Hebing, Weaver, Tonkin, Stone, Decker Friday night winners at Penn Can

by Ted Schmidt

SUSQUEHANNA, Pa. -- After falling to rain the previous two weeks, racing action returned to the Penn Can Speedway on Friday night. Pine Line Auto Sales/Main Racing Engine night featured the first ever Penn Can appearance of the Patriot Sprint Cars, which saw former DIRT Modified driver Chuck Hebing pick up the feature win. Brian Weaver won his fourth Modified feature of the season while Brett Tonkin won his first Sportsman feature of the season. Dan Stone won his second consecutive Late Model feature and Craig Decker won his second Pure Stock main of the year.

The Bobcat of Buffalo Patriot Sprint Car main saw Chuck Hebing turn in a dominating performance. “The Cobra” took advantage of an up front starting spot as he grabbed the lead early in the feature and never looked back. Not even a trio of red flags and a half hour rain delay could stop Hebing’s charge to victory lane. The race was only one lap old when the first red flag was displayed when Ray Preston rolled his #22 in the third turn. After a brief delay to clean up that incident, racing resumed with Hebing still showing the way over Rich Swarthout and George Suprick. Some tight racing action between the top three was interrupted by the red flag again as Bobby Breen got up on the bank and exited the speedway. Bobby’s mount was not seriously damaged and he was able to rejoin the event.

On lap 8, Jim Senzio laid his #44 over on it side to force another slowdown. During this break a heavy shower passed through the area, forcing officials to send the cars to the pits and put the track equipment out. After a half hour delay the rain stopped and the Sprint cars were called back to the speedway to finish their feature. Hebing continued his domination of the event as he would lead the rest of the way to become the first Patriot Sprint Car winner at Penn Can. Rich Swarthout ran second the remainder of the distance, but could not muster a challenge on Hebing as the race wound down. Tim Zimbardi made a late charge past George Suprick to take the third spot while Suprick settled for a fourth place finish. Over the closing laps, Rick Wilson was the man on the move as he advanced from tenth spot at the restart to finish fifth. R.C. Feigle, Jared Zimbrdi, Bryan Howland, Gary Troutman, and Matt Norrie rounded out the top ten finishers.

The 30 lap Modified feature came to the line with veteran Carl Nagel on the pole, flanked by his son Mike. Father and son would engage in some tight racing action as Mike grabbed the lead at the drop of the preen flag with Carl in tow, The action at the head of the field featured some good side by side racing as Carl and Mike battled for the top spot. Meanwhile, behind them three time defending champion Brian Weaver was on the move from his twelfth starting position. Brian worked his way through the field to run third behind the battle for the top spot.

Mike Nagel would lead the first 13 laps before Carl was able to slip past to lead a couple of laps. A caution flag just prior to the halfway point would prove to be the pivotal moment of the event as off the restart, Mike and Carl raced hard down into the first turn. Mike was running the low groove and slipped up the track just enough to open the door for Weaver, who dove to the bottom to pull alongside Mike and Carl. Brian got the best bite on the bottom and was able to go from third to first in one move as Brian powered out of the second turn with the race lead.

With the lead now firmly his, Weaver would go on to lead the remainder of the 30 lap distance. Joey Grammes worked his way to second, but could not make a run at Weaver over the closing laps and settled for a strong runner-up finish. Alan Rudalavage advanced to third late in the event with Carl Nagel fourth and Mike Nagel completing the top five running order. Tom McGurrin, Chris Shupp, Bill Huff, Chris Weaver, and George Kostelansky completed the top ten finishers.

Tom Rudalavage, Joey Grammes, Mike Nagel, and Bill Huff won the Modified heat races. Rick Holgate was the winner of the consolation event.

The 20 lap Sportsman division feature saw a new face in victory lane as Carbondale, Pa.’s Brett Tonkin drove to his first win of the 2004 racing season. Tonkin started fourth on the field and wasted little time in making his way to the front of the field. Sportsman rookie Michael Lartz led the first two laps of the event before Tonkin was able to work his way past to take over the top spot. Once out front, Tonkin would lead the final 18 laps to pick up the win. Arnie Slade made a late run at Tonkin, but could not find a way to take over the top spot and Brett held on to score the win over Slade and defending Sportsman division champion Kevin Bates. Lartz crossed the line fourth with Mike Loney completing the top five running order. Mike Marold Jr., Brian Decker, Ryan Olsommer, Bruce Evans Jr., and Alex Konopka were sixth through tenth respectively.

Mike Loney and Brett Tonkin won the Sportsman division qualifiers.

