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May 2, 2010 - Albany-Saratoga Speedway
Sunday, May 2, 2010
CICCONI TAKES ISMA OPENER AT
ALBANY-SARATOGA
Malta, NY – Liquid Lou Cicconi
was supposed to pilot a midget on the newly paved Albany-Saratoga
Speedway earlier in April; perhaps gaining a slight edge for the May
2 ISMA opener. That race was rained out, but for Cicconi, it turned
out, it didn’t matter. The Aston, PA driver started ninth on the
grid for the 50-lap inaugural winged super feature, moving into
second on lap 19. He seized the opportunity to take the lead
from Dave Duggan after a lap 21 red flag, driving by the 51 on the
backstretch. As the race shook out, Chris Perley and new teammate
Mike Ordway Sr. were able to track Cicconi down but Lou held out for
the win despite a late race yellow. The win put Cicconi in a tie for
9th on the ISMA All-Time win list.
Said Lou in victory lane,
“This is a really neat race track. The more we ran the more the
track came in and got racy. It was really a challenge after I took
the lead. When I got pushed started after that red, my brake got
stuck. I thought it was going to slow the car right down. I had
Chris behind me and I thought it was going to be all over.
Luckily there was a lap car between us on that last yellow. It was
very exciting. I’m happy for the Wentworths and our sponsors –
although we don’t have too many.”
The late race caution Lou
mentioned came on lap 46 when the 97 of Danny Lane ended up in
between one and two with a flat tire. Lane was able to return. But
when the race was scored back to the last completed lap, ISMA’s 2009
Rookie of the Year Ben Seitz, was placed in between the 10 of
Cicconi and the 11 of Perley where he was showed to be running at
the time. He was a lap car, but provided what the 2009 ISMA champ
Perley thought made the difference in the race.
Perley commented in victory
lane, “It was a good ride. I was hoping the track would come in for
us and I think it did. We did the best we could out there. It was
pretty slick with the heat. That lap car in between us toward
the end of the race hurt us. I thought we were in front of the lap
car long enough for them not to put him there on that caution but
it’s too late now. I can’t pass a lap car until the apex and it kind
of took the win away from us. But, my hat’s off to Louie and the
team. They did a great job. I also want to thank the fans. Obviously
we can’t do this without them and I hope, excluding the cautions,
that we put on a pretty good race today. It was a shaky start but
once we got the cones out of the way I think we put on a pretty good
show.”
Mike Ordway, in the third Vic
Miller-designed car in victory lane, also was not altogether happy
with the race. “I’ve driven this car a couple times over the past
few years and I knew I was going to do okay. Chris helped me out and
told me what the car was going to do. It was a pretty good run. One
of those restarts a guy drove right into me. He spun me out. They
put me to the rear and you had guys stopping on the track and they
put them back in position. I don’t know what happened to the rules
we used to have. I wasn’t happy over that. I just had to calm down
and bide my time and get back to the front. The car was good,
although I had a little push. Starting toward the front of this race
helped. I’d like to thank my personal sponsor Harrington Paving.
Then there is Ed Shea Concrete, R&R Racing Engines, Perley's Marina,
New England Motor Racing Supply, Barrett Transportation, Blink's Fry
Doe, Malco Products of New England who support both cars. It’s a
real team effort. You can see that from the last few years with
Chris.”
Although Saturday was a
practice day for the supers at the former dirt, now paved 4/10ths
mile oval, there was still a lot to figure out when real racing
conditions began. Dave Duggan and Bob Magner led the 22-car field
down to green after early attrition had taken out the 25 of Bob Bond
(accident) and the 98 of Justin Belfiore (motor). On the green, Russ
Wood and Mike Ordway sat turned around in the first turn as Mike
described and relegated to the rear before a lap was complete.
Dave Duggan took up the lead
with his 51 but lap 5 saw a yellow for the 88 of Joey Scanlon who
had produced a healthy stream of oil around the track. Michael
Barnes, in the Morton 70, left the race with a damaged front end
here.
Duggan, who had picked up his
first-ever ISMA checkered in the first heat, kept the point at the
green with Magner, Eddie Witkum, Jeff Locke, Mark Sammut and Cicconi
trailing closely. A yellow flew on lap 12 when a cone, lining the
inside of the track, ended up on the track. Bob Magner exited the
track from second here thinking the car was overheating badly only
to find out later it was the gauge that had malfunctioned.
Another quick yellow flew on
the next lap as Brandon Bellinger slid off the track but came back
on to head to the rear.
Back underway, Duggan began
to pull away from the 9 of Eddie Witkum but on the move was Lou
Cicconi who was now fourth behind Jeff Locke. Cicconi put the
Wentworth 10 into second before the halfway mark.
On lap 21, Oswego 2009 champ
Otto Sitterly broke a torque arm and coasted to a stop to bring out
the flag. The fluid laid down brought out the red flag and a
refueling.
On the green, veteran Cicconi
was able to drive neatly under Duggan for the lead who now had Chris
Perley, Mike Ordway Sr., Jeff Locke, Russ Wood and Mike Lichty
charging at him from behind. Perley took over second by lap 26 with
Ordway coming by one lap later for third.
