Weaver, Deckelman, Paxton, Decker, Wood score Penn Can Mid-Season Championships
by Reed Miller
SUSQUEHANNA, Pa. -- Brian Weaver completed the hat trick on Friday night as he drove to his third consecutive Modified feature win on Pump 'n Pantry Mid-Season Championship Night at Penn Can. Bill Deckelman Jr. recorded his first ever win in the Sportsman division while Randall Psxton won his third Late Model feature of the season. Denny Decker earned his second trip to victory lane of the 2004 campaign in the Super Stocks while newcomer Chris Wood earned his third Pure Stock feature of his rookie season of racing competition
Mike Frost and Steve Babicek paced the 24 car Modified field to the green flag to start their 30 lap feature event. Babicek was able to take the top spot from Frost entering the first turn and established himself as the race leader aboard the McDonald's of Cortland sponsored #1s. Steve would led the early portion of the race before surrendering the Top spot to Tom McGurrin. Meanwhile, eventual winner Weaver was on his way to the front of the field from his twelfth starting position. Brian mad what would prove to be the winning pass just past the halfway point in the 30 lap event as he was able to overtake McGurrin for the top spot.
While Weaver would led the remainder of the ay to pick up the win, there was plenty of action behind him as Mike Colsten was becoming a factor in the event. Colsten worked his way past McGurrin for second and set his sights on Weaver. A caution flag with three laps remaining tightened up the field and gave Colsten a final chance to make the winning pass. Weaver was too strong as he controlled the restart and was able to open up enough of a lead that Colsten was not able to make a run over the closing laps. Chris Weaver was able to pull alongside Colsten to challenge for the runner-up spot, but Mike held on to finish second with Chris Weaver third. Rick Virkitis charged from 18th starting position to finish fourth with Tom McGurrin fifth. Joey Grammes rebounded from an early race flat tire to run sixth while Tom Rudalavage finished seventh and picked up the bonus money for the highest finishing car powered by a DIRT legal Small Block motor. Dan Vauter, Alan Rudalavage, and Bill Huff completed the top ten finishers.
Mike Frost, Steve Babicek, and Sean Collins won the Modified qualifying events.
The Sportsman division found a new face in victory lane as Freemont Center, NY's Bill Deckelman Jr. drove to his first career Penn Can Speedway feature win. Deckelman dominated the event, starting on pole and leading all 20 laps to pick up the victory. Bill had to hold off a challenge from Arnie Slade and a late caution that put Slade right on his rear bumper, but Deckelman was able to hold Slade off to earn the victory. In victory lane, Deckelman gave credit to Brian Decker's crew, who set the car up for him. Deckelman had loaned his car to Decker for the North South Series event at Thunder Mountain the previous Sunday, so Decker's crew prepared the car for Deckelman for Friday. Arnie Slade came home with a runner-up finish, just holding off Mike Loney at the line with Loney finishing third. Brett Tonkin was fourth ahead of defending track champion Kevin Bates. Garth Tonkin Jr., Mike Marold Jr., Alex Konopka, Brian Decker, and newcomer Scott Allen completed the top ten.
Brian Decker, Ryan Olsommer, and Brett Tonkin won the Sportsman Heat races.
The Late Model division did battle in a 25 lap feature on Mid-Season Championship night. In that event, Randall Paxton drove his Mile Hill Auto Parts sponsored #22R to his fourth victory of the 2004 racing season. It was a hard fought and well earned victory for Paxton as Randall came out on top of a thrilling three car battle for the win. Paxton took the lead early on as he moved from his fourth starting position into the race lead. Paxton soon found himself under heavy pressure as Dan Stone and Jamie Griffiths had also broke free of traffic.
The three veteran Late Model drivers put on a show for the Penn Can Fans with some hard, tight racing for position among the three. Despite the intensity of the battle, there was little or no contact among the top three as they spent most of the second half of the event racing mere inches apart. When the checkered flag fell, it was Paxton hanging on to score the victory. Stone just managed to hold off Griffiths for second while Jamie settled for a third place finish. Joe Damiano finished fourth with R.J. Windhausen completing the top five. Keith Mudge, Al Whittaker, Billy Marvin, Allen Coy, and Jason Carman completed the top ten.
Dan Stone and Randall Paxton won the Late Model heat races.
