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►JOEY GRAMMES OUTDUELS THE JOHNSON BROTHERS TO BE “KING OF THE CAN” AT PENN-CAN; CREEDEN WINS SPORTSMAN
09/19/06

JOEY GRAMMES OUTDUELS THE JOHNSON BROTHERS TO BE “KING OF THE CAN” AT PENN-CAN; CREEDEN WINS SPORTSMAN

09/19/06 – SUSQUEHANNA, PA – Joey Grammes defended his home turf on Sunday afternoon as the Penn Can Speedway regular out dueled two of the best
drivers in the business to pick up the victory in the 100 lap “King of the Can” feature event. With all of the stars of the Race of Champions Series in the pits, Grammes topped the 57 car Modified field to earn the $5,000 winner’s check in stellar fashion as he came out on top of a wild three car battle for the lead featuring himself, Danny Johnson, and Alan
Johnson. Danny Creeden won his second Race of Champions Sportsman division feature at Penn Can in 2006 as the Middletown, NY native topped
the 40 lap Sportsman division feature. Sean Lias took top honors in the IMCA Modified division’s 20 lap feature event.
For Grammes, the day did not start out as he had hoped as a poor heat race run forced Joey to earn his spot in the “King of the Can” feature
via the consolation round, putting him in 23rd starting position for the feature race. Due to his bad starting position, Grammes was a non-factor
in the early stages of the event. “the Doctor” Danny Johnson drew the pole starting position and was able to immediately make his way into the
lead as the green flag waved.
The early stages of the Don’s Automotive Mall sponsored event found Danny Johnson setting the pace with Bobby Varin, Alan Johnson, and Stewart
Friesen all moving into top five positions. Danny continued to show the way through the first third of the race with Alan moving to second behind
Danny as the two brothers set the early pace. Danny continued to lead as the race leaders began to lap the rear of the field. Danny would get
through the traffic cleanly, but Alan Johnson was not as lucky. On lap 34, the lapped car of Jimmy Davis got crossed up exiting the fourth turn
and got out of shape. As he did so, Alan was left with no escape route as Davis’ errant machine made heavy contact with Alan, knocking Alan into a
spin. Johnson was able to refire the car and rejoin at the tail of the field without suffering significant damage.
With Alan having to race from the back of the pack, Danny Johnson was once again the race leader trailed by Varin, Friesen, and a fast closing
Mike Gular, who had worked his way solidly into the top five from his tenth place starting spot. Unfortunately for Gular, his strong run would
end on the 49th alp as he made a bold move to the inside of Friesen going for third pace. The two made contact with Gular spinning out while
Friesen continued on, eliminating Gular from contention as he retired to the pits after expressing his displeasure to Friesen.
As the race passed the halfway point, Friesen attempted to take the second spot from Bobby Varin on the ensuing restart from the previous
incident. After making heavy contact exiting the second turn, the two cars appeared to lock together and spin wildly across the backstretch,
coming to rest in the pit exit. While both drivers were uninjured, both cars suffered significant suspension damage and both were out of the race
at this point.
With the two incidents at the head of the field shaking up the running order, eventual winner Grammes made his initial showing in the top five
on lap 52 as he was running third behind Danny Johnson and Jeff Strunk.
Alan Johnson had recovered nicely from his incident earlier in the race and had also worked his way back up thorough the field to run fourth.
While Danny Johnson continued to run the low line, Jeff Strunk was beginning to get hooked up on the outside groove of the speedway as he was beginning to pressure Johnson for the top spot. Grammes also moved to the high side of the track and also began to close down on Johnson for
the top spot. The top three continued to run in this formation lap after lap as Strunk was able to pull alongside Danny on a couple of occasions,
but Danny was getting off the bottom of the track very well and each time was able to hold onto the race lead.
As the lap counter went past the 80 lap mark, Johnson was still showing the pace over Strunk and Grammes. Strunk was beginning to have fuel
issues as his alcohol fired small block consumes much more fuel than the gasoline motors used by the other frontrunners. Grammes was able to take
advantage of Strunk’s fuel woes and drive past Strunk into the runner-up position as Strunk would eventually be forced pitside for fuel, taking
him out of contention for the win.
