Gibbs, Slade, Shea take Afton wins

AFTON, N.Y. (April 14, 2001) - Fans packed the stands at the Afton Fairgrounds Saturday night as 108 race teams packed the pits.

North Norwich native Mitch Gibbs picked up the win in the DIRT 358 Modified 30-lap feature event. Berkshire's Pat Jordan led the early way until losing the top spot to J.R. Hurlburt, of Otego, on a lap 12 restart.

Hurlburt lead the next 12 laps as Gibbs and Mike Ricci, of Kingston, made their way up through the pack. An unusually dusty track surface made driving a difficult task, as Gibbs caught up with Hurlburt as the two entered lapped traffic.

Hurlburt ducked low going into turn one, but unfortunately ended up tagging Dan Morden's machine as he was about to go a lap down. This mishap gave Gibbs the lead with 6 laps to go, and ended Hurlburt's effort for the night.

Gibbs, who started ninth in the field, went on to pick up the win, followed by Ricci, Jeff Rudalavage, Jeremy Smith, and Pat Jordan.

Guilford's Arnie Slade took home the win in the 20-lap DIRT Sportsman main event. Slade, who started in the eighth starting spot, made quick work of cutting through the field as he moved into the second spot behind leader Don Hart Jr., of Harpursville, by the second lap.

Slade and Hart diced it out as the crowd stood on their feet, until Slade made a nice move under Hart to grab the lead while the two were running through lapped traffic.

Slade went on for the win, with Edmeston's Steve Anderson picking up second after getting a good jump on a late race restart. Hart finished third, followed by Chad Cook and Tim French.

The 20-lap Pro Stock feature event got the award for the 'Longest Feature of the Night". Twelve caution periods slowed the pace of the race down as attrition took its toll on the drivers and cars.

When it was all said and done, South Gibson PA's Jamie Shea came out on top to make it two wins in a row for his J1 machine.

Shea, who started 12th in the line-up, took the lead on the fifth lap from Binghamton's P.J. Goodwin, and never looked back en route to the checkered flag.

Shea was followed across the line by Wade Decker, Neil Palladino, Goodwin, and Scott Bennett.

Fulton regular Dave Mannise took command early in the 15-lap Pure Stock feature, winning out the drag race at the start over Unadilla's Bob Stilson.

Bainbridge's Rob Loucks looked to be fast, but he couldn't mount a serious challenge on Mannise from his second position.

Mannise went on for the win, leading from flag to flag, with Loucks in for second, followed by Denny Decker, Nate Evans, and Butch Green withr an impressive fifth place run for the rookie's second start ever.

In the 15-lap Four Cylinder Stock event it was last year's point champion, Ralph Jenings Jr., returning to victory lane.

Jennings Jr., of Afton, quickly moved up to the second spot from his fifth starting spot and put the heat on race leader Ralph Cuozzo Jr., of Sidney Center.

Cuozzo held his own making Jennings work hard to get a run on him, but with just four laps left to go, Jennings made the move and took over the top spot.

Jennings went on for the win, followed by Cuozzo Jr., Scott Johnson, Bob Doolittle, and last week's winner Jamie Banta.

After leading most of the race last week in the Dwarf car divison, only to come up short with engine trouble, Alan Barker had a much better night this time as he led all twelve laps of the Dwarf car main.

Last week's winner Louie Gordinier gave chase, but came up short finishing in the second spot. Duane Knapp, Ken Titus and Steve Tourje completed the top five.

RESULTS

358-MODIFIED: Mitch Gibbs, Mike Ricci, Jeff Rudalavage, Jeremy Smith, Pat Jordan, Ed Strada, Jim Witko Jr, Mike Clapperton, Bob Hamm, Steve Walsh, Mark Terry, J.R. Crouse, George Hoffmier Jr., John Siedlecky, Laurent Ladouceur, Tim Murphy, Skip French, Dan Morden, J.R. Hurlburt, Dan Jalbert, Carl Bittenbender, Brent Cross.

SPORTSMAN: Arnie Slade, Steve Anderson, Don Hart Jr., Chad Cook, Tim French, Butch Klinger, Craig Pritchard, Pete Lyon, Bill Harris, Tim Ross, Rich Keehle, Chad O'Hara, Chris Ostrowsky, Jim Gould, Bob Conklin, Craig Pope.

PRO STOCK: Jamie Shea, Wade Decker, Neil Palladino, P.J. Goodwin, Scott Bennett, Nick Petrilak, Duane Robbins, Jason Youngs, James Cornell, John Walker, Jason Schlafer, Mike Decker, Brian Steigerwald, Brian McCraby, Byron Pitcher, Winnie Winchester, Denny Smith, Tony Nalaschi, Chuck Lowe, Bill Saxe, Matt Roberts, Roger Lewis, Joey Ladouceur, Bill Rosengrant.

PURE STOCK: Dave Mannise, Rob Loucks, Denny Decker, Nate Evans, Butch Green, Mark Effner, Buck Mills, Dennis Valentine, Craig Decker, Dan Majercik, Shaun Walker, Steve Green, Bob Stilson, Fred Peters, Dan Babcock.

FOUR CYLINDER STOCK: Ralph Jennings Jr., Ralph Cuozzo Jr., Scott Johnson, Bob Doolittle, Jamie Banta, Jim Money, Skip Pickwick, Todd Smith, George Cripin, Frank Chapman, Russell Hendrickson Jr., Ed Leslie, Jason Jaindl, Leonard Miller.

DWARF CAR: Alan Barker, Louie Gordinier, Duane Knapp, Ken Titus, Steve Tourje, Chic Chandler, Chris Thompson, Dennis Copp, Tim O'Neill.