BILLY DECKER MAKES REPAIRS TO WIN AT BREWERTON SPEEDWAY
BREWERTON, N.Y..7/31/98....Billy Decker was involved in a twelfth lap pile up, was towed to the pits, made repairs, returned to the rear and won the Parts American/McGee Trailer Night at the Brewerton Speedway last Friday. In other action Craig Simmons won his firs!
t IMCA modified event of the year while Troy Van Allen won number 18 in the dwarf division and Lloyd Hinton made it eight mains in the four cylinders.
It was a wild and wooley night on the high banks of the D-Shaped DIRT Demon as emotions and black flags were flying high. Decker, in contention for the 1998 track championship, thought his ride was over early. During the early stages of the event Billy Gil!
l took off with the lead and Dale Plank was in hot pursuit. However, on the seventh lap a massive pile up in the second turn involved Bob McCreadie, Billy Abold, Roger Phelps, Jim Phelps, Tom Sears and Decker. Tow trucks pulled off several of the cars, but!
Decker was able to return at the rear of the field. On the restart it was Gill maintaining the lead, but on the tenth circuit Plank went to the front.
The action started to pick up and by the 17th lap Pat Ward had pulled to the lead with a diving move on the backstretch. Ward and Plank swapped the lead lap after lap while Dan Johnson was moving toward the front. Johnson fought toe to toe with Plank. Eve!
ntually, Johnson found himself in second and that set the stage for a shootout with Ward. With six laps to go Johnson took the lead out of the fourth turn, but Ward, Decker and Plank were not letting him get too far ahead. Yellow bunched the field on the 3!
1st lap as Steve Hulsizer broke and on the ensuing restart Ward attempted to get alongside Johnson as the duo raced down the front stretch. Johnson shut off the lane, but on the thirty-third lap the pair came together as Ward raced to the outside. Heavy con!
tact was made and Ward slammed into the wall. Track officials determined that Johnson should be black flagged and a surprised Decker was in first place with just two laps to go.
Decker scored the win and in victory lane noted, "We had a third place car tonight, but there was a window of opportunity in our favor. Luck has been falling out way and I'm glad to be here especially after having to make that pit stop on the twelfth lap."!
The "Franklin Flyer" was followed by Tim Fuller, Chuck Bower, Dale Plank and Tom Kinsella.
Craig Simmons made a late race pass of Larry Bezner to chalk up his initial '98 win at Brewerton as the IMCA Modifieds put on an exciting show. Pole sitter Larry Bezner grabbed the early lead and held on until the twelfth lap when Rob Keller put a slide j!
ob on the veteran. Keller, looking for his third consecutive victory, broke with just five laps to go and Bezner inherited the lead. Down the stretch Bezner had his hands full with Sean Lias and Simmons. With one lap to go the yellow came out for Doug McK!
ane's spin and on the final lap restarted Simmons got the jump on the low side and passed Bezner. Heading down the backstretch Lias went past L.D. for the runner up spot, as Bezner had to settle for third followed by George Catanzano and Frank Caprara.
Troy Van Allen won his 18th dwarf main of the season as he took over the lead on the twelfth lap. Kevin Batelle launched to the lead and was running the best he's run all season. At the halfway point Batelle was pacing the field and Van Allen was in hot p!
ursuit. With a dozen circuits in it was Van Allen taking over and moments later Batelle blew the motor. The battle was for the runner up position as Ed Bell, Mark Weigelt, Sean Hort, and Kevin Donhauser all doing battle and coming across second through fif!
th.
Lloyd Hinton was the final leader in the tough four cylinder division as he won the 15 lap feature. Jon Amidon was the early pacesetter and Chris Carroll dove low on the third lap and grabbed the advantage. Ken Klinkowsky became the third leader and he to!
ok over on the sixth lap. Moments later it was Ed Granoski grabbing the advantage, but Klinkowsky rallied. On the eighth lap Hinton took over and he coasted away with the win. The battle settled down for second between Klinkowsky and Granoski. At the checke!
r it was Hinton, Klinkowsky and Granoski.
Pit Notes-Heats went to Scott Prentice, Bill Abold, and Dan Johnson in the Mods while Dick Weiland and Ron O'Neil won the IMCA qualifiers. Hinton, Klinkowsky and Jim Olin won the four cylinders while Dan Boyce, Kevin Batelle and Van Allen won the dwarf pre!
lims....Bob Varin was blacked flagged in the main and disqualified for actions on the track...Ward's car has been raced only three times, but sustained extensive damage...In the four cylinder main a chain reaction wreck KO'd Chris Carroll, John Clark and Ji!
m Olin as they ran one-two-three...Ryan Phelps and Dave Gruell were one-two in dwarf action...Alan Johnson damaged his right front as he tore off the spindle in a feature crash.
MODIFIED MAIN-Billy Decker, Tim Fuller, Chuck Bower, Dale Plank, Tom Kinsella, Tim McCreadie, Bill Gill, Ray Bliss, Chuck Hebing, Roger Phelps, Scott Prentice, Jeremy Baye, Dan Connelly, Dan Johnson, Pat Ward, Steve Hulsizer, Lansing Petzoldt, Jason Barney,!
Tom Sears, Bob Melone, Tom Sears, Bob Melone, Alan Johnson, Jim Phelps, Bill Abold, Bob McCreadie.
IMCA Modified Main-Craig Simmons, Sean Lias, Larry Bezner, George Catanzano, Frank Caprara, Carmen Vona, Bob Bradt, Les Hubbard, Don Alvord, Dick Weilland, Dane Keller, Ron O'Neil, John Bell, Dave McKane, Jim Evans, Tony Finch, Coleen Finch, Rob Keller, Bi!
ll Klinkowsky Sr.
Dwarfs-Troy Van Allen, Ed Bell, Mark Weigelt, Shawn Hort, Dave Orr, Bob Bird, Jim Koher, Kevin Donhausen, Eric Crawford, Buddy Lewis, Scott Nash, Barry Virts, Jim Gray, Ken Gamlin, Pat Pontello, Kevin Doll, Darren Forbes, Carl Crawford, Jay Reid, Dan Thomp!
son, Bob McCarthy, Butch Wadsworth, Kelly Skinner, Richard Kash, Ed Lawton, Dave Gruell Sr., Kevin Batelle, Barb Foley, Dan Boyce, Frank Doll.
Four Cylinders-Lloyd Hinton, Ed Granoski, Ken Klinkowsky, Chris Bargabos, Chad Granoski, Brian Yox, John Clark, Chris Carroll, Roger West, Mark Warner, Ray Chittenden, Russell Scott, Jeff Amidon, Toby Bennett, Roger Olschewske, Dave Bargabos, Tim Koch, Kev!
in Cook, Harvey Calkins Jr., Roy Thurston, Jim Olin, Jon Amidon, Channie Joyner, Brett Hubbard, Chuck Powelczyk.