Zeiner Comes From Third In The Final Laps To Win Another Exciting Mahoning Valley Roc

The old saying goes “ The race is never over until the checker flag falls “ and that is always the saying at the Mahoning Valley Speedway. Once again at this exciting race track on Saturday night many in attendance thought Eric Beers had the win in his back pocket. With a double file restart taking place with six laps to go Rod Synder, Jr. somehow snookered Beers on the restart to grab the lead.

With another double file restart taking place with five laps to go in the 76 lap feature. Beers tried every move in the book to get around Synder for the lead. Meanwhile third place runner Zane Zeiner hung around patiently in the bottom groove and when the Synder car started to slip up the race track. Zeiner was ready to strike and he did as he drove under Synder and Beers coming out of turn two to take the lead with two laps to go.

Zeiner then held off the final last lap charge of Beers to claim the $2,800 victory. Synder slipped back to third with Kory Rabenold driving the second Gruber Racing entry coming out of wild turn four scramble to the checkers to finish fourth. Brian DeFebo who got loose while in fourth coming out of turn four on the last lap settled for fifth.

The normal race distance of 75 laps was extended by one lap to 76 in honor of fellow Modified driver John Blewett, III who passed away on Thursday night at the Thompson Speedway.

“ Without a doubt a break finally went our way “ said race winner Zane Zeiner. “ I told my crew after the race that John was watching down on us tonight. We shared that number ( 76 ) for a long time, we weren't real close but we were good friends. Heck of a guy as he always raced me clean and I raced him clean. Always learned a lot from John down at Flemington. “

This was the second time this year that Zane has felt that someone who just recently passed away helped him to a feature win. “ Opening day at Mountain this year. My grandfather passed away and I felt that he was in that car that day “ recalled Zane. “ I felt the same way today as you get a chill, it's a weird feeling that you get in the car. This win is for John. “

Zane started second in the field of 26 and he dropped back to as low as fourth on lap 36. But on the next lap Zane got by Don Wagner for third and he stayed there until the fireworks erupted in front on him with six laps to go.

“ I said to myself that my car was a hair tight but they ( Synder & Beers ) were getting a little racy up front there and maybe if they just move up enough for me I could get a good run on the bottom at Rod. I tried getting under Rod earlier in the race but he just kept holding me down. With two to go we were just beating and banging, hard racing it was and he gave me just enough room to get under him. I thought that Eric might try and go three wide but he used his head, it was just a good, fun race. “

Earlier in the evening Zeiner got the front end wrecked in the 100 lap feature. Instead of going to the backup car Zane decided to fix his primary car. “ We broke a spindle, bent a tie rod end and the crew wanted to me to go out for the last round of hot laps before time trials “ recalled Zane. “ I said no as we're going to win it here in the pits. As we're going to take our time to get the front end all straight and square. We know what we had to do and we did it by timing second quick and drawing outside pole for the feature and then all we did was tweak it a little bit. I owe my crew a lot along with Jayco my sponsor, Joe & Kay Martinelli, Morgantini Race Engines. Without all of them I wouldn't be standing here having a good time. “

Zane spoke about the importance of this win as it gets the momentum going for the Martinelli Motorsports Team heading into the big season ending races. “ Without a doubt it will help the momentum, it's been a long time since I won a RoC race. We had a good car here the last couple of races but could never seal the deal and tonight we sealed the deal. We've been having some good strong runs locally and all of that just builds momentum, just gets the confidence with me as a driver and the crew. “

“ Yes it was disappointing to finish second as we had the best car tonight “ said second place finisher Eric Beers who earlier won the 100 lap feature. “ The first race we were a hair off but in the second race we were pretty close. “

Eric after getting into second on a lap 19 restart hounded leader Synder for the lead. The duo ran side by side for the next 12 consecutive laps before Eric pulled ahead for the lead on lap 33.

