LACKI WINS FASTRAK REGIONAL AT McKEAN COUNTY RACEWAY

by Chris Zuver

(E. Smethport, PA)

John Lacki of Sinclairville, NY picked up his first ever win at McKean County Raceway during the FASTRAK Northeast Regional event.  This was Lacki's second consecutive FASTRAK Regional win of the weekend.  Lacki would pick up the Hazen  Jordan Memorial and the $1500 first place prize money for the Maynard's Electric FASTRAK Late Models..  Matt Cobb won in Wimpy's Place Super Stocks, Ryan Bright won in the Emods, Brett Smith captured the Jerge's Street Stocks while Daniel Cunningham won the $250 NE Micro mini stock feature. Fans got to see five first time winners at MCR on Larry's Sport Center Harley Night.

The NE Micro Mini Stocks were the opening night feature as the 4cylinder machines were running for the $250 first place prize.  Norm Varner and Jeff Buhl would lead the eighteen car field to the initial green with Varner jumping into the lead over Buhl and Daniel Cunningham quickly moved to third from his sixth place starting spot.  By lap two Varner and Cunningham quickly established themselves one-two as the five cars of Buhl, Craig Bedell, Nick Snazak, Steve Mowery and Levi Watson battled for third.  As lap five clicked off it was still Varner holding off Cunningham as Mowery was now sitting fifth. Cunningham would grab the lead from Varner on lap six.  As the halfway point approach, Cunningham was pulling away from the #62 of Varner and Mowery was now sitting fourth. With five laps to go last year's champion, Bedell was now in second with Levi Watson in third.  Watson would go to the infield on the very next lap handing third back to Varner as last week's winner, Brad Ullman was now in the top five.   Bedell tried to track down Cunningham, but there was no denying Daniel his first win of the 2007 season.  Cunningham won over Bedell, Varner, Mowery and Ullman. Heat winners were: Mowery and Ullman.

The Maynard's Electric, Northeast Regional FASTRAK late models took center stage for their 25 lap $1500 to win Hazen Jordan Memorial event.  John Lacki and West Virginia's,Scott Lyon paced the twenty-five car field to Tony VanPelt's green flag and it was Lacki jumping down on the hammer and speeding out from of Jim Frank and fifth place starter Greg Oakes as lap one clicked off the score board.  As lap five clicked off, it was still Lacki fending off the charges of Oakes and two-time MCR FASTRAK weekly winner, Todd Andrews, Frank and Dick Barton looming at fifth when the first yellow was flown for Bob Kish in turn number two.

Lacki charged back into turn one on the restart as Barton took over fourth with twelfth place starter Alan Dellinger now sitting fifth as Frank was shuffled back out of the top five.  Andrews would use the high line to get around Oakes for second on lap eight. Oakes would regain second on lap twelve as Dellinger would also get by the high running Andrews.   All this was going on and Lacki was checking out till the yellow was thrown on lap 13 for John Haggerty, Chad Myers and Kyle Drum.  On the restart, Dellinger would jump to third as Oakes would fall to fourth behind Andrews.  With ten to go, Andrews charged back to the top of the track to get around Dellinger as Oakes and Barton rounded out the top five.  Yellow was thrown on lap 17 as Dellinger got too close to the wall and scraped off the rear side spoiler of his #8 machine.  As the field took off again, Lacki charged back to the front and Andrews took his black #42 to the top of the track to real the leader in.  With six to go, Barton would take his orange #28B to fourth as Dellinger would fall back to fifth.  A pair of yellows on lap 21 and 22 kept Andrews close to Lacki and the fans on the edge to see if the #7 of Lacki could hold off the high traveling Andrews.  With the final three laps under green, it was no doubt that Lacki was going to pull off his first FASTRAK Late Model win at MCR and the second FASTRAK Regional event in successive nights.  Andrews came home second as Barton would get by Oakes for third, Dellinger was fifth, followed by Chris Knuth, Carl McKinney, Mike Wonderling, Tom Snyder and Kyle Drum rounding out the top ten.  The three Maynard Electric FASTRAK Regional Late Model winners were: Barton, Jay Watson and Andrews.

Travis Asel and Carl Samuelson lead the eighteen car EMOD feature down the homestretch with Asel leading lap number one over Ryan Bright and Samuelson.  Rich Michael would take third on lap two and by lap four it was Bright to the front over Asel.   The top five on lap five were Bright, Asel, Michael, Tim Peterson and Randy Hall.  A three car melee on the homestretch brought out the yellow on lap six ending the night for six place running Darren Tarabori along with Charlie Winchell and John Woodward.  Bright would again scoot away from the pack as Michael would try to keep with him as Asel hounded the #17x of Michael.  By lap ten, Randy Hall was now in fourth as he was running the Todd Andrews line.  With seven to go, the yellow came back out for the sixth place running Vic Vena who spun in turn two.  Bright again would take off on the restart with Michael all over his back bumper as Asel was glued to the bottom while Hall was rim riding the 1/3 mile oval.  On lap 18 yellow came out fo the last time for fifth place running Peterson and his night was over.  Bright would refire again ahead of the field and Michael would go topside as would Hall too advance another position but there was no denying Bright as he picked up his first win of the year at MCR over Michael, Asel, Hall and Kyle Bedell.  Heat winners were: Tarabori and Vena.

