Story By: FULTON SPEEDWAY – FULTON, NY – The 37th edition of the Fulton Speedway Outlaw 200 weekend commenced with Thursday Thunder with the running of a quartet of support class events.
The Milton CAT Outlaw 200 Weekend kicked off with the RL Cleaning 4-Cylinders, the E&V Energy Novice Sportsman, along with the IMCA STARS Mod Lite National event and the Hobby Stocks.
The features kicked off with the E&V Energy Novice Sportsman 20 lap championship event.
Next up the RL Cleaning 25 lap 4-Cylinder Open pitted a solid field with several tracks.
Thirty-two 4-Cylinders battled for a spot in the starting field with heat winners Justin Pope, Chris Bonoffski, Donald Newman and Mike Stone picked up $50 each from RL Cleaning for capturing their prelims.
The $1000 to win RL Cleaning event was won by Nate Powers who held off strong challenges throughout the 25 lapper from Chris Bonoffski and Justin Pope. He started from outside of the front row, but the win didn’t come easily.
At the halfway point the trio hit traffic and Powers was able to masterfully weave through slower cars as he gained a bit of breathing room over his nearest challengers. However, on the 22nd lap Walt Van Epps caught a yuke tire to bring out the yellow and give the leaders a clear race track to finish on.
Bonoffski and Pope challenged, but it was to no avail as at the checker Powers gained a half car length victory. Donald Newman was third followed by Jock Symonds and Michael Greenfield.
In victory lane, Nate said,”There are a lot of tough guys here and I just wanted to him my lines and hold the line in traffic. I saw Chris a couple of times but maintained my position. I’m happy just to be here as we blew up this motor two weeks ago, went to a junkyard and got a motor for a $1,000.
Joe Isabell Jr. and Doug Williams started side-by-side on the front row of the IMCA STAR Mod Lite 25 lap main event.
However, on the very first lap mayhem broke loose and Williams damaged his front suspension while a pile up stopped the race as Pierre u Olivier Trudeau, Tucker Halliday, Jon Isabell and Tom Mackey were untangled.
Upon resumption Joe Isabell was feeling some late race heat from Zach Babcock.
At the checker it was Isabell and Babcock battling right to the finish line.
Throughout the later stages of the feature third place was up for grabs as Mike Mullen, Kyle Demo and Matt Kitts were continuously dicing for the position.
However, Demo, who had strong runs only to have them negated by spins saw his quest for a top five finish come to an end with three laps to go as Kitts, Mullen and Joe Garafolo rounded out the top five.
Isabell said, “The car is great right now. I really have to thank my father (Joe) and he set it up just right for me. The car faded away, but I was waiting for him (Babcock). Also I have to thank Doug Williams as he let me borrow a motor to race tonight.”
Running a car owned by Ron Hawker, Russ Marsden returned to victory lane in the 20 lap Hobby Stock event.
Nate Peckham took the early lead, but on the second circuit Marsden grabbed the lead and the rest was history.
Peckham dogged the leader lap after lap, but it was to no avail.
John Pietrowicz settled for third as he outran Ron Hawker and Jim Evans, Hawker pursued Evans throughout the late stages and it was only at the line where he was able to chalk up a fourth place finish.
Marsden could have been left in the pits at the start of the race as he said, “I got a flat just before we came out. John (Pietrowicz) told him to go to his trailer and take a tire. I ran as fast as I could. I have to thank Ron Hawker as he brought an extra car (to help the field).”
The E&V Energy Novice Sportsman race got off to a scary start as Danny Allen got caught up in a backstretch accident after Sam Groom and Nathan Novak got together. Dennis Wischman came in and Allen got involved only to have his car flip before coming to rest on the Wischman car. Fortunately, there were no injuries.
As action resumed it was Tucker Halliday winning his first ever Novice main in his initial outing in the division. The regular Mod Lite driver said, “It’s surprising I won this. These cars aren’t easy to get into. I’m a late model guy at heart. Chris Hulsizer has been trying to get me to get in and I’m in love with them now.”
Bobby Newman and Dylan Piersall put on a solid two car battle for second place and as the laps wound down Nick Ventura, running the high side, was able to work his way up to fourth with Phil Loosen rounding out the top five.
