Northrup, Gabriel, Jr. Take Checkers at Afton

Afton, NY 5/30/97....Friday night was Cook Brothers night at the Afton Raceway and the crowd was treatedto another stellar five card of racing action. Modified rookie Jerry Northrup of Bainbridge, hasbeen knocking on the door all season long and he was finally able to put it all together and scorethe 30 lap victory after a heated battle with Robbie Green and Paul Jensen. Jim Gabriel Jr ofBinghamton, scored his third 20 lap Sportsman feature with another late race charge to thecheckers. Herm Slack of Whitney Point, scored his third 20 lap Street Stock win after out dueling Rodney Hart. Dave Burnett of Unadilla, scored his first 15 lap 4 Cylinder feature, and Dan Howeof Masonville scored his second 15 lap Pure Stock feature.

Mark Schoonover jumped from the outside pole position to lead the first two laps of the30 lap Modified feature which were marred by cautions for Marty Bunker and JR Hurlburt. JerryNorthrup used these laps to burn through the field as he came from his ninth starting spot to leadon lap 3. Also charging through the filed was last week's winner Paul Jensen as he came from16th to 4th in those three laps. Mitch Gibbs and Robbie Green were also charging through thefield. By lap 5 the top five saw Northrup leading, Schoonover second, Jensen third, SteveCummings fourth, and Mitch Gibbs fifth. The yellow would fly again on lap 8 when Pete NowickiJr broke in turn two. On the restart Green got by Cummings to move into the top five. Gibbslooked like he had found something on the high side when he suddenly slowed in turn four to bringout another caution. Gibbs would drive the 2G back to the pits but would not return. On the restartNorthrup, Jensen and Green would move away to settle the race themselves. This trio raced sideby side for many laps, with Northrup able to hold a slight edge for the lead. When the checkerdropped it was Northrup picking up his first ever Modified win, with Green a close second, Jensenthird, Schoonover fourth and a charging Joel Batzel finishing ff fifth.

Greg Hoke lead the first two circuits of the 20 lap Sportsman feature, which were bothmarred by cautions for one car spins. On the lap three restart Danny Ballard moved by Hoke tograb the lead, with Steve Anderson hot on his tail. These two would run side by side with Ballardon the high side and Anderson on the low side. Anderson would take over the lead on lap 8 with aslick inside move coming off turn turn two. While these two were fighting it out, Jim Gabriel Jrwas marching through the filed and grabbed third from Don Hart Jr on lap 10. A lap 12 cautionwould bunch the field and give Gabriel the break he was looking for as he was now right on theleaders bumpers. Gabriel moved by Ballard on lap 15 and then set his sight on Anderson. A lap 16yellow would give Gabriel the break he needed as he and Anderson set of on a side by side battle.Coming out of turn four on lap 19, Gabriel would go to the high side and grab the lead going intoturn one. At the checker it would be Gabriel followed by Anderson, Ballard Hart and RichardIves.

Denny Smith would lead the first three laps of the 20 lap Street Stock feature, beforegiving way to Rodney Hart on lap 4. The lead pack would consist of six high flying Street Stockslead by Hart and Smith. hart was able to open up some breathing room, but behind him positionswere being swapped by Smith, Joe Scofield, Skip French, Herm Slack, Butch Klinger and ArnieSlade. This battle would continue until a lap 8 caution for French who got into trouble high in turntwo. On the restart Hart would again grab the lead but Slack would now move into second andbegin to put on the pressure. Slack would take the lead out of turn 4 on lap 12 just as the cautionflew for a tangle between Slade and Ron Flannery. Once Slack got the lead he was able to open itup as the battle for second went on between, Hart, Schofield and Klinger. The final caution would fly on lap 14 and the front fourwould stay in the same order down to the checker. Slack would come home with his third winfollowed by Hart, Scofield, Klinger and Flannery who came back from his tangle on lap 12 to finish fifth.

