By C. Barry Goodband

Thunder Mountain Speedway, Center Lisle NY – TMS was finally able to put on its second event of the 2018 season after two weeks of cancellations due to rain. In honor of our nation’s fallen warriors on Memorial Day weekend, opening ceremonies were punctuated by AJ Williams (crate sportsman) and Matt Spencer (street stock) in their patriotic themed cars parading the colors, as our national anthem rang out from from the hilltop speedway.

Alan Barker lead a strong field of modifieds to the green for a 15 lap dash for $500 cash. Barker quickly found the speed that had been absent in the early season from his Upstate Spray Foam Insulation number 35. He lead all 15 laps en-route to the win as Billy Decker gave chase from 2nd after driving up from his 5th place starting position. Perhaps more importantly, Barker clinched a guaranteed start in the Bob Hilbert Sportswear, Short Track Super Series fueled by Sunoco, Lightning on the Mountain event scheduled for the following Sunday night. Unfortunately, Mother nature had other plans as she dished out another large helping of precipitation the next morning and throughout the day.

Reluctantly Thunder Mountain and STSS officials were forced to postpone this big show until Sunday September 23rd.

Modified Dash for Cash – Alan Barker, Billy Decker, Nick Nye, Jeremy Smith, Curt Decker, Byron Worthing, Kevin Jordan, Dan Allen, Jimmy Zacharias, Colton Wilson, Pat Parker, Alissa Cody, Damon Decker, Chance Spoonhower, Jim Cummings.

The Open Sportsman division saw Brian Mady back in VP Racing fuels Victory Lane following another dominating performance. Brian started the twenty five lap main event in fifth with brother Nick Mady and Jesse Velez on the front row. In the space of one lap, Brian had piloted his Arley Farms number 2 into second and took the lead on the restart following an early yellow on lap 2. An acute case of yellow fever would plague the open sportsman, slowing the pace but doing nothing to impede Mady’s march to his second straight TMS win and his third win overall.

Open Sportsman – Brian Mady, Chris Jordan, Billy Spoonhower, Tom Eiklor, Dayton Coney, Jesse Velez, Chris Kithcart, Alissa Cody, Craig Cuneo, Greg Morgan, Landon Spoonhower, Nick Mady.

The Thunder Mountain fans were also treated to a visit from the Empire Lightning Sprints. This traveling series for chain driven, 1000cc powered sprinters drew drivers from all over the northeast and Canada to our ⅜ mile clay oval. In an erie duplication of the action at the series’ prior friday night show at Afton, Pete Dance led the early portion of the twenty lap feature. Dance however fell from a full straightaway lead when a mechanical failure sidelined him just past the halfway mark. As had been the case on the previous night, Justin Phillips had his number 16 machine in position to inherit the top spot on the ensuing restart. Philips then drove to the checkers picking up his second win of the weekend. In much the same fashion as the night before.

Empire Lightning Sprints – Justin Phillips, Tommy Morden, Kurt Conklin, Jamie Beaudry, Alex Adamsky, Terry Ladocer, Jeffrey Weare, Jason Shedd, Justin Sheridan, Pete Dance, Rohan Beasley, Jason Roe.

Doug Windhausen and Dana Davis paced the 600cc modified field to green for their weekly twenty lap feature. The top four of Windhausen, Davis, Chris Jordan and Byron Worthing would break away from the pack during the early going until Rich Powell freed himself from traffic and began to run down the lead group. A yellow flag on lap twelve would bunch the field back up but the top five cars were very evenly matched and only one more pass was made in the top five when Worthing overtook Jordan for third. They would ride to the checkers in that order with Windhausen claiming the win.

 

600cc Modified – Doug Windhausen, Dana Davis, Byron Worthing, Chris Jordan, Rich Powell, Jared Green, Tom Shiner, Chace Scutt, Ben Morales, Jake Waibel, Ali Scutt, Rich Gardiner.

