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-story by Ted Schmidt
It took three tries, but the Penn Can Speedway finally got their 2007
season off the ground last Friday night after previous attempts were
thwarted by the heavy spring rains. Six time defending Modified track
champion Brian Weaver got his quest for a seventh straight title off to a
good start as he drove his Randy Decker owned machine to the opening
night victory. Second generation star Joey Colsten drove to his first
ever Penn Can victory in the Sportsman main while Tracy Gregory picked up
the Late Model win. Defending Super Stock champion Denny Decker won the
Super Stock feature and Butch Green topped the Pure Stock field on
Boughton’s Auto Salvage night. Nick Stark won the inaugural Four Cylinder
Stock feature.
With the feature line-ups set by luck of the draw among the top heat race
performers, Mike Colsten took advantage of a front row starting position
to grab the lead as the green flag waved. Red flag conditions were on the
track after just two laps as Brian Franko and Brian Sheard made contact
attempting to avoid a collision ahead of them with Franko’s mount rolling
over onto its roof. There were no injuries in the crash.
Colsten continued to lead the early stages of the event as eventual
winner Brian Weaver made his way into contention behind Colsten. The
decisive moment in the event would come on a lap 12 restart as Weaver was
able to hand right with Colsten as the green flag waved. The two veteran
drivers charged hard into the first turn side by side with Weaver able to
complete what would be the winning pass. Mike Gular was also able to
drive past Colsten to take over the runner-up position.
With the second half of the event running off without a caution flag,
Weaver was able to open up a bit of a lead over Gular as the laps wound
down. As the checkered flag was displayed, Weaver crossed the line for
the victory with a bout a ten car length lead over Gular. Colsten hung on
to finish a solid third with Chris Shupp scoring a solid fourth place
finish. Butch Getz drove from 21st starting position to fifth to complete
the top five finishing order. Alan Rudalavage, Brian Decker, Billy
Thornton, newcomer Ricky Yetter and Mike Nagel rounded out the top ten
finishers.
With 33 Modifieds on hand for opening night action, Joey Grammes, Mike
Colsten, Billy Jenkins, and Mike Gular won the four heat races. Butch
Getz topped the consolation event.
In Sportsman action, Joey Colsten turned in a dominating performance to
pick up his first ever Penn Can Speedway feature win. Colsten capitalized
on a front row starting position, grabbing the lead at the drop of the
green flag and going on to lead all 20 laps aboard his Don’s Automotive
Mall sponsored entry. Paul Rooney tried to make a late run at Colsten for
the top spot, but Joey was not going to be denied his first trip to Penn
Can’s victory lane. Joey took the checkered flag by about six lengths
over Rooney. Frank Doty drove to a solid third place finish with Josh
Pursell and Paul Rooney completing the top five finishing order. Alex
Konopka, Shawn Walker, Dan Pompey, Eric Griffin, and Jeff Crambo were
sixth through tenth respectively.
Heat races for the 27 Sportsman cars signed in were won by Joey Colsten,
Dwayne Robbins, and Paul Rooney. Jamie Cortazar topped the consolation
round.
Tracy Gregory made a late charge to pull out the victory in the 20 lap
opening night Late Model feature. Gregory started ninth on the field and
spent the early laps picking his way to the front as Bud Phillips and
defending track champion Dave Zona spent a good portion of the event
battling for the top spot. Phillips, looking for his first career victory
and Zona put on a show for the Penn Can fans racing side by side several
times. Lapped traffic would prove to be the equalizer in this one as
Phillips and Zona both got held up momentarily in traffic. That would be
the only break that Gregory needed as he was carrying plenty of momentum
on the top side of the speedway which allowed him to sweep past both Zona
and Phillips with the two lap sign being shown to the field. Gregory
would lead the final two laps to open the 2007 campaign with a victory.
Bud Phillips held off Zona to finish second with the defending champ
opening his title defense with a solid third place finish. Randall Paxton
and Dan Stone were fourth and fifth respectively. Jamie Griffiths
finished sixth ahead of veteran Junior Grebe, Adam MacGeorge, Chad
Hollenbeck, and Keith Mudge
Tracy Gregory and Jamie Griffiths topped the Late Model heat races.
Denny Decker continued his winning ways in the Super Stock feature as the
defending track champion drove to the opening night win. Decker drove
past Chris Piasecki in the closing stages of the event to secure the
victory. Piasecki, returning to action after a couple of seasons off,
drove to a solid second place finish with Neil Palladino, David Luff, and
Pat Nolan completing the top five. Rich Post, Dick Koch, Jim Hughes Sr.,
Carl Heater, and Matt Holmes were sixth through tenth respectively.
