Flach, Kuleszo, Condon Crowned Mohawk Valley Vintage Seward Rice Memorial Champions At Penn Can

Story By: MOHAWK VALLEY VINTAGE DIRT MODIFIED SERIES – SUSQUEHANNA, PA – Hale to the Kings! What a night to remember.

Not only was the Mohawk Valley Vintage Dirt Modified Series (MVVDMS) honoring one of Penn Can Speedways icon, Seward Rice, but the 29 drivers that would check into the back gate would have three exciting features to determine for who would go home with the title of being crowned “King of the Can.” Literally!

When you win on the biggest weekend of the year at the Speedway, victory lane ceremonies are always special, but this Saturday had a added twist that the drivers can talk about for a long time.

So what is the added twist?
When the driver gets out of their cars they are given a crown, Kings cape and a gold plunger. But it even gets better to fit the slogan “King Of The Can.” The driver then sits on a golden toilet in victory lane with cameras flashing.

The look on the drivers faces where priceless not knowing if it was for real or not. The Speedway out did theirselves with the victory lane ceremonies.

The three driver that earned their kingship where Vintage Modified driver John Flach, Vintage Sportsman driver Jon Kuleszo and Vintage Late Model driver Curtis Condon.

Ravena, NY driver John Flach driving his familiar #77J would have Lady Luck on his side as he would not only pick up the popular win but would take advantage of starting the 20 lap event from the pole position along side of Steve Longo.

Although Flachs good starting spot did not guarantee the win as he would feel the pressure of seventh place starter Randy Delaney in the early going in which he was in hot pursuit of the MVVDMS 2020 series modified champion.

Meanwhile making their way also to the front was the Pennsylvania Possie drivers of Gene Wrightstone and Mark Hahn who were coming from the eighth and ninth position.

As the battle up front heated up, Delaney tried every move in the book to get past Flach. The duo would flawlessly slice threw lap traffic as Delaney would pull up by the 77J a few time but “The natural” John Flach would not be denied.

Delaney settled for second followed by Gene Wrightstone, Mark Hahn, Duane Hiller, Jon Kuleszo, Dan Wood, Ron Wiltse George Palmer, Bob Harless, Steve Longo and Alan Byerly rounding out the field.

Romulus, NY driver Jon Kuleszo would draw the pole position with Mike Houghtaling sitting along side in the 20 lap event. It would be Kuleszo who took the early lead with Houghtaling not letting him get far out of his site.

The Pillsbury Dough #1 car of Stephen Denton was rolling up through from his seventh starting position and wood soon find him in the third position ready to get into the mix.

Houghtaling was knocking on the back door and was ready to pounch on the leader. Unfortunately with 5 laps to go the left rear tire was going soft on the 03 ending his bid for the win.

Denton would take over the second spot with Dan Wood running third. Houghtaling would drift back to fourth with Tim Natalino know into the top five.

With Houghtaling fading back Kuleszo was unchallenged in the final laps and would go on to be crowned the king. Runner up would be MVVDMS Vintage Sportsman Champion Stephen Denton.

He was followed by Dan Wood, Tim Natalino, Jimmy Fugel, George Palmer, Dave Charczuk. And holding onto eighth after running the last lap on the rim Mike Houghtaling. Then it was Dan Karl, Howard Leonard, Roger Williams, Frank Blanchard and Phil Claussen.

One more king was to be determined and that was in the popular growing L& E Smith Construction Late Model division.

2020 MVVDMS Late Model Champion John Roesout of Middlebourgh, NY would start from the pole position along side of Will Reed in the 15 lap feature event that would see five cars take the green.

Roese would take command of the early going until fifth place starter Curtis Condon was looking to get under the #28 of Roese. Lap after lap Condon was licking his chops waiting for his opportunity.

With Roese trying to hold the bottom lane with three laps to go the wolf seen his opportunity as the door opened as he was able to get underneath Roese in corners one and two. As Condon drifted up a bit into Roese, Condon had enough ponys to pull away down the backstretch and go on to be crowned king of the can.

Roese would settle for second with Will Reed in his Mercury Cougar coming in third followed by Malcum Warner and feature Sponsor Les Smith.

A Special Thank You goes out to Penn Can Speedway for hosting this fun event.
The Sponsors that donated to the dedicated drivers:
L&E Smith Construction
Phillips Motorsports
Red Chair Guy
Roller’s Collision
Bever Creek Golf Course
Bridgewater Pet Foods
Pep Boys
Melissa Lee Photography
Tony’s Pizzaria
Mark Terry
Denton Carpentry
MVVDMS Officials

A huge Thank you goes out to all the great drivers, wives, girlfriends crews and the MVVDMS staff for doing their part in keeping the memories of the past alive and never forgotten.

Last stop of the 2020 Vintage season for the MVVDMS will be at the Five Mile Point Speedway on Saturday October 10th for the Vintage “Fall Back Frenzy.”
Hope to see ya there!