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by Brian Spaid
June 1, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FRANKLIN, PA ... Mike Potosky was the big winner on Sunday night at
Tri-City Speedway as he captured the 20-lap Welding Technologies E
Series race for the E Mods to start the annual four-race series for the
RPM Auto Sales/Shawgo Real Estate E Mods at the Venango County half-mile
oval.
Run under warm, sunny and windy conditions, the races also produced
exciting action in other divisions as Jeremiah Shingledecker (Engles
Trucking DIRTcar Big Block Modifieds), Max Blair (4 Your Car Connection
FASTRAK Late Models), Jason Reagle (E.F. Rogers Plumbing & Heating Pro
Stocks), and Cody Manners (Klapec Auto Body Thundercars) captured
feature victories on Armstrong Cable Night.
Mike Potosky of Guys Mills, Pa., ended an excellent two-win weekend
with a victory in the 20-lap E Series E Mod feature in his Tool City
Welding/Tech Precision Molded Plastics Pierce No. M20. Potosky, who won
Friday night at Raceway 7, led every lap of the main event to capture
his first win of the season and the ninth of his career at Tri-City.
"This was a good weekend," smiled Potosky in victory lane. "The top
groove was the place to be tonight. I know we could have held off all
challengers tonight. I have to thank all the division and series
sponsors, the track and all the fans."
Chip Mahood and Butch Lambert started on the front row after a
redraw following the heat races, but Potosky blasted around both of them to
lead the race entering turn three on the first circuit. At first,
Lambert tried to challenge Potosky, but he was unable to muster a charge. On
the fifth lap, Justin Carlson moved into second and tried to run down
Potosky to no avail. On the 11th circuit, Todd Roncaglione took second
from Carlson and the fourth and final caution of the race waved
immediately thereafter. On the restart, Roncaglione charged under Potosky in
turn two and took a shot to pass the leader. Yet, Potosky would not be
denied. He held off Roncaglione and raced away from the pack.
At the finish, Potosky was the winner over Roncaglione, Carlson and
teammates Carl McKinney and Al Cressley. McKinney, the defending E
Series champion, made a charge late in the race to get into fourth. Potosky
and Roncaglione won the E Mod heats.
Jeremiah Shingledecker of Polk, Pa., came of age in the 20-lap
DIRTcar Big Block Modified feature. Holding off the hard charging Kevin
Bolland and Andy Priest, Shingledecker proved that his name belongs in the
annals of Tri-City history as a top runner. From slide jobs to restart
challenges, the two former track champions threw the book at
Shingledecker. In the end, he held on for his second win of the season and the
10th of his career at Tri-City.
"Those were great battles," said Shingledecker. "Andy made an
awesome pass. I hope I didn't pinch him too bad in turn two to take back the
lead. Then, on that restart, the car stuttered and Bolland got by me. I
was glad when that caution came out. This was an awesome race for our
team. I'd also like to thank Tri-City for keeping the big blocks here.
We all have a lot of fun."
Starting on the pole position, Shingledecker took the early lead. On
the second circuit, Priest made a bonsai run in turn four pulling off
a slide job on Shingledecker to lead. Then, Shingledecker made the same
move on Priest in turn two on the same lap. Shingledecker drifted in
front of Priest just enough to take the lead and prevent any contact.
The move left the fans in awe.
Two laps later, Bolland drove under Priest in turn four to take
second. The two veterans exchanged the position three times before Bolland
secured it and he started to chase down Shingledecker. After a caution
on the 11th circuit, Shingledecker's car stuttered on a restart, and
Bolland drove under the leader in turn two to take the lead. Just as
Shingledecker raced to the high side in turn three to try to take back the
front spot, rookie Kyle Fink spun in turn one causing a caution that
nullified Bolland's pass.
On the final restart, Shingledecker would not make the same error
and he blasted away from Bolland. Behind the duo, Priest held third while
Dave Schrader, Joe Crawford and Skip Moore dueled for fourth. Their
battle occupied the fans over the final distance. At the line,
Shingledecker was the winner over Bolland, Priest, Schrader and Crawford. Bolland
and Crawford won the DIRTcar Big Block Modified heats.
