BRIAN WEAVER, KEVIN BATES, ALLEN COY, JAMIE SHEA, AND CRAIG DECKER EARN

PENN CAN VICOTRIES

(Susquehanna, Pa.) Defending Penn Can Speedway track champion Brain

Weaver raced to his sixth feature win of the 2002 season on Susquehanna

Beverage/Rob's Market night at the Speedway. Sixteen year old Kevin

Bates picked up the Sportsman division win in his first ever Penn Can

start while Allen Coy won his fifth Late Model feature of the season.

Jamie Shea won his sixth Super Stock feature of the season while Craig

Decker got his first of the season in Pure Stock action.

Bob Hamm and Andy Tiffany paced the 25 car starting field to the

green flag as third starting Mike Decker made a big move off the start

to

work past both to take over the lead of the race. While Decker was

showing the way up front, eventual winner Weaver was working his way

steadily forward from his twelfth starting position. Mike Colsten

started just in front of Weaver and he was also making his way to the

front. Weaver made what would prove to be the winning pass just prior

to

the halfway point as he worked past Decker to take over the lead.

Weaver narrowly averted disaster a lap later as he, Decker, and

Colsten got tangled up racing for the lead with Weaver spinning.

Fortunately for Weaver, the caution flag had already been displayed for

Chris Ostrowski, who had made heavy contact with the retaining wall. In

accordance with Penn Can rules, the field was frozen at the moment of

the

caution flag when Ostrowski crashed. Thus, in accordance with Penn Can

rules, Weaver was entitled to reassume his position at the head of the

field.

Brian would continue to hold the top spot the remainder of the way

with Decker and Jeff Bronson following the race went under the red flag

on lap 28 for a serious crash on the frontstretch. It appeared as if

Mike Colsten and Alan Rudalavage got together briefly while racing for

the fifth position. This sent the field behind scattering which

resulted

in a multi-car incident that ended the night for six cars and damaged

several others,, who were able to limp the final two laps in order to

move ahead of those that could not continue. George Kostelansky, Jim

Crawn, Mike Colsten, Rick Virkitis, Mike Clapperton, and Chris Weaver

were all eliminated in this scary-looking incident. All drivers were

able to walk away with the only damage being to the race cars.

The race restarted for the final two-lap shootout. Weaver

controlled the restart and drove his Decker Logging sponsored #9R on to

victory trailed by teammate Mike Decker. Jeff Bronson finished third

ahead of Sean Collins and Larry Kelleher. Bill Huff, Rich Keehle, Carl

Nagel, Mike Nagel, and Alan Rudalavage completed the top ten finishing

order.

In Sportsman action, sixteen year old rookie driver Kevin Bates

piloted his Joanne Strada's Beauty Salon/Kentucky Fried Chicken

sponsored

#42B to victory in his first ever appearance at Penn Can. Kevin did

participate in one of the pre-season practice sessions back in April,

but

Friday night was his first race on the fast 3/8 mile clay oval. Bates

started twelfth in the feature, but wasted little time in making his way

toward the front of the field. Kevin found the outside groove of the

speedway to his liking and quickly moved into a challenging position,

advancing to second in only eight laps. Kevin spent several laps

battling with current point leader Craig Terrell before he was finally

able to pull alongside Craig exiting the fourth turn. Bates charge to

the front was complete a lap later as he was able to complete the pass

on

Terrell to take over the lead. Once out front, Kevin opened up an

advantage over Terrell. Though a couple of late cautions put the

track's current point leader on his rear bumper, each time Bates was

able

to drive away and open up his advantage. Kevin flashed under the

checkered flag to accomplish something few have through the years,

winning at the notoriously tough Penn Can Speedway in his first start.

Terrell chased Bates all the way but could not find a way past and

settled for a strong runner-up finish which allowed him to lenghen his

point lead. Ken Titus finished third ahead of Brian Decker and Jamie

Shea. Mike Marold drove his Gabriel Racing Engines #7m to a sixth place

finish ahead of Dan Vauter and Rick Whitney. Bill Williams finished

ninth in his first Penn Can start of the season while Garth Tonkin Jr.

rounded out the top ten.

Jamie Shea, Craig Terrell, and Ken Titus were winners of the

preliminary race action in the Sportsman division.

Defending Super Stock champion Jamie Shea continued his drive

toward

a successful title defense as he drove his PS Transportation/Lenox Dairy

Bar sponsored entry to his sixth win of the season. It was a hard

fought

victory for Shea, who had to come from the back after an early race

spin.

Jamie blasted his way back through the field, taking the top spot from

Paul Rooney on a lap 16 restart. Jamie would not be seriously

challenged

over the remaining laps and took the win by a comfortable margin over

Rooney, who scored a season best runner-up finish. Tracy Gregory, Chris

Piasecki, and Joe Cabets rounded out the top five. Brett Spoor

recovered

from a late race flat tire to finish sixth with Dwayne Robbins, Chris

Hunsinger, Ron Latwinski, and Randy Rollison completing the top ten

finishing order.

