Mansfield
Motorsports Park - Sunday, August 10, 2008 |
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The top
three at Mansfield after Sunday’s ISMA 75, from left,
Charlie Schultz,
Chris Perley and Mark Sammut. Camryn Sammut
holds the Twin State
Auto Racing Club winner’s plaque for Perley. |
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Jim Feeney Photos |
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CHRIS PERLEY
TAKES ISMA 75
AT MANSFIELD ON SUNDAY AFTER
RAIN STOPS SATURDAY NIGHT'S RACING |
Mansfield, OH – It took
two days to get in the ISMA 75 lapper at Mansfield
Motorsports Park as torrential downpours stopped the
Saturday night racing after the qualifying heats were in. It
gave the 25 drivers on hand an extra day to try and figure
out how to stop Chris Perley's domination of the division.
Two drivers came very close to succeeding, but fell short of
their goal. Canadian Mike Lichty had a strong lead going
with 17 laps remaining until a hub broke on the PATCO 84. It
was the third such breakage this season for that team. Then
Dave Shullick Jr. retook the top spot only to have the rear
mount break on the 61 car just 3 laps shy of what would have
been an all out drag race with Perley. This left the Rowley
Rocket alone out front at the checkers. Even he wished the
ending had been different.
"I think Lichty had it in the bag. He just drove away from
us and I couldn't do anything. And, then Shullick and I had
a great battle. I had a lot of fun with him, but it's kind
of anticlimactic now that he broke with three to go. We were
duking it out and having a ball. I wish we could have put on
that ending because I think we would have been side by side
coming across the finish line! We just persevered today. I
don't think we had a winning car. We just outlasted everyone
I guess.
"Dave (Shullick) looked solid. I could gain on him a little
in three and four, coming off of two he just pulled me. We
were see-sawing back and forth. On that last restart I was
going to make a bonsai move on the outside. I don't know if
it would have happened but all of a sudden he broke. I think
he might have broken the half shaft again. It's too bad, I
would have liked to have had that finish for you fans. It
would have been a lot of fun.
The win gave Chris his fourth this season and his fifth at
Mansfield in the nine ISMA events held to date. "This track
is really a blast. There's enough room out there to play.
You see everybody using different lines. I think that makes
the racing exciting because you don't know where anybody's
going to go. I have such an awesome crew, awesome motors and
some great sponsors backing me up. We just keep on coming
out and having fun!"
Second place runner Mark Sammut had his own battle going
with "Chargin'' Charlie Schultz at the end. Said the
Canadian driver at the podium, "There were definitely a few
cars that were faster than we were. But, we managed to stay
out of trouble and the car was running good. We just plodded
along and ended up second. We'll take that any day in this
class. I was worried about Charlie late in the race. We got
in lap traffic and he got by me at one point. I was
fortunate that the yellow came out and I got back in front
of him. I knew he was there. I was lucky to stay in front.
He ran great and we were happy to stay in front of him. We
definitely appreciate the fans for coming back today to
watch after last night's bad weather, If it weren't for
Currie Steel, Wells Foundry and Mobile Striping and Sweeping
we wouldn't be here. I have to thank those guys!"
Schultz, in turn, had himself a great run despite an early
race setback. "I was working my way up at the beginning of
the race and got to the outside of the 97 and Chris got to
the inside. I didn't get there as soon as Chris and the 97
moved up and I was about a foot off the concrete wall. I was
chasing it all over the place and four guys went by. I said
man, it's going to be a long race! We had a pretty good car
the whole run. The tires were pretty good. Actually the
longer the race went, the better we got. Restarts helped a
lot. The last one with three to go, I got around Mark but
was called back. I have to thank the team for putting
together an awesome race car week in and week out."
Dave Shullick Jr. and Sammut held the front row after
qualifying and it was the silver 61 out front at the green.
Shullick took off with Sammut in tow while the race sorted
out. On lap 6 a quick yellow pulled the field together when
Dave Mumaw spun.
Back underway the racing resumed at a furious pace with
Shullick out front and a long line of contenders vying for
position behind. Another yellow slowed the pace on lap 13
when the 44 of Bobby Haynes Jr. slowed and stopped on the
track.
Shullick took off again only to slow again on lap 17 when
the 64 of Jim Paller bobbled his 64 and recovered to head
for the back of the field.
