Jensen Wins At Thunder Mountain

Center Lisle, New York - .Paul Jensen of Edmeston captured his second 30 lap Modified win of the year last Saturday night at the Thunder Mountain Speedway in a hard fought battle with Doug Worthing that went right down to the last lap. Other winners on the card included Scott Conover In the Street Stocks, Larry Hillis in the Pure Stocks, Billy Spoonhower in the Four Cylinder Stocks, Scott Allen in the Four Cylinder Modifieds, Don Harvey for the 12th time in the Min= i Sprints while Theresa Kostelansky won both the Powder Puffs in the Modifieds and Four Cylinder Modifieds.

&= nbsp; Jensen, who started the evening eleventh in points used his outside pole starting spot to his advantage as he was able to open some distance between himself and the rest of the field. Five yellow flag and one red flag period slowed the pace of the race considerably but each time Jensen was able to pull away. Worthing and two time winner Mike Colsten, who started eleventh and twelfth respectively worked their way through traffic into challenging positions late in the race and a restart with just two to go put both of them right on Jensen s rear bumper. Try as he may, Worthing couldn t muster enough to get Jensen and Colsten had all he could do in his battle with Rick Wilk for third. Jensen held on and claimed the win by a car length over Worthing. Wilk got Colsten on the white flag lap for third while Brian Weaver, who was in the lead pack all night in the Decker owned machine wound up fifth.

&= nbsp; The Street Stock twenty lapper was a yellow flag parade with seven of them in the first seven laps which saw three different leaders which five lead changes before point leader, Conover take over at the halfway mark. Once in front Conover maintained his lead over a hard charging Jamie Shea who had pitted while in the lead early on and had to make up ground as the race wound down. The race s worst incident came just before Conover took over as front runner Gary Roberts got loose coming off turn two and when he corrected P. J. Goodwin happened to be going by on the outside and both of them went hard into the backstretch wall. After a couple of anxious moments, both drivers were okay but the same couldn t be said of the cars. When the race resumed Conover led the last ten uneventful laps to get the win with Shea in second followed by Mike Wilbur in third, Harold Humphrey in fourth and Billy Spoonhower rounding out the top five.

&= nbsp; Mike Wilbur led the early going of the fifteen lap, twenty car Pure Stock feature as point leader John Payne got turned around on the very first lap and had to come from the rear the rest of the race. The first lap also had one more caution for Don Moshier who got into the second turn wall and crunched his car badly. Once restarted there was no more yellows to hinder it s progress and Larry Hillis got the lead in a three way battle with Wilbur and Chris Stull. Once in front , the field proved no match for the four time winner Hillis. Stull came home second and gained some ground on point leader Payne who wound up sixth. Third went to Chad Parks while rounding out the top five were Bill Morse and Doug Stack.

&= nbsp; Billy Spoonhower took the lead from Joe Bush on lap seven and went on to grab off his third Four Cylinder Stock feature of the year. Once in front Spoonhower made it look easy as he pulled away from the field in this very fast paced event. Bush was a solid second while Nathan Stevens who closing at the end on Bush had to settle for third while Harold Humphrey, in a borrowed ride after encountering mechanical problems in his heat, came home fourth and Stanley Mathews was fifth.

&= nbsp; The twenty lap Four Cylinder Modified race went flag to flag without a caution and that helped a fast Scott Allen, who started on the outside pole, to maintain a margin over the rest of the field. Other contenders, Mike Payne, Bruce Detro, George Howe and Lee Dewitt got to within shouting distance of Allen as the laps unfolded but none was able to mount a serious challenge for the win as Allen was first under the checkers for the third time this season. Payne grabbed off second, How was third, Dewitt took fourth and Detro rounded out the top five.

&= nbsp; Steve Klock looked strong early in the fifteen lap Mini Sprint feature but once again it was Don Harvey holding forth. Harvey got to the front before the halfway point and made it look easy the rest of the way. The real battle was going on behind him as Lance O dell, Klock, Dale Pitcher and James Brush were waging a donnybrook for the runner-up spot with O dell finally securing that spot late in the race. Klock was a solid third followed by Brush in fourth and Pitcher completing the top five.

&= nbsp; Next week Thunder Mountain will stage a regular six class show featuring the Modifieds, Street Stocks, Pure Stocks, Four Cylinder Stocks, Four Cylinder Modifieds and Mini Sprints. Gates will open at 4:00 with the first heat scheduled for 6:30. Thunder Mountain Speedway is located in Center Lisle, New York just off NY State route 79.

&= nbsp; MODIFIED FINISH: Paul Jensen, Doug Worthing, Rick Wilk, Mike Colsten, Brian Weaver, Dave Jenkins, J. R. Hurlburt, Carl Nagel, Mike Nagel, George Kostelansky, Jimmy Wrench, Rick Whitney, Rod Hunsinger, Dick Sundgren, Mike Decker, Tom Sienko, Rick Holgate, Chris Weaver, Mike Frost, Jeff Bronson, Tom McGurrin, Dave Zona, Joel Batzel, Butch Cerullo.

&= nbsp; STREET STOCK FINISH: Scott Conover, Jamie Shea, Mike Wilbur, Harold Humphrey, Billy Spoonhower, John Morse, Barry Stephens, Max Moshier Jr., Rich Powell, Tracy Gregory, Ed McKernan, P. J. Goodwin, Gary Roberts,

&= nbsp; PURE STOCK FINISH: Larry Hillis, Chris Stull, Chad Parks, Bill Morse, Doug Stack, John Payne, Mike Austin, John Dale Howey, Barry Hyatt, Larry Rozelle, Norm Whittemore, Steve McWain, Matt Sissenstein, Jeff Young, Mike Wilbur, Bill Solliwell, Tony Pease, Toby Baker, Jay Bradley, Don Moshier.

&= nbsp; FOUR CYLINDER STOCK FINISH: Billy Spoonhower, Joe Bush, Nathan Stevens, Harold Humphrey, Stanley Mathews, Jeff Wilcox, Jerry Wilcox, Eric Eaton, John Wilcox, Ed Harrington, Fred Newton, Joe Phillips, Jeff McKinney, Lloyd Twarz

&= nbsp; FOUR CYLINDER MODIFIED FINISH: Scott Allen, Mike Payne, George Howe, Lee Dewitt, Bruce Detro, Mark Reynolds, Greg Martindale, Buzz Barton, Dick Case, Bill Bushaw, Bruce Knaak, Chet Carr, Cliff Pierce, Alan Bush, Chris Burke, Steven Bump, Roger Dewitt, Karen Dewitt, Kala Bush, Curt Pierce, Calvin Pierce.

&= nbsp; MINI SPRINT FINISH: Don Harvey, Lance O dell, Steve Klock, James Brush, Dale Pitcher, Frank Rummenknapp, Billy Wayman, Eric Christopher, Garry Moore, Dave Roloson, Aric Copeland, Steve Diffendorf.