Ron Latwinski and Jamie Shea won the pair of heat races in the

Super

Stock division.

Defending Late Model champion Allen Coy picked up his fifth feature

win of the season in Late Model action. Piloting his Snake Creek

Marine/Cooley Stone sponsored entry, Coy started sixth on the field and

wasted little time in making his way toward the front of the field. He

worked past early race leader Jason Carmen on the sixth lap then led the

rest of the way to pick up the win over Carmen. Jamie Griffiths

finished

third ahead of Dave Zona and Joe Damiano. The second half of the top

ten

finishing order consisted of Randall Paxton, Randy Metcalf, Steve

Tourje,

Keith Mudge and Lou Sparks.

Jason Carmen and Joe Damiano split Late Model heats.

The Pure Stock feature concluded the evening's racing activities

with Craig Decker driving his Kostelansky Fabrications sponsored entry

to

victory, the first of the season for the Susquehanna, Pa. teenager.

Decker and Shane Wolf spent most of the race battling for the top spot.

Shane passed Decker for the top spot early in the event, but three laps

later Craig was able to move back around to retake the lead. The

remainder of the race saw a good battle between Decker and Wolf as Shane

pressured Craig the rest of the way, but was not able to find a way past

Decker. Shane got Decker on the final lap and the two raced side by

side

down the backstretch, but Decker had the preferred groove and was able

to

hold Wolf off to score the victory by a narrow margin in an entertaining

race. Wolf settled for second after trying everything he could to wrest

the lead from Decker. Michael Lartz, Daryl Ellis, and current point

leader Nate Evans rounded out the top five. Everett Cass, Brett Welch,

Toby Sparks, Greg Brunges, and Harry Marvin III completed the top ten.

Jim Ortiz, Craig Decker, and Shane Wolf won Pure Stock heats.

Racing continues this Friday night at the Penn Can Speedway. It

will be Main Engines night which will feature a complete five star card

of racing action. The Modifieds, Sportsman, Late Models, Super Stocks,

and Pure Stocks will all be in competition with a full slate of

qualifying events leading up to five big feature races. Action gets

underway at 7:15 PM.

ROB'S MARKET/SUSQUEHANNA BEVERAGES RACE SUMMARY:

MODIFIEDS: 1. BRIAN WEAVER 2. Mike Decker 3. Jeff Bronson 4. Sean

Collins

5. Larry Kelleher 6. Bill Huff 7. Rich Keehle 8. Carl Nagel 9. Mike

Nagel

10. Alan Rudalavage 11. Mike Colsten 12. George Kostelansky 13. Jim

Crawn

14. Rick Virkitis 15. Mike Clapperton 16. Chris Weaver 17. Tom Hager 18.

Bob Hamm 19. Andy Tiffany 20. Butch Tittle 21. Rick Whitney 22. Chris

Ostrowski 23. Brian Franko 24. Chris Shupp 25. Ed Strada Jr.

SPORTSMAN: 1. KEVIN BATES 2. Craig Terrell 3. Ken Titus 4. Brian Decker

5. Jamie Shea 6. Mike Marold 7. Dan Vauter 8. Rick Whitney 9. Bill

Williams 10. Garth Tonkin 11. Brett Tonkin 12. Rick Holgate 13. Bob Lane

14. Mark Hanichak 15. Dennis Latwinski 16. Eric Bonham 17. Gary Gallerie

18. Bob Conklin 19. Kevin Timinski 20. Dan Buchannon DNS: Bob Evans Jr.

LATE MODELS: 1. ALLEN COY 2. Jason Carmen 3. Jamie Griffith 4. Dave Zona

5. Joe Damiano 6. Randall Paxton 7. Randy Metcalf 8. Steve Tourje 9.

Keith Mudge 10. Lou Sparks 11. Rich King 12. George Leatso 13. Daryl

Ellis 14. Jim O'Hara

SUPER STOCKS: 1. JAMIE SHEA 2. Paul Rooney 3. Tracy Gregory 4. Chris

Piasecki 5. Joe Cabets 6. Brett Spoor 7. Paul Rooney 8. Chris Hunsinger

9. Ron Latwinski 10. Randy Rollison 11. Rick Brown 12. Dich Vauter 13.

Jack Evans 14. Chris Stull

PURE STOCKS: 1. CRAIG DECKER 2. Shane Wolf 3. Michael Lartz 4. Daryl

Ellis 5. Nate Evans 6. Everett Cass 7. Bret Welch 8. Toby Sparks 9. Greg

Brunges 10.Harry Marvin III 11. Gary Druhl 12. Jason Sterling 13. Mike

Hoyte 14. Brian Tiffany 15. Keith Wilkins 16. Ivan Smith 17. Jim Ortiz

18. Rob Welsh 19. Tom Garren 20. Bob Cass 21. Roger Salai 22. Dennis Gow

23. Dan Donnelly