Worthing, Shea And Cook Share Thunder Mountain Glory

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Center Lisle, New York..Doug Worthing claimed his fifth Modified win last Saturday in the Coca-Cola sponsored night at the Thunder Mountain Speedway in the headline thirty lap event and in doing so moved closer to point leader Mike Colsten who finished second. Jamie Shea clinched the 2001 Street Stock title as he sat in victory lane at the end of the twenty lapper and Chad Cook opened up a little distance between himself and second place Don Hart Jr. in a last lap victory in the twenty lap Sportsman feature. Other winners on the night s activities were Don Harvey, for the fifth time in the fifteen lap Mini Sprint feature. Shawn recorded win number four in his last seven starts in the Four Cylinder Stock feature while Bill Rampe also put some distance between himself and Mike Wilbur in the Pure Stock twenty lapper and Steve Hill won his fifteenth and locked up the track title in the Four Cylinder Modifieds.

&= nbsp; Colsten jumped off to an early advantage in the Modified thirty lapper from his fourth starting spot after taking the lead from veteran Carl Nagel on lap three. The race s first yellow didn t appear until lap five when Billy Huff and Dick Sundgren made contact and Sundgren went around. When the race resumed, Worthing had worked his was into the fourth spot and was challenging for third. The next caution period came on lap twelve for a four-car tangle. By then Worthing was second and right on Colsten s back bumper. The next six laps found Worthing all over Colsten but couldn t get done. Lap eighteen Worthing got a good bite and powered by coming off turn four and took over the top spot. Once in front, the E E Root sponsored machine put a little daylight between himself and the rest of the field. When the checkers flew, it was Worthing by a half-dozen car lengths over Colsten. Tom McGurrin helped himself in the point chase with a strong run in the Garth Tonkin car for third while Rick Wilk and Nagel rounded out the top five. The win put Worthing thirty-nine points behind Colsten for the track title.

&= nbsp; The twenty lap Sportsman feature was a showcase for Brian Decker who s run well all year but just didn t have enough to put him over the top. Starting on the outside pole, Decker led the first nineteen and one-quarter laps before a very quick Chad Cook caught and passed Decker in turn one as Decker couldn t hold the bottom of the speedway. The real race was behind the front running duo as Ken Titus had his hands full with Rick Wilk, Billy Spoonhower, Brian Payne and Don Hart Jr as the battled for positions. When the checkered flew, they finished in just that manner with Titus third, Wilk in fourth and Spoonhower in fifth. Cook gained a little on Hart in the race for the track s first Sportsman point title. He now holds a thirty-three point margin.

&= nbsp; The twenty-lap Street Stock had a bizarre ending but in the end result was the same, Jamie Shea sat in victory lane for the twelfth time of the season and in the process clinching the 2001 point chase. The race started innocently enough with Rick Davis and Harold Humphrey dicing it out for the lead. On the race s second yellow the stage was set for later in the race when Shea was sent to the rear for getting into the back of Larry Hillis. Meanwhile up front Humphrey stayed in front of Davis as Shea was working his way back toward the front. Four mid race yellows kept the pace down and allowed the race to stay close. Finally coming off turn two on the last lap Davis got into the back of the Humphrey machine and turned him around. Davis continued on and took the checkered ahead of Shea, Matt Roberts and Hillis. Humphrey came through the infield and was credited with fifth. Davis was penalized to behind Humphrey in the final rundown and Shea wound up in victory land without ever so much as leading an inch of the race. This was further punctuated by a solo Ken Hammond spin while in third place coming off turn four all by himself with the checkered flag in sight.

&= nbsp; Pole sitter Dave Bellis led lap one of the twenty lap Pure Stock event before point leader and fifth starter, Bill Rampe took over. Bellis continued in second as a whole bunch of drivers including Bill Clark, Doug Stack, Mike Wilbur and last week s winner Don Moshier were all dicing for spots. Nineteen laps and six yellows later Rampe crossed the finish line just ahead of his nearest pursuer in the points chase, Mike Wilbur. Stack took third, Clark fourth and Rich Green came from the rear of the pack to claim fifth. Rampe holds a thirty-two point advantage going into next week.

&= nbsp; For the fourth time in seven weeks, Shawn Mills proved he was the strongest of the strong in the Four Cylinder Stock class. Mills took the lead on lap five from Jeff Wilcox and never looked back although second place points man Rick Angle kept on his back bumper and stayed there the whole way until the very end when his machine slowed coming off turn four letting Stan Mathews, Wilcox and Harold Humphrey by. Point leader Rich Powell had the misfortune of losing a motor during the race and wound up eighteenth at the end.

