RICK VIRKITIS, GENE SHARPSTEEN, CHRIS PIASECKI, SEAN LIAS, AND HARRY
MARVIN III FRIDAY NIGHT WINNERS AT PENN CAN
(Susquehanna, Pa) Richmondale, Pa.'s Rick Virkitis won his second
Modified feature of the season last Friday night at the Penn Can
Speedway. Gene Sharpsteen won his fourth Late Model feature of the
season while Chris Piasecki won his second in the Super Stock ranks on
Thompson Fire Company night. Sean Lias won his fifth IMCA Modified
feature of the season while fifteen year old Harry Marvin III scored his
first career feature win in the Pure Stock ranks.
The 30 lap Modified feature saw Mike Frederick and Kirk Horton
bring
the field down to Glenn O'Laughlin's green flag. Horton jumped out to
ah
early lead with Mike Colsten and Harry Marvin Jr. in pursuit. Horton
continued to lead the early stages of he event as Virkitis was on the
move bringing his Andy's Towing sponsored #77 forward from his tenth
starting position. Horton and Virkitis engaged in a good battle for the
top spot, racing very close but clean as they fought for the position.
Virkitis was ultimately able to take the top spot away from Horton and
began to open up an advantage over the rest of the field.
Jeff Bronson worked past Horton for second in the closing stages of
the event, but ran out of laps before he could challenge Virkitis for
the
top spot with Bronson crossing the line second. Butch Tittle was able
to
get the third spot away from Horton with a last lap pass entering the
first turn while Horton scored a fourth place finish. Mike Colsten
crossed the line in fifth. Alan Rudalavage, Carl Nagel, Bill Huff, Mike
Decker, and Harry Marvin rounded out the top ten. The point chase
tightened up considerably as current Modified point leader Brian Weaver
was scored 23rd and last after retiring in the early stages with
mechanical problems.
Harry Marvin Jr., Kirk Horton, and Alan Rudalavge won the three
Modified heat races with Butch Tittle winning the consolation event.
The Late Model feature saw Waverly, NY's Gene Sharpsteen pick up
his
fourth win of the 2001 campaign on Friday night. The win was a
hard-earned one for Sharpsteen as he and Bill Karp battled for the top
spot for many laps before Sharpsteen made the winning pass on the 15th
lap. Karp tried to run Sharpsteen down over the final five laps but
could not catch the Kabe's Fencing #7 and Sharpsteen took a hard-earned
victory over Karp. Randall Paxton crossed the line in third with Jason
Carmen and Al Coy completing the top five. Jim Sheman, Joe Damiano,
Dave
Zona, Jamie Griffiths, and Jim O'Hara completed the top ten.
Late Model preliminary events saw Jason Carmen and Bill Karp taking
victories.
The Super Stock teams put on an excellent feature with only two
caution flags slowing their 20 lap feature event that featured some
close
racing at the front of the field. Chris Piasecki took the green flag
from the seventh starting position but worked his way forward as Paul
Rooney, Brett Spoor, and Craig Trella all led some laps in the early
going. Piasecki was able to work past Trella on the 8th circuit, with
Jamie Shea also moving past Trella into second. The final twelve laps
of
this feature saw some great racing for the top spot between Piasecki and
Shea. Jamie tried everything he could, but could not find a way past
Chris. Though they raced hard they never touched in a display of how
racing is meant to be done. Piasecki held off Shea for the win with
Rick
Holgate, Craig Trella, and Dan Vauter completing the top five. Paul
Rooney, Brett Spoor, Tracy Gregory, Ken Sparks, and Nick Petrilak
completed the top ten.
Shea and Piasecki split Super Stock heat wins.
Fifteen year old third generation driver Harry Marvin III. became
the third teenage driver to win at Penn Can in the previous three weeks
as he scored the win in the Pure Stock feature. The Great Bend, Pa.
native drove his Marv's Service Center #8 past Michael Lartz on the
twelfth lap then held off a determined challenge from Lartz over the
final three laps to pick up the win. Chad Stone finished third with
Nate
Shay and Everett Cass completing the top five. Nate Evans, Roger Salai,
Craig Decker, Kurt Decker, and Brett Tonkin rounded out the top ten.
Pure Stock heats were won by Jim Ortiz and Harry Marvin III.
Sean Lias continued his hot streak in IMCA Modified competition as
he won his fifth feature of the season aboard his Mopar powered #37.
The
three time defending DirtWorks IMCA Northeast Region Champion went from
his fifth starting position to the lead on the first lap, then held off
a
late charge by current Penn Can point leader Bob Chapman to ean the win.
Chapman finished second with Kevin Cole, Larry Robbins, and Charlie
Gilbert completing the top five. Bill recovered from a wild crash in a
non-sanctioned event the night before to finish sixth ahead of Rob
Welsh,
Jason Makosky, Joe Cole, and Steve Hartman.
Larry Robbins and Sean Lias won IMCA Modified heat races.
Racing continues this Friday night at 7:15 PM sharp with a regular
five division show consisting of Modifieds, IMCA Modifieds, Late Models,
Super Stocks, and Pure Stocks on the card. Penn Can Speedway is
located
on Pennsylvania Rte 171, seven miles East of Exit 230 (formerly Exit 68)
off I-81. For more information regarding the Penn Can Speedway, contact
the speedway office at (570)-585-9928. The race day track phone number
is (570)-853-3434.
RACE SUMMARY:
MODIFIEDS: 1. RICK VIRKITIS 2. Jeff Bronson 3. Butch Tittle 4. Kirk
Horton 5. Mike Colsten 6. Alan Rudalavage 7. Cark Nagel 8. Bill Huff 9.
Mike Decker 10. Harry Marvin Jr. 11. John Gournsey 12. Tom McGurrin 13.
Chris Weaver 14. Rick Whitney 15. George Kostelansky 16. Brian Franko
17.
Mike Frederick 18. Mike Frost 19. Doug Worthing 20. Brian Decker 21.
Chris Schupp 22. Mike Nagel 23. Brian Weaver DNS: Garth Tonkin DNQ: Andy
Tiffany, Bob Thomas
LATE MODELS: 1. GENE SHARPSTEEN 2. Bill Karp 3. Randall Paxton 4. Jason
Carmen 5. Al Coy 6. Jim Sherman 7. Joe Damiano 8. Dave Zona 9. Jamie
Griffiths 10. Jim O'Hara 11. Clint Kauffman 12. Lou Sparks 13. George
Leatso 14. Tony Fuga 15. Rich King DNS: Keith Mudge
SUPER STOCK: 1. CHRIS PIASECKI 2. Jamie Shea 3. Rick Holgate 4. Craig
Trella 5. Dan Vauter 6. Paul Rooney 7. Brett Spoor 8. Tracy Gergory 9.
Ken Sparks 10. Nick Petrilak 11. Rick Brown 12. Dwayne Robbins 13. Daryl
Ellis 14. Gene Sharpsteen DNS: Mark Hanichak
PURE STOCK: 1. HARRY MARVIN III 2. Michael Lartz 3. Chad Stone 4. Nate
Shay 5. Everett Cass 6. Nate Evans 7. Roger Salai 8. Craig Decker 9.
Kurt
Decker 10. Brett Tonkin 11. Jim Ortiz 12. Keith Wilkins 13. Archie
Ellsworth 14. Gregg Brunges
IMCA MODIIEDS 1. SEAN LIAS 2. Bob Chapman 3. Kevin Cole 4. Larry Robbins
5. Charlie Gilbert 6. Bill House 7. Bob Welsh 8. Jason Makosky 9. Joe
Cole 10. Steve Hartman DNS: John Conway