FULL DAY OF RACING TOPS OFF VICTORA 200 WEEKEND

FULTON, N.Y.-10/4/98-The wait was worth it as nearly 250 racecars hauled into the Fulton Speedway for the curtain of the Nice and Easy Victoria 200 weekend. The conclusion of the year brought five divisions out in full force as fans witnessed over 40 racing eventsduring the course of the day in the sportsman, IMCA mod, street stock, pure stock and four cylinder racing extravaganza.

Greg Doust, Herm Slack, Mike Wallace, Jim Olin and Frank Caprara Jr. captured their feature events to bring down the curtain on 1998.

Over 60 sportsmen competitors battled for the $1,000 first place check in the CarQuest Motorsports Expo '99/ Nice and Easy 309 lapper. It was Doust, who had to rebuild his car over night, winning the biggest race of his career. Doust grabbed the lead from the front row and roared to victory. Mike Button challenged him throughout while Mitch Gibbs was also in the midst of the competition. Ron Richardson and Tony Buffa Jr. roared from deep in the field to become contenders. Doust led the distance, but the real battle was for the runner up position as Button came away with the second place check while Richardson passed Gibbs in the waning laps to take home third. Gibbs settled for fourth while Buffa rounded out the top five.

Seventy-two street stocks filled the pits as they vied for one of the 30 starting spots. Skyline regular Herm Slack roared away with his first Fulton win. At the start it was a wheel-to-wheel battle between Tom Denton and Art Darling, but the two tangled on the seventh lap and Slack inherited the lead. Ron Flannery was in hot pursuit and closed in with John Petrowicz right behind. However, Petrowicz crashed and was eliminated. Meanwhile, Joe Palmer was working hard to get among the top two. At the checker it was Herm Slack with a comfortable win over Flanner. Palmer settled for third while Dave Moyer and Ken Morey completed the top five.

Forty pure stocks competed with Mark Wallace dominating the action. Wallace started fourth, but grabbed the lead on the first lap. Contenders Dave Mannise (crash) and Lou LeVea (engine) were eliminated early. John Eiss, Jeff Pastorella and Dave Arbes all battled throughout the event as they switched positions time and time again. Wallace coasted to the victory while Eiss and Pastorella were second and third. Kevin Raymond made a late rally from deep in the field for fourth while Arbes settled for fifth.

In the IMCA Modified division there were 25 cars on hand. Larry Bezner dominated the majority of the race, but Frank Caprara was in hot pursuit. He tried over and over to pass the veteran. It all came down to a late race shootout. With one lap to go Bezner had the edge going into one. Caprara dove low in turn two and took the lead. O'Neil chased and set up the leaders. At the line it was Caprara by a bumper over Bezner and O'Neil while Dane Keller and Bob Bradt had solid runs for fourth and fifth.

In the four cylinder Olin outlasted a race long battle with Brian Payne to win. The two put on a outstanding wheel to wheel show, but with four laps left Payne slid off the track and was knocked out of contention. Second place was a donnybrook with Bill Coyle, Chris Carroll, Billy Rampe, Chuck Powelczyk and Harvey Calkins Jr. all running in a bunch. At the line it was Calkins second followed by Coyle, Carroll and Rample completing the top five. There were nearly 40 four cylinders in the field.

Sportsman heats were won by Greg Doust, Bill Trexler, Gary Stage, Mike Button, Bill Shantel and Mitch Gibbs. Jeremy Clark, Tom Denton, Joe Palmer, Rick Breed, Art Darling, Ken Morey and Herm Slack won Street Stock heat. Pure stock prelims were won by John Eiss, Dave Arbes, Jeff Pastorella, and Mark Wallace. IMCA mods were taken by Bruce McCloskey, Larry Bezner, Colleen Finch, while in the four cylinders the winners were Brian Payne, Jim Olin, Lloyd Hinton, and Jamie Banta. Sportsman consis were taken by Rick Miller, Jamie Friesen, Pete Campionge and Mike Clark. Mark Yorker won the sportsman B Main. SS consis went to Roger Pendell, Rich Murtaugh, and Chad Ward while in the pure stock final chance races it was Kevin Raymond and Buddy Diehl winning. Mark Warner won the four cylinder last chance race. Bill Shantel captured the street stock B main.

Sportsman Feature-Greg Doust, Mike Button, Ron Richardson, Mitch Gibbs, Tony Buffa Jr., Bill Shantel Sr., Jack Miller, Rick Miller, Tim Mayne, Brian Sage, Dan Vail, Jason Becker, Jamie Friesen, Jeremy Pitcher, Bill Trexler Jr., Dale Darling, Scott McCue, Tony Ross, Randy Chrysler, Ron Davis, T.J. Collins, Craig Pritchard, Mike Clark, Paul Benz, Dan Yankowski, Gary Stage, Jamie Christian, Pete Campione, Chris Schultz, Willy Decker.

Street Stock Feature-Herm Slack, Ron Flannery, Joe Palmer, Dave Moyer, Ken Morey, Rick Keller, Bruce Horis, Roger Pendell, Mike Frost, T.J. Fitzgibbons, Mark Schultz, Craig Terrell, John Cooper, Rick Breed, Dick Karwosky, Bob Sears, Dave Bruno, Tony Nalaschi, Chad Ward, Rich Murtaugh, John Petrowicz, Art Darling, Ray Maloney, Jeremy Clark, Jody Herriven, John Roese, Brett Michels, Scott Canover, Tom Denton, Brian Confer, Bill Shantel Jr. and Dave Bargabos.

IMCA Mods-Frank Caprara Jr., Larry Bezner, Ron O'Neil, Dane Keller, Bob Bradt, Jim Evans, Cory Fachini, Tony Finch, Doug McKane, Glen Erwin, Bill Klinkowsky, Don Alvord, Neil Edgar, Brendt Matzel, Coleen Finch, Bill Anderson, Rob Keller, Bruce McCloskey, Ed Horn, Joe Price Jr., Steve Bidwell, John Bell, Les Hubbard, Sean Lias and George Catanzano.

Pure Stock Main-Mark Wallace, John Eiss, Jeff Pastorella, Kevin Raymond, Dave Arbes, Tom Paige, Buddy Diehl, Erik Van Sciver, Daryl Krebs, Mike Wilk, Richard Keehle, Ray Taylor, Herm Staatsss, Darren Kelso, Alan Graham, Mike Howe, Mark Effner, Dave Bock, Skip Miles, Waylon Wilczek, Jeremy Hunter, Dan Butterfield, Rick Dote, Joe Buske, Mike Wilbur, Chad Ray, Lou LeVea, Dave Mannise, Jason Rudd, Craig Kranz.

Four Cylinder Feature-Jim Olin, Harvey Calkins Jr., Bill Coyle, Chris Carroll, Bill Rampe, Chuck Powelczyk, Lloyd Hinton, Ken Klinkowsky, Mark Warner, Jim Potts, Brian Payne, Scott Johnson, John Clark, Randy Myers, Brett Hubbard, Roger West, Mike Lewis, Butch Crawford, Bill Tierson, Bob Whipple, Gilbert Glidden, John West, Harold Humphrey, Darik Van Epps, Jason Van Penn and Jamie Banta.