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08-30-08

STEVE EVERHART COMPLETES GREAT SEASON WITH WIN AND TV TITLE

It was an evening of drama and excitement as Thunder Valley ended its 2008 season and crowned champions Saturday night. Every point leader going into the program emerged with their titles but the tension was great. Steve Everhart won the Late Model event and the 2008 title, breaking a six year string of Scott Rhodes at the top. In Semi Late action, Jim Sayler won the race but Greg Cornell held on for the title. In the Pure Stocks, Tom Warren did all he could do by winning the event, but Jason Vangilder clinched the title behind him. The real drama was in the 4 Cylinders where Chris Booher had to finish at least 13th to clinch. Challenger Martin Vinosky won the event, but Booher outlasted car troubles to finish exactly 13th and win by one point.

Gene Kain was the Late Model pole sitter and shot out to the early lead. Point contenders Scott Rhodes and Steve Everhart started deep in the field and came forward in a hurry. Everhart got a break in the chaotic first lap action and emerged in fifth by lap two. Rhodes took a more deliberate trip forward and didnt emerge in the lead group until lap 7. When second and third place runners Chad McClellan and Darrell Dick both hit the pits on lap 6, Everhart found himself in second behind Kain. He whipped around Kain on the next lap and took over. Rhodes spent laps 7, 8 and 9, going around the outside of Wayne Johnson, John Britsky and Kain, then set out after Everhart.

Rhodes was able to catch Everhart and look for the lead but Everhart held him off for the win. Britsky got by Kain for third on lap 16 and finished there, ahead of Kain, Wayne Johnson who started last in the field, Shawn Claar, Doug Glessner, Yvette Hahn, Chad McClellan and Dan Lee. Glessner and Dick won the heats. The first heat was highlighted by a multi car pileup which saw Dave Bloss take a series of wild flips down the backstretch.

With the Semi Late point chase close, Jim Sayler had to beat Greg Cornell and hope for the best. Sayler hit the outside lane at the start and whipped through the field. Billy McClellan led the first lap and Bob Torquato led the second, but Sayler had the lead on lap three. Cornell got to second place on lap 10 but had Greg Hainsey on his tail. As Sayler led, Hainsey fought Cornell furiously before taking second on the last lap.

Sayler took the 20 lap win but it wasnt enough as Cornell held on for third behind Hainsey and clinched. MCclellan was fourth, followed by Ray Sheetz, Darryl Whetstone, John Swatrzwelder, Tom Muhollen, Jonathan Hayman and Torquato. Brian Duffy, Sayler and Sheetz won the heats.

Jason Vangilder clinched the Pure Stock title by simply starting the event, but challenger Tom Warren wanted to make a statement. Joe Railey was the initial leader, but Warren was all over him by lap two. After a furious battle, which included Jamie Kohan and Vangilder, Warren took the lead on lap 7. When Railey dropped out on lap 9, It was a 3 car battle at the front, but Warren held on for the win. Kohan took second ahead of RT Troutman, Don Lybarger and Dave Lee. Vangilder fell off the pace on the last lap and struggled to claim sixth, ahead of Steve Fadley, John Hollis, Nathan Miller and Mike Siegele. Raley and Warren won the heats.

The 4 Cylinders ran their biggest race ever at 40 laps. The field balled up on the first attempt at a start, a crash which involved point leader Chris Booher. He took more damage in another crash on lap one and headed to the pits seemingly crushing his title chances. Leroy Booher took the early lead but was hounded relentlessly by Martin Vinosky. Vinosky got by on lap 8 and then moved away from the field. Behind Vinosky, a neat 4 car battle raged for the duration among. Ed Vogel, Dave Lambert, Ryan Peer and Paul Crynock.

Martin Vinosky ran off for the big win while Crynock held off Dave Lambert for second. Mike Lauffer came from the rear for fourth, ahead of Ed Vogel, Leroy Booher, Jay Frye, Cindy Rhodes, Mike Meck and Keith Deeter. Chris Booher emerged from the pits on lap 18 with a wounded car and hoped for attrition. He lost several more laps on the track but with others dropping out, he finished 13th in the event, the exact spot he needed to clinch the title by one point over Vinosky. Vogel, Ryan Peer and Leroy Booher won the heats.

LATE MODELS 25 1 Steve Everhart, 2 Scott Rhodes, 3 John Britsky, 4 Gene Kain, 5 Wayne Johnson, 6 Shawn Claar, 7 Doug Glessner, 8 Yvette Hahn, 9 Chad McClellan, 10 Dan Lee, 11 Chuck Lepsch, 12 Tom Decker, 13 Chris Rhodes, 14 Darrell Dick, 15 Chuck Clise, DNS Dave Bloss, Greg Fetters

SEMI LATE 20 1 Jim Sayler, 2 Greg Hainsey, 3 Greg Cornell, 4 Bill McClellan, 5 Ray Sheetz, 6 Darryl Whetstone, 7 John Swartzwelder, 8 Tom Muhollen, 9 Jonathan Hayman, 10 Bob Torquato, 11 Joe Pluta, 12 Bob Jay, 13 Ralph Natta, 14 Corey Poraczky, 15 Dave Korlewitz, 16 Shawn Ringler, 17 Lou Orris, 18 Brian Duffy, 19 Ronnie Valentine 20 Patrick McDonough. DNS Ray Wright

PURE STOCK 15 1 Tom Warren, 2 Jamie Kohan, 3 RJ Troutman, 4 Don Lybarger, 5 Dave Lee, 6 Jason Vangilder, 7 Steve Fadley, 8 John Hollis, 9 Nathan Miller, 10 Mike Siegele, 11 Dave Imler, 12 Mary Johnson, 13 Alan Lowery, 14 Joe Railey, DNS Preston Imler

4 CYLINDER 40 1 Martin Vinosky, 2 Paul Crynock, 3 Dave Lambert, 4 Mike Lauffer, 5 Ed Vogel, 6 Leroy Booher, 7 Jay Frye, 8 Cindy Rhodes, 9 Mike Meck Jr, 10 Keith Deeter, 11 Brian Kauffman, 12 Paul Crynock Jr, 13 Chris Booher, 14 Adam Karlhime, 15 Jeremy Miller, 16 Ryan Peer, 17 Zach Szapka, 158 Jamie Rosenberger, 19 Ken Kauffman, 20 Nathan Vinosky, 21 Bruan Fry, 22 Lonnie McKenzie DNS Ryan Claycomb,Scott Caron, Wes McKeel, Adam Pletcher.

08-23-08

FRESH FACES WIN AT THUNDER VALLEY

As the season winds down, it was a night of first time winner celebration at Thunder Valley Saturday night. Three of the four feature event winners scored their first class win track win or first win ever. After coming so close so many times, Shawn Claar scored his first ever TV Late Model win with a convincing romp over the field. It was his first TV win since a Limited win in August 2004. Bill Replogle made a dramatic last lap move to snare his first career Pure Stock win, while Jay Schettini held off a furious attack to win his first ever 4 Cylinder feature. Greg Hainsey broke the mold with a win in the Semi Late feature.

Shawn Claar, who has led so many laps and been up front so often in the last few seasons had his car on a rail in Saturday's 25 lap Late Model event. He shot by pole sitter Darrell Dick on lap one and strode away from the field with every lap. Randy Burkholder took Dick for second on lap 4, just after a caution, but Claar sped away.

Over the next 15 all green flag laps, Claar opened up nearly a half lap lead. Cautions on lap 19, 22 and 24 closed Burkholder up on the leader, but Claar sped away on each restart to claim the win, reversing the finishing order of two weeks ago when Claar chased Burkholder to his first ever win.

Behind the two leaders, It was hot action in the pack as Scott Rhodes, Steve Everhart and Wayne Johnson came forward. Fetters took third on lap 8 but soon had Everhart breathing down his back. When Rhodes arrived he took fourth from Everhart on lap 14 but could never advance past Fetters who turned in another nice run to take third. At the finish, Rhodes was fourth, followed by Everhart, Johnson, Chuck Clise, Chris Rhodes, Dave Bloss and Dick. Dick and Claar won the heats.

