MIKE CLAPPERTON NIPS BILL HUFF AT THE LINE FOR HIS SECOND STRAIGHT PENN

CAN VICTORY

(Susquehanna, Pa.) For the second straight week, Sidney Center, NY's Mike

Clapperton wheeled his #M16 to victory in the 30 lap Modified feature at

the Penn Can Speedway. Friday night's feature win came in dramatic style

as he passed Bill Huff exiting the fourth turn on the final lap to take

the win in a 30 lap feature that was run off without a caution flag. The

Sportsman division also ran their 20 lap feature without a caution flag

as current point leader Kevin Bates drove to his fifth feature win of the

season. Jason Carman drove to his third Late Model win of the season

while James Cornell drove to his eighth Super Stock win of the season.

Shane Wolf won his fifth Pure Stock feature to maintain his point lead on

B.K. Norris/O'Hara Construction night at the speedway.

The 30 lap Modified feature came to the green flag with Sean Collins

and Tom Rudalavage pacing the field to the green flag. The early stages

of the event saw Bill Huff and George Kostelansky on the move as Huff

charged from his fifth starting position to take over the top spot. Just

behind him, Kostelansky was on the move as well as he moved into a

challenging position behind Huff. With no caution flags to bunch the

field up, Clapperton was turning in an impressive drive from his twelfth

starting position. Clapperton advanced to third as the top three broke

away from the rest of the field as Clapperton and Kostelansky battled for

the runner-up position.

As the race entered its closing stages, Clapperton moved around

Kostelansky and set his sights on Huff. The race leaders found

themselves mired in heavy lapped traffic over the closing laps of the

event which tightened the gap between the frontrunners. On the final

lap, Clapperton was able to make a run to the low side of Huff in the

third turn as Bill left just enough room on the inside to open the door

for Clapperton. Mike found just enough bite on the inside groove to

power his way alongside Huff and managed to out drag Huff down the

frontstretch to pick up the win by the narrowest of margins in a photo

finish. Clapperton's win was his second in a row and third of the

season. In addition to picking up the winner's share of the purse,

Clapperton also collected the $250 bonus posted for winning the race with

DIRT legal 358 C.I. power under the hood. Huff finished second while

George Kostelansky finished third to pull within seven points of the

point lead with only two point races remaining on the schedule. Alan

Rudalavage and Mike Decker completed the top five. Point leader Brian

Weaver, Jamie Shea, Mike Nagel, Mike Colsten and Chris Weaver made up the

second half of the top ten finishing order.

George Kostelansky, Bill Huff, and Jamie Shea won modified

qualifiers.

Just as the Modified did, the Sportsman division also ran a very

clean feature as they ran their 20 lap event without the need for a

caution flag. Polesetter Dan Buchannon took full advantage of his up

front starting spot as he drove into the lead at the drop of the green

flag. He spent the early part of the race battling with Ken Titus, but

by the time the race had passed the halfway point, championship

contenders Kevin Bates and Chad Cook had moved past Titus and into a

challenging position. The two championship contenders were able to close

the gap on Buchannon and the three wee locked in a tight battle for the

lead. The decisive moment came just two laps from the finish as the top

three cars exited the second turn three wide. Cook jumped to the outside

of Buchannon while Bates went to the bottom. It turned out that Kevin

made the right choice as the bottom side opened up and Bates was able to

make the move from third to the lead as they raced down the backstretch.

Bates was able to clear both Cook and Buchannon by he time they got to

the third turn to establish himself as the race leader. Cook also worked

past Buchannon and tried to run down Bates, but Kevin was able to hold

off his challenge over the final two laps to score the win while Cook

settled for second. Buchannon drove to a third place finish, his best

effort of the 2003 season. Ken Titus and Brett Tonkin completed the top

five. Brian Decker finished sixth ahead of Shaun Walker, Brandon Buck,

Dwayne Robins, and Shawn Mills.

The two Sportsman qualifying heats were won by Kevin Bates and Dan

Buchannon.

Montrose, Pa.'s Jason Carman continued his strong 2003 season as he

drove to victory in the 20 lap Late Model feature, his third win of the

2003 racing season. Carman started seventh in the feature but quickly

made his way to the front, working past early race leader Jamie Griffiths

to take over the top spot. Once out front, Carman was not seriously

challenged the rest of the way. Dave Zona tried to make a late run at

Jason, but could not close the gap and settled for a strong runner-up

finish ahead of early leader Griffiths, who hung on to finish third.

