WEAVER AND COOK SCORE WINS AT THUNDER MOUNTAIN
Chris Weaver held off his brother Brian over the last five laps to claim his second win of the year at the Thunder Mountain Speedway last Saturday night. Other class winners included Chad Cook who regained his winning form after a couple of dismal weeks in the Sportsman twenty, Denny Decker led wire to wire to grab his first Street Stock win of 2003 while Bret Welch claimed his first ever Thunder Mountain win in the Pure Stocks. The Four cylinder winners were Ken Stafford in the Four Cylinder Modifieds and Harold Humphrey in the Four Cylinder Stocks and to cap off the evening Tim Parker beat out a dozen other competitors for the Thunder Dog win.
Steve Babicek led the first seven laps of the thirty lap Modified feature before Chris Weaver took over the top spot on lap eight. Once in front Weaver tucked in on the inside and opened up a comfortable distance on the rest of the field. Meanwhile the heavy hitters, Brian Weaver, Mike Colsten, Doug Worthing and Paul Jensen all were doing battle with each other for the second through fifth spots. Paul Jensen moved into second on lap twelve but couldn’t make the outside line work and dropped into third behind Brian Weaver four laps later. The younger Weaver seemed to have a solid grasp on the top spot until a yellow flag flew on lap twenty-five. On the restart, a number of lapped cars separated the brothers and it looked as though Chris had a lock on the win but dame fortune reared it’s head in the form of another yellow on lap twenty-eight. Brian had cleared all the lapped traffic and was now perched on Chris’ tail with two to go. Chris was equal to the task however and held off his sibling at the checkers. Paul Jensen came across third followed by Colsten and Jim Gabriel Jr.
For the past couple of races, point leader Chad Cook has had some kind of problems and didn’t finish well. This week that all changed as he took the lead from Cliff Pierce on lap three and didn’t look back. The real race was behind Cook as Pierce, Ken Titus, Brian White and Dusty Jagger all went at for the remaining eighteen laps. Titus got by Pierce on lap nine and stayed there the rest of the way. Jagger moved into third on lap fifteen but couldn’t catch Titus. Brian White took home fourth while Rick Wilk was fifth.
It’s been a while since Denny Decker sat in victory lane at Thunder Mountain but this past Saturday night he wasn’t to be denied. Decker started on the outside pole and led every lap in a convincing manner. Rick Davis, Harold Humphrey and Larry Hills battled it out for the number two spot with Davis getting the nod over Hillis. Humphrey went to the pits late in the race with a flat tire. Wade Decker moved into fourth and stayed there the rest of the way while Chris Stull came in fifth.
The twenty lap Pure Stock feature saw Frank Mills lead from his outside pole spot until Bret Welch took over. Once in front Welch never looked back as he opened up a commanding distance between himself and the rest of the field. At the end nobody else was even close and Bret Welch had his first ever Thunder Mountain Pure Stock feature win. Jamie Rosh made a white flag lap pass on Buck Mills to get second while Rich Green edged out Doug Stack for the fifth spot.
The biggest field of Four Cylinder Modifieds of the season took the initial green but the end results was the same, Ken Stafford getting the win. It wasn’t quite as easy this time as Duane Knapp led the first lap as Stafford got caught up in a jingle and had to go to the rear of the field. On the restart, Jameson Kehrer took over the top spot but his lead was short-lived as the ageless Gordie Isham went to the front with every intention of staying there. Isham led until lap ten when Stafford went by for the lead and the eventual victory. Isham took home second followed by Mark Reynolds, Curt Pierce, and Roger Dewitt.
Next week will feature a full program consisting of Modifieds, Sportsman, Street Stocks, Pure Stocks, Four Cylinder Stocks, Four Cylinder Modifieds and the ever-popular Thunder Dogs. On top of all that a gigantic fireworks display. Gates are scheduled to open at 4:00 with racing set to begin at 6:30 followed by the fireworks. Thunder Mountain is located just off New York route 70 in Center Lisle, New York just a few miles off I81-Exit 8 in Whitney Point. Come join us next Saturday night for the racing and the fireworks.
In the fifteen lap Four Cylinder Stock feature, Jerry Wilcox led only lap one before a dominating Harold Humphrey took over the top spot. A lap later, point leader Bob Doolittle took up the chase and the front running duo put a lot of space between themselves and the rest of the field. The only thing that slowed the front running pair down was a pair of yellows late in the race. At the end it was Humphrey, followed by Doolittle, last week’s winner, Mitch Hurlburt, Jason Tuttle and Rich Powell completed the top five.
An eleven car Thunder Dog field went to the starters flag but the outcome wasn’t too much different as it has been in recent weeks, Tim Parker got the win. Ben Poirier led the first four circuits before Parker took over. Once in front, Parker ran a steady race and came home with the victory in a race that went wire to wire without a yellow flag. Poirier came in second followed by Jeff Wilcox, Ken Baker and Paul Larow.