Worthing, Cook And Shea Share Thunder Mountain Wins
Center Lisle, New York..Doug Worthing made an early race pass stick to win his fourth feature of the year in the thirty lap Modified feature event, while Jamie Shea got back to his winning ways as he captured win number ten on the season while Chad Cook took over the Sportsman point lead from season long point leader Don Hart Jr. winning the twenty lap Sportsman go. On SUITCOTE of Cortland night at the Thunder Mountain Speedway. Other winners on the seven feature card included Steve Hill for the thirteenth time in fifteen races in the Four Cylinder Modifieds. Chris Smith won for the second week in a row in the Four Cylinder Stocks. Garry Moore got win number two in the Mini Sprints and Jim Cornell Jr. won his second of the year in the Pure Stock headliner.
Modified rookie Don Hart Jr., put the Mike Goodwin owned Modified in front of the field early in the thirty lap Modified feature before a strong running Brian Payne got by on lap three. Payne continued to pace the field with only a token yellow to mar his progress. A yellow flag on lap twelve brought three time winner Doug Worthing to the back of the Payne machine for the restart. Try as he might, Payne wasn t able hold off the seemingly faster Worthing mount and on lap thirteen, Worthing was scored the leader. The real battle was going on behind Worthing however as Payne was busy with Tom McGurrin, Chris Weaver, and Mike Colsten as the laps continued to click off
Weaver took possession of second on lap twenty-three but wasn t able to close any distance between himself and Worthing and had to settle for second, which is his career best. McGurrin wound up third followed by Colsten in fourth and Payne also got his best ever Modified finish with a solid fifth.
Steve Anderson took command early in the twenty lap Sportsman before rookie Tom Sienko took over on lap three, Three early yellow slowed the pace as a fast Chad Cook moved in behind Sienko on lap five. Just prior to the midway point of the race, Cook made his move and went by Sienko for the lead as a very quick Kevin Jordan started making his way to the front. The race s final yellow happened with just two laps to go after Bob Hamm and Brian Payne came together off turn four and both sustained enough damage to trailer them for the night. Jordan, who had made a pass for second a couple of laps earlier moved in to challenge Cook but ran out of time and wound up second. Rick Wilk came home third followed by Sienko and Billy Spoonhower. Former point leader Don Hart Jr. wound up tenth.
John Wilcox and Frank Fink took turns leading the fifteen-lap Four Cylinder Stock feature before a ninth starting Rick Angle took command of the race. Angle looked to have things under control but several other drivers including two-time winner Chris Smith and three time winner Shawn Mills had other ideas. With three laps to go Angle has holding on to a precariously slim lead but both Smith and Mills went by with the parallel flags pointing skyward. Mills tried everything to unseat Smith from the lead but it was to no avail and Smith had another win. Mills was a very close second followed by Angle in third, Rich Talada in fourth and early leader Fink in fifth.
A wire to wire run netted Garry Moore his second Mini Sprint win of the year in a race that was only stopped once and that for a nasty flip by point leader Steve Klock on lap three. Klock was uninjured in the accident but the same couldn t be said for the car. Former track champion, Dale Pitcher, making only his second start of the season here made things interesting for Moore but couldn t muster enough to make a charge to the top spot. Jimmy Lawler had his best run of the year for third while Rick Wust and Otto Graham rounded out the top five.
Roger Dewitt was the early leader in the Four Cylinder Modified feature but after lap three it was all Steve Hill. For the thirteenth time in fifteen starts, Hill dominated the event. Scott Allen, for the fourth week in a row was second, followed by Cliff Pierce, Kala Bush and Dennis Copp.
Recently Street Stock point leader Jamie Shea has been in a slum but last Saturday, he came out of it and grabbed off his tenth feature win and gave himself a seemingly insurmountable point lead with only three point shows left. Ron Latwinski led the early going before Shea took command on lap four. Once in front, Shea put it on cruise control as he survived a number of yellow flags and restart pressure from veteran John Morse. In the end it was all Shea for the win with Morse in second, Larry Hillis in third, Ken Hammond in fourth and Harold Humphrey in a borrowed car took fifth.
