BRIAN WEAVER WINS FOURTH OF SEASON AT PENN CAN

(Susquehanna, Pa.) Brian Weaver continued his winning ways at the Penn

Can Speedway on Friday night as he picked up his fourth win of the

Season in a hard fought Modified feature. Brian Decker mad it a sweep of the

open wheel classes for the Decker Logging team as he won his second

Sportsman feature of the season. Defending track champion Jamie Shea

continued to dominate Super Stock action with his fourth win of the

season while Keith Mudge became a two time winner in Late Model action.

Daryl Ellis was the Pure Stock winner.

The 20 lap Modified feature saw Chris Weaver lead the opening laps

before giving way to Jeff Bronson. Bronson would lead until the tenth

circuit when Weaver utilized the extreme outside groove of the speedway

to take the lead away from Bronson. Butch Tittle was also on the move

as he had also found the outside and was coming to the front. The second

half of this feature was a barn-burner as Weaver and Tittle locked up in

a very entertaining battle for the top spot. Once out front, Weaver

settled back down into the low groove while Tittle continued to try to

drive around the outside of Weaver. Several time Butch was able to pull

alongside Weaver, but Brian was getting a better run off the turns and

was able to hold onto the top spot. The final lap saw Tittle make a

last ditch effort, driving hard into turn three, so hard that he wound up

driving up on the outside dirt bank. This allowed Weaver to race to the

checkered flag without a further challenge from Title, who was able to

control the car and bring it off the bank without losing any positions

to finish second. Jeff Bronson finished third while Rick Whitney also

utilized the high side to his advantage and came away with a fourth

place finish. Chris Weaver finished fifth. Carl Nagel, Mike Nagel, Alan

Rudalavage, Brian Franko, and Rick Virtkits completed the top ten

finishing order.

Butch Tittle, Chris Weaver, and Mike Nagel won the heat races for

the 28 Modifieds on hand. Mike Decker won the consolation event.

The Sportsman race was a story of teammates. Brett Tonkin and

Garth Tonkin Jr., who are not only teammates but brothers as well, paced the

Sportsman field to the green flag. Garth Tonkin grabbed the early

advantage from his brother to lead the opening circuits of the event

before being overhauled for the top spot by Rick Holgate aboard the

Decker Logging #6. It only took a couple of laps for Brian Decker to

move past Tonkin to put another Decker Logging car at the head of the

field. A relatively caution free race allowed the two to battle for the

lead with Decker able to power past Holgate to take over the top spot.

Holgate was able to keep Decker in sight but could not find a way past

Decker and settled for second, making it a sweep of the top two

Finishing positions by the Decer Logging team. Gary Gallerie finished third ahead

of teenage sensation Dan Vauter and Craig Terrell, who finished fifth in

the debut of his new Bicknell car. Garth Tonkin Jr. was sixth ahead of

Mike Loney, Rick Whitney, Kevin Timinski, and Bob Lane.

Sportsman qualifying heats were won by Craig Terrell, Mike Marold,

and Mike Loney.

In Late Model action, Keith Mudge picked up his second win of the

2002 campaign. Keith took advantage of a pole starting position to

dominate the Late Model feature as he led all 20 laps aboard his

Statewide Sheet Metal sponsored #35. Jamie Griffiths finished second,

but was never able to make a serious run at Mudge. Dave Zona, Jason

Carmen, and Randall Paxton completed the top five. Current point leader

Allen Coy finished sixth while Lou Sparks, Joe Damiano, Jim Sherman, and

rookie Brent Dyer were seventh through tenth.

Joe Damiano and Keith Mudge triumphed in the Late Model qualifying

races.

Jamie Shea continued his winning ways on Friday night as he drove

his PS Transportation/Lenox Propane sponsored entry to his fourth

feature win of the season. Shea started ninth nd worked his way steadily to the

front in a race that saw plenty of close racing at the head of the pack.

The majority of the race saw a four car scramble as Shes, Brett Spoor,

Paul Rooney, and Tracy Gregory all battling for the top spot. While

Shea would ultimately go on to a narrow win over Brett Spoor, the close

Racing got a bit too close for Rooney and Gregory, who made contact on the

Final lap while battling with Spoor for the second spot. Their incident

allowed Dick Vauter to finish third while Randy Metcalf finished fourth.

Gregory recovered from his altercation with Rooney in time to finish

fifth. Craig Trella was sixth with Rooney also able to recover from the

incident and finish the race in seventh. Rob Latwinski, , Chris

Piasecki, and Joe Cabets completed the top ten.

