JOEY GRAMMES, KEVIN BATES, BILLY MARVIN, DENNY DECKER AND SHANE WOLF PULL INTO VICTORY LANE AT PENN CAN

(Susquehanna, Pa.) The second week of the 2004 racing season saw a new

face grace victory lane at the Penn Can Speedway as Joey Grammes turned

in an impressive performance to pick up his first career Penn Can

Modified feature win on Bush‘s Sunoco night. Defending Sportsman

division champion Kevin Bates drove to his second straight victory in

Sportsman action while Billy Marvin returned after a year away from the

sport to score the Late Model victory. Denny Decker topped the Super

Stock division while Shane Wolf swept both halves of a Twin 12 lap

feature program for the Pure Stocks.

For Grammes, his first Penn Can victory came in only his sixth

career start at Penn Can. The second generation driver from Kunkletown,

Pa. parlayed a front row starting spot into a dominating feature win.

Mike Colsten and Grammes paced the field to Glen O’Laughlin’s green flag

with Grammes able to utilize the outside groove to put his small block

powered machine into the lead. Several early race cautions kept the

filed bunched up, but each time Grammes would control the restart to take

over the top spot.

As the race wore on, Colsten began to slip back in the filed a bit as

Brain Weaver had advanced from his ninth starting spot to run second

ahead of a very strong running Sean Collins. For the second straight

week misfortune would strike Colsten as Mike was in the wrong place at

the wrong time as he was eliminated when Tom McGrurrin and Alan

Rudalavage got together as the three were racing three wide. The

resulting crash ripped the left rear from Colsten’s mount, knocking him

out of the race.

The closing stages of the event Found Grammes leading the event with

Brian Weaver running second. Joey continued to run strong as over the

final laps he was able to put some real estate between himself and the

three time defending track champion. While Joey was maintaining his

pace, Weaver began to slip back a bit and in fact had to spend the final

few laps fighting off a strong challenge from Sean Collins, who was

enjoying one of his best ever runs since moving into the Modified class.

Grammes would have basically no challenge over the closing laps and

recorded his first career win by a comfortable margin over Weaver, who

just held off Collins for the runner-up position. Veteran Carl Nagel

finished fourth in only his second race back after not racing in 2003

while Tom McGurrin recovered from his mishap with Rudalavage and Colsten

to finish fifth. Bill Huff, Mike Nagel, Brain Franko. Tom Rudalavage and

Mike Decker completed the top ten finishing order.

The Modified qualifying events were won by Mike Colsten, Alan

Rudalavage, and Joey Grammes.

For the second straight week, defending Sportsman division track

champion Kevin Bates powered his Stag Construction/Durlam Lumber

sponsored Bicknell machine to victory. The high school student from

lake Ariel, Pa. Charged from his eleventh starting position to the lead

in only six laps as Kevin drove past early race leader Alex Konopka to

take the lead. Once out front, Kevin was able to drive away from the

remainder of the field to pick up the win, his second straight triumph.

Behind Bates, Knopka and Shaun Walker locked in a tight battle for the

runner-up position with Konopka able to hold on for second with Walker

third. Brett Tonkin finished a solid fourth while Brce Evans Jr. enjoyed

a strong night and a top five finish as he crossed the line fifth. Marty

Bunker, rookie Michael Lartz, Dwayne Robbins, Mike Loney, and Ken Titus

rounded out the top ten in the final rundown.

Shaun Walker, Kevin Bates, and Alex Konopka won the Sportsman

qualifying races.

After not racing in 2003, Billy Marvin is back for a full season of

competition at Penn Can aboard a Lazer III built Late Model with

sponsorship from Gary Dyer Excavating. On Friday night, the popular

veteran driver led all 20 laps of the Late Model feature, a race that saw

some great driving as the 20 lap event was run without a caution flag.

Marvin started on pole and beat fellow front row starter Jamie Griffiths

into the first turn and emerged from the second turn with the lead.

Griffiths would prove to be Marvin’s toughest challenger on this night,

but a late race miscue allowed Marvin to stretch his advantage and drive

on for victory. Griffith’s getting turned sideways cost him the

runner-up position as well as the shot at the victory. Griffiths was

able to keep from hitting anything or damaging the car but Joe Damiano

slipped by for second place. This incident allowed Marvin to build a

straightaway lead, enough of a cushion that he was not challenged the

rest of the way. Damiano finished second while Griffiths recovered from

his near spin to finish third ahead of Allen Coy and Randall Paxton.

Adam MacGeorge, Mike Loney, Brent Dyer, Keith Mudge, and Rich king made

up the second half of the top ten finishing order.

Bud Phillips and Jamie Griffiths won the Late Model qualifying

events.

In the20 lap Super Stock feature, Denny Decker drove his Dream Maker

Boxers/Wist Construction sponsored #20 to his first win of the season.

Decker started the event from the outside pole and led all 20 laps to

pick up the victory. Denny survived a late challenge from 003 North

South Series titilist Tracy Gregory, who pressured Decker over the

closing laps but could not find a way past. Decker crossed the line for

the win with Gregory just behind in hut pursuit. Paul Rooney, Jerry

Tonti, and Brett Spoor finished third through fifth respectively. Chris

Hunsinger recovered from an early race incident t finish sixth ahead of

Harry Marvin Jr., Dan Pompey, Jason Bartsch, and rookie Tom Cornell.

