GEORGE KOSTELANSKY SNAPS TWO YEAR VICTORY DROUGHT AT PENN CAN

(Susquehanna, Pa.) George Kostelansky broke a two year victory lane

drought as he drove to victory in the Modified feature last Friday night

at the Penn Can Speedway. Defending Penn Can Speedway Super Stock

champion Jamie Shea picked up his first career open wheel win as he won

the Sportsman feature, then came up just short of a double as he

finished second to Randy Metcalf in the Super Stock main. Dave Zona won his

first Late Model feature of the season while Bret Welch won his first career

Pure Stock feature.

At the start of the 30 lap feature, Rich Keehle jumped out to the

lead as Chris Weaver moved into the runner-up position. Weaver was able

to overhaul Keehle for the top spot, holding sway for several laps

before ageless veteran Carl Nagel took the top spot. While Nagel held the

lead, Kostelansky was quickly moving into contention as he advanced from his

ninth starting position to challenge Nagel, finally wreslting the spot

from Nagel just past the halfway point. Once out front, George was able

to open up a bit of an advantage and was not seriously challenged the

rest of the way to score his first Penn Can victory since the 2000

season.

While Kostelansky was in control out front, the battle was behind

him for the runner-up position. Carl Nagel found himself facing a

challenge from a familiar face as he was under heavy pressure from his

son, Mike Nagel, in the closing laps. Mike was able to work past his

father in the late stages of the event to come home second while Carl

settled for a strong third place finish. Chris Weaver crossed the line

fourth while Butch Tittle recovered from an early race flat tire to

finish fifth. Current point leader Mike Colsten was sixth ahead of Alan

Rudalavage and Brian Franko. Brian Weaver got swept up in an early

incident and made several pit stops during the event, but still managed

to record a ninth place finish while Sean Collins completed the top ten

finishers.

Alan Rudalavage, Jim Crawn, and Tom McGurrin were Modified heat

Race winners.

The Sportsman feature saw East Gibson, Pa.'s Jamie Shea pilot his

Chad Sinon Motorsports #J1 to victory in only his fourth start in an

open wheel car at Penn Can. Shea spent most of the feature event locked in a

battle for the top spot with teenage sensation Dan Vauter. The two

swapped the top spot back and forth several times before Shea took

command for good with a daring outside move on a lap 16 restart. Shea

was able to drive around the high side of Vauter to take over the lead

for good. Vauter was able to keep pace with shea but could not find a

way past, settling for a runner-up finish behind Shea. Gary Gallerie

finished third with Ken Titus and Rick Whitney completing the top five.

Brett Tonkin, Rick Holgate, Eric Bonham, Ted Stout and Dan Buchannon

Were sixth through tenth respectively. Garth Tonkin Jr. and Rick Holate were

Sportsman heat rae winners.

Dave Zona picked up his first Late Model win of the 2002 season.

Zona grabbed the lead early and looked to have things going his way as

He built up a big lead and looked to be set to cruise to victory, but a

caution flag on lap 18 bunched the pack up. Zona was still the race

leader with Jamie Griffith second and Allen Coy third having charged

from 13th starting spot to third. The restart saw Coy take the runner-up

spot from Griffith before a red flag on the final lap for a hard crash on the

frontstretch involving Joe Damiano and Keith Mudge. This set up a one

lap dash to the finish with Coy now deployed right on Zona's rear

bumper. Though Coy tried everything to get around Zona on the final

lap, Dave never wavered and held off Coy's challenge to record his first win

of the season. Coy was second with Jamie Griffiths third. Jim Sherman

crossed the line fourth but was disqualified as tech inspectors found

him running an unapproved tire. This moved rookie Brent Dyer up to fourth,

his best finish to date while Randy Metcalf rounded out the top five.

Rich King, Randall Paxton, Lou Sparks, Dave Silvernail, and Joe Damiano

completed the top ten. Jason Carmen and Dave zona won the Late Model

heats.

