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.

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