Gibbs, Yeomans And Cornell Take Home Top Honors At Afton

Afton, NY - 358 Modified driver Mitch Gibbs, of North Norwich, held off

a late race charge from Olyphant PA's Jeff

Rudalavage tp pick up the win in the Summer Championship double-points 30 lap

main event.

Gibbs, who started fifth in the field, moved into the top spot on the

second lap, passing Otego's J.R. Hurlburt.

Hurlburt held on for second, as fourth place starter Rudalavage put the

pressure on for the number two spot.

On a lap eleven restart, Rudalavage got out of shape between turns

three and four, bringing out the caution and placing him at

the rear of the field.

Gibbs held on to the lead as the field returned to green flag racing,

with Hurlburt riding in second, now followed by Sidney

Center's Mike Clapperton in third.

Gibbs was putting on a dominating performance, but Rudalavage was a man

on a mission, as he made it back up through the

pack to challenge Hurlburt for the second spot again on lap 23.

With just two laps left to go, something let loose on the Clapperton

machine, ending a fine run for the M16 team.

Rudalavage took over second at the drop of the green, but couldn't make

a bid for the lead as Gibbs went on to pick up the win

and pad his points lead over Rudalavage. Hurlburt finished third, followed

by Jeremy Smith and George Hoffmier, Jr.

In the DIRT Sportsman 20 lap feature main, Swan Lake's Ladd Yeomans

came home with the victory on Friday.

Yeomans started fourth in the field, and quickly moved his way up to

second behind Rockdale's Tim French by the third lap.

Yeomans looked inside and out, and finally found a groove by French on

lap eight, as he powered by into the number one

position.

Deposit's Chad Cook found himself running in the second position at the

half-way point, and he set his sights on Yeomans for

the top spot.

Cook ran hard, but didn't have enough of a run to challenge Yeomans, as

Yeomans went on for his first win of the season, with

Cook, French, Don Hart Jr and Arnie Slade completing the top five.

Guilford's Todd Hurlburt led the early way in the 20 lap Pro Stock

feature event., until a lap five caution for Brian Steigerwald

bunched the pack back up.

Afton's Wade Decker took over the lead as the field re-started. Neil

Palladino, of Guilford, moved into second and put the

heat on Decker.

Decker's great run was cut short as he collided with a lap car that

stopped suddenly on the track just shy of the half-way point.

Palladino inherited the top spot, and set his sights on picking up his

first Pro Stock win, but Harpursville's James Cornell had

other ideas.

Cornell, of Harpursville, entered the night leading the points in the

Pro Stock division, just 12 ahead of team-mate Wade

Decker. Cornell figured the best way to add some cushion to the points lead

was to take the top spot from Palladino, which he did

on lap 12.

Cornell went on for the win, followed by Palladino who had a great

second place run. Hurlburt, John Walker and Winnie

Winchester completed the top ten.

Deposit;s Denny Decker picked up the win in the 15 lap pure Stock

feature.

Decker started sixth in the field, and took over the lead from

Masonville's Shaun Walker on a lap three re-start.

Decker, who started the night with a comfortable leader over

Baninbridge's Rob Loucks added a little more cushion to his lead

as he went on to pick up the win. Walker finished second, followed by

Loucks, Dennis Valentine and Buck Mills.

Unadilla's Ralph Cuozzo, Jr., had the hot set up in the Four Cylinder

Stock division.

Cuozzo started seventh in the field, and made short work of coming to

the front, as he took over the lead from Fly Creek's Ed

Leslie on a lap four re-start.

Cuozzo opened up a commanding lead, as Bainbridge's Skip Pickwick moved

up to the second spot. Cuozzo took off for the

win, with a straight-aways lead on the pack. Pickwick came in for second,

followed by Ralph Jennings, Jr., Leslie, and Russ

Hendrickson.

In the Dwarf Car division, Port Crane's Chris Thompson took off from

his pole starting position to lead all 12 laps from start to

finish en route to his first ever feature win.

This coming Friday is Pure Stock fan appreciation night, with a full

card of Racing action set to kick off at 7:30pm sharp.

358 MODIFIED RESULTS: MITCH GIBBS, Jeff Rudalavage, J.R. Hurlburt, Jeremy

Smith, George Hoffmier Jr, Allen Shiffler, John Siedlecky, Steve

Walsh, Mike Clapperton, Skip French, Rick Amo.

SPORTSMAN RESULTS: LADD YEOMANS, Chad Cook, Tim French, Don Hart Jr, Arnie

Slade, Butch Klinger, Jordan Bennett, Chad O'Hara,

Charlie Hendrickson, Billy Price, Bob Conklin, Darren Keyser, Dave Crandall,

Craig Pope, Joe Rando (DNS).

PRO STOCK RESULTS: JAMES CORNELL, Neil Palladino, Todd Hurlburt, John Walker,

Winnie Winchester, Jason Schlafer, Brian Steigerwald,

Denny Smith, Jason Bartsch, Russ Card, Terry Mudge, Pat Nolan, Jason Youngs,

Wade Decker, Fred Velez, Harold Humphrey.

PURE STOCK RESULTS: DENNY DECKER, Shaun Walker, Rob Loucks, Dennis Valentine,

Buck Mills, Charlie Holcomb, Rob White, Butch Green,

Rodney Tweedie (DNS).

FOUR CYLINDER STOCK: RALPH CUOZZO JR, Skip Pickwick, Ralph Jennings Jr, Ed

Leslie, Russ Hendrickson, Jason Jaindl, Scott Johnson,

George Crippen, Andy Graves, Shawn Mills, Ron Cummings, Rich Rought, Danielle

Smith, Ken Hotaling, Rob Coulman, Todd Smith, Joe Bunt.

DWARF CAR RESULTS: CHRIS THOMPSON, Steve Tourje, Tim O'Neill, Ray Vosburgh,

Duane Knapp.