JEFF RUDALAVAGE SCORES KINGS ROYAL MODIFIED SERIES VICTORY AT PENN CAN

(Susquehanna, Pa.) Eynon, Pa.'s Jeff Rudalavage celebrated the July

4th holiday by picking up the win in the second event on the six race

Gary's U-Pull It King's Royal Modified Series at the Penn Can Speedway

On a special holiday racing card. Other winners on People's Bank night

included Jamie Shea, who won his fifth Super Stock feature of the season

and Rich Powell, who capped the Four Cylinder Stock feature. Mark

Shipman won his first career feature event in the pure Stock feature.

For Rudalavage, the win was his first ever in a big block powered

car. Though he has won at Penn Can before, those wins came with a 358

Small Block under the hood of his Pine Line Auto Sales #112. Butch

Tittle and J R Hurlbert paced the filed to Glenn O' Laughlin's green

Flag with Tittle grabbing the early lead with Mike Colsten and Jeff

Rudalavage settling in behind. The race had some difficulty in getting started as

the early laps saw several caution flags, all for minor incidents or

cars stopping on the track. During this period, Mike Colsten was able to

slip past Tittle to take over the top spot. A lap six restart would prove to

be the deciding moment of the event. Some contact at the head of the

field sent the top runners scrambling in all directions. Rudalavage

capitalized on the incident and powered his way into the top spot to

take over the lead that he would hold the rest of the way.

While Rudalavage was having things pretty much his own way out

front, there was plenty of racing action behind him. The battle for

second raged for many laps as Colsten, Tittle, and defending track

champion Brian Weaver were all there and locked in a furious battle for

the runner-up position. Several times the three veteran drivers were

three wide as they fought for the second spot. For the majority of the

event the second position belonged to Colsten, but with the white flag

already having been displayed, Weaver was making a furious last minute

run. He got a run to the inside of Colsten and was able to sneak by for

second, then drove deep into the third turn to try to make a last ditch

run at Rudalavage. Weaver's charge fell just short and Jeff Rudalavage

collected his first Penn Can victory in several seasons over a

fast-closing Weaver.

In victory lane, Rudalavage talked about his impressive run. "We

weren't that good at the start, the car wasn't working all that well,

but I made some adjustments in the cockpit and the car took off. I've got

to give credit to my crew, they kept working on this car to get it right.

We were junk at Thunder Mountain and didn't qualify, but they kept

working and kept believing."

With his second place run, Weaver held onto his lead in the King's

Royal Series points while Mike Colsten finished third to maintain his

lead in the 2002 Penn Can Modified point standings. Butch Tittle

finished fourth while George Kostelansky charged from 25th starting

position to finish a solid fifth. Jim Crawn, Alan Rudalavage, Paul

Jensen, Mike Clapperton, and Mike Nagel completed the top ten finishing

positions.

The big 40 car Modified field necessitated four heat races which

Were won by Butch Tittle, Jeff Rudalavage, Rick Whitney, and Doug Worthing.

Alan Rudalavage and Carl Nagel split the Modified consolation races.

Jamie Shea continued his domination of the Super Stock clas as he

piloted his PS Transportation/Lenox Dairy Bar sponsored #J1 to his fifth

victory of the season at Penn Can. Shea started eighth on the field but

wasted little time in making his way to the front, passing Tracy Gregory

for the top spot. Once out front, Shea led the remainder of the event

to pick up the win, increasing point lead in his quest for the Penn Can

Super Stock championship. Tracy Gregory finished second, hanging on for

a runner-up finish despite developing a skip in the motor over the

closing laps. Denny Decker finished third ahead of Paul Rooney and

Brett Spoor, who made an impressive charge from 25th starting position to

finish fifth. Invader Wade Decker was sixth ahead of Ron Latwinski,

Chris Piasecki, Joe Cabets, and Dwayne Robbins.

Jamie Shea, Tracy Gregory, and Chris Piasecki came home the winners

of Super Stock qualifying events.

