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By DINO OBERTO
(Butler Township, Pa. 5-24-25) Despite two rain delays and a fast-approaching curfew, Evergreen Raceway succeeded in getting the entire program in and finally the first weekly race of the season made it into the books with only two minutes to spare as the final checkered flag waved at 10:58 pm thanks to a
swiftly and competitively run shows among all divisions and the yeoman effort by track personal.
In the Late Model feature the race was fought between two of the winningest drivers over the past five seasons as five-time and defending champion Mike Sweeney of Nesquehoning was able to out-race Nick Ross en route to his unprecedented 80th career class victory.
Ross started from the pole and jumped out front when the race got underway over Evan Berretta. Berretta, however, spun while under close quarters with Marc Aigeldinger on lap three. On the ensuing restart Sweeney moved to second and then began a torrid side-by-side battle with Ross.
They continued to race in thrilling side-by-side formation, and it wouldn’t be until a restart on lap 11 that Sweeney would secure the lead and then hold firm to the checkered flag.
“We were so iffy on the weather today and they called for zero rain and then it rained right at race time putting us all behind the eightball and hats off to Jason (Makarewicz, track promoter) and the crew who stuck it out and this feels awesome,” said Sweeney.
“Battling with Nick (Ross) like that back and forth, and side-by-side, it doesn’t get any better than that and it was all good, clean, hard racing. Honestly, that was probably the hardest I’d driven here in a long time and to do that on the outside, the car was absolutely hooked up.”
Ross resolved for second with Aigeldinger third, Roger Maynor fourth and Brett Peters notching his first top five with a fifth.
“We came out for early practice, and we felt the car was good then and just kept making small tweaks throughout the day and it worked out for us,” added Sweeney.
“I have to thank all sponsors, Ford, Jones Racing Products, RJM Mechanical, New Garde Racing and 3EB Branding, I can’t thank those enough for all the support and of course all my crew.”
It’s been 22 years since the name Adams graced Evergreen’s Fairway Chevrolet Victory Lane after a Modified feature but that long wait came to a triumphant end when 16-year-old Micah Adams of Lake Ariel drove his ONVO No. 13 602 Crate Modified to his first divisional win.
Although the entire Adams team can attribute with close to 60 overall victories among them, up until Saturday evening only Mike Adams had been able to win with a Modified and now his grandson can boast the same.
Starting from the pole Adams wasted little time in taking charge of the race and in the process holding off the likes of veterans Jacob Kerstetter, defending champion Steve Shultz and eventually Bobby Jones.
Despite a number of restarts, Adams was able to fire off first each time and over the closing laps he did a sufficient job of fending off Jones and held on for his 13th career overall feature win.
“It feels good to finally get a win with the Modified and we’ve really been putting in the work to do so. Over the winter Billy Both and I worked on each other’s cars, and this is what it was all about, winning here tonight,” declared Adams.
“After all those rain showers we where about ready to load up but thankfully we got on track with just enough time before the curfew, got some good stagger in the car and it drove perfectly. I had some really good guys behind me too but lucky for me we stayed in front the whole time and to finally get this car to where it needs to be is a really rewarding feeling.”
The feature was cut to 20 laps due to the curfew leaving Jones to settle for second.
“We were getting better towards the middle of the race and were clicking off our fastest laps right at the end and the car was set up that way but with time constraints that’s just how it worked out and the kid was better than I was at that point. Congratulations to Micah, he ran a good race,” said Jones.
Brian Rygielski Jr., Shultz and Randy Ahner Jr., rounded out the top five.
In the Harry’s U-Pull-It Street Stocks, Ken Erney III from Allentown took the lead away from Bobby Kobler Jr., after one lap and although he was able to hold it there, he was having to not only resist off Kibler but three-time and defending champion Mike Pollack as well.
As Erney held his ground Pollack, Kibler and Brandon Oltra all had a stint in second spot. It wasn’t until the late going that Pollack was able to secure the runner-up position and would stay in pursuit of Erney the rest of the way. Kibler settled for third while Cory Derr ran a steady race and took fourth over Oltra who rounded out the top five.
TJ Kapish of Mountain Top picked up the win with the Himmer Graphics Four Cylinders and in doing so extended his class-leading victories to 20.
Robert McNultey led the opening tour, but a restart afterwards proved to be the winning effort for Kapish and once in front there was no denying his authority. Although he maintained the lead until the end McNultey was on his tail every step of the way with Michael Wambold taking home a solid third.
Jeremy Henry of Alburtis should long remember the night of May 24 as he claimed his first win at Evergreen with the McNultey Funeral Homes Novice’s.
Henry moved to the lead after pole sitter Jeff Engler spun on the initial start and collected reigning champ Sarabeth Mesko in the dust-up. Henry was unflawed afterwards with each lap he turned and took the verdict ahead of fast-closing Mesko.
602 Crate Modified feature finish (20 laps): 1. Micah Adams, 2. Bobby Jones, 3. Brian Rygielski Jr., 4. Steve Shultz, 5. Randy Aher Jr., 6. Jacob Boehm, 7. Deegen Underwood, 8. Richard Lapolt, 9. Mike Albasini, 10. Mike Dutka, 11. Marty Noll, 12. May Pfeifer, 13. Jerry Hildebrand, 14. Jacob Kerstetter
Late Model feature finish (25 laps): 1. Mike Sweeney, 2. Nick Ross, 3. Marc Aigeldinger, 4. Roger Maynor, 5. Brett Peters, 6. Evan Berretta, 7. Brandon Cook, 8. Geno Steigerwalt, 9. Michael Delong, 10. Brian Romig Sr., 11. Brian Roming Jr. DNS: Eldon King
Street Stock feature finish (30 laps): 1. Ken Erney III, 2. Mike Pollack, 3. Bobby Kibler Jr., 4. Cory Derr, 5. Bradnon Oltra, 6. Bobby Hunsicker Jr., 7. Geary Rinehimer Jr., 8. Cody Bohem, 9. Sarh Derr, 10. Gordie Buchman, 11. Mallory Kutz DNS: Mike Odwazny
Four Cylinder feature finish (25 laps): 1. TJ Kapish, 2. Rpbert McNultey, 3. Michael Wambold, 4. Rebacca Barbush, 5. Jay Kanor, 6. Trisha Connolley, 7. Tyler Skordensky, 8. Sam Ryan, 9. Jared Frye, 10. Tony Hilliard, 11. David Kerr, 12. Mike Frable, 13. Jake Kibler, 14. Caitlyn Makarewicz, 15. Steve Tito, 16. Shawn Hoffman, 17. Chase Hoffman, 18. Lauren Skupski
Novice feature finish (12 laps): 1. Jeremy Henry, 2. Sarabeth Mesko, 3. Jeff Engler, 4. Gavin Higgins, 5. Lexi Kutz