By lap 20, Shullick was several car lengths ahead of 3
Canadians – Sammut, Lichty and McKnight with Perley right
behind in fifth. Moving up was Schultz as he challenged
sixth place runner Moe Lilje while Jeff Holbrook, Randy
Burch, Russ Wood, Tim Ice and Vern Romanoski pursued.
On lap 28 the action came to a halt when Holbrook's right
front tire went down suddenly and he needed to be hooked.
Brandon Bellinger and Robbie Summers used the yellow for a
pit stop or two. Holbrook's team got him back in action but
at a price. The 35 arrived a little late on the track and
ended up right in front of the leaders. This set up a battle
between Mike Lichty, who had moved into second and leader
Shullick as both tried to battle around Holbrook.
Shullick held his ground while Lichty moved backwards a bit
with Perley now in third ahead of Sammut, McKnight, Schultz
and Russ Wood. The traffic was becoming thick and Lichty
used it wisely, moving by Shullick on lap 43 for the lead.
It was Lichty now repelling Shullick's advances and Holbrook
provided a block to Perley, Sammut, Schultz, McKnight and
Wood.
Lichty was able to hold off Shullick as the lead duo sliced
through traffic. Perley also used traffic to pull up on
Shullick's tail while Lichty broke into clean air and was
moving away. On lap 58, the 84 met its demise once again as
his tire came off in between three and four, bouncing into
turn one before stopping.
After the 84 was flatbedded off the track and refueling was
allowed in the interim, the Shoe II and Perley show began in
earnest. The intensity of the battle mounted as each lap
ticked away. On lap 72 Perley pulled to the outside of the
61 and the pair almost touched. Perley took the lead but
suddenly the yellow flew as the 5 of Vern Romanoski brushed
the wall and collected Jon Henes and Tim Ice in the mishap.
Vern and Henes required hooks. Ice restarted at the tail.
Shullick was still the leader as the green dropped and
Perley was about to mount a charge around again. The 11
charged past the 61 passed the finish line but suddenly a
part flew off the 61 and Dave took the car down low and into
the outer pit road. The North Ridgeville driver once again
could not complete his mission and Perley, once again, was
left to take the win without a strong challenge. Mark Sammut
dueled Schultz to the finish while Russ Wood and Dave
McKnight finished up the top five. The latter two were not
all that excited with their performances but were happy to
finish where they did.
Wood, who is just getting back into the racing fray, but
already sits second in ISMA points, said, "We finished
fourth, I had nothing for Chris. We were overheating and I
was a little tight. We did what we could. I'll take the
fourth and go on to Lee with the car in one piece."
Said fifth place runner McKnight, "It was an okay run. We
definitely didn't' have the car to win today. Hey, we'll
salvage this top five and go on to Lee. I was hoping Mike
could have pulled it off. But what are you going to do? It's
going to be a busy week."
Randy Burch, Mike Ordway Jr., Bobby Bond, Moe Lilje and
Brandon Bellinger rounded out the top ten.
Summary
Heat 1: Dave Shullick Jr.,
Randy Burch, Jeff Holbrook, Vern Romanoski, Charlie Schultz,
Dave Trytek, Bobby Bond, Justin Belfiore, Rob Stasick
Heat 2: Chris Perley, Russ
Wood, Moe Lilje, Mike Lichty, Jon Henes, Brandon Bellinger,
Larry Lehnert, Dave Mumaw
Heat 3: Dave McKnight, Mark
Sammut, Tim Ice, Robbie Summers, Mike Ordway Jr., Jack
Smith, Jim Paller, Bobby Haynes Jr.
Note: Rich Reid replaces
Lehnert on Sunday in 92
ISMA
75 at Mansfield Motorsport Park on August 10th:
1. Chris Perley (11), 2. Mark Sammut (78), 3. Charlie
Schultz (7),
4. Russ Wood (29), 5. Dave McKnight Jr. (94), 6. Randy Burch
(3),
7. Mike Ordway Jr. (41), 8. Bobby Bond (25), 9. Moe Lilje
(19),
10. Brandon Bellinger (02), 11. Tim Ice (77), 12. Jeff
Holbrook (35),
13. Dave Shullick Jr. (61), 14. Vern Romanoski (5), 15. Jon
Henes (36),
16. Rich Reid (92), 17. Mike Lichty (84), 18. Dave Trytek
(70),
19. Justin Belfiore (88), 20. Rob Stasick (22), 21. Robbie
Summers (97),
22. Jim Paller (64), 23. Bobby Haynes, Jr (44), 24. Jack
Smith (09),
25. Dave Mumaw (14) |
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