ALAN JOHNSON VICTORIOUS IN FULTON 358 MODIFIED MAIN
Fulton, NY…A couple of early race cautions didn’t slow down the 14J of Alan Johnson, as the Phelps, NY driver was victorious in Fulton Speedway’s DIRT 358 Modified Main Saturday night. Other winners included Tim Sears, Scott Moyer, Dave Mannise, J.J. Courcy, A.J. Kingsley, and Jean Amidon.
Ty Hunt’s right foot worked better than Dave Reilly’s at the drop of the green in the 358 feature, but the 1R of Reilly snatched the lead on lap 2. The first of two quick yellow flags flew on the next lap as the 94 of Pat Lynch spun in turn two. Lynch restarted, as did the feature.
On that ensuing lap 3 restart, the two Schmidt Trucking sponsored cars of Gus Schmidt and J.J. Michaels had a little meeting in turn two, with both able to fire their machines back up and drive away. Hunt was back in front at this point, with Reilly, Bill Shantel, Pete Taylor, and Tim Murphy rounding out the top five.
Lance Petzoldt, running sixth, stopped in turn two on the 5th circuit, making the official count three yellow flags in the first five laps. This was of great benefit to Alan Johnson, who by now was running in the 8th position.
Reilly passed Hunt once again to take the lead on lap 6, as Johnson tore into the top five. Also on the move was the 99R of Roger Phelps, who worked his way to the front and passed Reilly with a burst of speed on lap 10 to take control. Johnson took second just as quickly, with Reilly, Gil Tegg, and Hunt right behind.
The 14J of Johnson was flying, and when Chris Bushnell spun in turn 3, it put Johnson right on the back bumper of the Phelps machine for the restart on lap 14. Hunt, Dale Planck, and Tegg were now right behind. Another quick yellow on lap 16 left J.J. Michaels and Dave Reilly sitting on the backstretch.
Johnson took control on the ensuing restart and never again looked back. The battle for second became the issue, with Jimmy Phelps passing his Uncle Roger briefly before Roger reclaimed the spot for good.
The remainder of the race was all Johnson, as he went on to win the event with Roger Phelps and Jimmy Phelps following him across the line. Jason Barney was once again strong to finish fourth, while the 30 of Gus Schmidt rebounded from his early race incident to finish fifth. Johnson was the NGK Spark Plugs Halfway Leader.
The Sportsman feature barely had time to get started before a multi-car jingle in turn two sent Tyke Morris, Paul Kinney, Greg Carner, and Greg Doust all to the rear of the field on the second lap. Shane Donath was the leader, with Jeremy Pitcher, Tony Knoblock, Paul Benz, and Tim Sears following.
Pitcher took command on lap 4, but led for just a couple of laps before Sears blew through the top five like a late summer hurricane and blasted his way out front on lap 6. Using the high side of the race track, Sears was able to pull away from the field.
Willie Decker saw what Sears was doing and moved his 1x to the outside and into second. Pitcher batteld briefly with the 7 of Tom Collins Jr. for third, but ended up with the position at the end. The checkered flag flew for the 83 of Sears as the crowd was generous with their applause.
Sears was the winner with Decker, Pitcher, Collins, and Dave Bargabos rounded out the top five. It was the second win of the season at Fulton for Sears. Sears was also the NGK Spark Plugs Halfway Leader.
The Pro-Stock Feature was led early by the 00 of Paul Strieff, with Joe Jackson following closely behind. Within five laps, Jackson had worked his way by the 00 and was trying to pull away. The battle for the lead became a three-way race, as T.J. Fitzgibbons and Scott Moyer soon passed Strieff and began putting the pressure on Jackson.
Fitzgibbons waged a furious battle, and finally got around the 7 of Jackson on lap 9 for the lead. Moyer had similar ideas where it came to passing Jackson, and at the halfway point it was Fitzgibbons, Moyer, Jackson, Strieff, and “Razor” Ray Maloney in the top five spots.
Jason Rood had a flat tire on lap 12, bringing out the yellow. Maloney mounted a mid-race charge, and soon found himself in a battle with Fitzgibbons and Moyer for first. Laps 17 and 18 saw Moyer and Fitzgibbons swap the lead, much to the delight of the crowd. Moyer took control as the white flag flew and held on for the narrow victory.
When the dust settled, it was Moyer standing in victory lane with his 11. Fitzgibbons finished second followed by Maloney, Ricky Breed, and Joe Jackson. Fitzgibbons was the NGK Spark Plugs Halfway Leader in the 20-lap event.
