JENSEN, SHEA AND HART GET THUNDER MOUNTAIN SATURDAY WINS.
Paul Jensen got his fourth Modified win, Jamie Shea added some frosting to the cake with his twelfth Street Stock win and Don Hart Jr. won for the first time since June in the Sportsman class as the last regular points race unfolded last Saturday night on Don’s Automotive Mall night at the Thunder Mountain Speedway. Other winners on the seven feature card included Dale Pitcher in the Mini Sprints, Steve Hill for the sixteenth time in the Four Cylinder Modifieds, Shawn Mills again in the Four Cylinder Stocks and Bill Rampe in the Pure Stocks.
Pole sitter Jimmy Wrench got off to the early lead in the headline thirty lap Modified feature. Wrench led the first three circuits before Paul Jensen, up from his fourth starting spot, overtook Wrench for the lead. Once in front, Jensen put it in cruise. The real battle was behind him as a second place Mike Colsten looked to lock up his first Thunder Mountain Modified crown by keeping chief rival Doug Worthing behind him. Colsten had to finish seventeenth or better to lock up the title and he did just that by finishing a strong second behind a very fast Jensen. Worthing was never a factor as he finished deep in the pack and had to be content with second in the final points rundown. Third in the feature went to a surging Rick Wilk followed by George Kostelansky and Mike Nagel got his first top five of the season, coming home in that spot. Kostelansky also got a monetary bonus by track videographers “Dynamic Video” for finish third in the Hard Charger awards at intermission.
Don Hart Jr. has been struggling to get back the early season form that carried him to five wins in the first seven races in the 2001 season but he’d been winless since early June when he brought an older machine to the track Saturday night. Hart started on the outside pole position and led every lap of the twenty-lap Sportsman feature having to hold off a late race charge by a quick Brian Decker. Decker, who led nineteen of twenty laps the previous week gave Hart all he could handle on the last lap but for the second week in a row came up just a tad short. Brian Payne had a strong run for the third spot followed by Chad Cook in fourth which gave him the 2001 track title despite missing the first week and Bob Hamm in the fifth spot.
Ten yellow flag periods marred the twenty-lap Street Stock feature but the end result was just the same a battle between point leaders Jamie Shea and Ed McKernan. Charlie Fulton led the first three circuits from his pole starting spot before a fast Shea, from his ninth starting spot took over. Meanwhile McKernan was coming to the front and he got there at the halfway point. From then on it was those two in front of the rest of the field with McKernan challenging a couple of times but in the end having to settle for second. Larry Hills took home third, Fulton fourth and McKernan’s teammate Larry Lane in for fifth.
Matt Sissenstein looked strong early in the twenty-lap Pure Stock feature, leading the first seven before eventual winner and 2001 point champ Bill Rampe got by. Rampe was being chased for the point title by Mike Wilbur who got tangled up with Jim Cornell Jr. during the mid-portion of the race and had to go to the rear which saw his slim hopes for a shot at Rampe go down the drain. Rampe held on for his sixth win of the year. Don Moshier, Bill Davey, Mike Austin and Bill Clark in the top five spots followed him. Two drivers in the class Buck Mills and Rich Green also got cash awards from “Dynamic Video”.
Jimmy Lawler, the oldest driver in the field, go the early jump in the fifteen-lap Mini Sprint feature with veteran Dale Pitcher in tow. Pitcher, who got a late start this season at Thunder Mountain got by Lawler after a restart for a spin by 2001 point champ Steve Klock on lap six. Once in front, Pitcher opened a comfortable margin over the rest of the field and cruised home with his first win of the season. Lawler in second, Rick Wust in third, Jeff Black followed him in fourth and three-time winner Garry Moore completing the top five.
Three different people led the fifteen-lap Four Cylinder Modified feature but the end result was just the same. Anna Howe led the first two laps before Cliff Pierce claimed the top spot on lap three. Pierce gave fifteen-time winner Steve Hill a tussle for a lap before Hill took over for good. As the race wound through it’s laps, Hill opened a sizable gap and ten time runner-up Scott Allen got Pierce late in the race for that spot. In the end it was Hill for number sixteen followed by Allen, Piece, brother Curt Pierce for fourth and another brother Calvin Pierce for fifth.
Mills didn’t have such an easy time of it on his way to his fifth win of the season as 2001 point champ Rich Powell held Mills at bay until the eleventh lap when Mills went by on the homestretch. Mills led the rest of the way to capture his fifth win of the year followed by Powell in second, teenager Rich Talada in third, Harold Humphrey in fourth and Stan Mathews rounding out the top five.