WEAVER, SPOONHOWER AND MCKERNAN CAPTURE
THUNDER MOUNTAIN FEATURE WINS!
The Father's Day weekend saw rain wipe out most of the area's Friday night racing, but clear skies on Saturday paved the way for some great racing action on Part's Plus night. Berkshire's Billy Spoonhower came close to picking up dual wins for the night, capturing the 20 lap Sportsman main, and leading most of the Modified Main before Conklin native Brian Weaver outbid him for the win.
Spoonhower started on the pole for the 30 lap Modified main and took command of the lead at the start. George Kostelansky, of Susquehanna, PA, put some serious pressure on Spoonhower as he ran hard up on the high groove. Kostelansky was able to get up beside Spoonhower on a few occasions, but couldn't quite seem to get a good enough grip to get by.
Meanwhile, Brian "The Dream" Weaver was making his way up through the pack from his 12th starting spot, breaking his way into the top five by passing Oquaga's Steve Babicek on lap eight. Spoonhower, a many time Sportsman feature winner in his rookie season in the Modified division seemed to have things going his way as he held off Whitney Point's Brent Wilcox and Kostelansky.
By lap 17 Weaver diced his way into the runner up spot and set his sights on Spoonhower. Weaver, who usually runs best on the low groove, made a slingshot move on the high side to take the top spot from Spoohnower on lap 23, and never looked back as he cruised his way to victory. Wilcox finished second, with J.R. Hurlburt, Kostelansky and Chris Weaver completing the top five. Spoonhower's great run ended with a broken front end with 3 laps to go, placing him in 14th.
Rookie driver Dusty Jagger, of Port Crane, looked to be on his way to picking up his first ever Sportsman feature win as he took off from his pole starting position to lead the pack in the 20 lap Feature.
Binghamton's Ken Titus gave chase in second, with Billy Spoonhower riding in third. Just past the half way point Spoonhower moved into second past Titus, and hooked up into a great side by side battle with Jagger.
Jagger seemed to be on his way to get that elusive first win, something he almost had a few weeks ago until a couple of lap cars tangled right in front of him with one lap left. However, Spoonhower thought different, and with just two laps left to go he powered by Jagger to take over the lead, and take home the feature win. Jagger came in for second, still an impressive run from the youngster, with Bret Tonkin, Titus, and Brian Decker completing the top five.
Larry Lane, from Towanda, PA grabbed the early lead in the 20 lap Super Stock main event. Matt Roberts, of Ninevah Junction, moved into second and looked high and low to try to get by Lane, while Monroeton's Ed McKernan moved up to third from his eighth starting position.
Roberts took over the lead from Lane as the cautions flew on lap six. As the field re-started, Roberts pulled away as McKernan moved into second. Roberts had matters well in hand until cutting a tire down on lap twelve, ending his chance for victory.
McKernan inherited the lead, but things weren't easy for him, as Vestal's Larry Hillis put up some serious competition against McKernan's machine. McKernan was able to hold off the challenges and pick up the win. Hillis came up shy in second, with Curt Decker, Lane, and Wade Decker in for the top five.
In Pure Stock Feature action, Cortland's Bobby Boynton, Sr. grabbed the lead at the start of the 20 lap event, with Willet's Frank Mills running second. The field ran into some caution fever, as laps 3 through 6 all ended up with the yellow flag waiving.
Buck Mills, also of Willet, took over the number one spot from Boynton on lap six, and held the lead until a hard charging Doug Stack, of Athens, PA, took over with just five laps to go.
Stack had his car set up, but Lansing's Dick Stark moved in to second, and put some heavy pressure on Stack. At the line, it was Stack over Stark by half a car length, giving Stack his first Pure Stock win of the season. Buck Mills came in for third, followed by Frank Mills and Jamie Rosh.
The 15 lap Four Cylinder Stock event saw the night's second first time winner at the Speedway. Marathon native Mitch Hurlburt led the field from start to finish en-route to his first Thunder Mountain victory.
Hurlburt had his work cut out for him though, as he had to hold off the dominating cars of Newfield's Bob Doolittle and Norwich's Harold Humphrey. After some interesting re-starts and some intense side-by-side racing action, Hurlburt took home the win, followed by Rich Powell, Fred Newton II, Doolittle and Humphrey.
Ken Stafford, the fifteen year old from Dryden, continued his domination in the Four Cylinder Modified division, as he picked up win number four of the season. For the second week in a row, Stafford held off Windsor's Gordie Isham for the win. Curt Pierce, Mark Reynolds and Jameson Kehrer completed the top five.
The 12 lap Thunder Dog feature probably was one of the most exciting races of the night as several cars ran 3 and 4 wide for the top four positions for most of the race. As the checkers flew, it was Lisle's Paul Larow uprooting Homer's Tim Parker to pick up his first ever win. Parker finished second with newcomer Chad Howard, from McGraw, in for third.
Thunder Mountain is located off of rte 79 in Center Lisle, NY, with Saturday racing action set to start at 6:30pm.