RPW Column: Joe Bonetti Doubles Up At Orange County; Wins 358-Modified & Sportsman
Column By: MIKE TRAVERSE / RPW – MIDDLETOWN, NY – When Joe Bonetti got his first experience of the OCFS Victory Lane on June 12th, it was a jubilant time for him and his team.
Joe must have really enjoyed it because on Saturday night, he went back for seconds and then thirds as he accomplished the unusual double of winning in both the 358 Small Block Modifieds and Sportsman on the same evening.
As the H.O. Penn 358 Small Block feature got underway, it was Bonetti taking off from his pole position spot over Daniel Morgiewicz Jr. The duo ran 1-2 until the first caution of the race occurred after 7 laps were completed as Kirk Horton slowed on the backstretch. Bonetti took off on the restart as Jimmy Horton moved into 2nd. Caution was out again after 10 laps as Tyler Treacy slowed on the track. Second place Jimmy Horton pitted for a flat and returned.
As Bonetti jumped out again on the restart, Tanner VanDoren’s car really came to life as he went from 9th up into 2nd by lap 13. At halfway, Bonetti led VanDoren, Dillon Steuer, Morgiewicz Jr and Pat Reiser.
As the second half of the race got going without cautions, Bonetti kept a healthy lead over VanDoren. But by the 20th lap, it was apparent that Tanner was closing the gap. Lapped traffic came into play, but Bonetti was able to maneuver it well enough to keep VanDoren at bay. With 5 to go, VanDoren was getting very close. Further back, Tyler Boniface had made great progress over the 2nd half of the race, moving into 4th by 19 and taking 3rd from Steuer on lap 27. And he closed in on the lead pair as he was turning some very fast laps.
With 2 to go, VanDoren was right on Bonetti’s bumper and on the white flag lap, Tanner got alongside Joe on the inside. But Bonetti powered though turns 3 and 4 to take his first career 358 Modified win by .062 over VanDoren with Boniface only 6/10ths of a second back. Steuer finished 4th and Danny Creeden came a long way through the pack, 24th to 5th. Bob McGannon finished 6th with Anthony Perrego 7th, Morgiewicz Jr 8th, Reiser 9th and Craig Mitchell 10th.
In the Arkel Motors Sportsman feature, Frank Frasco and Cody Higbie made up the front row and Cody took off into the lead followed by John Bockhorn. Higbie and Bockhorn ran 1-2 until the yellow was out after 7 laps were down. A turn 2 incident involved the cars of Charles Loiodice, Ryan Walther, Donnie Elliott and Joey Mennite.
Higbie led Bockhorn on the restart, but caution was out a lap later. Jeff Hulseapple, who had moved up to 3rd, retired to the pits with a mechanical failure. Bonetti, who moved up to 3rd when Hulseapple retired, moved into the lead, passing Higbie on the 11th lap restart. Jared LaBagh passed Higbie for 2nd on lap 12.
Caution was again out after 13 were down and Bonetti was again strong on the restart, leading over LaBagh. Bonetti survived a couple of more restarts, including white flag restart to take his 2nd consecutive Sportsman win. In doing so, he collected the Wicked Truck Worx Back-To-Back Bonus. LaBagh finished 2nd, trailing Bonetti by 6/10ths of a second. Higbie made the podium with a 3rd place finish with Ryan Neiger 4th and Josh Allen 5th. Sixth through tenth were Bobby Flood, Mel Schrufer, Bockhorn, Matt Shultz and Loiodice.
It was a happy Victory lane as the Bonetti team celebrated the double wins.
“Tonight is absolutely incredible. On lap 9 of the Sportsman, we lost the power steering. But we were able to hang on. And I felt that our 358 program was moving in the right direction and it paid off tonight. Thank you to all my sponsors and crew.”
As Pomp and Circumstance played over the OCFS public address system, the Precision Hydraulic and Oil Rookie Sportsman had their final 2021 event as it was Graduation Night for the division. Kasey Hufcut raced into Victory Lane for the 2nd time this season as he outran Rookie Champion Dylan Madsen and Brett Weslowski.
Hufcut and Weslowski led the field to green with Kasey moving out front. Caution on lap 8 bunched up the field. Hufcut prevailed on this restart and on one more as he took the win by 2 seconds over Madsen with Weslowski 3rd. Tyler Banks finished 4th with Nick Giardini 5th. John Farissier, Isabella Van Orden, Joe Conklin Jr, Mark Connoly Jr and Fred Pavia completed the top 10.
Good luck to the rookies as some will continue on in the regular Sportsman. Rookie champion Madsen indicated that he will be racing at different tracks for the balance of the season.
“The season here was awesome. I can’t thank my guys enough. We are going to stick to Malta and we are going to travel a little bit and race some at Devil’s Bowl.”
The next race on the OCFS schedule is on Thursday, July 1st as the United Rentals DIRTcar Big Block Modifieds will be competing in Rapid Tire Freedom 50’s, a pair of 50 lap races for the Big Blocks. And the USAC East Coast Wingless Sprint Cars return for the second consecutive year to do battle at the House of Power. It will be a racing show that OCFS fans will not want to miss.
