HORTON TAKES FIRST AT PENN-CAN

Susquehanna, Pa...7/31/98....Kirk Horton. of Eldred, New York, shook off

the

gremlins that have plagued him this year and held off Carl Nagel in a

spirited battle on Gary's U-Pull It night to win his first Modified

feature

last Friday night at the Penn-Can Speedway. Horton, who started on the

outside pole led all but three laps of the thirty lap race with Nagel

leading those other three.

Alan Rudalavage started along side of Horton in row one as the

twenty-six

car field got the green from starter "Downtown" Dennis Brown. Horton

quickly set the pace as Nagel jumped up two spots from his fifth

starting

position to run in the top three with Rudalavage settling into a

comfortable second. The race's first yellow happened on lap five when

Jim

Witko Jr. lost a wheel going down the backstretch and collected Chuck

Akulis when he tried to get into the infield. Akulis rejoined the pack

but

would cause the race's second slow down when he developed a flat right

front tire and stopped on the high side of turn two. Nagel, meanwhile

had

passed Alan Rudalavage for second and was starting to put heavy pressure

on

Horton for the top spot.

Caution number three came on lap eleven as Bob Hamm Jr. and Mike

Colsten

contacted each other with Colsten getting turned around. Both drivers

went

to the rear as the race resumed. Just prior to the Colsten incident

Nagel

had snuck by Horton and had taken over the lead. That was short lived

however as Horton took it back off the restart. Nagel would lead only

one

more lap and that was on fourteen before Horton would take over for

good.

While all this was going on up front last week's winner George

Kostelansky

had moved into third and was closing on the leaders.

As the laps wound down it became apparent that it would be a two

car race

to finish as Kostelansky fell back as the laps progressed and he also

had

his hands full with the Tittle Brothers for his spot. Nagel tried many

times both on the inside and outside but it was to no avail as Horton

rebuffed him at every turn to hold for his first win at the speedway in

1998. Nagel was a strong second followed by Butch Tittle who passed

Kostelansky on the last lap for third while Bill Tittle came home fifth.

Sixth through tenth went to Jeff Rudalavage, Mike Nagel, Randy Decker,

Mike

Colsten and Alan Rudalavage.

Rick Holgate led the first three laps of the twenty lap Late

Model feature

from his pole starting spot before Larry Dilello took over. A multi-car

jingle took place on lap two when Dave Passetti got turned around and in

the ensuing melee no less than seven cars became involved, sidelining

both

point leader Warren Stone and four time winner Dan Stone. Dilello held

the

top spot despite heavy pressure from two time winner Gene Sharpsteen and

an

ever improving Dave Zona.

Alan Coy who was involved in the lap two accident and went to

the pits had

worked himself back into fourth as the race reached the halfway point.

On

lap eleven Sharpsteen tried to go underneath Dilello and contact was

made

and Dilello went around and Zona went through the infield to avoid

Dilello.

When all was said and done, all three cars were sent to the rear and Coy

had the top spot with Curt Tunilo, who was also involved in the lap two

fracas now in second. Coy led the final nine circuits holding off Tunilo

to

take his first win of the season. Tunilo took second followed by

Sharpsteen, Passetti and Holgate.

Street Stock rookie Paul Roney look strong leading the first

nine laps of

the twenty lap Street Stock headliner. Four time winner Frank Bonham,

who

has struggled as of late, was all over Rooney for the better part of

those

nine laps before finally getting by when Rooney spun in turn four just

prior to the halfway point.

Once in front, Bonham also had his hands full. First with a

tough John

Green and late in the race from another multiple winner, Chuck Boman.

Boman

was like a bee on honey with Bonham the last three laps but the Pleasant

Mount driver would have none of it and held off Boman by a scant car

length

at the wire. Greene took a solid third, followed by new point leader

Jamie

Shea in fourth and Mike Decker in fifth.

Rich Keehle led wire to wire to grab off win number two in the

fifteen lap

Pure Stock event. Keehle who started on the front row with Kevin Cole

got

off to a strong early led and built up a comfortable margin over the

rest

of the field. Ron Latwinski ran a solid second early but four time

winner

Bill Carp got by on lap ten and went after Keehle but ran out of time as

Keehle won his first feature in two months. Carp got second followed by

point leader Dwayne Robbins in third, Latwinski in fourth and John Payne

in

fifth after Randy Testa was disqualified in a post race inspection for

the

second time this season.

Chad Cook took advantage of a tangle between Gordie Isham and

Mark Cook to

grab off the win in the Dwarf Car feature. Isham led the first three

laps

and looked to be on his way to win number three of the season but got

tangled up with Mark Cook as the latter tried to pass Isham. Chad Cook

was

right three to take advantage and go on to the victory. Isham came back

to

take second. He was followed by Alan Barker in third, Steve Tourje in

fourth and Ken Titus in fifth.

Next week another exciting four class show featuring the

Modifieds, Late

Models, Street Stocks and Pure Stocks is scheduled to get underway at

7:30.

Be Here.

GARY'S U-PULL IT MODIFIED FINISH: Kirk Horton, Carl Nagel, Butch

Tittle,

George Kostelansky, Bill Tittle, Jeff Rudalavage, Mike Nagel, Randy

Decker,

Mike Colsten, Alan Rudalavage, Jeff Bronson, Rusty Harrington, Jim

Witko,

Rick Virkitis, Glen Knapp, Bill Huff, Scott Seman, Chuck Akulis, Al

Jubinski, Dan Stone, Garth Tonkin, John Siedlecky, Bob Hamm Jr., Mike

Fredrick, Jim Witko Jr., Ed Hawley.

GARY'S U-PULL IT LATE MODEL FINISH: Alan Coy, Curt Tunilo, Gene

Sharpsteen, Dave Passetti, Rick Holgate, Jamie Griffiths, Dave Zona,

Keith

Stone, Larry Dilello, Jim O'hara, Jason Bedford, Dick Sharpsteen,

Randall

Paxton, Dan Stone, Warren Stone, Brad Schafer.

GARY'S U-PULL IT STREET STOCK FINISH: Frank Bonham, Chuck Boman,

John

Greene, Jamie Shea, Mike Decker, Glen Wilcox, Bret Spoor, Dick Vauter,

Mike

Loney, Dan Podwika, Jason Clause, Tony Nalachi, Craig Trella, Mike

Frost,

Doug Nelson, Chris Hunsinger, Ken Sparks Jr., Paul Rooney, Pete Gulick,

Joe

Domiano, Larry Mills, Dave Flynn.

GARY'S U-PULL IT PURE STOCK FINISH: Rich Keehle, Bill Carp,

Dwayne

Robbins, Ron Latwinski, John Payne, Joe Cole, Charlie Gilbert, Kevin

Cole,

Bill Teribury, Shepherd Blodgett, Eric Pribula, Ned Finch.

GARY'S U-PULL IT DWARF CAR FINISH: Chad Cook, Gordie Isham, Alan

Barker,

Steve Tourje, Ken Titus, Mark Cook, Brian Payne, Duane Knapp