Kevin Bates Wins Rain Shortened Modified Main.

 

 

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

RE:  Saturday, May 23rd results

CONTACT:  Andrew Harpell – fivemilepoint1@aol.com (775-5555)

 

 

KEVIN BATES WINS FIRST EVER FIVE MILE POINT SPEEDWAY MODIFIED VICTORY IN RAIN SHORTENED EVENT.

 

KIRKWOOD, NY…Sometimes being in the right place at the right time is the most important part of racing.  On Saturday night at Five Mile Point Speedway that was the case for Kevin Bates who earned his first ever FMP Modified victory in a rain shortened 22 lap event.  Other winners included Dwayne Robbins who recorded his first ever Sportsman win, Charlie Gilbert in the Pure Stocks, Gary Roberts in the IMCA main and Steve Buckwalter was the ARDC Midget winner.

 

Mike Colsten and Tom McGurrin led the field down for the start of the scheduled 30 lap Modified feature event.  McGurrin quickly pulled ahead at the start with Colsten in second and James Cornell in third.  McGurrin and Colsten ran side by side in the early going until the two made contact on the 8th circuit bringing an end to Colsten’s evening.  On the restart Cornell powered around McGurrin for the lead and now Brian Weaver was on the move from his sixth starting spot.  On lap 15 the caution would fly for second place runner McGurrin who had a tire go down.  This put Weaver in to the runner-up slot and he began to immediately pressure Cornell for the lead. 

 

Weaver worked his way past Cornell for the lead on lap 18 but Cornell rallied back and continued to apply the heat.  A caution on lap 20 for a slowing Joel Batzel reset the field and on the restart Cornell made another bid for the lead.  Cornell looked to the inside of Weaver on lap 22 and the two wound up getting together sending Weaver spinning.  This would put third place runner Kevin Bates into the lead for the restart.  Before racing could continue heavy rains moved in to the area bringing and end to the Modified main.  For Bates it was his first Five Mile Point Speedway win.  Gary Griffin was credited with second followed by Brian Malcolm, Barry White and Ken Titus.

 

Dwayne Robbins took the lead on lap 4 from Charlie Hendrickson, Jr. and went on for his first ever victory in the 20 lap Sportsman feature event.  Robbins started third on the grid.  Justin Holland made a late race charge from his sixth starting slot to lock up second followed by Hendrickson, Chris Wood and Brian Puckett.  Only one caution slowed the event.

 

Charlie Gilbert was the winner of the 20 lap Pure Stock feature event after taking the lead from Todd Sutliff on lap 9.  Jonathon Carpenter made a late race charge on Gilbert but was unable to work past at the finish.  The top five finishers would be Gilbert, Carpenter, Sutliff, Tom Garren and Steve Polhamus.

 

Gary Roberts started on the outside of the front row for the 20 lap IMCA Modified feature and wasted no time taking the lead at the drop of the green.  Roberts, the two-time defending Track Champion went on to lead the duration.  Scott Bennett, Mike Wilmot, Tyler Stoddard and Cliff Pierce completed the top five.

 

Steve Buckwalter started 17th on the starting grid for the 25 lap ARDC Midget feature event.  Buckwalter didn’t let them deter him as he went on to claim a very exciting victory in a great three car battle for the lead. Frank Polimeda, Drew Heistand, Eric Heydenreich and Scott Zipp completed the top five. 

 

 

MODIFIED OFFICIAL FEATURE FINISH AFTER 22 LAPS:  KEVIN BATES, Gary Griffin, Brian Malcolm, Barry White, Ken Titus, Shaun Walker, Nick Rochinski, Greg Tatich, Chris Ostrowsky, Tom Oleski, Bobby Puckett, Matt Latwinski, Frank Yankowski, Carl Nagel, Brian Weaver, James Cornell, J.R. Hurlburt, Joel Batzel, Tom McGurrin, Jackie Brown, Jim Gabriel Jr., Mike Colsten, Tim Votra, Glenn Knapp, Eric Palmer.

 

IMCA MODIFIED OFFICIAL FEATURE FINISH:  GARY ROBERTS, Scott Bennett, Mike Wilmot, Tyler Stoddard, Cliff Pierce, Mike Stoddard, Patti Simpson, Gary Dence, Mike Pratcshler, Joe Cole, Russ Jennings, Steve Simpson, Josh Sawyer.

 

PURE STOCK OFFICIAL FEATURE FINISH:  CHARLIE GILBERT, Jonathon Carpenter, Todd Sutliff, Tom Garren, Steve Polhamus, Shane Wolf, Ryan Codington, Dwayne Jackson, Dave Mutz, Joe Warren, Tyler Yeagle, Mike Codington, Dave Conklin, Rob Snow, Denny Decker, Duane Codington, Darl Ellis Jr.

 

SPORTSMAN OFFICIAL FEATURE FINISH:  DWAYNE ROBBINS, Justin Holland, Charlie Hendrickson Jr., Chris Wood, Brian Puckett, Joey Colsten, Brian Decker, Jamie Batzel, Nick Austin, Jerry Craig, Harry Cook Jr., Jerry Tonti, Mike Daugherty, Butch Green, Mike Nagel Jr., DNS – Billy Spoonhower.

 

25-Lap ARDC Feature - 1) 0-Steve Buckwalter 2) 44-Frank Polimeda 3) 12-Drew Heistand 4) 11-Eric Heydenreich 5) 99-Scott Zipp 6) 83-Bruce Buckwalter 7) 10-PJ Gargiulo 8) 46-Brett Arndt 9) 78-Nick Wean 10) 29-Zach Martini 11) 49-Carey Becker 12) 05-Trevor Kobylarz 13) 20-Bryan Kobylarz 14) 00-Greg Robinson 15) 9-Steve Lenig 16) 84-Jimmy Commock 17) 16-Dave Shirk 18) 25-Chris Zrinski 19) 57-Jason Rice 20) 17-Donnie Hoffman 21) 26-Stephanie Stevens 22) 7-Chris Rupp 23) 2-Tracy Readinger 24) 34-Shane Penny

 

Lightning Cat feature events were rained out and will be made up on Saturday, May 30th.