Under near perfect racing conditions at Evergreen Raceway on Sunday, Paul Hartwig, Jr. of Freehold, NJ scored his second Evergreen Modified victory of the season. In his first full season at the speedway, 13 year old Broc Brown held off his seasoned competition to take the checkers for his first Late Model feature win. Randy Schlenker took top honors in the make up Street Stock feature from May 15th and Charlie Castiglione notched his first Street Stock victory of the year in the regular show. Tom Casagrande drove to victory in Factory Stock action and Sam Danahar nailed down his first career Four Cylinder victory. Kevin Nowak drove to victory in INEX Legends action, as did Sean Verwys in the INEX Bandolero main. Ashley Benko took the Four Cylinder Powder Puff victory.
After taking the heat race win, Paul Hartwig, Jr. redrew the pole position for the 25-lap Evergreen Modified main event. He was overtaken by Cam Ayers before a lap was complete and settled into second, followed by CJ Curry, Scott Adams and Paul Monkoski.
Following a lap five yellow flag for debris, Hartwig gained the advantage over Ayers and retook the lead. He held the spot while others battled it out in his mirror.
With 10 laps complete and while racing hard for second, Curry and Ayers got together in turn four. With nowhere to go, Adams joined the mix and sustained the most damage. He was forced to retire from the show.
Hartwig was unscathed over the closing laps and took his second victory of the season over Monkoski, Eric Banashefski, Curry and Damon Frutchey.
Broc Brown led the Late Model field to the drop of the green flag in the 25-lap feature. Before a lap was complete, Chris Burge and Steve Shulz touched, which cause Burge to spin and collect Mitch Hawk, Frankie Althouse and Raven Schrantz.
Green flag racing resumed and Brown kept his cool and the lead. Behind him was another story, as some drivers beat on each other for position and others, such as Nick Ross and Shultz fought hard for second.
With a lap remaining, Shultz and Ross, who had swapped the second spot back and forth, got together in turn four.
Brown took the checkers for his first career victory over Althouse, Raven Schrantz, Jacob Nemeth and Ross.
Ross was the heat race winner.
Todd Ahner sat on the pole for the make up Street Stock feature from May 15. He led the first circuit over Charlie Castiglione, Scott Adams, Chip Wanamaker and Dan Pawlicki.
After some early cautions, T. Ahner continued to show the way. Meanwhile, Paul Morgan, Jr, Chip Wanamaker, TJ Gursky and Randy Schlenker began to advance positions.
Morgan held third on lap five and was heavily pressured by Gursky. The two battled relentlessly for laps until Morgan settled in. With 11 laps complete, Schlenker took the spot from Moran and then set his sights on Gursky, who held second at the time. With five laps remaining, Schlenker pulled up alongside of T. Ahner and led the lap by a bumper. He eventually cleared T. Ahner and drove off with the victory.
Ahner settled for second, followed by Zach Graver, Wanamaker and Gursky.
The regular 30-lap Street Stock feature was indeed the best showing all season. Adams started on the pole and led the first lap over Bernie Uphold, Cody Roth, Castiglione and Wanamaker.
With a lap complete, Roth moved by Uphold for second and Wanamaker picked up a few spots. With seven laps in the books, he overtook Roth for second and looked gunning for Adams. Meanwhile, Gursky, Graver and Castiglione battled behind them.
With 12 laps in the books, Gursky got by Roth for third and Wanamaker pulled alongside of Adams, whose car began to fade. Adams got out of shape and Wanamaker grabbed the lead. Gursky followed through for second, as did Castiglione for third.
Castiglione marched by Gursky and made his eventual race winning pass on Wanamaker on lap 25. Wanamaker crossed the strip in second, followed by Gursky, Graver and T. Ahner.
Uphold and Adams took heat race wins.
Tom Casagrande won the Factory Sock heat race and started on the pole position for the 20-lap event. He wired the event for his second win of the season over Justin Morgan, Moe Hunsinger, Steve Heckman and Scott Sipe.
For his seventh place effort while running under the true Enduro rules, TJ Kapish received a trophy for being the highest finishing Enduro car.
Tom Cavagnino led the Four Cylinder field to the drop of the green flag and was quickly overtaken by Jay Skupski. Sam Danahar followed through for second.
Danahar worked hard to find a lane around Skupski and he eventually did on lap five. Meanwhile, Frank Hughes, Jr. climbed to third and Jennifer Adams ran in fourth.
Danahar never gave up the lead and went on to take his first career win over Hughes, Skupski, Harry O’Neill and Adams.
For his fourth place effort while running under the true Enduro rules, O’Neill received a trophy for being the highest finishing Enduro car.
Skupski and Danahar were heat race winners.
The first INEX Legends show of the year kicked off with Bryan Kelly on the pole. He led the opening circuit of the 20-lap feature over Alexandria Smith, Kevin Nowak, Chris Rogers and Mitch Dowd.
With Kelly still showing the way on lap six, the yellow flag waved for Jeff Otto. Green flag racing resumed and in a great battle amongst the top three, Nowak took the lead on lap eight. Meanwhile, Smith pressured Kelly hard for second.
Nowak only had one restart to master in the second half of the show to claim the victory. He did so in fashion and Kelly held off Smith, who after giving it all she had, settled for third.
In only his second career Legends start, Brandon Oltra finished fourth, followed by Matt Maring.
Kelly and Smith took heat race victories.
The 15-lap Bandolero feature began with Jeff Darrah on the pole. However, he was overtaken for the lead by Katie Verwys.
Sean Verwys grabbed the top spot a lap later and then lost it when he spun in turns three and four. K. Verwys was back at the point but mechanical issues gave the lead back to S. Verwys.
With seven laps complete, Gene Drew has his turn at the lead but he suffered mechanical woes himself and S. Verwys went on to take the win over Darrah.
Ashley Benko was the Four Cylinder Powder Puff winner.
Evergreen Raceway will be back in action next Sunday, June 19 with Round #3 of the Tour Type Modified Series. Also on the card are big wheel races for the kids, the Late Models, Street Stocks, Four Cylinders and the “Duct Tape 50” Factory Stock Memorial.
Grandstand admission is just $15. Children 10 years of age and younger are admitted for free with a paying adult.
The pit gate will swing open at 10:30 AM and the pit entrance fee is $30 with a pit license or $40 without. Practice will kick off at 12:30 PM and heat races will begin at 2 PM. The grandstand gates will open at 11:00 PM.
Evergreen Raceway PR
