Brandon Myers Wins the Vasos Memorial at Latrobe Speedway 

****FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE****

Brandon Myers Wins the Vasos Memorial at Latrobe Speedway 

By DJ Johnson

LATROBE, PA (September 16, 2023)  A strange turn of events determined the winners in several Latrobe Speedways FAST-FIVE divisions. 

Besides Brandon Myers taking the Vasos Memorial win in the Special T Metals LLC Modified 4 Cylinder feature, Troy Shields won in the K2 Engineering Crate Late Models, Jacob Gamola won the Bowers Farms RaceSaver 305 Sprint Cars, Anthony Monetparte won his fifth straight Joe’s Body Shop and Towing feature, and Jason Deiter was the winner in the Dean Pollock Hobby Stocks.

The 2nd Annual Jeffrey Vasos Memorial for the Special T Metals LLC Modified 4 Cylinders went to the sixth-place starter Brandon Myers in a race where the leaders could not hold on to the lead.

Dayton Hazlett jumped into the lead on lap 1 with pole-sitter Paul Koffler III in second, followed by Colton McNaney. Sixth starting Brandon Myers was fourth at the end of lap 1, with Chris Myers in fifth. Koffler III hit the front stretch wall, ending his night. Hazlett would have McNaney on his tail with the Myers in hot pursuit on the lap-2 restart. On lap 8, Hazlett would develop an issue and head pit side, thus handing the lead to the 2023 champ, McNaney. On lap 10, McNaney and Joe Jacobs would get together, resulting in a flat right rear fire for McNaney, sending him to the pits: another new leader, Brandon Myers. Brandon Myers would hold on to win the 2nd Annual Jeffrey Vasos Memorial just .419 seconds ahead of Chris Myers. Tweleveth place starter Tifani McElhose would finish third, Andrew Jones was fourth, and Shawn Ghrist held on for fifth.

In the K2 Engineering Crate Late Model feature, Ryan Frazee would lead from the drop of the green flag with Troy Shields, Clinton Hersh, Braeden Dillinger, and Joe Zulisky, all in tow. Zulisky would spin in Turn 2, bringing out the caution flag and bunching up the field for the restart. Frazee would lead past the halfway point of the 20-lap feature when, on lap 13, Frazee and Hersh would get together in the middle of Turns 3 and 4, with Hersh going low and Frazee sliding off the top side, resulting in a flat tire. The No. 16 of Hersh was sent to the rear of the field for Rough Driving, and Frazee went to the pits and did not return. Shields inherited the lead when the race resumed, with Dillinger, Zach Herring, Jeff Ferguson, and Rob King rounding out the top five.

With several top competitors not in attendance, Anthony Monteparte took his fifth straight win in the Joe’s Body Shop and Towing Pure Stock feature. Monteparte led from the pole, with Dakota Hixon, Cody Behanna, John Cain, and John Hollis completing the top five of the 12-lap feature.

Also, on Saturday, Track Champions were decided in the Bowers Farms RaceSaver 305 Sprint Cars and the Dean Pollock Hobby Stocks.

Jim Morris from Fowler, Ohio, captured the Bowers Farms RaceSaver 305 Sprint Car title by two points over Jacob Gamola, who was only six points behind Morris at the night’s start. Gamola won the Heat race, collecting three points over Morris and closing the gap to three points behind Morris.

 In the Bower Farms 15-lap feature, Jacob Gomola of Guys Mills, PA, started on the pole with Jim Pattock from New Kensington to his outside. By lap 2, Pattock had the lead, followed by Gomola, Jarrett Rosencrance, Jim Morris, and first-time visitor Dylan Shatzer from Hagerstown, MD. Unbelievably, on the last lap, while cruising down the long back straightaway, Pattock’s right-rear tire went flat, and Pattock did four complete 360-degree spins off the racing surface and kept going amazingly, bringing out the caution flag. Pattock went pit side, handing over the lead to Gomola, who some 24 hours earlier picked up the LHSS RaceSaver 305 win at the Clinton County Speedway. Meanwhile, division point lead Jim Morris was sitting in third before the caution was now in second place, assuring himself of the track championship. Gomola would finish first in the race but second in the season-long points chase.

Rosencrance would finish third in both the race and the Track Championship. Shatzer would finish fourth, Hunter McFadden in the black and yellow 21 from Waynesboro, PA, was fifth, and Jazlyn Boyles of Hadley, PA rounded out the field.

In the Dean Pollock Hobby Stocks, Jason Deiter picked up his second win of the season when the No. 5 of Bryce Hensell failed the post-race inspection. Mike Pavlak was second, and Scott Casto finished third. Deiter won the Hobby Stock Track Championship by twelve points over Scott Casto.

****LATROBE SPEEDWAY FEATURE SUMMARY****

JEFFREY VASOS MEMORIAL SPECIAL T METALS LLC MODIFIED 4-CYLINDER (19) 15-LAPS:

1. 307-Brandon Myers (6) 2. 830-Chris Myers 

3. 24- Tifani McElhose 4. 513-Andrew Jones 

5. 89- Shawn Ghrist 6. 39-Brian Noel 7. 3-Steven Lakin

8. 27-Joe Jacobs 9. 2- Brandon Dempsey 10. 00-Bud Lawver 

DNF: 11. 51-Colton McNaney 12. 10-Brad Dickey 13. Dayton Hazlett 14. 38-Travis Shaffer 15. 66-Dale Grubbs 16. 48-Paul Koffler 17. E8-Kenny Swink 18. 12- Nick Zborovanick 19. 79-Brian Spangler

K2 ENGINEERING CRATE LATE MODELS (13) 20-LAPS 1.11s-Troy Shields (1) 2. 28-Braeden Dillinger 3. 15-Zach Herring 4. 11L-Jeff Ferguson 5. K1-Rob King 6. 16 Clinton Hersh 7. 61-Vince Masi 8. 14G-Jake Gunn 9. 711-Jay McCracken

DNF-10. 17F Ryan Frazee 11. 58-Joe Zulisky 

DNS-12. Marino Angelicchio 13. Zack Gunn

BOWERS FARMS RACESAVER SPRINTS (7) 15-LAPS

1.4J-Jacob Gamola (1) 2. 16-Jim Morris 3. 25-Jarrett Rosencrance 4. 71-Dylan Shatzer 5. 21M-Hunter McFadden 6. 30-Jazlyn Boyles 

DNF- 7. Jim Pattock

JOE’S BODY SHOP & TOWING PURE STOCKS (10) 12-LAPS

1.66-Anthony Monteparte (1) 2. 96- Dakota Hixon 

3. 25-Cody Behanna 4. 06-John Cain 5. 81- John Hollis

6. 3Z Jim Zufall 7. 88K-Kevin Kolishinsky 8. 28-Travis Blystone 9. 95- Pete Miller

DNS-10. 55 Jake Betnisky

DEAN POLLOCK HOBBY STOCKS (4) 10-LAPS

1.28-Jason Deiter (2) 2. 7-Mike Pavlak 3. 84. Scott Casto

DQ-5-Bryce Hansell