Tom Herman and Denny Decker won Super Stock preliminary events.
Butch Green used some final lap heroics to pull out the win in the Pure
Stock feature. The second half of the feature event saw a great side by
side battle for the lead between Mahlon Shoemaker and Green as the two
Pure Stock veterans battled for the top spot. Green would not forge out
front until the two were exiting the fourth turn on the final lap with
Green taking the win by less than a car length over Shoemaker in a
thrilling race. Bimmer Gulley, Charlie Gilbert, and Harry Marvin III
finished third through fifth. Josh Towner, Ron Mawson, Steve Polhemus,
Cory Bond, and Dee Ramey occupied the sixth through tenth positions.
Rich Green and Jamie Batzel won the Pure Stock heats.
Nick Stark topped Mike Taylor to win the inaugural Four Cylinder Stock
feature event. The two engaged in a tight, fender banging duel for the
top spot with Stark earning the victory over Taylor. Gary Kenne, Chris
Taylor, and Dave Simms completed the top five.
Racing continues this Friday night with a big racing card. Taking center
stage for the evening wll be the Late Models and Super Stocks as both
will be competing in special events. The Late Model feature will be the
first race on the BRC Lazer Challenge Series while the Super Stocks will
be in action in the first Trackside Products Tour event. The Modifieds,
Sportsman, Pure Stocks and Four Cylinder Stocks will all be in action as
well. Racing gets underway at 7:15 PM sharp. For all the latest
information, log onto the speedway’s official website at www.penncan.com.
RACE SUMMARY:
MODIFIEDS (30 laps): 1. BRIANWEAVER 2. Mike Gular 3. Mike Colsten 4.
Chris Shupp 5. Butch Getz 6. Alan Rudalavage 7. Brian Decker 8. Billy
Thornton 9. Ricky Yetter 10. Mike Nagel 11. Chris Weaver 12. Steve
Babicek 13. Brian Sheard 14. Rick Virkitis 15. Dave Jenkins 16. Carl
Nagel 17. Joey Grammes 18. Brett Tonkin 19. Billy Jenkins 20. Jeff
Rudalavage 21. JR Crouse 22. Ron Mawson 23. Brian Franko 24. Bill Miller
DNQ: Mike Trautschold, Frank Bonham, Darwin Greene, Craig Terrell, Garth
Tonkin Jr., Bernie Griffin
SPORTSMAN (20 laps) 1. JOEY COLSTEN 2. Paul Rooney 3. Frank Doty 4. Jason
Pursell 5. Dwayne Robbins 6. Alex Konopka 7. Shawn Walker 8. Dan Pompey
9. Eric Griffin 10. Jeff Crambo 11. Mike Lartz 12. Mike Loney 13. Brian
Franko 14. Tommy Groover 15. Rick Brown 16. Mike Nagel Jr. 17. Paul
Strohl 18. Dave Carlin 19. Bill Deckelman 20 Chris Wood 21. Matt
Latwinski 22. Nick Petrilak 23. Bob Janesky 24. Jamie Cortazar DNS: Casey
Plumer, Ted DeGroat, Steve Chapple
LATE MODELS (20 laps) 1. TRACY GREGORY 2. Bud Phillips 3. Dave Zona 4.
Randall Paxton 5. Dan Stone 6. Jamie Griffiths 7. Junior Grebe 8. Adam
MacGeorge 9. Chad Hollenbeck 10. Keith Mudge 11. Jeremy Randall 12. Ben
Whittaker 13. Dan Snyder 14. Jeremy Williams 15. Mark Malcolm 16. Jim
O’Hara DNS: Brett Spoor
SUPER STOCKS (15 laps) 1. DENNY DECKER 2. Chris Piasecki 3. Neil
Palladino 4. Dave Luff 5. Pat Nolan 6. Rich Post 7. Dick Koch 8. Jim
Hughes 9. Carl Heater 10. Matt Holmes 11. Tom Herman 12. Darren Stout 13.
Doug Polhemus DNS: Jim Sykes, David Brown, Frank Payne, James Millard,
John Williams
PURE STOCKS (15 laps) 1. BUTCH GREEN 2. Mahlon Shoemaker 3. Bimmer Gulley
4. Charlie Gilbert 5. Harry Marvin III 6. Josh Towner 7. Mike Coddington
8. Steve Polhemus 9. Corey Bond 10. Dee Ramey 11. Nick Robinson 12. Jamie
Batzel 13. Kevin Beach 14. Herb Whittemore DNS: Rich Green
FOUR CYLINDER STOCK: 1. NICK STARK 2. Mike Taylor 3. Gary Kinne 4. Chris
Taylor 5. Dave Simms 6. Lee Shaw
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