Jensen, Cook And Taylor Share Thunder Mountain Wins
Center Lisle, New York - .. Paul Jensen, passed point leader Mike Colsten late in the thirty lap= Modified feature to claim win number three of the season last Saturday= night at the Thunder Mountain Speedway in front of a packed house. Chad= Cook held off a fierce challenge of open wheel rookie Billy Spoonhower to= edge closer to Don Hart Mr. s point lead in the Sportsman headliner while= veteran Ray Taylor triumphed for the first time in 2001 in the twenty-lap= Street Stock go. Other winners on the card included Mike Wilbur in the Pure= Stocks, Chris Smith in the Four Cylinder Stocks, Steve Hill in the Four= Cylinder Modifieds and Rick Wust in the Mini Sprints on a night that saw= 150 cars grace the Thunder Mountain pit area.
= Jensen, who started tenth on the field, methodically worked his way through= the field, not showing in the top five until lap six as Dave Jenkins for= four laps and then Mike= Colsten &n;= bsp; paced the front of the field. Colsten continued to head the pack as= Jensen was content to pass cars one at a time until he got to the back of= the Don s Automotive Mall sponsored mount of Colsten on lap twenty-two.= Jensen wasted little time going by as a pass on the high side of Colsten= the very next lap put Jensen in front to stay and Colsten was left to fend= off the advances of a fast Steve Babicek, Doug Worthing and Rick Wilk. Two= laps later in turn one contact was made and Colsten went around and= Worthing was penalized to the rear. This put Wilk in second and Babicek in= third but neither were able to muster any serious challenges to Jensen s= domination. Wilk came home second and Babicek was third in his best finish= of the season. Jenkins and Jimmy Wrench rounded out the top five.
= A rash of early race yellows sent the Sportsman class into a tizzy as Tony= Vyziak led lap number one. Two-time winner Billy Spoonhower took over on= lap two and looked like he might grab off win number three but the two top= point men, Don Hart Jr. and Chad Cook had other ideas. Hart took over on= lap seven with Spoonhower and Cook nipping at his heels. A lap ten incident= changed the whole complexion of the race however as last week s winner= Kevin Jordan made contact with Hart, sending him around and causing Jordan= to go to the rear, giving the lead to Cook, who had passed Spoonhower the= lap before for second. For the duration of the race, it was Cook trying to= fend off a persistent Spoonhower for the win and in the end he did succeed= and the talented rookie had to settle for his second consecutive second= place finish. Rick Wilk ran a strong race to get third while former winner= Ken Titus took home fourth and another open wheel rookie, Tom Sienko= grabbed off fifth.
Class rookie Kenny Hammond got out in front in the twenty lap= Street Stock feature and led the first six laps before veteran Ray Taylor= in his B&S Tubular chassis sponsored mount took over. Once in front= Taylor stretched out his hold on the top spot as Hammond had his hands full= with a fast Ed McKernan. McKernan tried a lot of different ways to get= around the surprisingly fast Hammond in this relatively caution free event.= Taylor was long gone when the white flag flew and McKernan and Hammond made= contact and McKernan took second. When the checkers flew over the= twenty-two-car field, Taylor had scored his first Thunder Mountain win in a= long time. McKernan took home second followed by rookie Hammond in third.= Following this front running trio home were John Morse in fourth and= McKernan s team mate Larry Lane in fifth.
The fifteen-lap Pure Stock affair got off to a wild start as= four cautions marred the first five laps as Max Moshier Jr. took the point= from his outside pole starting spot. Last week s winner Mike Wilbur got by= Moshier on lap six and never looked back as claimed win number five on the= season. Three more yellows during the mid stages of the race saw many of= the top contenders fall by the wayside including point leader Bill Rampe= who had a tire come off the rim during the mid-point of the race. Wilbur= was able to persevere despite some late heavy pressure from Jim Cornell= Jr., and Buck Mills. That was the way they finished as Moshier led on to= fourth and William Soloweij came from the back to get fifth.
Shawn Mills had his win streak stopped at two as semi-regular= Chris Smith used the high groove to his advantage in the fifteen-lap Four= Cylinder Stock feature. A bunch of early yellows scattered the field and= enabled point leader Rich Powell to set the pace during the early going of= the race, leading the first five circuits before a potent Rick Angel took= over on lap six. Angle s position on top only lasted one lap as Smith got= by on the high side. Mills moved into second on lap ten and set sail after= Smith. The last two laps saw the front running duo duel almost even but in= the end Smith had just enough to hold off Mills for the win. Powell took= home third while Angle grabbed fourth and Rich Talada made a last lap pass= of Chuck Powelcyzk good for fifth.