Milton CAT Outlaw 200 Weekend Thursday Thunder Results
E & V Energy Novice Sportsman A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 88H-Tucker Halliday[1]; 2. 24-Bobby Newman[6]; 3. 30-Dylan Piersall[2]; 4. 711-Nick Ventura[7]; 5. 21A-Phillip Loosen[3]; 6. 29K-Kingston Sprague[10]; 7. 33B-Brianna Murtaugh[14]; 8. 98S-Savannah Simmons[9]; 9. 89-Belle Hogan[16]; 10. 44C-Nick Papageorgio[13]; 11. 14-Samuel Groom[4]; 12. 80X-Rick Kinney[12]; 13. 007-Nathan Novak[8]; 14. 00-Dennis Wischman[15]; 15. 17A-Danny Allen[11]; 16. 42K-Dave Kingsley[5]; 17. (DNS) 5G-Cale Gareau
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 88H-Tucker Halliday[2]; 2. 21A-Phillip Loosen[1]; 3. 42K-Dave Kingsley[3]; 4. 711-Nick Ventura[7]; 5. 98S-Savannah Simmons[6]; 6. 17A-Danny Allen[4]; 7. 44C-Nick Papageorgio[5]; 8. (DNS) 00-Dennis Wischman
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 30-Dylan Piersall[2]; 2. 14-Samuel Groom[4]; 3. 24-Bobby Newman[3]; 4. 007-Nathan Novak[9]; 5. 29K-Kingston Sprague[1]; 6. 80X-Rick Kinney[5]; 7. 33B-Brianna Murtaugh[8]; 8. 89-Belle Hogan[6]; 9. (DNF) 5G-Cale Gareau[7]
Top Finishing Bicknell Race Car Bonus – $200 – Tucker Halliday
RL Cleaning 4-Cylinders A Feature 1: 1. 113-Nate Powers[2]; 2. 27-Justin Pope[7]; 3. 54-Donald Newman[5]; 4. 8X-Jock Symonds[12]; 5. 17G-Michael Greenfield[1]; 6. 354-Andy Bolles[11]; 7. 22C-Craig Decamp[14]; 8. 11A-Kevin Greenfield[3]; 9. 111J-Anthony St Mary Jr[15]; 10. 13-Gary Sharlow[22]; 11. 0D-Jason Peck[21]; 12. 83-Robert Lovine[20]; 13. 99-Walt VanEpps[13]; 14. 27A-Alexandra Parker[17]; 15. 0-Steven Burdick[9]; 16. 9-Dylan Burdick[24]; 17. 67K-Clayton Koch[18]; 18. 23B-Brian Mettler[25]; 19. 55-Anthony VanEpps[6]; 20. 28-Mike Stone[4]; 21. 122-Ray Hyer[10]; 22. 20-Eric Rowley[16]; 23. 68F-Jean Voster[26]; 24. 77X-Brian Evenden[23]; 25. (DNS) X-Travis Berkman; 26. (DNS) R1-Rich Riggs; 27. (DQ) 16B-Chris Bonoffski[8]
B Feature 1: 1. 0D-Jason Peck[9]; 2. 13-Gary Sharlow[1]; 3. 77X-Brian Evenden[11]; 4. 9-Dylan Burdick[3]; 5. 23B-Brian Mettler[4]; 6. 68F-Jean Voster[7]; 7. R1-Rich Riggs[2]; 8. 4T4-Willy Easling[8]; 9. 09-Darik VanEpps[10]; 10. 16K-Matt Kitts[6]; 11. 4H-Emma Burdick[5]; 12. 20X-Nick Galusha[13]; 13. 21V-Corey Valade[12]
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 27-Justin Pope[5]; 2. 113-Nate Powers[8]; 3. 0-Steven Burdick[7]; 4. 99-Walt VanEpps[6]; 5. 27A-Alexandra Parker[1]; 6. 13-Gary Sharlow[9]; 7. 4H-Emma Burdick[2]; 8. (DNF) 0D-Jason Peck[4]; 9. (DNF) 20X-Nick Galusha[3]
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 16B-Chris Bonoffski[6]; 2. 17G-Michael Greenfield[2]; 3. 122-Ray Hyer[1]; 4. 22C-Craig Decamp[7]; 5. 67K-Clayton Koch[8]; 6. R1-Rich Riggs[4]; 7. (DNF) 16K-Matt Kitts[3]; 8. (DNF) 09-Darik VanEpps[5]
