Buck Catalano of Ontario, NY made a clean sweep of the initial weekend of the Holland-Spencer Sportsman Modified Series, as he drove to the 40 lap NASCAR Raginwolf.com Pro Modified win at the Holland NASCAR Motorsports Complex on Saturday evening.  Catalano captured the ten race series opener the night before at Spencer Speedway.

In other McKinley Mall opening Saturday night Holland action, Dave Whittaker of Orchard Park, NY notched the win in the 25 lap Late Models of Tomorrow main, defending divisional champ Dave Krawczyk of Kenmore, NY was victorious in the 30 lap Bank of Holland Chargers. feature race, and Jamie Collard of Princeton, ON sped to the win in the 20 lap Casey’s TQ Midget Series.  2009 Hornet title-holder Eric Brown of Holland raced to the 4-cylinder Hornet victory, while Dave Reese, Jr. of Holland took the checkers in the M&M U-Pull-It Figure 8 Car main.

Jimmy Zacahrias launched from his fourth starting spot to grab the lead on the first lap of the NASCAR Ragingwolf.com Pro Modified run.  Zacharias held onto the top slot through the first half of the event, but was dealing with an increasingly loose handling race car.  Chuck Anderson was able to take advantage of this to work by Zacharias for the top slot at the halfway mark, and proceeded to open up a wide lead over the field.  However, on lap 27, Kevin Miller brought out the first caution flag of the race when he coasted to a stop with an overheating problem, and on the ensuing restart, Buck Catalano managed to work around Anderson for the pace-setting spot.  Anderson’s race came to an early end a lap later, when he and Zacharias tangled while racing for second.   

On the following restart, Joe Evans, Mike Fiebelkorn, Jr. , and Amy Catalano were lined-up behind Buck Catalano, but Fiebelkorn’s efforts were momentarily thwarted with a slide through the grass entering turn three two laps later.  Evans was able to get the jump on Catalano on that restart, but Buck was able to re-take the lead a lap later, with sister-in-law Amy powering by Evans on lap 34.  The “family feud” then took place over the remaining laps, with Amy looking for any opening to make a move by Buck - the two banged wheels through turn four on lap 38, with both getting momentarily out of shape, but both recovered to race on.  At the checkers, Buck maintained a car length advantage over Amy, while Fiebelkorn recovered form his slide to place third.  Zacharias worked his way back through the field to claim fourth, just ahead of Evans.

Dave Whittaker led start to finish in the Late Models of Tomorrow main in his VSP Graphics/Mantelli Trailer Sales Ford, but it was not easy, as T.J. Johnson and Eldon King III were putting pressure on Whittaker throughout while engaging each other in a torrid battle for the runner-up slot.  Johnson was able to grab second place for good late in the race, with defending divisional champ King settling for third.

Ted Welshans led the first 23 circuits of the Bank of Holland Charger feature race, but Dave Krawczyk patiently worked his way through the field to take second on lap 20, then chased down Welshans to make the winning pass on the 24th lap.  Krawczyk then motored away in his VSP Graphics/Ohio Technical College Monte Carlo to hold a comfortable lead advantage at the checkers of the caution-free race.   Welshans ended an impressive run with a second place finish, with Jerry Kosmowski surviving a race long battle with Tom Northem to claim third.

Jamie Collard scooted by Wayne Turnbull on the 3rd lap of the Casey’s TQ Midget Series main, with Camden Barber roaring into second a couple of laps later.  Collard and Barber began to outdistance the field having their own race for the lead, but on lap 18, the Barber car was the victim of an apparent stuck throttle, as the car clobbered the turn three rail and rolled over on the rebound.  Barber was uninjured.   Collard was able to pull away from the field over the final pair of laps to complete his winning drive, while behind, Justin Mapes edged Bobby Holmes and Wayne Turnbull in an exciting three-wide dash to the line for second place.

George Quintana looked to have the car to beat in the 4-cylinder Hornet/Queen Bee main, as he opened up a nearly full straightaway lead over his chasers.  However a lap 28 caution proved his undoing, as on the restart, his car balked at getting up to speed, allowing Eric Brown to race on by to snag the top spot.  The race was curtailed after 29 of the 30 scheduled laps when the Bill Lutz machine made heavy contact with the turn one wall - Bill required medical attention, but was alert and talking to safety officials at the scene.   The official finishing order had Waylon Price placing second, with Sylvia Miszczak, the first Queen Bee driver across the line, in third.

Veteran driver Dave Reese, Jr. survived a mid-race skirmish with runner-up Jason Adams to score his first M&M U-Pull-It Figure 8 Car win, ahead of Adams and Joe Merlino at the lap 12 checkers.

News and notes – Qualifying heats set up the feature race starting grid for opening night, prior to the program going to a feature race only format for the balance of the season, with the exception of divisional special events ... opening night bugs for a few of the machines resulted in the safety crew working overtime to keep the racing surface clean and safe for racing ... a great opening night crowd enjoyed a beautiful evening weather-wise for the opener.

On Saturday, June 5th, Car Warz, the first Crash-A-Rama of the season, will be featured at the Holland NASCAR Motorsports Complex, with mechanized mayhem, including the popular School Bus Figure 8 Race, the rule of the day.  Grandstand gates will open at 4:00 pm, with on-track action beginning at 6:30.  The regular NASAR racing divisions will have the night off, returning to action on June 12th.    For more information, contact the Holland office at (716)-537-2272, or visit the web site at www.HollandSpeedway.com .
 

RESULTS SUMMARY – May 29, 2010