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“Winning the Gary Knollinger Memorial was
all that mattered,” stated the emotional 21-year-old Centerville, Pa. in
victory lane surrounded by family and friends of the late Knollinger. “I
wanted this race more than anyone else since Christmas day, and I did it.
Gary (Knollinger, Sr.), Bev (Knollinger), Heather (Stollar), and John (Seyler)-
you guys are one the best groups of people I’ve ever met and are friends
for a lifetime. We were lucky enough to become very good friends with
Gary. I’ll never win another race that means anything more than this one
right here.”
Butch Lambert and Wylie led the 24-car field to green with Wylie using the
outside to march into the lead. Blair passed Brian Lessley and Kyle Lukon
on the first lap for fourth then drove under Dan Angelicchio for third in
turn one on lap two. Blair ran down Lambert and raced side-by-side with
the veteran on laps three and four before making the pass for runner-up on
the outside in turn four of lap four.
Wylie continued leading the first laps of his Touring career and had a
half-straightaway lead when Blair got to second. Behind the duo,
Angelicchio began pressuring Lambert for third. The two ran side-by-side
on lap five with Angelicchio getting by in turns three and four. A caution
for a spin by Ben Black with eight laps completed changed the complexion
of the race. On the ensuing restart, Steve Dixon, Damian Bidwell, Matt
Latta, and Black tangled in turn one bringing out the second and final
caution.
When green replaced yellow for the final time, Blair used the inside to
power by Wylie as the two made contact in turns one and two. Lambert
seized the opportunity passing Angelicchio and getting by Wylie as well
for second. By the time Wylie gathered up his momentum, he was in fourth
trailing Angelicchio.
Blair began to pull away as the green flag laps ticked off. By lap 10,
Angelicchio was right on Lambert. The battle raged for runner-up for
remainder of the race. The two ran side-by-side lap after lap. Meanwhile
right behind the Angelicchio-Lambert side-by-side battle, Wylie and Lukon
were doing the same.
Back up front, Blair caught lapped traffic on lap 22 and had a slight
scare when he made contact with Tony Tatgenhorst and had to get his car
straightened back up. That was the only thing that would slow Blair’s run
in his Specialty Products/Westcoat Excavating/Moody & Sons/Thompson Run
Tire/Race 1/Genesis Shocks-sponsored #38K/111 as he went on to win by 4.09
seconds. The victory was Blair’s all-time leading 12th of his career in
Northeast Touring competition. It was Blair’s first Sharon win of the
season and third of his career, and became the eighth different winner in
10 races at Sharon this season!
“Number one I have to thank my dad,” added Blair, who extended his point
lead to 14 in search of his third Touring Series championship. “In my
mind, he’s the best there is. I have to thank all of my sponsors, Sharon
Speedway for putting this on, Mike (Leone) and Vicki (Emig)- you guys do a
great thing with this FASTRAK deal, 24 races this year with new tracks.
Look at this crowd- this is against the Firecracker at Lernerville and
with bad weather and we still got a good crowd. That’s awesome!”
Angelicchio tried everything possible to get by Lambert as they raced
side-by-side for the final time on lap 28, but Angelicchio lost some of
his momentum as Lambert got away to record his first runner-up since
August 7 of last season at Hesston Speedway. Angelicchio turned in his
third straight top five and fourth overall in six Touring starts this
season. After recording his career best Touring Series finish one week ago
in sixth at McKean County Raceway, Wylie improved that with his first
career Touring top five in fourth! Lukon was a close fifth in his first
ever appearance at Sharon.
Russ Dunn made just his third career FASTRAK start and first ever in a
Touring Series event and was an impressive sixth. Second place point man
Mike Pegher, Jr. advanced three spots from his 10th place starting
position to finish seventh. Mike Blose was eighth after starting 12th.
Three-time 2011 Sharon winner Joe Martin was ninth, and set a new track
record in his heat race with a lap of 16.594. Sharon point leader Josh
Double rounded out the top 10 after starting 14th.
