By Carol D. Haynes
AMHERST, Ohio — It was billed as the Lorain Raceway Super Crown Nationals and the racing lived up to the name. Saturday’s double 40 lap races were exciting to say the least after a Friday which featured just one 40 lap event, heats and some meetings for discussion to decide some different race strategies.
Saturday night, The very warm day saw two 40 lap features run and overall point champion named.
Rounds of hot laps led to qualifying and a field of 12 locked in which was followed by the pill draw which would determine the feature line up. Fast time was set by Kyle Edwards.
The first event lined up with 18 to race, Kyle Edwards, Moe Lilje, Mike Ordway Jr., Trent Stephens, Mike McVetta, Tyler Shullick, Rich Reid, Talon Stephens, Otto Sitterly, J.J. Henes, Mark Sammut, AJ Leseicki, Aric Iosue, Kenyon, Zitzka, Doug Neubauer, Mike Lichty, Lou LeVea Sr and Mark Miller DNS.
Kyle Edwards would take the win and the award for ½ way leader, sponsored by May Motorsports. Moe Lilje was second and Mike Ordway Jr was third. Trent Stephens won the hard charger award sponsored by the 4th Turn Crazies, The last car running sponsored by NY Racing Mom went to Doug Neubauer.
Race recap for Round 2 of the Super Crown Nationals: 1. 11 Kyle Edwards, 2. 32 Moe Lilje, 3. 61 Mike Ordway jr, 4. 19 Trent Stephens, 5. 22 Mike McVetta, 6. 88 Tyler Shullick, 7. 55 Rich Reid, 8. 30 Talon Stephens, 9. Otto Sitterly, 10. 36 JJ Henes, 11. 78 Mark Sammut, 12. 14 AJ Leseicki, 13. Aric Iosue, 14. 25 Keyon Zitzka, 15. 77 Doug Nuebauer, 16. 84 Mike Lichty, 17. 66 Lou LeVea Sr.
And by Saturday evening when all was said and done Trent Stephens, Mike Ordway Jr. and Mike McVetta had some well earned awards to remember. With the overall championship McVetta would claim a bonus award of $1300 sponsored by Reed’s Salvage, with Ordway Jr., picking up $250, Kyle Edwards $200, Trent Stephens $150 and Otto Sitterly $100, The top five weekend point finishers awards were sponsored by Perfection Fabrication and ECO Mechanical,.with $1000 given to the McVetta, Ordway Jr, Edwards, Stephens and Otto Sitterly.
After a short intermission, it was the final race of the weekend. Rich Reid took up the lead spot, followed by Trent Stephens, Mike McVetta, Mike Ordway Jr., Tyler Shullick, Moe Lilje , Edwards and Otto Sitterly.The race was on an it was a great one. Reid lost his spot to Trent and there would be several race changes as the pace was hot. Cars pitted on occasion but returned to the fray. A double file restart found Trent along side of McVetta. With Ordway being chased by Otto and Tyler Shullick, and so it went as Reid fought with Stephens and McVetta and tried to hold off Ordway as Otto was still in the fray with Tyler Shullick.
Trent fought for the lead and won as the 55 of Reid was having his problems when the yellow fell when the 55 was into the foam in 4.
The halfway leader, sponsored by May Motorsports was given to the 19 of Trent Stephens, Hard Charger, sponsored by 4th Turn Crazies went to Mike Lichty. Last car running went to Doug Neubauer. Sponsored by NY Racing Mom.
Race recap for Round 3 of the Super Crown Nationals: 1. 19. Trent Stephens, 2. 61. Mike Ordway Jr., 3.. 22. Mike McVetta, 4.. 7. Otto Sitterly, 5. 84. Mike Lichty, 6. 30 Talon Stephens, 7. 88 Tyler Shullick, 8, 11 Kyle Edwards, 9, 78 Mark Sammut, 10, 32 Moe Lilje, 11, 14 AJ Leseicki, 12. 25 Kenyon Zitzka, 13. 55 Rich Reid, 14. 27 27, Aric Iosue, 15. 77 Doug Neubauer, 16. 36 JJ Henes.
Stephens was very happy with a first place as luck hasn’t always been with the team recently. “This feels good. I think we gave one away on Friday. We had to put in a lot of work. We had a good car all weekend. We had a good setup. This car was junk last year and we had to put in a lot of work to get it good for this year. It finally feels good to get a win. The guys were down for a while. We had a good car and put it back together and to get a victory in this car is great. Just hope we can keep the car running this way.”
Ordway Jr. claimed a second place and a good week. “I didn’t finish less than a third all weekend. 1, 2, 3. It feels good after Jennerstown. We’re just missing a little and I can’t complain and I need to thank Clyde and Susan. And also my sponsors: High Performance Lubrication, Performance Engines by Billy the Kid, Strange Engineering, JRI Shocks, Orange Crate Brewing
Mike McVetta was one happy guy after winning the Lorain Super Crown Nationals point Championship.
“Said Mike in victory lane, “winning this means a lot at a home track in your backyard. I have to thank my crew, all my family, and sponsors. Winning here means so much. Thanks to ECO Mechanical, Perfection Fabrication, EVNaturals, Gary’s Body Shop,
Special Thanks to the Maggio Family and their team for a great weekend of racing and also for including us on your schedule.
Also a big thanks to all the people and sponsors who helped make this weekend a success!
Next up for ISMA/MSS will be Oswego Speedway on July 1st.