WORTHING, FULTON AND COOK ALL GET THIRD

WINS AT THUNDER MOUNTAIN

Doug Worthing passed outside pole sitter Jeff Bronson on the last lap to get his third Modified feature win of the 2001 season in the headline thirty lapper last Saturday night at the Thunder Mountain Speedway. Both Charlie Fulton in the Super Stocks, Don Harvey in the Mini Sprints and Chad Cook in the Sportsman took their third wins of the season also. Other winners included Steve Hill in the Four Cylinder Mods, Bill Rampe in the Pure Stocks and Shan Mills for the first time in the Four Cylinder Stocks.

Bronson, who started on the pole in the potent Billy Wayman modified, held court for the better part of the race, surviving challenges early from a strong Jimmy Wrench and a lot of yellow flag periods. Each time Bronson was able to pull away from the pack and it wasn’t until Doug Worthing moved past Wrench on lap twenty-six after a restart for a Pat Lynch spin in turn four. A Violent four crash that eliminated point leader Mike Colsten, Dave Jenkins, Steve Babicek and Mike Nagel took place two laps later just after Worthing got by but before another lap could be scored. Bronson stayed on the bottom of the racetrack because he knew that’s where Worthing wanted to be but Worthing took to the high side as they took the white flag and as potent as the Bronson machine was, it was no match for the high flying Worthing who crossed the finish line three car lengths ahead of Bronson with his best Thunder Mountain Finish of the year in second. Likewise Jimmy Wrench in for third followed by Rick Wilk for fourth and rookie Modified shoe Sean Collins completing the top five.

Ray Taylor was the early leader of the twenty-lap Super Stock feature before a fast Charlie Fulton took over on lap six amid a plethora of yellow flags during the early going of the event. Fulton continued to lead but the specter of the U2 machine and Gary Roberts started to loom in Fulton’s mirror just after the halfway point. Roberts got close enough to challenge Fulton but couldn’t muster enough to get by as the point leader and Jamie Shea and challenger Ed McKernan were busy dodging spins and other cars trying to fight to get close enough to get in to the lead dance. That would never happen as the final showdown came between Fulton and Roberts with the B&S chassied machine Fulton getting the duke at the checkers. Roberts grabbed off second in his initial point run of the year. He in turn was followed by a strong Larry Hillis in third and the dynamic duo of McKernan and Shea in the fourth and fifth spots respectively.

The twenty-lap Sportsman feature had three leaders, First Chris Ostrowski on the first lap, and then Brian Payne for the next two and finally Chad Cook asserted himself on lap four. The real action was going on behind him some good racing for the second spot between Don Hart Jr. and Billy Spoonhower. Behind them with Payne, Kevin Jordan, Bob Hamm and Steve Anderson. When it all shook down, Cook had win number three. Hart edged Spoonhower for second while coming off turn four Jordan allegedly got into the back of Payne and turned him around and was penalized behind him at the finish. Anderson and Hamm weren’t so lucky. Anderson got sent to the pits with five to go and Hamm went back and forth between the front and back, it seemed he was on a string. In the final top five Tony Pease and Anthony Reggie were in the right place at the right time as they wound up fourth and fifth in the final tally.

Youngster Jamie Rosh led the early going of the fifteen laps Pure Stock feature from his front row starting spot. His stint at the point lasted five laps before former feature Max Moshier Jr. took command. Mosher’s suare at the head of the pack lasted one lap before three time winner Bill Rampe went by Next to challenge Rampe was Jim Cornell Jr. but he soon had his hands full with the other Moshier, Don as the two of them waged a wing-ding battle for the runner-up spot with Moshier getting by on the last lap for second as Rampe took home win number four on the season. Cornell was third followed by rookie Geoff Powell in fourth and Doug Stack in the fifth finishing position.

For the tenth time in twelve weeks, Steve Hill Captured the Four Cylinder Modified feature event. Kala Bush led lap one and Dick Case led laps two through four before Hill worked free of the traffic and positioned himself in the top spot. From then on, Hill lapped cars at will, lapping up the fourth place finisher at race’s end. Hill was chased home by the perennial second placeman, Scott Allen. Case got his best finish of the season by coming home in third. He was followed by Ben Bushaw in fourth and George Howe in fifth.

The fifteen laps Mini Sprint feature seemed to be a rerun of the 2000 campaign. Don Harvey taking the early lead and walking away from the field. Once in front, Harvey stretched out his margin to a comfortable straightaway gap between he and second place Rick Wust. The race was red flagged on lap four when Lance O’dell got up into the marbles in turn four and viciously flipped about six or seven times on the wall. O’dell was a little shaken but otherwise okay but the same couldn’t be said for his mini Sprint. When the race resumed, so did Harvey and he took a comfortable win over Rick Wust. Last week’s winner Garry Moore was third followed by Steve Klock in fourth and Bruce Brown rounding out the top five.

The final event on the card was the Four Cylinder Stock fifteen-lap feature. Shawn Mills jumped off into the early lead with his new car from his fourth starting spot and never looked back but the real racing was behind. Three and four wide the pack raced and there was very little in the way of bumping and grinding that’s usually found in a big pack of cars. Only when Billy Spoonhower, subbing for Rick Angle got free of the pack did anybody challenge the long gone Mills. Spoonhower got close but it was Mills who prevailed at the end. Spoonhower had to settle for second. This duo was followed by last week’s winner Chris Smith in third, Stanley Mathews in fourth and point leader Rich Powell in fifth.

Next week will be Gary’s U-Pull It Night and there will be many surprises and giveaways. Gates will open at 4:00 with a full card of racing featuring the Modifieds, Sportsman, Super Stocks, Four Cylinder Stocks, Four Cylinder Modifieds, Mini Sprints and Pure Stocks will begin at 6:30.