Fourteen-year-old Lauren Longbrake led every lap of the eight-lap
non-qualifier event for her first victory. The “Futures Cup” rookie
contender entered the night leading the “Wheelman” Bonus Event Challenge
Series point for the non-qualifier events, and added to that point lead
with the flawless performance in the Longbrake Demolition/W&W Plumbing/Wyers
Body Shop/Jegs Streetwerkz/Race 1-sponsored Rocket Chassis #27.
The Columbus, Ohio driver overtook Shane Weaver at the start and never
looked back in the non-stop event timed in 2:20.615. Longbrake earned $175
plus $100 of the $500 that was added to each starter’s winnings in the
event thanks to the family and friends of Gary Knollinger. Weaver, another
14-year-old “Futures Cup” racer, held second over Rusty Cade, Chad Wright,
and Bobby Pifer.
Besides Blair winning the extra $750 for being the highest finishing
Touring driver and one of the random draws, the other $250 random draws to
Touring members in the feature went to Wylie, George Kowatic, John Volpe,
Josh Holtgraver, and Dixon. In addition to Blair, Dunn, Wylie, and Lambert
also earned $75 for their heat race wins and Holtgraver and Prosser won
$75 for their B main victories.
A dash race was run for to set the four positions after the pill draw
cards with a $500 purse. Damian Bidwell of Eldred, Pa. led all four laps
to earn the 13th starting position and the $150. Double finished second to
earn $130 with Dixon third for $120 and Kowatic fourth for $100.
After nearly winning last Saturday’s feature, it was a pretty good night
for Joel Prosser, who besides winning the $75 B main, earned the free
Hoosier tire presented by Utsinger’s Towing for being the last car on the
lead lap in 15th and the $100 Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC gift card for
being the highest finishing West Virginia driver. This was the card that
Knollinger would have received at the awards banquet it went to his good
friend deservedly so.
Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC FASTRAK Late Model Northeast Late Model
Touring Gary Knollinger Memorial (30 laps, $2,000 to-win): 1. MAX BLAIR
(111) 2. Butch Lambert (27) 3. Dan Angelicchio (14) 4. Andrew Wylie (84)
5. Kyle Lukon (1) 6. Russ Dunn (47) 7. Mike Pegher, Jr. (Geisler 1c) 8.
Mike Blose (5) 9. Joe Martin (55) 10. Josh Double (38) 11. Brian Lessley
(Powell 100) 12. Bobby Whitling (7W) 13. George Kowatic (5) 14. John Volpe
(Bidwell B1D) 15. Joel Prosser (77) 16. Josh Holtgraver (00) 17. Tony
Tatgenhorst (63) 18. Justin Tatlow (Kratts 81) 19. Damian Bidwell (17) 20.
Steve Dixon (50) 21. Matt Latta (21) 22. Rocky Kugel (21KRT) 23. Ben Black
(27B) 24. Alan Dellinger (Williams
Barris Supply FASTRAK Late Model Non-Qualifier Event: 1. LAUREN LONGBRAKE
(27) 2. Shane Weaver (325x) 3. Rusty Cade (47) 4. Chad Wright (6) 5. Bobby
Pifer III (6) 6. Justin Kreider (29)-DNS 7. Jamie Brown (135)-DNS 8. Clay
Ruffo (14R)-DNS 9. Steve Beatty (B4)-DNS 10. Michael Mitchell (19)-DNS 11.
Dave Airgood, Jr. (42JR)-DNS.
Blair Racing would like to thank the following 2011 marketing partners for
their continued support: Specialty Products, Bossard's Sales and Service,
Genesis Shocks, Moody and Son Welding, Westcoat Excavating, Headwest
Outfitters, EquiCross Northest Division, Thompson Run Tire, Lakeside
Lanes, Simpson, Hoosier Tire, Hyperco, Rocket Chassis, and MWB Graphics &
Web Design |
