Jensen, Hart And Fulton Grab Wins At Thunder Mountain

Center Lisle, New York..Paul Jensen wo= n his first thirty lap Modified feature of the year in convincing fashion last Saturday night at the Thunder Mountain Speedway. Don Hart Jr. took home his third win on the year in the twenty lap Sportsman main and Charlie Fulton stopped Jamie Shea s win streak at four in the twenty lap Street Stock feature. Other winners included two first timers and two very hot drivers. Steve Clock in the Mini Sprints and William Soloweij, in the Pure Stocks were the first timers and Steve Hill and Rich Powell were the hot drivers in the Four Cylinder classes, each getting their fourth wins of the season.

&= nbsp; Jensen, who was denied victory last week, took command early after a second turn spin by Jimmy Wrench brought the field to a halt before it even got going. Ten laps of green flag racing allowed Jensen to widen his gap on the top spot from his third starting spot. Dave Jenkins was Jensen s early pursuer as the big guns Doug Worthing and Mike Colsten were working their way through traffic. Worthing moved into second just prior to the race s second yellow flag on lap eleven for a Bob Hamm spin. Jensen was able to keep Worthing a couple of car lengths away as now Mike Clapperton moved into third behind Worthing. Clapperton s bid came to an early halt a couple of laps later as he exited with mechanical problems. Colsten got into the fray on lap twenty just after a multi car jingle in turn one, blocking the track, brought the race to a standstill. Colsten got by Jenkins for third on the restart but couldn t do anything with either Jensen or Worthing and had to settle for third as the front running trio crossed the finish line. Jenkins got his best finish of the year with a solid third and completing the top five was Steve Babicek.

&= nbsp; Tom Sienko led the first two circuits of the twenty-lap Sportsman feature before former Dwarf Car driver Ken Titus took over. He stayed there the next seven laps before two-time winner Don Hart Jr. got by and that was all she wrote. Once in front Hart led the rest of the distance in another event that went green to checkers. Chad Cook worked his way from his tenth starting spot on the grid to an impressive second at the end. Titus in third, Bob Hamm in fourth and last week s winner Billy Spoonhower followed them in fifth.

&= nbsp; Is was definitely not Jamie Shea s night in the twenty lap Street Stock feature but it was definitely Charlie Fulton s. Fulton took command on the third lap and ran the next eighteen laps in relative comfort, for the most part by himself in front. For his part, Shea, trying to make it five in a row, got tangled up with Ed McKiernan and Gary Roberts on succeeding laps, going to the rear both times. Fulton meanwhile was on cruise control as he led Larry Hillis to the checkers by a comfortable margin. McKiernan and Shea got back to third and fourth respectively and Chris Piasecki completed the top five.

&= nbsp; It took three years trying but Steve Klock finally got what he wanted, a feature win. Klock s dominant performance in the fifteen lap Mini Sprint event. Klock who started racing after his father, Robert, passed away at the track three years ago, has almost always been fast but never was able garner that elusive feature win. Saturday night was different. Taking the lead from his pole position, nobody else even got close. Bruce Brown wound up second in the caution free event but was nowhere near Klock. Bob brown finished third followed by Darl Ellis in fourth and Rick Christopher in fifth.

&= nbsp; Once again it was all Steve Hill in the Four Cylinder Modifieds. Hill took over the top spot on lap four from Ben Bushall and led the rest of the way enroute to his fourth win of the year. Cliff Pierce was second, Bushall, in his best effort of the season was third followed by Alan Bush in fourth and George Howe in fifth.

&= nbsp; Sophomore pilot, William Soloweij backed up his performance of three weeks ago, a second, with a win in the highly competitive fifteen lap Pure Stock feature. Mike Austin led the first six circuits before Soloweij took over on lap seven in a move which saw the talented seventeen-year-old pass both Austin and second place Max Moshier Jr. Moshier kept pressure on the youngster but to no avail and had to settle for second. Doug Stack got by Austin with two to go and came home third followed by Austin and Bill Rampe in the top five spots.

&= nbsp; For the fourth time in five weeks, Rich Powell took home the gold in the Four Cylinder Stock fifteen-lap feature. John Wilcox led the first two laps before Powell, from his twelfth starting spot, took command. Once in front he never looked back and left the slicing and dicing to the cars behind him. In the end veteran Rick Angle came home second followed by Dan Talada Jr, Stanley Mathews and Harold Humphrey got the next four spots.

&= nbsp; Next week a regular seven-event card featuring the Modifieds, Sportsman, Street Stocks, Pure Stocks, Four Cylinder Stocks, Four Cylinder Modifieds, Mini Sprints will be joined by the annual visit of the Midstate Vintage Stock Car Club with no increase in admission. Gates will open at 4:00 p.m. with racing set to begin by 6:30 p.m.

&= nbsp; MODIFIED FINISH: Paul Jensen, Doug Worthing, Mike Colsten, Dave Jenkins, Steve Babicek, Tom McGurrin, Jimmy Wrench, Mike Nagel, Dick Sundgren, J. R. Hurlburt, Dave Zona, Mike Payne, Scott Frack, Dan Morden, Mike Frost, Marty Bunker, Chris Weaver, George Kostelansky, Carl Nagel, Butch Cerullo, Pat Jordan, Mike Clapperton, Bob Hamm, Rick Wilk.

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

&= nbsp; STREET STOCK FINISH: Charlie Fulton, Larry Hillis, Ed McKiernan, Jamie Shea, Chris Piasecki, Ray Taylor, Harold Humphrey, J. T. McKiernan, Dwayne Robbins, Ken Hammond, Doug Nelson, Rick Davis, Dave Button, Gary Roberts, Ron Latwinski.

&= nbsp; PURE STOCK FINISH: William Soloweij, Max Moshier Jr., Doug Stack, Mike Austin, Bill Rampe, Mark Shipman, Bill Davey, Don Moshier, Buck Mills, Larry Rozelle, Bret Welch, Sean Olenski, Matt Sissenstein, Archie Ellsworth, Mike Wilbur, Norm Whittemore, Tom Witko.

&= nbsp; FOUR CYLINDER STOCK FINISH: Rich Powell, Rick Angle, Dan Talada Jr., Stanley Mathews, Harold Humphrey, Jeff Wilcox Jr., Jerry Wilcox, Frank Fink, Jay Hayward, Fred Newton, John Wilcox, Jeff Wilcox, John Coish, John Carter.

&= nbsp; FOUR CYLINDER MODIFIED FINISH: Steve Hill, Cliff Pierce, Ben Bushall, Alan Bush, George Howe, Scott Allen, Curt Pierce, Dick Case, Pete Christiansen, Roger Dewitt, Andy Carr, Chet Carr, Chris Berg, Mark Reynolds, Anna Howe, Calvin Pierce.