&= nbsp; The Central New York Mini Sprints had a Saturday night off so 2000 track Champion Don Harvey returned to his old stomping grounds and walked away with the fifteen-lap feature. Harvey started ninth on the field and took led lead from outside pole sitter Steve Klock on lap five and never look back. As Harvey was increasing his margin, Klock was busy trying to fend off a potent Steve Boyd. It was to no avail however as Boyd got by Klock with three to go but didn t have a shot of catching Harvey and had to settle for second. Klock finished third and increased his point lead over Rick Wust to thirty-nine points. Wust got fourth and Jimmy Lawler came home fifth.

&= nbsp; The night s first feature was the fifteen-lap Four Cylinder Modified event and the outcome was no different than it has been most of the season. Steve Hill racked up win number fifteen by taking the lead from Calvin Pierce on lap four and opening up a sizable distance over the rest of the field at the end. Once again Scott Allen came homes second followed by Ben Bushaw in third, Pierce in fourth and Curt Pierce in fifth. In doing this, Hill clinched his first ever Thunder Mountain track championship.

&= nbsp; Next weekend will be the big Labor Day two race celebration. On Saturday will be a regular show featuring all seven of the regular classes on their final night for points. Sunday will feature the second Thunder Mountain event of the Don s Automotive Mall North South Street Stock series along with the B & D Exhaust and Battery Warehouse Pure Stock event. Also on the card on Sunday will be the Sportsman with an $800 to win event plus a $300 to win Four Cylinder Stock race. There will be no Modifieds, Four Cylinder Modifieds or Mini Sprints on Sunday. Gates will open on both Saturday and Sunday at the regular time of 4:00 p.m. with the night s racing scheduled to start at 6:30. Don s Automotive Mall will sponsor the entire weekend. Thunder Mountain Speedway is located just off New York route 79 in Center Lisle.

&= nbsp; MODIFIED FINISH: Doug Worthing, Mike Colsten, Tom McGurrin, Rick Wilk, Carl Nagel, Paul Jensen, J. R. Hurlburt, Steve Babicek, Mike Nagel, Brian Payne, Brent Wilcox, Pat Jordan, Billy Huff, Dick Sundgren, Denny Superko, Mike Frost, Mike Krum, Scott Frack, Chris Weaver, Butch Cerullo, Pat Lynch, George Kostelansky, Sean Collins. DNS-Dave Jenkins, Jimmy Wrench.

&= nbsp; SPORTSMAN FINISH: Chad Cook, Brian Decker, Ken Titus, Rick Wilk, Billy Spoonhower, Brian Payne, Don Hart Jr., Chris Ostrowski, Tom Sienko, Kevin Jordan, Tony Vyziak, Scott Allen, Rick Christopher, Bob Hamm, Dennis Latwinski, Anthony Reggie. DNS-Ed Bennett.

&= nbsp; STREET STOCK FINISH: Jamie Shea, Matt Roberts, Larry Hillis, Ed McKernan, Harold Humphrey, Rick Davis, Dwayne Robbins, Ron Latwinski, Larry Lane, John Morse, Dan Howe, Brian MacRabie, Earl Zimmer, Tim Davey, Ken Hammond, Chris Stull, Wade Decker, Doug Nelson, Ken Winn, Kevin Clarke, Dave Button. DNS-Charlie Fulton.

&= nbsp; PURE STOCK FINISH: Bill Rampe, Mike Wilbur, Doug Stack, Bill Clark, Rich Green, Don Moshier, John Cooper, Ray Austin, Jamie Rosh, Matt Sissenstein, William Soloweij, Buck Mills, Lisa Alexander, Dave Bellis, Geoff Powell, Jess Snell, Cory Bond, Norm Whittemore, Chris Lord, Paul Harrington, Bill Davey, Bill Leonard, Bret Welch, Bill Goodrich. DNS-Chuck Alexander, Brent Gillie, Mike Austin, John Dale Howey.

&= nbsp; FOUR CYLINDER STOCK FINISH: Shawn Mills, Stanley Mathews, Jeff Wilcox, Harold Humphrey, Rick Angle, Dan Talada, Jerry Wilcox, John Wilcox, Frank Fink, Fred Newton, Rich Talada, Jeff Wilcox Jr, Mike Cochardo, Loren Haines, Kasey Hilliar, Rich Ferrara, Mick Labarron, Rich Powell, Jay Hayward, Richard Wolford, Pete Christiansen, Ed Dyson, John Coish.

&= nbsp; MINI SPRINT FINISH: Don Harvey, Steve Boyd, Steve Klock, Rick Wust, Jimmy Lawler, Ken Titus, Darl Ellis, Bruce Gould, Jeff Black, Ryan Lund, Aric Copeland, Dave Kessinger. DNS-Dale Pitcher.

&= nbsp; FOUR CYLINDER MODIFIED FINISH: Steve Hill, Scott Allen, Ben Bushaw, Calvin Pierce, Curt Pierce, Dennis Copp, Chris Berg, Roger Dewitt, Tom Fletcher, Dick Case, George Howe, Buzz Barton, Cliff Pierce, Ick Pierce. DNS-Anna Howe, Kala Bush