Colsten Wins Third At Thunder Mountain
Center Lisle, New York..Veteran Mike Colsten of Binghamton only led five laps of the thirty lap Modified feature last Saturday night at the Thunder Mountain Speedway in Center Lisle, New York but the were the five most important ones. Colsten was joined in victory lane by point leader Scott Conover in the twenty lap Street Stock feature, A hot Larry Hillis in the 20 lap Pure Stock go, a first time winner Joe Bush in the fifteen lap Four Cylinder race, Lance O dell who broke Don Harvey s win skein at ten in the fifteen lap Mini Sprint feature and Greg Martindale for the second time in the Four Cylinder Modified twenty lapper.
Colsten, who started eleventh, let Wrench lead most of the almost non-stop feature event, before catching him and making the pass going into the third turn on the twenty-sixth circuit. Pole sitter Dick Sundgren led the first go round but the second starting Wrench took over on lap two. Lap after lap clicked off with no yellow in sight and only two dropouts in the first twenty laps as Wrench tried to put as much distance between himself and the rest of the pack that he knew would be on his tail if a yellow came out.
Lap twenty-one saw the third dropout as Chris Weaver pulled to the infield as Wrench s advantage over a now second Colsten was dwindling and finally four laps later Colsten caught and passed Wrench for the lead and ultimately the victory. The race s only yellow occurred on the white flag lap as Bob Hamm s machine broke in turn one and he spun. When the race got going again Colsten had enough to stave off a last minute run by Tom McGurrin who had also gotten by Wrench to get his third win of the season. McGurrin came home while Wrench equaled his best ever Modified finish with a third as George Kostelansky regained the point lead by coming home fourth and three time winner Doug Worthing rounded out the top five.
It s finally over. Don Harvey s ten win streak in the Mini-Sprint class bit the dust last Saturday night as Lance O dell came from his eighth starting spot to take the lead from outside pole sitter Steve Klock on lap five. The race s only yellow came on lap twelve when Bruce Brown came to a halt in turn two. This put Harvey right on O Dell s back bumper but try as he might, he couldn t get the job done and the only other driver than Harvey to win a Mini Sprint feature at Thunder Mountain had his third of the year. Harvey was a strong second while Doug Smith came from the back of the seventeen car field to take home third as Steve Boyd was fourth and Ryan Lund in his new car was fifth.
Scott Conover survived a wild twenty laps of racing to grab off his fourth Street Stock feature of the 2000 season and in the process lengthen his point lead over runner-up Gary Roberts and third place Billy Spoonhower. The race itself saw many multi car incidents, the worst of which involved Roberts and a strong running Ed McKernan which put Roberts out of the event and relegated McKernan to a back of the field finish. Charlie Fulton led the early going of the race, in fact up until just prior to the halfway point before Conover took over for good and led the rest of the distance for the win. Harold Humphrey put on some heavy pressure to Conover late in the race but it was to no avail and he had to settle for second. Fulton was a strong third followed by Mike Wilbur was fourth and Spoonhower came back from one of those tangles to claim fifth.
Doug Stack led the early going of the Pure Stock feature as point leader John Payne lost a lot of ground on his two closest pursuers as he lost a rear wheel assembly early on and wound up finishing last. Stack led until lap five when Toby Baker took over with Chris Stull right behind him. Stull took the point at the halfway point as multi time winner Hillis was also making his move toward the front. The last five laps of the race saw this duo run side by side with Stull on the inside and Hillis on the outside, neither wanting to give an inch. In the end Hillis prevailed with Stull coming home second. Rounding out the top five was Baker followed by Wilbur and Stack.
