Jennerstown, PA – The Wheeler Brothers Twin 30’s were something new to the Wirtgen-ISMA contingent at Jennerstown Speedway on Saturday. The format proved just fine to Rowley, Mass. driver Chris Perley. Much to his delight, he not only took home both legs of the Twin 30’s, he also took over the ISMA point lead after the first segment. For Perley it was wins number three and four to date. Both wins came relatively easy for the Rocket but tire wear did play an important role. Perley grabbed the lead in the first 30-lapper from Oswego’s Bob Magner and went on to win by almost a four second margin. Perley looked at his worn tire as he stood in the first victory lane and said:

“This tire is all done. I was hoping that there was 30 laps left in it and there was. The car was awesome right from the beginning, which let me play jackrabbit right away. I thought somebody was going to do it and it might as well be me. The car worked perfect tonight. The crew is just awesome. We have great equipment with R&R Motors and Ed Shea backing us. Vic Miller does a great job. The whole crew has been together for a long time and it’s paying off slowly but surely.”

Magner, in only his second year of ISMA competition, showed the way in his heat race and was very happy with a second place finish to Perley in the first feature. “It’s unbelievable. This place is so fast. The lap traffic is tough. I was tiptoeing. I knew Louie was coming. But, I’m glad I got to hold on. Even a third would not have been disappointing. I’ve had a bad run the last couple races. My car owner pretty much destroyed his car. It’s definitely good to finish a race and be up here at the end. This is only the second race I’ve finished this year We love it here. We wanted to put on a good show and we did.”

Closely in on Magner at the end of the 30 circuits was Louie Cicconi who stated succinctly, “It was a good race. There isn’t much to say. We had them in the last five laps or so. The race should have been longer. I came into the season with a new crew who worked really hard on this car over the winter. We’ve been going faster and faster but the more we went fast, the more bugs we found. I think we’ve fixed them. Now we can just concentrate on going fast. If this had been 60 laps we might have had something for them, but with two 30’s we’ll just do our best.”

Young Bob Magner took off from the outside of the front row in the first feature and held the lead over his teammate Joe Gosek, replacing Jeff Holbrook after a nasty crash at Mansield, for the first six laps. But up through the field, from a ninth place start, came the Perley 11 picking off cars high and low until he got by Magner’s 40 on lap 7 to take the lead.

On lap 11 Dave McKnight, whose crew had replaced a motor earlier in the day in the 94, was hit by a second failure as the car puffed a large cloud of smoke and laid a stream of oil around the track as Dave exited.

After the quick cleanup, Perley drove away from the pack but another yellow, then red fell on the field when the 90 of Ray Graham Jr. had something break, collecting Danny Shirey and stopping John Torrese. Both Graham and Shirey were out, while Torrese restarted.

On the restart, Perley again powered away, leaving Magner to fend off Gosek, Lou Cicconi, Kyle Carpenter, Dave Trytek, Mike Lichty and more.

With ten to go, Cicconi was picking off cars in rapid-fire fashion to take fourth while Perley was doing the same to the tail of the field out front. Joe Gosek’s 35 faded from fourth suddenly on lap 21 with a fuel problem, putting Cicconi in third.

At the checkered Perley was well out front of Magner and Cicconi as Kyle Carpenter and Mike Lichty rounded out the top five. Dave Trytek, Scott Martel, Nokie Fornoro, Mike Ordway and Justin Belfiore finished up the top ten.

Rocketman Chris Perley started in 11th for the second Twin 30, with Graham, Bobby Haynes, Shirey and McKnight sitting out this one. Justin Belfiore and Carpenter were on the front row with Belfiore grabbing the point from “The Smile” from the start.

Only one lap was in when the 84 of Lichty brushed with another car and was sent hard into the wall with enough damage to keep him from further competition. Said Mike later, I got together with another car. I just stuck it in on the outside there a little too much and ended up in the fence. The first car I’ve wrecked in three years. I guess it was coming sometime. We were decent in the first race and ended up fifth. In the heat race we were a little loose at the beginning. We had the red flag and the car tightened up after that. All in all a fifth in the first one was good. We were looking for a number one or two in the second one, but it didn’t come though.”

