Third Penn Can Victory Of The Season For Brian Weaver

Conklin, NY's Brian Weaver picked up his third Modified feature win

of the 2001 campaign last Friday night at the Penn Can Speedway on Barnes

Kasson Hospital night. Gene Sharpsteen also became a three time winner

as he claimed victory in the American Race Tire Late Model Series event.

Jamie Shea won his fourth Super Stock feature of the season while Chad

Stone won his third in a photo finish with Harry Marvin IV. Sean Lias

won his first IMCA Modified feature of the season.

The Modified feature saw Brian Weaver take the green flag from the

twelfth starting position as George Kostelansky led the early stages of

the event. It took Weaver only ten laps to bring his Decker Logging

sponsored #9R into a contending position as Brian was utilizing the

outside groove to move to the front. Brian continued to work the outside

as he was able to draw alongside Kostelansky on lap ten. The two ran one

lap side by side before Weaver was able to drive around the outside of

Kostelansky to take over the lead. Once out front, Weaver was not

challenged the rest of the way as he drove to his third win, lengthening

his lead in the season long point standings. It turned out to be a

memorable night for the Decker Logging team as Weaver's teammate Mike

Decker also worked past Kostelansky late in the event to make it a sweep

of the top two positions for the Randy Decker owned team. Kostelansky

crossed the line third with Carl Nagel and Alan Rudalavage completing the

top five. Kirk Horton, Butch Tittle, Mike Nagel, Rick Virkitis, and John

Gournsey completed the top ten.

George Kostelansky, Mike Nagel, and Alan Shiffler were Modified heat

winners.

The 25 lap Late Model feature was the second event on the six race

American Race Tires Series, a series being contested for the first time

this season at Penn Can and Skyline. Waverly, NY's Gene Sharpsteen

picked up the victory in this event, his third of the 2001 season at Penn

Can. Allen Coy led the early stages of the feature but several caution

flags in the early going allowed Sharpsteen to quickly work his way

forward from his tenth starting position. Sharpsteen and Coy battled for

several laps before Sharpsteen was able to make the pass stick. Coy

pressured Sharpsteen the remainder of the 25 lap distance but was not

able to find a way back past and Sharpsteen picked up the win over Coy.

Ageless veteran Jim Sherman finished third with Randall Paxton recovering

from an early race incident to finish fourth. Newcomer Dicen Stark

completed the top five. Keith Mudge, Jim O'Hara, Randy Brokaw, Rich

King, and Jamie Griffiths completed the top ten.

Allen Coy, Jamie Griffiths, and Gene Sharpsteen won the three Late

Model heat races.

Jamie Shea returned to victory lane in the Super Stocks, his fourth

Penn Can victory of the season. Shea started twelfth and picked his way

steadily toward the front, passing Brett Spoor for the top spot. Spoor

was able to keep Shea in sight bout could not make a run at Jamie and

settled for second. Craig Trella finished third with Dwayne Robbins

fourth. Ed McKernon finished fifth in his first Penn Can start of the

season. Chris Piasecki, Tracy Gregory, Chris Hunsinger, Glenn Wilcox,

and Nick Petrilak completed the top ten.

Super Stock heat race action saw Tracy Gregory, Chris Piasecki, and

Dan Vauter claiming victories.

The Pure Stock feature saw the closest finish of the season to date

at Penn Can as Chad Stone won his third feature of the season by the

slimmest of margins over Harry Marvin IV. Track officials estimated

Stone's margin of victory over Marvin to be less than a foot. Marvin

recorded his best finish of the season with his runner-up effort. Scott

George crossed the line third ahead of Keith Wilkins and Nate Evans.

Finishing in positions six through ten were Craig Decker, Archie

Elsworth, Shane Wolff, Brett Tonkin, and Danny Bagg.

Craig Decker and Jim Ortiz won the Pure Stock heats.

Sean Lias made a rare Penn Can start and walked away with a feature

win in IMCA Modified action. It turned out to be a very competitive

feature for the IMCA Modifieds as Lias and Larry Robbins swapped the top

spot back and forth several times. The two Westfield, Pa. residents

battled all the way to the finish with Lias claiming a hard fought

victory over Robbins. Mike Smith finished third with Bob Chapman and

Frank Bonham rounding out the top five. Completing the top ten were

Kevin Cole, Jason Macosky, Joe Cole, Billy House, and Charlie Gilbert.

Kevin Cole and Sean Lias won IMCA Modified qualifying events.

BARNES KASSON HOSPITAL NIGHT RACE SUMMARY:

MODIFIEDS: 1. BRIAN WEAVER 2. Mike Decker 3. George Kostelansky 4. Carl

Nagel 5. alan Rudalavage 6. Kirk Horton 7. Butch Tittle 8. Mike Nagel 9.

Rick Virkitis 10. John Gournsey 11. Rick Whitney 12. Tom McGurrin 13.

Harry Marvin Jr. 14. Chris Weaver 15. Bill Huff 16. Garth Tonkin 17. Alan

Shiffler 18. Chris Shupp 19. Mike Frost 20. Marty Bunker 21. Mike

Frederick 22. Mike Colsten 23. Jeff Bronson 24. Brett Tonkin

AMERICAN RACE TIRES LATE MODEL SERIES FEATURE: 1. GENE SHARPSTEEN 2. Al

Coy 3. Jim Sherman 4. Randall Paxton 5. Dicen Stark 6. Keith Mudge 7. Jim

O'Hara 8. Randy Brokaw 9. Rich King 10. Jamie Griffiths 11. Jason Carmen

12. Jade Brewer 13. Tony Fuga 14. Dave Zona 15. Ernie Millon 16. Dan

Clark 17. George Leatso 18. Joe Damiano 19. RJ Windhausen 20. Lou Sparks

21. Clint Kauffman 22. Al Whittaker

SUPER STOCKS: 1. JAMIE SHEA 2. Brett Spoor 3. Craig Trella 4. Dwayne

Robbins 5. Ed McKernon 6. Chris Piasecki 7. Tracy Gregory 8. Chris

Hunsinger 9. Glenn Wilcox 10. Nick Petrilak 11. John Morse 12. Greg

McKernon 13. Rich Keehle 14. Ken Sparks 15. Tom Garren 16. Rick Holgate

17. Dick Vauter 18. Paul Rooney 19. Randy Rollison 20. Dan Vauter

PURE STOCKS: 1. CHAD STONE 2. Harry Marvin IV 3. Scott George 4. Keith

Wilkins 5. Nate Evans 6. Craig Decker 7. Archie Ellsworth 8. Shane Wolff

9. Brett Tonkin 10. Danny Bagg 11. Mark Shipman 12. Jim Ortiz 13. Michael

Lartz 14. Everett Cass 15. Nate Shay 16. Andy Cowell 17. Rick Hand

IMCA MODIFIED: 1. SEAN LIAS 2. Larry Robbins 3. Mike Smith 4. BOB Chapman

5. Frank Bonham 6. Kevin Cole 7. Jason Makosky 8. Joe Cole 9. Everett

Cass 10. Charlie Gilbert 11. Steve Hartman