Paul Rooney and Jamie Shea won Super Stock heats.

Daryl Ellis came home the winner of the Pure Stock feature. Ellis

started on the pole and led all 15 laps of the feature to pick up the

win. Shane Wolf started second and pressured Ellis most of the way, but

Ellis had his Camaro running strong in the preferred outside groove and

Wolf was never able to find a way past. Toby Sparks took the runner-up

spot from Wolf on the final lap with a daring inside move that netted

him second and dropped Wolf to a third place finish. Billy House and Craig

Decker completed the top five. Everett Cass, Nate Evans, Brett Welsh,

Jim Ortiz, and Keith Wilkins were sixth through tenth respectively.

The three Pure Stock heats were won by Billy House, Shane Wolf, and

Daryl Ellis.

The Independence Day Holiday will find two nights of racing action

At Penn Can. On Thursday, July 4th the second race of the six race Gary's

U-Pull It Modified Series will take center stage at Penn Can. With a

$2,500 winner's share of a very generous purse, a large field of

Modifieds are expected to be on hand for this special event. The Super

Stocks, Pure Stocks, and Four Cylinder Stocks are also on the card for

this Independence Day special. Penn Can's annual huge fireworks display

will round out this big evening of racing action. This is only the

first of two big nights of racing over the Holiday weekend.

On Friday, July 5th the racing action returns to the speedway as the

Sportsman and Late Model divisions take center stage with special events

in for both classes. The Late Model event will be a part of the

American Race Tires Series and should see several invaders from the Skyline

Speedway on hand to challenge the Penn Can regulars. The first

Demolition Derby staged at Penn Can in over 15 years will finish off the

evening. Racing gets underway at 7:15 sharp both nights. For more

information, contact the speedway office at (570)-585-9928.

PENN CAN SPEEDWAY RACE SUMMARY:

MODIFIEDS: 1. BRIAN WEAVER 2. Butch Tittle 3. Jeff Bronson 4. Rick

Whitney 5. Chris Weaver 6. Carl Nagel 7. Mike Nagel 8. Alan Rudalavage

9. Brian Franko 10. Rick Virkitis 11. Mike Colsten 12. George Kostelansky

13. Bill Huff 14. Jim Crawn 15. Mike Decker 16. Tom McGurrin 17. Sean

Collins 18. Alan Shiffler 19. Bob Hamm 20. Rich Keehle 21. Butch Cerrulo

22. Andy Tiffany 23. Chris Shupp 24. John Gurnsey DNQ: Bob Thomas, Tom

Hager, Mike Janicelli, Dan Morden

SPORTSMAN: 1. BRIAN DECKER 2. Rick Holgate 3. Gary Gallerie 4. Dan

Vauter 5. Craig Terrell 6. Garth Tonkin Jr. 7. Mike Loney 8. Rick Whitney 9.

Kevin Timinski 10. Bob Lane 11. Jamie Shea 12. Jim O'Hara 13. Brett

Tonkin 14. Eric Bonham 15. Dennis Latwinshi 16. Bruce Evans Jr. 17. Dan

Buchannon 18. Mark Hanichak 19. Mike Marold

LATE MODEL 1. KEITH MUDGE 2. Jamie Griffiths 3. Dave Zona 4. Jason

Carmen 5. Randall Paxton 6. Allen Coy 7. Lou Sparks 8. Joe Damiano 9. Jim

Sherman 10. Brent Dyer 11. Rich King 12. Gene Sharpsteen 13. Daryl Ellis

14. Steve Tourje 15. George Leatso

SUPER STOCK 1. JAMIE SHEA 2. Brett Spoor 3. Dick Vauter 4. Randy Metcalf

5. Tracy Gregory 6. Craig Trella 7. Paul Rooney 8. Ron Latwinski 9.

Chris Piasecki 10. Joe Cabets 11. Dwayne Robbins 12. Mike Mills 13. Jerry

Liford 14. Mike Wilmont 15. Randy Rollison 17. Rick Brown 18. Chris

Hunsinger

PURE STOCK: 1. DARYL ELLIS 2. Toby Sparks 3. Shane Wolf 4. Billy House

5. Craig Decker 6. Everett Cass 7. Nate Evans 8. Bret Welsh 9. Jim Ortiz

10. Keith Wilkins 11. Tom Garren 12. Michael Lartz 13. Dave Bagg 14. Matt

Payne 15. Bob Albrecht 16 Kevin Davies 17. Gary Druhl 18. Mike Hoyte

19. Ivan Smith 20. Randy Teets 21. Richard Post 22. Dennis Gow