Eriez Speedway
July 8, 2012
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MATT LATTA HOLDS OFF BLAIR AT ERIEZ FOR $2,000 TO END SPEEDWEEK WITH HIS 1ST CAREER FASTRAK NE L.M. TOUR WIN; BLAIR EDGES OUT THOMAS FOR 2nd STRAIGHT SPEEDWEEK TITLE

by Mike Leone
ERIE, PA (July 8) - The Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC Pace Performance FASTRAK Northeast Late Model Touring Series returned to Eriez Speedway on Sunday for the season’s second appearance and race #13 of 25 on the 2012 slate. It was the fifth and final leg of the second annual five-night Original Pizza Logs “Cross the Borders” Speedweek that saw 89 different teams participate! Three of the five tracks, Expo, McKean and Eriez, all set record FASTRAK car counts for their respective speedways!

Matt Latta drove the race of his life holding off Eriez dominator Max Blair to capture a popular 30-lap $2,000 victory in front of the large crowd to become the fourth different winner in five nights as another successful Speedweek came to a close. Latta joined Will Thomas III and Chad Ruhlman as drivers that captured their first career FASTRAK Touring wins during Speedweek. Meanwhile, Blair outgained Thomas by a mere three points to win the $1,000 Speedweek crowd for the second consecutive year!

Former go-kart racer Matt Latta is in just his second year of auto racing, but over the past two seasons you would have never know it as he’s knocked on the door for victory several times before capturing his first career win in Weekly Series action at Sharon Speedway on June 16. Latta learned the trade being a crewman on the Scott Bidwell-owned #B1D E-Mods and FASTRAK Late Models as a kid before making the move to racing on his own last season with his brother Tim. For 2012, the Latta brothers teamed with Bidwell for a two-car effort and have quickly become one of the region’s top teams.

“This is awesome,” expressed the 20-year-old Conneaut Lake, Pa. driver. “I can’t thank my family and Scott Bidwell’s family enough for this. They’ve given me a lot of opportunities the past two years. I shouldn’t even have been on the track last year, but all of my sponsors came through for me. We ran decent last year and started picking up top fives at the end of the year. This year we’ve been up there every week thanks to my brother, Nick, Chad, dad, Candy- everybody that helps on this car.”

“This is probably eleven and a half years since I started with Scott (Bidwell),” explained Latta. “We had a little split up for two years. I went out west for a summer and crewed on Darrell Lanigan’s cars and helped Todd Roncaglione on his E-Mod. Then a year and a half ago, Scott was switching from John Volpe and asked me to come back. We’ve been plugging away ever since.”

On Sunday, Latta made a great move in the K&N Dash going from fourth to second on the final lap to earn the outside pole starting spot. That move was a big one as Latta rode the cushion into the lead on the opening lap around Mike Pegher, Jr. Latta though would slip high on lap two allowing Pegher to overtake the lead.

An invert eight from the heat races forced Blair to start eighth, but he was already into the top five after two laps. Blair then drove around Bruce Hordusky, Jr. in turn two for fourth on lap four. A trio of cautions slowed action with four laps completed for minor spins. Those cautions would be the final ones of the night as the last 26 laps went green-to-checkered!

When racing resumed, Chad Wright moved into the top five dropping Hordusky back a spot. Blair was applying pressure on Dixon before finally getting by in turn two for third on lap nine. Blair was pacing himself as Pegher caught lapped traffic on lap 13. At this point, Pegher had a few car lengths advantage on Latta. Battles were going on all around the racey track that featured multiple grooves of racing.

On lap 16, Latta closed the gap and was right on Pegher. Two laps later, Latta got under the defending $30,000 FASTRAK Grand National Champion in turn two and out-dragged him down the backstretch for what would turn out to be the winning move. On lap 20, Blair caught up to Pegher and Latta making it a three-car race for the lead. Then on lap 22, Blair got under Pegher and made the pass stick for second.

The leaders encountered heavy traffic with five laps to go, which one would figure would play into the hands of the veterans Blair, Pegher, and Dixon, who were chasing down the second year racer. Latta though did a masterful job maneuvering in and out of traffic never missing a beat as Blair was never able to mount a serious challenge for the lead.

