May 16 to 18 – Raceway 7 and Rain, Rain, and More Rain
by Dave Olivieri
Conneaut, OH: Dunn-Olivieri Racing was prepared for its weekend of racing at Raceway 7, Sharon Speedway and PPMS, but with inclement weather in the Tri-State area the only racing for this weekend was to be Friday night at Raceway 7. Saturdays weekly show at Sharon Speedway and the UFo Series at PPMS were canceled due to wet grounds and the forecast of rain through out the day and evening.
The 4th annual Race of Champions (to be eligible you must have been a past E-Mod champion at any track), was a loaded field with the best of the area E-Mod drivers (Justin Carlson, Joel Watson, Rich Michael Jr, Dave Hess Jr., Russ Dunn, Ron Roncaglione, Hugo Litwiler, Carl Mc Kinney, Randy Hall and Mike Potosky. Starting in the sixth ,the race had very little passing, and Russ was able to only advance one position to finish fifth.
A twenty four car field was on hand with drivers from New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania on hand to participate in three eight lap heat races. Starting second in the first heat race, Dunn bolted to the lead and lead the first six laps until he hit a rut causing him to loose the lead and finish second.
The pill re-draw has not been kind to the team this year and Friday was no exception with Dunn having to start tenth in the 20 lap feature. A field of cars loaded with ten past track champions with hundreds of feature win meant Dunn would have his work cut out for him. A lightning fast track saw had Dunn running in seventh when the evening only caution came out on lap eighteen when the leaders got together with lapped traffic. As a result of the accident, Dunn gained two spots to fifth on the restart. On restart, Dunn was able to make a last lap pass to finish fourth.
Plans for this week’s racing are yet to be finalized, but look for Dunn-Olivieri Racing to be at Sharon Speedway on May 24th and a possible visit to McKean County Raceway on May 22 for the UEMS United E-Mod Series race.
