{"id":4903,"date":"2008-09-19T09:03:22","date_gmt":"2008-09-19T14:03:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/100.24.212.105\/?p=4903"},"modified":"2010-11-19T09:05:34","modified_gmt":"2010-11-19T15:05:34","slug":"panunte-cops-mr-dirtcar-sportsman-wilkens-memorial-at-humberstone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dirtcar.com\/dirtcar-ne\/pro-stocks\/panunte-cops-mr-dirtcar-sportsman-wilkens-memorial-at-humberstone\/","title":{"rendered":"Panunte Cops Mr. DIRTcar Sportsman Wilkens Memorial At Humberstone"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Greg Panunte - Rick Wellman Photo<\/p><\/div>\n
Port Colborne, ONT<\/strong> \u2014 September 19, 2008 \u2013 By John Steckley, DIRTcar Racing NorthEast Series Correspondent \n<\/strong> \nPort 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 on Friday evening at the new Humberstone Speedway.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Seventeen year-old Chris Raabe rocketed from fourth to second place on lap \n13 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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 10-car advantage that he wouldn\u2019t relinquish. Friesen bested Bowman for second, while Raabe and Nick Cupolo completed the top-five.<\/p>\n
Chad Chevalier, Brad Rouse, John Pietrowicz, Mark D\u2019Ilario and Tyler McPherson rounded out the top-10.<\/p>\n
Dan Wiesner entered Friday\u2019s 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 as Raabe moved to the top for the first time.<\/p>\n
After the race, Panunte discussed his frantic battle with Friesen in lapped traffic. \u201cI saw James go by me for an instant, but I wasn\u2019t going to block him or chop him,\u201d the race winner noted. \u201cI\u2019ve raced him a lot and it\u2019s always been clean. \nSometimes I\u2019ve beat him and sometimes he\u2019s beat me but it\u2019s always been clean racing. You can\u2019t say that about a lot of guys out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
SPORTSMAN SHORTS<\/strong>: The returning DIRTcar Sportsman Modified 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 358-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 Super DIRTcar Series event for Big-Blocks in early August at Merrittville.<\/p>\n
Round number 10 of the Mr. DIRTcar Sportsman Championship Series is slated for Canandaigua Speedway as the tour swings back into the states for a big 45-lap main event scheduled as part of the tracks\u2019 2008 season finale Labatt Blue RaceFest Weekend on Saturday, September 20.<\/p>\n
Mr. DIRTcar Sportsman Championship Series Race #9 \u2013 Humberstone Speedway, September 19, 2008 \u2018Trevor Wilkens Memorial 50\u2019 Event Summary \n<\/strong>FIN STR CAR# DRIVER \n1 99p Greg Panunte\/Port Colborne,ONT ($1,000) \n2 31 James Friesen\/St.Catharines,ONT \n3 71 Mike Bowman\/St.Catharines,ONT \n4 01 Chris Raabe\/Napanee,ONT \n5 99c Nick Cupolo\/Thorold,ONT \n6 12 Chad Chevalier\/Port Colborne,ONT \n7 18r Brad Rouse\/St.Catharines,ONT \n8 85 John Pietrowicz\/Phoenix,NY \n9 08 Mark D’Ilario\/Smithville,ONT \n10 777 Tyler McPherson\/St.Catharines,ONT \n11 6 Mat Williamson\/St.Catharines,ONT \n12 19w Justin Wright\/Piffard,NY \n13 9 Paul Gaboury\/Welland,ONT \n14 62 Rick Bellante\/St.Catharines,ONT \n15 26h Luke Carleton\/Port Colborne,ONT \n16 77 B.J. Willard\/St.Catharines,ONT \n17 67g Eric Giguere\/Waterloo,NY \n18 66 Dan Wiesner\/Geneva,NY \n19 20k Tom Huppenen\/Fenwick,ONT \n20 88 Doug Spiece\/Welland,ONT \n21 38 Ryan Susice\/Ransomville,NY \n22 18 Ryan Weese\/Milton, ONT \n23 12A Jeff Armstrong\/Port Colborne, ONT \n24 43t Jay Doerr\/London,ONT \n25 1M Norm Mark\/Fort Erie, ONT \n26 140 Mark Dixon\/Durham,ONT \n27 20J Tony Cowell\/Woodstock, ONT \n28 51x Cody McPherson\/St.Catharines,ONT \n29 06 Brandon Easey\/St.Catharines,ONT \n30 00 Don Spiece\/Welland, ONT \n31 5s Kevin Sharpe\/Port Colborne,ONT<\/p>\n
