SUSQUEHANNA, PA-As the Susquehanna area continues to battle drought conditions Darwin Greene Sr. snapped his own Friday night, returning to Victory Lane for the first time since 2012 at the Penn Can Speedway. A packed grandstand got to mingle with drivers during intermission as Fan Appreciation night brought the thrills.
The Stafursky Paving Modifieds charged out of turn four as Darwin Greene Sr. and Nick Petrilak led the way. An early bobble from Petrilak would hurt his momentum on the high side while Brett Tonkin advanced three spots on the opening lap. With two laps in the books Brian Franko would slow on the backstretch drawing an early yellow. Greene opted for the inside on the restart with Petrilak once again to his outside. As Greene pulled ahead Alan Rudalavage and Tonkin worked inside Petrilak to take the second and third spots. Point leader Kevin Hartnett had made his way into the top 5 by the fifth lap, peeking to the inside of Dan Vauter for fourth. Brian Malcolm started from the rear but showed his speed as the race approached halfway, gaining five spots over a five lap run to move into seventh on lap 15.
At the front it was Tonkin searching for the grip behind Greene, making some space on the inside in turn one to take the lead away on lap 17. With lapped traffic ahead Tonkin, Greene, Rudalavage and Hartnett fit under a blanket, pushing and rubbing as they worked through turns three and four. Tonkin’s run up front would come to an end the following lap as he slowed down the front stretch and headed pitside with a right rear flat. Greene resumed his lead for the single file restart Hartnett worked the bottom of the speedway through three and four but couldn’t find the drive off the corner to match Greene’s momentum. With the pair closing in on five to go, the race for fourth heated up as Malcolm and Vauter ran door to door swapping lanes and sliders. Malcolm would take the spot down the frontstretch as Hartnett and Greene ran nose to tail ahead. As Hartnett’s momentum carried into turn one the rear end came around bringing out the yellow and setting up a dash to the checkers.
Greene held off Rudalavage for the closing lap, collecting the win with Petrilak, Malcolm and Vauter rounding out the top 5. After battling issues throughout the night including a broken shifter, some frame welding, a battery short and tire issues, Greene was ecstatic to return to Victory Lane. With some hungry contenders behind him Greene stated “I had to keep my focus forward, if I defended my line they couldn’t pass me”. When dealing with the lapped traffic Darwin mentioned it was important to stay in rhythm. He would like to thank his wife Paula, his son Darwin, Johnny Ball, Carrie, Carrie Lynn, DRG Bluestone, and his fans and supporters.
As we take Fair week off, the speedway will be back in action August 26th featuring a full show and Community Night for Conkin, Kirkwood, Windsor and Binghamton. As the season begins to wind down and opportunities for points wrap up we look forward to a thrilling end to our season! As always make sure to find us online at thepenncanspeedway.com and like us on Facebook!
Stafursky Paving Modifieds
Winner – 1 – DARWIN GREENE SR.2.) 145-Alan Rudalavage 3.) 72-Nick Petrilak 4.) 119-Brian Malcolm 5.) 9-Dan Vauter 6.)117-Alex Stanton 7.) 7M-Mike Nagel Sr 8.) 17D-Mike Loney 9.) 484-Travis Brockner 10.) 23P-Bud Phillips 11.) 5-Kevin Hartnett 12.) 27K-Brett Tonkin 13.) 181-Kenny Hildebrant 14.) 73-Casey Plummer 15.) 84X-Brian Franko
602 Crate Sportsman
Winner – 1A – BRAD WEAVER
2.) 14K-Alex Konopka 3.) 3R-Ray Leonard 4.) 197-Mike Schane 5.) 7-Ralph Mele 6.) 10K-Kolyn Schane 7.) 32-Eddie Kudrako 8.) 84-Mike Welcha 9.) 55-Marty Goodwin 10.) 44-Jim O’Hara 11.) 70J-Joe Novak 12.) 88S-Michael Samony 13.) 88K-Alan Komar 14.) 27M-Mark Terry 15.) 3D-Brett Wooster 16.) 6X-Joe Wilgus 17.) 3DL-Dave Leyshown 18.) 226-Matt Martino 19.) 27-Corey Ziegler 20.) 16-Ned Fitch 21.) M7-Mike Nagel Jr. 22.) 54T-Travis Rooney 23.) 88A-Amanda Scholtisek 24.) 23P-John Michael Phillips DNS 7R-Tommy Groover
A & E Tire and Auto Center 600cc Xcel Modifieds
Winner – 54T – ADAM MUDGE
2.) 80-Tyler Smith 3.) 17-Jeff Baldwin 4.) 167-Devan Sieben 5.) 67-Tori Straway 6.)28-Brett Gray 7.) 176-Mollie Mroz 8.) 30NN-Nate Oropallo 9.) 12J-John Dinniny 10.) 110-Katlynn Lewis 11.) 217-Larry Furman 12.) 9X-Josh Towner 13.) 1JR-Darwin Greene Jr 14.) 29-Brenton Miller 15.) 77X-Nolan Smith DQ 108-Ali Scutt
Factory Stock
Winner – 28 CHARLIE GILBERT
2.) 57ND-Jason Rhodes 3.) 7R-Tommy Groover 4.) 03-Jason Beebe 5.) 10-Kevin Welch 6.) 23S-Kyle Spoor 7.) 78-Jerry Fassett Jr 8.) 33D-Neil DiBalsi 9.) 23B-Brad Chilson 10.) 57X-Adam Gilbert
Gary’s U-Pull It 4 Cylinder
Winner – 7F RICH WAGNER
2.) 77-Brian Salmini 3.) 21MJ-Mike Jenks 4.) 71-Rob Sterling 5.) M1-Mike Girjatowicz 6.) G55-Dakota Fuller 7.) 66-Josh Storms 8.) 70-Chris Wesser 9.)107-Tim Vandemark 10.) 27-Jason Seymour 11.) 21-Scott Beach 12.) 76-Dave Nixon 13.) 56-Jeff Sterling 14.) 17-Mike Ferris 15.) 22-David Benson Jr 16.) 8-Jim Backowski 17.) 944- Jeremy Trunzo