Dave Brigati Takes Saturday Portion of Evergreen’s “King of the Green”
St. Johns, PA (10/15/2016)- Following an open practice session on Friday, the Saturday portion of Evergreen Raceway’s first annual “King of the Green” kicked off without a hitch. The afternoon featured four wild season-ending features for some of the tracks regular divisions and when it was all said and done, Long Island’s Dave Brigati claimed the big prize by taking the checkers for the Evergreen Modified victory. In a fantastic duel to the checkers in the Dirt Modified main, Ricky Yetter of Wilson edge Ricky Ross, Jr. as the pair wrecked at the finish. Following a crash involving the top two drivers on the final lap, Devin Schmidt of Palmerton jumped from third to first and claimed the Four Cylinder victory. Tom Casagrande of Drums held off Stephanie Moyer and Scott Sipe to take his first ever season ending victory in the Factory Stock division.
Dave Brigati time trialed quickest in the Evergreen Modified division and led the field to the drop of the green flag in the 50-lap main event. He led the opening circuit over Paul Hartwig, Jr, Conner Sellars, Jerry Hildebrand and CJ Lehman.
Hartwig took his shot at taking the lead from Brigati on lap eight and the pass stuck. Shortly after on a lap 10 restart, both Sellars and Lehman overtook Brigati. Hildebrand moved by Brigati as well and then quickly climbed to second by getting by Lehman and Sellars on a lap 19 restart.
Just when it appeared that Hildebrand would be one of the cars to contend with the leader, Sellars got into Hildebrand in turn two. Both cars sustained enough damage to retire following the lap 23 incident.
As the race progressed, Scott Adams cracked the top five. Hartwig continued to show the way with 10 laps remaining. Adams held second with Todd Baer, Brigati and Lehman in tow.
Adams and Lehman were involved in an incident one lap later and began to make their way back toward the front as the laps wound day. Meanwhile, with seven laps to go, Hartwig’s car began to miss. He was overtaken by Brigati and Baer. Hartwig eventually retired from the event and when the checkers finally flew, it was Brigati, who took the win over T. Baer. Nick Baer finished third, followed by CJ Lehman. In her first Evergreen start this season, Patty Pruitt completed the top five.
Following the heat race victory, Ricky Yetter led the Dirt Modified field to the drop of the green flag in the 40-lap feature. He led the first circuit over Ricky Ross, Jr, Billy Lasko, Scott Adams and Bill Decelman.
With seven laps in the books, the leader was black flagged from leaking fuel onto the racing surface. Green flag racing resumed with Ross scored as the leader.
Adams’ day came to an end on lap nine when he was involved in a turn three incident. Under the yellow flag, Yetter was forced to pit once again for the same issue. However, this time his crew corrected the problem.
Ross continued to show the way following the restart and Yetter moved up to battle second place Lasko. Yetter completed the pass for second but then lost the spot when he and Lasko collected in turns one and two.
Just when it appeared that Ross would have the show to himself, Yetter battled back. He and Ross drove wheel to wheel over the last three laps, with Yetter leading lap 37. A soon to be lapped car came into play on the final circuit and as the leaders tried to split the car, Yetter moved up the track and into Ross, who made hard contact with the front stretch fence.
Yetter did cross the stripe as the winner and offered an apology to Ross during his victory lane interview. He continued by saying that he had to make a high or low split second decision and would never take Ross out intentionally.
Ross did claim the second spot, followed by Lasko, Dan Dulin and Frank Panarstino.
Following heat race victories, Rob McCormick and Tom Casagrande shared the front row for the 40-lap Factory Stock feature. McCormick led the first circuit over Casagrande, with Just Morgan, Stephanie Moyer and Dave Antos in tow.
With a lap in the books, Morgan overtook Casagrande and set his sights on the leader. Two laps later Morgan climbed into the race lead.
Morgan continued to show the way over Casagrande on lap 20. Meanwhile, McCormick, Moyer and Scott Sipe battled closely behind.
