July 21, 2006

O’Brien, Raabe, Meeks and Pope are Victorious at Thunder Alley

Evans Mills NY… It was a beautiful Friday night at Thunder Alley Speed Park. A regular night of racing was on tap for all divisions, while there was a special Twin 15 event for the DIRT Sportsman.

In the first 15 lap Sportsman Feature, Chris Raabe and Billy Eisele led the field of 16 cars to green with Chris Raabe jumping out to the early lead. Raabe jumped out to the lead while Mark Webb tried to slingshot around Billy Eisele, but was unsuccessful. Jack Meeks moved quickly under Chris Higgins to take over the third position while Brandon Sweet entered the top five. Meeks wasted no time as he moved around Eisele to take away the second position and set the charge on Chris Raabe. Chris Higgins moved around Meeks to take over the second position. Bobby Herrington moved under Bellinger to take over the fourth position, while Herrington was setting his sights on Brandon Sweet. When the checkered flag flew, Chris Raabe picked up the checkers with Chris Higgins, Brandon Sweet, Bobby Herrington and Robby Bellinger rounding out the top five.

In the 30 lap Modified Feature; Tyler Bartlett and Jason Potter led the field to green with Bartlett taking the early lead. Lance Willix swung to the outside and took over the second position while Jordan Bennett, Frankie Caprara and Tim Sears filled out the top five. Willix moved high around Bartlett to take the lead while Caprara moved around Bennett to take third. Hard charging from the back was Pat O’Brien who had moved up three positions in less then five laps as he moved quietly to the front of the field. Mike Adderly and Pat O’Brien moved around Tim Sears to enter the top give while Adderly moved quickly into third by moving around Tyler Bartlett. Pat O’Brien moved under Caprara to take over the second position, and did the sweep by taking over the lead from Lance Willix. Mike Adderly followed O’Brien by moving under Caprara to take over the third position. Billy Dunn moved under Paul Kinney take over the fifth position and began to apply pressure to Caprara in fourth, Dunn then moved under Caprara to take over the fourth position. When the checkers flew, Pat O’Brien picked up his second win in a row, while Lance Willis and Mike Adderly rounded out the top three.

In the second twin 15-sportsman feature, Mark Webb and Amanda Whitney led the field to green with Jordan Bennett taking the early lead on the field from his third place starting position. Jack Meeks slid under Chris Higgins to take the lead while Chris Raabe moved under Brandon Sweet to enter the top five. Robby Bellinger used the high lane to his advantage to take over the sixth place position from Brandon Sweet. Chris Raabe moved under Bobby Herrington to take over fourth position, but no one was able to catch Meeks as he went on to pick up win number two in 2006.

In the 15 lap purestock feature, Josh Verne and Dave Pope led the field to green with Verne taking the early lead. On lap six Pope would slip into the lead pushing Verne to second. Dana Aikins took over position number three from Dave Pope on lap seven while Dave Pope was pushed back to fourth. When the checkers fell, Dave Pope would pick up win number 2 on the season.

In the four cylinder foreign feature, Nelson Bice and Travis Rivers led the field to green with Bice taking over the lead. JR Durham too command of the race on lap two with Mike Durham falling into second and Durham into third. Mike Durham would take the lead over on lap 9 and when the checkered fell Mike Durham would pick up the win after a heavy battle with JR Durham and Robert Martin.

Larry Teft and Dan Way led the field to green in the four cylinder domestic feature. Way jumped out to the early lead with Jock Symonds and Mike Trapp falling behind him. Mike Trapp quickly worked into the second position by half way as the top three had a large lead on the rest of the field. With two laps to go, Mike Trapp put his car at the front of the field and went on to collect the win, Dane Way and Jock Symonds filled out the top three.

In the truck division, Mike Durham picked up the win over Kevin Bice and David Blair. In the 8 Cylinder Division, Bill Youngs picked up the win and in the 6 cylinder division, Verne Harris picked up the checkers.

Next week Thunder Alley will host fan appreciation night where all fans are admitted for $5. There will also be Twin 20’s for the Modified division with a regular show for the purestocks and thundercars. There will be no sportsman. For more information contract the speedway office at (315)658-4431 or the tracks website at www.thunderalleyspeedpark.com

Quick Results

Modified (30 Laps) – PAT O’BRIEN (SB), Lance Willix (SB), Mike Adderly (SB), Billy Dunn, Frankie Caprara, Paul Kinney (SB), Bob Bennett, Tim O’Brien, Scott Parliament (SB), Justin Mason (SB), Ryan Bartlett, Jeff Sykes (SB), Rick Amo, Billy Cook (SB), Jason Potter, Jeff Marshall (SB), Tyler Bartlett, Melvin Rush (SB), Cricket Mandigo (SB), Zach Aubertine, Tim Sears.

Sportsman Feature 1 (15 Laps) – CHRIS RAABE, Chris Higgins, Brandon Sweet, Bobby Herrington, Robby Bellinger, Jack Meeks, Jordan Bennett, Amanda Whitney, Mark Webb, Stewart Garrison, Jeff Robinson, Tyler Rand, Rick McCready, Billy Eisele, Scott Goodrich, Marcel Pecore (DNS)

Sportsman Feature 2 (15 Laps) – JACK MEEKS, Chris Higgins, Chris Raabe, Jordan Bennett, Bobby Herrington, Robby Bellinger, Brandon Sweet, Mark Webb, Billy Eisele, Tyler Rand, Stewart Garrison, Amanda Whitney, Jeff Robinson, Rick McCready, Marcel Pecore (DNS), Scott Goodrich (DNS)

Purestock (15 Laps) – DAVE POPE, Josh Verne, Dana Aikins, Dave Mannise, Eric Stores

4 Cylinder Domestic – MIKE TRAPP, Dan Way, Jock Symonds, Randy Bowman, Steve Malbouf, Robert Scott, Rick Petrie, Larry Teft, Brian McConnell, Bob Teft, Dave Travis, Ben Van Tassel, Thren Pankey, Jeff Trapp, Jake McConnell, Chuck Monica, Alan McConnell, Jim Quinn (DNS)

4 Cylinder Foreign – MIKE DURHAM, JR Durham, Robert Martin, Michael Stewart, Nelson Bice, Jack Jones, Paul Smith, OJ White, Russel Bice, Don Woodworth, Morgan Young, Travis Rivers

6/8 Cylinder – BILL YOUNGS -

Truck – MIKE DURHAM, Kevin Bice, David Blair Jr., Russell Bice, Kris Bice, John Van Tassel