Two First Time Winners
Fuel Gamblers Raceway Park
Bill walker
May 5, 2003
Under partly sunny skies Gamblers Raceway Park emerged from under the dark cloud that has been hanging over head by providing a tacky surface and presenting a good racing program on Vocelli Pizza trophy night. “Hopefully we are on the way back to fan, driver and sponsor approval” commented track owner Joe Castagnolo.
With double features scheduled for two divisions the Budweiser Late Models took to the track for the make up feature from the previous week. Canoe Creeks Steve Everhart jumped to the point from his front row starting spot and set a blistering pace. With “HOT” Rod Phillips in tow the twosome soon began working slower traffic and Phillips was able to take advantage and slip by for the lead. A caution on lap ten bunched the field up and set the stage for a fifteen lap non stop run to the checkers. With Phillips getting a tire cut while working lap 18 Everhart made his way around and never looked back picking up his first career victory at Gamblers Raceway Park. Jason Witherite, Bobby Stokes Matt Gaston and Phillips rounded out the top five.
On the surface next would be the makeup feature for the Fred Diehl Chevrolet of Philipsburg pure stocks. Jeff Peffer of Houtzdale moved out front early and it appeared he was on his way to his first career win. However by lap four, Sheddy Graham III grabbed the lead and cruised to his second win of the young season. Following Sheddy to the line for top five finishes were Jason Bainey, Joe Mullen, Peffer and Rich Homan.
In Budweiser Late Model feature number two it looked like “HOT” Rod Phillips had the field covered as he pulled out to a commanding lead over the trio of Matt Gaston, Bobby Stokes and George Fultz. A lap seventeen incident with a slower machine eventually led to the wind being taken from the sails of “HOT” Rod. George Fultz inherited the lead and had to fend off challenges from Stokes and Gaston. At the line it was Fultz followed by Stokes, Gaston, Bill Davis and Steve Everhart up from his thirteenth starting position. Fultz and Phillips grabbed heat wins.
The Vocelli Pizza Street Stocks were next on the blocks for the twenty five lap Street Stock Spring Fling. John Wayne Weaver and Cherry Tree’s Scott Stein led the field of 20 cars to Mike Frisco’s green flag. Stein jumped to the lead with Weaver, Dan Smeal and Harold Seabring running bumper to bumper. Smeal working his way by Weaver set his sights on the leader and on lap 13 was able to move around and began to open up a lead. A fierce battle would shape up between Trent Ogden, Frank McVay and Seabring for second through fourth. Following Smeal at Mike Frisco’s double checkers in the top five were Seabring, Ogden, McVay and Todd Mathews. Weaver, Stein and Smeal coped heat wins.
Smithmill’s Mike Stine led early and often in garnering his second early season victory in the Sid’s Subs Small Block Modifieds. Bob Garvey moved by the outside pole sitter Jimmy Holden early but Stine had already built a comfortable lead and it looked as though “MIGHTY” Mike was untouchable. A caution on lap nine for a spinning Fred Heiss gave Garvey the opportunity he was looking for but he wasn’t able to muster enough horsepower to get around Stine. Following Stine were Garvey, Mike Butterworth, Holden and Bill Krause. Heats were won by Stine and Holden
For the final race of the evening the Fred Diehl Chevrolet of Philipsburg Pure Stocks moved into place. Chris Finnigan and Dustin Micheck took the green and with only two previous feature winners in the field the chances were pretty good we would have a first time winner. Before a green flag lap could be completed the 13 of Micheck and 22M of Joe Mullen became hooked together in turn one. After several minutes of trying to separate the two machines, the Hyde Fire company was called in to separate the two competitors using the Jaws of Life. With the incident behind and the green waving once again Chris Finnigan grabbed the lead from Jeff Peffer and it looked as though he was going to check out on the field and be the person picking up his first career victory, but back in the pack Sheddy Graham III making his way through the field from his thirteenth starting position had a different scenario in mind. While Frank Little, Peffer Jason Bainey and Matt Howell battled, it looked more and more like Finnigan was well on his way. Sheddy Graham by lap nine had caught the leader and on lap ten stole the top spot away. Finnigan would have none of that and battled as hard as he could and was able to get under the 5 car down the backstretch. Graham slid high and Finnigan held his line through three and four and collected his first ever victory at Gamblers Raceway Park. Finnigan and Micheck picked up heat victories.
Around the Bull Ring: Sixty seven cars filled the pits with (15) Budweiser Late Models, (13) Fred Diehl of Philipsburg Pure Stocks, (16) Sid’s Subs Small Block Modifieds and (23) Vocelli Pizza Street Stocks. New drivers in the pits this week were George Fultz (LM) from Beech Creek, (SS) Bobby Heim from Pittsburgh, and Eric Baun from Rossiter. Regular Pure Stock driver Gary Little debut an new Street Stock and pulled double duty.