The finish by Rhodes knocked another 5 points off Everhart's point lead. With only one race remainimg the pair will go head to head on Saturday one last time as Rhodes strives to snare his 7th consecutive track title and Everhart aims for his first ever.

Greg Hainsey held off the furious challenges of Brian Duffy to score his win. Bill McClellan was the early leader but Hainsey arrived from the pack by lap three. He got by McClellan on lap 4 and went off. Duffy got by McClellan on lap 8 and chased Hainsey down but could not get by. Greg Cornell and Jim Sayler, one and two in the point race, arrived on Duffy's bumper and the three went at it for the duration before Hainsey led the gang across the finish line. Duffy held on for second, followed by Cornell, Sayler, Ray Sheetz, Dave Korlewitz, Dave Whetstone, John Swartzwelder, Bob Torquato and Jonathan Hayman. Sayler and Hainsey won the heats.

For most of the Pure stock event it looked like rookie Drew Black would score his second career win. He burst out from the pole to a decent lead , but eventually Tom Warren and Bill Replogle arrived at the front and applied pressure. Black held on until lap nine when Warren slipped by with Replogle in pursuit. Replogle was all over Warren and on the last lap managed to get even. Coming off turn 4 to the finish, Replogle squeezed ahead to take his first ever TV win. Warren was second by a few feet, followed byJoe Railey, Jamie Kohan, John Hollis, Mike Siegele, Alan Lowery, Alicia Legross and Dave Lee. Black and Warren won the heats.

Although Jay Schettini led the distance in the 4 cylinder event it was again the night's best race. By lap 4, both Chris Booher and Martin Vinosky had moved to the front and ran Schettini down. They traded the second spot several times and one or the other of them

frequently was alongside Schettini. Booher made several runs at Schettini while holding off Vinosky all the way to the finish line before Schettini held on for the narrow win. Booher and Vinoksy came across the line side by side with Booher taking second.

Ed Vogel came from the last row to take fourth, followed by Dave Lambert, Leroy Booher, Mike Meck, Jay Frye, Brian Kauffman and Jamie Rosenberger. Nathan Vinosky and Lambert won the heats.

With only one event left, three of the point races are too tight o call. Everhart lead Rhodes in Late Model action, Cornell leads Sayler in the Semi Lates and Booher leads Vinosky in the 4 cylinders. Jason Vangilder will clinch the Pure Stock title almost by just starting that event.

LATE MODELS 25 1 Shawn Claar, 2 Randy Burkholder, 3 Greg Fetters, 4 Scott Rhodes, 5 Steve Everhart, 6 Wayne Johnson, 7 Chuck Clise, 8 Chris Rhodes, 9 Dave Bloss, 10 Darrell Dick, 11 Gene Kain, 12 Yvette Hahn, 13 Dan Swartzlander 14 Chuck Lepsch, 15 Tom Decker, 16 Dan Lee, 17 Doug Glessner, 18 Chad McClellan

SEMI LATES 20 1 Greg Hai8nsey, 2 Brian Duffy, 3 Greg Cornell, 4 Jim Sayler, 5 Ray Sheetz, 6 Dave Korlewitz, 7 Dave Whetstone, 8 John Swartzwelder, 9 Bob Torquato, 10 Jonathan Hayman, 11 TomMuhollen 12 Charlie Field, 13 Shawn Ringler, 14 Lou Orris, 15 Bil McClellan, 16 Ralph Natta, 17 Ray Wright, 18 Adam Fulton

PURE STOCKS 15 1 Bill Replogle, 2 Tom Warren, 3 Joe Railey, 4 Jamie Kohan, 5 John Hollis, 6 Mike Siegele, 7 Alan Lowery, 8 Nathan Miller, 9 Alicia Legross, 10 Dave Lee, 11 Jason Vangilder, 12 Drew Black, 13 Marty Johnson, 14 Willy Ling, 15 Russ Hartman

4 CYLINDERS 1 Jay Schettini, 2 Chris Booher, 3 Martin Vinosky, 4 Ed Vogel, 5 Dave Lambert, 6 Leeroy Booher, 7 Mike Meck, 8 Jay Frye, 9 Brian Kauffman, 10 Jamie Rosenberger, 11 Ken Kauffman, Nathan Vinosky, 12 Keith Deeter, 14 Joe Petyak, 15 Adam Karlhime

08-16-08

MYERS RALLIES LATE FOR THUNDER VALLEY WIN.

DJ Myers started in the pack, charged forward and used am exciting last lap pass to score the Late Model win at Thunder Valley Saturday night. The late move denied race long leader Greg Fetters his first ever Thunder Valley feature win, but was Myers' sixth. Pure Stock driver Jason Vangilder also won with a last lap pass to score his sixth career TV win. In other action, Jim Sayler emerged from the pack to take the Semi Late win and Brennan McCracken took the 4 Cylinder finale in his first ever TV start. In a statistical oddity, three of the four winners started seventh in their fields, a string broken only by Vangilder who started sixth.

Fetters shot by pole sitter Darrell Dick on lap one to take the Late Model lead. A first lap incident involving a Steve Everhart spin slowed the action but was to be the only caution of the event. On the restart, Fetters boomed ahead to a commanding lead as the pack sorted things out. Myers moved up on the battle for third between Doug Glessner and Scott Rhodes by lap 4 and they wrestled for several laps. With the bottom lane clogged up, Myers moved around the outside of Rhodes on lap 10 and made the same move on Glessner one lap later. He chased down Dick in five laps and took over second on lap 16.

After that Myers began the long charge to reel in Fetters who had moved out ahead. Without the aid of a caution, he shaved the distance slightly each lap before catching Fetters on lap 20. After several laps of jousting, Myers made the big move in turn one on lap 23 and edged ahead on lap 24. After the pass, he led the field to the finish line for his second 2008 feature win. Fetters took his career best TV finish at second, followed by Dick. Rhodes got by Glessner on the last lap for fourth, Glessner, Chuck Clise, Dave Bloss, Rod Sweitzer, Chad McClellan and Chris Rhodes completed the top 10. Fetters and Myers won the heats.

Point leader Everhart, who was involved in the only caution of the event on lap one, eventually retired with car trouble and was credited with 14th. That allowed Scott Rhodes to trim some off Everhart's point lead as he seeks his 7th consecutive track title with only two events left.

Bob Torquato was the early Semi Late leader. He attracted a crowd at the front as Dave Whetstone and Greg Hainsey moved in almost at the start. Jim Sayler caught the crowd by lap 4 and the race was on. Sayler hit the high side and zoomed from fourth to first on lap 9. From there on he couldn't shake them. When Hainsey got into second on lap 14, he chased Sayler but couldn't make the big move. A lap 16 caution gave everyone another chance but Sayler held on for the win. Dave Korlewitz rallied late to take third, ahead of Ray Sheetz, Greg Cornell, John Swartzwelder, Tom Mulhollen, Ray Wright, Lou Orris and Mike Collins. Sayler and Cornell won the heats.

Pure Stock rookie Drew Black seemed destined for his second career win as he held off a mob at the from t for 12 laps. Eventualy Shawn Dunmyer moved into second and made the move for the lead on lap 13. When the two leaders got together briefly, Jamie Kohan shot through for the lead with Jason Vangilder in tow. Vangilder made a last lap move to get by Kohan and take the win. Kohan was second, followed by Dunmyer, Brandon Lasalle, Dave Lee, Jason Gilliland, Nathan Miller, John Hollis, Alicia Legross and Tom Warren. Dunmyer and Black won the heats.

Dave Lambert was the early 4 Cylinder leader but soon he had Ed Vogel and Brennan McCracken in tow. They traded second on almost every lap while on Lambert's bumper. McCracken secured second on lap 12 and went all the way to the lead the next time around, holding on for the slim margin win. Lambert was second, ahead of Vogel, Martin Vinosky, Chris Booher, Leroy Booher, Jay Schettini, Nathan Vinosky, Keith Deeter and Ken Kauffman. Leroy Booher and Schettini won the heats.

