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“ULTIMATE UNDERDOG 33” WIN TO MAX MCLAUGHLIN IN THE NELSON MOTORSPORTS #85

By: Ron Szczerba

Fonda, NY – The 2024 version of the Fonda 200 weekend got underway on Thursday evening with the running of the “Ultimate Underdog 33” event for the Amsterdam Truck Center Modifieds. The event was held for non-winning 2024 Amsterdam Truck Center Modified drivers with a familiar face and a former winner at the “Track of Champions” Fonda Speedway taking the win in the $2,000 to win event.

While the winner of the event may have been no surprise, the surprise may have come in the car that he took the win with as Max McLaughlin piloted the Erik & Bill Nelson owned Nelson Motorsports #85 ride to the win in a last minute deal to drive the car that came just one night before the event. “Mad Max” as he is called has one win at Fonda back on 7/1/2023 in the Al Heinke owned F.X. Caprara Harley Davidson sponsored #8H in a Thunder on the Thruway Series event.

“We put this deal together last night (Wednesday),” McLaughlin told Mimi Lazzaro in victory lane. “I was washing my Late Model in North Carolina, and I sent Jack (Lehner) a text asking for Erik Nelson’s number because I thought that we were going to get rained out down here this Saturday. Jack is the one that set this whole thing up.”

Thursday evening was the first time that McLaughlin ever sat in the Nelson Motorsports #85 and only his third time in a Modified this season making it an even more impressive win for McLaughlin and the Nelson Motorsports Racing Team!

Other winners on day one of the 2024 Fonda 200 weekend included AJ Greco in the Montgomery County Office for Aging Inc. Limited Sportsman feature and Jason Samrov in the Online Performance/Stone Motorsports Street Stock feature, both events paying $500 to the winner.

Pep Corradi and Michael Trautschold started on the front row for the 33-lap “Ultimate Underdog” event with Corradi leading at the drop of Joe Kriss’ green flag. No laps were completed before the yellow flag took the start away twice before a clean start on attempt number three with Corradi again leading the event. On lap seven, Trautschold took the lead away from Corradi with fourth place starter Max McLaughlin also getting by Corradi for the second position.

Fifth place starter Jessica Friesen was also on the move, getting by both Tanner Warner and Corradi for the third position on lap 12, but her great run came to an end one lap later when she slowed in turn four to bring out the caution. Trautschold chose the inside on the restart and maintained the lead with McLaughlin ducking his nose underneath the leader in every turn. Coming out of turn four to complete lap 21, McLaughlin was the new race leader after getting by Trautschold on the inside and he pulled away from that point on.

Twelfth place starter Danny Varin put on a great show coming from deep in the field, taking the fourth place on a lap 13 restart. Varin moved up through the top five one by one until lap 27 when he took the second position away from Trautschold. Despite lap traffic over the last few laps of the event, McLaughlin held on for the win with Varin, Trautschold, ninth place starter Dave Constantino, and Warner completing the top five.

“I won here one time at Fonda in the Thunder on the Thruway Series race,” McLaughlin said. “Fonda has never been one of my best tracks, but it has always been a fun track. Jack has really come a long way on setups since we’ve been best friends, starting when we raced big blocks together, that’s all him with the setup. Erik Nelson and everybody involved gave me a real good car and that makes my job a lot of fun.”

“Jack is one of my best friends, he is the future of Big Block Modified racing without a doubt. Hopefully he can get a shot and try something else one day, I think the world of that kid. I appreciate everything that he has done for me, and I think that we have a real good shot at the Fonda 200. I hope that we can finish one, two on Saturday night.”

Lance Hill and 2024 Fonda Speedway Limited Sportsman Track Champion AJ Greco started the 20-lap Montgomery County Office for Aging Inc. Limited Sportsman feature event on the front row with Hill taking the early lead. Two yellow flags slowed the field before lap five was completed but on the lap five restart, Greco took the lead away from Hill and pulled away to a comfortable advantage.

At the halfway point Greco was the leader followed by Hill, Hayden Coons, Shawn Gibbons, and 13th place starter Tim Wilmot. The yellow was out again on lap 16 with a single file restart to follow with another yellow out two laps later for Gibbons and Wilmot who came together in turn one. Greco pulled away on the restart and went on to his fifth win of the 2024 season in the “Hunter Strong” themed #12AJ.

The win was the seventh of Greco’s career in the division moving him up to third on the All-Time Win List. Hill, Coons, Kirsten Swartz, and 12th place starter Jeff Bobilin completed the top five in the event.

