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FONDA - Alton Palmer was in the midst of one of his strongest runs in the past couple of season Saturday night at Fonda Speedway.

However, a lap-11 restart proved costly to the veteran Howes Cave modified pilot.

Defending modified track champion Bobby Varin was lurking in the fourth spot behind Palmer, Elmo Reckner and Dave Camara.

Varin made a three-wide move on the outside of turn four and made it stick as he moved from fourth to the lead.

Varin pulled away from the field and picked his way through the back markers as he cruised to his second win of the season and 37th of his modified career at Fonda Speedway.

"I have to hand it to Alton, he was strong tonight. We needed to make that big move to get to the front," Varin said in Victory Lane. "I took a chance on the outside and it all worked out."

Joining Varin with victories from the regular Saturday race program were Kenny Gates (pro stock), Danny Ballard (IMCA), Rob VanAernam (street stock), Mark Mortensen (sportsman) and Mike Ketchum (602 limited sportsman).

Before qualifying for the regular program, the sportsman and 602 limited sportsman divisions along with the CRSA sprint cars ran their feature events that were postponed by rain last Saturday.

John McAuliffe picked up his first feature win of the season in the sportsman feature, while Jeremiah Munson made it three wins in a row in the 602 limiteds.

Dylan Swiernik made history as the first winner for the CSRA sprinters at the Track of Champions.

Palmer and Tim Dwyer brought the modified field to the green with Palmer breaking out in front. He continued to lead after a lap-two restart but Reckner and Jim Davis got past Dwyer on the restart.

Camara and Varin rapidly made their way to the front of the pack and when the caution flew on lap 10, it erased Palmer's half-straightaway lead and moved Camara and Varin behind Palmer and Reckner.

As the field picked up speed between turns three and four, Varin swung the 00 wide and found the extra traction he needed to get around Palmer and Reckner.

Varin pulled away from the field as the remaining 25 laps ran under green-flag conditions.

Palmer and Camara diced for second with Matt DeLorenzo joining the fight on lap 12.

DeLorenzo found his way into the runner-up spot with eight laps remaining. Camara slipped past Palmer on lap 25 to take over third.

Varin crossed the finish line with a straightaway on DeLorenzo, while Camara finished third, Palmer fourth and Jack Johnson came on strong in the later stages of the race to take fifth.

Reckner, Ronnie Johnson, Ryan Odasz, Jeff Trombley and Danny Varin rounded out the top 10.

Mortensen has been knocking on the door for the first two weeks of sportsman competition but came up short. Saturday, Mortensen got to the front early and handled the pressure put on him by two-time division champion David Towns to pick up his first win of the season. Luke Munroe crossed the line third with McAuliffe fourth and John Scarborough fifth.

In the 20-lap pro stock feature, Gates used his trademark late race run on the bottom of the speedway to run down and take the lead away from Nick Stone with four laps remaining.

Chuck Dumblewski showed the field the fast way around the speedway for nine of the first 10 laps. Stone took over the lead on lap 10.

Gates made it a three-car race for the lead with eight laps remaining and got under Stone exiting turn two to take the lead and pull away to his first win of the season.

Stone was second, followed by Shane Henderson, Dumblewski and Rocky Warner.

Ballard came on late in the caution-marred 20-lap IMCA feature to take the point from early race leader Kevin Buff. Ballard survived an early-race incident and used the cautions to find his way back to the front and come away with his second straight win.

Buff was second with Jeremy Cramer, Dan Ody and Ken VanWert completing the top five.

In the 15-lap street stock main event, last week's winner, Dave Horning Sr. paced the field until troubles with the No. 17 sent him high on the speedway in turn three, allowing VanAernam and Cody Bleau to get past. Horning retired to the pits for the night.

VanAernam held off Bleau and Dan Pollak for the victory.

It was a strong night for the Sullivan Motorsports team in the 602 limited sportsman features.

Munson made it three wins in a row in the 20-lap held-over feature, getting around Ray Zemken for the lead on lap 12. Ketchum moved past Zemken with five laps remaining to complete a one-two finish for the team.

In the second 602 feature, Ketchum and Derrick McGrew hooked in a battle. The feature was red-flagged on lap six when contact between Zemken and Anthony Marro sent Zemken spinning to the top of the speedway. Adam McAuliffe was caught up in the crash as his car slid sideways into the front of Zemken's car and rolled over the car. Rick Slater also slid into the accident as a fire ignited under the hood of McAuliffe's car. The fire was quickly extinguished and all drivers involved walked away.

When the race went back to green, McGrew got the jump on Ketchum but could not hold the lead as Ketchum came back to take the point. McGrew was left to battle with Munson for the runner-up spot. They battled side-by-side through the closing laps with McGrew nipping Munson at the wire for second. Jack Gentile was fourth and Bodie Bellinger fifth.

Scarborough and John McAuliffe pulled away from the field at the drop of the green in the held-over sportsman feature with Scarborough fastest for the first 11 laps. McAuliffe found his way to the front on lap 12 and held off Scarborough for his first win of the season. Munroe was third, followed by Chad Edwards and Towns.

Swiernik and Matt Demitraszek brought the field of 20 CRSA sprinters to the green with Swiernik taking the lead. He held that spot for the entire 25 laps to claim his second career victory and first at Fonda Speedway.

Dan Hennessy was second, followed by Jeff VanSteenburg, Billy Jaycox and Tyler Rice.