LATE MODEL 25 LAPS: 1 DJ Myers, 2 Greg Fetters, 3 Darrel Dick, 4 Scott Rhodes, 5 Doug Glessner, 6 Chuck Clise, 7 Dave Bloss, 8 Rod Sweitzer, 9 Chad McClellan, 10 Chris Rhodes, 11 Yvette Hahn, 12 Tom Decker, 13 Dan Lee, 14 Steve Everhart, 15 Gene Kain.

SEMI LATE 20:1 Jim Sayler, 2 Greg Hainsey, 3 Dave Korlewitz, 4 Ray Sheetz, 5 Greg Cornell, John Swartzwelder, 7 Tom Mulhollen, 8 Ray Wright, 9 Lou Orris, 10 Mike Cillins, 11 Steve Malich, 12 Bob Torquato, 13 Jonathan Hayman, 14 Shawn Ringler, Dave Whetstone, 16 Ralph Natta, 17 Brian Duffy, 18, Charlie Field, Sr.

PURE STOCK 15 1 Jason Vangilder, 2 Jamie Kohan, 3 Shawn Dunmyer, 4 Brandon Lasalle, 5 Dave Lee, 6 Jason Gilliland, 7 Nathan Miller, 8 John Hollis, 9 Alicia Legross, 10 Tom Warren, 11 Jesse Johnson, 12 Drew Black, 13 Willy Ling, 14 Bill Klinger, DNS Chuck Renner

4CYLINDER 1 Brennan McCracken, Dave Lambert, 3 Ed Vogel, 4 Martin Vinosky, 5 Chris Booher, 6 Leroy Booher, 7 Jay Schettini, 8 Nathan Vinosky, 9 Keith Deeter, 10 Ken Kauffman, 11 Mike Meck Jr, 12 Brian Kauffman, 13 Jamie Rosenberger, 14 Ed Noll

08/09/08

BURKHOLDER BREAKS THE ICE AT THUNDER VALLEY

Everybody loves a first time feature winner and the fans at Thunder Valley were treated to two of them in action Saturday night. Third generation Late Model driver Randy Burkholder from Chambersburg, wired the field in the Late Model event to score his first ever career Late Model feature win. Later, former Limited driver Davy Lee took his first ever Pure Stock win and first win of any kind at Thunder Valley since 2000. In other action, Brian Duffy took his 17th career TV Semi Late win and Martin Vinosky, who won his career first only 4 weeks ago, took his third win in the last four 4 Cylinder events.

After a season of frustration at Thunder Valley, Burkholder's low point average awarded him with the pole position in the Late Model event.. He burst ahead at the start and ran 25

perfect laps , stretching out the field from start to finish. Shawn Claar closed on Burholder during the middle laps but as fast as he had closed, he lost ground to Burkholder by the finish. Behind the leaders, Scott Rhodes, Tyler Hershey and Steve Everhart were hard at it coming from mid pack. That battle was interrupted when Hershey spun on lap 6, one of only 2 cautions in the event.

At the finish, Burkholder held a 10 length advantage over Claar while Tom Decker Jr held off a furious challenge from Wayne Johnson to snare a career best third place finish. Yvette Hahn completed the top five. Doug Glessner, Everhart, Hershey , Dan Lee and Dave Bloss completed the top 10. Scott Rhodes was running in the pack when his mount failed on the last lap and he slowed dramatically. He was scored as 11th in the rundown, marking the first time since Thunder Valley reopened that he missed a top 6 finish.

Burkholder set the stage for his feature performance with a dominating heat race win. Tom Decker won the other LM heat.

Brian Duffy clawed through the field early then held off Jim Sayler late to score the Semi Late win. Duffy started sixth in the field and rolled in on early leader Dave Korlewitz by lap 4. He got by for the lead one lap later as Gerg Cornell and Sayler worked on Korlewitz. Cornell took second on lap 7 with Sayler in pursuit. Sayler got into second on lap 16, just before the last caution tightened the field. Sayler took a run at Duffy over the last 4 laps, but fell a length at the line.

Behind Duffy and Sayler at the end were Cornell, Korlewitz, Patrick McDonough, Jonathan Hayman, Dave Whetstone, Ray Sheetz, Bob Torquato, and Billy McClellan. Korlewitz and McDonough won the heats.

Dave Lee got by Willy Ling on lap one to lead the Pure Stock event. Tom Warren and Jason Vangilder both got by Ling one lap later and the chase was on. Warren was all over the leader for the 15 lap distance including a last lap effort, but Lee held on for the win, his first at TV since a Limited win in September 2000. Warren, Vangilder, Ling and Shawn Dunmyer completed the top 5. Drew Black, Joe Raley, Nathan Miller, John Hollis and Marty Johnson completed the top 10. Vangilder and Warren won the heats.

Luck was with Lee as his transmission blew up as he crossed the finish line and he had to be pushed to Victory Lane.

As usual, the 4 Cylinder finale was the best race of the night. Martin Vinosky got by early leader Mike Meck Jr on lap one then slid away from a wild multi car battle in the 15 lapper that went all the way green. Meck and the gang traded spots every lap with Meck falling back as far as fourth before he rallied late to retake second at the finish. Dave Lambert came from 12th in the field to score third at the end, ahead of Nathan Vinosky, Jay Schettini, Leroy Booher, Jay Frye, Keith Deeter , Chris Booher and Ken Kauffman. Vinosky started off his evening by winning his heat. Schettini won the other.

LATE MODELS 25 LAPS: 1 Randy Burkholder, 2 Shawn Claar, 3 Tom Decker Jr, 4 Wayne Johnson, 5 Yvette Hahn, 6 Doug Glessner, 7 Steve Everhart, 8 Tyler Hershey, 9 Dan Lee, 10 Dave Bloss, 11 Scott Rhodes, 12 Matt Sala, 13 Bill Burns, DNS: Darrell Dick, Chad McClellan, Derick Sala.

SEMI LATE 20 LAPS: 1 Brian Duffy, 2 Jim Sayler, 3 Greg Cornell, 4 Dave Korlewitz, 5 Patrick McDonough, 6 Jonathan Hayman, 7 Dav e Whetstone, 8 Ray Sheetz, 9 Bob Torquato, 10 Bill McClellan, 11 Tom Mulhollen, 12 Greg Hainsey, 13 John Swartzwelder, 14 Lou Orris, 15 Shawn Ringler, 16 John Fama

PURE STOCK 15 LAP 1 Dave Lee, 2 Tom Warren, 3 Jason Vangilder, 4 Willy Ling 5 Shawn Dunmyer, 6 Drew Black, 7 Joe Raley, 8 Nathan Miller 9 John Hollis, 10 Marty Johnson, 11 Russ Hartman, 12 Jamie Kohan, 13 Alicia Legross, DNS Justin Vaughn, Jason Gilliland.

4 CYLINDER 15 LAP 1 Martin Vinosky, 2 Mike Meck Jr, 3 Dave Lambert, 4 Nathan Vinosky, Jay Schettini, 6 Leroy Booher, 7 Jay Frye, 8 Keith Deeter, 9 Chris Booher, 10 Ken Kauffman, 11 Brian Kauffman, 12 Adam Karlhime, 13 Jamie Rosenberger, 14, Ed Vogle, DNS Lonnie McKenzie.

08/02/2008

MCCLELLAN SCORES AGAIN AT THUNDER VALLEY

Chad McClellan, probably 2008's breakout driver at Thunder Valley, held off Tyler Hershey to score another Late Model win at the track Saturday night. It was McClellan's third 2008 feature win and fifth of his career. In Semi Late action, Jim Sayler grabbed his third win in the last four weeks as he continued his mid season rush. Drew Black won his first ever feature event of any kind in the Pure Stock event and Martin Vinosky took the 4 Cylinder nightcap.

It took three tries to get the Late Model field underway as spinouts marred the first two attempts. On the third try, Shawn Claar took the lead from the pole over Randy Burkholder. Burkholder broke before the first lap was completed and drifted to the infield, allowing hard charging McClellan to rush into second. McClellan was all over Claar for several laps before he got by, but took over as the field completed lap 3. Tyler Hershey then caught Claar and that pair raced for second for several laps. Hershey got the spot on lap 5 and shadowed McClellan for the distance but could not get by.

