Story: Rob Keister

Images: Diane Kubicke and Rob Keister

Maple Grove Raceway – Reading, Pa

Racers got their first look at all the improvements that have been done to the Mohnton, Pa facility over the weekend at the 2nd Annual Dave Stine Memorial event. A race that offered the largest payout in .90 history was well attended with almost 250 total entries. In the end, Tom Stalba (SC), Dan Northrop (SG), Jason Oteri (SST), Rich Rice (TS), Jeff Seamon (TD) & Mike Artim (JRD) took home the victories after a long day of racing.

In Super Comp, Stalba out of Hammonton, NJ was looking to go back-to-back at the Dave Stine as he was the winner of the event in 2021. Stalba started off with a win over Steve Logan, Tom Slater, Danny Bisbano & Amanda Boicesco. Stalba then lined up against Chris Garretson with the bye to the final on the line, neither driver was great on the tree (.043 to .054 in favor of Stalba) but, it would be Stalba who would take the win light with a 8.919 to 8.956 decision and a bye to the final round for the 2nd year in a row. In the final he would match up with either Jeff Stricker or Chase Fahnestock.

At the flash both were almost even (.031 to .035 in favor of Chase) but Chase dropped to a 8.930 to push Stricker out with a 8.891 and a chance at his 5th win of the season. In the finals with the sundown and the lights on, Chase pushed a little too hard and turned it -.012 red to hand the victory once again to Stabla for the 2nd year in a row.

In the same fashion as last year, Stalba turned the car around after going 11.166 and did a victory lap with his wife Karen riding the roll cage back to the starting line to celebrate his $12,500 victory.

 

 

In Super Gas, past world Champion Danny “The Kamikaze Kid” Northrop out of Pipersville, Pa took his ageless 75 Vega to the winner circle. Danny who has focused more on big money bracket races and away from the 9.90 class, started off with victories over Frank Volpe III, Lance Pinto, George Stack, Bill Trum to set up a bye run to the finals. Matching up with either Ohio’s John Sikish or New Jersey’s Marc Marsico. Marsico got the jump on the line (.028 to .042) and parlayed that into a hole shot 9.946 to 9.934 victory and a shot at $10,000. The final was all Northrop as he got the jump on the line (.023 to .039) and paced Marsico to a 9.917 to 9.930 victory for the PA resident.

In the 10.90 class of Super Street, it was Jason Oteri of Mechanicsburg, Pa taking his 92 Firebird to the winner’s circle. Oteri, who primarily is a 1/8-mile bracket racer, decided to try his luck at the long track. Jason kicked things off with a win over Mike Epprecht, Dom Burgese, Carl Trader, James Antonette Sr. to set up a match-up with Carly Wolf. Carly got a little up on the wheel and turned it -.006 red to send Oteri to the final to match up with Sean Lanigan. In a great final both drivers were practically even at the hit (.025 to .029) but, Krusty put it dead on the 90 with a 1 as Sean was 10.919 settling for the runner-up spot.

A record count of Juniors made the trip to Maple Grove and the nice $1,000 purse put up by multiple companies. In the semifinal it was Ryan Schmidt out of Berlin, NJ taking the victory over Paisley Anderson and on the other side of the ladder it was Mike Artim taking the win over Anthony Magliocco to match up a PA vs. NJ final. In the final Schmidt had the ultimate heartbreak by turning it -.001 red and handing the victory to Artim out of Boyertown, Pa.

The final race of the 2022 Quick Challenge was also held in conjunction with the event and it featured 2 new winners at nights end and a brand-new champion.

In Top Sportsman, Rich Rice the 3rd took his 2000 S-10 pick-up to victory over Ron Mellinger’s 1995 Beretta. Both classes were running 1/8 mile to try to attract more participants.

In the finals, Rice was .004 and 2 off his 5.39 dial which Mellinger was .040 on the tree and dead on his dial but the light hurt his chances of turning on the win light. Shawn Harp and his great looking 57 Chevy was the lone semi-finalist.

A record car count of 32 Top Dragsters made the trip to Maple Grove which is an all-time high for the series. Jeff Seamon took his 99 Cressman dragster to victory over local Maple Grove racer Jarrod Kissinger and his blown dragster. At the hit both drivers were separated by 1 (.024 to .025 in favor of Seamon) and Jeff drove it to a 4.917 on his 4.80 dial as Jarron shook the tires at the hit and couldn’t catch up going well over his dial of a 4.29. Randy Krause and Don Mattson were the two semi-finalists.

In closing Rob Keister would like to thank all the racers who made the trip out and supported this event, it had a few hiccups along the way with Sunday being a wash-out but, he wants to thank everyone for coming to support this event!

 

For More of Diane’s Images from the Stine Memorial Race, go to: