GIBBS CAPTURES FIRST WIN OF YEAR AT FULTON

FULTON, NY....8/22/98...Saturday night at Fulton Speedway, Mitch Gibbs showed some strong horsepower as he claimed the Small Block Modified feature event. Tony Buffa won his second in a row in the Sportsman, while John Pietrowicz claimed his second win of the year in Street Stock competition. Dave Mannise again showed his winning ways in the Pure Stock ranks.

Ty Hunt jumped into the early lead in the Modified feature with Joe Shields running strong in the second spot. Behind them, Gibbs and Steve Hulsizer were moving up fast, with Gibbs moving past Shields after several laps of a side by side battle. On lap7, Gibbs began to pressure Hunt for the lead, finally moving past him using the high groove on lap 9. Further back in the field, a terrific battle was waging between Bill Abold, J.J. Michaels, Dave House, and Roger Phelps. John Barker soon joined in that battle, along with Gus Schmidt, who started in the 13th spot.

As the race moved past halfway, Gibbs was opening up a big lead on the field, while Hulsizer battled his way into second. Barker and Schmidt broke free of their fierce mid pack battle to move towards the front. Their cause was aided by the race's only yellow, which flew on lap 25. On the restart, Hulsizer moved into the second position, but Schmidt was moving in fast, having gotten by Barker. With three to go, Schmidt got into second, and got close to Gibbs, but could not make a winning move. At the checkers, Gibbs had his first Fulton win of 1998, followed closely by Schmidt and Hulsizer, with Barker and Shields rounding out the top five spots. Modified heats were won by Abold, Hulsizer, and Gibbs, with Larry Welling earning the consi win.

Like the Modified race, the 20-lap Sportsman feature was slowed only once by a yellow flag. Willy Decker jumped into the early lead, but faced heavy pressure from Greg Carner and Tony Buffa, who overcame a near scrape with the backstretch wall to move intocontention. In the second half of the feature, these three drivers put on quite a show, with Decker running high up front and Carner and Buffa moving in down low.

Behind the lead battle, a second group fought intensely for position as two time winner Ron Richardson diced with Dan Vail and Bill Shantel. With five to go, Buffa grabbed second from Carner, and used a low move with two to go to get the lead from Decker. Buffa held on for his second win in a row at Fulton, followed by Decker and Carner. Vail and Richardson rounded out the top five. Sportsman heats were won by Buffa, Decker, and Shantel.

The 20-lap Street Stock feature was led early by Bill Harrington until Ray Maloney slipped into the top spot on lap 6. Behind him, John Petrowicz and Rick Breed were battling for position, while Gerry Newman and Jerry Holmes were coming from mid-pack starting spots. Moving into second on lap 8, Petrowicz spent the rest of the race running side by side with Maloney, unable to make a pass for the lead until lap 18. Petrowicz earned his second Street Stock triumph of 1998 at Fulton, with Maloney right behind in second. Breed held off Holmes for third, with Newman grabbing fifth. Street Stock heats were won by Rich Keller, Newman, and Bill Shantel Jr. Dave Bargabus captured the Street Stock consi.

The 15-lap Pure Stock feature was a race long battle between Lou Levea and Dave Mannise after early leader Paul Mericer expired his engine in turn three. Levea tried several times to move past Mannise, but the Mannise car was too strong, and he brought home his second feature in a row in Pure Stock competition. Levea was second, with Dennis Bird grabbing third from Herm Staats with two to go. Kevin Raymond passed Rick Dote for fifth on the final lap. Pure Stock heats were won by Mercier, Levea, and Bird.

Next Saturday night, Fulton Speedway presents a regular show of Small Block Modifieds, Sportsman, Street Stocks, and Pure Stocks. Gates open at 5pm and racing begins at 7pm.

RACE SUMMARY-FULTON SPEEDWAY
AUGUST 22, 1998

MODIFIED FEATURE-MITCH GIBBS, Gus Schmidt, Steve Hulsizer, John Barker, Joe Shields, Bill Abold, JJ Michaels, Bill Wilcox, Ty Hunt, Dave House, Roger Phelps, Mike Hulsizer, Doug Fuller, Jim Phelps, Jim Rothwell, Todd Milton, Roy Shields, Jason Barney, LarryWelling, Jeremy Smith, Steve Roberts, Steve Way, Dave Reilly, Pete Taylor.

SPORTSMAN FEATURE-TONY BUFFA, Willy Decker, Greg Carner, Dan Vail, Bill Shantel, Jeremy Pitcher, Bill Trexler Jr., Scott Britton, Ronnie Wadsworth, Greg Doust, Jim LaRock, Dave Van Arsdale, Andrew Vargo, Tim Mayne, Rich Vargo, Dale Darling, Kevin Crave, Mark Yorker, Terry Knoblach, Scott Farrar, Mike Conrow.

STREET STOCK FEATURE-JOHN PETROWICZ, Ray Maloney, Rick Breed, Jerry Holmes, Gerry Newman, Dave Moyer, Ed Kotary, Randy Coit, Dave Bargabus, Rich Keller, Bill Scirabba, Mike LaVarnway, Herm Flowers, JB Dockstader, Brian Corbit, Bill Harrington, Joe Jackson, TJ Fitzgibbons, Ron Root, Tom Burkard, Brian Confer, Bill Shantel Jr., Mike Cooper, Randy Skiff.

PURE STOCK FEATURE-DAVE MANNISE, Lou Levea, Dennis Bird, Herm Staats, Kevin Reynolds, Rick Dote, Ken Wentworth, John Eiss, Joe Buske, Darren Kelso, Skip Miles, David Bock, Newt Preeman, Chris Smiedy, Joe Bozaski, Dave Campbell, Dan Butterfield, Phil Trim, Don Stevenson, Bruce Stanton, Paul Mercier, Bob Munger.