GEORGE KOSTELANSKY, BRIAN DECKER, RANDALL PAXTON, TRACY GREGORY, AND CHARLIE GILBERT ARE FRIDAY NIGHT WINNERS AT PENN CAN

(Susquehanna, Pa.)…George Kostelansky picked up his first feature win of

2004 in the 30 lap Modified feature at the Penn Can Speedway last Friday

night. Brian Decker won his first Sportsman division feature of the

season while Randall Paxton was also a first time winner in 2004 in Late

Model competition. Tracy Gregory scored his third consecutive Super

Stock win while “Chargin” Charlie Gilbert made it two in a row in the

Pure Stock feature.

Russell Hendrickson Jr. and Mike Nagel paced the field to the green

flag to start the 30 lap Modified feature. Nagel jumped out to the early

lead as sixth starting Tom Rudalavage made his way quickly to the front

of the field. Rudalavage worked past Nagel for the top spot as behind

him Rick Virkitis was on the move from his ninth starting spot. Virkitis

had raced his way to third and was challenging Hendrickson for that spot.

A hard crash on the ninth lap brought out the red flag as several

cars made hard contact on the backstretch. It appeared that Hendrickson

got over the berm and got into the outside wall, then he and Virkitis

made contact which got Hendrickson out of shape in front of the onrushing

pack. As the field tried to take evasive actions, several cars made hard

contact. By the time the wreck was over, Brian Weaver, Chris Weaver,

Brian Franko, Russ Hendrickson, and Mike Colsten were all eliminated from

the event. Colsten’s car fared the worst, taking heavy damage on all

four corners. Thankfully all drivers walked away from the scene

uninjured.

Racing resumed with Tom Rudalavage being shown the race leader, but

Kostelansky was on the move from his ninth starting position.

Kostelansky, who makes his home only a mile from the speedway, worked

past Virkitis for the runner-up position then set his sights on the

leader. Kostelansky would make what would prove to be the winning pass

shortly thereafter as he drove around Rudalavage for the top spot.

With Kostelansky now in the lead, Rudalavage did not give up as he

hung right with George the rest of the way, keeping the pressure on all

the way. On the final lap, Kostelansky slipped up just a bit in the

third and fourth turn which opened the door for Rudalavage. Tom tried to

make a pass on the low side, but Kostelansky had just enough to beat

Rudalavage back to the line by about a car length.

It was the first win for the season for Kostelansky and his

Kostelansky Fabrications/Kelleher Tire sponsored #17 Bicknell chassied

machine Rudalavage turned in a strong run to finish second and collect

the bonus for being the highest finishing car powered by DIRT legal Small

Block power. Rick Virkitis finished third ahead of Mike Decker and

veteran Carl Nagel. Joey Grammes, Rick Holgate, Mike Nagel, Tom

McGurrin, and Sean Collins completed the top ten finishing order.

Tom Rudalavage, Brian Weaver, and Chris Shupp won the Modified

qualifying events.

In Sportsman action, it was Brian Decker driving his Don’s

Automotive Mall sponsored #9R to his first Penn Can victory of the

season. Decker started seventh and made his way steadily to the front of

the field, aided by several caution periods in the early going that kept

the field bunched up. Brian worked his way past early race leader Dwayne

Robbins to take over the top spot. Once out front, Decker dominated the

remainder of the event to pick up the win without a major challenge.

Behind Decker, defending track champion Kevin Bates overcame involvement

in two early race incidents and a rapidly deflating rear tire to score a

runner-up finish as he held off a hard charging Dusty Jaeger to finish

second with Jaeger finishing third. Rookie Michael Lartz picked up his

best Sportsman finish to date with a fourth place run with Arnie Slade

rounding out the top five finishing order. Dwayne Robbins, Brett Tonkin,

Mike Loney, Ryan Olsommer, and Bruce Evans Jr. completed the top ten.

Kevin Bates, Brian Decker, and Alax Konopka took wins in Sportsman

qualifying events.

After struggling with mechanical gremlins in the early part of the

season, Randall Paxton was back in usual form on Friday night as he drove

to victory in the 20 lap Late Model feature. Paxton started fifth on the

field and wasted little time in working his way to the front of the

field. Paxton found the outside of the speedway to his liking, using the

cushion to drive his way to the front. Paxton quickly closed in on

early race leader and defending Late Model champion Dave Zona and began

to work to the high side of Zona. Dave was running the low groove and

managed to hold off Paxton as the two had the crowd on their feet with

some great side by side racing. Despite the intensity of the battle, the

two never touched as they battled for the top spot. Eventually, Paxton

was able to power past Zona and into the lead. Once out front, Randall

was able to drive away from Zona, dominating the remainder of the event

to pick up the win. Zona crossed the line second ahead of Jamie

Griffiths, Joe Damiano, and Allen Coy. Billy Marvin, RJ Windhausen,

Jason Carman, Erick Bonham, and Keith Mudge made up the second half of

the top ten finishing order.

Dave Zona and Jamie Griffiths won the twin Late Model heat races.

