Champions Kapish and
Rispin Take Frostbite Victories
Unseasonably warm temperatures, mixed
with fans and drivers in need of a winter racing fix brought
many folks out to Mountain Speedway in St. Johns, PA for their
annual Mountain Madness Enduro Series winter enduros. In the
show, which is named “Frostbite 6”, the enduro competitors put
on a great show to start the season and when it was all said and
done, two drivers stood tall after claiming championships last
season and then winning their first official events in 2012. TJ
Kapish of Mountaintop claimed the 6/8-cylinder victory and Tony
Rispin took top honors in the 4-cylider division.
Steve Tito started from the pole position to lead the
6/8-cylinder field to the drop of the green flag in the 100-lap
enduro. Tito jumped out to the lead for a moment before Shaun
Burd climbed from the fourth spot to lead the first lap over
Scott Sipe.
Sipe followed the leader and made a bid for the top spot stick
on lap four. Meanwhile, TJ Kapish climbed to third, followed by
Bill Schwenk and Woot Lawrence.
With Sipe well in command of the race on lap 30, Kapish and
Schwenck fought for the second spot. Kapish finally held the
position before Sipe’s hopes of victory went up in smoke when
his engine expired on lap 43. The turn of events gave the lead
to Kapish.
Kapish led at halfway with Schwenck, Burd, Scott Riggleman and
Mike Parisi in tow and the leader began to open up a gap on the
rest of the field. However, Schwenck turned it up a notch in the
last quarter of the event and began to reel in the leader.
Despite Schwenck’s efforts in the closing laps, Kapish, who is
vying for his third straight championship, took the victory.
Schwenck, Riggleman, Ed Brown, Jr. and Lawrence completed the
top five.
From the pole position, Tony Rispin led a hungry field of
4-cylinder racers to the drop of the green flag in the 100-lap
enduro. He led the opening lap over Cody Roth, Scott Adams,
Keith Frankenfield and Sam Ryan before the first red flag of the
event came out when Scott Dunn got turned head on into the front
stretch wall. With nowhere to go, Mike Harding piled into the
mix and the rest of the field took evasive action.
Green flag racing resumed and Mike Ventura grabbed the race
lead. He held the point for a few laps before Rispin retook the
lead.
With Rispin sill in command, the second red flag waved when
Chris Burge, Jr. got turned around and faced oncoming traffic in
turn two.
The green waved again and Adams climbed into second and worked
on the leader. A third red flag waved on lap 17 and when the
race restarted, Adams was scored as the leader. He continued to
lead over Rispin, Frankenfield, Ventura and Larry Fisher with 22
laps complete.
After running in second for a while, Rispin shot by Adams on lap
24 to regain the lead. He continued out front at the halfway
mark over Adams, Fisher, Frankenfield and Ventura.
Rispin was untouchable in the second half of the event and
opened up a sizable lead. Meanwhile, Fisher caught Adams and the
pair battled for second.
With seven laps remaining and with Rispin still in command,
Fisher finally got by Adams and moved to second, but out front
it was all Rispin, who took the checkers.
Fisher settled for second, followed by Adams, Mike Wahl and Sam
Ryan.
Mountain Speedway is just minutes from
Hazleton, PA, located on St. John’s Road, between Routes 93 and
309. Grandstand admission for all regular events is just $12 for
ages 11 and older. Children 10 years of age and younger are
admitted for free.
Please like Mountain Speedway on
Facebook or visit www.mountainspeedway.com for the entire 2012
schedule (available on the evening of January 8), point
standings and up to date news and information.
4-Cyllinder (100-laps) 1. TONY RISPIN 2.
Larry Fisher 3. Scott Adams 4. Michael Wahl 5. Sam Ryan 6. Bob
Hager 7. Samantha Bruntrager 8. Chip Wanamaker 9. Cody Roth 10.
Eric Banashefski 11. Brandon Oltra 12. Mike Ventura 13. Keith
Frankenfield 14. Kenny Brown 15. Art Kulik 16. Peter Verwys
17.Devon Nethercott 18. John Hoffman 19. Bill Price 20. Jimmy
Zacharias 21. Vance Williams 22.Ken Harper 23. Larry Spencer III
24. Chris Burge Jr. 25. Robert Fink 26. Mike Harding 27. Scott
Dunn DNS: Robby Dunn DQ: Doug Johnson
6/8-Cylinder (100-laps) 1. TJ KAPISH 2.
Bill Schwenck 3. Scott Riggleman 4. Ed Brown Jr 5. Woot Lawrence
6. Steve Tito 7. Tom Szoke 8. Mike Parisi 9. Shane Bond 10. Lee
Allen 11. Tim Mulqueen 12. Frank Katona 13. Cyrus Spencer 14.
David Baker 15. Shaun Burd 16. Joe Warren 17.Charles Sukowski
18. Scott Sipe 19. Animal 20. Andrew Fowler 21. Mark Spencer
Source:
Geno Ostrowski/Mountain Speedway PR
Posted: January 14, 2012