Joe Buske established temporary residence out front in the Pure Stock feature, but Dave Mannise took over as lap 3 went into the books. A slew of six yellow flags kept track officials busy in the 15-lap feature event, but Mannise survived them all to maintain the lead.
The crowd let out a gasp on the white flag lap as Darren Kelso, trying to challenge Mannise for the lead, went through turns three and four with great momentum and the cars touched, sending Kelso around into the infield. Mannise went on to the victory, with Chad Ray, Jay Finch, Ken Connors, and young Bobby Newman rounding out the top five. The NGK Spark Plugs Halfway Leader was the 8 of Mannise.
J.J. Courcy brought the Senior Slingshot field down to the green for their first ever New York State Slingshot Tour event. Courcy not only led the first lap, he led the last one and all that came between them as his 624 survived the attrition filled race.
Courcy scored the victory, with Steve Gowe, Dave Barrows, Dave Waterman, and Dennis Tillson coming across the line behind him. Fifteen cars started the event, the highest car count in this division at Fulton to date.
The Junior Slingshot Feature once again came down to attrition. Kyle Reuter appeared to be the fastest with his 5 car, but he broke while leading the event. The 56 of Larry Wight, a Microd racer with the Syracuse Microd Club, also had mechanical failure leaving the lead and the win to the 87 of A.J. Kingsley.
Jean Amidon took the victory in the Jetettes Women’s Racing Series feature, with Jenny Dion finishing second and Jamie Bargabos third. Amidon is the Mother of Jon and Jason Amidon, and was driving Jon’s 4-Cylinder when she took the checkered flag.
The next race at Fulton will be Saturday, June 24th. B104.7 FM will be the sponsor for the evening, with the usual assortment of DIRT 358 Modifieds, DIRT Sportsman, DIRT Pro Stocks, Pure Stocks, and Slingshots ready for action. Joining the night’s racing card will be the ESDCA Dwarf Cars and Bus Races. Gates 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.
MODIFIEDS: ALAN JOHNSON, Roger Phelps, Jimmy Phelps, Jason Barney, Gus Schmidt, Gil Tegg, John Barker, Tim Burnett, Tim Murphy Jr., Chris Bushnell, Ty Hunt, Bill Shantel Sr., Roy Shields, Than Harrington, Eric Van Sciver, Brent Wilcox, Aaron Jacobus, Pat Lynch, Ryan Baye, Dave Reilly, Pete Taylor, Dale Planck, J.J. Michaels, Jim Burke, Tony Buffa, Lance Petzoldt.
SPORTSMAN: TIM SEARS, Willie Decker, Jeremy Pitcher, Tom Collins, Dave Bargabos, Tom Juhl, Terry Knoblock, Jim Bowman, Greg Doust, Kevin Crave, Bill Shantel Jr., Clayt Brewer, Gregg Carner, Tyke Morris, Chad Phelps, Shane Donath, John Juhl, Ron Richardson, Tim Johnson, Mark Yorker, Paul Benz, Russ Hefti, John Cunningham, Paul Kinney.
PRO STOCKS: SCOTT MOYER, T.J. Fitzgibbons, Ray Maloney, Rick Breed, Joe Jackson, Paul Strieff, Jerry Holmes, Dave Moyer, Danny Winks, Ryan Buskey, Paul Stoneburg, Keith Butler, Chuck Matthews, Dave Fox, Jamie Reese, Jason Rood, Herm Flowers.
PURE STOCKS: DAVE MANNISE, Chad Ray, Jay Finch, Ken Connors, Bobby Newman, Joe Buske, Dennis Brown, Ron Hawker, Gary Chant, Adam Morley, Darren Kelso, John Nickerson, Jeremy Bargabos, Dan Hatch, Gary Barton, Chris Smiedy, Paul Mercier, Scott Beales, David Kirk.
SENIOR SLINGSHOTS: J. J. COURCY, Steve Gowe, Dave Barrows, Dave Waterman, Dennis Tillson, Dennis Thomas, David Nimey, Pete Neff, Fred Helmer, Bob Hoffman, Chad Weatherbee, Bill Cook, Ryan Phelps, Jackie Botindari, Todd Law.
JUNIOR SLINGSHOTS: A.J. KINGSLEY, Kyle Reuter, Larry Wight.
JETETTES WOMEN’S SERIES: JEAN AMIDON, Jenny Dion, Jamie Bargabos.