This time it took four laps before eleven time Four Cylinder= Modified Steve Hill to get to the front. Once there Hill put it on cruise= and claimed win number twelve. On lap six Scott Allen drove by Cliff Pierce= for second but couldn t reel in the fast Hill and hand to settle for= second. Pierce wound up third for his best finish in a long time while Kala= Bush was a strong fourth in her new car. Rounding out the top five was Ben= Bushaw.
= Darl Ellis was the early leader of the fifteen lap Mini Sprint feature= before his car drastically slowed coming off turn four on lap four with a= sputtering engine. This gave the lead to pole sitter Bruce Gould who led= the next four circuits before rookie Rick Wust took over and led the rest= of the way for his first win in a while. Gould held on for second, point= leader Steve Klock took third while Garry Moore was fourth and Ellis limped= home for fifth.
= Next week Suitcote of Cortland will sponsor a regular show. On the card as= the season winds down and the points race gets tighter will be the mighty= Modifieds, the Sportsman, Street Stocks, Pure Stocks, Four Cylinder Stocks,= Four Cylinder Modifieds and the Mini Sprints. Gates will open at 4:00 and= racing is set to begin at 6:30.
= MODIFIED FINISH: Paul Jensen, Rick Wilk, Steve Babicek, Dave Jenkins, Jimmy= Wrench, Chris Weaver, Mike Nagel, Tom McGurrin, George Kostelansky, Carl= Nagel, Jeff Bronson, Doug Worthing, Sean Collins, Mike Colsten, Butch= Cerullo, Pat Lynch, Denny Superko, J. R. Hurlburt, Ken Wierick, Brian= Payne, Dick Sundgren, Don Hart Jr., Garth Tonkin, Scott Frack. DNQ-Shawn= Ellsworth, Andy Tiffany.
= SPORTSMAN FINISH: Chad Cook, Billy Spoonhower, Rick Wilk, Ken Titus, Tom= Sienko, Brian Decker, Don Hart Jr., Mike Decker, Kevin Jordan, Bob Hamm,= Brian Payne, Tony Vyziak, Tony Pease, Rick Christopher, Scott Merritt,= Ricky Rutt, Dennis Latwinski, Brent Boyer, Steve Anderson, Scott Allen.= DNS-Ed Bennett
= STREET STOCK FINISH: Ray Taylor, Ed McKernan, Ken Hammond, John Morse,= Larry Lane, Harold Humphrey, Larry Hillis, Chris Stull, Charlie Fulton,= Dwayne Robbins, Ron Latwinski, Rick Davis, Doug Nelson, Dan Howe, Brian= MacRabie, Gary Roberts, Kevin Clark, Terry Mudge, Dave Button, Mike West,= Jamie Shea. DNS-Earl Zimmer.
= PURE STOCK FINISH: Mike Wilbur, Jim Cornell Jr., Buck Mills, Max Moshier= Jr., William Soloweij, Bill Davey, Doug Stack, Jess Snell, Charlie Fulton,= Ray Austin, Dave Bellis, Jamie Rosh, Bill Rampe, Lisa Alexander, Norm= Whittemore, Chuck Alexander, Bret Welch, Cory Bond, Geoff Powell, Mark= Shipman, Bill Clark, Don Moshier, Mike Austin, Rich Green. DNQ-Brent= Gillie, Matt Sissenstein, Steve McWain, Don Russell Jr., Bill Goodrich.
= FOUR CYLINDER STOCK FINISH: Chris Smith, Shawn Mills, Rich Powell, Rick= Angle, Rich Talada, Chuck Powelcyzk, Stan Mathews, Frank Fink, Ryan= Theetge, Lloyd Twarz, Jeff McKinney, Jeff Wilcox, Jerry Wilcox, John= Wilcox, Fred Newton, Russ Hendrickson, Ken Hotailing, Ed Dyson, Tim= Rudolph, Dan Talada, Mick Labarron, Pete Christiansen, Jay Hayward, Jeff= Wilcox Jr. DNQ-Kasey Hilliar, Loren Haines, Eric Eaton, John Carter.
= FOUR CYLINDER MODIFIED FINISH: Steve Hill, Scott Allen, Cliff Pierce, Kala= Bush, Ben Bushaw, Calvin Pierce, Buzz Barton, Alan Bush, Curt Pierce, Roger= Dewitt, Anna Howe, Dick Case, Scott Berg, Tom Fletcher, George Howe, Chet= Carr.
= MINI SPRINT FINISH: Rick Wust, Bruce Gould, Steve Klock, Garry Moore, Darl= Ellis. DNS-Dale Pitcher.