As usual Scott Rhodes and Steve Everhart were charging forward in the field. They both got by Claar on lap nine before Claar retired with car trouble, and joined the lead chase. But McClellan held off the trio and scored the 25 lap win. Hershey was second, followed by Everhart and Rhodes. Greg Fetters was fifth. Darrell Dick, Chuck Clise, Dave Bloss, Yvette Hahn and Doug Glessner completed the top 10. Claar and Burkholder won the heats.

The event marked the return to Late Model action of long retired Randy Kimmel. He drove a Gene Kain team car but was a non finisher.

Dave Korlewitz was the early Semi Late leader as Sayler charged forward from his eighth place starting spot. Sayler was second by lap 4 and the race was on. He took the lead on lap 4 and went the distance. Greg Cornell moved in to the runner up spot on lap 11 but could not muster a pass on the winner before settling for second at the line. Greg Hainsey recovered from a lap one spinout to charge all the way up to third at the finish. Korlewitz hung on for fourth, ahead of Bob Torquato, Ray Sheetz, Jonathan Hayman, Lou Orris, John Swartzwelder and Ray Wright. Hainsey and Sayler won the heats.

Drew Black bought last years championship winning Pure Stock during the off season and the rookie driver made good on his investment. After a few weeks of getting his feet wet, the rookie ran the race of his life to score his career first victory. He started on the pole and led the duration of the 15 lapper and never set a wheel wrong. Behind Black was the battle as Nathan Miller, Davy Lee, and Shawn Dunmyer went hard at it. Late in the race Tom Warren and Jason Vangilder arrived at the front too. The only caution in the race flew on lap 13, giving everyone a shot at Black but he ran off to the momentous win. Dunmyer secured second late and finished there, ahead of Davy Lee, Tom Warren, Vangilder, Jamie Kohan, Willy Ling, John Hollis, Miller and Mike Siegele. Lee and Dunmyer won the heats.

Brian Kauffman was the early 4 cylinder leader before Jay Schettini got by on lap 2. Martin Vonosky took over after a good battle with Schettini and led the distance in the event which ran through all green. Schettini held off a three car battle while chasing Vinosky as Chris Booher, Karl Bailey and Jim Tunstall rushed forward. At the finish it was Vinosky, Schettini with a career best finish, Booher and Tunstall. Nathan Vinosky, Bailey, Dave Lambert, Mike Meck Jr, Jay Frye and Cindy rRhodes completed the top 10. Leeroy Booher and Chris Booher won the heats.

LATE MODEL 25: 1 Chad McClellan, 2 Tyler Hershey, 3 Steve Everhart, 4 Scott Rhodes, 5 Greg Fetters, 6 Darrell Dick, 7 Chuck Clise, 8 Dave Bloss, 9 Yvette Hahn, 10 Doug Glessner, 11 Dan Lee, 12 Ron Delano, 13 Randy Kimmel, Shawn Claar, 15 Wayne Johnson, 16 Gene Kain, 17 Bill Burns, 18 Randy Burkholder.

SEMI LATE 20 1 Jim Sayler, 2 Greg Cornell, 3 Greg Hainsey, 4 Dave Korlewitz, 5 Bob Torquato, 6 Ray Sheetz, Jonathan Hayman, 8 Lou Orris, 9 John Swartzwelder, 10 Ray Wright, 11 Ralph Natta, 12 Tom Mulhollen, 13 Shawn Ringler, 14 Patrick McDonough

PURE STOCK 15 1 Drew Black, 2 Shawn Dunmyer, 3 Davy Lee, 4 Tom Warren 5 Jason Vangilder, 6 Jamie Kohan, 7 Willy Ling, 8 John Hollis, 9 Nathan Miller, 10 Mike Siegele, 11 Jason Gilliland, 12 Preston Imler, 13 Marty Johnson, 14 Jason Vaughn, DNS Russ Hartman

4 CYLINDER 15 1 Martin Vinosky, 2 Jay Schettini, 3 Chris Booher, 4 Jim Tunstall, 5 Nathan Vinosky, 6 Karl Bailey, 7 Dave Lambert, 8 Mike Meck Jr, 9 Jay Frye, 10 Cindy Rhodes, 11 Brian Kauffman, 12 Keith Deeter, 13 Leeroy Booher, 14 Joe Kause

07/26/2008

MYERS REWARDS TEAM FOR LONG TOW WITH THUNDER VALLEY WIN

After probably the longest tow of anyone in the pit area, DJ Myers scored the big win in Late Model action at Thunder Valley Saturday night. Myers and the Gunter’s Honey team had been at a race event in Tennessee on Friday before deciding to double back to Pennsylvania for Saturday action. It was his fifth career TV feature win but the first in over a year. In other action, the Semi Lates ran their longest event of the year and Jimmy Sayler took the win in that 40 lapper. Jason Vangilder continued his successful 2008 season with another Pure Stock win and Karl Bailey won the 4 Cylinder closer.

DJ Myers lined up seventh in the Late Model field but began his rush forward at the start. He was fourth behind early leader Shawn Claar by lap two. As Claar led, Chad McClellan slid by Tom Decker for second on lap 5 and Myers got by for third on lap 7. Both closed in on Claar and the battle was on. McClellan worked the low side on Claar for several laps unsuccessfully for the lead. With the bottom pretty much covered, Myers blew to the top side and rushed by McClellan for second on lap 12. One lap later he performed the same move on Claar and took the lead. After that he stretched out the field for the win.

Action was hot and heavy in the pack as Scott Rhodes and Steve Everhart blasted forward. They arrived to battle Claar for second and Rhodes secured that spot on lap 18.

When both Claar and McClellan retired on lap 21, Rhodes and Everhart found themselves battling for second, but Myers was safely ahead to score the win. Rhodes took second, followed by Everhart, Wayne Johnson and Randy Burkholder. Dave Bloss, Rance Garlock, Lincoln Ritchey, Rodney Mock and Khi Swanger completed the top 10. McClellan and Johnson won the heats.

The Semi Late event started wildly as a multi car pile up occurred on lap 1. Dave Whetstone was the big loser in that fracas as his car whipped air born without flipping before bouncing back down. Pole sitter Patrick McDonough was the early leader but found teammate Jim Sayler on his bumper as the field restarted after the big crash. Sayler took over on lap 3 bringing Brian Duffy to the front with him. From that point on, McDonough had to hold off the challenges of Duffy but he prevailed for his second 2008 Semi Late win.

Greg Cornell ran third in the pack and finished there and Chad McClellan was fourth. McClellan was driving the 98 of Billy McClellan and he came from the rear of the field after pitting during the lap 1 crash. Steve Lowery came from dead last in the starting field to claim fifth. Tom Mulhollen, Ray Sheetz, Jonathan Hayman, John Swartzwelder and Dave Korlewitz completed the top 10. Sayler and Cornell won the heats.

Willy Ling held off the furious charge of Jamie Kohan for most of the Pure Stock event with Tom Warren and Jason Vangilder in tow. Kohan spent most of the first 10 laps either behind or beside Ling, before Vangilder got by for second on lap 12. Vangilder took the lead one lap later and scampered to the win. Kohan resumed his battle with Ling after Vangilder got by and took second on the last lap. Ling was third. Shawn Dunmyer and Tyler Ritchey completed the top 5.

It was another wild 4 Cylinder event as four and five cars swapped the top spots. Dave Lambert was the early leader and he held off the wild mob at the front. Brian Kauffman, Chris Booher and finally Karl Bailey made runs at Lambert before Bailey finally got by on lap 7. Booher also got be and wrestled with Bailey to the end. Lambert stayed in the mix until Martin Vinosky got by on lap 14. Bailey held off Booher for the win, followed by Martin Vinosky and Lambert. Daniel Adams in his first start was fifth. Lambert and Kauffman won the heats.

LATE MODEL 25 1 DJ Myers, 2 Scott Rhodes, 3 Steve Everhart, 4 Wayne Johnson, 5 Randy Burkholder, 6 Dave Bloss, 6 Rance Garlock, 8 Lincoln Ritchey, 9 Rodney Mock, 10 Khi Swanger, 11 Tom Decker, 12 Shawn Claar, 13 Chad McClellan, 14 Dan Lee, 15 Gene Kain, 16 Yvette Hahn, 17 Bill Burns, 18 Steve Mock.

