BARKER EDGES OUT SMITH FOR TMS MODIFIED CROWN. JORDAN IS DOUBLE DUTY CHAMP
By C. Barry Goodband
CENTER LISLE, NY - Only three of the eight weekly divisions entered the final points night at Thunder Mountain Speedway with their championships mathematically sealed up. The Modifieds, Crate Sportsman and 600cc Mods all had very tight point battles ongoing and the IMCA mods had a tied score for their top honors. These close battles drew a near capacity crowd of fans into the stands to watch the 2018 campaign end.
The 600cc Mods came into the final point night with a scant 19 points separating the top four contenders. Chris Jordan held the narrowest 1-point advantage over Dana Davis as the 20-lap feature came to green with Jake Waibel and Rich Gardiner on the front row. Gardiner would lead lap one but fell prey to Chris Jordan on lap two. As Jordan set his sights on the championship, Dana Davis was doing everything in his power to race his way into contention. Davis had made his way to second when a late yellow flew, setting the stage for a duel to the finish between the two top point holders. At the checkers, Jordan steamed his way to the win and the double duty championship season, having already clinched the Open Sportsman title. This performance makes Jordan the first two-division champion in Thunder Mountain Speedway history.
600cc Modified – Chris Jordan, Dana Davis, Rich Powell, Tom Shiner, Mike Wilka, Justin LaDue, Dakota Anderson, Doug Windhausen, Jared Green, Chace Scutt, James Randall, Ali Scutt, Chelsie Beebe, Chris Krebs, Aiden Miller, Jake Waibel, Rich Gardiner
The championship chase in the IMCA Modified ranks was close between Rodney Morgan and Will Ward. Sadly, Ward suffered a blown motor while racing his way to the Outlaw Speedway Championship on the previous night and was unable to vie for the top honors at TMS. Wards absence meant that Morgan only needed to make the start of the final 20-lap main event of the year in order to claim the season title. Rich Keller and Lenny Miller started on the pole for the final 20 lap IMCA Feature of the season. Jeff Cardinale slid through from third to lead lap 1. Keller fired back from the top side and led the next three circuits until succumbing to pressure from Brandon Smith. Bumps Scutt followed suit with Smith and soon took the number one position with a low side pass off turn four. After a season fraught with hard luck and disappointment, Scutt would finally return to victory lane at Thunder on the last night of the season for this division.
IMCA Modified – Bumps Scutt, Tyler Stoddard, Brandon Smith, Rodney Morgan, Shawn Bruce, Bruce Tinsley, Rich Keller, Jeff Cardinale, Glen Miller, Don Alger, Bill Nichols
Three of the Crate Sportsman drivers rolled onto the speedway with a mathematical chance at the championship. Kenny Hammond held a 13-point advantage over Jimmy Zacharias with Shayne Spoonhower 25 tallies back, in third. Marc Goodwin paced the 26-car field with Kimberlee Morgan to his outside. Morgan would hold the advantage in the early going as she lept to a six or seven car gap over Goodwin until a yellow flag on lap 4 cancelled her advantage. On the restart, Goodwin would take over. The racing in the top ten was three and four wide as Goodwin fought off repeated challenges by TJ Frost. On or about lap 8 Hunter Lapp began to make his presence felt as he entered the fight for the lead. By lap 10 Lapp powered to the front by way of the extreme high groove and would set sail from there to the Littles Lawn Equipment Victory lane. Meanwhile the top two contenders for the title were battling inside the top five with Zacharias running 4th ahead of Hammond. The defining moment would ultimately be decided in turns one and two when a slight miscue by Hammond resulted in contact with another car and a spin. Hammond would become mired in the back half of the pack as Zacharias would go on to a second place finish and the 2018 Crate Sportsman crown.
Crate Sportsman – Hunter Lapp, Jimmy Zacharias, Mike Austin, Pat Jordan, Marc Goodwin, Dustin Jordan, T.J. Frost, Chance Spoonhower, Garrett Rushlow, Ben Bushaw, Devon Zona, Kenny Hammond, Matt Brewer, Daryl Krebs, Frank Jashembowski, Kimberlee Morgan, Hilary Ward, Larry Mekic, Dale Welty, Randy Brokaw, Byron Worthing, Isaiah Forward, Damon Decker, Shayne Spoonhower
The Modified Championship scenario would begin to change significantly during qualifying as the point leader Jeremy Smith failed make the handicap and lost the chance to score a few valuable heat points. Barker managed third in his qualifying effort and gained three marks closing the gap to just 11 points heading into the 35-lap feature.
