| Sizemore Hits Exacta While Putnam Misses Rain | by Jon Harney
Despite threatening weather, Putnam County Speedway stayed dry and ran a highly exciting night of racing. Over 150 cars jammed the pits as racers from rained-out neighboring tracks tried their hand on the 3/8-mile clay oval.
Joe Grubb took the initial lead over the 23-car Limited Late Model field. With a crowded track and many drivers making their Putnam debut, the yellow flag flew early and often. Grubb was holding his own against Marion Sizemore until he drifted high on lap 8 and opened the door for Sizemore. The next lap gave cause for pause as Tony Kraus contacted the front straight wall and launched into a spectacular rollover and slide. Despite making hard contact and suffering considerable front-end damage to his car, Kraus walked away from the wreckage uninjured, much to the relief of fans and racers. Sizemore resumed his reign over the field and won his second Limited race of 2001. Bill Kopka put up a game effort to beat out Grubb for second but fell short at the line. Dave Shugart and Garry Flynn finished up the top five.
Over 30 Pure Stocks arrived which necessitated running a B-Main feature that was won by Joshua David. 24 cars started the A-main. Shawn Buchanan appeared to be on his way to walking off with the Pure Stock honors, but fell victim to mechanical problems. Hardy Jarvis was the benefactor of Buchanan's blues and held off Ken Durham to win the A-main. David Miller Jr's Torino ran a solid third, L.J. Klemons ran fourth, and David Conner came from the ninth row to run fifth.
Mitch McCoy made the most of his pole position starting spot to win in Street Stocks. He withstood repeated challenges from David Kinsey and Kenny Hall to earn his victory. Billy Costello drove his Discount Auto Parts Camaro to third ahead of Richard Adams and the Unknown Driver in the white-numeraled #6 who started from dead last to wind up fifth.
A full field of 24 Hobby Stocks took the green flag. Danny Miller assumed the early lead and locked into a dogfight with Chip Owen. Miller's handling advantage was overcome by Owen's superior power. As the rest of the field raced two and sometimes three cars wide, Ronnie Soltis charged through traffic to overhaul Miller for second. Owen fended off Soltis' challenges to win the battle on the track. Soltis, however, won the war in the tech area as Owen's carburetor was found to be in violation of division rules. Second and third both went to Dave Dowling, with Junior besting Senior for second. John Taylor finished fourth behind the Dowlings.
Chris Hammond was David to Marion Sizemore's Goliath as the duo fought for bragging rights in the Modified feature. Sizemore has a half-dozen wins in Modified this year and has been virtually unstoppable. David's sling came up empty on lap 12 as Sizemore roared past on the inside and never looked back to claim his second feature win of the night. Gary Sexton also bested Hammond and was on his way to second until he spun on the final lap. Hammond reclaimed second to finish ahead of Robbie Barris, Chip Owen, and Randy Hecker.
Mini Stocks closed out the show and also drew enough cars to merit three heats and a B-main which Ronnie Strosahl won. Polesitter Mike Gibbs gathered the early lead but that was short-lived as Jake Hartley and Mickey Leth reeled in Gibbs. The three sliced and diced through heavy lapped traffic with Hartley leading for a few laps only to be snookered by Gibbs in traffic. The 15-lap race was called a lap early when third-running Steve Thompson's Ford Probe rolled on its side. Thompson was not injured and the damage to his car was minimal. Gibbs took his fifth victory ahead of Leth and Don Strosahl Jr.
Super Late Models assault PCS this Saturday in a make-up race from June 9th's rainout. All six PCS divisions will run heats and features in support of the Super Late Models. The United Sprint Car Series will race for two nights on July 5th and 6th with additional races in the Modified and Mini-Sprint divisions.
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