SEMI LATE 40 1 Jim Sayler, 2 Brian Duffy, 3 Greg Cornell, 4 Chad McClellan, 5 Steve Lowery, 6 Tom Mulhollen, 7 Ray Sheetz, Jonathan Hayman, 9 John Swartzlander, 10 Dave Korlewitz, 11 Dennis Collins, 12 Bob Torquato, 13 Patrick McDonough, 14 Jason Breegle, Ray Wright, 16 Dave Whetstone, DNS, Lou Orris

PURE STOCK 15 1 Jason Vangilder, 2 Jamie Kohan, 3 Willy Ling, 4 Shawn Dunmyer, 5 Tyler Ritchey, 6 Russ Hartman, 7 Nathan Miller, 8 Tom Warren, 9 Dave Lee, 10 Marty Johnson, 11 Carl Snare, 12 Lou Orris, 13 Jason Gilliland

4 CYLINDER 15 1 Karl Bailey, 2 Chris Booher, 3 Martin Vinosky, 4 Dave Lambert, 5 Daniel Adams, 6 Ed Vogel, 7 Nathan Vinosky, 8 Leroy Booher, 9 Jesse Laughard, Jay Fry, 11 Adam Laughard, 12 Mike Meck Jr, 13 Adam Karlheim, 14 Jim Noble, 15 Keith Deeter, 16 Brian Kauffman, DNS Adam Pletcher.

07/19/2008

EVERHART CRUISES AGAIN AT THUNDER VALLEY

Steve Everhart continued his 2008 tear at Thunder Valley with a dominating performance in the Late Model event Saturday night. It was Everhart's fourth win of the season and the 10th of his Thunder Valley career. While Everhart continued his 2008 run, two other drivers scored their first ever Thunder Valley wins. Greg Hainsey won the 20 lap Semi Late event and Martin Vinosky took his career first 4 Cylinder win. Shawn Dunmyer won the Pure Stock event.

Shawn Claar was the Late Model pole sitter and he took the early lead. After two early cautions, Claar strung out the field until Everhart arrived by about lap 5. Everhart ran Claar down and shot by for the lead on lap 8. From that point on Everhart dominated the event , leaving Claar to battle the field. Tyler Hershey arrived on Claar's bumper by lap nine and the blue cars went at it for 7 laps until Hershey got by. Scott Rhodes completed his rin from ninth as he passed Claar for third on lap 20, but Everhart was well ahead and romped to the win.

At the finish it was Everhart, Hershey and Rhodes at the front. Shawn McGarvey came from 11th to fourth, while Claar completed the top 5. Tom Decker Jr, Darrell Dick, Chad McClellan, Dan Lee and Shane Beegle completed the top 10. Claar and McClellan won the heats.

Greg Hainsey has been close for weeks but finally scored his Semi Late win. Billy McClellan was the early leader but the crowd arrived fast. Ray Sheetz got by McClellan on lap 5. His lead was short lived as Hainsey took over one lap later. Hainsey led a six car pack at the front but never wavered. Sheetz, going for his first career win, kept the pressure on until Greg Cornell squeezed by on lap 18, but Cornell could not get Hainsey before the finish.

Hainsey recorded the 20 lap win, ahead of Cornell, Sheetz, Jim Sayler, Dave Whetstone, Jonathan Hayman, Tom Mulhollen, Jason Breegle, McClellan and John Swartzwelder. Cornell and Sayler won the heats.

Shawn Dunmyer took the lead early but had to withstand the furious challenge from Jason Vangilder to score the Pure Stock win. Vangilder arrived from his 8th starting spot on lap 7 and gave Dunmyer all he could handle for the last half of the event but could not complete the pass before the end.. Vangilder settled for second ahead of Jason Gilliland, Jamie Kohan and John Hollis. Dave Lee, Tom Warren, Russ Hartman, Justin Vaughn and Chuck Renner completed the top 10. Gilliland and Warren won the heats. Gilliland's win was a photo finish over Vangilder, a forecast of the feature result.

In the best race of the night, Martin Vinosky scored his first ever TV 4 Cylinder win by surviving a wild 3 way lead battle. Vinosky held off Brian Kauffman early until Nathan Vinosky and Chris Booher arrived from deep in the pack. Booher took second on lap 4 and the race was on. In wild action, Booher got by on lap nine but Martin upped his game and retook the lead on lap 12. Booher got back in front to lead lap 14, but Vinosky swept back by on the last lap for the win. Nathan Vinosky was all over the leaders but settled for third as they finished in a tight group. Kauffman held on for fourth, ahead of Scott Shirk, Dave Lambert, Ken Kauffman, Jay Frye, Keith Deeter and Ed Vogel. The Vinoskys won the heats.

LATE MODEL 25 Steve Everhart, 2 Tyler Hershey, 3 Scott Rhodes, 4 Shawn McGarvey, 5 Shawn Claar, 6 Tom Decker Jr, 7 Darrell Dick, 8 Chad McClellan, 9 Dan Lee, 10 Shane Beegle, 11 Dave Bloss, 12 Travis Calhoun, 13 Gene Kain, 14 Yvette Hahn, 15 Doug Glessner, 16 Jeff Miller, DNS Dan Swartzlander, Tom Decker Sr.

SEMI LATE 20 1 Greg Hainsey, 2 Greg Cornell, 3 Ray Sheetz, 4 Jim Sayler, 5 Dave Whetstone, 6 JOnathan Hayman, 7 Tom Mulhollen, 8 Jason Breegle, 9 Bill McClellan, 10 John Swartzwelder, 11 Lou Orris, 12 Ray Wright, 13 Charlie Field, 14 Bob Torquato, DNS Steve Lowery

PURE STOCKS 15 1 Shawn Dunmyer, 2 Jason Vangilder, 3 Jason Gilliland, 4 Jamie Kohan, 5 John Hollis, 6 Dave Lee, 7 Tom Warren, 8 Russ Hartman, 9 Justin Vaughn, 10 Chuck Renner, 11 Chuck Weyandt, Drew Black, 13 Mike Shaffer, 14 Willy Ling, 15 Preston Imler, DNA Nathan Miller

4 CYLINDER 15 1 Martin Vinosky, 2 Chris Booher, 3 Nathan Vinosky, 4 Brian Kauffman, 5 Scott Shirk, 6 Dave Lambert, 7 Ken Kauffman, 8 Jay Frye, 9 Keith Deeter, 10 Ed Vogel, 11 Cindy Rhodes, 12 Dave Green, Leroy Booher, 14 Jay Schettini, DNS Jeff Dillinger

07/12/2008

CHAD MCCLELLAN SCORES AGAIN AT THUNDER VALLEY

After losing a win a few weeks ago to a mechanical miscue, Chad McClellan roared to the Late Model win Saturday night at Thunder Valley. It was McClellan's 4th career Thundre Valley LM win. Other winners on Allied Milk Producers night were Jim Sayler, Jason VanGilder and Chris Booher.

Pole sitter Dave Bloss broke into the early lead in the Late Model event and he stretched out the field in the early laps. McClellan had burst from his 4th starting spot into second by lap 2 and led the challengers as by mid race they reeled Bloss in. MccClellan made the move on lap 15 but the two cars tangled a bit and Shawn McGarvey shot into the picture. McGarvey was able to get by Bloss but not McClellan as Bloss fell to third. McGarvey kept it interesting but could not mount a pass on McClellan and settled for second at the line. A last lap caution gave everyone a last chance but McClellan prevailed.

Wayne Johnson completed his race forward with a late race pass of Bloss and secured third at the line. Bloss was fourth while Scott Rhodes ran his usual steady race to claim another top 5. Doug Glessner, Bryan Bernheisel, Steve Everhart , Travis Clahoun and Yvette Hahn completed the top ten. McClellan and Dave Bloss won the heats.