Wade Decker, Harry Marvin Jr., and Paul Strohl won the Super Stock

qualifiers.

Shane Wolf swept both ends of the Twin 12 lap Pure Stock features,

making it three wins in as many starts for the Susquehanna based driver.

In the first feature, Wolf just managed to score the win, nosing out

veteran Charlie Gilbert in a photo finish which showed Wolf’s margin of

victory about a foot. Bob Twriw, Dee Ramey, and newcomer Chuck

Alexander completed the top five. Daryl Ellis, Mike Hoyte, Lee Penney,

Kevin Beach, and Josh Ellis completed the top ten.

In the nightcap, Wolf turned in a dominating performance to pick up

the win, this time by a much larger margin as Wolf picked up his third

win of the season. Once again, Charlie Gilbert finished second with Josh

Ellis, Daryl Ellis, and Chuck Alexander rounding out the top five. Dee

Ramey, Bob Tyriw, Keith Wilkins, Tom Garren, and Nate Shay completed the

top ten.

Shane Wolf and Bob Tyriw won the two semi features that ser the

field for the Twin 12’s.

Racing continues this Friday night at Penn Can Speedway with a five

division show of Modifieds, Sportsman, Late Models, Super Stocks, and

pure Stocks. The Late Models will take center stage on Friday night with

the first of three BRC Race Car Late Mode Shootout events. 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.

BUSH’S SUNOCO NIGHT RACE SUMMARY:

MODIFIEDS: 1. JOEY GRAMMES 2. Brian Weaver 3. Sean Collins 4. Carl Nagel

5. Tom McGurrin 6. Bill Huff 7. Mike Nagel 8. Brian Franko 9. Tom

Rudalavage 10. Mike Decker 11. Mike Frost 12. Rick Holgate 13. Dave

Jenkins 14. Chris Weaver 15. Rick Virkitis 16. Brian Malcolm 17. Joel

Batzel 18. Russ Hendrickson 19. Chris Shupp 20. Mike Colsten 21. Alan

Rudalavage 22. George Kostelansky 23. Steve Babicek

SPORTSMAN: 1. KEVIN BATES 2. Alex Konopka 3. Shaun Walker 4. Brett Tonkin

5. Bruce Evans Jr. 6. Marty Bunker 7. Michael Lartz 8. Dwayne Robbins 9.

Mike Loney 10. Ken Titus 11. Arnie Slade 12. Eric Stephens 13. John

Ferguson 14. George Deckelman 15. Rick Brown 16. Eric Crambo 17. Brian

Decker 18. Harry Marvin III 19. Mike Marold 20. Matt Latwinski DNS:

Joshua Pursell

LATE MODELS: 1. BILLY MARVIN 2. Joe Damiano 3. Jamie Griffiths 4. Allen

Coy 5. Randall Paxton 6. Paul Rooney 7. RJ Windhausen 8. Brent Dyer 9.

Keith Mudge 10. Rich king 11. Jason Carman 12. Jim O’Hara 13. Eric Bonham

14. Lou Sparks 15. George Leatso 16. John Cummings 17. Bud Phillips 18.

Dave Zona

SUPER STOCKS: 1. DENNY DECKER 2. Tracy Gregory 3. Paul Rooney 4. Jerry

Tonti 5. Brett Spoor 6. Chris Hunsinger 7 Harry Marvin Jr. 8. Dan Pompey

9. Jason Bartsch 10. Tom Cornell 11. Chris Strohl 12. Paul Strohl 13. Ken

Taugher 14. Jerry Millard 15. Rob Latwinski 16. Jim Hughes 17. Wade

Decker 18. Jamie Cortazar 19. Nick Petrilak 20. Nate Evans

PURE STOCK #1: SHANE WOLF 2. Charlie Gilbert 3. Bob Tyriw 4. Dee Ramey 5.

Chuck Alexander 6. Daryl Ellis 7. Mike Hoyte 8. Lee Penney 9. Kevin Beach

10. Josh Ellis 11. Tom Garren 12. Jason Bond 13. Randy Rollison 14. Brad

Albrecht 15. Keith Wilkins 16. Jerry Lobdell 17. Bill Hawkins 18. Jason

Makosky 19. Ivan Smith 20. Nate Shay 21. Jeremy Consla DNS: Craig Decker,

Everett Cass

PURE STOCK #2: 1. SHANE WOLF 2. Charlie Gilbert 3. Josh Ellis 4. Daryl

Ellis 5. Chuck Alexander 6. Dee Ramey 7. Bob Tyriw 8. Keith Wilkins 9.

Tom Garren 10. Nate Shay 11. Randy Rollison 12. Jason Makosky 13. Kevin

Beach 14. Inan Smith 15 Mike Hoyte 16. Brad Albrecht 17. Craig Decker 18.

Jason Bond 19. Lee Penney DNS: Everett Cass, Jeremy Consla, Jerry

Lobdell, Bill Hawkins