WILK GETS THIRD AT THUNDER MOUNTAIN
Center Lisle, New York…..Rick Wilk became a three time winner in the 2002 racing as he led wire to wire in copping the thirty lap Modified feature on Frito-Lay and Tim Olenski Memorial night last Saturday at the Thunder Mountain Speedway. Other winners on this night included Scott Allen in the Four Cylinder Modifieds, Dale Pitcher in the Mini Sprints, Chad Cook in the Sportsman, Harold Humphrey got his first in the Super Stocks, Mike Wilbur in the Pure Stocks and Bobby Doolittle in the Four Cylinder Stocks.
Wilk, by virtue of his bad luck the last three weeks, started the thirty lapper from the pole position. He didn’t have it easy as point leader Mike Colsten provided the early pressure from his fourth starting spot. Colsten couldn’t get him as the Wilk machine was glued to the bottom of the track and Colsten couldn’t make the outside work for him. Meanwhile last week’s winner Jim Gabriel Jr. and the Decker logging machine of Brian Weaver were coming through traffic and caught the front running duo.
Gabriel took to the high side and Weaver followed both high and low in an effort to capture the top spot. Gabriel make the top side work for him last week but not this week as Wilk was faster on the bottom and Weaver tried both line and was all over the back side of the Wilk car but to no avail as Wilk held them both off for this third win of the year. Weaver came home second followed by Mike Decker who got Gabriel on the last lap for third. Colsten was credited for fifth. Wilk, fifth place Colsten and fifteenth place Sean Collins shared in the extra money that was given out by the Olenski family in victory lane.
The Sportsman twenty lapper was a wild and crazy affair that saw Palmerton, Pa.’s Randy Thomas lead the first laps from his pole position. Brent Boyer held forth after getting inside of Thomas for the top spot on lap six as the three top point men, Chad Cook, Billy Spoonhower and Kevin Jordan were working their way through the traffic. By the halfway point the trio were running second through fourth and putting some amazing pressure on Boyer for his spot at the head of the field. It stayed that way until lap seventeen when Cook made a power move on Boyer and took over the top spot. Jordan tried to follow suit and they made contact dropping Boyer all the way back to fourth. At the end Cook took the checkers ahead of Jordan, Spoonhower, Boyer and Jamie Shea. Jordan was penalized one spot for the contact with Boyer, giving the second spot to Spoonhower.
Harold Humphrey was in the midst of a season long dry spell in the Super Stocks. Not only had he not won as of yet but his finishes overall left a lot to be desired. That all changed last Saturday night. John Morse and Kenny Hammond were the duo doing battle for the first spot for most of the race until Morse developed a flat tire on lap sixteen. This left Humphrey on the back bumper of Hammond with point leader Ed McKernan lurking on the outside. On lap nineteen Humphrey and Hammond made contact and in the ensuing shuffle Humphrey came out in the lead. Jamie Shea was second but when all was said and done couldn’t do anything with Humphrey and had to settle for second. Matt Roberts snuck through for third, father Gary was fourth and Morse came all the way back from his flat tire to get fifth. The hard luck Hammond wound up seventh.
Mike Wilbur regained his Pure Stock lead win with a solid effort winning the fifteen lap feature. Charlie Mosher led the first six laps from his pole position before Wilbur took over and led the rest of the way. Shaun Walker moved by Mosher for second on lap ten and made a run at Wilbur but couldn’t get it done and had to take second place money home. Mosher stayed in the groove and finished third followed by Harry Uhl Jr. and Brian Hicks.
Jerry Wilcox Led lap one of the fifteen lap Four Cylinder Stock feature event before Bob Doolittle put his purple Toyota out in front for good on lap two from his fifth starting spot. Once in front, Doolittle opened up a command margin over the rest of the field for the rest of the fourteen laps leaving everyone to do battle behind him. Point leader Harold Humphrey moved into the second spot on lap ten but couldn’t make up any ground on Doolittle. At the finish it was Doolittle, Humphrey, Rich Powell, Shawn Mills and Jeff Wilcox Jr. in the top five spots.
