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2009 Track Champions Crowned On Final NASCAR Race Night Of The Year Date Posted: 9/12/2009 (Smithton, PA) The regular season came to an end at Motordrome Speedway on Friday, September 11, and Neil Brown scored his ninth victory of 2009 in the NASCAR Subway Super Late Models. Lonnie Hoffmaan earned his second-career win in the Wyotech Modifieds and Dustin Blank visited victory lane for the first time in his career in the Napa Street Stocks. Charger ace Vic Keller won for the second time in the Pro Auto Supply Service Chargers, and Larry Dunmyer became a five-time winner in the Coca Cola Super Compacts. Division Champions were crowned for 2009: Mark Cottone (3rd career title) in NASCAR Subway Super Late Models; Adam Kostelnik (6th consecutive title) in the Wyotech Modifieds; first time track Champions included: Dink Colarusso in the Napa Street Stocks; Matt Gardner in the Pro Auto Supply Service Chargers and Matt Sever in the Coca Cola Super Compacts. The 50-lap feature for the NASCAR Subway Super Late Models started with John Komarinski showing early race muscle for the second consecutive week. The veteran led for 17 laps after starting on the pole. Seventh-place starter Barry Awtey then took the lead, and drove away from Komarisnki for seven laps. Remarkably, by lap 19, fourteenth place starter Neil Brown was in second place gaining ground on the leader. Just one lap shy of the mid-point, Brown completed his ascent from deep in the pack, officially taking the lead from Awtey. Brown, the leading winner of 2008 and of 2009, then pulled away, cruising effortlessly at the head of the pack. Brown, of Acme, PA, was also chosen by random draw of top ten drivers, to be the Subway Eat Fresh Challenge Driver. Thus, when he crossed the finish line to record his ninth win of the year (three times the total of the second leading winner Mark Poole) Brown transformed every general admission ticket stub into gift certificates for FREE six inch meatball subs. Awtey held on to second place at the race s end, with Champion Mark Cottone in third to secure the title, Poole fourth, and former Champion Garry Wiltrout fifth. Cottone and Poole, who entered the finale first and second in the Championship chase, won the heat races. Brown, in the R&M Trucking/O Shea Lumnber/Hunter s Peterbuilt/Davies Ford is also the defending wniner of the Piney Lasky Memorial Fall Festival, which ends the racing schedule at Motordrome on October 2-3. After earning a career-first win early in the spring, Lonnie Hoffman turned in a dominating performance to score his second win of the season in the 25-lap Wyotech Modified feature. Although The Hometown Hero (from Smithton, PA) led every lap, the race drew to a dramatic conclusion. Eighth starting Chris Brink, a recent two-time winner, advanced to second position on lap 14 and methodically reeled in Hoffman. In the closing stages of the event, Brink and ninth-starting Adam Kostelnik both threatened to take the lead. But Hoffman held on to complete his best season with a win over Brink in second, Champion Kostelnik third, four time winner Bobby Shipp fourth, and veteran Marion Reno, Jr. fifth. Kostelnik and Shipp were the heat winners. In the Napa Auto Parts Street Stocks, Tom Knight Sr. started second and took the lead when the green flag waved. Fourth starting Dustin Blank moved into second immediately, and stalked Knight for five laps. On lap six, Blank made his winning pass, and outdistanced the field for his first career win. Blank, who has raced several divisions on dirt and asphalt, including Late Models and touring series events in the southeast before taking time off and returning to Street Stock competition, fended off a mid-race challenge from Champion Dink Colarusso. That battle resulted in Colarusso hitting the inside wall and sustaining heavy damage. At the finish line, the top five were Blank, Jonathan Hileman, 2008 Champ Shawn Phillips (on his birthday), Tony Manganello, and Teddy Gibala. Jimmy Christofel started on the pole for the 15 lap Pro Auto Supply Service Charger feature, and led eight laps of the contest. Vic Keller started fifth, and took the lead on lap nine, comfortably racing to his second career victory; also his second of 2009. Keller s car is almost a decade old, the veteran revealed in victory lane. Second and third were rookies who charged up through the field: Zane Ferrell started eighth to be the runner up, and Kristen Etling, who started third, spun from a battle up front on lap three, then roared back into the top three on the final lap. The young duo of Etling and Ferrell also won the heats. Christofel was fourth, and Champion Matt Gardner was fifth. Lone Star State native Larry Dunmyer and Dan Brink won heat races for the Coca Cola Super Compacts, but both started deep in the pack for the 15-lap feature. Popular Eugene Hillbilly Zerfoss took the lead from Chris Knight and was poised for his first Motordrome Win of 2009. But, a caution flag on lap eight, tightened up the field for a restart, and fifteenth starting Tex Dunmyer made the winning pass on the outside of Zerfoss on lap eleven. Dunmyer won his fifth feature of the year over Zerfoss, Champion Matt Sever who started 17th, former Champion Ed Dinneen who started ninth, and Paul Koffler, III. Napa Street Stocks Heats: Shawn Phillips, Dink Colarusso Feature: 1. Dustin Blank 2. Johnathan Hileman 3. Shawn Phillips 4. Tony Manganello 5. Ted Gibala 6. Jason Holder 7. Andrew Kostelnik 8. Mike Bakalon 9. Jeff Zillweger 10. Bill Ashton 11. Dink Colarusso 12. Thomas Knight Sr. 13. Steve Long (DNS) Wyotech Modifieds: Heats: Adam Kostelnik, Bobby Shipp Feature: 1. Lonnie Hoffman 2. Chris Brink 3. Adam Kostelnik 4. Bobby Shipp 5. Marion Reno 6. George Nicola 7. Mike Lemley 8. Bryan Shipp 9. Harry Opfer 10. Jim Nicola Jr 11. Troy Knight Subway Super Late Models Heat Winners: Mark Cottone, Mark Poole Feature: 1. Neil Brown 2. Barry Awtey 3. Mark Cottone 4. Mark Poole 5. Gary Wiltrout 6. John Komarinski 7. Shawn Pilla 8. Rick Miller 9. Tommy Beck 10. Steve Black 11. Todd Price 12. Michael Zombar 13. Greg Kelley 14. Snooky Williams 15. Joe Moose 16. Robbie Marhefka Pro Auto Supply Service Chargers Heats: Kristin Etling, Zane Ferrell Feature: 1. Vic Keller 2. Zane Ferrell 3. Kristen Etling 4. Jimmy Christofel 5. Matt Gardner 6. Ron Eiford 7. Denny Keller 8. Ed Neidhardt 9. Chris Spadacene 10. Steve Settle 11. Jon Scott 12. Roger Bryan 13. Ed Shelpman 14. Robert Garchak Jr. 15. Ed McConnell 16. Tracy Keller (DNS) Coca Cola Super Compacts Heat Winner: Larry Dunmyer, Dan Brink Feature: 1. Larry Dunmyer 2. Gene Zerfoss 3. Matt Sever 4. Ed Dineen 5. Paul Koffler III 6. Andres Suarez 7. Troy Knight 8. Paul Koffler Jr. 9. Chris Knight 10. Kevin Keffer 11. Dan Brink 12. Bill Schwartz 13. Mark Tringes Jr. 14. Kevin Ludwick 15. Stephen Shelpman 16. Sean Rich 17. Nico Dabecco 18. Mary Catherine Shimko |
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