Brent Wilcox and Damon Decker sat on the pole for the start with Decker getting away with the lead. For the second week in a row, one of the tremendously talented rookies at TMS showed the way for a majority of the 35-lap distance. A yellow flag on lap 30 restacked the deck and found Alan Barker in the second spot. Decker continued to hold off Barker for another three laps until the highside hustler did his thing taking the lead off turn 4 with the parallel flags showing. Meanwhile Jeremy Smith was giving it his all but could only manage fifth as Alan Barker strode to the feature win and the Modified championship
Modified – Alan Barker, Damon Decker, Colton Wilson, Shaun Walker, Jeremy Smith, Nick Nye, Mike Bowman, Brent Wilcox, Jerry Higbie, Jeff Sheely, Chris Stull, P.J. Goodwin, Steven Deinhardt, Leo Fotopoulus Jr., Scott Ferrier, Eldon Payne, Lee DeWitt, Alisa Cody, Larry Mekic, Brian White, Chance Spoonhower, Kailee DiMorier, Bob Stahl, Ryan Jordan, Kevin Jordan, Pat Parker
Pennsylvania native Shane Wolf Jr. needed only to take the green in the 20-lap Street Stock main event to claim his 2018 championship. The Street Stocks were lead Donny Russell and Jonathan Fowlston.
Fowlston; the second generation racer would hold the point for 2 circuits before losing the handle on his ride and surrendering the lead to Jerry Lobdell Jr. Lobdell has had a very competitive car all season but until this moment simply could not catch a break. Lobdell would fend off consistent challenges from the likes of Donny Russell, Jake Fowlston and eventual champion Shane Wolf Jr. enroute to his first win of the season.
Street Stock – Jerry Lobdell Jr., Jake Fowlston, Shane Wolf Jr., Don Russell, Jon Carpenter, Mike Wilbur, Earl Zimmer, Jack Holcomb, Jonathan Fowlston, Rich Green, Donald Briggs, Keith Beach, Bob Mills, Trever Dudley, John Hoover, Bobby Wagner, Levi Frank, Gene Sharpsteen, Jeff Wilcox
The 2018 Open Sportsman title was all wrapped up for Chris Jordan when Greg Morgan and Tom Eiklor lead the field to green for the their 25 lap feature. Morgan showed the way for the first eight laps until Eiklor managed to move by on a restart at lap 9. At the halfway mark, Eiklor began to receive pressure from Landon Cummings who had come from a fifth starting spot. Following a restart on lap 15, the pair would race side by side, swapping the lead back and forth. The shootout concluded three laps later when Cummings found the momentum on the top shelf. Cumming would cruise from there to his third win of the season.
Open Sportsman – Landon Cummings, Dennis Clapperton, Tom Eiklor, Rich Powell, Greg Morgan, Chris Jordan, Craig Cuneo, Craig Pope, Gary Smith, Dan Burman, Duane Knapp, Chris Hunsinger, Tom Velez, Shawn Davis, DNS John Morse
Justin Ladue put an exclamation point on his championship run in the 4-Cylinder division by winning the 15-lap feature over his closest rival Rich Wagner, who came home second. Wagner and LaDue both spoke in victory lane with Wagner offering congratulations to the newly crowned champion.
4cyl Stock – Justin LaDue, Rich Wagner, Phil Burns, Brandon Louks, Matt Browning, Justin Wells, Mike Ferris, Tom Bumpus, Luke Mills, James Robinson, Jason Peck, Richard Eggleston, Bryant Beach, Zach Hayward
Joe McCabe had already clinched the top spot in the Rookie Sportsman championship chase and added one last victory to his season in the 15-lap novice feature. McCabe’s name also came out in a random drawing for a guaranteed starting spot in the upcoming TOPLESS 100 $12,000 to win Crate Sportsman event on Sept. 9
Rookie Sportsman – Joe McCabe, Michael Corbin, Jake Mason, Connor Sellers, Erica Bowman, Danielle Smith, Leah Decker, Zachary Dickson, Mackenzie Marsh, Cody Jackson, Alex Payne, Zach Murray.
A pair of colossal 100 lap events are set for next weekend at Thunder Mountain beginning with a $2,000 to win 100 lap Street Stock Shootout on Saturday, September 8th and followed on Sunday, September 9th by the history making, $12,000 to win, TOPLESS 100 Presented by Bob Hilbert Sportswear. Free camping is always available on the speedway grounds and VIP rooms are still available for rent on race nights. For rules and info on either of these events visit us on the web at www.thundermountainspeedway.net or check us out on facebook.