In Late Model action, Dan Stone drove his Stone’s Excavating sponsored #21D to his second consecutive feature win to start the second half of the Late Model season. Dan started the feature from the twelfth starting position and made his way steadily forward to move into a challenging position by the halfway point. An entertaining three car battle saw Billy Marvin, Jamie Griffiths, and Stone spend several laps battling for the top spot. Griffiths was able to take the top spot from Marvin on lap 12, with Stone also slipping by. Unfortunately for Griffiths, during a lap 13 caution period he was forced pitside with a deflating tire, handing the lead over to Stone. Dan would lead the rest of the way to pick up the win. First half champion Joe Damiano tried to make a late run at Stone, but Dan was too strong and took the win over Damiano and Marvin. Adam MacGeorge turned in his best run of the season to finish fourth with defending champion Dave Zona rounding out the top five. Rich King, Bud Phillips, Randall Paxton, Brent Dyer, and Keith Mudge made up the second half of the top ten.

Adam MacGeorge, Jamie Griffiths, and Bud Phillips won the Late Model heat races as a strong field of Late Models made three heats necessary,

Craig Decker returned to the seat of his own car for Pure Stock action and promptly drove it to victory, picking up his second win of the season. Defending Pure Stock champion Shane Wolf finished second with Tom Garren, Charlie Gilbert, and Keith Wilkins rounding out the top five finishers. Randy Rollison finished sixth with Darwin Green seventh in his first Pure Stock start of the year. Nate Evans, Dee Ramey, and Chris Wood made up the remainder of the top ten.

Ivan Smith, Shane Wolf, and Chris Wood won the Pure Stock preliminary events.

This Friday night will be Mid-Season Championship night at the speedway with extra points and money on the line in all five divisions. With the point standings very tight this season, Mid-Season Championship night may very well play a major role in determining the 2004 track champions. Racing gets underway at 7:15 PM. All questions may be directed to the speedway office at 570-585-9928 or to the track’s official website at www.penncan.com.

RESULTS

MODIFIEDS:

1. BRIAN WEAVER 2. Joey Grammes 3. Alan Rudalavage 4. Carl Nagel 5. Mike Nagel 6. Tom McGurrin 7. Chris Shupp 8. Bill Huff 9. Chris Weaver 10. George Kospelansky 11. Rick Virkitis 12. Mike Colsten 13. Seam Collins 14. Tom Rudalavage 15. Bill Thornton 16. Don Hart 17. Brian Franko 18. Marty Bunker 19. Steve Babicek 20. Dan Vauter 21. Rick Holgate 22. Josh Beierle 23. Joey Grammes 24. Mike Frost DNQ: Tracy Gregory, Mike McCollum, Randall Paxton, Ricky Yetter

PARTIOT SPRINT CARS:

1. CHUCK HEBING 2. Rich Swarthout 3. Tim Zimbardi 4. Rick Wilson 5. George Suprick 6. R C Feigle 7. Jared Zimbardi 8. Bryan Howland 9. Gary Trautman 10. Matt Norrie 11. Don Adamczyk 12. Doug Norrie 13. John Senzio 14. Darryl Bragman 15. Blake Breen 16. Bobby Breen 17. Jim Senzio 18. Jim Witko Jr. 19. Howard Singer 20. Bill Bailey 21. George Ely 22. Ray Preston DNS: Bobby Krull

SPORTSMAN:

1. BRETT TONKIN 2. Arnie Slade 3. Kevin Bates 4. Michael Lartz 5. Mike Loney 6. Mike Marold Jr. 7. Brian Decker 8. Ryan Olsommer 9. Bruce Evans Jr. 10. Alex Konopka 11. Eric Stephens 12. Rick Brown 13. Dwayne Robbins 14. Randall Paxton 15. Frank Yankowski 16. Russ Zimmerman 17. George Deckelman Jr. 20. Garth Tonkin Jr.

LATE MODEL:

1. DAN STONE 2. Joe Damiano 3. Billy Marvin 4,Adam MacGeorge 5. Dave Zona 6. Rich King 7. Bud Phillips 8. Randall Paxton 9. Brent Dyer 10. Keith Mudge 11. Jamie Griffiths 12. Al Whittaker 13. Allen Coy 14. Lew Sparks 15. Jason Carman 16. Eric Bonham 17. Steve Cummings 18. RJ Windhausen 19. Clint Kauffman 20. Mike Barucky

PURE STOCK:

1. BRIAN DECKER 2. Shane Wolf 3. Tom Garren 4. Charlie Gilbert 5. Keith Wilkins 6. Randy Rollison 7. Darwin Greene 8. Nate Evans 9. Dee Ramey 10. Chris Woods 11, Josh Ellis 12. Homer Ferrante 13. Lee Penney 15.Ivan Smith 15. Jerry Tonti 16. Jeremy Stout 17. Kevin Beach 18. Dan Donnelly Jr. 19. Mike Hoyte 20. Tony Canute 21. Nick Cicon 22. Rob Werner 23. Jason Mackosky 24. Sheppard Blodgett 25. Jerry Lobdell Jr.