The Pure Stock feature saw a new face in victory lane as Mark

Shipman picked up his first career feature event win. Shipman started

19th on the original grid, but the line-up was shuffled by several early

incidents. Both Shipman and Shane Wolf, who started 18th, were able to

dodge the early incidents and found themselves at the head of the pack

just a couple of laps into the event. The two put on a show for the

fans who stayed for the pure Stock feature as Wolf and Shipman spent the

majority of the race either side by side or nose to tail with Wolf

leading the majority of the laps. With the white flag coming out, the

racing got a bit too tight at the head of the field as Shipman and Wolf

got tangled up briefly with both getting against the outside wall at the

exit of turn four. This contact would prove costly for Wolf, who

suffered a flat right front tire in the incident which dropped him all

the way back to 15th at the finish. Shipman was able to regain control

and race on to record his first career feature win. Nate Evans was a

victim of one of the early race tangles, but he recovered nicely to earn

a runner-up finish. Teenager Michael Lartz finished third while Toby

Sparks also recovered from an early incident to finish fourth. Keith

Wilkins led the opening laps and raced among the leaders the entire

distance to finish fifth. Kurt Decker, Bret Welsh, Gary Druhl, Gregg

Brunges, and Mike Bailey completed the top ten.

Pure Stock heat races were won by Daryl Ellis, Nate Evans, and Gary

Druhl.

Rich Powell won his second Four Cylinder Stock feature of the

Season at Penn Can. Powell dominated the Four Cylinder feature winning by a

comfortable margin over Shawn Mills. Rich Talada and Skip Pickwick

rounded out the finishers.

The evening was capped off by the annual Fireworks Extravaganza.

Legion Fireworks of Wappinger Falls, NY put on one of the biggest and

best July 4th displays in the Northern Pennsylvania area.

Racing continues this Friday night at the Penn Can Speedway with a

full five division racing card. The Modifieds, Sportsman, Late Models,

Super Stocks, and Pure Stocks will all be in action in a full series of

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

underway at 7:15 PM.

PEOPLES' BANK RACE SUMMARY:

GARY's U-PULL IT KINGS ROYAL MODIFIED SERIES RACE #2: 1. JEFF RUDALAVAGE

2. Brian Weaver 3. Mike Colsten 4. Butch Tittle 5. George Kostelansky 6.

Jim Crawn 7. Alan Rudalavage 8. Paul Jensen 9. Mike Clapperton 10. Mike

Nagel 11. Mike Decker 12. Jim Mahaney 13. Tom McGurrin 14. J. R.

Hurlbert 15. Rick Whitney 16. Chris Shupp 17. Doug Worthing 18. Jeff Bronson 19.

Bob Hamm 20. Eddie White 21. Steve Babicek 22. Carl Nagel 23. Kevin

Jordan 24. Rick Virkitis 25. George Suprick 26. Tom Hager

SUPER STOCKS: 1. JAMIE SHEA 2. Tracy Gregory 3. Denny Decker 4. Paul

Rooney 5. Brett Spoor 6. Wade Decker 7. Ron Latwinski 8. Chris Piasecki

9. Joe Cabets 10. Dwayne Robbins 11. Chris Hunsinger 12. Dick Vauter 13.

Mike Mills 14. Matt Roberts 15. Craig Trella 16. Earl Zimmer 17. Jason

Bartsch 18. Jerry Liford 19. Ken Taugr 20. Bob Janesky 21. Phil Retter

22. Mike Wilmont 23. Rick Davis 24. Pete Gullick 25. Randy Metcalf

PURE STOCKS: 1. MARK SHIPMAN 2. Nate Evans 3. Michael Lartz 4. Toby

Sparks 5. Keith Wilkins 6. Kurt Decker 7. Bret Welsh 8. Gary Druhl 9.

Gregg Brunges 10. Mike Bailey 11. Rob Sterling 12. Jim Ortiz 13. Matt

Payne 14. Mike Hoyte 15. Shane Wolf 16. Jerry Whitmarsh 17. Daryl Ellis

18. Tom Garren 19. Craig Decker 20. Ivan Smith 21. Billy House 22.

Everett Cass 23. Jim Rosh DNS: Rich Green

FOUR CYLINDER STOCKS: 1. RICH POWELL 2. Shawn Mills 3. Rich Talada 4.

Skip Pickwick 5. Bob Doolittle