Eric spoke about running the extreme high line as leader Synder was pushing him up the track. “ Yea Rod ran me high and hard but you also have to be patient to run the outside here. You can only take a little bit at a time and be patient. We were knocking the dust off the right side tires. It was tough as we just kept working, working, and working to go by him. We ended up getting by him; it's just disappointing as we try to race everyone clean. I guess guys get sick of you winning and they run you a little different after that. “

Eric who started third spoke about the pivotal lap 70 restart. “ He ( Synder ) just got a better restart than we did. He got down far enough that I couldn't pick up the throttle. He just kept running into us on the right front to keep us down and I couldn't pick the throttle up and that was the name of the game. I probably could have gotten him back, but he came down across the turn to pinch us. I got into him a little bit and Zane got into the back of us and knocked me out of gear. So when I got it back into gear we were second. “

Eric had one last shot to get by Synder for the lead on the lap 71 restart. “ We had one last shot to get by him on the restart and Joe my spotter said Zane's coming on the bottom and he's going to get him. So there was no chance going around three wide trying to beat both of them so we backed out of it. Got down to the bottom went underneath to get back to second and I think two or three more laps I could have gotten back by Zane because the car was that good.

“ It's disappointing not to win both as I wanted to win both for John. I dedicate my first and second place finishes to the memory of John Blewett, III “ said Eric.

“ We were fast “ said third place finisher Rod Synder, Jr. “ But to keep it fast we were just a little bit too tight to run the bottom. I knew when I got the lead with five to go that Eric was going to try and drive around me on the top and Zane was going to try and drive under me on the bottom. But the car just got too tight and I couldn't hold it on the bottom. “

Rod who started on the pole spoke on his surprising restart pass of Beers on lap 70. “ Yes I was surprised but he ( Eric ) said that he got bumped from behind and the car got knocked out of gear and that is how I got by him. Then after we got together again ( lap 71 to bring out the final yellow ) by the flaggers stand my car got even worse than it was. I'm just glad to finish third and we didn't wreck. “

Qualifying for the 28 Modifieds in attendance saw the field set from time trials due to time constraints. As there was a twice postponed 100 lap Modified Super Seven Series race run first on the program. The top 12 in time trials redrew for the top 12 feature starting spots. CJ Jones set quick time with a lap of 9. 573 with the top 12 being separated by only .175 seconds.

MAHONING NOTES; All of the race teams sported newly minted John Blewett, III memorial stickers on their cars. Emotions were quite evident as the Modified racing family lost one of their own with all drivers paying respect to John and his family in their own special way. RoC owner and promoter Andy Harpell got emotional during the drivers meeting when talking about what had just happened two days prior. Four cars were done for the night after the earlier 100 lap feature with Matt Hirschman and Rusty Smith going to their second cars. Meanwhile Mike Quinn and John Bennett had no second car and were done for the night. Twenty - three out of the 26 cars who took time broke into the nine second barrier. Fast timer Jones was only .007 of a second off the track record set by Zeiner of 9. 566. Don Wagner and Bobby Jones both deserved better finishes as both were in the top five during the final exciting six laps of the feature. Wagner was fourth on lap 70 when his front end got wrecked in a racing incident in turn two. Jones was in fifth on lap 71 and spun into turn one after the leaders bunched up in front of him and everyone behind him played bumper tag. Just by entering the event Matt Hirschman became the 2007 Race of Champions Dart Asphalt Modified Tour Central Region champion.

RACE REPORT RACE OF CHAMPIONS DART ASPHALT MODIFIED TOUR JOHN BLEWETT, III MEMORIAL 76 FINAL CENTRAL REGION POINT RACE

FINISH; Zane Zeiner, Eric Beers, Rod Synder, Jr., Kory Rabenold, Brian DeFebo, Lee Sherwood, Matt Hirschman, Earl Paules, Pete Brittain, John Markovic, Kevin Brown, Bobby Jones, Dave Wallace, Daren Scherer, Todd Baer, Rodney Gruber, CJ Jones, Scott Lesher, Phil Slater, Andy Szapacs, Don Wagner, Chip Santee, Troy Bollinger, Thomas Wanick, III, Rusty Smith, Matt Clemens.
DNS; John Bennett, Mike Quinn.
LAP LEADERS; Synder ( 1 - 32 ), Beers ( 33 - 70 ), Synder ( 71 - 73 ), Zeiner ( 74 - 76 )
DART MACHINERY AWARD $1,200 SET OF HEADS; Slater
GATER RACING NEWS DRIVER BONUS DRAW $500; Synder
HOOSIER RACING TIRE HARD CHARGER AWARD; Sherwood ( 20th to 6th )
HOOSIER RACING TIRE HARD LUCK AWARD; Santee ( 5th to 22nd )
NEXT RoC DART EVENT; Saturday September 1st - Oswego Speedway - Final North Region Race - 125 lap feature $5,000 to win.

JR KENNERUP / RoC DART Modified Asphalt Series PR