Harry Sager, Pete Verwys and Devin Gibson Take Evergreen’s ‘Summer Slam’ Victories

Evergreen Raceway’s ‘Summer Slam’ Enduro events were held on Sunday and under near perfect racing conditions, fans witnessed not only Enduro action, but also Karts and many other divisions, all for only five dollars. After riding in second for most of the event, Harry Sager of Hanover Township took the win in the 6/8-Cylinder Enduro and Pete Verwys of Stroudsburg held on to take his third straight Four Cylinder Enduro victory. Devin Gibson of New Tripoli ran the fastest lap of 46 MPH to take down the Reverse Redneck Enduro win and Ricky Ross, Jr. of Mountaintop picked up the Open Comp victory in his Dirt Modified. Taylor Noss of Shickshinny notched her first Junior Caged Kart victory and Moe Hunsinger of Drums took top honors in the Adult Caged Karts. The Vintage TQ wins went to Rick Casario of Newton, NJ and Sam Cifelli of Lafayette, NJ. Bob Campbell of Danville took the ACOT victory and Jack Patterson took the checkers in the Garden State Vintage Stock Car Club event.

Scott Sipe led the 6/8-Cylinder field to the drop of the green flag in the 100-lap Enduro. Although he led the first two laps, Sipe lost the lead on lap three when he was black flagged for leaking fuel. The tough turn of events gave the lead to Harry Sager, who was pressured heavily by TJ Kapish.

Kapish took his turn at the lead on lap four and then began to distance himself from the field. Meanwhile, Harry O’Neill, Brandon Esposito and Danny Cascioli joined the mix in the top five.

With Kapish still showing the way at the midpoint in the race, O’Neill, who had been in the top five for most of the race, was forced to pit with mechanical problems on lap 52, With 35 laps remaining, Kapish continued to dominate over Esposito, Sager, Kory Stevens and Manny Dakias.

Sager made a late race move to retake second. With a two lap advantage over second, it appeared that Kapish was well on his way to his second straight victory. However, with 10 laps to go his left rear tire left his car and he was forced to pit. He rejoined the field but Sager had moved into the top spot.

Sager held on to take his first victory of the season. Stevens finished a career-best second, followed by Esposito. Kapish still managed to finish in fourth and Dakias completed the top five.

Brayden Spencer started from the pole position and led the 42 car Four Cylinder Enduro field to the drop of the green flag. Before a lap was complete, Spencer got spun out and the red flag waved because he was facing incoming traffic. With a lap in the books, Zach Fitzgerald held the lead over Austin Fitzgerald.

Green flag racing resumed and Paul Mercante took control of the event. However, Pete Verwys cracked the top five and quickly drove up to second. Five laps into the event, Verwys took the lead.

Frank Petroski, Jr. made his presence known and jumped into the top five. Only ten laps into the race found himself in second and Mark Hammer, Danny Cascioli and Z. Fitzgerald were in tow.

Just before halfway, Petroski overtook Verwys for the top spot. Verwys hung in the second spot until he made his move to take back the lead on lap 52.

With only 25 laps remaining, Petroski gave up his spot on the track to pit and Mercante moved into second.

Verwys held on to take his third straight victory over Mercante, Hammer, Chris Elison and Luke Colleran.

Scott Adams grabbed the early lead in the 30-lap Open Comp. show. Ricky Ross, Jr. quickly moved to second and he battled Adams hard for the top spot. Each and every time Ross made a move, Adams accepted the challenge.

The pair ran nose to tail or side by side for the entire show until Ross jumped into the outside groove and overtook the leader with two laps remaining. He went on to take the checkers over Chris Burge and Adams.

Drivers raced in reverse for the 5-lap Reverse Redneck Enduro. Harry Sager led the first two laps and then lost the lead to Devin Gibson. Gibson ran strong in reverse and had the fasted lap at just over 46 MPH. He went on to take the exciting victory over Sager, John Rose, Luke Hoffner and Steve Shultz.

Round No. 5 of the Tour Type Modified Series is up next at Evergreen Raceway. The Dirt Modifieds, Factory Stocks and Four Cylinders are also on the card. 

The pit gate will swing open at 10:30 AM and the pit entrance fee is $30 with an Evergreen 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 noon. Grandstand admission is $15 for adults and children 10 years of age and younger will be admitted for free.

Evergreen Raceway is located minutes from Hazleton, PA, in between routes 93 and 309. For more information regarding Evergreen Raceway, including the entire season schedule, directions and divisional payouts, please visit www.evergreenracewaypark.com and don’t forget to like their Facebook page as well. 

Evergreen Raceway is proud to be associated with Harry’s U Pull It, Penn’s Peak Radio, Sour Apple Auto & Customs, CK Auto Service & Race Fab, Himmer Graphics, Valve Tech Sales, Penn’s Peak, Printers Edge, Electric Frog Designs, Cargill of Hazleton, Tito Juice & RockAuto.com.

Evergreen Raceway PR