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(Butler Township, PA 2-24-24) Evergreen Raceway kicked-off the 2024 season with an afternoon of Enduro racing that was highlighted by a 100-lap Gut-N-Go for 4/6-Cylinder cars plus a 50-lapper with the Outlaw 8-Cylinder Stocks and followed by a 25-lap run on the Evergreen Roval course that combined both of those classes.
On a sun-splashed, albeit brisk and chilly day, a respectable field of cars signed in with TJ Kapish of Mountain Top picking up the victory in the 4/6-Cylinder class, Scott Sipe of York Haven scoring the verdict with the 8-Cylinders and Berwick’s Mark Spencer taking the checkers on the Roval.
For Kapish, he can now check off a win with a 4-Cylinder Enduro car and add to that a victory in every class of car he’s raced in at Evergreen, which includes 4-Cylinder Stocks, Strictly Stocks and 8-Cylinder Enduro’s.
Kapish started 15th in the field of 37 and didn’t waste much time in his march towards the front. Just before 20 laps completed he was already in the top-5 and continued to pick off the few ahead of him by then and reaching leader Michael Mujsce III on lap 23.
10 laps later and keeping Mujsce under constant pressure, Kapish would make his race winning move as the 33rd circuit went into the books.
And, from there he never settled back either as he continued to lap car after car until he once again came up on Mujsce with 10 laps remaining. Mujsce had been holding on to second all that while but when Kapish passed him again he succeeded in lapping the entire field en route to his 31st career win at the 1/3-mile oval.
Kapish has years of experience getting around Evergreen, especially in front-wheel drive compact type cars. That knowledge showed too in the way he negotiated his way around the continuous flow of traffic.
“I just knew I had to take my time because it was 100 laps today and I think there may have been a few faster cars out there but it seemed that they were trying too hard to fast,” said Kapish.
“I guess it comes down to being smooth and not always fast.”
Runner-up finisher Mujsce, despite going one lap back at the end, ran strong in trying to keep pace with Kapish. He inherited the lead following a red flag restart on lap 20 and after early leader Jake Oswald was sidelined when he slammed into the disabled car of Ethan Paul. Mujsce continues to be a close contender for wins each time he races an Evergreen Enduro.
Third spot went to veteran Mark Spencer who came from 18th starting spot. Ray Kennedy and Mark Rittenhouse rounded out the front five.
The Outlaw Stocks where comprised of 8-Cylinder cars that race on both dirt and asphalt tracks but aside from that it would be a driver with plenty of laps run at Evergreen as Sipe, using his Factory Stock car that carried him to previous wines here, showed plenty of power in picking up his first victory since 2021.
Ty Huntsberger jumped into the early lead while Sipe and Scott Riggleman all kept in close proximity of each other.
Sipe was especially making it tough on Huntsberger who was relentlessly pressuring him in his pursuit to take over the lead. Those efforts would finally pay off as with just 10 laps in Sipe raced to the front. And from then on he would stretch his distance from Huntsberger and the rest, taking the checkers by an insurmountable lead that was better than 14-seconds at the finish.
Evergreen’s Roval is utilized for Drift competitions but as a novelty Enduro’s are also held. A call was put out to any drivers who wanted to compete in the 25-lap race between the two previous held features.
And to say this was an exciting and quite thrilling event would be a huge understatement as drivers tested their skills in rarely, if any, done road racing.
Right from the get-go the action was heavy and heated as Jason Birch and Mark Rittenhouse went side-by-side around the twists and turns of the extended course until they entered into the horseshoe. As they rounded the inside hairpin, Rittenhouse was eking his way into the lead but as he began to exit the turn he slammed and leaped over a uke tire, landing on his side.
Track personal were quickly on the scene and after righting his car he fired it up and drove back to the pits.
When the race resumed it wasn’t long before Birch was again having to defend his lead, this time with Brandon Farver. The pair waged a torrid back and forth battle, exchanging the lead at various parts around the track. Finally after eight hard-fought circuits, Farver advanced his way to the front.
On lap 11 Spencer vaulted into second spot and two laps later made good use of the outside line to race his way past Farver.
Afterwards he kept solid and would go on to pick up his first Evergreen win in almost six years. Farver held on for second with Philip Levering notching third.
Enduro feature finish (100 laps): 1. TJ Kapish, 2. Michael Mujsce III, 3. Mark Spencer, 4. Ray Kennedy, 5. Mark Rittenhouse, 6. Pete Verwys, 7. Tyler Neiman, 8. AJ Light, 9. Philip Levering, 10. Stewart Smith, 11. Kyle Troch, 12. Jason Birch, 13. Michael Mujsce Jr., 14. Brandon Farver, 115. Logan May, 16. Cody Kohler, 17. Josh Riegel, 18. Victoria Burd, 19. Larry Spencer III, 20. Andre Atehison, 21. Ryan Warren, 22. Johnny Bennett, 23. Eric Platt, 24. William Kennedy, 25. James Powell, 26. Nick Sandore, 27. Daniel Baker, 28. Jake Oswald, 29. Etan Paul, 30. Rachel Morgan 31. Dalton Sheen, 32. Tyler Poole, 33. Riley Titus, 34. Justin Riegel, 35. Liam MacWhinnie, 36. Eoughan Farewell. 37. Adam Buteau
Outlaw Enduro feature finish (50 laps): 1. Scott Sipe, 2. Ty Huntsberger, 3. Scott Riggleman, 4. Thomas Moses, 5. Robert Wink, 6. Michael Parisi
Roval Enduro feature finish (25 laps): 1. Mark Spencer, 2. Brandon Farver, 3. Philip Levering, 4. Jason Birch, 5. Thomas Moses, 6. Micah Adams, 7. Josh Riegel, 8. Mark Rittenhouse, 9. Larry Spencer III
