Different day, different motor but same results as Rick Singleton swept both Limited Late Model races of the Thunder Valley Finale weekend. For Singleton the second win was sweeter than the first. After his Friday night win with his Hesston motor and the weight penalty caused a stir among his competitors, Singleton and crew spent the night dropping in his lesser power crate motor and repeated the performance by dominating the field again on Saturday.
In other action, a weather delay caused the two long distance events to be cut to 50 laps each. Jim Saylor took the Semi Late event while journeyman driver Brian Duffy rallied late to score the Pure Stock win. Jarrod Barclay ended the night by taking the Finale finale with his first career 4 Cylinder win.
With the heats for the class cancelled due to the rain delay, the Limited field was set by the luck of the draw. Singleton lined up seventh on the start but using heavy post rain delay cushion he blasted to the front. Curtis Heath was the early leader but Singleton was up to third by the end of the first lap. Singleton blasted his way into the lead on lap three and ran off from the field. Several cautions for minor incidents closed the field but Singleton ran off each time.
At the finish, it was Singleton over Heath and George Dixon, who was the Friday night runner up. Ralph Morgan, Yvette Hahn, Matt Emerick, Rance Garlock, Jeremy Zufall, Larry Foor and late arrival Bill Burns completed the top ten.
The planned 76 lap Semi Late main was cut to 50 laps because of the rain delay. Jamie Kohan was the early leader and he held off George Beclett early. But it was Jim Sayler on the move. He closed in on the lead pair and worked on Beckett until lap 8 when he got by. Greg Cornell and Zane Weicht also got by and soon it was a four car battle at the front. Saylor took over on lap 17 with Weicht in tow. Cornell joined them three laps later.
Although Weicht made several attempts he could not make the pass on Sayler. Lap after lap the three battled at the front until lap 33 when Weicht’s car went up in smoke. The resulting caution put Cornell on Sayler’s bumper along with a crowd, but four of them piled up together on lap 46, eliminatin Tom Warren from the mix. The field went green on lap 48 with Kohan again in second but he had his hand full holding off Jamie Swank and Sayler skooted off to score the win.
Kohan held on in a near photo finish with Swank to take second, ahead of Swank and George Beckett who spun early and came back from the rear. Barry Awtey in a Sayler team car started dead last in the field and took fifth. Bill Pluta, Dennis Collins, Dave Whetstone, Cody Butterbaugh and Jason Vangilder completed the top ten.,
Sayler and Beckett took the Friday qualifiers.
The Pure Stock event also was cut to 50 laps, Terry Norris was the pole sitter and early leader but soon Bill Replogle was on the scene. Before long there were 6 cars in the lead group battling. Replogle got by for the lead on lap 15 but could not shake the mob. Ryan Beckett got into second on lap 35 but Replogle led the way. A late race caution on lap 47-49 changed everything as it caused the race to go into overtime for the second year. That was Replogles undoing as Brian Duffy, driving the Travis Group car, made the move of the night and snuck by on the last lap for the win. Charlie Walter also got by on the wild last lap and Replogle settled for third after leading 34 laps.
Mike Ott was fourth at the line, followed by Mike Duck, Norris, Shawn Smith, Jason Bender, Rob Varner and Dave Green. Replogle, Norris and Beckett won the Friday heats.
Jarrod Barclay ended the 2012 Thunder Valley season with his first ever TV 4 Cylinder win. He shot from 5th to first on the first lap and led the duration. The Plutas and Dave Lambert battled behind him until Andrew suffered a flat tire on lap 13. After that caution, Barclay led the last two laps easily for the Finale win. Robert Pluta, Lambert, Nick Zborovancik and Mike Lewis completed the top five. Due to the rain delay there were no 4 cylinder heats.
LIMITEDS 25 LAPS 1 Rick Singleton, 2 Curtis Heath, 3 George Dixon, 4 Ralph Morgan, 5 Yvette Hahn, 6 Matt Emerick, 7 Rance Garlock, 7 Jeremy Zufall, 9 Larry Foor, 10 Bill Burns, 11 Steve Stitt, 12 Donnie Farlling, 13 Mike Altobelli Jr, DNS Doug Hardy, DJ Troutman.
SEMI LATE 50 LAP 1 Jim Sayler, 2 Jamie Kohan, 3 Jamie Swank, 4 George Beckett, 5 Barry Awtey, 6 Bill Pluta, 7 Dennis Collins, 8 Dave Whetstone, 9 Cody Buterbaugh, 10 Jason Vangilder, 11 Clair Duppstadt, 12 Bill McClellan, 13 Tom Warren, 14 Greg Cornell, Vigi Zucollotto, 16 Taylor Farlling, 17 Zane Weight, 18 James Hampe, 19 Joe Collins.
PURE STOCK 52 LAP 1 Brian Duffy, 2 Charlie Walter, 3 Bill Replogle, 4 Mike Ott, 5 Mike Duck, 6 Terry Norris, 7 Shawn Smith, 8 Jason Bender, 9 Rob Varner, 10 Dave Green, 11 Greg Beckett, 12Denny Norris, 13 Ryan Beckett, 14 Mike Shaffer, 15 Dave Beahr, 16Terry Mitchell, 17 Bill Noel, 18 Justin Milburn, 19 Tony Brown, 20 Jarrod Brown, 21 Greg Cornell Sr, 22 Rick Potter, 23 Shawn Stallard, 24 Jeff Brown, DNS Tyler Alkire
4 CYLINDER 15 LAPS 1 Jarrod Barclay, 2 Robert Pluta, 3 Dave Lambert, 4 Nick Zborovancik, 5 Mike Lewis, 6 Tyler Beckett, 7 Dustin Drake, 8 Keith Deeter, 9 Steve Frederick, 10 Ryan Claycomb, 11 Phil Best, 12 Mike Hagens 13 Jon Gebhart, 14 Kyle Beckett, 15 Andrew Pluta, 16 Ed Plummer, 17 Mike Meck Sr, 18 Josh Datko, 19 Dan Jackson, 20 Ernie Bowser, 21 Sean Fitzsimmons, 22 Bill Burd,