Randall Paxton and Lou Sparks completed the top five. Allen Coy, Larry

DeLello, Bud Phillips, Rich King, and Jim'O'Hara completed the top ten.

Keith Mudge and Jamie Griffiths won the Late Model qualifying heats.

James Cornell drove to his eighth victory of the season in the 20

lap Super Stock feature. Cornell started fourth and quickly drove into

the lead and appeared to be having things going his way as he dominated

the majority of the event, but a lap 17 restart set up a barn-burner of a

finish. On that restart, second place runner Tracy Gregory got a run to

the inside of Cornell. From that point, the two ran the final three laps

of the feature side by side as they battled for the top spot. This

battle would last all the way to the finish with Cornell able to just

nose out Gegory at the line to secure the victory. David Luff, Wade

Decker, and Nick Petrilak completed the top five. Chris Hunsinger, Paul

Rooney, Chris Strohl, Adam Diaz, and Nate Evans completed the top ten.

James Cornell and Nick Petrilak won the Super Stock heat races.

Current Pure Stock point leader Shane Wolf drove to his firth

victory of the season in the 20 lap Pure Stock feature. Bob Tyriw led

the opening laps before Wolf made the winning pass, then chased Wolf the

remainder of the way to pick up a solid runner-up finish. Charlie

Gilbert, Keith Wilkins, and Jim Ortiz finished third through fifth

respectively. Michael Lartz, Kevin Davies, Craig Decker, Serafino Raggi,

and Ken Wynn completed the top ten finishing order.

Coming up this Friday night at Penn Can Speedway, the Modifieds will

see action in a major special event as a guaranteed starting spot in the

All Star Race during the Victoria 200 Weekend at the Fulton Speedway will

be on the line. The Late Models, Sportsman, Super Stocks, and Pure

Stocks will also see action in complete shows. Racing gets underway at

7:15 PM sharp.

RACE SUMMARY:

MODIFIEDS: 1. MIKE CLAPPERTON 2. Bill Huff 3. George Kostelansky 4. Alan

Rudalavage 5. Mike Decker 6. Brian Weaver 7. Jamie Shea 8. Mike Nagel 9.

Mike Colsten 10. Chris Weaver 11. Sean Collins 12.Tom Rudalavage 13. Dave

Jenkins 14. Steve Babicek 15. Mike Frost 16. Tom McGurrin 17. John

Gurnsey 18. Roger Lew3is 19. Chris Shupp 20. Bernie Kelly 21. Rick

Holgate 22. Brian Franko DNS: Bobby Trapper

SPORTSMAN: 1. KEVIN BATES 2. Chad Cook 3. Dan Buchannon 4. Ken Titus 5.

Brett Tonkin 6. Brian Decker 7. Shaun Walker 8. Brandon Buck 9. Dwayne

Robbins 10. Shawn Mills 11. Rick Brown 12. Mike Loney 13. Matt Latwinski

14. Tom Votra 15. Brett Tonkin DNS: Tom McGurrin

LATE MODEL: 1. JASON CARMAN 2. Dave Zona 3. Jamie Griffiths 4. Randall

Paxton 5. Lou Sparks 6. Allen Coy 7. Larry DeLello 8. Bud Phillips 9.

Rich King 10. Jim O'Hara 11. Steve Tourje 12. Brent Dyer 13. Adam

MacGeorge 14. Pete Sobol 15. Tom Lainhart 16. Joe Damiano 17. Keith Mudge

SUPER STOCKS: 1. JAMES CORNELL 2. Tracy Gregory 3. David Luff 4. Wade

Decker 5. Nick Petrilak 6. Chris Hunsinger 7. Paul Rooney 8. Chris Strohl

9. Adam Diaz 10. Nate Evans 11. Mike Decker 12. Keith Millard 13. Jay

Sienkevich

PURE STOCKS: 1. SHANE WOLF 2. Bob Tyriw 3. Charlie Gilbert 4. Keith

Wilkins 5. Jim Ortiz 6. Michael Lartz 7. Kevin Davies 8. Craig Decker 9.

Serafino Raggi 10. Ken Wynn 11. Josh Ellis 12. Mark Shipman 13. Tom

Garren 14. Gregg Brunges 15. Frank Penney 16. Brad Albrecht 17. Brian

Mills 18. Dan Donnelly Jr. 19. Harry Marvin III 20. Rob Welsh 21. Billy

House 22. Ivan Smith DNS: Jeremy Stout, Toby Sparks