By Kayla Peting
Mother Nature had finally graced Penn Can with some perfect weather conditions for an excellent night of racing as we had all five divisions lined up to do battle plus the NY6A Hoosier 600 Sprint Tour. Drivers were anxious to come out victorious as the points battle is closer than ever in some divisions. Fans were ready to see some action and Keith Beach and crew were prepared to deliver exactly that. 72 cars were signed in and were all ready to give it their all. Fans were filling in for Broome County Night where residents residing in Broome County got in with a valid ID for only $5. It had shaped up to be an action packed night of racing.
The Stafursky Paving Modifieds would see Brad Shaffer and Travis Brockner bringing the field to green.Shaffer would take the early lead while Darwin Greene Sr. would quickly look inside Brockner to take over second. Greene found his groove as he quickly took over the lead from Shaffer. Brett Tonkin would follow close behind Greene to bob and weave his way into second. Lap 2 would see the first yellow for Shaffer spinning in turn two before heading pit side with a flat before joining at the tail. Greene took the inside on the restart and raced door to door with Tonkin through turn two, but Greene pulled ahead down the backstretch while Brockner and Brad Szulewski battled for third. Szulewski would take the spot while Brian Malcom and Danny Creeden would battle hard for sixth, Malcolm would maintain control over the position. Creeden would not back down from the challenge and would use the low line to power by Malcom to take over fifth. Casey Plummer would use the quick low side to shimmy by Brian Franko to take over fourteenth while John Michael Phillips would head pit side with motor problems for the second time in two weeks. Just as Greene began to work lapped traffic, Brockner slowed at the top of turn 4 with no power resulting in a caution. Greene would have no difficulties with the lap 17 single file restart, pulling away from Tonkin as Creeden wrestled fourth away from Frank Yankowski. Creeden’s car came to life as the next lap he got Szulewski for third with a charging Kevin Hartnett in tow, moving Szulewski to fifth. Plummer would continue to dash forwards as he quickly made a low pass by Brandon Fritsch to take over seventh while Frank Yankowski took over sixth from Malcolm. Tonkin got one more shot at Greene when a broken DMI axle ended Nick Petrilak’s night in turn 2. Tonkin couldn’t capitalize on the restart as Hartnett and Creeden worked hard to snatch the second spot. Creeden would grab the spot with a turn three slider and chase Greene all the way to the checkered flags. Creeden would finish second followed by Tonkin, Hartnett and Szulewski rounding out the top 5.
The Erik Hines Trucking LLC 602 Crate Sportsman had Brett Wooster and Ned Fitch on the front row of the 25 lap feature. Off the start Fitch would gain the upper hand while Alex Konopka would take over third passing by Travis Rooney and Wooster to take over third. Mike Nagel Jr. would select the low side to maneuver around Allen Kellogg to take over eight. Lap 3 would see the first caution of the evening, for Nagel and Ray Leonard spinning in turn four. Adam Mudge would end his night early with a tow back to the pits while Brad Weaver would head pit side along with Nagel, but both would return and join the field. While sorting out the line out Mike Schane would be sent to the rear of the field for contact. Fitch would select the inside lane placing Kolyn Schane to his outside and coming out of turn four, Fitch would gain the early lead, but it would not last as a yellow would fly for Rooney stopping low in turn four. The field would get together again and would fire on Fitch, but the number 16 would blow a drivetrain bringing out the red flag causing a pile up. Kolyn Schane would become the new race lead and selected the inside lane placing Konopka to his outside. Out of the restart zone, Kolyn Schane and Konokpa would battle door to door down the frontstretch into turn one where Kolyn’s 10K would spin between turns one and two bringing out another yellow on lap 10. Konopka would become the newest lead with Kellogg to his outside. Konokpa would take the lead while battle would follow closely behind him as Mike Schane would slide past Marty Goodwin and Mike Wilcha to move into third. A little ways back Leonard would follow Mike’s path on the low line to speed past Charlie Towner and Weaver to take over seventh. Leonard would try to take over sixth from Ralph Mele, but was unable to hit the marks to claim the spot. Lap 20 would see a yellow for Towner stopping on the front stretch before heading pit side. Konopka would lead the field in a single file restart and battles would begin in an instant as Nagel would take over third from Wilcha while Kellogg would take over seventh from Kolyn Schane. The final yellow would come on lap 23 for Goodwin spinning in turn four and would clip Jim O’Hara, both drivers would head pit side for the evening. Konopka would take the win followed by Mike Schane, Nagel, Leonard and Wilcha to cap the top 5.
