Billy Decker Continues Winning Ways At Brewerton Speedway
BREWERTON, NY...9/4/98..Billy Decker's march to a track championship at the Brewerton Speedway continued with a feature win Friday night. Eric Crawford broke the streak of Troy Van Allen's wins in the Dwarf car division, while Rob Keller scored another IMCA Modified win and Jim Olin took another victory in the 4 Cylinders.
The DIRT Modified feature event featured an early race battle between Jimmy Phelps and Tim McCreadie, who were soon joined in the front of the field by Alan and Danny Johnson and Bob McCreadie. As Tim McCreadie battled with his father, Phelps broke out in front. Billy Decker was deep in the field trying to move up through the pack as the race approached the halfway point.
It was at the halfway point that the shape of the race changed dramatically. First, Bob McCreadie and Alan Johnson battled for the lead until McCreadie's car slowed dramatically coming off the fourth turn. Alan almost spun trying to avoid the stalled McCreadie machine and lost several spots, handing the lead to Danny Johnson. A charging Decker moved into second, and after a spirited exchange, Decker took the lead and held it to the checkered flag. Danny was a distant second, followed by Alan Johnson, Chuck Bower, and Tim Fuller. DIRT Modified heats were won by Jimmy Phelps, Bobby Varin, and Pat Ward.
The 20-lap IMCA Modified feature belonged to Rob Keller in the early going, but a battle for the track championship was being waged within the field by Frank Caprara, George Catanzano, and point leader Sean Lias. Bob Bradt held all these drivers at bay during the feature, eventually moving into second in the last half of the feature, while Lias struggled to move into the top ten. As Keller built on his lead with Bradt solidly in second, Caprara held the third spot. In the final few laps, Lias moved past Ca!
tanzano, which guaranteed him the track championship. Keller took the feature win with Bradt, Caprara, Simmons, and Lias following. IMCA Modified heats were won by John Bell, Dane Keller, and Dick Weiland.
The 20-lap Dwarf car feature event saw a great battle early on between Jim Gray and several others. Gray held the race lead through the halfway point of the feature event. Eric Crawford steadily progressed through the field to take the lead and stretch it out in the middle third of the feature event. Ed Bell and Pat Pontello battled with Kevin Battelle for position as Troy Van Allen came into the mix after starting back in 21st spot. Van Allen carefully picked off competitors one by one until he moved int!
o the runnerup spot with just a few laps left. Van Allen got close to Crawford, but could not pass him. Crawford scored the win over Van Allen with Gray, Bell, and Pontello rounding out the top five. Dwarf car heats were won by Jim Coher, Van Allen, and Dan Boyce.
The 4 Cylinder feature event was led early by Harvey Calkins Jr., who ran in the lead until he three time winner Ed Granoski moved in to challenge him. Granoski got the lead, but then tangled with a slower car, which knocked him out of the lead. Calkins got the lead back, but lost it Jim Olin, who held on through several late restarts to score another win in 4 Cylinder competition. Calkins took the runnerup spot, followed by Ken Klinkowsky, Lloyd Hinton, and Chuck Powelczyk. 4 Cylinder heats were won by Granoski, Calkins, and Olin.
Dave Gruel made a thrilling last lap pass to win the Youth Dwarf feature event.
Next Friday night is the final night for points for the DIRT Modifieds, 4 Cylinders, and Dwarfs. One on one spectator races will also be on the card. Gates will open at 5:30pm and racing starts at 7:30pm.
RACE SUMMARY-BREWERTON SPEEDWAY
SEPTEMBER 4, 1998
DIRT MODIFIED FEATURE-BILLY DECKER, Danny Johnson, Alan Johnson, Chuck Bower, Tim Fuller, Tim Fuller, Tim McCreadie, Bobby Varin, Jason Barney, Roger Phelps, Lansing Petzoldt, Jeremy Baye, Bob Bennett, Dan Connelly, Bobby Melone, Pat Ward, Bob McCreadie, Bill Abold, Jimmy Phelps, Bill Gill, Tommy Sears, Scott Prentice, Ray Bliss, Jim Burke, Max Phillips.
IMCA MODIFIED FEATURE-ROB KELLER, Bob Bradt, Frank Caprara, Craig Simmons, Sean Lias, George Catanzano, Dane Keller, Jim Evans, Dick Weiland, Neil Edgar, Bill Anderson, Les Hubbard, Cory Fachini, Bill Klinkowsky, Don Alvord, Ron O'Neil, Pat Hobbs, John Bell, Doug McKane, Colleen Finch, Jeff Cardinale, Aaron Jacobs, Carmen Vona, Joe LaValley, Tony Finch.
DWARF CAR FEATURE-ERIC CRAWFORD, Troy Van Allen, Jim Gray, Ed Bell, Pat Pontello, Kevin Battelle, Jim Coher, Mark Weilgelt, Carl Crawford, Darren Forbes, bob Bird, Kevin Doll, Barry Virts, Ed Lawton, Kevin DonHausen, Brian Cunningham, RJ Grimshaw, Scott Nash, David Orr, Buddy Lewis, Jay Reid, Ken Gamlen, Bob McCarthy, Dennis Johnson, Butch Wadsworth, Kelly Skinner, Dan Thompson, Gary Sampo, Eric Jackson.
4 CYLINDER FEATURE-JIM OLIN, Harvey Calkins Jr., Ken Klinkowsky, Lloyd Hinton, Chuck Powelczyk, Mark Warner, Roger West, Roger Olchewske, Ray Chittenden, John Clark, Chad Granoski, Jon Amidon, Tim Koch, John West, Bob Whipple, Kevan Cook, Brian Yox, Channie Joyner, Ed Granoski, Jeff Amidon, Brett Hubbard, Bart Chapman.