Latta crossed the finish line first to become the Series’ 33rd different winner in 86 races run all-time in the Scott Bidwell/Latta Brothers Racing, Ball & Auto Scrap/Fame RV Center/Maloney Tool & Mold/Springs Body Shop Supplies/Saegertown Hardware/Building Innovations/Dr. Lisa Phelps/BRA-VOR Tool & Die/Crawford Custom Consulting/Fatboy’s Saloon-sponsored #B1D/21. It was the second straight night Latta earned the Genesis Shocks “Top Dog of the Night” award for being the highest finishing car on Genesis Shocks. Genesis’ Mike Farr was on hand.

“I knew Max (Blair) was behind me on that last restart,” described Latta. “I was hoping we’d stay green and catch lapped traffic and give Pegher something. He was following someone too long and I finally decided I better try and make the move and it paid off.”

Blair earned $1,000 for runner-up in addition to the Original Pizza Logs Speedweek $1,000 prize and championship trophy. “We really wanted to win this race,” stated Blair. “Eriez is my home track and I love racing here. Congratulations to Matt- that’s really awesome he got his first Touring win. I wish I could have won it, but this is a pretty good consolation prize. I thought I had something for him. I caught up to him, but he cleared traffic and I got stuck behind a couple cars racing. By the time I cleared them, he was gone. I don’t know if I could have got him anyways, he was really good.”

Dixon was able to get by Pegher on lap 27 to finish a season best third. “Lapped traffic held him (Pegher) up a little,” explained the Smethport, Pa. resident. “Traffic really made it interesting there with five or six laps to go. You had to take it easy and couldn’t really go anywhere. The track was pretty racey. For the way we’ve been running, third place is a win for us tonight. We’ve been struggling lately, but I think we’re coming back around.”

Pegher’s fourth was the fifth time in the past seven Tour races that he’s finished in the top four to maintain second in points. Wright finished fifth for the amazing fourth straight night as only a 23rd place finish on Wednesday at Expo forced him from challenging for the Speedweek title. Those four finishes also propelled him from 16th in points to ninth heading into Saturday at Mercer Raceway Park!

One night after capturing his first career Northeast Tour win, Chad Ruhlman battled from 15th to finish sixth. Making just his third career our start (all at Eriez), Bruce Hordusky, Jr. was a career best seventh over Ryan Montgomery.

After finishing last in his heat race, Thomas salvaged his night with a ninth place finish to earn his season’s first Precise Racing Products “Pedal Down” $100 Hard Charger gift card. It was a great Speedweek for Thomas, who came up just three points shy to Blair to finish in the $500 runner-up in points. Thomas had all top nine finishes despite never racing at Expo or McKean before and had only a handful of starts at Raceway 7, Pittsburgh, and Eriez combined.

Dennis Lunger, Jr. rounded out the top 10 finishers. For the second year in a row, Dan Angelicchio went into the last night with a shot at the Speedweek crowd, but a disappointing 12th ended his shot at the title. Angelicchio was still able to finish third in the overall points after getting second last year. Angelicchio also received the free Utsinger’s Towing free Hoosier Tire for being the last car on the lead lap at the finish.

For the second time during Speedweek and third time this season, Andrew Wylie was selected as The Brake Man’s “Tough Brake of the Night”. Wylie was running in the top five again before getting caught up in an accident that was no fault of his own.

Blair and John Over captured the heat race wins, while Pegher won his second K&N “Cold Air Induction” Dash of the season and moved into second in the K&N Dash Championship points just one behind Joe Martin. Pegher received a $100 K&N certificate with the $50 certificate going to Latta. Dixon and Hordusky received $25 cash for finishing third and fourth.

Sweeney Chevrolet Buick GMC Pace Performance FASTRAK Northeast Late Model Touring Series Race #13 (30 laps, $2,000 to-win): 1. MATT LATTA (Bidwell B1D) 2. Max Blair (111) 3. Steve Dixon (50) 4. Mike Pegher, Jr. (Geisler 1c) 5. Chad Wright (6) 6. Chad Ruhlman (Suppa 4s) 7. Bruce Hordusky, Jr. (3) 8. Ryan Montgomery (12) 9. Will Thomas III (9) 10. Dennis Lunger, Jr. (Schwartz 71L) 11. John Over (K2) 12. Dan Angelicchio (14) 13. Shane Weaver (Ruffner 325x) 14. Josh Double (38) 15. Brad Kling (Powell 100) 16. Jason Genco (29J) 17. Bobby Rohrer (11) 18. W.L. Stile (2$) 19. Andrew Wylie (84) 20. Ryan Scott (0) 21. Lauren Longbrake (27)-DNS 22. Khole Wanzer (01W)-DSQ (RM bolts).

