ALAN JOHNSON MOVES FROM LAST TO FIRST TO WIN FULTON FEATURE EVENT
FULTON, NY.....Alan Johnson arrived late, started dead last, and put on a great show in taking his fourth win of the year in 358 Modified competition Saturday night at Fulton Speedway. Young rookie Clayton Brewer scored his career first Sportsman feature win, Jerry Holmes took his third win of the year in the Pro Stocks, Jeff Pastorella came out on top in the Pure Stock feature, and Gordy Button was the winner in the 20-lap ELS Sprint A-Main.
Tim Burnett rocketed into the lead from the pole at the start of the 35-lap DIRT 358 Modified feature event and pulled away from a battle between Doug Fuller and Roger Phelps for the second spot. Mitch Gibbs, Todd Burley, and Jim Phelps, all in contention for the track championship, started in mid pack and worked their way forward quickly. Also moving up from dead last was Alan Johnson.
After a lap 10 yellow, Gus Schmidt began to battle with Roger Phelps for second, taking the spot on lap 15 and chasing after the race leader. Two laps later, Schmidt had the lead, but could not pull away. Alan Johnson was continuing his charge through the field, with Jimmy Phelps in tow, and they cracked the top five on lap 22. On the next lap, Burnett struck and infield tire and folded up his front end, and Burley was caught in the incident, taking his car to the pits with front end damage.
On the restart, Mitch Gibbs began to put pressure on the leaders as Alan Johnson made a wild move to pass three cars in one corner. Three laps later, Alan worked his way by leader Schmiedt and pulled away for his fourth win. Phelps was second, followed by Schmidt, Gibbs, and J.J. Michaels. 358 Modified heats were won by Roger Phelps, Schmidt, and Roy Shields.
Jimmy Phelps was crowned the 1999 358 Modified Track Champion.
Clayton Brewer was the pole sitter for the 20-lap Sportsman feature, and took the lead at the start. Several skirmishes early in the feature event eliminated several contenders, but Tim Sears and Tony Buffa were able to avoid them all as their battle in the field had the track title hanging in the balance.
Kevin Crave and Bill Shantel battled for second and third furiously in the last half of the feature, but Brewer had the field covered and cruised home with a dominating win, his first ever. The outstanding rookie was trailed by Shantel, Crave, Dan Vail, and Walt McArdell. Sportsman heats were won by Russ Hefti, Brewer, and Mark Yorker. Greg Doust won the Sportsman consi.
Tony Buffa's 6th place finish was good enough for him to earn the 1999 Sportsman track championship.
The 20-lap Pro Stock feature event started with Gerry Newman and Mike Watkins battling for the lead. Jerry Holmes moved his way into contention by lap 5 with TJ Fitzgibbons right on his tail. Newman's bid for the win ended on lap 15 when she spun in turn one. On the restart, Fitzgibbons threw a right rear tire, and Holmes held off Bruce Hovis for the win. Bill Shantel Jr. was third, followed by Mike Watkins and Joehn Pietrowicz. Pro Stock heats were won by Howie Koegel and Newman.
John Pietrowicz's finish behind Watkins was enough for him to net the 1999 Pro Stock track title.
The 15-lap Pure Stock feature event saw Phil Trim lead the first three laps with Don Stevenson battlin Dave Mannise for second. Mannnise held on to the runnerup spot, and found the line to get by Trim onlap 4. Darren Kelso moved into second and chased Mannise, passing him for the lead on lap 8.
Jeff Pastorella had moved in behind Mannise and Kelso, and after slipping by Mannise for second, Pastorella grabbed the lead on lap 9. Kelso spun in turn four on lap 11 and fell out of the top five. Mannise could not catch Pastorella, who nabbed his first Fulton win of the year. Scott Grevelding, Rob Seavy, and Chad Ray rounded out the top five. Pure Stock heats went to Mannise and Stevenson.
By just starting the night's feature, Darren Kelso locked up the 1999 Pure Stock points crown.
The 20-lap ELS feature saw Gordy Button take the lead on lap 4 and tear through traffic for a dominating feature win over Rich Wood and Dan Decracker.
Next Saturday night, "Anarchy Rulz" as the Modifieds run a "Run-Whatcha-Brung" event, joined by Sportsman, Pro Stocks, Pure Stocks, and 4 Cylinders. All classes will be running Victoria 200 Qualifiers. Gates open at 5pm and racing starts at 7pm.
RACE SUMMARY-FULTON SPEEDWAY
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4TH, 1999
DIRT 358 MODIFIED FEATURE-ALAN JOHNSON, Jim Phelps, Gus Schmidt, Mitch Gibbs, JJ Michaels, Roger Phelps, Gil Tegg, Dave House, Jeff Rudalavage, Doug Fuller, Jason Barney, Eric VanSciver, Pete Taylor, Howard Pierson Jr., Ty Hunt, Randy Storms, Aaron Jacobus, Tim Burnett, Todd Burley, John Barker, Billy Woodworth, Rick Miller, Roy Shields.
SPORTSMAN FEATURE-CLAYTON BREWER, Bill Shantel, Kevin Crave, Dan Vail, Walt McArdelll, Tony Buffa, Willy Decker, Jim Bowman, Tim Sears, Jeremy Pitcher, Chad Phelps, Ron Richardson, Mark Yorker, John Cunningham, Paul Kinney, Ron Davis, Tommy Collins Jr., Mark Tily, Russ Hefti, Jim LaRock, Dean Bower, Tim Johnson, Greg Doust, Dave Bargabus, Terry Knoblauch.
PRO STOCK FEATURE-JERRY HOLMES, Bruce Hovis, Bill Shantel Jr., Mike Watkins, John Pietrowicz, Rick Breed, Tim Harris, Dan Winks, Jason Rood, Paul Stoneburg, Mike Dickquist, Jason Dockstader, TJ Fitzgibbons, Gerry Newman, Leroy Saban, Keith Butler, Howie Koegel.
PURE STOCK FEATURE-JEFF PASTORELLA, Dave Mannise, Scott Grevelding, Rob Seavy, Chad Ray, Kevin Raymond, Don Stevenson, Darren Kelso, Rick DeGroff, John Eiss, Bill Trexler Sr., Phil Trim, Bruce Stanton, Gary Barton, Ken Connors, Tim Pitonza, George Wright, Dan Hatch, Dan Butterfield, Lou Levea, Dave Stoughtenger.