MIGNOGNA TIGHTENS GRIP ON TRACK CHAMPIONSHIP

by Jeremy Yoder
JENNERSTOWN, PA(Aug. 23)  For the second week in a row Meyersdale native Mark Smith took the checkered flag in the super late model division. Smith led the 75-lap invitational from start to finish, running away with the feature. While Smith dominated, the battle for second through seventh was fierce. The battle for second climaxed on the last lap when track points leader Jason Mignogna held off a hard-charging Barry Awtey and a late-charging Rick Miller for second place. Awtey and Miller were extremely close for third with Miller taking the position by a nose. Rick Boyer was following close behind to finish fifth.

“It was good. Wherever you wanted to put the car, if lap traffic went high, you could go low,” Smith said from victory lane. “We had a lead and I started taking it easy and I think it picked up a little bit.”

Mignogna now holds an eight point lead over Awtey in the super late model points. Next weekend will be the final super late model race of the season where a champion will be crowned.

Andrew Kostelnik of North Braddock jumped from fourth to second in the points standings by winning his second feature of the season in the street stock division. Bryan Awtey started in 10^th position and charged through the field to nab a second place finish. Current points leader Jim Bodziak held off Adam Kostelnik for third while Bobby Young finished fifth. Lauren Butler and Thomas Knight Sr. saw their championship dreams dashed when they were involved in an early, lap two caution. Butler went on to finish 11^th while Knight Sr. finished eighth.

Bodziak leads the street stock division points by a slim two over Andrew Kostelnik with only one more weekend of racing left.

Larry Dunmyer of Elton won his second feature of the season in a wild hobby stock race. Dunmyer jumped out to a large lead early only to see it dissipate with a caution on lap 11. Current points leader Eugene Zerfoss made his move on the restart and took the lead from Dunmyer by lap 14. Zerfoss got into turn three a little too hard on the very next lap and saw his lead lost back to Dunmyer who would not relinquish the position the rest of the way to the checkered flag. Zerfoss came away with a third place finish. Finishing second was Steve Long with David Kumpfmiller and Matt Sever rounding out the top five.

Zerfoss holds a two point lead over Long for the track championship heading into the last weekend of action.

The mini-cup series ran a 15-lap feature that saw Matt Custer claim his third victory of the season. Custer started the feature on the pole and never looked back leading every lap in dominating fashion. Ken Stabley brought home a second place finish with Chris Chilson finishing third, Nicole LaPorta taking fourth and Heath Hendershot completing the top five.

Regular season racing action continues next weekend with championship weekend where the track champions will be crowned. The evening will also feature a mini-cup race and will be highlighted by an on-track autograph session for the fans. Gates open at 5:30 p.m. with racing action at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults 16 and over, $5 for youth ages 12 -15 and free for children under 11. Visit www.jennerstown.com for more information.