ST. JOHNS, Pa. (April 13, 2003) - When Brian Defebo won the 2002 Mountain Speedway Modified title he did everything right. Almost that is. His consistently was the key to the championship but winning races eluded him.

That came to a fitting finish Sunday afternoon as the Berwick native grabbed the lead after an opening lap restart and then drove away to his first feature win in almost two seasons.

“This is like the icing on the cake from last year. It’s a new season and you still put a lot into your effort over the winter and it paid off today,” said Defebo.

With Don Wagner and Chuck Schartzer sharing front row honors, the much anticipated start went sour right from the get go. No sooner did the field get the green then the front pair suddenly found themselves crashing into each other and sent everyone else scattering. Also collected in the melee was Shaun Carrig.

After the dust had settled Schartzer and Carrig where able to make hasty repairs and return to action while Wagner’s day ended before it even started.

When the race resumed Defebo, who originally started third, found himself the new pole sitter and was joined by New York invader Dave Pecko.

Once underway it was smooth sailing for the champ. Without anymore yellows Defebo covered the 30-lap distance problem free. Pecko settled for second while Mike Adams, rookie Alan Decker and Carrig rounded out the top five.

For Defebo it was a case of beginning in the right place at the right time when the opening lap incident unfolded in front of him.

“Chuck (Schartzer) and Donny (Wagner) got together on that first lap and I just happen to be far enough back that I had a little response time to get out of the way and try to get by them. It worked out good in our favor. I was sorry for those guys because they’re good runners every week but it could happen to anyone,” said Defebo.

In Late Model action Jim Wismer, Jr., had one busy day to say the least. He started his day from the outside pole but got into an opening lap tangle that sent him into the pits afterward. Then having to start from the back the wily veteran worked his way into the top three in short order and was keeping pace with leader Paul Kohler and runner-up Dave Wallace.

Things then got a bit hairy on a lap-16 restart when Kohler apparently had something go array and he suddenly spun while coming around to take the green.

The lead then went to Wallace with Wismer now second. Over the remaining distance the pair raced feverously in tandem. On the white flag lap they came upon a lapped car and with the checkered flag in sight they had to split the difference with Wallace going high and Wismer down low. It now became a drag race to the line with Wismer coming out on top by a mere .004 seconds.

“It was a good time racing like that with a guy like Dave Wallace,” said Wismer. “I was just following him and then dogging him near the end and it really looked like he was going to go on to the win. But it really worked out for us with the lapped car and for us to come into Victory Lane I’m just ecstatic over it.”

Joe Hoffman proved that he is once again loaded for bear this season as he stormed from his pole starting spot and easily motored to victory in the Pro Stock main. Once the green dropped it became a race for second as Sam Ryan held off Mike Higgins for runner-up honors. However a post race infraction was imposed on Ryan, elevating Higgins to second.

Ron Babula started second and then used a lap ten restart to get past Scott Meckes for the Street Stock 20-lap feature win.

Both drivers went head-to head over the first half of the event but once they lined up after a mid-point caution Babula got a great jump on Meckes and then kept his #37 barley out front to claim the win.

Paul Frantz held off Shaun Burd en-route to winning the Factory Stock feature. The defending champion waged a great two abreast battle with Burd over the early laps but after a restart on lap five Frantz used the outside line to blast into the lead and then maintained the top spot to the checkered.

RESULTS

MODIFIEDS
(30): 1.Brian Defebo 2.Dave Pecko 3.Mike Adams 4.Alan Decker 5.Shaun Carrig 6.Chuck Schartzer 7.Wayne Szerencits 8.Gerry Woody 9.Rich Crompton 10.Jason Trinchere 11.Brian Romig 12.Don Wagner 13.Tom Flanagan

LATE MODELS
(25): 1.Jim Wismer, Jr. 2.Dave Wallace 3.Tyer Haydt 4.Deam Kline, Jr. 5.Kris Lieberman 6.Bill Balliet 7.Jason Makarewicz 8.Mike Radocha 9.John Zanotti 10.Ricky Smith 11.Paul Koehler 12.Doug Yanders 13.Todd Stehle 14.Eric Kippycash 15.Chris Hamilton

PRO STOCKS
(25): 1.Joe Hoffman 2.Mike Higgins 3.Bob Ankner 4.Chris Burge 5.Justin Onderko 6.Frank Hughes 7.Al Kerns 8.Rich Spaide 9.Chris Toole 10.Paul Monkoski DQ: Sam Ryan, Frank Katona

STREET STOCKS
(20): 1.Ron Babula 2.Scott Meckes 3.JR Roth 4.Jennifer Kutz 5.Todd Ahner 6.Todd Barbush 7.Brad Kline 8.Mark Corbisiero 9.John Swerdon, Jr. 10.Glenn Heckman 11.Dennis Buss 12.Brian Labar 13.Mike Garris, Sr. 14.Leo Kowalsky 15.Robert Fink 16.Paul Frantz

FACTORY STOCKS
(20): 1.Paul Frantz 2.Tom Wharton 3.Randy Ahner 4.Steve McCracken 5.Brad Barbush 6.Shaun Burd 7.Amber Levandowski 8.Mike Garris, Jr. 9.Sue Collins 10.Jared Aigeldinger