Champions Crowned At Penn Can Speedway
SUSQUEHANNA, PA =AD Champions in four of five divisions that run at Penn
Can Speedway were crowned on Friday evening. Brian Weaver powered his
way to a third win in the Modified division, Dan Stone won the Late
Model feature, Chris Piasecki captured the Street Stock feature. Chad
Stone and Bob Chapman also took home victories.
The Modified feature started with drama right off the bat. Butch
Tittle had a slim 12-point lead over Brian Weaver going into the feature
event. Weaver and Tittle started the race right next to each other in
row 3. As the race got under way, Jeff Bronson pulled out to an early
lead with Colsten right on his back bumper. Weaver was falling quickly
through the field and Tittle held a steady fourth.
By lap 8, Colsten was able to get out to the lead with Tittle moving up
to third. As the lap countered counted off laps, Weaver began to make
his way to the front of the pack. Tittle had fallen off a bit. By lap
21 in the 50-lap feature event, Weaver started to hunt down Colsten, who
had a straight away lead. Weaver scooted around the inside of Bronson
and set his sights on Colsten. He worked Colsten for the next 20 laps,
when Colsten=92s motor let go and Weaver was able to capitalize on
Colsten=92s ill-fated car.
Tittle however, began charging his way to the front. Tittle made his
way to second, but he couldn=92t catch Weaver. Weaver went on to beat
Tittle by a straightaway, however Tittle, finishing second, was crowned
the 2000 Modified Champion. Rick Virkits, also having a fantastic run,
came home in third, followed by Chuck Akluis and Alan Rudalavage.
In the Late Model Championship race, Gene Sharpsteen led Billy Marvin
by four points. Just like in the Modified feature, both Marvin and
Sharpsteen were starting side by side in the third row. Dan Stone
pulled out to an early lead and battled heavily with Alan Coy. Coy
grabbed the lead form the Stone on lap 6 but Stone came back on lap 13
to lead the rest of the race. Sharpsteen gained a couple of spots to
third and Marvin was in fourth for most of the race. The finish of
Stone a car length ahead of Coy followed by Sharpsteen, Marvin and Al
Whitaker gave the Late Model Championship to Gene Sharpsteen by one
point over Marvin.
The Street Stock Championship run was also a tight three-way battle.
Rich Keehle had the lead by 8 points over Scott Conover. Jamie Shea was
51 points back of Keehle. Shea started in fourth with Keehle in sixth
and Conover in seventh. Within four laps, Shea took over the lead from
pole sitter Chris Piasecki. Piasecki slammed his way past Shea on a lap
7 restart, dropping Shea back to third. Conover hit the wall and had to
pit to fix the rear end and two laps later, Keehle car lost power and he
was not able to continue in the race. Conover, although two laps down,
was able to pick up three positions before the end of the race. Shea
battled up front, trying to find daylight between Glen Wilcox, who was
running second, and Piasecki, the leader. However the laps ran out with
Piasecki winning his second feature of the season. Wilcox came home
second, Shea in third, Craig Trella fourth and Joe Domiano fifth. This
resulted in Keehle winning the championship by one point over Conover
and Shea was 6 points out of the hunt, finishing third.
Chad Stone dominated the Pure Stock feature. He pulled away from the
rest of the field, however point leader Brian Decker wasn=92t that=20 far
behind. Stone won by a car length over Decker, followed by Ken Sparks,
Eric Pribula, and Rick Hand. Decker won his first ever Pure Stock
Championship in only his first year of competition in the division.
Bob Chapman dominated the IMCA Modified. Chapman won his third race of
the season over Cory Facini, Steve Hartman, Frank Bonham, and Tom
Eiklor.
MODIFED FEATURE FINISH =AD BRIAN WEAVER, Butch Tittle, Rick Virkits, Chuck
Akulis, Alan Rudalavage, Jeff Bronson, Carl Nagel, Mike Nagel,=20 Rusty
Harrington, John Gurnsey, Mike Schane, Tom McGurren, Dave Zona, Randy
Decker, Jim Witko, Chris Shupp, Harry Marvin, Mike Colsten, Garth
Tonkin, George Konstalanksy, Bob Hamm, Mike Frost, Rick Whitney, Kirk
Horton, Bill Huff, Joel Batzel
LATE MODEL FEATURE FINISH =AD DAN STONE, Alan Coy, Gene Sharpsteen, Bill
Marvin, Al Whitaker, Dave Passetti, Randall Paxton, Jeremy Stone, Randy
Brokaw, Lewis Sparks, Rich King, Jim O=92Hara, Chad Hollenbeck, Ernie
Million, Bill Karp, Tony Fuga, Jad Brewer
STREET STOCK FEATURE FINISH =AD CHRIS PIASECKI, Glen Wilcox, Jamie Shea,
Craig Trella, Dan Vauter, Dick Vauter, John Green, Jason Bedford, Brett
Spoor, Tracy Gregory, Dan Podwicka, Rick Brown, Bob Janeski, Scott
Conover, Gene Sharpsteen, Chris Hunsinger, Pete Gulick, Rich Keehle
PURE STOCK FEATURE FINISH =AD CHAD STONE, Brian Decker, Ken Sparks, Eric
Pribula, Rick Hand, Nate Evans, Bill Hawins, Jeff Cleveland, Shawn
Olenski, Keith Wilkens, Rich Davis, Shephard Bloddgett, Bob Warner, Tom
Witko,
IMCA MODIFED FEATURE FINISH =AD BOB CHAPMAN, Cory Facini, Steve Hartman,
Frank Bonham, Tom Eiklor, Mike Stoddard, Bill House, Rob Welsh, Chris
Makowsky, Paul Rooney, Mike Smith