Randy Metcalf picked up his second win of the 2002 season in the

super stock feature. Chris Hunsinger grabbed the early lead in this one

and proceeded to lead the first 13 laps before Metcalf was able to take

over the lead after he and Hunsinger spent several laps battling side by

side for the top spot. Jamie Shea was on the move as well, charging

from his tenth starting spot to take over the runner-up spot from Hunsinger

and set his sights on Metcalf. The closing laps of this feature saw

some excellent racing as Shea was all over Metcalf, but Randy was able to

fight him off. Jamie's final bid off the fourth turn of the final lap

fell just short and Metcalf secured the victory. Shea finished second,

coming up just short in his bid to be the first driver this season to

win two features on the same night. Hunsinger held on for a solid third

place finish ahead of Dick Vauter and Rick Brown. Chris Piasecki, Brett

Spoor, Dwayne Robbins, Joe Cabets, and Earl Zimmer completed the top ten

finishing order. Chris Hunsinger and Randy Metcalf won the two street

stock qualifying races.

Berkshire, NY's Bret Welch picked up his first career victory in

The 15 lap Pure Stock feature. Welch started third, but wasted little time

in getting to the front as he was scored the leader of the first lap and

would go on to lead every lap of the event to score his first feature

win. In fact, it was his first win of any kind as Bret had never even

won a heat race prior to Friday night. Tom Garren also scored a

season's best finish with a second behind Welch. Michael Lartz, Jim Ortiz, and

Toby Sparks rounded out the top five. Current point leader Nate Evans

finished sixth with Daryl Ellis, Keith Wilkins, Shane Wolf, and Everett

Cass rounding out the top ten. Keith Wilkins, Craig Decker, and Michael

Larts were Pure Stock heat race winners.

Racing action continues this Friday night at the Penn Can Speedway

with a five star card of racing action. The Modifieds, Sportsman, Late

Models, Super Stockk, and Pure Stocks will all be in action in complete

shows. Racing gets underway at 7:15 PM sharp. Any and all questions

regarding anything to do with racing at Penn Can may be directed to the

speedway office at 570-585-9928.

RACE SUMMARY:

MODIFIEDS: 1. GEORGE KOSTELANSKY 2. Mike Nagel 3. Carl Nagel 4. Chris

Weaver 5. Buch Tittle 6. Mike Colsten 7. Alan Rudalavage 8. Brian Franko

9. Brian Weaver 10. Sean Collins 11. Tom McGurrin 12. Rich Keehle 13.

Jim Crawn 14. Larry Kelleher 15. Jeff Bronson 16. Mike Decker 17. Chris

Shupp 18. Rick Whitney 19. Alan Shiffler 20. Bill Huff 21. Mike Frost 22. Rick

Virkitis 23. Andy Tiffany 24. Mike Janicelli 25. Bob Hamm

SPORTSMAN: 1. JAMIE SHEA 2. Dan Vauter 3. Gary Gallerie 4. Ken Titus 5.

Rick Whitney 6. Brett Tonkin 7. Rick Holgate 8. Eric Bonham 9. Ted Stout

10. Dan Buchannon 11. Ray Pursell 12. Craig Terrell 13. Jim O'Hara 14.

Brian Decker 15. Kevin Timinski 16. Garth Tonkin Jr. 17. Bob Lane

LATE MODEL: 1. Dave Zona 2. Allen Coy 3. Jamie Griffiths 4. Brent Dyer

5. Randy Metcalf 6. Rich King 7. Randall Paxton 8. Lou Sparks 9. Dave

Silvernail 10. Joe Damiano 11. Keith Mudge 12. Carl Silvernail

13.George Leatso 14. Jason Carmen 15. Daryl Ellis 16. Steve Tourje DQ: Jim Sherman

SUPER STOCK: 1. RANDY METCALF 2. Jamie Shea 3. Chris Hunsinger 4. Dick

Vauter 5. Rick Brown 6. Chris Piasecki 7. Brett Spoor 8. Dwayne Robbins

9. Joe Cabets 10. Earl Zimmer 11. John Stanley 12. Tracy Gregory

13.Jack Evans 14. Craig Trella 15. Paul Rooney 16. Billy Marvin 17. Mike Mills

18. Ron Latwinski

PURE STOCK: 1. BRET WELCH 2. Tom Garren 3. Michael Lartz 4. Jim Ortiz 5.

Toby Sparks 6. Nate Evans 7. Daryl Ellis 8. Keith Wilkins 9. Shane Wolf

10. Everett Cass 11. Craig Decker 12. Gregg Brunges 13. Ivan Smith 14.

Bob Albrecht 15. Dan Donnelly 16. Matt Payne 17. Gary Druhl 18. Mike

Hoyte 19. Kevin Davies 20. Bob Cass 21. Randy Percival 22. Rob Welsh

DNS: Billy House