May 19, 2006

Bartlett, Bresnahan, and Mannise Grab Checkers

Evan Mills NY - After a week off due to Mother Nature, Thunder Alley Speed Park was back in action. In the 30 lap Modified Feature, Bob Bennett and Lance Willix led the field of 21 cars to Matt Burdick’s green flag. Bennett took over the early lead while Bill Gill moved into second; Gill would follow Bennett around while Ryan Bartlett was knocking down his door. On lap four Bartlett would move around Gill to take over the second position, while Pat O’Brien would follow Bartlett. Ryan Jacobs moved into the top three by lap 8 and set his sights on O’Brien. The red flag would fly on lap four when Tim O’Brien would get together with Lance Willix sending O’Brien on his roof, Tim would walk away uninjured. When racing resumed, Bartlett quickly made his move around Bob Bennett with Ryan Jacobs and Pat O’Brien rounding out the top three. While Jacobs and O’Brien would try to catch Bartlett they were unsuccessful as Bartlett went on to collect his first win of 2006.

In the 20 lap Sportsman Feature, rookie Chris Raabe and Roy Bresnahan led the field to green. On the opening lap, Brad Kirkland spun out sending Russ Hefti over his roof and collecting Mark Webb, Jeff Robinson, and Brandon Sweet. Webb and Sweet would continue on the track when racing resumed. When the green flag flew again, Bresnahan and Raabe led the field while Chris Higgins applied pressure to them from his fifth place starting position. Higgins would grab the second position from Raabe on lap two; while Rob Pratt followed Higgins up into the third position. Pratt moved under Higgins on lap six and took over the third position. Pratt and Higgins would try to get past Bresnahan but were unable as Roy Bresnahan took the checkers.

In the Purestock division Sid Harmer, Sr., and Josh Verne commanded the field with Harmer taking the early lead. By lap three, the fifth place started of Dave Mannise took control of the field with Ken Hamm and Dave Pope filling out the top three. On lap five Dave Pope was able to move under Hamm to take away the second position. A few laps later, outside pole sitter Josh Verne was able to move under Dana Aikens to take over the third position. On lap 8 the yellow flag flew when pole sitter Sid Harmer stopped in turn two. When racing resumed Dave Pope would try multiple attempts at passing Mannise but would be unsuccessful as Mannise went on to take the checkers.

In the 4 Cylinder Foreign divisions, Travis Rivers and Mike Parker led the field to green with Rivers taking over the led of the field. On lap two, JR Durham would move under Parker for the second position, while Mike Durham would follow taking the third position away from Parker. On lap three Travis Rivers; the leader went pit side with a flat tire this inherited the win to Mike Durham. On lap seven, JR Durham would move under Mike for the lead. When the checkered flag flew it was Mike Durham with the win over JR Durham and Mike Parker.

In the 4 Cylinder Domestic Dave Travis and Dan Way led the field to green with Travis jumping out to the early lead. By lap five, Rick Petire made his way around Jake McConnell to take over the third position. On lap seven, Mike Trapp moved over Travis to take over the lead from his 11th place starting position. On the following lap Steve Malbouf would move under Johnny LaFaver and enter the top five, while Trapp, Way and Travis led the field. Coming across the line for the checkered, Randy Bowman would move under Steve Malbouf and collect a top give finish as Trapp took home the checkered.

In the 6 Cylinder division, Russell Bice held off a hard charging Matt Zira to pick up the win. In the 8 Cylinder’s, Bill Youngs picked up the win over Al Harris and Mike Durham held off Kris Bice for the win in the truck division.

Next week at Thunder Alley, the track will host a $20 a car load night for all fans in solute to the Memorial Day weekend. The Modified, Sportsman and Purestock Divisions will be in action along with the Thunder Car divisions. For more information contact the speedway office at (315) 629-7223 or the tracks website at www.thunderalleyspeedpark.com