On the restart Belfiore and Carpenter battled for the lead while Scotty Martel, Dave Trytek, and Magner tried to hold off cruising Chris. Picking off one car at a time, Perley was up to third on lap ten and second on lap 11 putting Carpenter into third and Belfiore in a precarious position out front.

The front duo meandered into some slower cars and by lap 18, Perley had the lead and that’s all she wrote about this one. He was into traffic well out of sight of Belfiore, Carpenter, Martel, Trytek, Cicconi, Fornoro and Ordway.

Perley and Belfiore crossed under the second checkered pretty much alone while Louie Cicconi gave Carpenter a run for his money at the end before settling for fourth. Martel finished up in fifth.

“I love Jennerstown Speedway,” said Perley as the crowd cheered. “This place suits me just fine. I’m glad all you guys came out to watch and waited around for this one. It’s just great. Thanks to my crew and sponsors once again.”

Belfiore was pleased with second. “Other than Perley who outclasses us all pretty good right now, we had a good run. We were tenth after the first one. The car was horrible. We made some major changes and I’m actually happy that it’s heading in the right direction. I’d just like to thank D&G Modular Homes and Greg, the tech guy.”

Carpenter stated in victory lane, after his podium finish, “The car was just a little bit two loose. It was really interesting to try and do these Twin 30’s. We have a little bit more work to do, that’s all.”

Scotty Martel, who has taken over the driving chores of the Budnick 88 for an injured Randy Ritskes, commented, “We had a share of problems today but we worked through them. All the guys on the crew worked hard. The Shea Concrete-Budnick 88 had a couple good finishes. Coming out of a top five and heading to Stafford on Tuesday, we’re excited and looking forward to improving on that.”

Completing the top ten were Trytek, Magner, Fornoro, Noffsinger and Ordway.

Summary - Wirtgen-ISMA Events # 5 and 6 - July 8, 2006

Heat 1: Bobby Magner, Mike Lichty, Chris Perley, Justin Belfiore, Nokie Fornoro, Robbie Summers,
Mike Ordway, Bobby Haynes Jr., Eric Torrese

Heat 2: Kyle Carpenter, Dave Trytek, Johnny Payne, Dave McKnight, Danny Shirey, Larry Lehnert, Brandon Bellinger, Ray Graham, Jr., Todd Buchanon

Heat 3: Lou Cicconi, Joe Gosek, Vern Romanoski, Scott Martel, Mark Sammut, John Torrese,
Brad Noffsinger, Mike Badessa, Joe Petro

First Feature - Wheeler Bros. Twin 30s: 1. Chris Perley (11), 2. Bob Magner (40), 3. Lou Cicconi (75),
4. Kyle Carpenter (9), 5. Mike Lichty (84), 6. Dave Trytek (70), 7. Scott Martel (88),
8. Nokie Fornoro (32), 9. Mike Ordway (61), 10. Justin Belfiore (8), 11. Robbie Summers (97),
12. Joe Petro (33), 13. John Payne (67), 14. Brad Noffsinger (74), 15. Mark Sammut (78),
16. John Torrese (91), 17. Larry Lehnert (92), 18. Vern Romanoski (5), 19. Brandon Bellinger (02),
20. Joe Gosek (35), 21. Bobby Haynes Jr (44), 22. Dave McKnight (94), 23. Danny Shirey (V2),
24. Ray Graham Jr. (90)

Second Feature - Wheeler Bros. Twin 30s: 1. Chris Perley (11), 2. Justin Belfiore (8),
3. Kyle Carpenter (9), 4. Lou Cicconi (75), 5. Scott Martel (88), 6. Dave Trytek (70),
7. Bob Magner (40), 8. Nokie Fornoro (32), 9. Brad Noffsinger (74), 10. Mike Ordway (61),
11. Robbie Summers (97), 12. Joe Petro (33), 13. John Torrese (91), 14. Johnny Payne (67),
15. Joe Gosek (35), 16. Mark Sammut (78), 17. Brandon Bellinger (02), 18. Vern Romanoski (5),
19. Larry Lehnert (92), 20. Scott Martel (88), 21. Mike Lichty (84), 22. Mike Badessa (6),
23. Todd Buchanon (49).