FONDA, N.Y. — After four straight days and around five inches of rain falling four straight days last week at the “Track of Champions” Fonda Speedway, a great job by the track crew allowed racing to take place at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds facility on Saturday evening and what a night it was honoring Fonda Speedway legend Dave Lape.
A total of 112 cars filled the pit area for a five division racing program and when the checkered flags flew in each of the five divisions in competition the victors were Ronnie Johnson and Alex Yankowski (Amsterdam Truck Center Twin 22 Modified features in Memory of Dave Lape) Chad Edward (Swagger Factory Apparel Sportsman), Beau Ballard (Leatherstocking Credit Union Pro Stocks), Randy Cosselman (Montgomery County Office for Aging Inc. Limited Sportsman), Jay Ingersoll DOHC and Bruce Liddle SOHC (Fonda Fair Four Cylinders).
The first of two Dave Lape Memorial 22-lap events began with Pep Corradi taking the lead after the green flag was thrown by Fonda Speedway starter Joe Kriss. Ronnie Johnson started behind Corradi in the third position, got by second place starter Danny Varin at the drop of the green, and immediately began pressuring Corradi for the lead.
On lap four, Johnson made a move to the inside of Corradi in turn two to take over the race lead with Varin also getting by Corradi three laps later for the second position. At the halfway point in the event, Johnson held a comfortable advantage over Varin in second with Corradi, 11th place starter Jack Lehner, and fifth place starter Craig Hanson completing the top five.
Lehner moved into the third position on lap 12 with lap traffic coming into play one lap later, allowing Varin to close in quickly on the leader. With two laps to go, Varin was right on Johnson’s rear bumper but couldn’t find a way by Johnson who held on for the win in the Mickle’s Automotive #2RJ, the 33rd of his career at Fonda.
Varin, Lehner, Corradi, and Bobby Hackel IV completed the top five.
In victory lane after the event, Johnson also stated that he had a mechanical issue slowing him down at the end of the event.
“I was just hoping that I could hang on,” Johnson said during victory lane ceremonies which were held after the second feature event. “I had a steering box give way during the last few laps and ended up with oil all over me after it finally gave way in the second event. I tried to hang onto it but just couldn’t and had to drop out of the second race.”
An invert of six set the lineup for the second Dave Lape Memorial 22-lap event with Alex Yankowski on the pole after going from 17th to 6th in the first event. Yankowski took the early lead, and nobody really got close as he led every lap for his first career win in his #84Y.
Behind Yankowski after the drop of the green, Danny Varin started the event in the fifth position and got by Bobby Hackel IV for the second position on lap four.
Two caution flags slowed the event, but nobody had anything for Yankowski who went on to his first career win at Fonda over Varin, Hackel, Jack Lehner, and ninth place starter Anthony Perrego. With the win, Yankowski became the 145th different driver to win a Modified feature at the Fonda Speedway.
“It is such a cool night,” Yankowski said. “Dave Lape was a legend, especially here at Fonda. There were not many like him that were able to get around here that good. This has been a long time coming for ourselves. Corey Wilcox never stopped believing, we just kept digging and got a couple of wins last year at Utica Rome and now to win at Fonda right out of the box is pretty darn cool. Kevin Bates is the crew chief, the brains of the operation, Jeff Murray, I’m really lucky to have such a good group of guys with me.”