Jim Sayler came from deep in the field to score his first Thunder Valley Semi Late win since 2004. Swamp Creek teammate Patrick McDonough was the pole sitter and early leader. Jonathan Hayman was the early chaser but eventually Saylor and Greg Hainsey moved into position. After several laps of tussle, Saylor got by on lap nine. Hainsey also got by and chased Sayler for the duration. McDonough found himself holding off 2008 class dominator Greg Cornell who had won 4 of the 5 events so far as well as chasing the leaders.

At the finish, Sayler was the winner as Hainsey settled for second for the second week in a row. McDonough was third ahead of Cornell who did not win for only the second time this year. Ray Sheetz, Dave Whetstone, Hayman, Jason Breegle, John Swartzwelder and Dennis Collins completed the top 10. McDonough and Cornell won the heats.

Jason Vangilder turned sure defeat into his second Pure Stock win of the season. He was involved in an incident on the initial start and went pitside, returning to action just as the field took the green. Pole sitter Jamie Kohan took the lead at the start. Second starter Nathan Miller thrilled the field as he did a 360 in front of the pack on lap 1 which caused almost every other competitor to take evasive action. Although almost everyone hit someone else, miraculously, no one stopped and the race went on. The result was a huge lead for Kohan with Tom Warren in pursuit. Vangilder meanwhile was charging forward .

When Warren had a flat tire on lap 5, Willy ling inherited second and it was a grop at the front. Van Gilder worked his way through the lead pack and secured second on lap 10 before slipping by Kohan on lap 12. Tyler Ritchey moved into contention into second on lap 14 but settled for second at the line. Nathan Miller ran a fine race after his thrilling first lap to take third. Dave Lee and Drew Black came from deep in the pack to complete the top 5. Warren returned from the pits to take sixth, followed by Justin Milburn, Russ Hartman, Dave Imler and Jesse Johnson. Shawn Dunmyer and Vangilder won the heats

For the second week in a row, Chris Booher was the 4 cylinder winner and this one was almost as exciting as last week's photo finish. Booher started 8th in the field and was on the march forward as Brian Kauffman led the field. Booher filtered through a wild 5 car chase pack as the field went the first 10 laps green. Booher emerged in second on lap 11 and immediately went to work on Kauffman. Booher finally squeezed by on lap 14 and led the last lap.

Kauffman was a close second, followed by Nathan Vinoski, Rob Prinkley, Jay Schettini, Adam Dillinger, Ed Vogel, Keith Deeter, Mike Meck and Jamie Rosenberger. Booher and Martin Vinosky won the heats. Vinosky later thrilled the crowd when his engine erupted into a spectacular fireball in lap 10 of the feature. The resulting oildown resulted in a red flag period .

LATE MODEL 25 LAPS: 1 Chad McClellan, 2 Shawn McGarvey, 3 Wayne Johnson, 4 Dave Bloss, 5 Scott Rhodes, 6 Doug Glessner, 7 Bryan Bernheisel, 8 Steve Everhart, 9 Travis Clahoun, 10 Yvette Hahn, 11 Troy Shield, 12 Dan Lee, 13 Randy Burkholder, 13 Tyler Hershey, 15 Bill Burns, 16 Gene Kain, DNS Shawn Claar

SEMI LATE 20 1 Jim Sayler, 2 Greg Hainsey, Pat McDonough, 4 Greg Cornell, 5 Ray Sheetz, 6 Dave Whetstone, 7 Jonathan Hayman, 8 Jason Breegle, 9 John Swartzlander, 10 Dennis Collins, 11 Tom Mulhollen 12 Bill McClellan, 13 Ray Wright, 14 Lou Orris

PURE STOCK 15 1 Jason Vangilder, 2 Tyler Ritchey, 3 Nathan Miller, 4 Davy Lee, 5 Drew Black, 6 Tom Warren, 7 Justin Milburn, 8 Russ Hartman, 9 Dave Imler, 10 Jesse Johnson, 11 Shawn Dunmyer, 12 Willy ling, 13 Jamie Kohan, 14 Jason Gilliland 15 Mike Shaffer, 16 BowRay Walyko, 17 Dennis Landis, 18 Preston Imler, 19 Chuck Renner

4 CYLINDER 1 Chris Booher 2 Brian Kauffman, 3 Nathan Vinosky, 4 Rob Prinkey, 5 Jay Schettini, 6 Adam Dillinger, 7 Ed Vogel, 8 Keith Deeter, 9 Mike Meck Jr, 10 Jamie Rosenberger, 11 LeRoy Booher, 12 Jesse Laughard, 13 Martin Vinosky, 14 Adam Pletcher, 15 Joe Kause, 16 Cindy Rgodes, DNS Dave Lambert

07/05/2008

EVERHART DOMINATES THUNDER VALLEY HOLIDAY EVENT

Steve Everhart continued his 2008 success story at Thunder Valley as he dominated the Late Model portion of the Windmill 100 at the track. It was Everhart's third win in the five programs so far this year and the ninth of his TV career. In the other segments of the Windmill 100, Greg Cornell came from deep in the field to score his fourth 2008 Semi Late win and Chris Booher snatched a photo finish win in the 4 Cylinder closer.

Everhart started fifth in the Late Model 33 lapper but in a power move, had the lead before the completion of lap 1. From that point he was not seriously challenged during the marathon which became more so as the field compiled 18 caution sessions. Behind Everhart the racing was furious as Scott Rhodes, Tom Myers, DJ Myers and Jeff Miller worked through the field. Rhodes came from ninth spot to take second on lap 8 from Chad McClellan, but he was soon hounded by DJ Myers. Myers took that spot on lap 2 and appeared that he had enough to mount a challenge to the leading Everhart, but his car broke on lap 15.

With Myers in the pits, Everhart was not seriously challenged to the finish. Rhodes resumed his position to finish second while Tom Myers and Jeff Miller staged late race rallies to take third and fourth at the line. Wayne Johnson came from 11th to complete the top 5. Bryan Bernheisel, Dave Bloss, Rance Garlock, Doug Glessner and Darrell Dick completed the top ten. Everhart started his big night early as he won his heat. DJ Myers and McClellan won the other LM heats. Dick was credited with the consi win.

It was extremely fortuitous for Everhart that the event was 33 laps and not longer, as something broke in the rear of the car as he took the checkered flag and the car gyrated wildly. He barely got it into Victory Lane and had to be towed to the pits.

Unlike the Late Model event, the Semi late 33 lapper ran off cleanly. There was only one yellow in the distance which came on lap 13 Greg Hainsey was the early leader and had Patrick McDonough all over him early on. Cornell came ripping forward from his ninth place start to arrive at third by lap 6. As the field weaved through heavy lapped traffic , Cornell got by McDonough on lap 8 and went after Hainsey. It took 8 more laps to wrest the lead from Hainsey. but Cornell was not to be denied. Hainsey kept it close and made one last charge at the finish line but he settled for second by a car length at the finish while holding off McDonough . Jason Breegle, Dave Brown, Ray Sheetz, Dave Whetstone, John Whitfield, Tom Mulhollen and John Swartzwelder completed the top 10.

Breegle, Hainsey and Jim Sayler won the heats. 19 of the 24 starters were around at the finish making for wild excitement as the leaders dealt with the traffic.

The best race of the night was the 4 Cylinder 33 lap finale. It was a Booher family reunion at the front as cousins Chris and LeRoy went for the win. Martin Vinosky was the early leader but it was a six car brawl at the front. Mike Lauffer took over on lap 4 but stopped on the track on lap 6. At that point Leroy Booher took over. It took Chris Booher 4 more laps to get into second and the race was on. For the remainder of the race they shadowed each other with Chris making several unsuccessful moves.