Heat 3 (6 Laps): 1. 54-Donald Newman[5]; 2. 55-Anthony VanEpps[2]; 3. 354-Andy Bolles[3]; 4. 111J-Anthony St Mary Jr[7]; 5. X-Travis Berkman[1]; 6. 9-Dylan Burdick[4]; 7. 68F-Jean Voster[6]; 8. (DNF) 77X-Brian Evenden[8]
Heat 4 (6 Laps): 1. 28-Mike Stone[5]; 2. 11A-Kevin Greenfield[7]; 3. 8X-Jock Symonds[3]; 4. 20-Eric Rowley[2]; 5. 83-Robert Lovine[8]; 6. 23B-Brian Mettler[1]; 7. (DNF) 4T4-Willy Easling[6]; 8. (DNF) 21V-Corey Valade[4]
$50 Heat Winner Bonus – Justin Pope, Chris Bonoffski, Donald Newman, Mike Stone
$100 Hard Charger – Gary Sharlow
$100 Longest Tow – Jason Peck
$50 Hard Luck – Mike Stone
2024 DIRTcar License Drawing – Emma Burdick
Mod Lites A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 6J-Joe Isabell[1]; 2. 88X-Zack Babcock[5]; 3. 5K-Matt Kitts[3]; 4. 06-Mike Mullen[4]; 5. 55-Joseph Garafolo[7]; 6. 27-Sean Iftody[9]; 7. 4J-Jacob Malbouf[19]; 8. 03-Matt Rainville[16]; 9. 155-Nicholas Garafolo[18]; 10. 22-Kyle Demo[6]; 11. 18-Sam Usborne[12]; 12. 2D-Jacob Dupra[20]; 13. 17-Mike Rainville[21]; 14. 10W-Justin Williams[8]; 15. 11X-Jack Lyon[10]; 16. 9W-Doug Williams[2]; 17. 73-Rich Rainville[17]; 18. 16-Tucker Halliday[11]; 19. 26-Jon Isabell[13]; 20. M1-Tom Mackey[14]; 21. 3-Pierre u Olivier Trudeau[15]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 6J-Joe Isabell[2]; 2. 06-Mike Mullen[3]; 3. 55-Joseph Garafolo[5]; 4. 11X-Jack Lyon[4]; 5. 26-Jon Isabell[1]; 6. 03-Matt Rainville[7]; 7. 4J-Jacob Malbouf[6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 9W-Doug Williams[1]; 2. 88X-Zack Babcock[6]; 3. 10W-Justin Williams[5]; 4. 16-Tucker Halliday[4]; 5. M1-Tom Mackey[2]; 6. 73-Rich Rainville[7]; 7. (DNF) 2D-Jacob Dupra[3]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 5K-Matt Kitts[3]; 2. 22-Kyle Demo[6]; 3. 27-Sean Iftody[1]; 4. 18-Sam Usborne[2]; 5. 3-Pierre u Olivier Trudeau[5]; 6. 155-Nicholas Garafolo[4]; 7. 17-Mike Rainville[7]
Billy Whittaker Cars & Trux Hobby Stock Championship (20 Laps): A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 14X-Russ Marsden[3]; 2. 90-Nathan Peckham[1]; 3. 17-John Pietrowicz[8]; 4. 14H-Ronald Hawker[7]; 5. 74X-Jim Evans[4]; 6. 19-Chuck Cushman[6]; 7. Z4-Shawn Doucette[5]; 8. 28-Brandon Barron[2]; 9. 56-Edward Stevens[9]; 10. 22-Todd Koegel[12]; 11. 0V1-Andy Kieffer[13]; 12. 14-Brennan Fitzgibbons[10]; 13. 88X-Chuck Thomas[11]
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 17-John Pietrowicz[1]; 2. 14X-Russ Marsden[5]; 3. 90-Nathan Peckham[4]; 4. 19-Chuck Cushman[2]; 5. 56-Edward Stevens[3]; 6. 88X-Chuck Thomas[7]; 7. 0V1-Andy Kieffer[6]
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 74X-Jim Evans[2]; 2. 14H-Ronald Hawker[4]; 3. 28-Brandon Barron[3]; 4. Z4-Shawn Doucette[1]; 5. 14-Brennan Fitzgibbons[5]; 6. (DNF) 22-Todd Koegel[6]