Fosnaught continues Lernerville dominance, earns $2,000 Penn Ohio Stock victory

Jim Fosnaught continued his breakout season at Lernerville with a $2,000 payday in the Homak Penn Ohio Pro Stock Series Autumn Motive Fest feature. The 2014 Track Champion, Fosnaught defeated a stellar field of 37 cars to earn his 7th victory of the season.

Twenty four of the region's most talented stock car drivers took to the Sarver Oval for the 30 lap event. Chris Schneider raced to the lead from the pole on Lap 1, but the yellow was displayed just as he crossed the line for Bob Egley losing the handle off turn 4.

On the ensuing restart, Curt Bish got a great jump on the outside and took the lead away from Schneider.  Meanwhile, Fosnaught, who started sixth, already had worked his way into third. A pair of cautions on Lap 7 and Lap 11 slowed the early pace.

Fosnaught moved past Schneider into 2nd on the lap 7 restart, and then cleared Bish for the lead on lap 9 coming off the inside of Turn 4.  In the following laps, Bish faded and fell back to 4th.  Schneider would recover to 2nd after making earlier contact with Terry Young, while Joe Kelley climbed to 3rd.


The field strung out with Fosnaught building about a two second lead over Schneider at the halfway mark, while Kelley remained 3rd.  Outside pole sitter Ryan Moyer found misfortune on lap 17 after spinning off turn one.

Pat Miller Photo

This gave Schneider another chance to start right to the outside of Fosnaught. Schneider pressured Fosnaught over the next few laps following the restart, as the 55 machine was running right against the cushion. But Fosnaught did not falter, and rebuilt his lead in the final stretch by running a consistent line around the low to middle groove.

The win for Fosnaught was the biggest of his career, as he bested the top drivers in the region. Schneider and Kelley took podium spots, while Aaron Easler and Rob Shook charged in the second half of the race to top five finishes. Four of the top five finishers had been regulars in the Sportsman division this season.

The inaugural appearance by the Penn Ohio Stock Series at Lernerville began with group qualifying to setup four heat events.  Fosnaught set quicktime with a lap of 18.381 seconds on a very fast track. Heats went to Young, Moyer, Schneider, and  Fosnaught. Occasional light rain showers throughout the preliminary events provided a smooth and quick surface.

A double rainbow graced the speedway prior to the Dash

Schneider started on the pole of the feature via winning an 8 lap dash. Sportsman Regular Mike Miller earned the hard luck award. Miller's suffered mechanical woes in time trials, a flat tire in his heat and then spun and hit the inside barrier on the first lap of his Bmain. Tim Burns earned the hard charger by finishing 7th from the 21st starting spot.






Amain Results

Fin(Start)
1 (6) 20J Jim Fosnaught- Bairdford
2 (1) 55 Chris Schneider- Springdale
3 (4) 66 Joe Kelley- Mt. Pleasant
4 (11) 11 Aaron Easler- Butler
5 (8) 64 Rob Shook - Creighton
6 (5) 28Y Terry Young - Butler
7 (21) 66B Tim Burns - Greenville
8 (3) 29B Curt Bish - Oil City
9 (12) 28S Bob Schwartzmiller- Robinson Twp
10 (9) 21W Chris Withers- Waterford
11 (10) 68 Shaun Hooks- New Castle
12 (13) 16M Rusty Martz- Brookeville
13 (19) 224 Shaun Faucett- Albion
14 (22) 948 Joey Zambotti- Kittanning
15 (15) 1R Rod Lasky- Oil City
16 (16) 92 Bobby Heim- Allison Park
17 (7) 30 Bob Egley- Kittanning
18 (22) 25 Brett McDonald- Saxonburg
19 (14) 9S Brian Stivenson- Freeport
20 (17) 56 Bryan Wagner- New Castle
21 (2) 13x Ryan Moyer- Portersville
22 (18) 12 John McCann- Ford City
23 (25) 29B Scott Byers- Butler
24 (24) 23 Pat Fielding
DNS 3S Paul Schreckengost- Creighton
DNS 54 Wayne Carbo- Saxonburg

Quick Time: Fosnaught 18.381
Heat Winners: Young, Moyer, Schneider, Fosnaught
Dash Winner: Schneider
Bmain Winners: Carbo, Burns
Non Winners Feature: Joey Zambotti

In other action, the RUSH Sportsman Modifieds held their manufacturers night, which involved free sponsor giveaways for all drivers in attendance.  The 15 lap event was slowed by a red flag in the early stages. Rocky Kugel flipped violently after hard contact with a stopped Greg Martin in turn 3 and 4.

The remainder of the race went green to checkered with Jeremy Zufall earning his first Lernerville win. Zufall held off the charges of Adam Hilton, who had two previous victories.  Martin was able to restart with a damaged car and finished 3rd.


RUSH Sportsman Modifieds Feature

1 20 Jeremy Zufall
2 3A Adam Hilton
3 4M Greg Martin
4 4 Jerry Schaffer
5 4W Will Schaffer
6 0 Larry Kugel
7 1 Rocky Kugel

Heat Winner: Rocky Kugel