CHRIS WEAVER, KEVIN BATES, JAMIE GRIFFITHS, TRACY GREGORY, AND TODD BUSKIRK ARE FRIDAY NIGHT WINNERS AT PENN CAN

(Susquehanna, Pa.) Chris Weaver picked up his first win of the 2004

racing season at Penn Can on Friday night as he drove to victory in the

30 lap Modified feature. Kevin Bates continued his domination of the

Sportsman ranks as he drove to victory in the $600 to win Sportsman

special, his third win of the season. Jamie Griffiths drove his Ford

powered Late Model to his first win of the season while Tracy Gregory

found something during Tuesday night’s open practice session that helped

him to victory in the Super Stock ranks. Newcomer Todd Buskirk picked up

the Pure Stock win in only his second ever start at Penn Can.

The 30 lap Modified feature came to Glenn O’Laughlin’s green flag

with Steve Babicek on the pole flanked by Joel Batzel. Babicek grabbed

the early lead, but soon found himself locked in a tight battle for the

top spot with Rick Holgate. The two battled side by side for the top

spot with Babicek eventually claiming the lead. Behind Babicek, eventual

winner Chris Weaver was on the move from his sixth starting position.

Chris moved into a challenging position behind Babicek and would

eventually make what would prove to be the winning move just shy of the

halfway point as Chris drove around the outside of Babicek to take over

the top spot.

Once out front, Chris was able to open up a bit of a lead over

Babicek as Steve was now having to concentrate his efforts on holding off

Mike Decker for the second spot. With Babicek and Decker locked in a

battle for the runner-up spot, Weaver was able to stretch his lead out a

bit. As the lead cars entered lapped traffic late in the event, Weaver

had stretched his lead to a straightaway, but that advantage was wiped

out when the caution flag flew with only four laps remaining.

As the green flag was displayed for the final four lap dash to the

finish, Weaver enjoyed a bit of a cushion as there were two lapped cars

between himself and the second place car of Babicek. This allowed Chris

to once again open up his advantage over the field as Chris was able to

run off the final four laps of the event. The pilot of the Ken Wilson

Chevrolet/Road Courier Service #1a was not to be denied as he took the

checkered flag to secure his first win of the season. The battle for

second went right down to the wire with Babicek just managing to hold off

a fast closing Mike Decker to finish second with Decker third. Defending

track champion Brian Weaver finished fourth ahead of George Kostelansky.

Teammates Tom McGurrin and Sean Collins were sixth and seventh

respectively while Joel Batzel, Alan Rudalavage, and Rick Holgate

completed the top ten finishing order.

Alan Rudalavage, Rick Holgate, and Tom Rudalavage won the Modified

heats and Joey Grammes took top honors in the consolation event.

The first big special event of the season for the Sportsman cars

found some extra money on the line as the division was racing for a

special purse that offered $600 to the feature winner. Fourth place

starter Brian Decker quickly made his presence known as he raced quickly

to the front of the field. The early laps of the event were run off a

lap at a time as the Sportsman teams were not able to string together

many green flag laps as the early stages of the event saw a multitude of

caution flags. This kept the field bunched up, allowing those starting

deeper in the field to make their way to the front more quickly than

usual.

Two of those who came from deep in the field into a contending

position were a pair of high school students as Dusty Jaeger and Kevin

Bates advanced from eleventh and twelfth starting position to challenge

for the top spot by the halfway point. The middle stages of the event

saw an entertaining three car battle for the lead as Bates and Jaeger

caught Decker and the three were locked in a battle for the top spot.

Off a lap 12 restart, Jaeger moved into the lead as he worked his way

past Decker.

The decisive point in this race would come exiting the fourth turn

with just a handful of laps left as leader Jaeger was obviously

developing handling problems. Dusty slipped up the track just enough to

open the door for Bates, who slipped underneath Jaeger to take over the

top spot. Bates would lead the rest of the way aboard his Penns Best

Trucking/Stag Construction sponsored Bicknell chassied entry to claim his

third feature win of the season . Decker also slipped past Jaeger late

for second while Brett Tonkin also worked past Jaeger for third. Jaeger

held on to finish fourth ahead of Arnie Slade. Mike Loney, Mike Marold,

Alex Konopka, Rick Brown and Michael Lartz completed the top ten.

Arnie Slade, Brett Tonkin, and Mike Loney won the Sportsman

qualifiers.

Jamie Griffiths drove his Ford powered Morden Motors sponsored #77

to his first win of the season in the Late Model class. Griffiths

started sixth on the field but quickly made his way to the front, taking

the top spot from RJ Winshausen in the first quarter of the race. Though

he would lead the rest of the way from that point, it was not an easy win

for Griffiths. In the closing stages of the event, Jamie was receiving

plenty of pressure from former track champion Allen Coy. Though Coy was

able to close in on Griffiths to make it exciting, Allen was not able to

find a way past Grifffiths and settled for a second place finish . Joe

Damiano took third from R.J. Winshausen late in the going while RJ hung

on to finish fourth with Jason Carman completing the top five. Randall

Paxton, Alan Kellogg, Keith Mudge, Billy Marvin and Bud Phillips were

sixth through tenth respectively.