Brian Stigerwald would lead the first four laps of the 15 lap 4 Cylinder feature which wasred flagged on lap 2 for a nasty flip by Jamie Hurlburt. T. Hurlburt would be taken to the hospitalcomplaining of back pain, but otherwise was all right. On the restart Stigerwald had RalphJennings Jr on his bumper and these two hooked up into a battle for the lead which Jennings wonon lap 5. Dave Bunnett would move by Stigerwald to take second on lap 7 and then set his sightson Jennings and the lead. Jennings would lead through lap 10. On lap 11 he got out of shape inturn two and lost three spots to Burnett, Mark Carter and Rich Rought. Burnett would hang ontothe lead to the checker scoring his first win of the season. Carter would finish second with Roughtthird, Jennings fourth and last weeks winner Rick Lashway fifth.

Rob Carey would lead the first four circuits of the 15 lap Pure Stock feature, but wouldget into trouble in turn two on lap 5 and wind up trailing the field. Paul Miller would take over thelead followed by Dan Howe, Bill Bunzey, Bill Cook and Glenn Windsor. This group would stay thesame until Windsor got by Cook for fourth on lap 7. Miller would get in trouble coming into turnfour on lap 8 and drop back to 4th and then go to the pits on lap 9 with a flat tire. With 5 lapsremaining it was Howe leading, with Windsor second, Bunzey third, Andy Tiffany fourth andShawn MacCumber fifth. At the checker the only change in the top five would see Bill Cookmove back into fifth. During a post race inspection both Windsor and Tiffany would be disqualifiedfor having three wheel brakes. The Official top five at the finish were Dan Howe 1 st, Bill Bunzey2nd, Bill Cook of Harpursville 3rd, Bill Cook of Bainbridge 4th and Rob Carey 5th.

This Friday night will see another five star card of racing action at Afton Raceway Therewill also be a Fan Pick Loto and the Midstate Old Timers will be on hand to display their brand ofnostalgia racing action. Gates will open at 5 :OOPM and racing will start at 7:30PM. AftonRaceway is located on the Afton Fairgrounds exit 7 off route 88 Afton NY. For more informationcall 607-722-6751 during the week or 607-639- 1966 on raceday.

Official Results:

Modifieds: Jerry Northrup, Robbie Green, Paul Jensen, Mark Schoonover, Joel Batzel,

Ron Ford, JR Hurlburt, Mike Clapperton, Steve Cummings, Jeremy Smith, Rich Tiffany,

Ed Hawley, Earl Walrath, Dan Morden, John Kollar, Seth Gano, Mitch Gibbs, Pete

Nowicki Jr, Mark Gray, Marty Bunker

Sportsman: Jim Gabriel Jr, Steve Anderson, Danny Ballard, Don Hart Jr, Richard Ives,

Craig Pritchard, Wink Hinkley, Tim Mayne, Dan Yankowski, Tony Ross, Cookie Moms.

Bill Walters, Greg Hoke, Rich Strier

Street Stocks: Henm Slack, Rodney Hart, Joe Scofield, Butch Klinger, Ron Flannery, John

Walker, Denny Smith, Skip French, Brian Taylor, Bill Harris, Annie Slade, Dave Knight

4 Cylinder Stocks: Dave Burnett, Mark Carter, Rich Rought, Ralph Jennings Jr, Rick

Lashway, Brain Stigerwald, Jamie Banta, Ralph Cuozzo, Jesse Howe, Bob Dedricli, Larry

Williams, John Erickson, Randy Mertz, Dan Whitehill, Rob Coulman, Jay Johnson, Jamie

Hurlburt, DQ'd-Ennie Cawley, DNS-Jason Howard

Pure Stocks: Dan Howe, Bill Bunzey, Bill Cook(Harpursville), Bill Cook(Bainbridge),

Rob Carey, Shawn MacCumber, Neil Palladino, Paul Miller, Jeff Witt, Scott Chapman,

Ken Winn DQ'd-Glenn Windsor, Andy Tiffany