Jimmy Phelps Scores Third Fulton Victory
Fulton, NY…Jimmy Phelps held off a late race surge by Alan Johnson to score his third feature victory of the season at Fulton Speedway on Saturday. Other winners included Shane Donath with his first ever DIRT Sportsman victory, Mike Watkins with his first Pro Stock win of the season, and John Pietrowicz with his first win for new car owner Tom Hood in the Pure Stocks.
The Modified feature opened with a jingle involving the 6 of Pete Taylor and the 29 of Lance Petzoldt. Jimmy Phelps took the lead on the restart and began to open up some ground. Aaron Excell brought a yellow back out on lap 2 when he suffered a flat tire. Phelps was the leader followed by Dave Reilly, Tim Murphy, Brent Wilcox, and Ryan Baye.
Gus Schmidt worked his way into the top five before Lance Petzoldt lost a tire on lap 5, bringing out the third caution of the event. Ryan Baye worked his way into second on the restart, but lost it to Schmidt just a couple of laps later. J.J. Michaels was also on the move, as he cracked the top five and worked his way up to third by lap 12.
Points leader Alan Johnson was also moving with his 14J, and by the time the yellow came out on lap 18 for Ryan Baye’s flat tire, the running order was Phelps, Schmidt, Michaels, Johnson, and Steve Hulsizer, who was driving the Jason Barney team car for the second time this year. Michaels stole second from Schmidt on the ensuring restart, and set sail after the Fleet Pride 99j of Phelps.
Johnson was continuing his march to the front, gaining momentum as the laps wound down. He picked off Schmidt for third on lap 25, then hounded Michaels until lap 30 when he took over second. Though Johnson closed on the leader, Phelps remained poised and got his third Fulton win of the season. Johnson, Michaels, Tim Clemons, and Schmidt rounded out the top five.
Sixth through tenth were Steve Hulsizer, Jason Barney, John Barker, Jeff Rudalavage, and Jim Mahaney. The NGK Spark Plugs Halfway Leader was Phelps.
Shane Donath grabbed the lead early in the DIRT Sportsman race and never looked back. Brother Shawn Donath ran second, with Rich Keller third early on. Walt McCardell and Paul Benz were also mixing it up early, along with Clayt Brewer and Jim Bowman.
The 24 of Mark Yorker brought out the yellow so he could make a pit stop on lap 4, and on the ensuing restart Benz got by Keller for third. The rest of the race went off without a hitch, allowing Shane Donath to build a lead of nearly a straightaway by the end of the 20 laps.
At the checkers it was Shane Donath getting the win, McCardell sneaking past Shawn Donath to pick up second and leave Shawn in third, Bowman worked his way to fourth, and Benz rounded out the top five. Donath was the NGK Spark Plugs Halfway Leader. Points leader Tim Sears pitted early for a tire but came back for a ninth place finish.
Paul Streiff took his 00 to the head of the Pro Stock class when the green flag was displayed for their 20-lap feature event. Joe Jackson ran second, and provided a challenge to the 00 early. Someone began leaking some fluid on the track in the opening laps, and the 60 of Danny Winks appeared to find it on lap five and spun, collecting the 10 of Chuck Matthews in the process.
Scott Moyer, the points leader in the Pro Stock division, worked his way into third briefly before the 14 of T.J. Fitzgibbons got by him as they approached the halfway point. Streiff became the NGK Spark Plugs Halfway Leader, and then lost the lead on the next lap to Jackson.
As 12 went up on the lapboard, Paul Stoneburg spun the 514 and brought out the second yellow of the race. At this point, the top five were Jackson, Streiff, Fitzgibbons, Mike Watkins, and Jason Rood. Teammates Watkins and Rood were running very well, and Watkins would only move forward from this point on.
Lap 13 saw Watkins move into third, and two laps later a heart stopping three-wide move that had the crowd roaring their approval gave him the lead. Jerry Holmes followed him to the front, but could not overtake the flying 18J despite having a caution on the last lap to do it. Joe Jackson and T.J. Fitzgibbons both wound up with damage as the yellow flag was displayed with one lap left, and when the checkered flag flew it was Watkins, Holmes, Scott Moyer, Dave Moyer, and Rood rounding out the top five.
The Pure Stock feature opened with several lead changes, as Scott Beeles lead the first couple of laps before Todd Koegel, then Dave Mannise took charge. The 17 of John Pietrowicz was making short work of the field and had second place in his hands by lap five. He and Mannise began a battle that involved a little “rubbing”, resulting in Mannise having to pit under a lap 8 yellow flag because of a flat tire.
This turn of events left Pietrowicz in the lead with John Eiss now in second, followed by Todd Koegel, David Kirk, and John Finch. Nobody would catch the speedy 17, as Pietrowicz went on to win for the first time in his new ride. At the stripe it was Pietrowicz, Eiss, Pastorella, Koegel, and Ray. The NGK Spark Plugs Halfway Leader was Mannise.
The next race at Fulton is Saturday, September 2nd. The Labor Day Weekend “Night of Champions” will be sponsored by Pick N’ Pull Auto Parts. This race is the final points event of the 2000 season, so four track champions will be crowned by the end of the night. The DIRT 358-Modifieds, DIRT Sportsman, DIRT Pro Stocks, and Pure Stocks will be joined by a 4-Cylinder Demolition Derby. Gates will open at 5pm, with race time scheduled for 7pm. For more information, contact the speedway office at (315) 593-6531 or see them online at www.fultonspeedway.com.
DIRT 358-MODIFIEDS: JIMMY PHELPS, Alan Johnson, J.J. Michaels, Tim Clemons, Gus Schmidt, Steve Hulsizer, Jason Barney, John Barker, Jeff Rudalavage, Jim Mahaney, Tim Burnett, Tom Sears, Jeremy Smith, Roger Phelps (in Than Harrington’s 8p), Ryan Baye, Chris Bushnell, Jim Witko, Rick Miller, Brent Wilcox, Tim Murphy, Pete Taylor, Dave Reilly, Ty Hunt, Gil Tegg, Aaron Excell, Lance Petzoldt.
DIRT SPORTSMAN: SHANE DONATH, Walt McCardell, Shawn Donath, Jim Bowman, Paul Benz, Tom Juhl, Jeremy Pitcher, Jim Kite, Tim Sears, Rich Keller, Dave Bargabos, Ron Richardson, Greg Doust, Paul Kinney, Tim Johnson, Bill Shantel Jr., Ryan Richardson, Don Wetmore Jr., Ron Cettner, Clayton Brewer, Russ Hefti, Adam Van Patten, Mark Yorker, Willie Decker.
DIRT PRO STOCKS: MIKE WATKINS, Jerry Holmes, Scott Moyer, Dave Moyer, Jason Rood, Rick Breed, Keith Butler, Chuck Matthews, Eric Vanderhoof, Ryan Buskey, T.J. Fitzgibbons, Leroy Sabin, Dave Fox, Danny Winks, Joe Jackson, Paul Stoneburg, Paul Streiff, Roger Olschewske, Ray Maloney, Mike Dicquist.
PURE STOCKS: JOHN PIETROWICZ, John Eiss, Jeff Pastorella, Todd Koegel, Chad Ray, David Kirk, Jay Finch, Ken Connor, Adam Morely, Gary Barton, Bobby Newman, Gary Chant, Bruce Stanton, Bob Gloska, Joe Buske, Billy Allen, Chris Smiedy, Dan Butterfield, Dave Mannise, Marty Davis, Jeremy Bargabos, Dennis Brown, Bill Lasher, Scott Beeles.