Heat Winners: Blair & Over
K&N Cold Air Induction Dash: 1. Mike Pegher, Jr. 2. Matt Latta 3. Steve Dixon 4. Bruce Hordusky, Jr.

Feature Lap Leaders: Latta (1), Pegher (2-17), Latta (18-30)
Car Count: 22

Genesis Shocks “Top Dog of the Night”: Matt Latta
Precise Racing Products “Pedal Down” Hard Charger: Will Thomas
Utsinger’s Towing Hoosier Tire Giveaway: Dan Angelicchio
Brake Man “Tough Brake of the Night”: Andrew Wylie

Unofficial 2012 FASTRAK Northeast Touring Series
Original Pizza Logs "Cross the Borders" Speedweek Points

Pos # Driver POINTS
1 111 Max Blair 155
2 9 Will Thomas III 152
3 14A Dan Angelicchio 145
4 1c Mike Pegher, Jr. 142
5 4s Chad Ruhlman 138
B1D Matt Latta 138
7 6 Chad Wright 137
8 12 Ryan Montgomery 133
9 K2 John Over 110
10 325X Shane Weaver 94
11 27 Butch Lambert 93
12 27L Lauren Longbrake 86
13 25 Matt Long 85
14 50 Steve Dixon 71
15 135 Jamie Brown 67
16 27W Eric Wilson 65
17 100 Brad Kling 64
18 2$ W.L. Stile 63
19 c1/1L Kyle Lukon 60
20 00 Josh Holtgraver 53
21 55 Joe Martin 50
11R Bobby Rohrer 50
23 71L Dennis Lunger, Jr. 48
24 7 John Lacki 43
38 Josh Double 43
26 84 Andrew Wylie 42
27 75 Colton Flinner 40
28 68B Shane Bambarger 38
29 15M Mark Moats, Jr. 34
30 D2 Nolan Dalton 33
31 59 Bill Cunningham 30
14R Clay Ruffo 30
29J Jason Genco 30
34 z17 Kyle Zimmerman 29
3 Bruce Hordusky, Jr. 29
36 9R Michael Reft 28
37 75C Matt Cobb 27
00P Junior Peters 27
39 01 Doug Ricotta 24
40 2M Chuck Medved 22
41 8c Dusty Curry 21
42 98C Tom Copeland 20
43 22D Charles Daugherty 19
44c Billy Cunningham 19
45 6P Bobby Pifer 18
1Fr Nico Dabecco 18
47 17 Damian Bidwell 17
99G Beau Glemba 17
49 94 Bryce Davis 16
0 Ryan Scott 16
51 8s Tommy Schirnhofer, Jr. 15
52 126 Bryan Salisbury 14
B4 Steve Beatty 14
54 16F Jim Frank 13
13 Billy Henry, Jr. 13
56 75S Scott Schempp 12
57 21KRT Rocky Kugel 11
84L Laura Lukon 11
59 23D Bob Diver 10
32B Robby Barris 10
20 Wayne Robertson 10
6T Adam Sixt 10
24x Dave Norton, Jr. 10
49 John Haggerty 10
8c Zack Carley 10
69s Jason Stetson 10
24B Brad Mesler 10
21 Craig Dean 10
22 Justin Smith 10
91 Brian Haggerty 10
28F Scott Fitch 10
1s Tim Schram 10
39 Pat Willar 10
81 Justin Tatlow 10
4 Jason Knowles 10
35 Jon Lichy 10
43x Garrett Mott 10
7W Bobby Whitling 10
16F Dereck Frank 10
9S Breyton Santee 10
5M Ricky Meglaye 10
28 Bryant Hank 10
08 Jeff Broniszewski 10
93x Justin Lamb 10
50T Tyler Carson 10
17B Russell Baird, Jr. 10
12G Brian Goebel 10
18 Chris Lander 10
89 01W Khole Wanzer 0