Max Blair of Titusville, Pa., proved that his win one week earlier
was no fluke as the third generation racer slaughtered the competition
in the 20-lap FASTRAK Late Model feature. Driving his Bossard's Auto
Parts/Donovan & Bauer Auto Group/Specialty Products Rocket No. 111, Blair
was so dominant that he beat Carl McKinney by 4.246 seconds.
"I guess I didn't have to push that hard," said Blair in victory
lane where he celebrated with his father and famed Late Model star Robbie
Blair. "The high groove was excellent. I have to hand it to the track
crew tonight."
Blair and McKinney started on the front row. After two quick
cautions, the race was caution-free for the last 19 circuits. As Blair and
McKinney pulled away from the field, Bobby Powell, Bobby Whitling and
Butch Lambert battled for third. Whitling, who returned from a bad flip the
week before, ran third by the third circuit. Powell and Lambert dueled
for fourth for several circuits exchanging the position a total of
five times. On the 19th circuit, Lambert managed to find racing room under
Whitling to snag third. At the finish, Blair won over McKinney,
Lambert, Whitling and Powell. Blair and McKinney captured the FASTRAK Late
Model heats.
Similar to Shingledecker, Jason Reagle of Oil City, Pa., captured
his second Pro Stock feature win of the season and the 10th of his
career. Driving his R.K. Virgile Scrap Metal Dodge Charge No.Triple 8, Reagle
held off the hard charging Jason Johns for the win in the 16-lap
affair.
"I didn't know that Jason was back there until he passed me," said
Reagle. "We had a good run. I got back by him, but I didn't want that
last caution with two turns to go. On the last restart, I gave Jason
enough room to race me, but I was running great tonight."
Reagle eclipsed Gerry Bruce and Johns for the lead off turn four on
the opening lap of the race. Once out front, Reagle pulled away from
Bruce, who tried to hold off Johns. On the seventh circuit, Johns finally
got by Bruce and set his sights on Reagle. With no cautions after the
fifth circuit, Johns ran down Reagle in lapped traffic. Using the high
groove on the 11th circuit, Johns took command of the race off turn
four. Reagle only realized Johns was behind him after Johns passed him.
Reagle quickly mustered the speed in his racer to charge back under Johns
in turn three on the 13th circuit. Coming around for the finish,
caution flew for frontstretch debris. As a result, an additional circuit was
tagged onto the event by track rules. Johns was no match for Reagle
after the final restart. Johns finished second over Rod Laskey, Jackson
Humanic and Bruce. Reagle and Andy Buckley won the Pro Stock heats.
Cody Manners of Cherrytree, Pa., inherited the win in the 12-lap
Thundercar feature after apparent winner Curtis J. Bish was disqualified
for a technical violation. At the scales, track officials noticed that
the rear tires on Bish's car included offset rims. As a result, Bish was
sent to the pit area, and Manners drove to victory lane for his second
win in a row and his fourth career victory at Tri-City. Bish led the
entire race, but will not receive credit for any of the laps lead.
"That's too bad for Curt, but rules are rules," said Manners, whose
name is merely taped on the top of his father's former racer, the Tarr
Motorsports/Jerry's Auto Chevrolet No. 16. "I think we may dress up the
car a little bit. That was fun tonight."
Disregarding Bish's lead, at the start of the race, Greg Myers was
actually pacing the field while running second on the track. Two red
flag periods delayed the race's early laps after Joe Sloss and Scott
Kilgore both rolled their cars in separate incidents. Neither driver
suffered injuries. After Kilgore's rollover, Manners took second from Myers,
but was the actual leader. He gradually caught up to Bish, but just did
not have the horses to make a challenge to pass the leader on the
track. Behind him, defending track champion Bill Myers was running third on
the track, but the two young guns at the front had more than enough
handling and power to hold him off. In the end, the official finish showed
Manners the winner over Myers, Regina Deloe, point leader Chadd Uber
and Don Blake Jr. Manners and Dave Baker won the Thundercar heats.
On Sunday June 8th, Tri-City Speedway is back in action with as WDDH
97.5 "The Hound" Presents Five-Star Racing featuring the Engles
Trucking DIRTcar Big Block Modifieds, 4 Your Car Connection FASTRAK Late
Models, RPM Auto Sales/Sherry Shawgo Real Estate E Mods, E.F. Rogers
Plumbing & Heating Pro Stocks and Klapec Auto Body Thundercars. Gates open at
4 p.m. and racing starts at 6 p.m. Adult grandstand admission will
remain at $11 with students (13-15) at $5 and children 12 and under
admitted free.
