September 3, 2005

Fornoro Drives to First Oswego ISMA Victory

Oswego, NY - Nokie Fornoro put the Soule Racing baby blue No. 32 in victory lane Saturday night at the Oswego Speedway, taking the lead on the 18th lap and holding off Chris Perley to win the Labatts Blue SMA Supernationals 50. It was the third win on the ISMA circuit in 2005 for the Pennsylvania native, his first career win at Oswego.

"There was a lot of lapped traffic," Fornoro said. "The cars were racing and they were racing hard. It was my job to judge them. I got myself in a couple of spots but fortunately I got out of it and everything went well. I think everybody did an excellent job. I'm happy, it's my first Oswego supermodified win. I'm very elated."

Fornoro took the lead prior to the halfway mark and initially ran away. Once making his way through the field, Perley's No. 11 began to reel in Fornoro. Late race cautions kept Perley on Fornoro's rear bumper often, but Perley could never muster the might out of his supermodified to pass the No. 32.

Perley said he was very satisfied with his runner-up performance, especially seeing how he felt he had gotten everything out of his car that it had. "It's awesome," Perley said. "It's a great boost. Not that we needed a big boost but it's nice to come to Oswego and run good. That's what we did."

Joey Payne nabbed the lead at the start of the 50-lap feature. Payne took off like a rocket, putting seven lengths on the field by the third lap. Starting in 10th, Fornoro leapt past five competitors in the first four laps and into fifth place. After five laps were completed, Payne led. Justin Belfiore, Dave McKnight, Lou Cicconi and Fornoro rounded out the top five.

Payne's lead quickly evaporated as the leaders raced into lapped traffic by the 11th lap. Payne and McKnight emerged alone in front after clearing traffic, 10 lengths ahead of the field. Fornoro dumped Cicconi and Belfiore in traffic, moving into third.

Racing stayed green as Fornoro quickly moved in on the lead duo. Once catching them, there was no riding along as he swiftly skated past McKnight on the 17th lap and flew by Payne on the 18th lap to take the lead.

Cicconi's day came to an end as a shower of sparks shot from the No. 75 as it exited the racing surface on the 22nd lap, giving up a sixth-place run. At the half-way mark, Fornoro led by a full straightaway over Payne, McKnight, Pat Abold and Perley.

Fornoro eased his No. 32 into a cluster of lapped cars with a huge lead to fall back on. Perley kicked it up into high gear, taking third away from McKnight on the 28th lap, delivering Payne a trip back one spot on the 29th lap.

At the 30-lap mark, Fornoro led Perley, Payne, McKnight and Abold. Bentley Warren, Joe Petro, Russ Wood, Joe Gosek and Jon McKennedy completed the top 10.

Perley trailed Fornoro by a full straightaway, but Fornoro was in the midst of heavy traffic. Perley started slicing into the lead with some success when Eric Shirey whirled his V-2 around, lightly brushing the first turn foam. It was the first caution of the race.

With 36 laps in the books, Fornoro led Perley, Payne, Warren and Abold. Sixth-place running McKnight spun on the restart, but needed only to be turned around and pushed away.

The flurry of cautions continued as soon after the restart, Romanoski cut a tire which sent the field scattering. Everyone was able to clear the No. 5 but a precautionary yellow had been thrown. The contagious yellow fever claimed yet another clean restart after Lichty and McKnight spun in the first turn. Lichty was bit by the mechanical bug but McKnight only need to be pushed off once again.

On the final restart of the evening, Fornoro held his ground. Perley took peeks on both sides, but didn't make a move. The two leaders pulled away as Warren fought with lapped traffic in desperation.

With seven laps to go, the No. 32 and No. 11 led by a full stretch. Lapped traffic lay ahead and would be Perley's last shot at Fornoro. But Fornoro was steady through traffic, choosing the right lanes to guide his supermodified through. Perley had gotten everything he could out of his No. 11 as Fornoro sped on to victory.

"You always feel that you can win when you come to a race - at least I do anyway," Fornoro said. "We were pretty good. We weren't the fastest car in practice or in the heat races, but we were running on some older tires in practice. Come feature time it wasn't perfect but it was good enough to do the job tonight. I have one hell of a motor in that car."

Perley finished in second as his teammate for the race, Warren, had a show in third. "It's the first time Bentley's been in it for a couple of years," Perley said. "For him to jump in it and finish third, that's great. I'm glad he wasn't in a couple times before because he probably would've blown by all of us!"

Warren was just as enthused. "The car was excellent," Warren said. "I had a ball. I think a caution could've helped me when I was way back so far. But I don't know, Chris and Nokie were running real good."

The series point leader, Abold finished what he said was a disappointing fourth. "I was really psyched about tonight," Abold said. "It didn't go at all the way we had planned. The car got a little bit loose right from the beginning of the race and didn't really improve during the race. We've got a little work to do here."

After an impressive heat win, Gosek topped off the evening with a solid top five run. "The car was good in the heat but I knew we weren't real fast," Gosek said. "I was thinking in the feature that we could have a shot or be a top five, which we got. If the yellow hadn't have come out I think we could've done one better and gotten into fourth, I think. It was better in the longer runs. It was a good run though. We started about ninth, dropped back to 15th and got back up to fifth."

Labatts Blue ISMA Supernationals 50:
1. Noki Fornoro (32), 2. Chris Perley (11), 3. Bentley Warren (0), 4. Pat Abold (26), 5. Joe Gosek (77), 6. Russ Wood (29), 7. Joey Payne (4), 8. Dave McKnight (94), 9. Jon McKennedy (79), 10. Justin Belfiore (8), 11. Mark Sammut (78), 12. Greg Furlong (72), 13. Scott Martel (97), 14. Rick Wentworth (10), 15. Randy Ritskis (88), 16. Mike Lichty (84), 17. Joe Petro (33), 18. Vern Romanoski (5), 19. Eric Shirey (V2), 20. Jamie Letcher (58), 21. Dave Trytek (35), 22. Lou Cicconi (75), 23. Jon Henes (36), 24. Denny Fisher (05), 25. Randy Burch (52), 26. Bobby Haynes, Jr. (44). 27. Kyle Carpenter (9)

Heat #1:
1. Justin Belfiore (8), 2. Joey Payne (4), 3. Dave McKnight (94), 4. Russ Wood (29), 5. Bentley Warren (0), 6. Mark Sammut (78), 7. Randy Ritskis (88), 8. Greg Furlong (72), 9. Dave Trytek (35), 10. Jamie Letcher (58), 11. Denny Fisher (05)

Heat #2:
1. Joe Petro (33), 2. Nokie Fornoro (32), 3. Pat Abold (26), 4. Lou Cicconi (75), 5. Mike Lichty (84), 6. Scott Martel (97), 7. Eric Shirey (V2), 8. Bobby Haynes, Jr. (44), 9. John Gambutti (15), 10. Joey Scanlon (55)

Heat #3:
1. Joe Gosek (77), 2. Chris Perley (11), 3. Vern Romano ski (5), 4. Jon McKinney (79), 5. Rick Wentworth (10), 6. Randy Birch (52), 7. Kyle Carpenter (9), 8. Jon Henes (36), 9. Keith Gilliam (87), 10. Mike Badessa (6)