Jimmy White Jr. Wins Mountain Speedway’s Frostbite Event

Perfect winter conditions set the stage on Saturday for Mountain Speedway’s 7th Annual “Frostbite” enduros. With snow and ice on the speedway for the start of the show, the racing was destined to be exciting. Drivers didn’t leave the fans disappointed, as the on track action was intense. When it was all said and done, Paul Hartwig, Jr. of New Jersey took his first ever 6/8-Cylinder enduro win at the track and Jimmy White, Jr. of Long Island captured the 4-Cylinder victory. A pair of “Reverse Redneck” enduros were also held. The drivers started from a dead stop and circled the speedway for 10-lap, with their vehicles in reverse. Bob Wink of Palm, PA was the 6/8-Cylinder winner and Tony Hilliard of Hazleton took top honors in the 4-Cylinder class.

Lee Allen started from the pole position and led the first circuit of the 100-lap 6/8-cylinder enduro. James Presley powered to the lead with one lap complete. With 20 laps in the books, Presley continued to set the pace over Allen, Scott Sipe, Paul Hartwig, Jr. and Matt Guadagno.

Allen stalked the leader and made a bid for the lead on lap 45. The pass stuck and Presley tucked back into second. Allen spun in turn one on lap 53 and Presley regained the top spot, but Allen moved back to the point one lap later.

Hartwig had his turn at the helm when he took the lead on lap 68. Ten laps later he slid up the slushy track in turn one and Allen regained the top spot.

Several cars collected in turn three on lap 85 and Allen, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, rear-ended Steve Tito. After such a terrific run, Allen was forced to retire from the event.

The red flag waved on lap 87 when Sipe’s stalled vehicle was pounded from behind in turns three and four. Luckily, Sipe was not injured, but his car did sustain heavy damage.

Hartwig led the final laps to score his first Mountain Speedway victory. He dedicated the win to his uncle, who had recently passed away. Presley settled for second, followed by TJ Kapish, Scott Riggleman and Tito.

Ray Massey led the 4-Cylinder enduro drivers to the drop of the green flag but Larry Spencer III led the first circuit in the 100-lap show. Hartwig quickly climbed to second and then overtook Spencer for the lead on lap two.

Scott Adams joined the mix and took the race lead on lap seven, but Hartwig battled back and retook the lead. Adams however did not quit and moved back to the front on lap 8. With 10 laps complete he led over Hartwig, Jimmy White, Jr., Bill Verwys, Jr. and Harry O’Neill.

Brandon Oltra got stuck in the snow in turn two and Adams was collected. The lap 11 incident handed the lead back to Hartwig. With Adams stuck in the snow, his saving grace was Spencer, who drove up behind him and pushed him back onto the track.

White moved to second and then battled Hartwig for the lead. The pair swapped the lead on lap 22 and then White assumed the lead on lap 27 when Hartwig spun in turn one.

The event was filled with red flags, many of which were for cars littering the track in snow covered turns one and two. That however, didn’t affect White, who was flawless throughout the event and went on to score the victory over Spencer, James Neiman, Phil Levering and Art Kulik.

A pair of “Reverse Redneck” enduros were also held. The drivers began from a dead stop and competed for the $200 prize with their vehicles in reverse. Bob Wink dominated the 6/8-Cylinder show to take the top prize and Tony Hilliard reeled in Scott Adams in the latter stages of the 4-Cylinder event to take the victory. Wink’s top lap speed in reverse was just over 36 MPH.

6/8-Cylinder (100-laps) 1. PAUL HARTWIG, JR. 2. James Presley 3. TJ Kapish 4. Scott Riggleman 5. Steve Tito 6. Bob Wink 7. Tom Szoke 8. Matt Guadagno 9. Mike Parisi 10. Mark Spencer 11. Josh Matthews 12. Animal 13. Lee Allen 14. Scott Sipe 15. Joe Stutazman 16. Paul Harding 17.Bill Schwenck

4-Cylinder (100-laps) 1. JIMMY WHITE, JR. Larry Spencer III 3. James Neiman 4. Phil Levering 5. Art Kulik 6. Kevin Crawn 7. Mike Harding 8. James Reilly 9. Andrew Krause 10. Scott Adams 11. Orestis Kotzias 12. Tom Daniels 13. Frank Katona 14. Tony Rispin 15. Paul Hartwig 16. Ray Massey 17.Harry O’Neill 18. TJ Zacharias 19. Joe Russell 20. Bill Verwys 21. Brandon Oltra 22.Ken Harper 23. Chris Jury

Reverse 6/8-Cylinder (10-laps) 1. BOB WINK 2. TJ Kapish 3. Steve Tito 4. Scott Sipe

Reverse 4-Cylinder (10-laps) 1. TONY HILLIARD 2. Phil Levering 3. Scott Adams 4. Harry O’Neill 5. Art Kulik 6. Jim White 7. Orestis Kotzias

Source: Geno Ostrowski/Mountain Speedway PR