September 18, 1999

KINSELLA WINS SOUTHERN TIER 100 QUALIFIER AT FULTON; TONY BUFFA, BILL RAMPE, AND RON O'NEIL EARN NEW YORK STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS  
FULTON, NY.....On a busy night of racing action at Fulton Speedway, Tom Kinsella was a last minute fill in for John Kinsella and took the win in the Southern Tier 100 Qualifier for Sportsman Saturday night.  Ron O'Neil, Tony Buffa, and Bill Rampe were the New York State Championship winners in the IMCA Modifieds, Dwarf cars, and 4 Cylinders respectively, while Gerry Newman took the Pro Stock feature and Darren Kelso won the Pure Stock feature.  John Juhl captured the Wrong Way Enduro event.
 
Kinsella started up front in the 20-lap Sportsman feature event and took off at the front of the field.  Behind him, several good battles for position were taking place.  Clayton Brewer held the runnerup spot while Bill Shantel battled with Todd Henderson and Willy Decker battled with Tony Buffa.  Buffa lost several spots when he nearly spun, but managed to save the car.  No such luck for Mike Holmes, who slowed when a driveshaft dropped on lap 7.  The shaft dug into the track, sending Holmes into the frontstretch wall at a slow speed, eventually rolling the car onto its side.
 
Kinsella continued to hold the lead the rest of the way with Brewer getting close on a couple of occasions, but Kinsella was not to be denied, earning the win and a guaranteed starting spot in the September 25th Southern Tier 100 at Five Mile Point Speedway.  Brewer was second, followed by Shantel, Todd Henderson, and Willy Decker.  Sportsman heats were won by Kinsella, Brewer, and Shantel.
 
The 20-lap Pro Stock race was an excellent contest that saw the first half of the feature dominated by Bill Shantel Jr.  John Pietrowicz started deep in the field and stormed through the pack to challenge Shantel for the lead, taking the top spot on lap 7 while Shantel tried to hold off Gerry Newman for the second spot.  Jason Rood was also in the mix, fighting for position with Bruce Hovis and Jeremy Clark.
 
Pietrowicz pulled away from Shantel as Shantel held off Newman until lap 18, when Pietrowicz spun.  Rood, Shantel, and Dave Moyer, all of whom were in the top five, were collected in the crash.  The only one of the top five to make it through was Newman, who held off Hovis on the final restart for the win.  Dan Winks took third, Geoff Van Riper was fourth, and Ricky Breed made it in from the Mr. DIRT Pro Stock event at Canandaigua in time to start in the rear and charge through the pack to fifth.  Pro Stock heats were won by Newman and Shantel.
 
The IMCA Modified New York State Championship race was a barnburner that saw Brad Wall mix it up with Ron O'Neil and Dane Keller the entire race.  Wall and O'Neil traded the lead a few times until the pair got into heavy traffic late in the 25-lapper.  O'Neil gambled, going to the inside lane where the lapped cars were, while Wall stayed high.  The gamble worked as the lapped cars drifted up and O'Neil had the lead crossing the line for the white flag.  O'Neil held off the final challenges of Wall to take the win.  Wall finished second, while Rob Keller came from the rear of the field to take third in front of Dane.  Kevin Battelle rounded out the top five.  IMCA Modified heats were won by Wall and Dane Keller.
 
Tony Buffa put the exclamation point on his Brewerton Speedway championship season by totally dominating the 25-lap New York State Dwarf Car Championship event.  Ken Gamlen had fallen back as far back as a full straightaway during the race, but closed to within just a few car lengths at the finish.  Darren Forbes finished third, while Scott Nash held off Jay Reid for the fifth spot.  Dwarf car heats were won by Forbes and Buffa.
 
The 4 Cylinder New York State Championship contest saw pole sitter Bill Rampe hold the lead the entire 20-lap distance, but it was certainly not an easy win as Roger West challenged Rampe again and again.  In the end, Rampe took a hard earned victory over West, Chuck Powelczyk, Bob Whipple, and Jim Lalone.  4 Cylinder heats were won by Rampe, Roger West, and Brian Evenden.
 