With 20 to go, the race
battle began to form between Cicconi, Perley and Ordway with Duggan
holding off Wood and Lichty. Traffic now became an issue.
On lap 37, Cicconi put a lap
on Jeff Holbrook to create a roadblock for Perley. Five laps later
Mark Sammut, Ben Seitz and Danny Lane were in Cicconi’s path. He
picked off Sammut, then Lane and Seitz. But before lap 46 was
complete, Lane sat in 1 and 2 with a flat.
When the green finally
dropped, on the lap 46 restart, the lineup saw Cicconi and Perley
separated by Seitz. Ordway, Duggan, Wood and Lichty were next in
line. Lane returned to the fray at the tail.
Perley and Ordway had both
put Seitz behind them as did Wood and Lichty as Cicconi came around
for the checkered on lap 50 a couple car lengths ahead. Wood was
more than pleased with his fourth after that initial mishap.
Said Russ, “At the start of the
race there was a bunch up in front of me. I got off the brakes a
little. I don’t know if I got hit from behind. I just suddenly spun
around. We backed into a cement barrier and did some frame damage. I
was lucky to continue. We just kept picking away. You can’t give up…
guys fall out and this and that. Hey, we ended up fourth. I’ll take
that. We’re hoping to have a good season and win a couple more races
than last year. We won one last year and I wouldn’t mind winning 4
or 5 this year and the championship.”
Said fifth place finisher Mike
Lichty afterwards, “We were half decent at the beginning. We just
couldn’t do anything. I tried the outside. Louie got underneath me
then. When I washed out there definitely wasn’t a second groove on
the racetrack. Fresh pavement. I kept trying to get it to work but I
never did come around. We weren’t going to go anywhere on the
bottom. We got freight-trained when Jeff Locke almost lost it there.
I had only one way to go and it was high. So, all in all, we’ll take
a top five and go to Waterford. We always run very well at
Waterford. We have some really neat tracks coming up that I’m
looking forward to.”
Summary ISMA Event 1. May 2,
2010. Albany-Saratoga Speedway
Heat 1- Dave Duggan, Eddie
Witkum Jr., Mike Ordway Sr., Otto Sitterly, Vern Romanoski, Ben
Seitz, Jeff Holbrook
Heat 2 – Michael Barnes, Joey
Scanlon, Paul White, Jeff Locke, Russ Wood, Bobby Haynes Jr., Justin
Belfiore
Heat 3 – Bob Magner, Mike Lichty,
Lou Cicconi, Mark Sammut, Brandon Bellinger, Chris Perley, Dave
Shullick Jr., Danny Lane
Feature: 1. Lou Cicconi, Jr.
(10), 2. Chris Perley (11), 3. Mike Ordway Sr. (1), 4. Russ Wood
(29), 5. Mike Lichty (84), 6. Dave Duggan (51), 7. Jeff Locke (37),
8. Brandon Bellinger (02), 9. Paul White (16), 10. Jeff Holbrook
(35), 11. Dan Lane (97), 12. Ben Seitz (17), 13. Mark Sammut (78),
14. Bobby Haynes Jr. (44), 15. Eddie Witkum Jr. (9), 16. Dave
Shullick Jr. (61), 17. Otto Sitterly (7), 18. Bobby Magner (41), 19.
Joey Scanlon (88), 20. Michael Barnes (70), 21. Vern Romanoski (5).
ISMA Albany-Saratoga
Photos: 5/2/2010 - Jim Feeney Photos
Canadians Mark Sammut and Mike
Lichty race at the ISMA opener at Albany-Saratoga.
Lou Cicconi battles by Mike Lichty and Mark Sammut at
Albany-Saratoga.
Dave Shullick Jr. and Chris Perley, who shared 7 ISMA feature wins
in 2009, race at Albany-Saratoga’s ISMA opener Sunday.
Mike Ordway Sr.
(1) and Russ Wood (29) battle for third at Albany-Saratoga Sunday.
Ordway Sr. won out with Wood finishing fourth.
Lou Cicconi Jr.
passed by Jeff Locke on his was to the front of the field where he
stayed. Locke would finish 7th
USAC driver and
Texas resident Paul White piloted the Steve Miller 16 at ISMA’s
opener and dives under Danny Lane, driving his uncle’s 97 this year.
Lou Cicconi Jr.
passes Dave Duggan for the race lead at ISMA’s opener Sunday.
ISMA Rookie of the Year 2009 Ben
Seitz races with Brandon Bellinger, 2006 ISMA RoY. Seitz has a new
ride in 2010 in the Bien 17.
After Lou
Cicconi passed Dave Duggan for the lead, Chris Perley, Mike Ordway
and eventually Russ Wood (29) got by. Duggan still had a fine 6th
place run.
Lou Cicconi Jr., victor of the
ISMA inaugural event and season opener.
The ISMA top
three at Albany-Saratoga: Chris Perley, Lou Cicconi and Mike Ordway
Sr., Perley’s new teammate in 2010. Cicconi drove the Wentworth 10,
a Vic Miller design, to make it Miller time at A/S.
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