The Jerge's Street Stocks have been most exciting class at MCR this year and again they didn't disappoint the crowd.  Opening night feature winner, Jeff Hellwig and Darren Morgan paced the twenty-one car field to the green with Morgan eeking out Hellwig for lap one.  Derrick Frances moved into third on the second lap from his fifth starting spot, but it would be Hellwig taking over the top spot from Morgan on lap 4.  Frances would move into second on lap eight as Brett Smith was using the high line that Andrews and Randy Hall used in earlier features to find himself in third.  As the halfway mark was shown to the leaders, Hellwig was fending off the challenges of Smith, Frances, Austin and Justin Tatlow.  Smith would use the high line in turns 3 and 4 to grab the lead from Hellwig on lap eleven as Austin and Tatlow would squeeze by Frances as he dropped to fifth.  Smith would open a comfortable lead over Hellwig, Austin, Tatlow, Frances, Adam Ashcroft and last weeks winner, Andy Michael as they were in a tight battle for second on back.  Tatlow would leave the track with three laps remaining allowing Frances to move up to fourth and Michael up to fifth from his eighteenth starting spot, but there was no denying, Brett Smith for picking up his first win of the 2007 MCR season as he won comfortably over Hellwig, Austin, Frances and Michael.  Heat winners were: Dennis Asel, Justin Tatlow and Brett Smith.

The Wimpy's Place Super Stocks were the final event of the evening.  Junior Peters and Steve Dixon sat on the front row for the sixteen car field but by the time lap one was completed it was third place starting Jeff Chesebro making it three wide at the flagstand and leading lap one over Dixon and Peters.  The trio along with Jon Lichy banzai into turn 3 when Dixon got into Chesebro and spun the black #97.  The result was Chesebro sitting in the infield, Lichy receiving damage and Dixon seeing the black flag for the spin.  The field was reshuffled with Peters still the leader and now having seventh place starting Matt Cobb on his outside.  Cobb would scoot on by Peters out of turn two on the restart as Rich Michael would fall behind the new leader.  As lap five clicked off the yellow was displayed for Peters #2 machine as it came to a stopped in turn 2 ending a possible good night.  Cobb was still leading over Michael, Dan Cobb, George Ritter and John Kemp.  On the restart it was Kemp getting by Ritter for fourth and by lap ten was being shown to the leaders it was still Matt Cobb, Michael, Dan Cobb, Kemp, Ritter and Jeff Chesbro was back up to eighth.  With ten to go, Chesebro would move into sixth behind Ritter as he was tracking down the leaders from his lap one incident.  Chesebro would get by Ritter on lap eighteen as his marched to the front continue, but Cobb had a good straight away lead over Chesebro and fending off the challenges of Michael.  With two to go, Matt Cobb would get by the lap cars of Ron Baker and Alan Wais and that was all he needed to keep Michael at bay.  They were followed by Dan Cobb, who has been more and more impressive each week, Tom Kemp was fourth and Chesebro came home fifth after coming from the rear after the lap one incident.  Heat winners were Lichy and Kemp.

A superb night of racing on Harley Night, presented by Larry's Sport Center of Galenton.  Beautiful Harley's behind the grandstands and beautiful track for the racers that resulted in three wide racing all night.  Fans are reminded next week will be the Johnson Distributing Mid Season Championship for all classes and it will be a double point night.  Also, the United Late Model Series returns for the second THURSDAY NIGHT THUNDER on Thursday, June 28 for the Dave Lundgren Memorial that will pay $3000 to win plus lap money.  Anyone interested in sponsoring a $20 lap can contact MCR.  For more information, check out MCR's website at www.mckeancountyraceway.com.

RESULTS:

NE MICRO Mini Stocks:
DANIEL CUNNINGHAM, Craig Bedell, Norm Varner, Steve Mowery, Brad Ullman, Nick Snazak, Dave Burdick, Jeff Buhl, John Bedell, Herm Burrows, David Lowe, Pat Yohe, Katie Bedell, Doyle Harris Jr., Ben Rothermel, Chris Parr, Amanda Close and Levi Watson.

Maynard's Electric FASTRAK NE REGIONAL Late Models:
JOHN LACKI, Todd Andrews, Dick Barton, Greg Oakes, Alan Dellinger, Chris Knuth, Carl McKinney, Mike Wonderling, Tom Snyder, Kyle Drum, Steve Hollabaugh, Tim Schram, Tom Kemp, Mike Snyder, John Haggerty, Joe Watson, Chad Myers, Bob Kish, Derrick Frank, Dan Stives, Jon Law, Scott Lyon, Jim Frank, John Watson and Dave Norton

Emod:
RYAN BRIGHT, Rich Michael, Travis Asel, Randy Hall, Kyle Bedell, Carl Samuelson, Vic Vena, Kyle Scott, Kevin Krohl, Tim Peterson, Craig Bedell, John Woodward Jr. Bob Stilson, Darren Tarabori, Charlie Winchell, Jeremy Ensell, Charles Silleman (DQ), Jeremy Bucktooth (DNS), Damon Lewis (DNS)

Jerge's Street Stocks:
BRETT SMITH, Jeff Hellwig, Chris Austin, Derrick Frances, Andy Michael, Adam Ashcroft, Rich Hemphill, Jason Schoonmaker, Darren Morgan, Chris Rex, Brad Bigley, Damon Lewis, Matt Palmer, Joe Layfield, Paul Gerace, Justin Tatlow, John Miller, Vic Vena, Bruno Mowery, Dennis Asel and John Feely.

Wimpy's Place Super Stocks:
MATT COBB, Andy Michael, Dan Cobb, Tom Kemp, Jeff Chesebro, Dan Dunham, George Ritter, Tim Peterson, Dean Layfield, Ron Baker, Alan Wais, Aaron Peters, John Lichy, Junior Peters, Rich Thornton, Steve Dixon (DQ)