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By: NICK STARK
CENTER LISLE, NY --- Don Hart visited victory lane earlier this season in his brother, Rodney’s Sportsman ride, but on Saturday night Hart did it on his own in his Hart’s Logging #35 Big Block. Elmira’s “Top Gun” Tim Gullo went flag to flag and added win #2 to his tally sheet for his rookie season in the Autoworks Sportsman Modifieds. Steven “Pudge” Deinhart made it 2 straight in the Billy’s Auto Sales & Service Hurricane Street Stocks, while Earl Zimmer matched Deinhart’s season win total at 4 wins in the Road Warrior ranks. The Road Bandits were downed by the roller skate yet again, as Berkshire’s Kenny Underwood snagged his 3rd win in 3 weeks.
The Don’s Automotive Mall Big Block Modifieds made their return to the speedway Saturday night, and they surely didn’t disappoint the fans with their 30 lap showdown. Outside pole sitter, Don Hart, jumped out to the early lead at the drop of the green, and set sail in the Hart’s Logging sponsored ride. Hart, clearly the man to beat, opened up a sizeable lead over the rest of the field, as the first caution didn’t come out until lap 20. At this point, Hart had a straightaway lead over the runner up spot. Now sitting in the 2nd position, however, was the cagy veteran, “The Poet” Paul Jensen in his Wholesale Mulch #57. Jensen, known for his high side ability, worked his way up from the 8th starting spot to now sit on Hart’s back bumper. 10 laps remained, and Hart would have his hands full, having to protect the top side of the speedway from the Jensen run. Over the remaining distance, Jensen would continuously get a nose under Hart, but never had the ponies to power past the machine en route to Don Hart’s first win of the 2007 campaign. Jensen finished in the 2nd spot, while the “Racing Attorney” Ricky Yetter put in his strongest effort of the season garnering a 3rd. New Berlin NY’s Tim Mayne used his Small Block power to finish 4th, while Jeff Sheely came home 5th with yet another top 5 finish.
The trend continued in the Autoworks Sportsman Modifieds, as Tim Gullo dominated from his pole starting position to lead all 20 laps of the feature event. Gullo, a former Street Stock hot shoe, chalked this one up as win #2 on the early season in the Sportsman ranks. Both wins coming from pole starts in his Southern Glass #71. Bainbridge’s Rodney Hart fell just short of making in 2 straight in the Barrett’s Family Dentistry #10x, but did manage to bring home the bridesmaid finish. Across the line, it was Josh Pursell, Larry Hillis, and PJ Goodwin respectively, but the #169 of Pursell would be penalized 2 spots for rough riding, now making the finish Hillis, Goodwin, and Pursell.
The Billy’s Auto Sales & Service Hurricane Street Stocks are slowly, but surely becoming the Steven Deinhart show. Deinhart, in just his sophomore season, has dominated the early goings in these ranks. For the first 2 laps of the 20 lap feature event, “Battlin’” Butch Green took his RWG Construction #56 to the top spot. This would be short lived, however, as Green was fighting an extremely loose race car, and gave up the bottom line to Deinhart. There would be no stopping the #73 machine from there on out. At the line it was Daryl Krebs with a strong 2nd, the steady Randy Marsh in 3rd, with Rich Talada and Scott Smith rounding out the top 5.
The Road Warriors treated fans with a good ‘ol fashioned slug fest, as Earl Zimmer and Steve Simpson duked it out for the top spot. With 6 wins between the 2 drivers, something had to give, and in the end it would be Zimmer using the apron to his advantage to snag his 4th win of the season.
In the Road Bandit division, Nick Griest was your last lap leader into turn 3, but out of turn 4, the roller skate struck again. Berkshire’s Kenny Underwood used a little door love to squeeze his way into the 1st position for the win.
The Hurricane Street Stocks also treated fans with the 1st running of the Hot Dog Race. The object of the event is as follows… Drivers sprint down the straightaway to the flag stand, and have to fully eat 2 Hoffman Hot Dogs, and drink a 20oz Coke. Upon completion of those tasks, they sprint back to their cars, get completely strapped in, and have a 5 lap dash for the victory. The race runners were Steven Deinhart, Butch Green, Randy Marsh, Richie Hillis, Mike Wilbur, and Rich Talada. The early favorite “Pudge” Deinhart didn’t let the fans down, nearly swallowing both hot dogs whole. He would be the first to his car, but after pulling 2 laps was stopped on the front stretch for not putting his window net up, nullifying the initial 2 laps. This wouldn’t stop him, however, as the next closest drivers were still getting into their cars. At the double checkers, Deinhart grabbed his 2nd win of the evening.
All this racing action came to a close at 10PM on the dot, with 5 classes of racing action, as well as the Hot Dog race and intermission.
Next week’s racing action will take place on Saturday evening, with the gates opening at 4:00PM and the racing getting underway at 6:30PM. All of the action will be brought to you in part by Forkee Construction & Fabricating, Inc. This event will also be a Spaulding Foundation Race Night, with $1 of everyone’s admission going towards the Spaulding foundation. On tap will be the Modifieds, Sportsman, Hurricane Street Stocks, Central NY Mini Sprints, XCel Chassis 600cc Modifieds, Road Warriors, and Road Bandits. Admission will be $11 for adults for this event, and as previously stated, $1 of every admission will go towards the Spaulding Foundation.
Thunder Mountain Speedway is the 2007 home of the Short Track SuperNationals and hosts racing every Saturday night from April through October. The Speedway is located off exit 8 of Interstate 81. From there follow route 79 west for five miles and turn right in Center Lisle and follow the signs. For more information about the upcoming events at Thunder Mountain call the speedway office at (607) 849 - 7889 or checkout our website at http://www.thunderracetrack.com
Don’s Automotive Mall Modifieds (13 cars)
DON HART, Paul Jensen, Ricky Yetter, Tim Mayne, Jeff Sheely, Justin Andrews, Jason Andrews, Dave Jenkins, Wade Decker, Bernie Kelly, Chris Weaver, JR Buis, Scott Brady
Autoworks Sportsman Modifieds (18 cars)
TIM GULLO, Rodney Hart, Larry Hillis, PJ Goodwin, Josh Pursell, Mike Dimorier, Chance Spoonhower, Pat Votra, Mike Austin, Jeff Sterner, Matt Letwinski, Mike Wilbur, Kevin Jordan, Gary Card Jr., Bret Welch, Chris Stull, Tim Votra, Jason Tuttle
Billy’s Auto Sales & Service Hurricane Street Stocks (15 cars)
STEVEN DEINHART, Daryl Krebs, Randy Marsh, Rich Talada, Scott Smith, Mike Wilbur, Kurt Decker, John Cooper Jr., Richie Hillis, Mike Wilbur Jr., Jason Waibel, Donnie Russell Jr., Joe Barbarito, Butch Green, Ricky Marsh
Road Warriors (9 cars)
EARL ZIMMER, Steve Simpson, Rick Frisco, Pat Parker, Joe Pritchard, Don Swansborough, Adam Hoskins, Shane Gleason, Harold Walburn
Road Bandits (17 cars)
KENNY UNDERWOOD, Nick Greist, Nick Collyer, Austin Welch, Mike Taylor, Dave Jenkins, John Hoover, Steven Collyer, Joel Austin, Chris Taylor, Brandon Campbell, Don Greist Jr., Kimberly Spicer, Ryan Oakley, Rich Gardiner, Chad Walters, Ray Oakley (DNS)
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