Sunday Fulton Victoria Feature Wins To Jeremy Smith, Bob Bradt, Harvey Calkins
Fulton, NY…Jeremy Smith in the Gypsum Wholesaler/Finch’s Logging 56 scored his first ever feature win in the special DIRT 358-Modified event at Fulton Speedway on Sunday for those who did not qualify for Saturday’s Victoria 200. Bob Bradt was the winner in the IMCA Modified feature, and Harvey Calkins Jr. won the 4-Cylinder feature.
Smith jumped out front at the outset in the DIRT 358-Modified feature. Smokey Warren in the 99W was second for the first lap, but the 112 of Jeff Rudalavage took over on lap two. The race went green until lap five when Tom Juhl came to a halt in turn two and the caution lights came on.
When the green flag flew again, “Full Bore” Tim Burnett got his 97B working and went past the 112 of Rudalavage for second. Carl Nagel in the 8 and the 44 of Ty Hunt followed close behind as the lap counter turned to seven.
Gordy Button, making his return to racing this weekend after a serious sprint car crash earlier in the year that damaged his kneecap, spun the Schmidt Trucking 30 in turn four on lap 8. Tony Buffa and Jeremy Pitcher had no place to go but into Button resulting in a serious collision but no injuries.
On the restart, Rudalavage took his 112 right to the top of the track and began battling with Smith for the lead. Through the next five laps, the pair put on a great show for the fans, until Rich Keller brushed the wall in turn four and brought the yellow out again.
Smith and Rudalavage continued to battle for first, with Burnett and Nagel also locked in a battle for the third spot as the raced moved toward lap 20. Nagel made a low move to come by the 97B of Burnett for third on lap 21, and closed in on the 112 of Rudalavage as the top five picked their way through slower traffic.
With two laps to go, Nagel took over second with an inside move, and on the next lap the 18 of Keller spun in turn four. This set up a one-lap shootout for the $1200 top prize. Smith was up and at ‘em on the restart, and held off the low move by Nagel at the line to score his first ever Fulton Speedway feature win. Nagel finished second, with Rudalavage, Burnett, and the 44 of Hunt rounding out the top five.
The 25-lap IMCA Modified feature opened with a thud as the 15A of Bill Anderson Jr. and the 133 of John Bell tangled and ended up in the back straightaway wall on the first lap. Mike Smith and George Catanzano brought the field down for the restart, and the 10 of Bob Bradt followed in third.
The bad luck for the Anderson family continued on lap 2 as Bill Anderson, Sr. and Jim House got together in turn three, resulting in another quick yellow. Rob Keller went pitside with his 21 at this time as well. He would later return.
Bradt made the restart work to his advantage as he took over the lead with his 10. Catanzano was in second and the 1B of Larry Bezner in third. The leaders were battling back and forth when a spinning car in turn four brought out another caution on lap 10. This moved Mike Smith to third, Ron O’Neill was in fourth, and The 91 of Don Alvord had just gotten by the 94 of Dustin Geers to take fifth.
After two laps of green the lights turned to yellow again on lap 12 as the 15A of Anderson Jr. took it around in turn four. A successful restart went for naught as one lap later the 160 of Johnny Hill tapped the back of the 94 of Geers, resulting in both cars coming around in turn two.
A display of the halfway sign by flagger Dave Farney was given to leader Bradt and the rest of the field after the restart, and the 20 of Dane Keller was now going to work on the 91 of Alvord for fifth. O’Neill snatched third away from Smith and began challenging the leaders. Three more brief yellows took place in the closing laps, but the 10 of Bradt was up to all challenges and hung on for the win. At the stripe it was Bradt, Catanzano, O’Neill, Smith, and the 20 of Keller.
Much like the IMCA feature, the 4-Cylinder 20-lap feature began with a multi-car tangle in turn four. There were actually three yellows in the first four laps before the field finally got settled down on the slippery track to do some racing. Russ Cusson was the early leader, but Harvey Calkins Jr. seemed to be on a mission, going to the extreme outside in a three-wide move on lap six to take control.
Once out front, Calkins was never seriously challenged, despite two more yellow flags that put Bob Doolittle and Cusson right on his bumper. Cusson eventually faded back just a bit as Mike Foote, and Chuck Powelczyk made it by. On the final lap, The 33 of Jim LaLone also got underneath the 007 of Cusson and the top five at the line read Calkins, Doolittle, Foote, Powelczyk, and LaLone.
Fulton Speedway is now closed for the season, as planning begins for what is hoped to be an exciting year in 2001. The action moves to the Brewerton Speedway on Thursday, October 5th for the annual Sunoco Race Fuels 358-Modified Super DIRT Series 100-lap Championship event presented by Exide Batteries. The 4-Cylinders will be on that card as well, with gates scheduled to open at 5:30 and race time set for 7:30 sharp.
DIRT 358-Modified Non-Qualifiers Feature Finish: JEREMY SMITH, Carl Nagel, Jeff Rudalavage, Tim Burnett, Ty Hunt, George Kostelansky, Bill Shantel, Mike Frost, Brent Wilcox, Smoky Warren, Steve Roberts, Dave Bargabos, Jim Witko Jr., Rick Miller, Ron Richardson, Larry Welling, Steve Walsh, Claude Brouillard, Bill Shantel Jr., Tim Murphy, Rich Keller, Tyke Morris, Ed Ferris, Mark Flach, Dave Clark, Dean Bower, Gordy Button, Tony Buffa, Jeremy Pitcher, Jeff Kotary, and Tom Juhl.
IMCA MODIFIED FEATURE FINISH: BOB BRADT, George Catanzano, Ron O’Neill, Mike Smith, Dane Keller, John Matyjasik, Don Alvord, Larry Bezner, Sean Lias, Joe Locerini, Doug McKane, John Conway, Dustin Geers, Les Hubbard, Michael Bungay, Rob Keller, Mike Chilson, Scott Ziprich, Bill Anderson, Aaron Jacobs, Bill Code, John Hickman, George Proctor, John Bell, Johnny Hill, Mike Adderley, Ed O’Neill, Tom Paige, and Jim House.
4-CYLINDER FEATURE FINISH: HARVEY CALKINS JR., Bob Doolittle, Mike Foote Jr., Chuck Powelczyk, Jim LaLone, Russ Cusson, Bill Shantel Sr., Roy French, Mark Warner, Brian Evenden, Greg Crooker, Kevan Cook, Donnie Lawson, Tim Koch, Butch Crawford, Alan Crooker, Roger Olschewske, John West, Harold Humphrey, Dave Myrto, Jason Van Patten, Gary Johnson, Nicholas Barr, and Roger West, Sr.