The 15-lap Pure Stock feature event saw track champion Darren Kelso storm into the lead early, but Doug Grimaldi was hot on his heels in the closing laps.  Grimadli tried repeatedly to pass Kelso, but could not overtake him as Kelso scored another victory.  Waylon Wilczek passed Gimaldi on the final corner for the second spot, followed by Rob Seavy and Don Stevenson.  Pure Stock heats were won by Jay Finch and Kelso.
 
The drivers in the Enduro field were surprised when they were led onto the track by the Laqua's 481 Chevy/Buick pace truck....and led the wrong way around the track.  Running in the reverse direction on the speedway, John Juhl bested the field of competitors to capture the win.
 
Fulton Speedway is idle this coming weekend in preparation for the 14th annual Nice 'N' Easy Grocery Shops Victoria 200 Weekend on October 1st through 3rd.
 
RACE SUMMARY-NICE 'N' EASY GROCERY SHOPS FALL SERIES
FULTON SPEEDWAY-SEPTEMBER 18TH, 1999
 
SOUTHERN TIER 100 SPORTSMAN QUALIFIER FEATURE-TOM KINSELLA, Clayton Brewer, Bill Shantel, Todd Henderson, Willy Decker, Tony Buffa, Butch Reiter, Paul Kinney, Greg Doust, Jim Bowman, Tim Mayne, Chad Phelps, Dave Bargabus, Mark Yorker, Mark Tily, Rick Revette, Paul Strieff, Tyke Morris, Tom Collins, Mike Holmes, Jeremy Pitcher.
 
PRO STOCK FEATURE-GERRY NEWMAN, Bruce Hovis, Dan Winks, Geoff Van Riper, Rick Breed, Howie Koegel, Ron Root, Russ Marsden, Joe Jackson, Leroy Sabin, Ron Clark, Jeremy Clark, John Pietrowicz, Bill Shantel Jr., Jason Rood, Dave Moyer, Chris Stull, Dave Fox, Kevin Miner, Harold Humphrey, Chuck Thomas.
 
N.Y.S. IMCA MODIFIED CHAMPIONSIP-RON O'NEIL, Brad Wall, Rob Keller, Dane Keller, Kevin Battelle, Don Alvord, Doug McKane, George Valenti, Don Ellis Jr., Bill Anderson, Les Hubbard, John Bell, Ken Rogers, John Locorini, Bill Anderson Jr., Carmen Vona, Tony Finch, Larry Bezner.
 
N.Y.S. DWARF CAR CHAMPIONSHIP-TONY BUFFA, Ken Gamlen, Darren Forbes, Scott nash, Jay Reid, Bob Garafolo, Steve Miller, Wayne Younglove, Bob McCarthy, Carl Crawford, Barry Virts, Dave Reals, RJ Grimshaw, Kelly Skinner, Brenda Rice, Lee Babcock, Dan Boyce, Gary Sampo, Carl Crawford Sr.
 
N.Y.S. 4 CYLINDER CHAMPIONSHIP-BILLY RAMPE, Roger West, Chuck Powelczyk, Bob Whipple, Jim Lalone, Roger Olchewske, John West, Bob Doolittle, Darik VanEpps, Jon Amidon, Mark Warner, Norman Primm Jr., Brett Hubbard, Bill Tierson, Roger West Sr., Paul Monroe, Dave Myrto, Julio Garcia, Mike Humphrey, Jason Amidon, Harvey Calkins Jr., Kevan Cook, Joe Bribre, Walt VanEpps, Harold Humphrey, Brian Evenden.
 
PURE STOCK FEATURE-DARREN KELSO, Waylon Wilczek, Dave Grimaldi, Rob Seavy, Don Stevenson, Chad Ray, Ken Connors, Art Newman, Paul Mercier, Kevin Raymond, Dan Hatch, Gary Barton, Ryan Sherman, George Wright, Chris Smiedy, David Stoutenhenger, Jay Finch, Bruce Stanton, Bob Gloska, Phil Trim, Les Lewis.
 
WRONG WAY ENDURO WINNER-John Juhl.