The fifteen lap Four Cylinder Stock feature was bound to have a new winner. Point leader Harold Humphrey was in a borrowed car. Runner-up Nathan Stevens wasn t on hand and third place Jeff McKinney had an altercation with Humphrey in the heat and was banished for the evening. It s nice to see new blood in victory lane. Rick Phillips, one half of the Elmira connection led the first four laps before his tag team partner Joe Bush went to the forefront. Humphrey gave it a game effort but the ride was in wasn t up to it and he pulled off five laps from the finish. Bush led the rest of the way for his first ever win as Phillips got close enough to play bumper cars over the last two circuits but had to settle for second. Jeff Wilcox Jr cruised home to his best effort of the year in third followed by Jerry Wilcox and Jeff Wilcox.
Buzz Barton led most of the early going of the twenty lap Four Cylinder Modified feature before Greg Martindale and George Howe caught him in traffic. Barton made the wrong choice and Martindale had the lead and Howe followed him into second and that was all she wrote as Martindale held off Howe for the win, his second of the year. Howe s car went up in smoke as the checkers fell but held on for second, Mike Payne got Barton late in the race for third while Barton was fourth and Bruce Detro completed the top five.
Next week will be the next to the last regular season show. Point races are getting tighter in most of the classes. The Modifieds, Street Stocks, Pure Stocks, Four Cylinder Stocks, Four Cylinder Modifieds and Mini Sprints all will be in action. Labor day weekend will feature two shows with the regular six class card on Saturday night. On Sunday the last Thunder Mountain installment of the North-South All-Star Street Stock shoot out series plus the Central New York Mini Sprints will be on hand for the third and final time. We ll be watching to see if Don Harvey can sweep the Thunder Mountain series. Gates will open at 4:00 with the first heat scheduled to go off at 6:30. Thunder Mountain is located just off NY State route 79 in Center Lisle. Just turn left at the church and follow the signs.
MODIFIED FINISH: Mike Colsten, Tom McGurrin, Jimmy Wrench, George Kostelansky, Doug Worthing, Jeff Bronson, Rick Wilk, Dave Jenkins, Paul Jensen, Carl Nagel, Mike Decker, Dick Sundgren, Mike Nagel, J. R. Hurlburt, Garth Ton kin, Brian Payne, Joel Batzel, Dave Zona, Butch Cerullo, Rod Hunsinger, Scott Frack, Bob Hamm, Chris Weaver, Rich Tiffany, Tom Sienko
MINI SPRINT FEATURE: Lance O dell, Don Harvey, Doug Smith, Steve Boyd, Ryan Lund, Garry Moore, Ed Warren, Steve Klock, Bill Wayman, Aric Copeland, Dale Roloson, Steve Diffendorf, Bruce Gould, Bruce Brown, John Anderika, Jeremy Vunk, Rick Christopher.
STREET STOCK FINISH: Scott Conover, Harold Humphrey, Charlie Fulton, Mike Wilbur, Billy Spoonhower, Ed McKernan, Bill Rampe, Don Archibald, Rich Powell, Jamie Shea, John Morse, Gary Roberts, Chris Piasecki, Max Moshier Jr.
PURE STOCK FINISH: Larry Hillis, Chris Stull, Toby Baker, Mike Wilbur, Doug Stack, Bill Morse, Mike Austin, Jay Bradley, Bill Solliway, Don Moshier, Gary Wheeler, John Dale Howey, Norm Whittemore, Jeff Young, Matt Sissenstein, John Payne.
FOUR CYLINDER STOCK FINISH: Joe Bush, Rick Phillips, Jeff Wilcox Jr., Jerry Wilcox, Jeff Wilcox, Dan Talada, John Wilcox, Jay Hayward, Fred Newton, Chris Torbitt, Ed Harrington, Harold Humphrey, Randy Gardner.
FOUR CYLINDER MODIFIED FINISH: Greg Martindale, George Howe, Mike Payne, Buzz Barton, Bruce Detro, Curt Pierce, Cliff Pierce, Alan Bush, Lee Dewitt, Chet Carr, Roger Dewitt, Steve Bump, Chris Burke, Kala Bush, Scott Allen, Calvin Pierce, Dick Case, John Lowe, Andy Carr.