Austin Kochenash Bests Tour Modified Field for $2K at Evergreen Raceway
St. Johns, PA (7/17/2016)- The Tour Type Modifieds were back in action Sunday at Evergreen Raceway. With $2,000 on the line for the 50-lap main event winner, Austin Kochenash of Danielsville, PA took the checkers and the big prize. Randy Schlenker of Whitehall, PA took top honors by scoring his third Street Stock win of the season and Frank Hughes of Pittston, PA grabbed his second Four Cylinder win of the year. Out of Long Island, NY, Kevin Nowak notched his second INEX Legends win of the year and Gage Michael took home the trophy in the INEX Bandolero division.
Following a nine car redraw for the Tour-Type Modifieds, Matt Hirschman started from the pole position. He led the opening circuit over Brian DeFebo, Jonathan Mandato, Austin Kochenash and Brandon Oltra.
With Hirschman still showing the way, Oltra got by Kochenash on lap three. However, after losing more positions early on, Kochenash began to fight his way back toward the front and battled hard with Oltra to move into fourth on lap 10.
Following a lap 17 restart, Mandato overtook DeFebo for second and with 24 laps complete, the caution flag waved when Mandato spun in turns three and four. Brian Sones and Harry Buchman were also involved.
Kochenash got a good restart and he ran Hirschman tight as the pair entered turn one. The battle between the two ended with Kochenash coming out as the leader. He continued to hold the lead over Hirschman with 33 laps in the books. Oltra, Amber Fortin and John Markovic were all running in the top five.
Following a yellow on lap 34, a frightening moment occurred when Todd Baer’s car never steered through turn four and made heavy contact with the front stretch wall. The ambulance crew assisted him. Todd’s sore, but thankfully he’s doing okay.
After a quick yellow on lap 35, Hirschman appeared to have a quicker car than the leader, but his bid to take the lead ended when the two touched. Kochenash held the point and Hirschman lost several positions. The turn of events moved Oltra to second, followed by Barry Callavini, DeFebo and Mandato.
With a handful of laps remaining, Calvin Carroll got out of shape and his car shot into the backstretch fence off of turn two. Although the car sustained heavy damage, Carroll climbed from the car under his own power.
Despite efforts from Oltra in the closing laps, Kochenash held on to score the big prize and Oltra settled for second. Hirschman rebounded to finish third, followed by DeFebo and Callavini.
Callavini, Kochenash, and Mandato scored heat race wins.
With having the Tour-Type Modified point following the event, Hirschman was declared the mid-season champion.
Bernie Uphold led the Street Stock field to the drop of the green flag in the 30-lap feature. He led the opening circuit over Todd Ahner, Scott Adams, Randy Schlenker and Charlie Castiglione.
Uphold lost the lead on the second lap following a turn two incident. That put Ahner on the point for the restart.
A terrific battle ensued following the restart and the top five cars ran side by side for position. With 10 laps in the books, Adams jumped to the outside and tried to work on Ahner. Meanwhile, Schlenker sat back and watched for a hole to open up.
One did indeed open, when Ahner moved up the track to throw a block on Adams. Schlenker took advantage and drove to the bottom to take the race lead.
With Schlenker showing the way on lap 19, Adams got by Ahner but couldn’t find a way around Schlenker, who scored his third win of the season. Castiglione finished in the third spot and TJ Gursky rallied at the end to come home in fourth. Uphold rebounded to finish fifth.
Ahner was the heat race winner.
With having the Street Stock point following the event, Castiglione was declared the mid season champion
Frank Hughes, Jr. started from the pole position in the 20-lap Four Cylinder feature, but Jay Skupski led the first lap over Hughes, Bob Azarowicz, Ron Heeter and Pete Verwys.
Hughes moved back to the back to the point on the following lap and Azarowicz shot by to take second. With 14 laps complete, Hughes still held the lead with Azarowicz and Heeter in tow. Meanwhile, Verwys grabbed fourth from Skupski.
Without a yellow flag to slow the action, Hughes went on to take his second victory of the season. Azarowicz, Heeter, Verwys and Travis Solomon completed the top five.
Keith St. Claire was the highest finishing Enduro car in the event. He received a trophy for his efforts.
Hughes and Azarowicz were heat race winners.
Richie Davidwitz started from the pole and led the opening lap of the 20-lap INEX Legends feature over Kevin Nowak, Jim Sylvester, Brandon Oltra and Raven Schrantz.
With a lap complete, Davidwitz slid up the track in turns one and two, which opened the door for Nowak, who took the lead.
Without a yellow flag flying to tighten up the field, Nowak cruised to victory for his second Evergreen win of the season over Davidwitz, Sylvester, Oltra and Richie Coy.
Evergreen Raceway is looking forward to their ‘Christmas in July’ event on Sunday, July 24. Not only will Santa be present, but he will have items for the children at the speedway, courtesy of track fans, driver, teams and officials. Those interested are asked to bring a wrapped gift to the speedway office, costing under $5 and marked for a boy or girl. Drop boxes will also be at the track on both the grandstand and pit side for drop off. Back to school items, such as pencils, erasers, crayons, notebooks, etc. are also welcome.
The July 24 event is deemed to be a great event for the kids and aside from Santa Claus being in the house, there will be a bounce house for the children, and also family photo opportunities.
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 noon.
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.
Tour Type Modifieds (50-laps) 1. AUSTIN KOCHENASH 2. Brandon Oltra 3. Matt Hirschman 4. Brian DeFebo 5. Barry Callavini 6. Blake Barney 7. Roger Coss 8. Wayne Szerencsits 9. Amber Fortin 10. Jonathan Mandato 11. Adam Lacicero 12. Terry Markovic 13. Clavin Carroll 14. Harry Buchman 15. DJ Wagner 16. John Markovic 17.Todd Baer 18. Alan Creveling 19. Brian Sones 20. Bobby Jones 21. Sal Accardi 22.Jim Dolan
Street Stocks (30-laps) 1. RANDY SCHLENKER 2. Scott Adams 3. Todd Ahner 4. Charlie Castiglione 5. TJ Gursky 6. Bernie Uphold 7. Lyndsey Buss 8. Mike Piechota 9. Paul Morgan Jr.
Four Cylinder (20-laps) 1. FRANK HUGHES, JR 2. Bob Azarowicz 3. Ron Heeter 4. Pete Verwys 5. Travis Solomon 6. Jay Skupki 7. Keith St. Clair 8. Lauren Skupski 9. Elmer Kennedy III 10. Bryan Shoenberger
INEX Legends (20-laps) 1. KEVIN NOWAK 2. Richard Davidowitz 3. Jim Sylvester 4. Brandon Oltra 5. Richie Coy 6. Raven Schrantz 7. Donnie Deibert
Sources: Gene Ostrowski/Evergreen Raceway PR