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Conneaut, OH (September 2, 2016): The 2016 racing season at Raceway 7 came to an end with champions crowned in all five divisions. Coming into the evening two of the five divisions had been clinched, Jason Easler in the McDonalds Sand & Gravel Mini Stocks and Rob Bates in the Campbell’s Mini Storage Street Stocks. Easler collected his ninth feature win of the season, as did Joel Watson in the Bonnell’s Collision Center E-Mod feature, securing his championship. The “Topless Challenge” for the Evergreen Lake Park Campground CARS Crate Late Models was the featured event, paying $1200 to win with the cars running without roofs. Dennis Lunger only had to finish sixth or better to secure his second track championship but led the 25-lap distance for both the $1200 win and the champion’s laurels. Former track champion Josh Ferry cruised to his second feature win of the season after starting third in the Bonnell’s Auto Sales Economods feature but it was Steve Haefke gaining the champion’s mantle with his third place finish. In the season ending Campbell’s Mini Storage Street Stock feature Mike Clark prevailed over the field in his only his second visit to Raceway 7 this season but it was fourth place Rob Bates who capped of his season with his first track championship at Raceway 7.

The first feature on the track was the McDonalds Sand & Gravel Mini Stocks with 2016 champion Jason Easler bringing the file to green with Casey Harmon alongside. Easler easily led the way with defending champion Brad Cole quickly coming to second. Hoyt Mihalak ran third in the early stages with Kyle Adkins fourth and Bud Sergeff fifth. At lap five Zoey Gill stopped at the pit entrance, causing the race to be slowed under caution. When the race was back under green Easler continued to lead, going on to his ninth feature win of the year. At the checkers Easler had a near straight a away lead over Sergeff with Mihalak slipping to fifth behind Cole and Logan Keney on the final lap.

Ken Zimmer, driving new racer this week, and two-time winner Mike Potosky brought the Bonnell’s Collision E-Mods to green with Potosky grabbing the immediate lead and sixth-starting Joel Watson, a former champion and current points leader coming to second at three laps complete. At the halfway point Watson was challenging for the lead, getting by on turn one of lap twelve. With five to go it was Watson leading Potosky, Zimmer, Troy Johnson, and Dan Sasso. With four to go Watson started lapping the back markers, but caution flew when Casey Bowers spun in turn four, erasing Watson’s lead. For the single file restart the order was still the same. Johnson got alongside Zimmer at the green but was unable to get by. With three to go Potosky slid wide in turn two, allowing both Zimmer and Johnson to get by. A lap later Sasso came to fourth. The order at the finish was Watson for his ninth win of the season over Zimmer, Johnson, Sasso, and Potosky. Watson’s win was his ninth of the season.

Twenty CARS Crate Late Models running “topless” started the 25-lap grind with Darrell Bossard and Dennis Lunger on the front row. The first attempt at green was called back when two of competitors “jumped” the start. Lunger came to the lead when the green was finally thrown with Bossard second. With only two laps in the book, Dillon Goodman spun on turn three, slowing the field the first time. At green Lunger and Bossard again led with a three wide battle for third among Dave Airgood, Chad Wright, and Kyle Zimmerman, with Wright holding the spot at the end of three. At five complete Hunter Hulley got sideways in turn two but was able to get his car righted, however not before Brandon Porter and Goodman got involved, again slowing the race. All were able to continue. After green Bossard and Wright ran side by side until turn three but Bossard had the spot at the end of six laps. Brandon Porter and Ed Bolyard got together at lap eight, slowing the field the third time. Lunger again led until yellow flew a lap later when Josh Stoica and Bolyard spun in turn four. Goodman again spun at ten complete, ending his night with the maximum of three cautions attained. On the first lap after green Bruce Hordusky spun into the infield on the backstretch slowing the event then, Bolyard spun on the front straight with Hulley spinning into him. Bolyard retired to the pit after the incident. At halfway the order was Lunger, Bossard, Wright, Airgood, and Zimmerman. Clay Ruffo slowed in turn three with eighteen complete, setting up another restart. The order remained the same through to the checkers, allowing Lunger to collect his second championship at Raceway 7.

The Bonnell’s Auto Sales Economods started their feature with Brad Blackshear and Chuck Steinle Sr leading the way. Blackshear took off with the lead with Steinle and Josh Ferry challenging. Ferry had the lead at the end of two with Blackshear second and points leader Steve Haefke third, then at lap three Jace Ferringer slowed on the back straight enough that caution was shown. Under yellow Mike Harmon also came to a halt and needed pushed to the pits. After green Haefke came to second with defending champion Rick Prosser now fourth. At five compete Brandon Blackshear spun in turn one and Kyle Reinwald spun to avoid contact. The running order for the green was Ferry, Haefke, Brad Blackshear, Prosser, and Zach Myers. Ferry, looking for his second win of the year, led six time winner Haefke back to green but Brad Blackshear got back to second at the end of six. At the end of seven Haefke was again second with Blackshear third, then Prosser and Myers. In turn two at eight complete Geoff Conn spun twice, again slowing the race. At this green Blackshear led Ferry to turn three but slid wide, falling back to fourth at the stripe. With Ferry leading at ten complete, now third-running Blackshear spun in turn one. For the single file restart with five laps to go it was Ferry, Myers, Haefke, Prosser, and Brandon Blackshear. Under caution Haley Lapcevich got sideways on the back straight, resulting in Casey Harmon and Gary Murphy getting locked together when the field “accordianed”. Ferry continued on to his second feature win of 2016 over Myers, Haefke, Prosser, and Brandon Blackshear. After the end of the race Brandon Blackshear was penalized two positions for “jumping” the final restart, elevating Tyler Frankenberry to fifth.

