By: Gene Ostrowski
October 30, 2010
St. Johns, Pa- With $500 for the winner and with double points on the line, many enduro drivers came out Saturday to compete in the “Halloween Screamer” Mountain Madness Enduro Series event at Sundance Vacations Speedway. The action was plentiful with each race set at a distance of 150-laps. When it was all said and done, Anthony Pizzo and Dominic Ranieri took race wins. By finishing second and fifth respectively in their divisions, Ken Harper and TJ Kapish took the division championships and will be honored at the speedway banquet on November 13th.
Frank Katona led the 6/8-cylinder field to the drop of the green flag and held the early lead over Greg Harris, Tom Szoke, TJ Kapish and Dominic Ranieri. Harris grabbed the lead on lap three and then Szoke had his opportunity to lead a lap on the following circuit.
The tope five raced hard in the early going and Rob McCormick cracked the top five before taking command of the event on lap five. Ranieri worked into second, followed by Bill Schwenk, Szoke and Harris.
McCormick opened up a large gap between himself and the competition before he was spun by Steve Tito on lap 54. His lead was so big that he going in the right direction and still maintained the top spot. However, the leader’s day came to a close when he headed pit side on lap 96.
Ranieri inherited the top spot and he too blistered off one fast lap after another. As the only car on the lead lap at the end, Ranieri took the checkers over Schwenk, Ed Brown, Jr, James Presley and Kapish. Schwenk was scored as the highest finishing 6-cylinder car or truck.
With a strong top five finish, Kapish earned his first championship in the series.
Sam Ryan led thirty-two competitors to the drop of the green flag in the 150-lap 4-cylinder enduro. He led the opening laps with Ken Harper, Mike Mujsce, Tony Rispin and Anthony Pizzo in tow.
Rispin’s car was leaking fuel in the opening laps and he was forced to head to the pits, which moved Buddy Smith into the top five.
The worst of four red flags waved in the race when Dave Bartuski couldn’t avoid Tom Hartman’s car, which sat idle on the front stretch. The contact ended Bartuski’s day.
With the green flag back out, it appeared that Ryan had the event in the bag, yet Pizzo began to slowly reel in the leader. Pete Verwys began to make his way toward the front and held the fifth spot on lap 50.
Pizzo took the top spot on lap 76. Ryan slipped to second, followed by Harper, Verwys and Bill Rice.
Flat right front tires bit Ryan and Rice in the latter stages of the event and Ed Brown and Mike Harding moved into the top five.
Pizzo lapped all but one car en route to his first win at the speedway and Harper’s second place effort assured him of his first enduro championship. Verwys finished in the third spot, followed by Harding and Brown.
Sundance Vacations is a national wholesale travel company that specializes in providing wholesale travel and discount vacations to travelers who appreciate budget-friendly travel. Founded in 1991 by John and Tina Dowd, Sundance Vacations’ mission is to provide quality discount vacations at a fraction of the retail rate. A destination-based discount travel program, Sundance Vacations enables customers to enjoy discount vacations in many popular resort areas across the United States.
Sundance Vacations Speedway is just minutes from Hazleton, Pa, located on St. John’s Road, between Routes 93 and 309. Grandstand admission for all regular events is just $10 for ages 11 and older. Children 10 years of age and younger are admitted for free.
Please visit www.sundancevacationsspeedway.com for the remaining 2010 schedule, point standings and up to date news and information.
6/8-Cylinder (150-laps)
1 98 DOMINIC RANIERI
2 13x Bill Schwenck
3 30 Ed Brown Jr
4 74 James Presley
5 33 Tom Kapish
6 50 Tom Szoke
7 10 Jess Martines
8 27 Frank Katona
9 65 Gregory Harris
10 410 Steve Tito
11 39 Don Carasiti
12 61 Justin Wahl
13 461 Sam Morgan
14 44 Mike Parisi
15 606 John Farmer
16 73jr David Baker Jr
17 88 Scott Sipe
18 17X Rob McCormick
19 44M Mark Frankenfield
20 10 Keith Frankenfield
21 23G Shawn Gallucci
22 53 Kevin Nowak
23 38 Mark Martini
4-Cylinder (150-laps)
1 81 Anthony Pizzo
2 308 Ken Harper
3 11 Peter Verwys
4 M80 Mike Harding
5 30 Ed Brown Jr
6 19X Mike Wahl
7 38 Jay Skupski
8 18 Mark Johnson
9 6 Ed Prjimavera III
10 8S Bruce Miller
11 17X Justin Martinson
12 8J Jay Conrad
13 7 Sam Ryan
14 32 Tom Hartman
15 F19 Bill Rice
16 51R Robby Dunn
17 51 Larry Spencer III
18 19R Gary Fisher
19 10 Mitch Hawk
20 34 Tony Rispin
21 0 Howard Effron
22 5 Buddy Smith
23 14 Chris Burns
24 35 Michael Mujsce Sr
25 15 Andrew Fowler
26 22 Dan Luizzi
27 14 Joe Warren
28 31 Dave Bartuski
29 812 Craig Coll
30 8W Jack Bodnar
31 11S Bryan Kelly
32 66 Jay Garris
33 4 Joseph Martinson
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