HURLBURT, McKIERNAN AND HART VICTORIUS AT THUNDER MOUNTAIN

J. R. Hurlburt brought his DIRT legal Modified to Thunder Mountain last Saturday and promptly walked off with his second feature of the young season in the night’s headline thirty lap feature that saw seven cautions and four different leaders. Last year’s North-South All Star champion Ed McKiernan out-dueled four-time winner Jamie Shea for his first win in the twenty-lap Street Stock feature. In the twenty laps Sportsman event Don Hart Jr. out lasted a strong Bob Hamm and invader Ralph Mele to score his fourth win in six tries. Other winners on the very long card were Steve Hill for the fifth time in the Four Cylinder Modifieds, Rick Wust in the Mini Sprints, Stanley Mathews in the fifteen laps Four Cylinder Stock event and Mike Wilbur for the third time in the fifteen lap Pure Stock feature. Also on hand were the Midstate Vintage Stock Car Club and Dick Ackerman Jr. in the 50/60’s class and Chris Brougham in the 70’s class were the winners on a night that saw one hundred seventy-three cars sign in the pits.

Modified rookie Mike Payne led lap number one of the twenty-five car-starting field before disaster struck. Payne looped in front of the field in turn two on the second lap. Both last week’s winner Paul Jensen and two-time winner Mike Colsten got into the prone Payne. Payne’s and Jensen’s car was done for the night while Colsten sustained damage but returned. On the restart, outside pole sitter Jimmy Wrench took the top spot and was bested a lap later by Marty Bunker. Wrench retook the spot on lap four and led the next circuits before Bunker reasserted himself. A multi-car jingle on lap eight saw three cars retiring from the race and the invading Mike Ricci being sent to the rear. Once the green flew Bunker was in command and two laps later Hurlburt took over the number two spot. Coming out of turn four on lap twelve, Hurlburt got underneath Bunker and took the lead. Once in front, Hurlburt sought to open a commanding lead over the field but numerous yellows kept everybody close. Both Colsten and Ricci came from the rear to get near the front at the end but it was all Hurlburt as he came home with his second win of the season and closed some ground on Colsten’s point lead. Doug Worthing got close a couple of times but settled for second. He was followed by Mike Clapperton in third, Jeff Bronson in Billy Wayman’s new Modified was credited with fourth and Bunker was fifth. Ricci got to sixth and Colsten eights at the end.

Dwayne Robbins in the 2000 track championship car, led the first two laps of the twenty lap Street Stock feature before McKiernan, from his fifth starting spot, took over. Once in front McKiernan opened up a small but comfortable lead as the point leader Jamie Shea was working his way toward the front. He didn’t get there until lap sixteen after a strong duel with Street Stock rookie Ken Hammond. Once there, Shea was all over McKiernan but the veteran never wavered and came home with his first win of the season. Shea was an extremely close second followed by Larry Hillis in third. Harold Humphrey and Harry Marvin Jr., in Pete Gulick’s Sprint PCS car rounded out the top five

The first lap in the twenty-lap Sportsman feature saw a multi-car jingle in turn one that saw three cars involved including pole sitter Chris Ostrowski and invader Bryan Konopka to the pits. Once the race was resumed Brian Decker took over the lead and led lap one. The other Brian (Payne) led lap two before Bob Hamm forged in front. Two laps later Hart moved into second and began to pressure Hamm. Also on the move was the invading Ralph Mele. Lap eight was the magic one for Hart as he went by on the outside and never looked back. The final twelve laps had battles going on all through the pack as Hamm and Mele went at and then came Chad Cook and Steve Anderson in the mix. Right behind them Billy Spoonhower, Payne and Kevin Jordan were battling for position. In the end it was Hart gaining win number four for the season. Hamm wound up second followed by Mele, Cook and Anderson.

Sophomore Pure Stock pilot Matt Sissenstein led the first three laps of the fifteen lap Pure Stock feature before former track champion and two time winner Mike Wilbur took over on lap four. Once in front Wilbur had all he could do to hold off last week’s winner William Soloweij who was busy with Max Moshier Jr. In a race that saw only three yellows Wilbur took the checkers in first followed by a fast Doug Stack. Third through fifth went to Sean O’connor, Bill Rampe and Soloweij.

For the fifth time in sixth tries, Steve Hill was the victor in the fifteen-lap Four Cylinder Modified feature. Cliff Pierce was the early leader before Hill took over on the sixth lap. Once in front Hill opened up a commanding margin over the rest of the field. At the checkers Hill was a straightaway ahead of Scott Allen in second, George Howe in third, Ben Bushall in fourth and Pierce in fifth.

Fred Newton led the first lap of fifteen in the Four Cylinder Stock feature before current point leader Rich Powell took over. Powell led the next nine circuits before Stanley Mathews made a bold move to take over the number one position on lap ten. Once in front, it was a real dogfight between Mathews, Powell, Rick Angle and Dan Talada for the lead. In the end they finished just that was with Mathews getting his first win of the year and gain some ground on Powell for the points lead.

The fifteen lap Mini Sprint was all rookie Wust as he led from start to finish in this non-stop event. Steve Klock came home second followed Garry Moore in third, Jimmy Lawler and Ed Warren in the top five spots.