A & E Tire and Auto Center 600cc Modifieds had 11 cars on hand to do battle and were led by Darwin Greene Jr. and Nate Oropallo to the green flag out of turn four. A no start would be called for the first attempt. However, on the second try Oropallo would take the early lead while Brett Gray would slide past Larry Furman and Jeff Baldwin to take over third. Brenton Miller would go door to door with Chuck Lohmeyer to slide into fifth before slipping past Furman to take over fourth. Lohmeyer would follow in Miller’s path and take over fifth from Furman who would begin to slow considerably. Gray would move into second as Greene would pull to the infield giving him opportunity to low inside Oropallo to try and take the lead. Gray would slow up as a yellow would come out for Tori Straway spinning in turn four and then rejoining the field. Oropallo would select the low lane placing Gray to his outside and out of the restart zone, Gray would take the lead. Teammate Miller would go up on two wheels to drive inside Oropallo to try for second, but would safely land on all four wheels and in the third spot. Furman would look inside John Dinniny to take over sixth while Miller would try his luck again to slide past Oropallo, but would not be able to make it stick. Lap 17 would see a caution for Phil Burns stopping in turn four. Gray would lead the field in a single file restart as Miller would move past Oropallo to take over second. Gray would take home the win followed by Miller, Oropallo, Lohmeyer and Baldwin to round out the top 5.
The Factory Stocks had Rich Sharpsteen and Darren Davies leading them to the starting point in turn four and Davies would quickly gain the lead while battles were taking place behind him. Jordan Towner would look inside Kevin MacDonald to try and take over third, but would be unsuccessful. Father and son duo, Charlie and Adam Gilbert would battle side by side but Charlie would use the high side to sneak into fifth. MacDonald would look low inside Sharpsteen to attempt taking over second, but would be unable to make the move stick. Charlie Gilbert made the high line work once again as he slid past Towner to take over fourth and Adam Gilbert would follow close behind to take fifth. Eric Beach would keep low to slide past Kyle Spoor and Towner to move into sixth. Charlie Gilbert would take over second from Sharpsteen just before the caution would come out on lap 9 for Spoor spinning in turn three. Davies would select the high line placing Charlie Gilbert to his inside, Davies would fire and take the early lead while MacDonald would go high around Sharpsteen to take third. Lap 11 would see a caution for Justin Slezak coming to a stop in turn 3. Davies would lead the field in a single file restart and Beach would take the opportunity to look to the inside of Sharpsteen to take over fourth and Adam Gilbert followed close behind to take over fifth. Beach would then look outside Charlie Gilbert to take over second before he could make the transition, the caution would come out on lap 15 for debris. Off the restart the top three would battle relentlessly with Davies maintaining first and Charlie Gilbert fending off a charging Beach. Unfortunately, Charlie Gilbert would get sideways bringing out the caution before heading pit side to change a flat. Davies would now have to hold off Beach on the restart, but Beach was up to the challenge and would look low to take over the lead. Beach would take home the win followed by Davies, Sharpsteen, Adam Gilbert and MacDonald completing the top 5.
Gary’s U-Pull It 4 Cylinders had 9 cars on hand to battle for a win and they were led to the green by Brian Salmini and Bryant Beach. Salmini and Beach would battle back and forth for the lead with Beach claiming the position. Rich Wagner would look outside of Andy Bolles to move into fourth while Collin Mills would look inside Salmini to take over second. Mills was a man on a mission as he rapidly hunted down Beach before sliding to the lowside taking the lead. Jeff Sterling would look inside Jim Backowski to take seventh before looking outside Rob Sterling to move into sixth. Bolles and Wagner were battling hard for fourth, but Bolles would be unable to take the spot away. Lap 13 would see a caution for debris in turn three. Mills would lead the field in a two lap shootout and battles quickly happened as Bolles maneuvered the 354 to the outside of Wagner to take fourth, but his momentum quickly diminished as he dropped back to sixth. Mills would take the checkers followed by Beach, Salmini, Sterling and Wagner to round out the top 5.
With the month of July over, Penn Can is looking forward to hosting some spectacular racing in the month of August and are kicking it off with the rescheduled fan appreciation night this coming Friday (8/4). Fans of all ages will be able to get up close and personal with their favorite drivers! Our regular divisions will be on the card along with the Dirt Modified Nostalgia Tour. Admission for Friday’s race will only be $5 and it won’t want to be missed as the points battle is heating up with a limited amount of races left to complete. As always stay updated with the cool things happening at the track by following up on our Facebook page: The Penn Can Speedway.