R.J. Windhausen and Allen Coy won Late Model hear races.

Tracy Gregory came home the winner of the 20 lap Super Stock

feature. Gregory started twelfth on the field, but drove his way into

contention for the win early on. Tracy took the lead after a side by

side battle with Wade Decker for the top spot. Over the closing laps,

Gregory was able to drive away from Decker. In victory lane, Tracy

mentioned the Tuesday night open practice session as a factor in his win,

as he tried some things on Tuesdays night and some of the things they did

made the car a lot better this week. Behind Gregory, Decker held on to

finish second as Brett Spoor, Chris Hunsinger, and Dan Pompey rounded out

the top five. Chris Strohl finished sixth ahead of Denny Decker, Paul

Rooney, Harry Marvin Jr., and Nick Petrilak.

The three Super Stock heats were won by Brett Spoor, Chris Hunsinger,

and Tracy Gregory.

In only his second ever start at Penn Can, Nazareth, Pa.‘s Todd

Buskirk picked up the win in the Pure Stock feature. Todd drove from his

twelfth starting position to the lead, taking the top spot from Keith

Wilkins just past the halfway point. A late caution flag that put former

track champion Charlie Gilbert on Buskirk’s rear bumper, but Gilbert

could not make a run at Buskirk over the closing laps. Todd took his

first career Penn Can Speedway winover Gilbert, Josh Ellis, Shane Wolf,

and Bill Hawkins. Mahlon Shoemaker, Greg Brunges, Tom Garren, Ivan

Smith, and Dee Ramey completed the top ten.

Craig Decker, Tom Garren, and Josh Ellis were victorious in Pure

Stock qualifying events.

Racing continues this Friday night at Penn Can Speedway with a

very special event to kick off the Memorial Day Weekend holiday. The

United Racing Club Sprint Cars will be making their annual Penn Can

Speedway appearance. The Modifieds, Sportsman, and Pure Stocks will also

be on the card as well. Racing gets underway at 7:15 PM. For more

information, contact the speedway office at (570)-575-9928 or check out

the speedway’s official website at www.penncan.com.

RACE SUMMARY:

MODIFIEDS: 1. CHRISW WEAVER 2. Steve Babicek 3. Mike Decker 4. Brian

Weaver 5. George Kostelansky 6. Tom McGurrin 7. Sean Collins 8. Joel

Batzel 9. Alan Rudalavege 10. Rick Holgate 11. Tom Rudalavage 12. Chris

Shupp 13. Bill Huff 14. Joey Grammes 15. Mike Nagel 16. Russ Hendrickson

Jr. 17. Tom Oleski 18. Mike Frost 19. Brian Malcolm 20. Rick Virkitis 21.

Mike Colsten 22. Billy Thornton 23. Dave Jenkins 24. Brian Franko 25.

Carl Nagel

SPORTSMAN: 1. KEVIN BATES 2. Brian Decker 3. Brett Tonkin 4. Dusty Jaeger

5. Arnie Slade 6. Mike Loney 7. Mike Marold Jr. 8. Alex Konopka 9. Rick

Brown 10. Michael Lartz 11. Marty Bunker 12. Ryan Olsommer 13. Dwayne

Robbins 14. Eric Stephens 15. Bruce Evans Jr. 16 George Howe 17. Tim

Votra 18. Eric Crambo 19. Rod Frable 20. Gary Hunsinger 21. Harry Marvin

III 22. Garth Tonkin Jr. 23 Matt Latwinski 24. Shaun Walker DNS: Joshua

Pursell

LATE MODELS: 1. JAMIE Griffiths 2. Allen Coy 3. Joe Damiano 4. RJ

Windhausen 5 Jason Carman 6. Randall Paxton 7. Alan Kellogg 8. Keith

Mudge 9. Billy Marvin 10. Bud Phillips 11. Lou Sparks 12. Brent Dyer 13.

Adam MacGeorge 14. George Leatso 15. Eric Bonham 16. Steve Cummings 17.

Rich King DNS: Dave Zona

SUPER STOCKS: 1. TRACY GREGORY 2. Wade Decker 3. Brett Spoor 4. Chris

Hunsinger 5. Dan Pompey 6. Chris Strohl 7. Denny Decker 8. Pau7l Rooney

9. Harry Marvin Jr. 10. Nick Petrilak 11. Jason Bartsch 12. Rod Latwinski

13. Ken Taugher 14. Jak Stanley 15. Don Russell 16. Darryl Green 17.

Jamie Cortazar 18. Jerry Tonti 19. Paul Strohl 20. Joe Lewis DNS: Gregg

Brunges

PURE STOCKS: 1. TODD BUSKIRK 2. Charlie Gilbert 3. Josh Ellis 4. Shane

Wolf 5. Bill Hawkins 6. Mahlon Shoemaker 7. Greg Brunges 8. Tom Garren 9.

Ivan Smith 10 Dee Ramey 11. Kevin Beach 12. Brad Albrecht 13. Jason

Consla 14. Rob Sterling 15. Ryan Stone 16. Keith Wilkins 17. Mike Hoyte

18. Dan Donnelly Jr. 19. Nate Shay 20. Jason Makosky 21. Chris Wood 22.

Craig Decker.