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By Dino Oberto
(Butler Township, Pa. 11-15-25) Evergreen Raceway hosted its final event of the 2025 season, a 100-lap 4/6-Cylinder Enduro on Saturday afternoon and in a bit of a twist the feature was run twofold with the first 75 laps raced on the oval and the final 25 laps finishing on the Roval.
And there was a great field on hand with drivers coming in from seven states including as far away as New Hampshire and Massachusetts, but when all was said and done it would be local favorite Ray Kennedy of Wilkes-Barre Township who would score the big victory, his very first.
Enduro’s are and always have been a big part of Evergreen Raceway and one of the most supportive drivers with the class is Kennedy who rarely misses an event.
“I always love coming to these shows, they’re a blast and so much fun to race in,” said Kennedy.
Kennedy started mid-pack and became a factor into the possibility of winning just prior to the halfway juncture. Up until then it was a back-and-forth battle between pre-race favorites TJ Kapish and Dan Cascioli who swapped the lead several times, although Kennedy had been lurking closely behind the dual and by lap 38 was running second to then leader Cascioli.
Then following a red-flag restart on lap 46, Kennedy thrust his way by Cascioli and the rest as they say, was history. And despite on-track obstacles and constant traffic, Kennedy weaved his way almost effortlessly by each and all those whom he came upon.
The real question, however, was how he and all the rest would tackle the very technical Roval. That inquiry was answered quickly as he showed no signs of either backing down and being snagged while negotiating the tricky tight corners.
And by the time the checkers waved Kennedy not only collected his career first Evergreen Enduro win, but he did so by an entire lap over runner-up Jason Birch.
“I’m here to have fun and today we had a lot of that, especially running on the Roval,” said Kennedy. “There was a lot of traffic all race long but somehow we negotiated our way through it and it’s awesome to finally get a win here.”
Birch’s second place tally was also a top finish to date for the Delaware racer. Two laps down in third was Cascioli with another local star Ray Kochin scoring fourth and Shane Elliot rounding out the top five.
Feature finish (100 laps): 1. Ray Kennedy, 2. Jason Birch, 3. Danny Cascioli, 4. Ray Kochin, 5. Shane Elliot, 6. Jeff Ackerman, 7. Zack Petrie, 8. Paul Mechante, 9. Brian Halecki, 10. Dustin Roberts, 11. Tyler Skordensky, 12. Leah Hendershot, 13. Dan Baker, 14. Victoria Burd, 15. Levi Vial, 16. TJ Kapish, 17. Justin Guyle, 18. Michael Campbell, 19. Habe Corcoran, 20. Scott Adams, 21. Tony Rispin, 22. John Light, 23. Christopher Medley, 24. Cody Welliver, 25. Mark Spencer, 26. Steven Brooks, 27. Bryant Conklin, 28. Michael Kowalski, 29. Austin Carey, 30. Dave Imler Jr., 31. Stewart Smith, 32. Jonathan Fultz, 33. Glen Leduc, 34. Charles Sherry, 35. Pete Verwys, 36. Zack Conklin, 37. Andrew Labanz, 38. Allen Such, 39. Eric Platt, 40. Jacob Viti, 41. Kendall Fletcher, 42. Drew Atchison, 43. Andrew Harmon, 44. Sean Casey, 45. Robert Kreamer, 46. Robert Sherry, 47. Steve Tito