Chris took the lead on lap 27 only to lose it back on lap 29. On the last lap, Chris made one last effort coming off turn 4 and snared the win in a photo finish. Nathan Vinosky was third, followed by Paul Crynock, Martin Vinosky, Jay Fry, Cindy Rhodes, Matt Krause, Ed Vogel and Mike Meck Jr. Mike Lauffer and Chris Booher won the heats

LATE MODEL 33 LAP 1 Steve Everhart 2 Scott Rhodes, 3 Jeff Miller, 4 Tom Myers, 5 Wayne Johnson, 6 Bryan Bernheisel, 7 Dave Bloss, 8 Rance Garlock, 9 Doug Glessner, 10 Darrell Dick, 11 Travis Calhoun, 12 Troy Shield, 13 Khi Swanger, 14 Gene Kain, 15 Bill Burns, 16 Chad McClellan, 17 Tom Decker Jr, 18 Jim Struble, 19 DJ Myers, 20 Shawn Claar, 21 Sam Grindlesberger, 22 Bill Krause, 23 Matt Sala, 24 Dan Lee, 25 Shawn McGarvey DNS Derek Sala, Bill Krause

SEMI LATE 33 LAP 1 Greg Cornell 2 Greg Hainsey, 3 Jim Sayler, 4 Jason Breegle, 5 Dave Brown, 6 Ray Sheetz, 7 Dave Whetstone, 8 John Whitfield, 9 Tom Mulhollen, 10 John Swartzwelder, 11 Brian Duffy, 12 Lou Orris, 13 Bill Pluta, 14 Bill McClellan, 15 BowRay Walyko 16 Gary Landis, 17 Jonathan Hayman, 18 Patrick McDonough, 19 Steve Malich, 20 Ray Wright, 21 Dave Korlewitz, 22 John Hollis, 23 Bob Torquato, DNS Mark Field

4 CYLINDER 33 LAP 1 Chris Booher, 2 Leroy Booher 3 Nathan Vinosky, 4 Paul Crynock, 5 Martin Vinosky, 6 Jay Fry, 7 Cindy Rhodes, 8 Matt Krause, 9 Ed Vogel, 10 Mike Meck Jr, 11 Joe Kause, 12 Dave Green, 13 Jay Schetini 14 Brian Kauffman, 15 Keith Deeter, 16 Jamie Rosenberger, 17 Mike Lauffer, 18 Jason Riggleman, 19 Bill Noll. 20 Ryan Claycomb,

06/21/08

RHODES WINS FIRST OF 2008 AT THUNDER VALLEY

After being plagued by bad weather all season, Thunder Valley danced through the raindrops to complete Saturday night's events. Scott Rhodes added to his track leading career win total by grabbing his first Late Model win of the season. It was Rhodes 31st career win at the track. Greg Cornell came from deep in the field to score his third win of the season in Semi Late action, while Shawn Dunmyer and Rob Prinkey took their first 2008 wins in Pure Stock and 4 cylinder action.

Pole sitter Dave Bloss took off from the field in the Late Model 25 lapper. but by lap three he had a bumper full of Chad McClellan. McClellan zoomed by on lap 4 and took off as Bloss was left to battle with Rodney Sweitzer and Scott Rhodes for second. After yet another great run, third place Sweitzer broke on lap 14 leaving Rhodes to battle Bloss but by then he had company. Steve Everhart, who had gone to the rear after a lap one incident, had made it all the way to the front and injected himself into the battle for second.

That all changed as McClellan's car died on lap 18, forcing himself pitside. At that point Bloss retook the lead and the battle was up front. Rhodes got by for the lead on lap 20, and Bloss and Everhart battled for second for the last 5 laps. At the finish, Rhodes moved out to a 10 length win while Bloss held off Everhart for second at the line. Yvette Hahn scored her best ever Thunder Valley LM finish at fourth, followed by Shawn Claar, Tom Decker Jr, Gene Kain, Wayne Johnson, Doug Glessner and Travis Calhoun.

Late Model action started early as a multi car pileup on the first lap of heat race action saw Shane Beegle take a wild flip in turn two. He was uninjured but was done for the night. Bloss and McClellan won the heats.

Greg Cornell continued as the 2008 Semi Late star as he scored his third win in this season's four events so far. He started 7th in the field and started marching forward from lap one. Pat McDonough was the early leader and held off a host of challengers. Greg Hainsey was second but inherited the lead when McDonough broke on lap 10. By that time, Cornell was right behind Hainsey and the battle was for the lead. Cornell got by on lap 15 and led the duration. Jim Saylor slipped by Hainsey on that lap as well and chased Cornell to the finish. Hainsey was third followed by Dave Whetstone, Jason Breegle, Brian Duffy, Billy McClellan, Ray Wright, Tom Mulhollen and Roy Whitfield. Sayler and Greg Cornell won the heats.

Shawn Dunmyer led from start to finish in the Pure Stock 15 lapper. He had lots of company as the top 6 ran in a pack but he ran every lap perfectly and held on. Dave Lee rushed through for second at the line, followed by Jason Vangilder, Nathan Miller, Jamie Kohan, Tom Warren, Marty Johnson, BowRay Walyko, John Hollis and Mike Shaffer. Lee and Jason Gilliland won the heats.

Rob Prinkey, plagued by horrible luck since a big 2007 crash here, returned with a vengeance. He took the 4 Cylinder lead on lap 1 and easily strung out the field for the win. Behind Prinkey the action was wild as 4 drivers swapped the next spots with the added attraction of a wild lightning show lit the sky. At the finish, Prinkey won over Nathan Vinosky, LeRoy Booher, Ed Vogel, Jay Schettini, Keith Deeter, Chris Booher, Jamie Rosenberger, Mike Meck and Adam Karlhime. Brian Kauffman and Nathan Vinosky won the heats.

The program was run off under the threat of rain and the actual appearance of rain as a shower hit the speedway during the last Late Model heat. After a delay of just over an hour, the show was spun off quickly and just in time. As Prinkey ended Victory Lane action, the sky opened up and a deluge hit the track.

LATE MODELS: 1 Scott Rhodes, 2 Dave Bloss, 3 Steve Everhart, 4 Yvette Hahn, 5 Shawn Claar, 6 Tom Decker Jr, 7 Gene Kain, 8 Wayne Johnson, 9 Doug Glessner, 10 Travis Calhoun, 11 Dan Lee, 12 Tom Decker Sr, 13 Derek Sala, 14 Chad McClellan, 15 Matt Sala, 16 Rodney Sweitzer, DNS Jim Struble, Shane Beegle

SEMI LATE: 1 Greg Cornell, 2 Jim Sayler, 3 Greg Hainsey, 4 Dave Whetstone, 5 Jason Breegle, 6 Brian Duffy, 7 Billy McClellan, 8 Ray Wright, 9 Tom Mulhollen, 10 Roy Whitfield, 11 John Swartzwelder, 12 Lou Orris, 13 Ray Sheetz, Pat McDonough, DNS Bob Torquato.

PURE STOCK: 1 Shawn Dunmyer, 2 Dave Lee, 3 Jason Vangilder, 4 Nathan Miller, 5 Jamie Kohan, 6 Tom Warren, 7 Marty Johnson, 8 BowRay Walyko, 9 John Hollis, 10 Mike Shaffer, 11 Jason Gilliland, 12 Russ Hartman, Justin Vaughn, DNS Gary Landis

4 CYLINDER: 1 Rob Prinkey, 2 Nathan Vinosky, 3 Leroy Booher. 4 Ed Vogel, 5 Jay Schettini, 6 Keith Deeter, 7 Chris Booher, 8 Jamie Rosenberger, 9 Mike Meck Jr, 10 Adam Karlhime, 11 Dave Friend, 12 Brian Kauffman, 13 Martin Vinosky

06/07/08

EVERHART RIDES OLD STEED TO SUCCESS AT THUNDER VALLEY

On a night which was celebrated as the 11th anniversary of Thunder Valley's opener, Steve Everhart whipped out his 10 year old Late Model and then whipped the Late Model field Saturday night. Everhart, who announced to the crowd that he had encountered some trouble with his newer mount, kept the nostalgia theme alive by announcing that he had won with an 8 year old motor. It was Everhart's 8th career Thunder Valley Late Model win. In other action, former Street stock standout Brian Duffy emerged his first Semi Late win in years at the track, Tom Warren took the Pure stock event, and first time visitor Jesse Laughard took the 4 Cylinder closer.

It took three attempts to get the Late Model feature underway as multiple car spins were the order of events. On the third attempt which went off single file, pole sitter Dave Bloss ran off from the field. Scott Rhodes secured second on lap 3 and then set about going after Bloss. Meanwhile Everhart was coming hard from his fifth starting spot. He arrived at the lead battle and set to work.

