COLSTEN, SPOONHOWER AND SHEA AT THUNDER MOUNTAIN

Mike Colsten made an inside pass stick on the 28th lap to score his second win of the year in the thirty lap Modified feature last Saturdy night at the Thunder Mountain Speedway. Billy Spoonhower was declared the winner of the twnty lap Sportsman go when winner Kevin Jordan was disqualified for having illegal parts on his car and Jamie Shea got a huge break when leader Ed McKiernan got tangled up with a lapped car to get his fourth consecutive victory in the twnty lap Street Stock finale. Other winners included sixteen year old Brian Howland in the Mini-Sprints, Mike Wilbur made it two in a row in the highly competitive Pure Stocks while both Steve Hill in the Four Cylinder Modifieds and Rich Powell in the Four Cylinder Stocks both made it three wins in four weeks on the double points Spring Championship night.

Paul Jensen set the early pace in the yellow flag marred early portion of the Modified feature and he had his hands full with Colsten, Mike Calpperton and Doug Worthing. Both Colsten and Clapperton made efforts to unseat the Tioga Wastewood Recyclers sponsored mount of Jensen from the top spot to no avail. Colsten made numerous efforts to get by the quick-in-the-groove Jensen but was thwarted every time. Finally coming out of turn four as the parallel flags were displayed, Colsten was under and the two made contact was Colsten took over the lead as a yellow came out for the spun Buddy Altemose. Jensen was given the blag flag after he showed his displeasure over Colsten’s move by hitting him under caution. Nevertheless Colsten flashed home first after the race was restarted and solidified his hold on the point standings. Clapperton was a solid second followed by Carl Nagel in third, J. R. Hurlburt came from twenty-fifth to fourth and George Kostelansky came home fifth.

Brain Decker led lap one of the twenty lap Sportsman feature before rookie pilot Billy Spoonhower took over the top spot. A couple of yellows came before the halfway point and the deciding point of the race. Point leader Don Hart Jr. was involved in a jingle with Brain Payne and he bent a shock and retired to the pits on lap eight. Just past the halfway point, Kevin Jordan powered by Spoonhower on the outside and took command, lengthening his lap on every succeeding lap. At the checkers in was Jordan by a dozen lengths over Spoonhower. Chad Cook got a workman like third place while Bob Hamm and Ken Titus rounded out the top five. In a post race inspection of the top five finishers, the Sprint PCS machine of Jordan was found to have illegal parts and Spoonhower was declared the winner.

The first five laps of the Street Stock feature ran under the green flag with Charlie Fulton setting the pace in his B&D chassis car. Defending North-South series champion Ed McKiernan then took over and for all intents and purposes looked to be on his way to his first win of the season but a lapped car and Jamie Shea had something to say about that. For the next ten laps, Shea put intense pressure on McKiernan but the veteran driver wouldn’t budge but in trying to lap rookie Brian MacRabie, ther was contact and McKiernan was done for the night. Shea inherited the top spot and held off a fast Fulton for the win. Coming home third was Harold Humphrey followed by Rick Davis in his best ever finish at Thunder Mountain in fourth and after three weeks of misfortune, Matt Roberts got a top five finish.

Steve Klock led the first two laps of the Mini Sprint feature before rookie driver Brian Howland took over. Howland stayed in front the rest of the way despite many challenges from feature winner Steve Boyd but the sixteen year old rookie was equal to the task and performed like a veteran and came home the winner for the first time in his young career. Boyd was second, followed by Jeremy Vunk in third, Klock in fourth and Rick Wust in the fifth spot. A horrible looking accident in the second preliminary heat involving Ryan Lund resulted in a foot injury for the likable Burlington Flats driver who’s car was destroyed in the incident.

Mike Wilbur became the first Pure Stock driver to get two wins for the new season as he took home the checkers in another yellow flag strewn feature that saw yellows in each of the first four laps. Mike Austin held the top spot for the first two circuits before Wilbur took command. The former track champion never looked back as he held a comfortable margin for most of the rest of the distance. Bill Davey grabbed off second for his best finish of the season followed by Max Moshier Jr. in third, Buck Mills in fourth and Bill Rampe getting fifth.

Veteran Steve Hill made it three wins in four starts in the Four Cylinder Modifieds despite som pressure from a surprising source. Ageless Chet Carr, in his best performance in a very long time gave Hill a battle for a while and eventually wound second in decidedly his best finish in a number of yearsafter leading the first five laps. Hill took over on lap six and never was again seriously challenged. Third went to George Howe, Curt Pierce in fourth and Scott Allen in the fifth spot.

Rich Powell made in three wins in four weeks as he came home first in the Four Cylinder Stock feature. Jerry Wilcox led the first two lpas before Powell took over. Rick Angel moved into second on lap six and took up chase after Powell. Angle was starting to close the gap when he got tangled up with Dan Talada and he spun. That put both of them to the rear and gave Wilcox back his second spot. From there on Powell put it on cruise although Wilcox got close a couple of time he just couldn’t get it don and Powell took the checkers first. Wilcox, in his best effort of the season came home second followed by Angle in third, Stan Mathews in fourth and Jerry Wilcox Jr., in fifth.

Next week will be a regular seven class show featuring the Modifieds, Sportsman, Street Stocks, Pure Stocks, Four Cylinder Stocks, Four Cylinder Modifieds and the Mini Sprints. There will be no holiday racing on Sunday as the first event of the North-South Street Stock and Pure Stock series takes place at another track. In two weeks the ever popular Midstate Vintage Stock Car Club will make their annual visit to Thunder Mountain and on Tuesday June 5th, the North-South Street Stock, Pure Stock Series moves to Tunder Mountain for the first of two shows.Gates open at 4:00 p.m. and racing is scheduled to begin at 6:30. Thunder Mountain is located just off New York route 79 in Center Lisle. Turn right by the church and follow the signs.