October 1, 1999

SPANO, BARRON, AND PASTORELLA CLAIM VICTORIA 200 WEEKEND VICTORIES
 
FULTON, NY.....197 race cars jammed the pit area for the Friday night portion of the Nice 'N' Easy Grocery Shops Victoria 200 Weekend featuring the Carquest Motorsports Expo 2000 Championship for Sportsman plus Pro Stock and Pure Stock feature events.  In the Sportsman feature, part of the Mr. DIRT Sportsman Championship Trail, Jim Spano collected the win.  In the Mr. DIRT Pro Stock Championship Trail event, Tom Barron avoided a disable Dave Schultz on the final lap to claim the checkers, while Jeff Pastorella made a thrilling last lap pass of Fulton Speedway Pure Stock champion Darren Kelso to take the victory in that division's championship event.
 
A 31 car starting field made it down to the green flag for the 30-lap DIRT Sportsman feature event, with polesitter Justin Haers grabbing the early lead.  Steve Hall took the second spot early on, but Jim Spano was moving up from his starting position, getting the second spot by the one third mark of the feature.  Further back in the field was Tim Sears, who made a quick trip into the top ten and set his sights on the leaders.  Tim Clemons also showed some strength as he climed into the top three by the halfway point.  Also putting on impressive charges were Chris Schultz and Matt Shepherd, who started deep in the field with John Cunningham, one of the consolation race winners.
 
Spano grabbed the lead from Haers with Sears able to follow through into the second spot.  As Hall faded back through the field, Cunningham battled with him and Randy Chrysler at the back half of the top ten.  Up front, Sears gave chase to Spano, but could not catch him as the race approached its final ten laps.  Schultz and Shepherd moved into the top five, but were some distance behind the leaders.
 
A yellow flag with two laps to go bunched the field for a dash to the finish.  Spano got a good start, but Sears stayed with him as the white flag waved.  Sears made one final attempt to grab the lead in turn three of the final lap, but was unable to catch Spano, who took the checkered flag.  Sears held off Schultzfor the second spot, with Haers holding down fourth.  Shepherd's great run netted him a fifth.  Clemons, Hall, Cunningham, Alton Palmer, and Chrysler rounded out the top ten.
 
Eight heats were needed to qualify the 80-plus Sportsman cars in attendance, with wins going to Justin Haers, Tony Buffa, Steve Hall, Jim Spano, Tim Clemons, Greg Carner, Tim Sears, and Paul Kinney.  The four Sportsman consis were taken by John Cunningham, Jerry Haers, Alton Palmer, and Brain Sage.
 
The 25-lap Mr. DIRT Pro Stock Championship Trail event was a see saw battle between Dave Schultz and Tom Barron develop after they slipped past early leader Rob Novicski.  Jipper Ortiz also made his way into the battle at the front of the field while track regulars Jerry Holmes and Mike Watkins moved up from mid pack.
 
The final two laps of the Pro Stock event told the story.  Barron had held the lead for a while when Schultz was able to pass him after running a couple of laps side by side.  Just after Schultz had taken the lead, the yellow flag flew, setting up a one lap dash for cash.  Schultz led the pack into turn one, but broke something in the rear end in turn two and drifted high.  Barron dashed past to take the lead while Ortiz moved into second spot.  Ortiz tried to make a move in the final corner, but Barron had two car lengths on him as they crossed the line.  Beamer Guzzardi came from deep in the field to nail down third, followed by Watkins and Novicski.  Wayne Archer, Holmes, Kevin Jordan, Joe Palmer, and Tom Denton rounded out the top ten.
 
Eight qualifying heats were also needed to form the starting field for the Pro Stocks.  Those heat wins went to Nob Novicski, Dave Schultz, Jason Rood, Mike Waller, Tom Kuck, Jipp Ortiz, Beamer Guzzardi, and Tom Barron.  The four consolation races were won by Rick Holgate, Harold Humphrey, Ray Maloney, and Chad Holman.
 
