Rookie Aaron Excell picks up first Modified win

AFTON, NY (Aug. 4, 2000) — Former Sportsman driver Aaron Excell of Hubbardsville, NY picked up his first career DIRT 358 Modified victory, during his rookie season, Friday night at Afton Speedway.

Middletown native Steve Walsh and Rockdale’s Skip French made up the front row for the 30 lap 358 Modified feature event. Walsh grabbed the lead at the start, with French second and Excell moving into third from his sixth place starting position.

Earl Walrath, of Cooperstown, brought out the race’s first caution on lap two, losing the handle on his machine. French took over the lead on the re-start, and held on to lead lap three as the caution fell again, this time for current points leader Tony Pepicelli, of Duanesburg.

As green flag racing resumed, it was Excell taking over the top spot from French. Third place running Walsh, and Justin Holland, who was running fourth brought out the third caution on lap five. At the restart, Excell held on to the lead, as Sidney Center’s Mike Clapperton took over the second spot from French.

Pat Jordan, of Berkshire, and Jeff Rudalavage, of Olyphant, PA, took over the third and fourth spots by lap eight, putting French in fifth. By lap fifteen Excell had built up a comfortable lead, but a spin by Justin Holland would bring out the caution again, tightening the pack back up.

Rudalavage had the hot set up, as he took over third from Jordan on the restart, and made it by Clapperton for second by the next lap. Rudalavage then set his sights on Excell for the top spot.

Excell held off the hard charging Rudalavage as he headed into lapped traffic on the final lap. Going into turn two, Brad Jones, of Morris, got sideways in front of Excell, causing both Excell and Rudalavage to check up.

Excell was able to gather it back up and hold on to pick up his first win in a 358 Modified. Rudalavage finished second, followed by Clapperton, Jordan and Trout Creek’s Dana Wagner.

Chad Cook of Deposit took the lead at the start of the 20 lap Sportsman feature from his outside pole starting position. Pole sitter Dave Crandall, of Greene, fell back to second, with Grand Gorge native Wink Hinkley in third.

Hinkley took over the second spot from Crandall on the fourth lap, as eighth place starter Steve Anderson, of West Edmeston, moved by Jordansville’s Steve Davis into fourth.

Ladd Yeomans brought out the first caution of the race on lap eight. With the pack lined up double file, Cook and Hinkley battled side by side for the lead as they went back to green flag racing. As the lead pack crossed for lap nine, it was Hinkley in the lead, with Anderson running second, and Cook in third.

Anderson got around Hinkley, taking the lead over on lap sixteen, en route to his first vicotry of the season at Afton. At the line it was Anderson with the win, with Hinkley, Cook, Rockdale’s Tim French, and Harpursville’s Don Hart, jr. completing the top five.

James Cornell, of Harpursville, and Unadilla’s Winnie Winchester started on the front row for the 20 lap Pro Stock feature event.

Winchester took the early lead, followed by Guilford’s Todd Hurlburt in second and Cornell in third. The top three remained the same as the caution came out on lap five for Unadilla’s Jason Youngs.

Hurlburt, in his rookie season in a Pro Stock, took the lead from Winchester as the green flag fell, as Binghamton’s P.J. Goodwin moved by Cornell into third.

Goodwin took over the second position from Winchester on lap eight. Hard charging Rodney Hart, of Harpursville moved into third on lap nine, and took over second from Goodwin by lap fourteen.

Hurlburt managed to hold off Hart until lap 17, when both Hart and Goodwin made it by. Hart’s lead was short-lived, as he ran into problems with his machine with just one lap left to go, giving the lead to Goodwin.

Goodwin went on to pick up his fourth win of the season, followed by rookie drivers James Cornell for second and Hurlburt for third. Points leader Butch Klinger finished fourth, followed by Denny Smith for fifth.

Denny Decker, of Windsor, notched another victory into his belt, picking up his seventh win of the season in the Pure Stock class.

Decker, who started sixth in the field moved into third behind Unadilla’s Bob Stilson and Morris’ Dennis Valentine by the completion of the first lap.

Decker made the move from third to first, passing both Stilson and Valentine as the caution came out at the end of lap two for Bill Leonard.

Points leader Neil Palladino, of Guilford, was able to take over the second spot from Stilson on lap 8 of the 15 lap event, but was unable to mount a serious challenge for the top spot.

Decker came home with the win, followed by Palladino, Stilson, Mark Effner, and Valentine.

Harold Humphrey, “Mr. Double Duty”, picked up the win in the 15 lap Four Cylinder Stock feature event.

Humphrey, of Norwich, took over the lead from early race leader Ralph Jennings, jr, of Afton, on the fourth lap of the event, and lead the last eleven laps to pick up his fifth Four Cylinder win of the year.

Jennings finished second, with Ralph Cuozzo, jr, Dennis Vroman, and Scott Johnson completing the top five.

Sherburne native Alan Barker picked up his fifth Dwarf Car feature win of the season at the Afton Action Attraction.

Barker, who started sixth in the field, took the lead from Windsor’s Gordie Isham on lap seven of the twelve lap event.

Barker went on to win by several car lengths, with Isham, Duane Knapp, Ken Titus, and Steve Tourje completing the top five.

The Friday night is Pure Stock fan appreciation night at Afton, with a full card of all six classes on the schedule. As always, gates open at 5pm, with racing set to start at 7:30pm.

RESULTS

358 MODIFIED

Feature: Aaron Excell, Jeff Rudalavage, Mike Clapperton, Pat Jordan, Dana Wagner, Barry Davis, J.R. Hurlburt, Dave Rosa, John Siedlecky, Skip French, John Ritter, Steve Walsh, Gary Smith, Mike Gillette, Earl Walrath, Brad Jones, Mitch Gibbs, Brian Malcolm, Tony Pepicelli, Bill Cook, Justin Holland, Jeremy Smith, Carl Bittenbender, John Kollar.

SPORTSMAN

Feature: Steve Anderson, Wink Hinkley, Chad Cook, Tim French, Don Hart jr, Arnie Slade, Steve Davis, Ladd Yeomans, Steve Cummings, Dave Crandall, Billy Harris, Michael Trautschold, Mike Walters, Pete Lyon.

PRO STOCK

Feature: P.J. Goodwin, James Cornell, Todd Hurlburt, Butch Klinger, Denny Smith, Bret Belden, Harold Humphrey, Aaron Hacker, Jason Schlafer, Bob Zimmerman jr, Guy Park, Winnie Winchester, Phil Youngs jr, Rodney Hart, Gus Gould, Jason Youngs.

PURE STOCK

Feature: Denny Decker, Neil Palladino, Bob Stilson, Mark Effner, Dannis Valentine, Todd Curtin, Chris White, Rob Loucks, Bill Leonard, James Cornell jr, Todd Smith.

FOUR CYLINDER STOCK

Feature: Harold Humphrey, Ralph Jennings jr, Ralph Cuozzo jr, Dennis Vroman, Scott Johnson, George Procter, Ralph Cuozzo sr, Skip Pickwick, Jamie Banta, Ed Leslie, Bob Dedrick.

DWARF CARS

Feature: Alan Barker, Gordie Isham, Duane Knapp, Ken Titus, Steve Tourje, Chic Chandler, Ray Vosburgh, Scott Boyle, Hal Merrick.