“My dad and I just said this is the closing chapter of the book,” Greco told Mimi Lazzaro in victory lane. “We’re looking forward to next year but what a hell of a way to end the Limited’s. Theres a lot of pressure moving up to the regular sportsman next year, it is a huge jump. But we’re gonna come out tomorrow (Friday) and try to qualify, see how we match up, and get a little bit of a preview for next year.”

“I changed the quarter panel out for “Hunter Strong,” his family is really close to my family after the issue with my sister,” Greco continued to say. “They were there for my family and I thought that we should be there for them, to hopefully bring some awareness so people can join in to donate and help them out because he is fighting a real hard battle. Hopefully, he can fight through this, he’s not fighting alone.”

Jason Samrov took the lead from his pole position start as the green flag flew for the 20-lap Online Performance/Stone Motorsports Street Stock feature and led every lap for the win, his 17th career Street Stock victory at Fonda.

Chris Murray started the event in the seventh position and put on a show for the fans, making the pass for the third position just before the halfway point. That would be where Murray would finish but in post-race inspection he was disqualified for being underweight. Samrov was the winner with Chris Stalker, Adam Tranka, Matt Moshier, and Josh Samrov completing the top five.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been here in Fonda’s victory lane,” Samrov said after his win (last win at Fonda was on 8/1/2020 along with Track Championships at Fonda in the division in 2019 and 2020. “It feels great to be back here, I wish we could come back here every week. Thanks to Electric City Transportation, Starlite lanes, and Nick Stone who build a great car.”

27 Entrees
Amsterdam Truck Center Modifieds
Amsterdam Truck Center Modifieds "Ultimate Underdog 33" (33 Laps): 1. 85-Max McLaughlin[4]; 2. 93-Danny Varin[12]; 3. 28T-Michael Trautschold[2]; 4. 34-Dave Constantino[9]; 5. 98-Tanner Warner[3]; 6. 21P-Luciano (Pep) Corradi[1]; 7. 35C-Chris Curtis[7]; 8. 3-Jeff Trombley[11]; 9. 20C-Craig Hanson[13]; 10. 76M-Ricky Quick[17]; 11. 24-Adam McAuliffe[10]; 12. 35B-Francois Bellemare[23]; 13. 22-Kurtis Hohensheldt[15]; 14. 117-Butchie Irwin[16]; 15. 30-Mark Pullen[25]; 16. 63-Chip Constantino[26]; 17. 27-Jason Reome[18]; 18. 1Z-Jessica Friesen[5]; 19. 50-Bill August[6]; 20. 1-Tyler Dippel[14]; 21. 1B-Brett Mortensen[20]; 22. 7J-Dan Santabarbara[24]; 23. 12AJ-Jason Greco[27]; 24. 4-Cody Clark[8]; 25. 42H-Kadon Hohensheldt[19]; 26. 16-Aaron Jacobs[21]; 27. (DNS) 97-Bobby Hackel IV

22 entries
Montgomery County Office for Aging Limited Sportsman
Montgomery County Office for Aging Limited Sportsman A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 12AJ-AJ Greco[2]; 2. 92C-Lance Hill[1]; 3. 12-Hayden Coons[3]; 4. 24-Kirsten Swartz[4]; 5. 1B-Jeff Bobilin[12]; 6. 2-Brandon Tyler[19]; 7. 916-Nick Brundige[10]; 8. 13J-Jim Mallia[9]; 9. 26-Mason Gray[11]; 10. 216-Phil Arnold[8]; 11. 11-Josh Persse[16]; 12. 47-Walter Cook[17]; 13. 32-Owen Mormile[22]; 14. 62-Shawn Gibbons[6]; 15. 14W-Timothy Wilmot[13]; 16. 797-Corky Warner[7]; 17. 4-Zach McSpirit[15]; 18. 21-Christian Scribner[18]; 19. 19-Tim Deffer[14]; 20. 7A-Steve Wagoner[5]; 21. (DNS) 1A-Nick Arnold; 22. (DNS) 538-Gus Kamburelis

Greco’s NAPA Hard Charger – Brandon Tyler +13

13 entries
Online Performance/Stone Motorsports Street Stocks
Online Performance Parts / Stone Motorsports Street Stocks A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 24V-Jason Samrov[1]; 2. 177-Chris Stalker[2]; 3. 54-Adam Tranka[4]; 4. 91-Matt Mosher[5]; 5. 24N-Josh Samrov[9]; 6. 55-Andrew Fitzgerald[3]; 7. 08-Lou Gancarz[11]; 8. 17-Slater Baker[13]; 9. 44-Malcum Warner[10]; 10. 54R-Wayne Russell Jr[12]; 11. 711-Jason Barrett[8]; 12. 39-Matt Wells[6]; 5VT Chris Murray DQ Weight

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