The IMCA modified feature was led to green by Jeff Cardinale and Gary Roberts. Roberts fired into first at the start and at one point enjoyed a full straightaway advantage over the rest of the field. His pace was slowed only once for a solo spin on lap fifteen. On the restart Roberts would be hard pressed by perennial contender Will Ward but the veteran wheelman known as “fireball” would rise to the challenge and pull out the win.

IMCA Modified – Gary Roberts, Will Ward, Bumps Scutt, Tyler Stoddard, Logan Terry, Mark Griffin, Keith Lamphere, Rodney Morgan, Billy Ward, Marty Bunker, Jeff Cardinale

Nineteen of the area’s most potent street stocks rolled out for their twenty lap feature dance led by a front row consisting of Shawn Boynton and Matt Spencer. Boynton would show the way in the opening stages until a pair of yellows on laps five and six set the stage for Spencer to take over on the restart. The rest of the top five battled two and three wide behind Spencer with Boynton fending off multiple challenges for second. These battles allowed the “The Patriot” to roll on unchallenged to the Memorial Day weekend win.

Street Stock – Matt Spencer, Shawn Boynton, Shane Wolf Jr., Rich Green, Earl Zimmer, Trevor Dudley, Jack Holcomb, Jon White, John Hoover, Grayson Albanese, Tom Donahue, Jonathan Fowlston, Steven Deinhardt, Jake Fowlston, Eric Boynton, Mike Wilbur, Rick Sinsabaugh, Don Russell, Jason Beebe.

An uncanny redraw among the crate sportsman qualifiers found the Spoonhower family occupying the first three starting spots for the 25 lap crate sportsman feature that now pays $1000 to the winner on a weekly basis. With Shayne on the pole, Billy to his outside and Chance going away third, the smart money would be on the Spoonhower clan. When the green waved over the twenty five car field, Billy took the holeshot and led the first six circuits. A yellow and restart on lap seven would find the uncle and nephew duking it out for a few laps until youth prevailed on the low side three laps later. Billy was able regain the lead after a series of mid race cautions regrouped the pack but “Shayne Dog” was able to power back by on the low side with six to go. Shayne maintained the lead through one more restart with three to go and went on to the checkers.

Crate Sportsman – Shayne Spoonhower, Billy Spoonhower, Mike Austin, Corey Cormier, Tighe Sherlock, T.J. Frost, Daryl Krebs, Hunter Lapp, Chris Stevens, Nick Nye, Kenny Hammond, Randy Brokaw, Jimmy Zacharias, Rich Talada, AJ Williams, Hilary Ward, Chance Spoonhower, Tyler Keener, Tim French, Mike Decker, Darren Smith, Daniel Morgiewicz, Zac Glaski, Brian Franko, Kimberlee Morgan.

The Rookie Sportsman feature saw Cody Jackson leap out to a commanding lead that endured for eleven of the fifteen scheduled laps. Disaster came on lap twelve when Jackson applied a touch too much throttle and spun out of the lead between turns one and two. Joe McCabe who had been the winner in week one was in position to capitalize on Jackson’s miscue and drove the final three laps to back to back wins in the Rookie Sportsman division.

Rookie Sportsman – Joe McCabe, Jake Mason, Chris Kithcart, T.J. Zacharias, Greg Cole, Adam Haddow, Cody Jackson, Brandon Fritsch, Zachery Diedrickson, Matt Hoffmier

A similar scenario played out in the 4 cylinder stock main event as Justin LaDue was forced to surrender a tremendous half track advantage after a mechanical failure. Rich Wagner found the race falling into his hands on lap twelve and held onto the top spot for the remaining three circuits.

4cyl Stock – Rich Wagner, Mike Ferris, Mark Atutis, Shane Moshier, Justin LaDue, Zach Hayward.

Up next for Thunder Mountain is a regular show for their eight weekly divisions on Saturday June 2nd. The following Saturday June 9th brings a special $1000 to win event for the Open Sportsman and a visit form from the Midstate Antique Stock Car Club.