WEAVER, SPOONHOWER AND ROBERTS SHARE THUNDER MOUNTAIN SPOTLIGHT
Brian Weaver made it two in a row in the Modifieds, Billy Spoonhower extended is Sportsman point lead and Gary Roberts scored his first Saturday night win of the year in last Saturday night’s racing action at the Thunder Mountain Speedway. Other winners on the card included Mike Austin with his second career win in the Pure Stocks, Harold Humphrey also extended his point margin in a borrowed machine in the Four Cylinder Stocks, rookie Ronnie Clark won his second of the year in the Four Cylinder Modifieds and Dale Pitcher continued his hot streak with a lucky win in the Mini Sprints. All this happened on Green’s Ace Home Improvement Center night at the track.
Weaver, who won for the first time in last Sunday’s Kings Royal event, started 11th let one-time winners Butch Cerullo and Rick Wilk battle side by side early in the show while being content to play the waiting game for his chance. Weaver waited until lap twenty-one of the event before making his final move. With Wilk pitting on lap seventeen, Weaver moved into second. With Cerullo glued to the bottom of the racetrack, the Decker logging machine of Weaver took to the high side coming off turn two on the twenty-first circuit. After that it was see-ya-later for Weaver as he dominated the last nine laps of the event. Points leader Mike Colsten moved by Cerullo for second on lap twenty-four but couldn’t mount a charge on Weaver and had to settle for second. Something broke on Cerullo’s car with the two laps sign in sight and he had to settle for twentieth after a brilliant run in the front. Chris Weaver made a last lap bonzai move on Doug Worthing to take third while J. R. Hurlburt got his best finish in a long time at Thunder Mountain with a solid fifth.
Ken Titus led the early going of the twenty-lap Sportsman feature with sophomore driver Brian Decker all over him in second. Everything got turned upside down on lap ten on the restart for a three-car tangle. A slow start led to spin in turn three by Dan Buchanan and on the front stretch by Cliff Pierce. Titus led two more laps before Pennsy’s Brent Boyer made the pass for the top spot. Spoonhower followed suit and Titus was relegated back to third. For the next three laps Spoonhower was all over Boyer in an attempt for the lead but was unsuccessful. It wasn’t until a restart for a Sean Olenski caution on lap fifteen did it happen. Boyer drifted up just a little coming off turn two and that was all it took as Spoonhower went underneath and took the lead for good. Once in front Spoonhower opened up a distance between himself and the rest of the field which he held for the remainder of the race. Boyer came in second followed by Chad Cook in third, Craig Terrell in fourth and Dan Vauter rounding out the top five spots.
Matt Roberts led three first two laps from his number one starting spot in the twenty lap Super Stock feature before father Gary took over in the Bob Hacker owned mount. Once in front Roberts held the field at bay, holding off a late challenge by the ultra-quick Denny Decker who wound up second. Larry Hills drove a strong race to get his best finish in a long time with a third. Hillis was followed by Jamie Shea in fourth and another impressive run by Brian Steigerwald to claim fifth. Six-time winner and point leader Ed McKernan was stuck in traffic most of the night and came home sixth.
Jon Dale Howey led the first four laps of the fifteen-lap Pure Stock feature before Mike Austin made his presence felt. Austin powered by for the lead and left Howey to fend for himself trying to hold charges by point leader Mike Wilbur, one time winner Brian Hicks, Chris Stull and veteran Harry Uhl Jr., In the end, it was all Austin as he held on for his second career victory. Wilbur just beat out Hicks for the number two spot, who in turn just held off Stull for third while Buck Mills rounded out the top five. Uhl made contact with an inside marker tire on the last lap and came home thirteenth.
Jerry Wilcox grabbed off the early lead in the Four Cylinder Stock fifteen lap feature before Bob Doolittle took over on lap five. Doolittle was in the top spot until the white flag lap when point leader Harold Humphrey, in a borrowed car, dove underneath to take over the top spot. Doolittle tried to use his momentum on the topside to re-capture the lead but it was to no avail and Humphrey led the field under the checkers. Doolittle followed in second followed by Rich Powell in third, Rich Talada in fourth and Lloyd Twarz in fifth.
George Howe led the early going in the Four Cylinder Modified feature before last week’s winner Ben Bushaw took command on lap four. Once in front Bushaw tried to open a gap between him and the rest of the field but rookie pilot Ronnie Clark had other ideas. Clark stayed on Bushaw’s back bumper for six laps before making a successful pass for the lead with the five laps to go sign high in the air. Once in front, Clark stayed a couple car lengths ahead of the field to grab off his second win of the year. Bushaw came home second followed by Scott Allen in third, former two time track champ Lee Dewitt, making his first appearance of the season, took fourth and Curt Pierce grabbed off fifth.
It looked as though Dale Pitcher four race winning streak in the Mini Sprints was going to come to an abrupt halt as former track champion and track record holder for Mini Sprint wins in a year, Don Harvey took a commanding lead into lap ten when a red flag appeared for a Mike Schrader flip on the homestretch. On the restart with Harvey in front and Jeff Black in second and Pitcher in third, Black’s mount seemed to lose power and on the backstretch of lap eleven Harvey’s pulled to the infield giving the lead to Pitcher who cruised home the rest of the way with his fifth consecutive feature win. Garry Moore came in second with Black, Brian Baxter and Steve Diffendorf in the rest of the top five spots.
Next week will feature a regular seven event card consisting of Modifieds, Sportsman, Super Stocks, Pure Stock, Four Cylinder Modifieds, Four Cylinder Stocks and Mini Sprints. Gates will open at 4:00 p.m. with racing set to begin at 6:30. Thunder Mountain is located just off New York route 79 in Center Lisle. More information can also be found by accessing the track’s website at thundermountain50megs.com. On the weekend of the thirteenth and fourteenth will be another Thunder Mountain double header weekend. Saturday night will be a regular show featuring the seven above mention classes and on Sunday it will be round three on the Gary’s U-Pull-It Kings Royal Modified Series. Tentatively scheduled on the same Sunday card are the ultra-quick Late Model cars in an American Racing Tire Series event plus the Grand American/IMCA style Modifieds. Gates for that Sunday show will open at 4:00 and racing is set for 6:00.