By lap 10, he secured second from Rhodes and went off after Bloss. After several laps of battling, he shot by on lap 13 for the lead. From that point on, he stretched out over the field to the finish. Rodney Sweitzer, who lined up 7th in the grid ran the race of his Thunder Valley career as he staged a late race charge. He and Rhodes both blew by Bloss on lap 14, then he got Rhodes for second on lap 18. But Sweitzer never caught Everhart and settled for a career best second at the line. Rhodes finished third, followed by Bloss, Wayne Johnson, Shawn Claar, Chad McClellan, Yvette Hahn, Dan Lee and Gene Kain. Rhodes and McClellan won the heats.

Brian Duffy lined up 5th in the Semi Late grid and came forward as Jim Saylor led early. Duffy caught Saylor and got by for the lead on lap 6. Saylor then had to hold off Greg Hainsey for the spot in a battle which raged the entire event. A series of yellows late in the event proved to be Hainsey's undoing as he spun on a lap 19 restart, collecting Jonathan Hayman in the process. That allowed Saylor some relief to chase Duffy on the one lap shootout but Duffy held on. Saylor was second, followed by Jason Breegle who had started dead last in the field, Ray Sheetz, Greg Cornell, Tom Mollholland, Tom Spangler, Dave Whetstone, Hayman and Hainsey. Hainsey and Duffy won the heats.

Tom Warren got by Shawn Dunmyer on lap 2 and led the duration of the Pure Stock event. Dunmyer found himself holding off pesky Jason Vangilder for the entire race, but held on to finish second at the line. Vangilder was third, followed by Tim Laughard, Davy Lee, John Hollis and Jason Gilliland. Vangilder and Warren won the heats.

The 4 Cylinder finale started off with a bang as 8 cars piled up in turn two. Brian Kauffman took the early lead before Leroy Booher took over with Laughard in pursuit. Late in the race, Booher's car started to experience issues and Laughard shot by for the win in his Saturn. Dave Friend was second, followed by Jamie Rosenberger, Booher and Adam Karlhime. Chris Booher and Nathan Vinosky won the heats.

LATE MODELS 25 LAPS 1 Steve Everhart, 2 Rod Sweitzer, 3 Scott Rhodes, 4 Dave Bloss, 5 Wayne Johnson, 6 Shawn Claar, 7 Chad McClellan, 8 Yvette Hahn, 9 Dan Lee, 10 Gene Kain, 11 Shawn McGarvey, Tom Decker, 13 Derek Sala, 14 Jim Struble, 15 Dopug Glessner, 16 Shane Beegle, 17 Matt Sala

SEMI LATE 20 LAP 1 Brian Duffy, 2 Jim Saylor, 3 Jason Breegle, 4 Ray Sheetz, 5 Greg cornell, 6 Tom Mollholland, 7 Tom Spangler, 9 Jonathan Hayman, 10 Greg Hainsey, 11 Jeff Chipikitis, 12 John Swartzwelfder, 13 Roger Shaulis, 14 Jason Boncoski, 15 Charlie Field, 16 Patrick McDonough, 17 Lou Orris, 18 Bill Pluta, 19 Kristin Etling

PURE STOCK 15 LAP 1 Tom Warren 2 Shawn Dunmyer, 3 Jason Vangilder 4 Tim Laughard, 5 Dave Lee, 6 John Hollis, 7 Jason Gilliland, 8 Joe Raley, 9 Greg Custer, 10 Jamie Kohan. 11 Russ Hartman, 12 Nathan Miller, 13 Don Lybarger, 14 Jesse Johnson, DNS Drew Black.

4 CYLINDER 12 LAP 1 Jesse Laughard, 2 Dave Friend, 3 Jamie Rosenberger, 4 Leroy Booher, 5 Adam KKarlhime, 6 Mike Meck Jr, 6 Brian Kauffman, 8 Rob Prinkley, 9 Nathan Vinosky 10 Chris Booher, 11 Ed Vogel, 12 Scott Krumanacker, 13 Martin Vinosky,

05/31/2008

MCCLELLAN WINS ON SPECIAL NIGHT AT THUNDER VALLEY

Capping an emotional week when his car owner Bill Bowman passed away suddenly, Chad McClellan dominated the field to win his first Late Model feature of the season at Thunder Valley Saturday night. Bowman had been McClellan's Limited car owner and that car too was brought to the track and driven in the event by Jim Sayler in Bowman's honor.

In other action, Greg Cornell remained perfect for 2008 as he grabbed a wild Semi Late event, Jason Gilliland swept the Pure Stock twin 15s and Karl Bailey and Scott Krumanacker split the twin 4 cylinder events

Doug Glessner and McClellan were the front row starters in the Late Model 25 lapper, but McClellan was on a mission and blasted off at the start. Scott Rhodes took second from Glessner on lap 2 but McClellan pulled away with every passing lap. By the time the first caution flew on lap 18, McClellan was over a half lap ahead. A lap after the only restart of the event, Steve Everhart blasted by Rhodes for second but he too could not close on McClellan, who rushed on to the emotional win.

Everhart was second, followed by Rhodes, Shawn Claar, Dave Bloss, Dan Lee, Jim Saylor, Glessner, DJ Myers and Yvette Hahn. Glessner and Claar won the heats.

Greg Cornell won his second consecutive Semi Late event but this one was tougher than the first. Jim Saylor led from the start with first Jonathan Hayman and then Ray Sheetz in pursuit. Sheetz and Saylor went hard at it for several laps until they tangled briefly on lap 8 allowing Jason Breegle to slip by for the lead. Cornell also shot by and instantly applied pressure to Breegle. Cornell finally got by on lap 14 and led to the end. Breegle was second, followed by Saylor, Billy McClellan, Dave Whetstone, John Swartzwelder, Kelly Shaulis, Hayman, Tom Spangler and Tom Mullholland.

Hayman and Cornell won the heats.

Before Saturday, Jason Gilliland had never won a feature event in his career. After Saturday he had two as he swept both the Pure Stock events. In the first, he started on the front row, got by early leader Russ Hartman on lap 3 and ran off for the win. Jason Vangilder roared up to claim second, followed by Jamie Kohan, Hartman, Shawn Dunmyer, Tom Warren, Don Lybarger, Nathan Miller, Dave Lee and Justin Milburn.

In the second event, Kohan broke out to the early lead before Gilliland got by on lap 4. Vangilder again moved into second before he dropped out on lap 10. At that point Kohan chased Gilliland for the duration. Hartman was third followed by Warren and Lybarger.

Vangilder and Warren won the heats.

The first 4 cylinder feature was the completion of the curfew event from May 24. It began on lap 4 with Mike Lauffer in the lead. He held off the charges of both Jim Tunstall and Karl Bailey until Bailey got by for the lead on lap 12. Bailey then went on for the win over Scott Krumanacker, Tunstall, Lauffer and Jay Schettini.

In the regular event, Lauffer again broke out into the lead before Krumanacker took over. Krumanacker held on for the win over Lauffer, Bailey, Tunstall and Dave Friend. Tunstall and Lauffer won the heats.

The speedway received copious amounts of rain overnight and up until early afternoon on race day but management held on and went racing when the weather cleared.

LATE MODELS: 1 Chad McClellan 2 Steve Everhart, 3 Scott Rhodes, 4 Shawn Claar, 5 Dave Bloss, 6 Dan Lee, 7 Jim Saylor, 8 Doug Glessner, 9 DJ Myers, 10, Yvette Hahn, 11 Larry Baker Jr, 12 Gene Kain, 13 Tom Myers

SEMI LATES 1 Greg Cornell, 2 Jason Breegle, 3 Jim Saylor, 4 Billy McClelland, 5 Dave Whetstone, 6 John Swartzwelder, 7 Kelly Shaulis, 8 Jonathan Hayman, 9 Tom Spangler, 10 Tom Muholland, 11 Bill Pluta, 12 Ray Sheetz, 13 Shawn Ringler, 14 John Fama, DNS Lou Orris, Jeff Chipikitis

05/24/2008

OPENING DAY SPECIALIST EVERHART WINS THUNDER VALLEY OPENER