RPW Column: Dave Marcuccilli Came Away Very Happy After Maiden Voyage At Penn Can Sunday

RPW Column By: LAURIE FALLIS / RPW – SUSQUEHANNA, PA – Mother Nature stole the show on Friday at Penn Can Speedway on Friday, so it may have taken a little longer to get the 65th season opener off the ground.  However, when it did, the fans were ready…and so was Dave Marcuccilli who came away with the win.

Sundays action at the Pennsylvania speedway had four divisions in action that saw over 170 vehicles register at the back gate. The large crowd on hand certainly wasn’t disappointed.

The wait to finally get back to racing action was sure worth the wait for Marcuccilli.   The Montezuma, NY driver took advantage of the draw, pulling the #1 position, and had a little lady luck on his side.

With a flawless drive on the evening, he parked his #1 Bicknell machine in victory lane to best the stacked field of cars in the 40-lap main event.

The multi-time Super DIRT Week Sportsman Champion jumped out to the early lead, but a caution on lap 7 brought the car of Joey Grammes to his outside.

The green flag flew again and it was Grammes that powered into the lead off the second turn.  Marcuccilli settled in to the runner-up spot.

Meanwhile, coming from deep in the field was Danny Creeden, who came home with a fourth place finish in South Carolina during the Short Track Super Series race at Cherokee Speedway less than 24 hours before.  He made his way straight to Penn Can and was fast.

The crafty veteran put on a charge from his 19th starting position and broke into the top 7 late in the feature go.  Other drivers that made the haul from the Carolinas to Penn Can included David Schilling, Danny Taylor and Michael Maresca.

It was all Grammes up front until bad luck stuck.  With six laps remaining, suspension issues struck the #5J machine as a broken front shock saw him relinquish the lead back to Marcuccilli.  After running such a strong race and having what looked like the car to beat, Grammes had to settle for a 13th place finish.

Making a charge through the field as well was Maresca, whose strong run had him in the runner-up position.  A caution flew with a single circuit remaining, putting the #7MM on the back bumper of Marcuccilli.  However, that was as close as he could get as the M1 took the win.

After making the long haul from South Carolina as well, Maresca, driver of the St. Lawrence Radiology Bicknell,  had a solid night, coming home with a solid second place run.  Alex Tonkin, Creeden and Schilling rounded out a strong top five field.

“Grammes had the better car tonight,” Marcuccilli said.  “We tried to stay with him, but he was a bit faster. My game plan starting from the pole was to stay in the lead, and if not, keep it into the top four at the end.”

In his maiden voyage at the speedway, Marcuccilli didn’t know what to expect, but is glad with the result.

“This was my first time at this track and it was certainly a lot better then what I was expecting,” he said.  “The track was good shape.  The wait from Friday was well worth it.”

In the 30-lap Sportsman feature, Mike Nagel Jr. took the victory some heavy hitters including defending Super DIRTcar Series Sportsman Champion Kevin Root, Tommy  Collins, Sean Beardsley and Mike Schane.

The Grit 600cc Modified 20-lap win went to Jared Green while Jerry Lobdell Jr. took home the Street Stock feature.

Sunoco Racing Fuels Modifieds
1) M1 Dave Marculli
2) 7 Michael Maresca
3) 37 Alex Tonkin
4) 16X Danny Creedan
5) 20 David Schilling
6) 16r Richard Smith
7) 22 Randall Paxton
8) 17 TJ Lilly
9) 58 Marshall Hurd
10) 22 Josh Nobrian
11)119 Brian Malcolm
12) 1g Darwin Greene
13) 5j Joey Grammes
14) 16 Lowden Reinerd
15) 63 Bryon Worthing
16) 72x AJ Potrzebowskia
17) 72 Nick Petrilak
18) 59 Ricky Davis
19) 97T Danny Tyler
20) 34 Shayne Spoonhower
21) 88 Randy Foltz
22) 28 Mike Trautschold
23) 67 Tim Fulper
24) 71 Jimmy Zacharias
25) 2or Corey Cormier
26) 22r Randall Paxton
27) 138 Shawn Beardsley
28) Alan Rudalavage

Sportsman
1) 544J MIKE NAGEL JR
2) 34 Kevin Root
3) 713 Tom Collins
4) 138 Sean Beardsley
5) M16 Mike Schane
6) B17 Randy Brokow
7) 8t Alan Fink
8) 06 Tim Gould
9) 39B Matf Brewer
10) 22j Stacy Jackson
11) 8 Alan Rudalavage
12) 7up Gary Smith
13) 3k Kaiden Diegen
14) Ajay Potrzebow
15) 189 Leah Decker
16) 45 TJ Frost
17) 22x Tommy Oleski
18) 71 Jimmy Zacharias
19) 30+ Brandon Oleski
20) 4u Joe Brown
21) 88 Alam Komar
22) 64b Ryan Stone
23) 3r Ray Leonard
24) 99jr Devon Zona
25) 72 AJ Porzepowski
26) 7r Tommy Goover

Street Stocks
1) 2L JERRY LOBDELL JR
2) 151 Travis Brockner
3) KP1 Doug Polhamus
4) 84 Eric Bonham
5) 34 Doug Stack
6) 98P Steve Polhamus
7) 26 Kurt Stebbins
8) 7 Gene Sharpsteen
9) 19 Mike William’s
10) 21 Mike Morse
11) 33 Tyler Yeagle
12) 79 Dale Rissinger jr.
13) FIS Doug Stack
14) 93 Jared Hill
15) 83 Rich Sharpsteen
16) 36 Cody Clark
17) 7v Buck Mills
18) 62 Dan Gardner
19) 89b Damon Decker
20) 77x Shane Wolfe
21) 64b Bob Bueno
22) 20jr Dusty Decker
23) 8 Brett Crawford
24) 7
25) 14a Lanson Albanese

Grit 600cc Modified Tour
1) 35 JARED GREEN
2) 9 Richie Hitzler
3) 77x Nolan Smith
4) 138 Dana Davis
5) 175 James Randall
6) 28 Brett Grey
7) 67E Eli Akshar
8) 80 Tyler Smith
9) 17c Charly Beebe
10) 54j Mark Golden
11) 34b Michael Frye
12) 32 Steven Welch
13) 88 Eric Whitby
14) 8 Doug Windhausen
15) 29z Zack Mills
16) Brett Gray
17) 99nn Nick Nye
18) 133 Toni Green
19) 101 Doug Lattner
20) 99A Aiden Morgan
21)5am Butch Green
22) 54t Travis Rooney
23) 0 Tim Frantz
24) Max Warner
25) 56 Devon Green
26) 99f Jacob Waibel

Junior Division
Tyler Holcomb
Trevor Houghton