FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Audio and recap by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman — Chris Seelman photo —
For the third consecutive Rumble in Fort Wayne feature event and second straight year, a page of history was written at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum.
Only this time — it was a true rookie who inked his name in the record books.
Woburn, Massachusetts native and 22-year-old college senior Anthony Nocella made the long haul from New England to make his debut appearance in this year’s 17th annual Rumble in Fort Wayne. He then forever left his mark on the concrete oval by passing defending race winner Justin Peck on lap 33 of Friday night’s 50-lap National Midget A-main and driving away to a stunning victory.
Nocella becomes the first driver to ever win in his first-career Rumble appearance, driving for noted car owner Bobby Seymour.
“It was pretty awesome to be able to win it on the first night,” Nocella said in victory lane. “We were honestly just hoping to make the race, with me never being here and all, and then once we made it, we figured ‘make it to the end and hopefully get a decent finish and jut make some laps’. It turned out a lot better than that (laughs).”
“By about lap 10, I realized I had too good a car to just ride around so I figured I’d see what we could get out of it. Guys just started slipping up and our car just kept getting better and better. What a night.”
Peck started from the pole and had to fend off a furious charge by former Rumble winner Russ Gamester in the opening laps before the first caution flew at lap 11 for a spin by Ross Rankine. Under that caution, both Gamester and third place running Billy Wease headed to the work area in a shocking twist of events that shuffled the frontrunners.
Gamester was able to rejoin the field for the restart, but Wease ended up out of the race with a broken oil cooler.
On the restart, Gamester caught a break when the yellow flew again on lap 12 for a slowing Rich Corson, and in the ensuing laps, Peck had to pull away from a hard charging Derek Bischak, who peeked to the inside twice on laps 17 and 19 before a third yellow on lap 20 flew after David Gough’s spin in turn one.
With Gough spinning out of third, Nocella was elevated to third behind Peck and Bischak as the field came to halfway, and began his charge just as the fourth caution of the race flew at lap 27 for Chris Neuenschwander looping his midget in turn one.
Once racing resumed, Bischak made a bid for the lead coming up on 20 laps to go but lost his car going into turn one and slid high, yielding second to Nocella and slipping back to third.
From there, the rookie was patiently aggressive, taking a peek to the inside with 18 laps to go before making the decisive pass heading down the backstretch a lap later. As Nocella began to pull away, Peck was shuffled out to fourth as Bryan Nuckles made a late charge to move to second.
Nuckles didn’t have enough steam to run down Nocella, however, who weathered a final caution with ten laps to go and dashed away over the final sprint to claim the upset victory.
“I think we could have gotten closer if we’d had another caution,” Nuckles said of the closing laps. “I’ve taken my headrest off the last couple of years and I fell out of the seat there for a second, but I was just holding on for all I had there at the end.”
The result also ties Nuckles’ career-best indoor finish.
“I’m glad we had a good run tonight, this feels like a win after all the bad luck we’ve had the last few years.”
Bischak held on to third at the checkered flag, with Peck and USAC young gun Ross Rankine rounding out the top five at the finish.
Quick timer Brandon Knupp, Nuckles and Kyle Hamilton won consolation features to transfer to the back of the A-main, while Nick Hamilton, Wease, Corson, Nocella, and Geoff Kaiser each won one of five heat races.
Jason Ormsby wired the field in non-winged 600cc dirt midget competition, leading all 25 laps in a hotly contested feature that was fast and furious from second on back.
The early laps saw Ormsby gap the field, with track record-setter Matt Janisch and Larry Joe Sroufe both falling victim to trouble before lap ten and drawing two cautions on laps 5 and 7 respectively. Janisch retired with apparent mechanical issues and Sroufe’s day was ended by a blown left rear tire.
Ormsby led the field to halfway but a caution on lap 14 for defending winner Blane Culp’s spin on the frontstretch set up another restart. That was when chaos struck — as Erick Rudolph and Mike Stefanik collided in turn one with six laps to go, while racing for second. Both cars ended up spinning by the time they got to turn three, shuffling the running order and bumping Clay Sanders to second.
Sanders was no match for the dominant No. 51 machine though, as Ormsby cruised to his first-career Rumble victory in the non-winged 600 class.
“It was a long 25 laps there,” Ormsby said after climbing from his machine. “The cautions went our way and everything was just great. It means a lot to win this one after coming up short in the past. After last season (and having problems) it feels good to win here.”
Tony Colandro (Sr. Caged), Korbyn Hayslett (Jr. Caged, Jr. Heavy), Dustin Heath (Sr. Medium, Heavy Clone), Shawn Kluck (Sr. Heavy), Phillip Schneider (Light Clone) and Garrett Andexler (Kid) all won go-kart features on the evening.
