Colsten, Hillis And Humphrey Snare Victoria Spots At Thunder

&nbs;= p; Center Lisle, New York - Mike Colsten, Larry Hillis and Harold Humphrey were the big winners last Sunday as all three snared prestigious guaranteed starting spots in the upcoming Victoria 200 weekend at the Fulton Speedway on September 29th, 30th and October 1st by winning their respective features at the Thunder Mountain Speedway. Other winners on the six-class card were Don Harvey for the 16th time in the Mini-Sprints, Greg Martindale in the Four Cylinder Modifieds and Scott Conover in the Street Stocks.

&= nbsp; Colsten, who started twelfth, took a long time getting through the pack in the thirty lapper that was only slowed once by a caution flag. Early leader Brian Davis in the Vonderhey Paving car started on the pole and led from the outset. The race s only yellow came just as the first lap was being completed when Butch Cerullo got a flat tire and stopped on the front stretch. When the race resumed, Davis once again took off, putting distance between him and the rest of the field. Colsten meanwhile was weaving through the pack as Davis was comfortably in front. This all changed when lapped traffic reared it s ugly head and Davis got caught behind a back of the pack side-by side duel. This allowed the Ford powered mount of Colsten to close substantially on Davis. Colsten got to Davis on lap twenty but was unable to get around until four laps later in turn one. Once in front Colsten stayed there and everybody else was left to try and catch him. With only six laps to go that wasn t going to happen and Colsten had his guaranteed spot in the Victoria 200. Davis, in another strong effort, came home second followed by Paul Jensen in third, Jimmy Wrench in fourth and J. R. Hurlburt completing the top five.

&= nbsp; In the twenty lap Pure Stock feature it was all Larry Hillis as he led from start to finish to earn his guaranteed starting status for Fulton. Hillis staved off a lot of serious challenges from point champ John Payne to secure the win in a caution-marred race. Scott Brown came home third followed by James Cornell Jr. and Bobby Boynton in the top five spots.

&= nbsp; It was much the same deal in the Four Cylinder Stock twenty lapper. Point leader Harold Humphrey drew the pole and led every lap to garner his spot. The real excitement of the race occurred on the very last lap when coming off turn four Rick Phillips, in an effort to get by Humphrey on the inside got up and over a huge infield grader tire and almost got upside down. After he landed, he still kept on going and never lost a position, finishing second to Humphrey, Jeff McKinney came hone third followed by Joe Bush and Stanley Mathews.

&= nbsp; For the first time in quite a while Lee Dewitt was passed for the lead in a Four Cylinder Modified feature. Greg Martindale accomplished the feat late in that class fifteen-lap feature. Once in front Martindale stretched his advantage to about five car lengths at the end. Dewitt came home second followed by George Howe in third, Bruce Detro in fourth and Scott Allen in the top five spots.

&= nbsp; Don Harvey won t get the track record for feature wins but he did get number sixteen last Sunday in the fifteen lap headliner. With a straight up start, Harvey put it on cruise and won by a comfortable margin over Saturday night s CNYMS feature winner Steve Boyd. Third went to Garry Moore followed by Matt Windhausen and Steve Diffendorf picked up his first top five of the year in fifth.

&= nbsp; Definitely the most exciting finish of the day was in the twenty-lap Street Stock headliner. The race saw seven lead changes among six different drivers. It all came down to a last lap side-by-side deal between Scott Conover who was deep on the inside of the track and P. J. Goodwin who was in the low groove. Neither gave an inch and it was Conover by a nose piece at the wire for the win. Goodwin got his third top four finish of the weekend with a second followed by Matt Roberts in third, Randy Metcalf in fourth and rounding out the top five was. Jeremy Clark.

&= nbsp; Next weeks rings down the curtain on the outdoor racing at Thunder Mountain. The highly competitive Sportsman cars will be in action in place of the Modifieds, all looking for that guaranteed starting spot in the Sportsman portion of the Victoria 200 festivities at the Fulton Speedway. Also vying for a guaranteed spot will be the Street Stocks. The Four Cylinder Modifieds, The Four Cylinder Stocks, The Pure Stocks and the Mini Sprints will also be there. Gates will open at 2:00 with the racing set to begin at 4:00.

&= nbsp; MODIFIED FINISH: Mike Colsten, Brian Davis, Paul Jensen, Jimmy Wrench, J. R. Hurlburt, Dick Sundgren, Rick Wilk, Joel Batzel, Steve Babicek, Dave Jenkins, Jeremy Smith, Butch Cerullo, Brent Wilcox, Mike Gillette, Brian Payne, Pat Lynch, Mark Terry.

&= nbsp; PURE STOCK FINISH: Larry Hillis, John Payne, Scott Brown, James Cornell Jr., Bobby Boynton, Rick Davis, Mike Foote, Bill Morse, Dave Sober, Brett Barrett, Matt Sissenstein, Marvin Hallstead, Chris Stull, Dan Babcock, Toby Baker, Mike Wilbur, Denny Decker, Frank West, William Soloweij, Don Moshier, Harry Uhl Jr., Sean O connor.

&= nbsp; FOUR CYLINDER FINISH: Harold Humphrey, Rick Phillips, Jeff McKinney, Joe Bush, Stanley Mathews, Bob Doolittle Jeff Wilcox Jr., Dan Talada, Jerry Wilcox, Fred Peters, Heinrich Hein, Jeff Wilcox, Randy Gardner, Fred Newton, Billy Spoonhower, Mitch Eaton, Mitch Hurlburt, John Smith, John Wilcox, Dickie Schutt, George Mathews, Jay Hoover.

&= nbsp; FOUR CYLINDER MODIFIED FINISH: Greg Martindale, Lee Dewitt, George Howe, Bruce Detro, Scott Allen, Buzz Barton, Curt Pierce, Mark Reynolds, Alan Bush, Karen Dewitt, Cliff Pierce, Kala Bush, Steve Bump, Ick Pierce, Roger Dewitt, Calvin Pierce, Mike Payne.

&= nbsp; MINI-SPRINT FINISH: Don Harvey, Steve Boyd, Garry Moore, Matt Windhausen, Steve Diffendorf, Rick Christopher, Matt Priscott, Aric Copeland, Frank Rummenknapp, Rex Roberts.

&= nbsp; STREET STOKC FINISH: Scott Conover, P. J. Goodwin, Matt Roberts, Randy Metcalf, Jeremy Clark, Ed McKernan, Harold Humphrey, Ray Taylor, Tracy Gregory, Jason Rhodes, Max Moshier Jr., Bill Rampe, John Morse, Charlie Fulton, Billy Spoonhower, Randy Boyce, Byron Leonard, Mike Wilbur, Dick Stark Jr., Mike West.