Billy Decker Wins Penn Can Special

Wed, 16 Aug 2000 20:41:28 -0400

Susquehanna, PA... The fourth annual Pepsi Cola Hot Summer Night Special was

held

at Penn Can Speedway Tuesday with a full pit of race cars and excellent

racing in all

divisions. Billy Decker of Unadilla, NY drove his brother’s modified this

evening. After

qualifying through the Last Chance Race, Decker needed three early pit stops

in the

feature to sort the strange car out. Once to his liking, Decker started his

move to the

front. By lap fifty seven of the seventy five lap feature he moved to the

second position.

Going down the backstretch on lap sixty seven, Decker moved to the inside of

leader

Mike Colsten and made the pass for the lead. He then lead the remaining laps

for the

hard earned win. In the companion sportsman feature, Craig Terrell of nearby

Windsor,

NY made his first sportsman appearance ever pay off in victory over a strong

field of

sportsman. Current IMCA point leader Mike Smith won the controversial

feature over

Randy Hall.

The Pepsi Cola seventy five lap modified feature was lead to the green

by Tom

McGurren and Harry Marvin Jr. McGurren jumped out front and lead until the

first

caution on lap eight for Mike Nagel and Tim Wrench tangling in turn four. On

the

restart, McGurren held strong for the next several laps around the three

eighths mile

oval. Ageless Carl Nagel took control on lap thirteen, leading the next

three laps until

Brian Weaver made the pass for the top position. At this stage Mike Colsten

had

moved into second followed by Nagel, Kirk Horton, and Butch Tittle.

On a lap twenty seven restart, Colsten wrestled the lead away from Weaver

going

down the backstretch. Weaver stayed glued to the bumper with Horton and Doug

Worthing now moving into contention. Colsten held the lead during the middle

stages of

the race with the cars in tow looking for a way around. With a strong move

to the inside

on the homestretch, Weaver jumped back to the point on lap forty seven. He

would

hold that position until disaster struck as the car seemed to experience

mechanical

failure on the front stretch on lap fifty four. This set up the battle to

the finish. Colsten

had the lead with Billy Decker now finding himself in the second position

followed by

Kirk Horton, and George Kostelansky.

With the top four cars all battling for position, Decker found some grip

on the inside of

the speedway and took the lead from Colsten on lap sixty seven. Decker

motored off to

claim victory. Colsten held strong for second followed by Horton,

Kostelansky, Rusty

Harrington, Mike Clapperton, and Chuck Akulis.

By luck of the draw, Jim Crawn and Arnie Slade would lead the twenty four

car

sportsman field to the greed flag. Crawn would lead the first lap before

Slade took

control on lap number two. Early caution flags would keep the field

together. Slade was

unable to get an distance on his competitors. By the seventh circuit, Slade

had control

with Craig Terrell now in second followed by Crawn and Tony Ross. Terrell

looked for a

way by Slade and after several laps of looking, made the pass on lap

fifteen. Ross now

was in the second position and ran hard looking to make the pass on Terrell.

A late pair

of caution flags with only two laps remaining bunched the field for a dash

to the

checker. Terrell was strong and held off Ross for the win. Crawn came home

third

followed by Tim French and Chad Cook.

The IMCA feature had twenty one cars take the green. John Conway would

jump from

the pole to lead the first lap. Mike Bungay then moved to the front only to

be pasted by

Mike Stoddard. Stoddard would hold the lead through a series of early

caution flags.

By lap number eight, Randy Hall had moved into second behind Stoddard.

Mike

Smith was now running third followed by Tom Paige and Sean Lias. A lap

eleven

caution grouped the field. When racing resumed, Hall made the pass on

Stoddard for

the lead. Smith moved into second followed by Lias and Stoddard. Stoddard’s

run came

to an end when he spun in turn four. This set up a run for the checkers.

Lias moved into

second on lap eighteen chasing down Hall. As the white came out, Hall held

the lead

followed by Lias and Smith. Going into turn four Lias made contact with Hall

forcing

Hall to the outside of the speedway. Smith also got by Hall. Lias took the

checker

followed across by Smith and Hall. The officials them penalized Lias for

rough driving

placing him behind Hall at the finish giving the win to Smith.

Modified Feature Finish: Billy Decker, Mike Colsten, Kirk Horton, George

Kostelansky,

Rusty Harrington, Mike Clapperton, Chuck Akulis, Jeff Rudalavage, Mitch

Gibbs, Jeff

Bronson, Tom McGurren, Dave Jenkins, Brian Franko, Rick Holgate, Jim Wrench,

Rod

Hunsinger, Bob Hamm, Rick Whitney, Harry Marvin, Brian Weaver, Doug

Worthing, Al

Rudalavage, Bill Huff, Butch Tittle, Carl Nagel, Mike Nagel...

Sportsman Feature: Craig Terrell, Tony Ross, Jim Crawn, Tim French, Chad

Cook,

Eddie White, Arnie Slade, Bob Hamm, Chris Ostrosky, Bill Reese, Bill

Deckelman, Mike

Papiez, Pete Lyon, Paul Frable, Tony Uyziak, George Kostelansky, Dennis

Dietrick,

Paul McCallum, Kevin Timinski, Bob Martin, Tim Ross, Don Hart, Ralph Mele,

Art

Bray...

IMCA Feature: Mike Smith, Randy Hall, Sean Lias, Don Alvord, Mike Bungay,

Curt

Stiles, Kevin Battele, Doug McKane, Mike Stoddard, Bill House, Alex Wulff,

Tom Paige,

Bob Chapman, John Thayer, Jason McKosky, Steve Hartman, Rob Welsh, John

Conway, Cory Fachini, Paul Rooney.