JENSEN AND JAGGER SHARE THUNDER MOUNTAIN WINS

Paul Jensen took advantage of his upfront starting spot to capture the thirty lap Modified main last Saturday on Frito-Lay night at the Thunder Mountain Speedway. Seventeen year old Dusty Jagger finally shook the monkey off his back and became the first Saturday night winner other than Chad Cook and Billy Spoonhower in the twenty lap Sportsman feature. Other winners on the card included Wade Decker in the Street Stocks, Dick Stark Jr. in the Pure Stocks, Harold Humphrey in the Four Cylinder Stocks, Ken Stafford in the Four Cylinder Modifieds and Ken Baker in the fourteen car Thunder Dog field.

Chris Grbac and Jensen brought the field down to the green flag from their front row starting spots and immediately Grbac seized the moment taking the lead. His moments of fame didn’t last long as Jensen blasted by on lap two. Once in front, Jensen opened up a gap between himself and the rest of the field. Grbac was having the run of his life as he maintained second until lap fourteen when he clipped the inside tire in turn two causing his car to spin. This put Eddie White in second and Chris Weaver in third but they couldn’t stay close to Jensen. One more yellow later in the race, also for a Grbac spun on the home stretch brought the field close once again and once again Jensen blasted into a commanding lead, which he held until the checkers. White stayed in second and Weaver third until the end pf the race. Brian Weaver opened up a three point gap over Mike Colsten with his fourth place finish and Colsten finished fifth.

For Jagger the victory was sweet. The youngster is in his first full wheel of Sportsman competition and has been close a couple of other times only to lose out at the end. This time everything held tight for him as he opened up a big gap on the field from his fifth starting spot early on, taking it from pole sitter Cliff Pierce. A yellow late in the race tightened up the field but Jagger was equal to the task as beat point leader Cook by a couple of car lengths at the finish. Ken Titus ran a strong, consistent race for third followed by Pierce in fourth and Shawn Mills came home fifth.

Rick Davis and Kurt Decker were the front row of the twenty lap Street Stock feature and Decker got the jump at the initial green and looked to be on his way to his first ever Street Stock win but fate had other ideas. A mid race yellow saw Decker go pitside with a flat right front tire, handing the top spot to his brother Wade. Wade and Larry Hills had a real dogfight for the remaining laps and with Harold Humphrey and the McKernan’s in tow a mistake couldn’t be made. No One did and Wade Decker took home the victory with Hillis right behind. Humphrey took third followed by Ed McKernan in fourth and nephew J. T. in fifth.

It was all Dick Stark Jr. in the twenty lap Pure Stock feature. Sporting new white sheet metal on the car, Stark was never seriously challenged as he led the entire twenty lap distance despite a plethora of yellow flags that continually kept the field close. Point leader Buck Mills took second, followed by Doug Stack in third, Mike Wilbur in fourth and Jim Cornell Jr. in the fifth spot.

Once again he dynamic duo of young Ken Stafford and the veteran Gordie Isham finished one-two in the fifteen lap Four Cylinder Modified feature. Duane Knapp led the early going but the former Dwarf Car driver had his hands full when Stafford got there and later Isham. By the time Isham got into second, Stafford was long gone. They stayed that way until the checkers with Knapp taking third followed by John Powers in fourth and Tom Fletcher grabbing off fifth place money.

Humphrey-Doolittle, Doolittle-Humphrey. The parts are interchangeable in the Four Cylinder Stocks. This week it was Humphrey getting to the front first holding off Doolittle the last eight laps for the win. Doolittle tried every possible move on Humphrey but none of them worked and he had to settle for second. Third place was also a familiar name, Fred Newton II. Rounding out the top five was Lloyd Twarz and Jerry Wilcox.

Dick Baker took advantage of an early race miscue from Jeremy Avery and Jeff Davis to take home the win in the twelve lap Thunder Dog feature. At the end of the race, Baker’s car was having mechanical problems and second place Jeff Wilcox was gaining ground on him but Baker held on for the win. Newcomer Scott Alexander second followed Wilcox in third, Paul Larow in fourth and Tim Parker in fifth.

Next week Thunder Mountain will feature a regular seven class card featuring the Modifieds, Sportsmen, Street Stocks, Pure Stocks, Four Cylinder Modifieds, Four Cylinder Stocks and the Thunder Dogs. Gates open at 4:00 p.m. with racing set to begin at 6:30. Thunder Mountain Speedway is located just off New York route 79 in Center Lisle just a few minutes off exit 8 of I81 in Whitney Point.