blackwell, Malach Mathews, John Trudean, Larry Stokes
More from the newspaper:
Categories: Sports
Comments are closed.