The 20-lap Pure Stock Championship event started with Jeff Pastorella taking the lead, but 1999 Pure Stock Track Champion Darren Kelso got by his teammate Don Stevenson after he, Stevenson, and Dave Mannise battled intensely for second position.  Kelso was able to track down Pastorella in traffic and nail down the top spot while Phil Marsden battled with Doug Grimaldi and a host of others for fourth and fifth, with many three wide and a couple of four wide moves taking place in traffic.
 
Kelso pulled away from Pastorella until the leaders encountered traffic with a couple of laps to go.  This allowed Pastorella to close in on Kelso.  Stevenson's night ended with troubles as his car sat inside the thrid turn, moving Dave Mannise into third within striking distance of the leaders.
 
On the final lap, Kelso was in heavy traffic going down the backstretch when Pastorella went for broke, diving inside Kelso in turn three.  Kelso drifted high just a touch, allowing Pastorella to get a run off turn four.  In the drag race to the checkered flag, Pastorella claimed the win by just half a car length over Kelso.  Mannise was right behind in third spot, followed by Marsden and Rob Seavy.  The rest of the top ten was filled by Doug Grimaldi, Wayne Wilczek, Herm Staats, Stan Clark, and Bruce Stanton.
 
Four Pure Stock heats trimmed down the field, with wins going to Jeff Pastorella, Troy Reeves, Don Stevenson, and Waylon Wilczek.  The two consolation races were taken by Doug Grimaldi and Phil Marsden.
 
RACE SUMMARY-NICE 'N' EASY GROCERY SHOPS VICTORIA 200 WEEKEND
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1ST, 1999
 
CARQUEST MOTORSPORTS EXPO 2000 SPORTSMAN CHAMPIONSHIP/MR. DIRT SPORTSMAN CHAMPIONSHIP TRAIL-JIM SPANO, Tim Sears, Chris Schultz, Justin Haers, Matt Shepherd, Tim Clemons, Steve Hall, John Cunningham, Alton Palmer, Randy Chrysler, Jamie Christian, Mike Ballestero, Willy Decker, George Bosse, Jay Mallory, Rich Swartout, Walt McArdell, Stewart Freisen, Steve Anderson, Gary Moreash, Rodney Plantz, Paul Kinney, Chad Brachman, Ron Davis, Don Hart Jr., Greg Carner, Tom Collins, Brian Sage, Jerry Haers, Tony Buffa, Bill Shantel Sr.
 
MR. DIRT PRO STOCK CHAMPIONSHIP TRAIL-TOM BARRON, Jipper Ortiz, Beamer Guzzardi, Mike Watkins, Rob Novicski, Wayne Archer, Jerry Holmes, Kevin Jordan, Joe Palmer, Tom Denton, Bill Hallett, Jody Herriven, Mike Loney, Dave Shultz, Geoff VanRiper, Tom Kuck, Mark Schultz, Jason Rood, Rick Breed, Bill Eisely, Harold Humphrey, Rick Holgate, Frank Twing, John Pietrowicz, Gerry Newman, Dave Bruno, Mike Decker, Joe Jackson, Bret Belden, Mike Waller, TJ Fitzgibbons, Ray Maloney, Chad Homan.
 
VICTORIA 200 PURE STOCK CHAMPIONSHIP-JEFF PASTORELLA, Darren Kelso, Dave Mannise, Phil Marsden, Rob Seavy, Doug Grimaldi, Waylon Wilczek, Herm Staats, Stan Clark, Bruce Stanton, Jeff Schulze, Kevin Raymond, Art Newman, Tom Juhl, Mike Wilbur, Ken Conners, Joe Reeves, Scott Grevelding, Les Lewis, Troy Reeves, Chad Ray, Chuck Know, Don Stevenson, John Eiss, John Juhl, Mark Effner, Shane Ray, Jay Finch, Don Kimbal, Dan Scales, Phil Trim.