DIRTcar BIG BLOCK MODIFIEDS (20 Laps): 1. JEREMIAH SHINGLEDECKER, 2.
Kevin Bolland, 3. Andy Priest, 4. Dave Schrader, 5. Joe Crawford, 6.
Skip Moore, 7. Kevin Hoffman, 8. Gary Smoker, 9. Brad Rapp, 10. Tommy
Kristyak, 11. Mike Turner, 12. Dean Pearson, 13. Mark Frankhouser, 14.
Carl Murdick, 15. Jimmy Holden, 16. Brian Sadler, 17. Kyle Fink, 18. John
Whitney, 19. Del Rougeux Jr.
FASTRAK LATE MODELS (20 Laps): 1. MAX BLAIR, 2. Carl McKinney, 3.
Butch Lambert, 4. Bobby Whitling, 5. Bobby Powell, 6. Chris Haines, 7.
Steve Hollabaugh, 8. Dave Lyon, 9. Jim Frank, 10. Dereck Frank, 11. Chad
Myers, 12. Dave Airgood Jr., 13. Kyle Zimmerman, 14. Dave Osterberg.
E SERIES FOR E MODS (20 Laps): 1. MIKE POTOSKY, 2. Todd Roncaglione,
3. Justin Carlson, 4. Carl McKinney, 5. Al Cressley, 6. Shawn
Shingledecker, 7. Butch Lambert, 8. Jim Frontz, 9. Evan Taylor, 10. Bruce
Powell, 11. David Atkinson, 12. Chip Mahood, 13. Gary Sullivan, 14. Tim
Engles, 15. Jeff Deeter, 16. Jonathan Taylor, 17. Rick Pratschler, 18.
Randy Beck, 19. Jared Domhoff.
PRO STOCKS (15 Laps): 1. JASON REAGLE, 2. Jason Johns, 3. Rod
Laskey, 4. Jackson Humanic, 5. Gerry Bruce, 6. Andy Buckley, 7. Bobby Sutley,
8. Randy Wyant, 9. Dave Ferringer, 10. Ronnie Davis, 11. Terry
Wheeler, 12. Arthur Edwards, 13. Matt Thomas, 14. Josh Seippel, 15. Russ
Coyne, 16. A.J. MacQuarrie, 17. James Keith, 18. Kevin Carson, 19. Don
Kramer, 20. Chris Haines. DNS: Jeff Manners, Ray Virgile.
THUNDERCARS (12 Laps): 1. CODY MANNERS, 2. Bill Myers, 3. Regina
Deloe, 4. Chadd Uber, 5. Don Blake Jr., 6. Greg Myers, 7. Ed Deloe, 8. Joe
Blake, 9. Bill Winters, 10. Kenny Alcorn, 11. Alan Perry, 12. Pat
Fielding, 13. Dave Baker, 14. Jason Swartz, 15. Jon Huff, 16. Ed Roberts,
17. Bill Baker, 18. Scott Kilgore, 19. Joe Sloss. DISQ: Curtis J. Bish.
DNS: Mike Dobrick, Cody Carson, Charlie McMillen.
UPCOMING EVENTS
June 8 - WDDH 97.5 WDDH "The Hound" Presents DIRTcar Big Block
Modified, FASTRAK Late Models, E Mods, Pro Stocks, Thundercars and
One-on-One Spectator Races
June 15 - Cranberry Pennzoil 10 Minute Oil Change Presents DIRTcar
Big Block Modifieds, FASTRAK Late Models, E Mods, Pro Stocks,
Thundercars and PPC Violence Network Ladies Charity Ladies Only Mid-Sized Car
Demo Derby
June 22 - McDonald's Presents DIRTcar Big Block Modifieds, FASTRAK
Late Models, E Mods, Pro Stocks (William R. Karns Plumbing, Heating &
Air Conditioning Detroit Iron Pro Stock Series) and Thundercars (Kids
Night Bike Races)
June 29 - Edward Jones Presents Fireworks Extravaganza with DIRTcar
Big Block Modifieds, FASTRAK Late Models, E Mods, Pro Stocks and
Thundercars
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