CENTER LISLE, N.Y. – Eric Leet headlined a night of new winners on Saturday night at Thunder Mountain Speedway.
Landon Cummings led the first 12 laps of the Modified feature until Jimmy Zacharias caught him and took the lead. They battled for several laps, but contact between the pair after a lap 18 restart sent Zacharias spinning. Cummings went to the pits and Zacharias restarted from the back of the field. That handed the lead to Leet, who withstood pressure from Shaun Walker over the next few laps.
Leet pulled away as Nick Nye came on to challenge Walker for second, finally getting that spot on the final lap. At the checkers, Leet had the win over Nye, Walker, Alan Barker, and Darren Smith, who came from the 21st starting spot to fifth.
In the DIRTcar 358 Modifieds, Matt Meade led early while Tom Collins Jr. tried to fight off Rusty Smith for second. Smith got the runner-up position on lap 11 and took the lead a couple of laps later, while Meade spun out of the second spot in turn four on lap 13. Glenn Forward made his way to third, but fell back with an overheating car, which moved Colton Wilson into the third spot. Smith held on for the win over Collins and Wilson, with Jordan McCreadie making a last lap move to take fifth from Billy Dunn.
Brian White and Ray Reynolds battled for the lead at the start of the DIRTcar Crate Sportsman main event, but contact just after a restart sent them both to the back and handed the lead to Daryl Krebs. Krebs extended a lead of half a straightaway at the middle stages of the event while Alan Fink worked his way into the top five.
Fink got past Mike Austin and Kinser Hill in the late going to grab second, but could not catch the speedy Krebs, who took his first win of the seaosn. Fink, Hill, Austin, and Hunter Lapp rounded out the top five.
Brenton Miller busted out of the pack to take the lead in the 600cc Modified feature, with Tom Donahue giving chase while three and four wide racing was happening behind them. While the top two were able to pull away, several drivers battled hard for the rest of the top five spots. When the race ended, Miller had his first win of the year with Donahue not too far behind him. Rich Powell emerged out of the race long battle for the remaining top five spots with a third, trailed by Bumps Scutt and Jake Weibel.
Damon Decker took the lead from the drop of the green in the Wheeler Excavating Street Stock feature and led wire to wire, but had to endure a late race restart with former winners Steven Deinhardt and Lanson Albanese on his tail. Decker was up to the challenge, turning around some bad luck the previous two weeks to take the victory. Following Deinhardt and Albanese were Mike Wilbur and Tom Paige.
After breaking a timing change while leading last Saturday night’s Pop’s Automotive Factory Stock feature, Mike Morse roared back to form, taking the lead on the first lap of the feature from his third starting spot and pulling a huge lead. That lead was erased by a lap 14 yellow, but he held off Josh Towner on the final restart for his second feature win of the year. Luke Mills, Shane Moshier, and Frank Mills Jr. rounded out the top five.
Jeremy Hamilton grabbed the lead at the start of the Budget Sportsman feature and was able to hold off two-time winner Johnathan Fowlston on a late race restart for his first win of the season. Eric Winsor passed Lucas Kasterhuber on the final lap for the third spot, with Steve Schrader fifth.
Dom Kerchburger won his second Junior Slingshot main event, besting Liam Zacharias and Evan O’Hara, while Taylor Wilk outran Logan LaDue and Tyler Paige for the Junior 600cc Modified honors.