EVENT SUMMARY<\/strong>: \nLAP LEADERS: Friesen (1), Bowman (2-11), Panunte (12-50) \nCAUTIONS: 4 (lap 3, lap 5, lap 13, lap 15) \nQUALIFYING \nHeat Races (8 laps, all transferred to feature, top 3 went to re-draw) \n#1: M. Bowman, N. Mark, G. Panunte, L. Carleton, B.J. Willard, C. \nMcPherson, R. \nWeese, J. Armstrong. \n#2: B. Rouse, C. Chevalier, D. Wiesner, R. Susice, E. Giguere, J. Doerr, Doug Spiece, P. Gaboury. \n#3: R. Bellante, Don Spiece, J. Friesen, B. Easey, M. D\u2019Ilario, M. \nDixon, K. Sharpe, T. \nCowell. \n#4: N. Cupolo, J. Pietrowicz, C. Raabe, T. McPherson, M. Williamson, J. \nWright, T. \nHuppenen.<\/p>\n
UPCOMING EVENT <\/strong> \nMr. DIRTcar Sportsman Series race chasers have little time to rest as the very next night they cross the border back into the United States for a big 45-lapper at Canandaigua Speedway on Saturday, September 20. Valuable points towards the overall Hoosier Tire Mr. DIRTcar Championship will be awarded along with a guaranteed starting position in the \u2018Town Mechanical 30\u2019 Sportsman Modified main event during Super DIRT Week in October.<\/p>\n
2008 Mr. DIRTcar Sportsman Championship Series Schedule <\/strong> \n*All events subject to change<\/em>. \nDAY-DATE LAPS TRACK LOCATION\/WINNER \nSat-Apr 5 50 Black Rock Speedway Larry Wight \nMon-May 26 30 Rolling Wheels Raceway Dan Wiesner \nThr-Jul 3 20 Rolling Wheels Raceway Mark D\u2019Ilario \nThr-Jul 3 20 Rolling Wheels Raceway Todd Town \nFri-Jul 4 30 Brewerton Speedway Chris Hile \nThr-Jul 10 30 Brockville Ont. Speedway Chris Raabe \nMon-Sep 1 30 Rolling Wheels Raceway Mike Ruggiero \nSat-Sep 6 50 Merrittville Speedway Brad Rouse \nFri-Sep 12 50 Ransomville Speedway Rain-Cancelled \nSat-Sep 13 30 Genesee Speedway Rain-Cancelled \nFri-Sep 19 50 Humberstone Speedway Greg Panunte \nSat-Sep 20 45 Canandaigua Speedway Canandaigua,NY \nSat-Sep 27 30 Rolling Wheels Raceway Elbridge,NY \nFri-Oct 3 30 Fulton Speedway Fulton,NY \nWed-Oct 8 30 Can-Am Motorsports Park LaFargeville,NY \nFri-Oct 10 30 Rolling Wheels Raceway Elbridge,NY \nSat-Oct 11 30 New York State Fairgrounds Syracuse,NY \nFri-Oct 17 40 Thunder Mountain Speedway Center Lisle,NY \nSat-Oct 18 50 Orange Co. Fair Speedway Middletown,NY<\/p>\n
The Advance Auto Parts Super DIRTcar Series for Big-Block Modifieds is brought to fans across the Northeast by several sponsors and partners, including series sponsors Advance Auto Parts and Hoosier Racing Tire. Rite Aid Corporation is a promotional partner and the contingency sponsors are Bars Leaks, Bert Transmission, Bicknell Racing Products, Bilstein Shocks, Brodix Cylinder Heads, Crane Cams, Dig Safely New York, Holley HP Carburetors, Integra Shocks, Intercomp, KSE Racing Products, Motorsports Safety Systems, Penske Shocks, Rislone Oil Stabilizer and Wrisco Industries. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Port Colborne, ONT \u2014 September 19, 2008 \u2013 By John Steckley, DIRTcar Racing NorthEast Series Correspondent 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 on Friday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[258,263,167,278,129,168,206,261,55,248,123,176,290,157,60,268,193,175,177,113],"division":[],"series":[],"regions":[],"class_list":["post-4903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pro-stocks","tag-358-modified","tag-big-block-modified","tag-black-rock-speedway","tag-brewerton-speedway","tag-can-am-motorsports-park","tag-canandaigua-speedway","tag-humberstone-speedway","tag-merrittville-speedway","tag-modifieds-2","tag-mr-dirtcar","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-state-fairgrounds","tag-ransomville-speedway","tag-schedule","tag-sportsman-2","tag-sportsman-modified","tag-states","tag-super-dirt-week","tag-syracuse","tag-tracks-2"],"yoast_head":"\n
Panunte Cops Mr. DIRTcar Sportsman Wilkens Memorial At Humberstone - DIRTcar Racing<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n