Saturday May 10th marks the return of Saturday night racing to Gamblers Raceway Park. Budweiser will be on hand to present trophies and the first ever appearance of the Denny’s Beer Barrel Pub Micro Sprints will occur. Saturday May 17th will be the make up for the Sid’s Subs Small Block Modifieds and they will be running a double feature on that evening.
Hope to see you all next week at, “The Biggest Little Racetrack in America.”
Summary
Budweiser Late Model (make up):
Feature: 1.Steve Everhart, Canoe Creek 2.Jason Witherite, Luthersburg 3.Bobby Stokes, Milton 4.Matt Gaston, Rochester Mills 5.Rod Philips, Punxsutawney 6.Bill Davis, Dubois 7.Chris Farrell, Clearfield 8.Bobby McMillen, St Marys 9.Mark Welker, Munson 10.Loren Sallack, Johnsonburg 11.Chris Knuth, Houtzdale 12.Geg Kunes, Beech Creek 13.Cody Schultz, Hyde 14.Mike Blose, Dayton
Fred Diehl Chevrolet of Philipsburg Pure Stocks (make up):
Feature: 1.Sheddy Graham III, Clearfield 2. Jason Bainey, Philipsburg 3.Joe Mullen, Ebensburg 4.Jeff Peffer, Houtzdale 5.Rich Homan, PA Furnace 6.Larry Brown, Ginter 7.Matt Howell, Clearfield 8.Dustin Michuck, St Marys 9. Todd Bainey, Philipsburg 10.Bob Helsel, Rosebud 11.Gary Little, Woodland 12.Frank Little, Woodland 13.Craig Bainey, Philipsburg 14.Rob Bailey, Clearfield
Vocelli Pizza Street Stock Spring Fling:
Feature: 1.Dan Smeal, Ramey 2.Harold Seabring, Marion Center 3.Trent Ogden, Clearfield 4.Frank McVay, Boalsburg 5.Todd Mathews, Sanborn 6.Pat Carfley, Curwensville 7.Jamie Price, Hyde 8.Kip Charles, Clearfield 9.Jeff Sweeney, Marion Center 10.John Weaver, Commodore 11. 12.Scott Alvetro, Reynoldsville 13.Tom Homan, Port Matilda 14.Mike Hummel, Clearfield 15.Scott Stein, Cherry Tree 16.Bobby Heim, Pittsburgh 17.Jason Fausnaut, Bairdford 18.Rich Howell, Clearfield 19.Ray Billotte, Mineral Springs 20.Eric Baun, Rossiter
Heat 1: Weaver, Seabring, Charles
Heat 2: Stein, Baun, Price
Heat 2: Smeal, Heim, Ogden
Budweiser Late Model:
Feature: 1.George Fultz 2.Bobby Stokes, Milton 3.Matt Gaston, Rochester Mills 4.Bill Davis, Dubois 5.Steve Everhart, Canoe Creek 6.Bobby McMillen, St. Marys 7.Chris Farrell, Clearfield 8.Cody Schultz, Hyde 9.Chris Knuth, Houtzdale 10.Luke Hoffner, Turbotville 11.Loren Sallack, Johnsonburg 12.Jason Witherite, Luthersburg 13.Greg Kunes, Beech Creek 14.Mark Welker, Munson 15.Rod Philips, Punxsutawney
Heat 1: Fultz, Stokes, Hoffner
Heat 2: Phillips, Everhart, Gaston
Sid’s Subs Small Block Modifieds:
Feature: 1.Mike Stine, Smithmill 2.Bob Garvey, Allport 3.Mike Butterworth, Osceola Mills 4.Jimmy Holden, Tiona 5.Bill Krause, Houtzdale 6.Brent Boyer, Bloomsburg 7.Fay Lumadue, Spring Valley 8.Mark Frankhouser, Philipsburg 9.Bobby Roos, Hyde 10.Chris Luzier, Clearfield 11.Steve Williams, West Decatur 12.Fred Heiss, Tyrone 13.Ron Butterworth, Osceola Mills 14.Tom Holden, Sheffield 15.Kevin Dixon, West Decator 16.Greg Luzier, Clearfield
Heat 1: Stine, Garvey, M. Butterworth
Heat 2: Holden, Lumadue, Krause
Fred Diehl Chevrolet of Philipsburg Pure Stocks (make up):
Feature: 1.Chris Finnigan, Munson 2.Sheddy Graham III, Clearfield 3.Jeff Peffer, Houtzdale 4.Matt Howell, Clearfield 5.Todd Bainey, Philipsburg 6.Frank Little, Woodland 7.Bob Helsel, Rosebud 8.Larry Brown, Ginter 9.Dustin Michuck, St Marys 10.Joe Mullen, Ebensburg 11.Rob Bailey, Clearfield DNS: Jason Bainey, Rich Homan
Heat 1: Finnigan, Graham, Mullen
Heat 2: Micheck, Peffer; Bailey