Virkitis, Sharpsteen, Shea, And Lias Taste Victory At Penn Can

(Susquehanna, Pa.) The special Tuesday night Fireworks Extravaganza

at the Penn Can Speedway saw plenty of fireworks both on the speedway as

well as in the sky high above the racetrack. People's National Bank

sponsored the night of racing which saw Richmondale, Pa.'s Rick Virkitis

pick up his first win of the 2001 racing season in Modified action. Gene

Sharpsteen came home the winner of the in the second round of the

American Race Tires Trackside Products Late Model Series while Jamie Shea

won his sixth Super Stock feature. Sean Lias recorded his fourth

consecutive victory in IMCA Modified action. The evening was capped off

with a spectacular fireworks display presented by Legion Fireworks

Company.

The win by Virkitis was his first of the season aboard his Andy's

Towing sponsored #77. Virkitis started sixth on the filed and quickly

worked his way to the head of the pack. By halfway, Virkitis was the

race leader, but was receiving considerable pressure from current point

leader Brian Weaver. Weaver spent the second half of the race working

all over the back of Virkitis, but Rick drove a perfect race to keep

Weaver at bay. Virkitis never gave Weaver an opening and streaked under

Glenn O'Laughlin's checkered flag to claim the win by a narrow margin

over Weaver. Chris Schupp finished third ahead of Jeff Bronson and Alan

Rudalavage. Carl Nagel, Bill Huff, Sean Collins Mike Clapperton and

Harry Marvin Jr. made up the remainder of the top ten.

Virkitis made a clean sweep of racing activity on the evening as he

was also victorious in his heat race. Mike Frost and Alan Rudalavage

were also heat winners with Brian Franko winning the consolation event.

Waverly, NY's Gene Sharpsteen picked up his fourth feature event win

of the season in the 25 lap American Race Tires Trackside Products Late

Model Series event. The pilot of the Krebs Fencing #7 started the event

from the tenth starting position, but by the midway point I the event was

locked in a torrid battle for the top spot. Sharpsteen and Zona swapped

the top spot back and forth while battling in heavy traffic. As

Sharpsteen was able to open up a bit of an advantage, Zona and Al Coy

were battling for the second spot when they got together, dropping both

out of the top ten finishing order. This allowed Randall Paxton to pick

up the second finishing position trailed by Dan Clark. Bill Karp and Al

Whittaker rounded out the top five. Joe Damiano, Jim Sherman, Jim

O'Hara, Dan Stark, and Keith Mudge rounded out the top ten.

Al Coy, Jim Sherman, and Dave Zona won Late Model heat races.

The Super Stock feature saw Jamie Shea pick up his sixth win of the

season in the 20 lap event. Shea made the winning pass on lap 17 as he

worked past Chris Piasecki to take over the lead. Once out front Jamie

had things uner control as he crusaded to victory over Piasecki. Tracy

Gregory finished third with Dwayne Robbins and Craig Trella also earning

top five finishes. Matt Roberts, Rich Keehle, Wade Decker, Ron

Latwinski, and Randy Metcalf made up the second half of the top ten.

Tracy Gregory, Rich Keehle, and Brett Spoor were heat winners in

Super Stock competition.

Sean Lias continued his domination of IMCA Modified action at Penn

Can. The win was the fourth consecutive trip to victory lane for the

Westfield, Pa. resident. Steve Hartman led the first ten laps of the

feature, but Lias was able to wrest the top spot away from Hartman on a

lap 11 restart. Hartman pressured Lias the rest of the way but could not

find a way past as Lias scored the win over Hartman. Bob Chapman

crossed the line third ahead of newcomer George Catanzano. Gil

Sharpsteen completed the top five. Tommy Paige, Cary Fachini, Don

Alvord, Kevin Cole, and Frank Bonham finished sixth through tenth

respectively.

Racing continues this Friday night at 7:15 PM sharp with a regular

five division show consisting of Modifieds, IMCA Modifieds, Late Models,

Super Stocks, and Pure Stocks on the card. Penn Can Speedway is located

on Pennsylvania Rte 171, seven miles East of Exit 230 (formerly Exit 68)

off I-81. For more information regarding the Penn Can Speedway, contact

the speedway office at (570)-585-9928. The race day track phone number

is (570)-853-3434.

PEOPLE'S NATIONAL BANK FIREWORKS EXTRAVAGANZA RACE SUMMARY:

MODIFIEDS: 1. RICK VIRKITIS 2. Brian Weaver 3. Chris Schupp 4. Jeff

Bronson 5. Alan Rudalavage 6. Carl Nagel 7. Bill Huff 8. Sean Collins 9.

Mike Clapperton 10. Harry Marvin Jr. 11. Brian Franko 12. Rick Whitney

13. Mike Nagel 14. Kirk Horton 15. George Kostelansky 16. Rick Laubach

17. John Gournsey 18. Marty Bunker 19. Mike Decker 20. Mike Frederick 21.

Garth Tonkin 22. Bob Hamm 23. Mike Frost 24. Chris Weaver 25. Jeff

Rudalavage 26. Mike Colsten

LATE MODEL: 1. GENE SHARPSTEEN 2. Randall Paxton 3. Dan Clark 4. Bill

Karp 5. Al Whattaker 6. Joe Damiano 7. Jim Sherman 8. Jim O'Hara 9. Dan

Stark 10. Keith Mudge 11. Jamie Griffiths 12. Al Coy 13. Dave Zona 14.

Jason Carmen 15. RJ Windhausen 16. Lou Sparks 17. Clinton Kauffman 18.

Rich King 19. Randy Brokaw 20. Jade Brewer

SUPER STOCK: 1. JAMIE SHEA 2. Chris Piasecki 3. Tracy Gregory 4. Dwayne

Robbins 5. Craig Trella 6. Matt Roberts 7. Rich Keehle 8. Wade Decker 9.

Dennis Latwinski 10. Randy Metcalf 11. Dan Vauter 12. Brett Spoor 13.

Mark Hanichak 14. Glenn Wilcox 15. Tom Garron 16. Pete Sobol 17. Paul

Rooney 18. Chuck Lowe 19. Daryl Ellis 20. Tony Nalaschi 21. James Crist

22. Fred Crist

IMCA MODIFIED: 1. SEAN LIAS 2. Steve Hartman 3. Bob Chapman 4. George

Catanzano 5. Gil Sharpsteen 6. Tommy Paige 7. Cory Fachini 8. Don Alvord

9. Kevin Cole 10. Frank Bonham 11. Tracy Rhoads 12. Jason Makosky 13.

Billy House 14. Kevin Battelle 15. Steve Welsh 16. Joe Cole 17. Larry

Robbins 18. Charlie Gilbert