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"Firecracker Smacker"
Jentile, Kunkle & Stiles Light Things
Up At The Firecracker Smacker
Story By:Dino Oberto
The ‘Firecracker Smacker’ took place Sunday afternoon at Mahoning Valley Speedway and for the second time in as many events it was Joe Jentile scoring top honors.
Running in the top five over the first half of the 100-lapper, Jentile needed nearly 60-laps before moving out front. Once that occurred, though, he was smooth and steady as he meticulously weaved through traffic and made it look like a textbook run en route to yet another win in NEETS 6/8 Cylinder competition.
Howie Bott raced out to the early lead and was a contender throughout the race. He had given up the lead to Richard Petey who relinquished the top spot to Phil Lamonaco.
Lomonaco, who is a teammate to Jentile, fell from the helm when his counterpart slipped underneath him as the field was completing the 56th tour.
Bott and Lamonaco then battled each other the rest of the way for runner-up honors with Bott earning that position at the checkered flag.
Petey and Tim Pauch rounded out the top-5, both of them two laps down.
For the second time in as many NEETS races a pair of Kunkel’s were also in the Winners Circle with a 1-2 finish in somewhat of a carbon copy of the last race only this time Brian Kunkel beat his dad, Neil Kunkel, which was a reversal of the finish from last month.
Don Rogers notched another solid finish as he took third with Ryan Nelson and Dennis Sizemore completing the front five.
The TRUX race may have been light on racers both there was no shortage of action. Terry Stiles earned a thrilling win as he had a race long battle with Frank Katona and Petey, who was pulling double duty.
Stiles lead virtually the entire race while Katona and Petey repeatedly swapped the runner-up spot, all the while tailgating with the leader. Stiles just barely held on for the exciting win.
Firecracker Smacker |
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| Small Car - 100 Laps | Big Car - 100 Laps | ||
| 1 | #19 - Brian Kunkel | 1 | #41 - Joe Jentile |
| 2 | #91 - Neil Kunkel | 2 | #75 - Howie Bott |
| 3 | #09X - Don Rogers | 3 | #14 - Phil Lomonaco |
| 4 | #131 - Ryan Nelson | 4 | #43 - Richard Petey |
| 5 | #69 - Dennis Sizemore | 5 | #5 - Tim Pauch |
| 6 | # - Scooter Graver | 6 | #20K - Kory Stevens |
| 7 | #27V - Mike Ventura | 7 | #5R11 - TJ Stevens |
| 8 | #78JR - Bob Darde | 8 | #58 - Randy Parsons Jr. |
| 9 | #73 - Dave Bentley | 9 | #1X - Cory Student |
| 10 | # - Jared Ahner | 10 | # - Mark Spencer |
| 11 | # - Kevin Behler | 11 | #48 - Mike Counterman |
| 12 | #6 - John Saccomandi | 12 | # - Paul Mercante |
| 13 | #11 - Jon Smith | 13 | #266 - Bob Kulik |
| 14 | #666 - Dwayne Garrison | 14 | # - Lonnie Behler |
| 15 | #17 - Art Kulik | ||
| 16 | # - Lou Honeywell | TRUX - 50 Laps | |
| 17 | #308 - Ken Harper | 1 | #4 - Terry Stiles |
| 18 | #98 - Larry Spencer | 2 | #27 - Frank Katona |
| 3 | #43 - Richard Petey | ||
| 4 | #17DD - Josh Oswald | ||
| 5 | #4X - Jeff Gregor | ||
| 6 | #57DD - Erin Bartley | ||