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[Ralph Thorne]

Mark's Model World in Canton, OH, was host to the round 2 of the FNRS on June 2-3, 2017. A total of 34 different drivers from eight different states came to do battle in Northeast OH. Track records were established for all classes on the MMW's beautiful and fast Gerding King track. We had a total of 78 entries for the three classes raced.

 

A packed house on Friday night had racers testing and tuning many different combinations between the three classes. Over 13,000 laps were logged from opening time on Friday until closing time. Lots of racers helping other racers on their cars, tuning, and ideas and there was lots of benchracing taking place.

 

Saturday morning had several more racers showing up and the track was full from opening time until tech opened promptly at 10:10 AM for the LMP class. Qualifying for LMP got underway about 11 AM. with 27 entries which was split into four mains with six in the D and seven each in the C ,B, and A mains.

 

LMP Concours winner was George Spry.

 

 

Top Qualifier in the LMP class was Greg Mayer from Pennsylvania running a very fast 3.804 and OH's Greg Fox was second quick at 3.845.

 

 

In the LMP D Main it was Jack Nickel from New York and MMW's Dave Gardiner battling it out for the win the entire distance of the race; they were within a lap of one another the whole race. Dave squeaked out 217 laps for the win with Jack Nickel second at 216 laps. Third was MMW's Bill Fulmer with 211 laps followed by New York's Jim Harter 200, George Spry from North Carolina 199, and Pete Reams from NC 195, Fastest race lap was Jack Nickel at 4.218.

 

 

The LMP C Main was a runaway win for Indiana's Joe "Dirt" Liguori with 228 laps followed by NC's Matty Haines 223, Michigan's David DeCoster 222, Bob Foster from MI 218, Anthony Brown from NC 217 & Pete Reams from NC with 195 laps. Fastest race lap was Joe Liguori at 4.052.

 

 

Off we went with the LMP B Main. James Johnson of GA, Shane Parent of NC, and Ralph Middaugh from OH were locked in a battle the entire distance with James pulling out the win with 230 laps, followed by Ralph 228.12, just beating out Shane's 228.08. Fourth went to Den Krivacek of PA with 224 followed by MMW's Jeff Middaugh 222, NC's Bobby Beauchemin 220, OH's Ross Scharf 216, and MMW's Tim Burton 45 DNF. Fastest race lap was Den Krivacek at 3.973.

 

 

The fastest seven qualifiers lined up for the A Main. Greg Mayer was the leader after heat 1 and ran into trouble into heat 2, handing the lead to MMW's Greg Fox who steadily pulled away for the win with 240 laps. Second was OH's Eric Shirey 237, followed by GA's Ralph Thorne 235.04, OH's Bud Bartos 235.02, NC's Russell Martin 233, Terry Watson from IN 224, and Greg Mayer 41 DNF. Fastest race lap was Terry Watson at 3.815

 

Overall LMP results

1) Fox - 240 laps
2) Shirey - 237
3) Thorne -  235.04
4) Bartos - 235.02
5) Martin - 233
6) Johnson - 230
7) Liguori - 228.15
8) R Middaugh - 228.12
9) Parent - 228.08
10) Krivacek - 224.01
11) Watson - 224.00
12) Haines - 223
13) Decoster - 222.16
14) J Middaugh - 222.05
15) Beauchemin - 220
16) Foster - 218
17) D Gardiner - 217.08
18) Brown - 217.01
19) Scharf - 216.11
20) Nickel - 216.10
21) Fulmer - 211
22) Harter - 200
23) Spry - 199
24) Reams - 195
25) Espinosa - 191
26) Burton - 45
27) Mayer - 41

 

 

 

[Ralph Thorne]

Stock Car Concours winner was Mike Parker from NC.

 

 

Stock Car qualifying had Ralph Thorne on the pole with a very fast 3.728 and Greg Mayer second quickest at 3.795, the only two drivers in the 3.7s.

 

With 23 entries three races were run with eight each in the A and B Mains and seven in the C Main.

 

The veteran MI racer Bob Foster got out front early and pulled away to win the C Main by six laps, with 211 laps followed by Jack Nickel 205, Anthony Brown 202, Tim Burton 198, Tom Espinosa 195, Pete Reams 118, and David DeCoster 86 DNF. Fastest race lap was Anthony Brown at 4.180.

