PHELPS WINS SECOND OF YEAR IN FULTON BARNBURNER
FULTON, NY.....Jimmy Phelps' exciting side by side battle for the feature win at Fulton Speedway Saturday night was typical of the evening's action on Nice 'N' Easy Grocery Shops/Hoffman's/Burdick Dodge/B104.7 Night. Tim Johnson held off a wildly battling pack for his first win of 1999 in the Sportsman, TJ Fitzgibbons' second Pro Stock win of the year came in a photo finish with Jason Rood, and Darren Kelso got the best of a wild Pure Stock main for his fourth win of the year.
The 35-lap DIRT 358 Modified feature event began with Rick Miller taking the early lead from Pete Taylor while Jimmy Phelps and Mitch Gibbs entered the top five early, battling behind third place Tom Sears. As Sears moved into second, Miller's car began to fade. Meanwhile, Todd Burley was coming up from the 23rd starting spot, and Alan Johnson made a move up from deep in the field as well.
Phelps slipped past Sears and soon moved into the lead with Gibbs battling for and getting the second spot. As they waged a battle for position, Burley and Johnson cracked the top ten. Ron Holmes also stormed up into the fourth spot, but just past the halfway point Holmes retired to the pits with problems. Burley moved into fourth with Alan sitting in the fifth spot. Sixth through twelfth was the scene of some incredible action as Dave House, John Barker, Roger Phelps, and many others traded spots back and forth.
In the final fifteen laps, Phelps and Gibbs had a tremendous battle for the lead. Gibbs got alongside Phelps many times between turns one and two, but Phelps got a better run off the second corner to hold him off. As Gibbs got alongside Phelps with two laps to go, the yellow flag flew. On the restart, Phelps held off the challenge from Gibbs once again, but Gibbs got a good run off turn four coming down for the checker. At the line, Phelps held off Gibbs by half a car length to notch his second win of the year. Gibbs took second, followed by Johnson, Burley, and Barker. Modified heats were won by Doug Fuller, Barker, and Sears.
The 20-lap Sportsman feature began with Jim LaRock battling for and holding the early lead, but Tim Johnson was hooked up on the outside lane and soon took over the top spot. The race was anything but over, however, as LaRock continued to put heavy pressure on him, and was joined in the battle for the lead by Tony Buffa and Greg Doust.
In the final seven laps of the feature, Tim Johnson had everything but the kitchen sink thrown at him, with repeated challenges from LaRock and Doust both on the high and low sides. Johnson did not succumb to the pressure, and held off every challenge for his first win of 1999. LaRock was a car length behind in second, followed by Doust, Buffa, and Tim Sears. Sportman heats were won by Jeremy Pitcher, Dan Vail, and Doust, with Chad Phelps taking the consi victory.
The 20-lap Pro Stock feature was yet another barnburner with Jason Rood getting the lead from Jerry Holmes by lap 5. Holmes and Rood traded the lead a few times before Rood settled in up front, leaving Holmes to battle with TJ Fitzgibbons for the second position. Gerry Newman came storming up into the battle and got as high as third before front end problems sidelined her on lap 9.
The second half of the feature was an exciting battle between Rood, Holmes, and Fitzgibbons as they traded positions too many times to count. Lapped traffic added to the shuffle of positions, but Rood had the lead as the final lap began. Fitzgibbons got inside of him in turn two and they ran the rest of the way dead even, coming off turn four side by side. In the paint-trading dash to the line, Fitzgibbons nipped Rood by mere inches to score his second Fulton win of 1999. Rood took a heartbreaking second, followed by Holmes, Scott Moyer, and Dave Moyer. Pro Stock heats were won by Fitzgibbons and John Cooper.
The 15-lap Pure Stock main was a wild one, with Lou Levea taking the lead and holding it till Darren Kelso got by him. Dave Mannise made some strong moves to get up into contention, but the race was halted by a red flag on lap 4 when Jim Thomas spun to the inside of turn one, smashing into the infield light pole and rolling over. Thomas was OK after the wild ride.
Back under green, Kelso pulled away from Levea as Mannise got to third. Mannise and Levea battled for a couple of laps until Mannise moved into second. Kelso retained the upper hand as he pulled away for his fourth feature win of the year. Mannise and Levea were second and third, followed by Chad Ray and Scott Grevelding. Pure Stock heats were won by Levea and Phil Trim.
Next Saturday night, a Rollover contest joins the regular four division show at Fulton. Gates will open at 5pm with racing starting at 7pm.
RACE SUMMARY-NICE 'N' EASY GROCERY SHOPS/HOFFMAN'S/BURDICK DODGE/B104.7 NIGHT
FULTON SPEEDWAY-AUGUST 14TH, 1999
DIRT 358 MODIFIED FEATURE-JIM PHLEPS, Mitch Gibbs, Alan Johnson, Todd Burley, John Barker, Gus Schmidt, Tom Sears, Jeff Rudalavage, Dave House, John Ventura, Ty Hunt, Pete Taylor, Rick Miller, Ryan Baye, Roy Shields, Tim Burnett, Randy Storms, Roger Phelps, Doug Fuller, Ron Holmes, Dale Planck, Tom Kinsella, Steve Hulsizer.
SPORTSMAN FEATURE-TIM JOHNSON, Jim LaRock, Greg Doust, Tony Buffa, Tim Sears, Willy Decker, Dan Vail, Mark Yorker, John Cunningham, Jeremy Pitcher, Dave Bargabus, Chad Phelps, Terry Knoblauch, Paul Kinney, Steve Nasholts, Clayton Brewer, Paul Streiff, Mark Tily, Walt McArdell, Russ Hefti, Darryl Hagen, Dean Bower, Ron Davis, Ron Richardson, Bill Shantel Sr., Brian Murphy.
PRO STOCK FEATURE-TJ FITZGIBBONS, Jason Rood, Jerry Holmes, Scott Moyer, Dave Moyer, Rick Breed, Bill Shantel Jr., Bruce Hovis, Mike Watkins, John Pietrowicz, Herm Flowers, John Cooper, Howi Koegel, Leroy Saban, Dave Fox, Mike Dickquist, Tim Harris, Gerry Newman, Anna Elkema, Ray Maloney.
PURE STOCK FEATURE-DARREN KELSO, Dave Mannise, Lou Levea, Chad Ray, Scott Grevelding, Bruce Stanton, Ken Connors, Paul Mercier, Rick DeGroff, Phil Trim, Kevin Raymond, John Eiss, Gary Barton, Dan Hatch, Jim Thomas, Don Stevenson, Joe Reeves, Dan Butterfield.