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Mike Leone
HARTFORD, Ohio (July 29) - The FASTRAK Northeast Late Model Touring Series made their second of three appearances of the 2010 season at Sharon Speedway on Thursday night for race #11 of 20 on the 2010 slate. After Wednesday's event with the World of Outlaw Late Models was rained out, 36 of the 40 cars that participated over the two days were on hand from all over Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, and West Virginia.
Gary Knollinger has competed in 24 of the 26 FASTRAK Northeast Touring Series events held over the past two seasons despite the fact that he's based out of Wheeling, West Virginia. Knollinger, who's no stranger to travelling, had to go the extra distance Wednesday and Thursday making two trips to Sharon Speedway.
On Thursday night, all the long hours paid off for Knollinger as he led from start to finish to capture his first career Northeast Touring Series victory and became the eighth different winner in 11 races in 2010. In the first event on May 29 at Sharon, Knollinger was the hard charger coming from 21st to finish third and kept the same setup on Thursday night to propel him to the popular win.
"I've put in a lot of miles driving the last two days and it felt like I was driving for days on the track," expressed the 38-year-old racer after the 25-lap, $1,200 to-win feature. "First off I have to thank my mom and dad. If it wasn't for them I wouldn't be here along with my girlfriend Heather and my crewman John. I pulled a good pill and got a good starting spot. All the numbers came together for me tonight. The track was real nice, it had a lot of bite for the feature. I was worried about the guys catching me, but I kept the car straight and held them off to the end."
Knollinger took off in the lead over veteran Mark Banal, who was driving the Bob Williams #8 car. Banal though got into the fence on lap two and slowed to a halt to bring out the first caution with one lap scored. Under caution, David Scott, who was a winner in 2009 at Sharon, exited the event relinquishing the third spot to Michael Mitchell.
Kyle Zimmerman would restart from the second position, while seventh starting Jim Frank and 10th starting Josh Holtgraver made their way past Mitchell for third and fourth respectively. One more lap was scored before Billy Henry spun on the backstretch and collected rookie Chad Wright and Bob Cossell IV.
When racing resumed, the last 23 laps would go green-to-checkered. Frank had a great restart passing Zimmerman and getting alongside Knollinger. The duo ran side-by-side out of turn two, down the backstretch, and into turn three. Knollinger though ran a great line through turns three and four to maintain the lead at the start-finish line.
By lap seven, Knollinger and Frank distanced themselves from the field. The battle for third heated up on lap nine as Zimmerman tried to keep Holtgraver and 11th starting Butch Lambert at bay. Knollinger slowly pulled away from Frank, but by lap 16 Knollinger caught lapped traffic and Frank began to close on the leader one lap later. Meanwhile, 17th starting Mike Pegher, Jr. was picking his way forward and caught up to both Lambert and Holtgraver on lap 17.
Knollinger continued to work his way through lapped traffic and made a nice move on lap 19 clearing both Tyler Barris and Bill Cunningham, Jr. That move allowed him to open up a near straightaway lead on Frank with five laps to go. With Frank struggling in traffic, Zimmerman closed in on the runner-up position.
Frank then was able to get away from Zimmerman, while Zimmerman now had his hands full with Holtgraver, Lambert, Pegher, Bryan Force, and Max Blair, who were all breathing down his tail. Holtgraver made the move on Zimmerman taking third on lap 23 and then heartbreak struck for the Mercer Raceway Park point leader when a flat tire forced him to exit the event yielding fourth to Lambert.
Knollinger though was too strong on this night as all the cards played out right by drawing the number two pill for the heat races, the number one pill for the feature, and then leading all 25 laps for the victory. Knollinger became the 21st different Northeast Touring Series winner in 45 races all-time in his Gumby's Grab & Go/H.P. Excavating-sponsored #38K.
Fresh off a season best sixth place run at Tri-City on July 18, Frank bettered that with a strong runner-up. Holtgraver, who won the May event at Sharon in his first ever appearance at the track, came back with another excellent third. Lambert continued his string of consistent finishes with his second straight fourth place finish and fifth time in the top four in the past nine events. After barely qualifying for the feature through his heat race, Pegher rebounded by advancing 12 positions to finish fifth and maintained his runner-up in points.
Force finished sixth for his career best Northeast Touring Series finish. After capturing the final qualifying spot for the feature through the second B main, point leader Max Blair salvaged his night in seventh. After breaking down on the way to the speedway, Mike Blose missed the pill draw and battled through his heat race and worked his way from the 16th starting spot to finish eighth. Shane Bambarger was ninth for his third top 10 in four Northeast Touring Series starts in 2010. Steve Dixon rounded out the top 10 for his fourth top 10 in seven Touring Series starts this season.
After missing out on transferring to the feature on the final lap of the first B main, Jason Genco added a small consolation to his night by capturing the six-lap bonus race for the non-qualifiers as part of the "Wheelman" Bonus Event Challenge Series. The Jamestown, New York driver led the entire distance for the $125 prize in his Jamestown Heating & Air/Auto Credit/Kia of Jamestown & Belview/Phil Shaw Race Carbs-sponsored #29J. Jamie Brown was second over Jason Stanke and Justin Kreider, who took over the "Wheelman" point lead.
Knollinger, Banal, Lambert, and Holtgraver were the heat race winners, while Barris and Charles Daugherty won the two B mains. West Virginia racers Shawn Jett and Daniel Hill along with Ohio drivers Ben Black and Bob Diver were the only four racers unable to return from Wednesday night, while Blose added to Thursday's field.
FASTRAK Northeast Late Model Touring Series Race #11 (25 laps, $1,200 to-win): 1. GARY KNOLLINGER (38K) 2. Jim Frank (14*) 3. Josh Holtgraver (00) 4. Butch Lambert (27) 5. Mike Pegher, Jr. (Geisler 1c) 6. Bryan Force (31) 7. Max Blair (111) 8. Mike Blose (5) 9. Shane Bambarger (68B) 10. Steve Dixon (50) 11. Michael Mitchell (19) 12. Bud Watson (2) 13. Charles Daugherty (22) 14. Dan Karalagas (G1) 15. Troy Shields (11) 16. Chad Wright (6) 17. Billy Henry (21*) 18. Bob Cossell IV (50c) 19. Tyler Barris (32B) 20. Kyle Zimmerman (z17) 21. Bill Cunningham, Jr. (44c) 22. Tewt Tackett (Roberts 68) 23. Mark Banal (Williams 8) 24. David Scott (Powell 100).
Bonus Non-Qualifier Event (6 laps, $125 to-win): 1. Jason Genco (29J) 2. Jamie Brown (135) 3. Jason Stanke (44) 4. Justin Kreider (29) 5. Josh Double (38)-DNS 6. Dwayne Pond (Bidwell B1D)-DNS 7. Bob Dorman (19)-DNS 8. Leigh Wheeler (Smith 717)-DNS DNQ: Tom Copeland (98), Joe Martin (55), Rocky Kugel (7KRT), Bill Cunningham, Sr. (59).
Heat winners: Knollinger, Banal, Lambert, Holtgraver.
B main winner: Barris, Daugherty
Lap leaders: Knollinger (1-25)
Car count: 36
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