 

 

The B Main was the "Al and Joe Show" the whole distance, with Joe Liguori and Al Rutti in a classic Midwest battle. Joe pulled out the win in the last minute of the race and put it in the winners circle with 226 laps. Al Rutti was second with 225 followed by Mike Parker 220, Ralph Middaugh 219, Eric Shirey 217, Jim Harter 215, IN's Lonnie Baatz 214, and Ross Scharf 207. Fastest race lap was Jim Harter at 3.914.

 

 

In the A Main it was no contest for Ralph Thorne who dominated the race running away, winning with 236 laps. Second was Greg Mayer 229 followed by IN's Tim Baatz 228, James Johnson 224, Russell Martin 220, Shane Parent 219, Matty Haines 213, and Terry Watson 107 DNF. Fastest race lap was Ralph Thorne at 3.832.

 

Overall Stock Car results

1) Thorne - 236 laps
2) Mayer - 229
3) T Baatz - 228
4) Liguori - 226
5) Rutti - 225
6) Johnson - 224
7) Martin - 220.03
8) Parker - 220.02
9) Parent - 219.08
10) R Middaugh - 219.04
11) Shirey - 217
12) Harter - 215
13) L Baatz - 214
14) Haines - 213
15) Foster - 211
16) Scharf - 207
17) Nickel - 205
18) Brown - 202
19) Burton - 198
20) Espinosa - 195
21) Reams - 118
22) Watson - 107
23) Decoster - 86

 

 

 

[Ralph Thorne]

GTP Concours winner was Tom Espinosa.

 

 

GTP TQ was Ralph Thorne with a fast run of 3.529 followed closely by Eric Shirey's 3.538.

 

 

With 28 entries, GTP was the biggest class of the day. Four Mains were run with seven drivers in each Main.

 

In the D Main Bob Foster and David DeCoster had a race long battle for the "pride" of Michigan with Dave snagging the win with 232 and Bob in second with 231. Third was Al Rutti 226 followed by Lonnie Baatz 222, Pete Reams 213, Anthony Brown 148 DNF, and Bill Fulmer 103 DNF.

 

 

In the C Main it was Shane Parent and Ralph Middaugh slugging it out the entire distance with Ralph winning with 241 followed by Shane 239, Jeff Middaugh 237.09, James Johnson 237.03, Jack Nickel 236, Jim Harter 214, and Ross Scharf 72 DNF.

 

 

The exciting and close B Main had Greg Fox, Tim Baatz, and Bobby Beauchemin at the front the entire distance with Bobby Beauchemin holding them all off and winning with 248 laps. Second was Tim Baatz 246 followed by Greg Fox 245, Mark Gardiner 243, Uncle Bob Dempsey of MI 237, Matty Haines 235, and Tom Espinosa 199.

 

 

The A Main had Dave and Mark Gardiner out front early while Ralph Thorne took the lead in the fourthth heat and went on to the win with 256 laps followed by Dave Gardiner 255, Eric Shirey 253, Joe Liguori 249.05, Dave Ronsky 249, Russell Martin 246, and Terry Watson 59 DNF. Fastest race lap was Dave Ronsky with a 3.595.

 

Overall GTP results

1) Thorne - 256 laps
2) D Gardiner - 255
3) Shirey - 253
4) Liguori - 249.05
5) Ronsky - 249
6) Beauchemin - 248
7) Martin - 246.16
8) T Baatz - 246.12
9) Fox - 245
10) M Gardiner - 243
11) R Middaugh - 241
12) Parent - 239
13) J Middaugh - 237.09
14) Johnson - 237.03
15) Dempsey - 237.02
16) Nickel - 236
17) Haines - 235
18) Decoster - 232
19) Foaster - 231
20) Rutti - 226
21) L Baatz - 222
22) Harter - 214
23) Reams - 213
24) Espinosa - 199
25) Brown - 148
26) Fumler - 103
27) Scharf - 72
28) Watson - 59

 

 

 

 

The FNRS would like to thank every racer that traveled to attend this fantastic event. Lots of fun and laughs the entire day for everyone. Thanks to Ernie Mossetti for visiting and chatting with all the racers.

 

Special thanks to Mark Kitto owner of MMW who hosted the event and kept everyone fed through out both days and to Bill Fulmer for his help, too! Shout out to Ralph Middaugh for the awesome BBQ pork he prepared for this event. Everyone said it was the best!

 

The Next FNRS race will be held August 11-12, 2017, at Ho-B Max in Durham, NC. Should be a great turn-out; stay tuned for more details.

[DOCinCanton]

Great race report Ralph. Looks like your newest GTP body finished 1st (you) and 2nd or 3rd. Maybe 3rd. Nice job.