Afton, NY's Denny Decker drove to his second win of the season in the Super Stock Mid Season Championship event. The pilot of the Dream Maker Boxers sponsored #20 took advantage of an outside pole starting position to grab the lead at the drop of the green flag. Denny would go on to lead all 20 laps of the event to pick up the win. Chris Hunsinger finished second with Nick Petrilak coming home in third. Dan Pompey ran fourth with Paul Rooney completing the top five finishers. Harry Marvin Jr., Chris Strohl, Frank Bonham, Jerry Tonti, and Paul Strohl completed the top ten.
Tracy Gregory, Brett Spoor, and Denny Decker won the Super Stock heat races.
Pure Stock rookie Chris Wood continued his strong rookie season as he drove to his third win of the season in the Pure Stock Mid-Season Championship. Wood took the lead from Keith Wilkins at the halfway Point of the event, then held off Wilkins efforts to retake the lead the rest of the way. Wilkins was not able to find a way past Wood and settled for a runner-up finish over Shane Wolf, Charlie Gilbert, and Dee Ramey. Darwin Green ran sixth over Josh Ellis, Tom Garren, Randy Rollison, and Jason Makosky.
Chris Wood, Tom Garren, and Craig Decker topped the Pure Stock qualifiers.
This Friday night will be Fan Appreciation night at the speedway with the Modifieds, Sportsman, Late Models, Super Stocks, and Pure Stock all in action in a complete five division racing show. The evening will be rounded out with the second and final fireworks display of the 2004 racing season. Fans will be treated to special prices in the concession area as well on this very special night. Racing gets underway at 7:15 PM.
RESULTS
MODIFIEDS: 1. BRIAN WEAVER 2. Mike Colsten 3. Chris Weaver 4. Rick Virkitis 5. Tom McGurrin 6. Joey Grammes 7. Tom Rudalavage 8. Dan Vauter 9. Alan Rudalavage 10. Bill Huff 11. Mike Nagel 12. George Kostelansky 13. Brian Franko 14. Chris Shupp 15. Carl Nagel 16. Sean Collins 17. Mike McCollum 18. Steve Babicek 19. Bernie Kelly 20. Mike Frost 21. Rick Holgate 22. Ricky Yetter 23. Joey Grammes 24. Randall Paxton
SPORTSMAN: 1. BILL DECKELMAN JR 2. Arnie Slade 3. Mike Loney 4. Brett Tonkin 5. Kevin Bates 6. Garth Tonkin Jr. 7. Mike Marold Jr. 8. Alex Konopka 9. Brian Decker 10. Scott Allen 11. Dwayne Robbins 12. Michael Lartz 13. Bruce Evans Jr. 14. Eric Stephens 15. Jeff Crambo 16. Randall Paxton 17. Dennis Latwinski 18. Russ Zimmerman 19. Matt Kaminskas 20. Rick Brown 21. Ryan Olsommer 22. Jeremy Holt 23. Harry Marvin III
LATE MODEL: 1. RANDALL PAXTON 2. Dan Stone 3. Jamie Griffiths 4. Joe Damiano 5. R J Windhausen 6. Keith Mudge 7. Al Whittaker 8. Billy Marvin 9. Allen Coy 10. Jason Carman 11. Brent Dyer 12. Brian Bernheisel 13. Dave Zona 14. Bud Phillips 15. Adam MacGeorge 16. Rick King 17. Steve Cummings 18. Mike Barucky
SUPER STOCKS: 1. DENNY DECKER 2. Chris Hunsinger 3. Nick Petrilak 4. Dan Pompey 5. Paul Rooney 6. Harry Marvin Jr. 7. Chris Strohl 8. Frank Bonham 9. Jerry Tonti 10. Paul Strohl 11. Bill Trego 12. Tracy Gregory 13. Darwin Green 14. Brett Spoor 15. Nate Evans 16. Oliver Gage 17. James Millard 18. Jerry Colsten 19. T J Amabilie 20. Jamie Cortazar
PURE STOCKS: 1. CHRIS WOOD 2. Keith Wilkins 3. Shane Wolf 4. Charlie Gilbert 5. Dee Ramey 6. Darwin Green 7. Josh Ellis 8. Tom Garren 9. Randy Rollison 10. Jason Makosky 11. Lee Penney 12. Ivan Smith 13. Kevin Bach 14. Joe Cisney 15. Mike Hoyte 16. Nick Cicon 17. Dan Donnelly 18. Homer Ferrante 19. Everett Cass 20. Tony Canute 21. Craig Decker 22. Sheppard Blodgett 23. Bill Hawkins 24. Rob Werner