Rick Wust led the first six laps of the fifteen lap Mini Sprint feature before point leader Dale Pitcher caught and passed him. Pitcher opened up a lead, which he held on to until the finish to grab off yet another win. Keystone stater Jeff Black got to second on lap ten but couldn’t close the gap on Pitcher and had to settle for second. Garry Moore took home third while Wust and Brian Baxter rounded out the top five.
The first feature of the saw Scott Allen pad his point lead in the four Cylinder Modified feature despite pressure from second place finisher Ronnie Clark. Last weeks’ winner Dick Case came home third followed by Ben Bushaw and Kala Bush in the top five.
Next week as the season winds down and the point races tighten up a regular seven class show featuring the mighty Modifieds, the always exciting Sportsmen, the Super Stocks, Pure Stocks, Four Cylinder Stocks, Four Cylinder Modifieds and Mini Sprints. Coming up on the 21st of August will be round five of the Don’s Automotive Mall North-South Super Stock, Pure Stock, Four Cylinder Stock Series. Admission that night will only be $5. Gates open next Saturday at 4:00 with racing set for 6:30. Thunder Mountain is located just off New York route 79 in Center Lisle, New York.
MODIFIED FINISH: Rick Wilk, Brain Weaver, Mike Decker, Jim Gabriel Jr., Mike Colsten, Mike Nagel, Paul Jensen, George Kostelansky, Butch Cerullo, Jeff Sheely, J. R. Hurlburt, Dave Jenkins, Carl Nagel, Brent Wilcox, Sean Collins, John Guernsey, Doug Worthing, Dick Sundgren, Chris Weaver, Brian Payne, Steve Babicek, Kevin Ingram, Robin Oltz, Tom McGurrin, Bill Clark.
SPORTSMAN FINISH: Chad Cook, Billy Spoonhower, Kevin Jordan, Brent Boyer, Jamie Shea, Randy Thomas, Bret Tonkin, Ken Titus, Tony Vyziak, Max Mosher Jr., Norm Whittemore, Cliff Pierce, Sean Olenski, Chris Van Buren, Mark Wainwright, Matt Smith, Brian White, Dan Buchanan. \
SUPER STOCK FINISH: Harold Humphrey, Jamie Shea, Matt Roberts, Gary Roberts, John Morse, Greg McKernon, Ken Hammond, Ken Winn, Ed McKernan, Skip Peabody, Charlie Fulton, Mark Wainwright, Dwayne Robbins, Dave Nixon, Wade Decker, Rick Davis, Larry Hillis, Earl Zimmer, Fred Velez, Denny Decker, Pete Gulick, J. T. McKernan.
PURE STOCKS: mike Wilbur, Shaun Walker, Charlie Mosher, Harry Uhl Jr., Brian Hicks, Jamie Rosh, Louie Gordonier, Buck Mills, John Cooper Jr., Don Mosher, Bob Mills, Brent Wilcox, Kurt Decker, Matt Sissenstein, Bill Clark, Dave Husnay, Bill Leonard Jr., Chuck Alexander, John Dale Howey, Shannon Hollenbeck, Rich Green. DNS-Bill Rampe, Doug Stack.
FOUR CYLINDER STOCK FINISH: Bob Doolittle, Harold Humphrey, Rich Powell, Shawn Mills, Jeff Wilcox Jr., Jerry Wilcox, Jay Hayward, Rich Talada, Lloyd Twarz, John Wilcox, Jeff Wilcox, John Coish, Chuck Wheeland, Jim French, Fred Newton, Richard Wolford, Fred Newton II, Aaron Peck.
MINI SPRINT FINISH: Dale Pitcher, Jeff Black, Garry Moore, Rick Wust, Brian Baxter, Rich Powell, Steve Klock, Jason Wust, Ryan Lund. DNS-Keith Rifanberg
FOUR CYLINDER MODIFIEDS FINISH: Scott Allen, Ronnie Clark, Dick Case, Ben Bushaw, Kala Bush, George Howe, Roger Dewitt, Ken Stafford, Jameson Kehrer, Curt Pierce, Kim Pierce, Anna Howe, Tom Fletcher. DNS-Ben Carpenter