RPW Exclusive: Friday Night At Thunder Mountain Was The Perfect Way To Kickstart 2025

Column By: JOSEPH PHILLIPS / RPW – CENTER LISLE, NY – Like many Northeast tracks, Thunder Mountain Speedway has been at the mercy of the weather.  For the first night of the Jan Corcoran Memorial, race teams and fans were greeted by mild temps with a blustery wind.

Fortunately, as the sun set, the winds calmed down for the features.  Surprisingly, the temperature stayed comfortable into the night.

On the card for the night was 600cc Modified, 600cc Sprint Car and Factory Stock features plus Modified and DIRTcar Sportsman time trials.

Car turnout for all classes was on the light side with many of the top Modified drivers, such as Darren Smith, running at other facilities such as the Super DIRTcar Seires event at Albany-Saratoga.

A surprise face in the pits was NASCAR Modified driver Tyler Catalano. Tyler is stepping back from that Tour in 2025 to help his brother at Lancaster Motorplex in Western New York.  He purchased a 600cc Sprint car as a way to experience something fresh this season.

“We just want to have some fun this year,” Catalano said.  “We wanted to try something new.”

Catalano used his track time to mainly work on gaining consistency and practice hitting his marks with each lap he made.

Thompson, PA Sportsman driver Alan Komar was out for time trials and lap times.  Komar said that the surface will be perfect for racers this year.

“This place is consistent and smooth,” Komar said.  “A set of tires usually lasts me a full season.”

Komar also stated that he’s tried other tracks out but Thunder Mountain will be his Saturday home.

A major topic of discussion this past winter was the banning of the left side panhard bar at Big Diamond and Grandview in Pennsylvania.  When asked there thoughts on the matter, several drivers stated that the cars lean more, get more bite on the left side and that the car is “less squirrelly” in the corners.

Other stated that they ran both left and right bars and the difference was negligible. A few even said that they see a droop rule coming along from DIRTcar in the future.

Some drivers in the Modified class lamented the fact their cars and those in the Sportsman division are more like Late Models these days than what their cars were in the past.  Short radius rods and left side panhard bars are the trend these days many believe that this makes the cars cost more.  However, they also feel that they have to do it to keep up with the bigger teams with larger budgets.

Friday night, after hot laps and time trials, the heats were up and everything ran off in quick fashion.  The first feature of the night was the 600cc Mods.  In that race, the frist yellow flag wasn’t thrown until around the halfway point when Christian Hafl rolled the no. 25 coming out of turn 2. That necessitated the red flag immediately as Hafl required medical attention.

Note: As of Saturday morning, there was a post on Hafl’s social media that he has a severe concussion, a couple fractured ribs and is still in the hospital.  He blacked out after the car rolled over.

The race resumed and ran caution-free the rest of the way with polesitter Ali Scutt bringing home the victory.

When asked her secret to victory, Scutt stated it was all about positioning on the track.

“The trick is to run low,” Scutt said.  “If a car doesn’t run low, they will get passed.  By keeping the car low, I was able to maintain speed and rocket off the corners.”

The 600cc Sprints were next and Zach Bobbett lead every one of the 20 laps to take the victory in the 99Z car.

For the Factory Stocks, Doug Stack Jr. was the victor. When asked about dealing with different cars on restarts, Stack talked about knowing who you can and can’t race with.

“A driver needs confidence to race with different drivers,” Stack said. “You learn who you can race with and who you can’t.”

After the features, the Modifieds and Sportsman had another set of time trials followed by an open practice session.

Saturday’s card at Thunder Mountain features the IMCA Modifieds, 600cc Mods again, the DIRTcar Sportsman and Modifeds.

For an April night of racing in New York, the surface at Thunder Mountain Friday was smooth and relatively dust free.  The program was run off quickly with minimal downtime.  This is certainly a strong start for the 2025 season.

For those needing a fix of racing after a long winter, Thunder Mountain Speedway can certainly filled that need on Saturday night.  Head out and enjoy the fun!