DECKER, SPOONHOWER AND HAMMOND IN VICTORY LANE AT
THUNDER MOUNTAIN!!!
Mike Decker, of Gibson, PA, put on a dominating performance to pick up his second Modified feature win of the season at the Thunder Mountain Speedway on Saturday night. Berkshire’s Billy Spoonhower made his first trip to the winners circle in the highly competitive Sportsman division.
Also capping off feature wins were Ken Hammond in Street Stocks, Buck Mills in Pure Stocks, Duane Knapp in Four Cylinder Modifieds, Mitch Hurlburt in Four Cylinder Stocks, Paul Larow in Thunder Dogs and Amber Patrick in Thunder Pups.
Decker started on the outside pole for the 30 lap Modified Main event and took the lead at the start over pole sitter Bill Jenkins, of Waymart, PA. Binghamton native Mike Colsten wasted no time in making his way from his fifth starting spot to the front, as he moved past Jenkins on the second lap.
Decker set a torrid pace, with Colsten giving chase as Otego’s J.R. Hurlburt, Whitney Point’s Brent Wilcox, and Eddie White, of Candor, all did battle for the remainder of the top five spots. Colsten was unable to mount a challenge though, as Decker cruised to the checkers, leading wire to wire. Wilcox came in for third, followed by White, with last week’s feature winner Jim Gabriel, jr., of Binghamton, completing the top five.
Cortland’s Scott Allen took off from his pole starting position at the start of the 20 lap Sportsman feature event to lead the way over Brian White of Candor. Berkshire native Billy Spoonhower, who started sixth in the field, took over the runner up spot from White as the field took the green on a lap six re-start, and started to put pressure on Allen for the elad.
Spoonhower had the hot set-up, as he maneuvered past Allen for the top spot just past the half-way point of the race. Speedsville’s Kevin Jordan, who started fifth, moved up into third and started to chase down the Allen machine. At the checkers it was Spoonhower with the win, with Allen holding on for a great second place run, followed by Jordan, Kirkwood’s Ken Titus and Spencer’s Cliff Pierce.
After winning the first two Street Stock features of the season, Speedsville’s Ken Hammond ran into some hard luck for the next few weeks. His fortune changed Saturday night as he picked up win number three of the season, dominating the field from start to finish.
Berkshire’s Bill Rampe ran second behind Hammond as five caution periods slowed the pace of the early part of the race. Fourth place starter Curt Decker, of Afton, took over the runner-up spot on lap 14 as the field entered lapped traffic, but was unable to gain any ground on the flawless performance of Hammond. Decker came in for second, with Rampe third, Norwich’s Harold Humphrey in fourth, and John Cooper, Jr., of Dryden, fifth.
In the 20 lap Pure Stock main event, Buck Mills, of Willett, emerged as the race leader after two caution periods near the beginning of the race. Mills, who had started eighth started to open up some distance over second place runner Richie Hillis, of Vestal.
Endicott driver Rich Green worked his way up from his ninth starting position to take over the second spot from Hillis on lap eight. Green then put the pressure on Mills, as he looked to the inside for a shot at the lead. As the duo hit lap fourtenn, contact between the leaders sent Green careening into the infield, ending his evening.
Hillis regained second, with Doug Stacks of Athens running third. Stack put pressure on Hillis for a few laps, until something went wrong with his number 10 machine and he faded out of the top five. Mills went on for the win, with Hilis, Howard Jones, Dick Stark and Louie Gordinier completing the top five. In the 15 lap Four Cylinder Stock feature, Newark Valley’s Jason Tuttle took off with the early race lead. Marathon driver Mitch Hurlburt quickly moved up from his sixth starting spot into second by lap five, and set his sights on Tuttle for the lead.
Three laps later, Hurlburt took over the number one spot, as Newfield’s Bob Doolittle moved up to third. Doolittle’s bid for a win came to an end as the motor went away in the Cayuga Performance machine. Hurlburt went on for his second win in a row, with Tuttle in second, Rich Powell third, Fred Newton II fourth, and Jerry Wilcox in fifth.
Sherburne native Duane Knapp continued his winning ways in the Four Cylinder Modified division, as he picked up his fourth win of the season. Windsor’s Gordie Isham lead the first part of the 15 lap event, until losing the lead to Knapp on lap seven.
John Powers, of South New Berlin, whose worst finish was second so far this season, seemed to be continuing his streak as he battled with Isham for second, until something went awry on his 00 machine and he slowed off the pace. Isham finished a strong second, with Josh Taylor, Tom Fletcher and Cal Pierce completing the top five.
It was Paul Larow’s night to shine in the Thunder Dog division, as he picked up the win in both the regular 10 lap feature event and the held over show from May 22nd. Larow, of Cayuta, held off challengers Ben Poirier and Michael Morse in the first feature, and Matt Pagliaro and Brady Foster in the second feature to cap off his wins.
Berkshire’s Amber Patrick also made it two for two on the night in the Thunder Pup division. Patrick held off Lance Willes and hard charging Rich Gardner to win the first ten lap event. In the second 10 lap event she held off Gardner and Dusty Corwin to put the wraps on both features.
This coming Saturday is a regular show with all eight classes on the schedule card for the evenings events. Racing is set to start at 6:30pm. Thunder Mountain Speedway is located off of Route 79 in Center Lisle, NY.