Mike Clark and Chris Hochschild brought the final feature of 2016, the Campbell’s Mini Storage Street Stocks, to green with Clark leading the way and Jason Longwell to second by two laps complete. Longwell slowed and exited pitside on lap five, giving Hochschild back the runner-up spot. At halfway Clark enjoyed a six length lead over Hochschild with Chris McGuire third, points leader Rob Bates fourth, and Don McGuire fifth. Hochschild then began closing the gap to the leader closing to one length at eleven complete. With three to go the gap was the same when Brian Mulichak spun in turn four. Clark again led at green and held it until the checkers with Hochschild winding up second, Chris McGuire third, points champion Bates fourth, and Don McGuire filling out the top five.

Evergreen Lake Park Campground CARS Crate Late Models:
Time Trials: (Top 5) Chad Wright (18.948) Darrell Bossard (18.882) Dennis Lunger (18.989) Wendall Pinckney (19.226) Kyle Zimmerman (19.461)
Heat 1: Darrell Bossard, Kyle Zimmerman, Khole Wanzer, Josh Stoica, Alex Anderson, Dennis Dellinger, Brandon Porter
Heat 2: Dennis Lunger Jr, Chad Wright, Chris Withers, Will Pinckney, Hunter Hulley, Mike Bambarger, Dillon Goodman
Heat 3: Dave Airgood, Wendall Pinckney, Bruce Hordusky Jr, Breyton Santee, Cory Ruffo, Ed Bolyard
Dash 1: Darrell Bossard, Dennis Lunger Jr, Dave Airgood, Kyle Zimmerman, Chad Wright, Wendall Pinckney
Dash 2: Chris Withers, Khole Wanzer, Bruce Hordusky, Josh Stoica, Breyton Santee, Will Pinckney
Feature: Dennis Lunger Jr, Darrell Bossard, Chad Wright, Dave Airgood Jr, Kyle Zimmerman, Breyton Santee, Chris Withers, Wendall Pinckney, Khole Wanzer, Alex Anderson, Will Pinckney, Mike Bambarger, Brandon Porter, Clay Ruffo, Dennis Dellinger, Hunter Hulley, Bruce Hordusky Jr, Ed Bolyard, Josh Stoica, Dillon Goodman

Bonnell Collision Service E-Mods:
Heat 1: Percy McDonald, Mike Potosky, Troy Johnson, Jesse Gould, Jacob Eucker, Casey Bowers, Chuck Steinle Jr, Josh McDonald
Heat 2: Ken Zimmer, Mike Kinney, Dennis Lunger Jr, Joel Watson, Bill Taylor, Dan Sasso, Dan McDonald, Billy Henry
Feature: Joel Watson, Ken Zimmer, Troy Johnson, Dan Sasso, Mike Potosky, Mike Kinney, Dennis Lunger, Percy McDonald, Josh McDonald, Kasey Bowers, Chuck Steinle Jr, Bill Taylor, Jake Eucker (DNS)

Bonnell’s Auto Group Economods:
Heat 1: Brad Blackshear, Brandon Blackshear, Josh Ferry, Gary Murphy, Geoff Conn, Mike Harmon, Erik Ralph, Jim Muma
Heat 2: Rick Prosser, Chuck Steinle Sr, Mitch Wright, Eric Reinwald, George Vestal, Casey Harmon, Dan McEwen, Kevin Sergeff
Heat 3: Tyler Frankenberry, Zach Myers, Steve Haefke, Jace Ferringer, Kyle Reinwald, Haley Lapcevich, Ashley Rogers
Feature: Josh Ferry, Zach Myers, Steve Haefke, Rick Prosser, Tyler Frankenberry, Chuck Steinle Sr, Brandon Blackshear, Haley Lapcevich, Brad Blackshear, Eric Reinwald, Kyle Reinwald, George Vestal, Kevin Sergeff, Casey Harmon, Jim Muma, Dan McEwen, Jace Ferringer, Mike Harmon, Gary Murphy, Ashley Rogers, Mitch Wright, Geoff Conn, Eric Ralph

Campbell’s Mini Storage Street Stocks:
Heat 1: Jason Longwell, Don McGuire, Chris Hochschild, Mark Sanders, Garrett Calvert, Jimmy Kennerknecht, Dan Fedorchak
Heat 2: Chris McGuire, Mike Clark, Rob Bates, Joe Stajnrajh, Brian Mulichak, Curt Bish
Feature: Mike Clark, Chris Hochschild, Chris McGuire, Rob Bates, Curt Bish, Don McGuire, Joe Stajnrajh, Garrett Calvert, Jimmy Kennerknecht, Mark Sanders, Brian Mulichak, Shaun Fawcett, Jason Longwell, Dan Fedorchak

McDonald’s Sand and Gravel Mini Stocks:
Heat 1: Bud Sergeff, Jason Easler, Kyle Adkins, Hoyt Mihalak, Mary Hammond, Derrick Tuttle, Zoey Gill, Jake Kinney
Heat 2: Brad Cole, Logan Keney, Pat Drennan, Alexis Vogt, Alex Forbes, Jessica Harvey, Corey Wick, Shawn McBride
Feature: Jason Easler, Bud Sergeff, Brad Cole, Logan Keney, Hoyt Mihalak, Kyle Adkins, Mary Hammond, Derrick Tuttle, Shawn McBride, Pat Drennan, Jessica Harvey, Zoey Gill, Jake Keney, Alex Forbes, Alexis Vogt, Corey Wick (DNS)

2016 Raceway 7 Awards Banquet

Champions decided for 2016; three champions win features in final races of 2016!