With 22 laps in the books, Morgan’s lead expired when his transmission decided to let go. Casagrande became the new leader and a handful of laps later, Moyer overtook McCormick for the season spot.
Sipe and Moyer battled hard for second and both drivers were within striking distance of the leader.
Casagrande went on to take the victory over Moyer, Sipe, Rob McCormick and Matt Mattern, Jr.
A wild and action packed Four Cylinder feature was the talk of many throughout the afternoon. Jay Skupski, Corey Eldelman and Devin Schmidt scored heat race wins and that’s how they started the 31-lap feature.
Skupski led the first circuit over Eldelman, Schmidt, Sam Ryan and Eric Banashefski and he continued to show the way over several restarts in the early going.
Ron Hetter eventually made his way into second and with 15 laps complete, grabbed the top spot. With 25 laps complete, he led over Schmidt, Banashefski, Rich Mutarelli and Pete Verwys.
A slew of cautions slowed the action packed event and when the yellow waved for an incident on lap 29, driver were told that the next flag would end the race. It didn’t take long.
Hetter had the lead over Verwys and Schmidt. With 31 laps in the books, Verwys looked to the bottom entering turn one. Hetter moved down the track but Verwys never lifted. Schmidt barely missed the tangle and Ryan, who was also right there as well, was collected.
The yellow waved and Schmidt was awarded the victory over Banashefski, Mutarelli, Cody Geist and Corey Edelman.
The 2016 divisional championships for the day’s events were won by Paul Hartwig, Jr. (Evergreen Modified), Ricky Yetter (Dirt Modified), Tom Casagrande (Factory Stock) and Bob Azarowicz (Four Cylinder).
From October 7 through November 5, the track is hosting “EVERSCREAM” on Friday and Saturday nights. EVERSCREAM consists of two haunted attractions, one being their haunted trail through the woods and the second is the corn maze of horror. Admission for both attractions is just $10. Patrons are also invited to view scary movies on the projection screen. Concessions will be open for EVERSCREAM, which will be open from dusk. Nightly ticket sales will stop at 10 PM.
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 visitwww.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 Modifieds (50-laps) 1. DAVE BRIGATI 2. Todd Baer 3. Nick Baer 4. CJ Lehman 5. Patty Pruitt 6. Scott Adams 7. Paul Monkoski 8. Peter Lattanzio 9. Damon Frutchey 10. Paul Hartwig 11. Travis Spalding 12. Barry Callavini 13. Cam Ayers 14. Joey Jarowicz 15. Jerry Hildebrand 16. Conner Sellers 17.Eric Banashefski
Dirt Modifieds (40-laps) 1. RICKY YETTER 2. Ricky Ross Jr 3. Billy Lasko 4. Dan Dulin 5. Frank Panarstino 6. John Banashefski 7. Bill Deckelman 8. Brent Cross 9. Scott Adams
Factory Stocks (40-laps) 1. TOM CASAGRANDE 2. Steph Moyer 3. Scott Sipe 4. Rob McCormick 5. Matt Mattern Jr 6. Moe Hunsinger 7. Gerald Lawrence 8. John Banashefski 9. Frank Katona 10. Steve Heckman 11. Dave Antos 12. Andrew Monkoski 13. Justin Morgan
Four Cylinders (31-laps) 1. DEVIN SCHMIDT 2. Eric Banashfski 3. Rich Mutarelli 4. Cody Geist 5. Corey Edelman 6. Brandon Esposito 7. Shayne Geist 8. Nick Brejaka 9. Joe Warren 10. Fred Gimbi 11. Keith St. Claire 12. Ron Heeter 13. Pete Verwys 14. Sam Ryan 15. Ron Haring 16. Hunter Iatalese 17.Bob Azarowicz 18. Jesse Strohl 19. Tom Cavagnino 20. Jay Skupski 21. Jen Adams
Upcoming Shows:
October 7 – November 7- “EVERSCREAM” Haunted Attractions
October 29- “Halloween Screamer” Enduros
October 30- “Drift Evergreen”
Sources: Gene Ostrowski/Evergreen Raceway Park PR