By John Steckley
Panunte Feasts On Home Cooking In Mr. DIRTcar Sportsman Series Main At Humberstone
Port Colborne veteran Greg Panunte drove under Mike Bowman on lap 11 to grab the lead and then zealously protected the top spot against a determined James Michael Friesen to win the 3rd annual Trevor Wilkens Memorial Friday evening at the New Humberstone Speedway.
Starting from the pole, Friesen led the first circuit before Bowman claimed the position a lap later. After going away in eighth place, Panunte raced into second on lap 5 before claiming the lead a handful of circuits later.
Sixteen year old Chris Raabe rocketed from fourth to second place on lap 13 and set his sights on the front-running Panunte. That top pair opened up a considerable gap on the rest of the field as the last 35 circuits ran caution-free.
After slipping back to fourth, Friesen reclaimed third place from Bowman on lap 32 and ran down the top pair in heavy lapped traffic three circuits later. The third generation racer quickly drove into second and actually passed Panunte before a lapped car slowed his momentum in turn 2.
Bowman, who won this event a year ago, drove by Raabe with ten laps remaining and quickly joined the lead battle. He got together with the No.
31 of fellow St. Catharines runner Friesen with just a pair of circuits left, as both cars got slightly out of shape. By the time they recovered, Panunte had slipped out to a ten car advantage that he wouldn't relinquish. Friesen bested Bowman for second, while Raabe and Nick Cupolo completed the top five.
Chad Chevalier, Brad Rouse, John Pietrowicz, Mark D'Ilario and Tyler McPherson rounded out the top ten.
Dan Wiesner entered Friday's event with a slim series point edge over Raabe, but the Geneva, NY driver struggled to an 18th place finish, dealing a huge blow to his championship aspirations.
After the race, Panunte discussed his frantic battle with Friesen in lapped traffic. "I saw James go by me for an instant, but I wasn't going to block him or chop him," the race winner noted. "I've raced him a lot and it's always been clean. Sometimes I've beat him and sometimes he's beat me but it's always been clean racing. You can't say that about a lot of guys out there."
SPORTSMAN SHORTS: The returning sportsman teams were greeted with Chamber of Commerce weather on Friday as sunny skies and pleasant temperatures ruled the day in Port Colborne. That was a far cry from September 7 when all day showers scuttled the first attempt to run the Wilkens Memorial...The sportsman feature was named in honour of Trevor Wilkens. Humberstone owner Pete Cosco was the car owner for Wilkens, an up and coming racer, who competed in the sportsman and modified divisions at Merrittville Speedway. Tragically, Wilkens fell ill and died much too young in the early 1990's. Cosco also honors the memory of his young protege by sponsoring the annual Advance Auto Parts series event in early August at Merrittville Speedway.
Mr. DIRTcar Sportsman Championship Series -- Humberstone Speedway, September 19, 2008 Event Summary
FIN CAR# DRIVER / HOMETOWN
1 99p Greg Panunte/Port Colborne,ONT ($1,000)
2 31 James Friesen/St.Catharines,ONT
3 71 Mike Bowman/St.Catharines,ONT
4 01 Chris Raabe/Napanee,ONT
5 99c Nick Cupolo/Thorold,ONT
6 12 Chad Chevalier/Port Colborne,ONT
7 18r Brad Rouse/St.Catharines,ONT
8 85 John Pietrowicz/Phoenix,NY
9 08 Mark D'Ilario/Smithville,ONT
10 777 Tyler McPherson/St.Catharines,ONT
11 6 Mat Williamson/St.Catharines,ONT
12 19w Justin Wright/Piffard,NY
13 9 Paul Gaboury/Welland,ONT
14 62 Rick Bellante/St.Catharines,ONT
15 26h Luke Carleton/Port Colborne,ONT
16 77 B.J. Willard/St.Catharines,ONT
17 67g Eric Giguere/Waterloo,NY
18 66 Dan Wiesner/Geneva,NY
19 20k Tom Huppenen/Fenwick,ONT
20 88 Doug Spiece/Welland,ONT
21 38 Ryan Susice/Ransomville,NY
22 18 Ryan Weese/Milton, ONT
23 12A Jeff Armstrong/Port Colborne, ONT
24 43t Jay Doerr/London,ONT
25 1M Norm Mark/Fort Erie, ONT
26 140 Mark Dixon/Durham,ONT
27 20J Tony Cowell/Woodstock, ONT
28 51x Cody McPherson/St.Catharines,ONT
29 06 Brandon Easey/St.Catharines,ONT
30 00 Don Spiece/Welland, ONT
31 5s Kevin Sharpe/Port Colborne,ONT
EVENT SUMMARY:
LAP LEADERS: Friesen (1), Bowman (2-11), Panunte (12-50)
CAUTIONS: 4 (lap 3, lap 5, lap 13, lap 15)
QUALIFYING
Heat Races (8 laps, all transferred to feature, top 3 went to re-draw)
#1: M. Bowman, N. Mark, G. Panunte, L. Carleton, B.J. Willard, C. McPherson, R. Weese, J. Armstrong.
#2: B. Rouse, C. Chevalier, D. Wiesner, R. Susice, E. Giguere, J. Doerr, Doug Spiece, P. Gaboury.
#3: R. Bellante, Don Spiece, J. Friesen, B. Easey, M. D'Ilario, M. Dixon, K. Sharpe, T. Cowell.
#4: N. Cupolo, J. Pietrowicz, C. Raabe, T. McPherson, M. Williamson, J. Wright, T. Huppenen.
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