The Rumble in Fort Wayne continues tonight with the second day of a three-day program, featuring the National Midgets, non-winged 600cc dirt midgets, winged 600cc modified midgets, and a full slate of go-kart and quarter midget action.
RESULTS: 17th annual Rumble in Fort Wayne; Allen County War Memorial Coliseum; Dec. 26, 2014
National Midget Feature (50 laps) – 1. Anthony Nocella, 2. Bryan Nuckles, 3. Derek Bischak, 4. Justin Peck, 5. Ross Rankine, 6. Russ Gamester, 7. Kyle Hamilton, 8. Joe Liguori, 9. Nick Hamilton, 10. Chris Neuenschwander, 11. David Gough, 12. Jim Anderson, 13. Brandon Knupp, 14. Rich Corson, 15. Geoff Kaiser, 16. Billy Wease.
Lap leaders: Peck 1-32, Nocella 33-50.
Audio with race winner Anthony Nocella:
Audio with runner-up Bryan Nuckles:
Audio with 3rd-place Derek Bischak:
Audio with 4th-place Justin Peck:
Audio with 5th-place Ross Rankine:
Consi Winners: Brandon Knupp, Bryan Nuckles, Kyle Hamilton
Heat Race Winners: Nick Hamilton, Wease, Corson, Nocella, Geoff Kaiser
Audio with Heat 1 winner Nick Hamilton:
Audio with Heat 4 Non-Transfer Kyle Hamilton:
Non-Winged 600cc Dirt Modified Midget Feature (25 laps) – 1. Jason Ormsby, 2. Larry Joe Sroufe, 3. Russ Gamester, 4. Jonathon Lesiecki, 5. Blane Culp, 6. Kim Hughes, 7. Jaden Rogers, 8. Mike Fedorcak, 9. Braiden Black, 10. Richard Smith, 11. Erick Rudolph, 12. Shawn Grace, 13. Clay Sanders, 14. Matt Janisch, 15. Phil Bozell, 16. Daniel Robinson.
Lap leaders: Ormsby 1-25.
Audio with race winner Jason Ormsby:
Senior Heavy Go-Kart Feature (15 laps) – Shawn Kluck, Dustin Heath, Matt Randall, Josh McKnight, Kyle Kalweit, Nick Grommes, Kyle Burns, Teddy Alberts, Austin Horn.
Senior Medium Go-Kart Feature (15 laps) – Dustin Heath, John Ivy, Shawn Kluck, Zach Wolff, Ronnie Niehaus, Nate Randall, Derek Hammond, A.J. Robinson, Steven Webb, Sierra Lantz, Wayne Parkhurst, Levi Wilbur, Austin Horn.
Senior Caged Go-Kart Feature (15 laps) – Anthony Colandro, Cole Rhoton, Brandon Dunn, Dan Bouc, Dylan Woodling, Zack Myers, Philip Schneider, Brad Schieber, Josh Hanselman, Mike Ernsberger, Brandon Schnittke, Michael Giachetti, Max Stambaugh, Zack Schaffer.
Junior Heavy Go-Kart Feature (15 laps) – Korbyn Hayslett, Sam Weaver, Tayte Williamson, Dylan Anderson, Gene Gregoric III, Andrew Scheid, Myles Morrolf, Hannah Galitz, Michael Paterno, Amanda Bohn, Kaitlin Randall, Connor Truman.
Junior Caged Go-Kart Feature (15 laps) – Korbyn Hayslett, Breiden Mooney, Kasey Ziebold, Owen Houpt, Ian Creager, Aiden Williamson, Jakeb Boxell, Paige Rogers, Jim Emrich, Madison Bland, Gene Gregoric III, Aaron Mulrooney Jr., Tayte Williamson, Jaden Cretacci.
Heavy Clone Go-Kart Feature (15 laps) – Dustin Heath, Zach Axlen, Brandon Dunn, Philip Schneider, Joey Pendergrass, Jake Shelley, Josh McKnight, Tyler Kramer, Ryan Moran, Kobe Allison, Charlie Schultz, Tyler Ransbottom, Matt Hall, Joe Barker.
Light Clone Go-Kart Feature (15 laps) – Philip Schneider, Joey Pendergrass, Zach Axlen, Brandon Dunn, Jake Shelley, Tyler Kramer, Ryan Moran, Tyler Ransbottom, Kobe Allison, Zack Wolff, Charlie Schultz, Jake Wachtman, Damon Woodbury, Dustin Heath.
Kid Kart Feature (10 laps) – Garrett Andexler, Patrick Clark, Cameron Vandermeir, Parker Lindemann, David Bretz, Hunter Weaver, TeigAnn Freed, Joshua Toth, Brodie Wendel, Drew Phillips, Jackson Orth, Aryonna Kehle, Jasmine Goble, Brayton Goble.
