Fonda, N.Y. – Day 1 of the Fonda 200 weekend presented by Southside Beverage saw the No. 2 Benson’s Pet Center Modified of Jack Lehner in victory lane for his first win of the 2022 season and the second of his career at Fonda.
Lehner’s first win at Fonda was back in May of last year in the Nelson Motorsports No. 85, but last night the win came in his self-owned No. 2 powered by a motor borrowed from Paul Pinkerous.
“I have a lot of cool people that make this all happen for me and thanks to Paul Pinkerous, this is his motor that he let us use this week,” Lehner said.
Jimmy Horton led the first lap from his outside front row starting position with the yellow flag coming out just after the first lap was completed for Ryan Odasz, who was in the turn two wall.
On the restart, Bobby Hackel IV was the new race leader with Horton dropping all the way back to the sixth position, Hackel pulling away to a straightaway advantage by lap five.
JaMike Sowle started the event in the fifth position and was running fourth before making a great move on lap six to get around both Chris Curtis and Jack Lehner for the second position.
When George Foley slowed in turn four on lap eight, Lehner who was running third on the restart made his move into the second position as he got by Sowle with Ronnie Johnson also getting by Sowle for the third position after starting 11th.
The top three of Hackel, Lehner, and Johnson were nose to tail for the lead just before the halfway point in the event with Johnson getting by both Lehner and a lap car for the second position on lap 17.
At the halfway point in the event Hackel, Johnson, Lehner, Sowle and 15th place starter Tanner Warner were in the top five with the race for the lead becoming a very interesting one as lap traffic came into play.
Johnson and Lehner both made a strong bid for the lead just past the halfway point when the lap car of Matt Sobiech was right in front of the leader with Johnson and Lehner looking for a way to get by both the lap car and Hackel for the lead.
Hackel maintained the lead at that point after getting to the outside of the lap car with Johnson and Lehner also clearing Sobiech to continue their battle for the lead.
Warner’s great run came to an end on lap 18 when he suffered what looked like a flat tire, but it must have been more serious as he never re-entered the race from the hot pit.
The top three continued their see saw battle to lap 22 when Lehner got by Johnson for the second position and began pressuring Hackel for the lead three laps later.
Coming out of turn four to complete lap 27, Lehner took the race lead away from Hackel and immediately pulled away to a straightaway advantage with only two laps to go.
He led the rest of the way to the checkered flag for the win, followed by Hackel, Johnson, Sowle, and 18th place starter Tyler Dippel.
“That was definitely a lot of fun,” Lehner said in victory lane. “It got kind of hairy with the lap cars not being sure which way they were gonna go so I think that played a big part in it. Bobby was running a good race there running the bottom and sliding across the track, I was hoping that would fade for him when the track slickened up, I felt really good on the bottom, so it just worked out for us.
“You had to pick your lane wisely, I was pretty tight early but as the race went on, I felt like I was getting better and better so it kind of fell at the right time in the right place for us,” Lehner continued. “The new lighting is awesome, usually you can’t see a whole lot on the top of turns two and three, and three and four is kind of dark but it is lit right up now. It’s great that Brett (Deyo) did that, he’s always trying to make it better.”
The Ultimate Underdog 33 was a race that allowed anyone, from any track, to participate in if they didn’t have a win during the 2022 racing season. It also allowed a few of the Crate 602 Sportsman competitors to get some track time and experience running with the Modifieds.
The other event held on Thursday evening was a 20-lap event for the Montgomery County Office for Aging Inc. Limited Sportsman cars and it was Kyle Dingman taking home the $1,100 win in the Sickler Construction car No. 1D.
For Dingman, it was his fourth win of the 2022 season and the sixth of his career in the division at Fonda.
The Finish:
Feature (33 Laps): JACK LEHNER, Bobby Hackel IV, Ronnie Johnson, JaMike Sowle, Tyler Dippel, Chris Curtis, Tucker O’Connor, Scott Huber, Jeff Trombley, Payton Talbot, Ancel Collins, Brian Pessolano, Ryan Darcy, Aaron Jacobs, Joe Williams, Brett Mortensen, Mark Mortensen, Matt Sobiech, Mark Pullen, Tanner Warner, Bobby Varin, Jimmy Horton, Nick Stone, George Foley, Vinnie Sanganetti, Ryan Odasz, Brett Hass, Stephen Gray, Allison Ricci, Jessica Friesen (DNS), Daniel Morgiewicz (DNS)