Butch Tittle Wins Second At Penn Can Speedway

Susquehanna, PA..5/14/99... On a beautiful night for racing, Butch Tittle of Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania charge to the front of the twenty six car starting field midway through the race and held off all challenges to win his second of the season at Penn Can Speedway. On a night held in honor of the track founder, LeGrange “Pappy” Beavan, Billy Marvin of Great Bend was able to capture his first ever late model feature while Ed McKernan of Towanda won a hard fought street stock main event. In the first ever sanctioned appearance of the IMCA modifieds, former street stock competitor Jason Clause of Jermyn, Pennsylavania claimed the win. Charlie Gilbert of Binghamton, New York scored his second pure stock feature win of the young season. Chris Shupp lead the modified cars to the green flag but it was Randy Decker, using his outside front row position, who jumped out to the early lead. Decker controlled the early part of the race while fast cars in the back of the pack made their moves to the front. A lap five caution brought the cars together and forced last week’s winner to the back of the back for a spin in turn two. Cars moving to the front included the cars of Tom McGurren, George Kostelansky, Jeff Bronson, Chuck Akulis and Butch Tittle. Tittle had his car working on the low side of the track and picked cars off lap after lap. A caution for Kostelansky brought the field together mid race. Decker held the lead with the cars of Al Kellogg, McGurren and Rudalavage challenging. Tittle had now moved into the top five. After getting by Rudalavage, McGurren, and Kellogg, Tittle pulled up to Decker’s back bumper. On lap eighteen Tittle managed to get by Decker for the lead and held on to take his second win of the year, Decker had his best run of the year and finishing second with McGurren, Kellogg and Bronson rounding out the top five. Akulis, Al Rudalavage, Carl Nagel, George Kostelansky, and Jeff Rudalavage came home six through ten. The late model feature of the night proved to be very exciting. Billy Marvin used his up front starting spot to run away and hide from the field as thirteen laps clicked off before the first caution. When the race restarted the cars of Al Coy, Warren Stone, Gene Sharpsteen, and Dave Zona all lined up to challenge Marvin. With five laps remaining Coy had his car along side Marvin and almost wrestled the lead away. Marvin held on and won his first ever late model race after ending a very successful street stock career two seasons ago. In street stock action Ed McKernan fought hard with Mike Decker, Jamie Shea, and Dick Vauter early in the race. His car worked the bottom of the track and after the half way signal was given, and darted under Decker to get the lead after Shea pulled off while leading. The caution flew at the right time for Shea as he was able to make repairs and return. The race continued and McKernan held strong and fought off all challenges and won his first ever Penn can Speedway race. The debut of the IMCA modified saw ten cars sign in to do battle. Former track street stock competitor Jason Clause avoided an early spin by Dick Vauter and took the lead. Joe Price Jr worked his way through the field as the cars began getting comfortable with the new track. Jim Fugal brought out a late caution and bunched the field up for a late race dash to the checkers. Clause stayed smooth and got the win. Price came in second with Vauter returning for third. Steve Bidwell and Tom Rose rounded out the top five. The exciting pure stock feature came down to a battle between opening night winner Charlie Gilbert and last week’s winner, Bill Hawkins. The two raced hard and clean with Gilbert getting to the checkered flag first. Rookie driver Tom Sienko had a great run finishing in the third spot. Chad Stone, and Kevin Cole came in fourth and fifth respectively. Penn Comments: Next week Spring Championship Night will be held for the five divisions competing at the speedway, Championship points will be on the line. The IMCA modifieds will be making their second appearance of the year. The night’s highlight race will be the modified thirty five lap feature paying $1500 to win. The other divisions will run regular lenghth features with championship points and extra money on the line. PAPPY BEAVAN MEMORIAL MODIFIED FEATURE:Butch Tittle, Randy Decker, Tom McGurren, Al Kellogg, Jeff Bronson, Chuck Akulis, Al Rudalavage, Carl Nagel, George Kostelansky,Jeff Rudalavage, Mike Nagel, Rick Virkitis, Kirk Horton, Marty Bunker, Bill Huff, Mike Colsten, Chris Shupp, Rick Whitney, Jason Rudalavage, Harry Marvin jr, Garth Tonkin, Steve Babachak, Mike Frost, Steve Walsh, Dan Hineline, Bob Hamm... PAPPY BEAVAN MEMORIAL LATE MODEL FEATURE: Bill Marvin, Al Coy, Gene Sharpsteen, Warren Stone, Dave Zona, Dave Passetti, Jeremy Stone,Jason Bedford, Jamie Griffiths, Jim O’Hara, Dan Stone, Ernie Millon, Chad Hollenback, Larry Dilello, Scott Hunsinger, Rick Hunsinger, Randall Paxton, Bill Karp PAPPY BEAVAN MEMORIAL STREET STOCK FEATURE: Ed McKernan, John Green, Dick Vauter, Joe Domiano, Pete Gulick, Jamie Shea, Ken Sparks, Tony Nalachi, Dan Podwika, Dwayne Robbins, Craig Trella, Chris Hunsinger, Jerry Whitemarch, Rick Brown, Bob Janesky, Rick Holgate, Rich Keehle, Chris Piasecki, Gary Hodavanic, Doug Nelson, Glenn Wilcox, Paul Rooney...DQ Mike Decker, DNS Scott Shaffer PAPPY BEAVAN MEMORIAL PURE STOCK FEATURE: Charlie Gilbert, Bill Hawkins, Tom Sienko, Chad Stone, Kevin Cole, Joe Cole, Wayne Merritt, Nate Evans, Eric Pribula, Jim Ortiz, Bob Teribury, Dodi Davis, Nate Fitch, Ron Latwinski,Chris Stull, Bob Warner, Adam Diaz, Rich King... PAPPY BEAVAN MEMORIAL IMCA MOD FEATURE: Jason Clause, Joe Price, JR, Dick Vauter, Steve Bidwell, Tom Rose, Mike Stoddard, Bob Chapman, Jim Fugal, Chuck Sharpsteen...