Tracy Gregory completed the hat trick in the 20 lap Super Stock

feature as the veteran driver from Factoryville, Pa. Drove his L & L

Flagstone sponsored machine to his third consecutive feature win. Tracy

drove from his eleventh starting position to take the lead after spending

several alps in a three way battle for the top spot with Denny Decker and

Dan Pompey. Gregory had the high side of the speedway working as Tracy

drove past both Decker and Pompey on the high side of the speedway. Once

out front, Tracy was able to drive away while Decker and Pompey continued

to swap the runner-up position. Gregory took the checkered flag first

with Pompey just beating out Decker for second with Decker third. Daryl

Ellis returned after a couple of weeks off to finish fourth while Wade

Decker completed the top five. Chris Hunsinger, Jerry Tonti, Paul

Rooney, Harry Marvin, Jr. and Ken Sparks rounded out the top ten.

Brett Spoor, Paul Stohl, and Tract Gregory won the three Super Stock

heats while Les Gillette won the consolation event.

Charlie Gilbert won his second straight Pure Stock feature. Charlie

took over the lead when early leader Shane Wolf broke while leading.

Gilbert then had to hold off a strong running Nate Shay to pick up the

win. Shay finished second ahead of Keith Wilkins, Josh Ellis, and Randy

Rollison. Mike Hoyte, Kevin Beach, Nate Evans, Sheppard Blodgett and

Ryan Stone completed the top ten finishers.

Charlie Gilbert and Chris Wood won the Pure Stock heat races.

Penn Can Speedway management also announced a schedule change

involving the North South Series event which was scheduled for June 22nd.

That event has been pushed back one week and will now be run on June

29th.

Racing continues this Friday night at Penn Can Speedway with a

full card of racing action featuring all five of Penn Can Speedway‘s five

regular divisions. The Modifieds, Sportsman, Late Models, Super Stocks

ad Pure Stocks will all be in action. In addition, the Slingshot

division will make its first ever appearance at Penn Can. 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. GEORGE KOSTELANSKY 2. Tom Rudalavage 3. Rick Virkitis 4.

Mike Decker 5. Carl Nagel 6. Joey Grammes 7. Rick Holgate 8.Mike Nagel 9.

Tom McGurrin 10. Sean Collins 11. Bill Thornton 12. Chris Shupp 13. Ricky

Yetter 14. Bernie Kelly 15. Mike Frost 16. Bill Huff 17. Steve Babicek

18. Russell Hendrickson Jr. 19. Brian Weaver 20. Mike Colsten 21. Brian

Franko 22. Chris Weaver 23. Alan Rudalavage 24. Tom Hager DNS: Dave

Jenkins

SPORTSMAN: 1. BRIAN DECKER 2. Kevin Bates 3. Dusty Jaeger 4. Michael

Lartz 5. Arnie Slade 6. Dwayne Robbins 7. Brett Tonkin 8. Mike Loney 9.

Ryan Olsommer 10. Bruce Evans Jr. 11. Eric Stephens 12. Rod Frable 13.

Harry Marvin III 14. Greg Hunsinger 15. Andy Stout 16. Alex Konopka 17.

Mike Marold 18. Ted Stout 19. Joshua Pursell 20. Shaun Walker 21. Eric

Crambo 22. Marty Bunker 23. George Deckelman DNS: Garth Tonkin Jr.

LATE MODELS: 1. RANDALL PAXTON 2. Dave Zona 3. Jamie Griffiths 4. Joe

Damiano 5. Allen Coy 6. Billy Marvin 7. R.J. Windhausen 8. Jason Carman

9. Eric Bonham 10. Keith Mudge 11. Bud Phillips 12. Brent Dyer 13. Adam

MacGeorge 14. Rich King 15. Tom Cummings 16. George Leatso 17. Lou Sparks

DNS: Mark Phelps

SUPER STOCKS: 1. TRACY GREGORY 2. Dan Pompey 3. Denny Decker 4. Daaryl

Ellis 5. Wade Decker 6. Chris Hunsinger 7. Jerry Tonti 8. Paul Rooney 9.

Harry Marvin Jr. 10. Ken Sparks 11. Nick Petrilak 12. Rich Post 13. Billy

trego 14. Jerry Liford 15. Brett Spoor 16. Jack Stanley 17. Rick Benjamin

18.Chris Strohl 19. Josh Humphrey 20. Jamie Cortazar 21. Adam Jones 22.

Paul Strohl 23. Les Gillette 24. Frank Bonham DNQ: Rand Rollison, James

Millard, Ken Taugher

PURE STOCKS: 1. CHARLIE GILBERT 2. Nate Shay 3. Keith Wilkins 4. Josh

Ellis 5. Randy Rollison 6. Mike Hoyte 7. Kevin Beach 8. Nate Evans 9.

Sheppard Blodgett 10. Ryan Stone 11. Ivan Smith 12. Tom Garren 13. Jeremy

Consla 14. Joe Cisney 15. Shane Wolf 16. Jason Makosky 17. Chris Wood 18.

Dee Ramey 19. Craidg Decker DNS: Dan Donnelly Jr.