BUTCH TITTLE WINS FALL FINALE AT PENN CAN SPEEDWAY

Susquehanna, PA..9/14/97.... Butch Tittle of Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania

continued his late season streak at Penn Can Speedway by winning the

prestigious Pennzoil Fall Foliage Finale at Penn Can Speedway. Tittles

win over a star studded field gives him the guaranteed starting spot in

the Fulton Victoria 200, the richest small block race in the country.

Other Fulton qualifiers on Saturday were Tony Ross in the sportsman

division and Jamie Shea in the street stocks. Dave Dickey won the pure

stock feature while Ken Taylor was the four cylinder modified winner.

Thirty nine modifieds signed into the pits to try for the victory and

guaranteed Fulton starting spot in the first annual Pennzoil Fall

Foliage Finale. The heats were hotly contested with Mike Colsten, Mike

Clapperton, Mike Schane, and Kirk Horton winning. With the top twelve

drivers redrawing for the feature, Mike Colsten started from the number

one spot. Colstens time on top was short as Dave Mead jumped out to a

quick lead. Moving through the pack making passes early were the fast

cars of George Kostelansky and fifteenth starter Tim Olenski. With Mead

out front Butch Tittle moved into third behind Kirk Horton. An early

caution came out when Billy Decker came to a stop in turn four. At this

point Horton pitted with a flat tire and Tittle moved up behind Mead.

Tittle was able to get past Mead for the lead while the cars of Olenski,

Kostelansky, Clapperton, and Mike Nagel moved into challenging position.

Kostelansky would then bring out the caution when he spun in turn two.

He rejoined the field with Tittle in command now feeling steady pressure

from Olenski who got by Mead for second. The two would then put on one

of the best duels in resent memory. The two charges made there way

around the track side by side or nose to tail lap after lap. The last

twenty laps of the fifty lap feature went caution free with battles for

position all over the track.

Tittle and Olenski thrilled the crowd with their battle while Mead

struggled in third trying to hold off Clapperton, Nagel, and

Kostelansky, who came from the back after his spin. The cars

immediately behind this battle were also fighting hard for position.

Jeff Bronson, Bernie Griffin, subbing for an ailing Chuck Akulis, and

Mike Colsten all fought hard to get to the up front positions. With all

the excitement on the track Tittle was able to prevail over a strong

Olenski who gave it everything his car could give on the last two laps.

Mead held on for third over Clapperton, and Nagel. Rounding out the top

ten were Kostelansky, Bronson, Griffin, Colsten, and Carl Nagel.

Tony Ross started the sportsman feature in tenth position. Lap after

lap of the relatively caution free race saw Ross move by car after car

until he positioned himself in second behind leader Chad Cook. When Rich

Ives spun in turn three the field came together for a restart. Cook, who

lead from the start, couldnt hold off the fast race car off Ross. This

was all Ross needed as he took control from that point on in the

feature. Cook settled for a second second place finish in the last two

weeks while Gary Allen got dialed in late in the race and passed last

weeks winner Eddie White late in the race for third. White came home in

the fourth spot while Ed Harris got fifth.

In street stock action, Jamie Shea used his outside pole starting

spot to his advantage by jumping out front early. His early competition

would come from the strong running cars of Billy Marvin, Harry Marvin,

and Glen Wilcox. Billy Marvin and Wilcox would both be forced to the

pits with problems. Wilcox would return without losing a lap while

Marvin came out laps down to the leader. With Shea showing the way Mike

Loney moved into second to put pressure on Shea. Pure stock champion

Mike Decker made the successful move to the street stocks and raced hard

into the top five by the mid point in the race. With Shea leading and

Loney in second, last weeks winner Wilcox moved into third. The three

would fight out the last few laps with Shea coming across first followed

by Loney, Wilcox, Decker, and a fast charging Mike Frost.

Dave Dickey made an infrequent Penn Can Speedway visit and claimed

the feature in the pure stocks. Dickey had his hands full holding off

Ken Carp and last weeks winner Bill Cook. Five Mile Point regular Joe

Rafferty.

The first ever appearance of the four cylinder modifieds was won by

Ken Taylor holding off the efforts of Scott Allen, Bruce Detro, and Lee

DeWitt who all raced under a blanket the last five laps of the feature

event thrilling the large crowd.

Pennzoil Modified Feature Finish: Butch Tittle, Tim Olenski, Dave

Mead, Mike Clapperton, Mike Nagel, George Kostelansky, Jeff Bronson,

Bernie Griffin, Mike Colsten, Carl Nagel, Mike Schane, Paul Jensen, John

Guernsey, Jerry Colsten, Jerry Northrup, Dave Jenkins, Rich Krum, Al

Rudalavage, Ron Mawson, Kirk Horton, Scott Seman, Jeff Rudalavage, Al

Jubinski, Steve Cummings, Billy Decker, DNQ Carl Reynolds, Jim Witko,

John Siedlecky, Brian Jones, Ed Hawley, Bob Conklin, Mike Krum, Mark

West, Rich Tiffany, Glen Knapp, Jim Mahaney, Pat Ward, Bill Clark, Car

6...

Pennzoil Sportsman Feature Finish: Tony Ross, Chad Cook, Gary Allen,

Ed White, Rick Ross, Dave Locke, Jim Ross, Don Hart, Scott Ubner, Bob

Lane, Jerry Winn, Roger Cook, Craig Hoke, Rich Ives, Mike Gilette, Todd

Shuman, Jim Crawn...

Pennzoil Street Stock Feature Finish: Jamie Shea, Mike Loney, Glenn

Wilcox, Mike Decker, Mike Frost, John Green, Randy Gates, Derrick

Stalker, Harry Marvin Jr., Ron Stone, Rob Harder, Mark Aldridge, Jim

Becker, Jerry Tonti, Billy Marvin, Dan Podwika, Bill Fitch, Jim Redner,

Butch Stark...

Pennzoil Pure Stock Feature Finish: Dave Dickey, Ken Carp, Bill

Cook, Joe Raferty, Jay Bradley, Kevin Cole, Bill Lawrence, Ken Winn,

Skip Robbins, Joe Cole, Shepard Blodgett, Jim Tyriw...

Pennzoil 4-Cylinder Modified Feature Finish: Ken Taylor, Scott

Allen, Bruce Detro, Lee DeWitt, Jeff Post, George Howe, Chet Carr, Mike

Pane, Greg Martindale, Ick Pierce...