Pole sitter Norm Whittemore led the first three laps of the twenty lap Pure Stock feature, surviving four yellow flags to do it before rookie Rich Green took over on lap four. Green paced the field until lap nine when Whittemore reasserted himself to the number one spot. Jim Cornell moved in to the second spot on lap thirteen and took over the lead on the very next circuit. Once in front, Cornell tried to shake Whittemore but could get more than a couple of car lengths ahead at the checkers. Whittemore came home second, followed by Green in third, Buck Mills came from deep in the pack to get fourth while veteran John Cooper also came from the back to get fifth.
Next week will feature a regular seven-class show featuring the Modifieds, Sportsman, Street Stocks, Pure Stocks, Four Cylinder Modifieds, Four Cylinder Stocks and the Mini Sprints. Gates will open at 4:00 p.m. with racing set to begin at 6:30 p.m. There will be no Sunday race next weekend as the track gears up for the big two-day show on Labor Day weekend.
MODIFIED FINISH: Doug Worthing, Chris Weaver, Tom McGurrin, Mike Colsten, Brian Payne, Pat Jordan, Carl Nagel, Sean Collins, Butch Cerullo, Steve Babicek, Jeff Bronson, Jimmy Wrench, George Kostelansky, Dick Sundgren, Denny Superko, Mike Frost, Mike Nagel, Don Hart Jr., Paul Jensen, Scott Frack, Rick Wilk, J. R. Hurlburt, Pat Lynch.
SPORTSMAN FINISH: Chad Cook, Kevin Jordan, Rick Wilk, Tom Sienko, Billy Spoonhower, Tony Vyziak, Scott Allen, Tony Pease, Anthony Reggie, Don Hart Jr., Steve Anderson, Brian Payne, Bob Hamm, Ed Bennett, Brian Decker, Dennis Latwinski, Chris Ostrowski, Ken Titus.
STREET STOCK FINISH: Jamie Shea, John Morse, Larry Hillis, Ken Hammond, Harold Humphrey, Ed McKernan, Doug Nelson, Wade Decker, Dwayne Robbins, Rick Davis, Ron Latwinski, J. T. McKernan, Brian MacRabie, Earl Zimmer, Terry Mudge, Charlie Fulton, Ray Taylor, Pete Sobol, Gary Roberts, Dave Button, Bill Morse, Fred Velez, Tim Davey.
PURE STOCK FINISH: Jim Cornell Jr., Norm Whittemore, Rich Green, Buck Mills, John Cooper, Don Moshier, Charlie Fulton, Dave Bellis, Bret Welch, Ray Austin, Geoff Powell, Matt Sissenstein, Jamie Rosh, Bill Clark, Bill Rampe, Mike Austin, Bill Davey, Bill Goodrich, Mitch Alexander, Don Russell Jr., Mike Wilbur, Max Moshier Jr., Doug Stack, Jess Snell, Bill Leonard.
FOUR CYLINDER MODIFIED FINISH: Steve Hill, Scott Allen, Cliff Pierce, Kala Bush, Dennis Copp, Dick Case, Roger Dewitt, George Howe, Chris Berg, Anna Howe, Curt Pierce.
FOUR CYLINDER STOCK FINISH: Chris Smith, Shawn Mills, Rick Angle, Rich Talada, Frank Fink, Larry Colton, Rich Powell, Dan Talada, Harold Humphrey, John Wilcox, Jeff Wilcox Jr., Jerry Wilcox, Stan Mathews, Jay Hayward, Tim Rudolph, Loren Haines, Mick Labarron, Ed Dyson, Kasey Hilliar, John Coish, John Carter, Nate Stevens, Richard Wolford, Jeff Wilcox, Pete Christiansen.
MINI SPRINT FINISH: Garry Moore, Dale Pitcher, Jimmy Lawler, Rick Wust, Otto Graham, Bruce Gould, Steve Klock, Darl Ellis.