GIBBS, HART AND SCHLAFER TAKE HOME AFTON CHECKERS

Afton, NY… Jason Schlafer of Walton took off from his outside pole starting position in the 20-lap Pro Stock main and led from start to finish en route to his first career feature victory.

Other feature winners on Fridays card were Mitch Gibbs in the 358 Modifieds, Don Hart, Jr. in the Sportsman, Buck Mills in the Pure Stocks, Russ Hendrickson in the Four Cylinder Stocks, and Duane Knapp in the Dwarf Car division.

Action in the 30 lap 358 Modified main consisted of North Norwich's Mitch Gibbs starting eighth in the field, and quickly making his way through to the front, taking the lead over from Steve Walsh, of Hainkains, on lap seven.

Mike Clapperton, of Sidney Center, moved past Walsh to take over the second spot as the caution came out for the first time on lap twelve. Rich Ricci, Jr., of New Paltz, found the fast line at Afton in his first appearance of the year, as he moved into third past Walsh on the next circuit.

Clapperton looked low and high, but couldn't make a move on Gibbs, as he went on to capture his sixth win of the season. Clapperton came in for second, followed by Ricci, Aaron Excell and Jeff Rudalavage.

Don Hart, Jr., of Harpursville, turned things around after several weeks of bad luck, as he picked up the win in the 20-lap Sportsman feature in a dominating performance.

Hart started on the pole, and never looked back as he led from start to finish. Current points leader Arnie Slade, of Guilford, followed in second throughout the race, but was unable to get a run on Hart.

Hart's win was his fourth of the season. Rockdale's Tim French finished second, while second place points runner Chad Cook, of Deposit, finished with a disappointing fourth. Slade's second place run will place him eight points to the good over Cook as they enter this Friday's Fall Championship double points showdown. Swan Lake's Ladd Yeomans completed the top five.

By far the highlight feature race of the night had to be the 20 lap Pro Stock main event. Walton's Jason Schlafer, in his sophomore year as a driver, put his #22 machine in victory lane for his first career win.

Schlafer started on the outside pole, and beat out pole sitter Pat Nolan, of Deposit, for the lead at the start. Harpursville native Rodney Hart, in only his second outing of the season, showed he hasn't lost his touch as he moved from his 12th starting spot up to second behind Schlafer as the caution fell on lap eight.

Hart took over the lead on a lap nine restart, and after a string of 5 cautions stretched his lead out to a sizeable distance. Hart seemed to have things well in hand, but lady luck was not with him as mechanical problems sidelined his ride with just two laps left to go.

Schlafer moved back to the number one spot, but he had Guilford's Neil Palladino, a former Pure Stock point champion who is hungry for his first Pro Stock win, right on his tail.

On the last lap it came down to who won the drag race off of turn four, and it was Schlafer with the edge. Palladino finished a season best second, with Winnie Winchester, Wade Decker and Nolan completing the top five.

Guilford's Buck Mills returned to Afton's Pure Stock victory lane for the first time since the third week of the season on April 20th.

Mills started sixth in the 15 lap event, and found himself in the lead on lap three after taking over the top spot from Bainbridge's Rob Loucks.

Six cautions in the early going slowed the pace of the race to a crawl, but when all was said and done, Mills picked up the win, with Loucks, Butch Green, Charlie Holcomb and Dennis Valentine completing the top five.

In Four Cylinder Stock action, Harpursville's Russ Hendrickson, Jr., narrowly held off a hard charging Shawn Mills to pick up the win in the 15 lap Feature event.

Hendrickson started from 12th and Mills started right behind him in 14th, and the duo made short work of moving through the pack as they moved into the top three by the third lap.

Hendrickson took over the lead from Afton's Ralph Jennings, Jr., while Mills moved past Jennings a lap later to grab the second spot.

From there on in the chase was on as the top two dealt with all sorts of lapped traffic. At the finish, it was Hendrickson first at the line, roughly a half car ahead of Mills. Jennings finished third, followed by Scott Johnson and Ed Leslie.

Sherburne's Duane Knapp increased his already large point lead in the Dwarf Car division as he picked up win number five on the season.

358 MODIFIED RESULTS: MITCH GIBBS, Mike Clapperton, Rich Ricci Jr, Aaron Excell, Jeff Rudalavage, Ed Strada, Steve Walsh, George Hoffmier Jr, Chris Ostrowsky, Mike Gillette, Rich Price, Skip French, Brad Shaffer, John Siedlecky, J.R. Hurlburt, Jeremy Smith.

SPORTSMAN RESULTS: DON HART JR, Arnie Slade, Tim French, Chad Cook, Ladd Yeomans, Butch Klinger, Chad O'Hara, Billy Price, Craig Pope, Bob Conklin.

PRO STOCK RESULTS: JASON SCHLAFER, Neil Palladino, Winnie Winchester, WadeDecker, Pat Nolan, Jason Youngs, Brian Steigerwald, Russ Card, Rodney Hart, Terry Graves, Terry Mudge, James Cornell, Jason Bartsch, Harold Humphrey, Mike Decker, Denny Smith, John Walker, Todd Hurlburt.

PURE STOCK RESULTS: BUCK MILLS, Rob Loucks, Butch Green, Charlie Holcomb, Dennis Valentine, Rob White, Jason Wright, Joe Barnes, Craig Hawley, Bob Mills, Denny Decker (DQ).

FOUR CYLINDER STOCK: RUSS HENDRICKSON, Shawn Mills, Ralph Jennings Jr, Scott Johnson, Ed Leslie, Ralph Cuozzo Jr, George Crippen, Ron Cummings, Ken Hotaling, Andy Graves, Skip Pickwick, Joe Bunt, Ken Carson, Jason Jaindl, Rich Rought, Danielle Smith, Todd Smith, Tim Clapper.

DWARF CAR RESULTS: DUANE KNAPP, Alan Barker, Steve Tourje, Ed Knapp, J.R. Schaffer, Chris Thompson, Ray Vosburgh (DQ).