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08/24/2014 |
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JARVIS RALLIES FROM BEHIND
TO SCORE "VICTOR JOHNSON MEMORIAL 100" WIN
IN FRONT OF HOME TOWN CROWD
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Jarvis Captures
Win The Old-Fashion Way
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by
Denise DuPont
/ Polly Reid
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 Valenti
Modified Racing Series (VMRS) Announcer, John Spence, Sr., called it a
typical Dwight Jarvis performance at Monadnock Speedway but as Jarvis
explained, it was anything but typical for the Ascutney, VT driver. Taking
the green flag in twenty-second place, Jarvis overcame a battery problem,
radio issues, miraculously avoided a host of melee’s including one that
ended the night for point leader Justin Bonsignore and a blanket of fog that
Mother Nature threw in for good measure to score one of the most popular
VMRS wins of the season.
With about five to go, Jarvis closed in, dove low in turn three passing
Rowan Pennink for the lead taking it home to cross the line with a 1.26
margin of victory claiming the Valenti Modified Racing Series ”Victor
Johnson Memorial 100” race.
Pennink settled for second with Woody Pitkat third, Max Zachem fourth and
Chris Pasteryak fifth.
The #28 Modified Racing, Inc modified of Dwight Jarvis started the 100 lap
feature event towards the back of the pack after a bad qualifying session.
He then was plagued with a series of issues that certainly made his night
exciting.
 “We
did not start out very good. The battery was dead and I had to get the car
push started. The radios did not work right from lap 1. Once and a while I
could hear Mike and I could tell that he was still piloting me from the pit
area but there was no communication." Jarvis stated with that huge legendary
smile on his face. “I knew it was getting close to the end of the race. I
did not know how many laps were left in the race. I said --”It is now or
never”. So I put it (the car) down and moved forward. “
Jarvis used his instincts and raced “The Mad Dog” as he had many times in
his career– radio free. He knew about when he needed to advance and held off
until the time was right. His experience gave him one more win in front of
his home track fans. “This is awesome, I love winning this race, of course
you all know I love this track,” said Jarvis. “I don’t know how many more
times I’ll be going around it but we enjoyed it tonight.”
It is the eighth VMRS win for Jarvis who has been racing for 41 years.
“Victor was a nice guy, a good competitor, I want to thank Swanzey Oil and
the Patnode’s for sponsoring this race and a special thanks to Mike behind
the car who sets it up for me.”
Rowan Pennink from Huntingdon Valley, PA., on the other hand had lady luck
on his side from the beginning of the night. He won his heat race, pulled to
start the race on the outside pole and went into the final ten laps in the
lead position. “I was riding the first part of the race just letting Kirk
(Alexander) go”. On lap 70, Pennink decided it was time to make the move for
the lead. Jarvis running strong in third tagged along for the ride and took
over second. “I decided it was time to go and go a good run on him and made
a pass on him. But I could not hold Dwight off at the end. “
But the #25 Gary Casella Roscoe Racing modified missed the mark on the
setup. “I knew the Dwight had a good car. I had the lead but I knew that we
did not have the strongest car. I was a little bit free starting about
half-way into the race. I knew then that was a little bit early for it to
start freeing up and I knew that we would be paying for it at the end. It
went away on me in the end and I got a little bit free and Dwight was able
to get by me. But we were able to hold onto second.”
 When
fog started to roll onto the track about lap 80, it did not impact the race
but Pennink wished it forced the race to be called. “I would have liked to
have seen the race called with twenty to go. But you could see fine out
there. It did not affect anything.”
Scoring a season high best finish for the Pete Kulesa modified, Woody Pitkat
remained consistent throughout the night holding off a strong run by Max
Zachem in the closing circuits to claim third.
“This is a much better finish than we had at Waterford, we had a real good
car there and obviously it put us a little bit behind to have to fix it-
taking last week off to come here and be the best that we could,” said the
Stafford, CT driver. “We started off a little bit tight thinking it would
come around and it just never did. Hats off to my guys, I’m just lucky to
hold the wheel, I can’t thank these guys enough, Pete and everyone for
giving me the opportunity to do it. We’ll keep working on it, gel with the
team, get some confidence going, keep running good and we’ll figure it out.”
Max Zachem continues to quietly make some noise with another solid run, the
Preston CT driver was there at the end to seriously challenge Pitkat for the
final podium spot. “I was a little protective at the end,” admitted Pitkat.
“I don’t like racing like that, Max is a great guy, I knew he would race me
hard but not spin me out. I feel like I kind of struggled in three and four,
I tried a couple of things, I just haven’t figured it out. I think Max had a
better car than I did, but he’s a real good clean driver, I have all the
respect in the world for him. I took a chance to get a better finish and he
ran me pretty clean- obviously I owe him that if it’s ever the other way
around.”
Zachem had one of his best VMRS runs at Monadnock Speedway even though he
was feeling under the weather with Head Foot Mouth (HFM virus) that he
contracted while down at Bristol Speedway. He started the race fifth and
managed to stay within the top ten finishing the race with a very solid
fourth place finish. ”We had a really good car. We started off a little too
tight in the beginning. We were on the bottom so I let most of the good cars
go and I was satisfied being in the top ten. We rode there until a couple of
guys fell off through attrition with the wreck on the back stretch. Then we
picked a few cars off one by one until I go there. I kind of got run all
over the place for the last 20 laps. But we will take it the Dunleavy Truck
and Trailer Repair, Lu-Mac’s Package Store car was really fast and I am
really proud of it now on to Stafford.”
VMRS teams will return to racing on Friday August 29lth for 100 laps of
green racing at Stafford Motor Speedway’s Fifth Annual VMRS 80.
If you cannot join us at the track, please join us follow the action on
http://www.thechromehorn.com. |
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Source: Denise DuPont/Polly Reid / TheChromeHorn.com
Posted: August
24, 2014 |
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