This left Danny Johnson as the race leader over Grammes and Alan Johnson as the race was rapidly winding down to a conclusion. Grammes was working the high side of the speedway, trying to get enough of a run off the corner to slip past Danny for the lead. A final caution flag on lap 97
bunched the field and set up a dramatic run to the finish. Coming off the restart, Grammes once again made his move to the high side while Alan
Johnson also made a move, looking to the low side of Grammes and Danny.
With Alan having his front wheels inside his quarter panel, Danny was forced to alter his line slightly entering the third turn. By having to do so, Danny was not able to get his usual run off the turn and Grammes was able to make the big sweep around the outside work to take over the top spot with only two laps left to run.
Alan Johnson was also able to make the move work for him as well as he was able to move into the runner-up position and try to make a last
minute run at Grammes. With the biggest checkered flag of his career in sight, Grammes managed to drive a perfect line over the final two laps to keep Alan behind him and take the victory by a narrow margin over Alan Johnson. Danny Johnson led 97 laps of the event but settled for a third place finish with Penn Can regular Craig Terrell finishing fourth with fellow track regular Brian Decker fifth.
Mike Colsten, Mike Gular, Chad Cook, Ted Lamb, Danny Johnson, and Stewart Friesen won the six Modified heat races. Craig Terrell, Rich Keehle, and
Bob Henry won the Modified consolation events.
The 40 lap Race of Champions Sportsman feature saw Danny Creeden pick up his second Penn Can victory of the season as the Middletown, NY native
authored an impressive drive to pick up the win. In a race that featured plenty of three wide racing at the head of the field, Creeden utilized a daring three wide sweep around the outside of Ken Titus and Mike Lartz to take over the top spot. From there, Creeden led the remainder of the event to pick up the win and collect the $1,000 winner’s share of the purse. Titus finished second in a borrowed ride as he wheeled the Bubba Folk #19 after losing the motor in his own car the previous week. Mike Lartz drove to a third place finish ahead of newly crowned track champion Mike Loney. For Loney, it was a nice recovery after having to be towed back to the pits after a first lap jingle. Some quick pit work got him back an the track on the lead lap and Loney charged through the field to
finish a solid fourth. Big Diamond Raceway Sportsman champion Gary Wagner Jr. finished fifth in his first Penn Can appearance.
Shawn Walker, P.J. Goodwin, Mike Lartz, and Mike Loney won the Sportsman heats with Tom Perrego and Russ Zimmerman won the consolations.
Sean Lias drove to victory in the 20 lap IMCA Modified feature. Lias came out on top of a torrid battle with Rich Talada for the top spot, his
third victory of the weekend as Lias won features at all three tracks he ran during the weekend. Talada finished second with Tyler Stoddard, Joe
Cole, and Kevin Cole completing the top five running order. Lias was also victorious in the IMCA Modified heat race.
With the 2006 season now complete, Penn Can Speedway management would like to thank all of the race teams and fans for supporting the speedway during the 2006 racing season. Work is already underway on what is shaping up to be a very exciting 2007 racing season. Continue to watch
this publication as news for the 2007 season will be announced as plans are finalized. As always, the most up to date information is available on
the speedway’s official website at www.penncan.com.
DON’S AUTOMOTIVE MALL RACE SUMMARY:
Race of Champions Modifieds (100 laps): 1. JOEY GRAMMES 2. Alan Johnson 3. Danny Johnson 4. Craig Terrell 5. Brian Decker 6. Bob Henry 7. Mitch
Gibbs 8. Jim Davis 9. Carl Nagel 10, Ted Lamb 11. Mike Colsten 12. Jeff Strunk 13. Butch Getz 14. Chad Cook 15. Alan Rudalavage 16. Rodney Hart
17. Jerry Higbie 18. Ryan Watt 19.Bobby Varin 20. Stewart Friesen 21. Mike Gular 22. Steve Baicek 23. Brian Weaver 24. Doug Manmiller 25. Rich
Keehle 26. Chris Weaver DNQ: Brent Wilcox, Amanda Spotts, Billy Decker, Chris Shupp, Bill Huff, Billy Thornton, J.R. Hurlburt, Wade Decker, Eric Bonham, Jim Crawn, Mike Ketchum, Gary Hager, Ken Eckert Jr., Brett Tonkin, Meme DeSantis, Chris Ostrowsky, Steve Walsh, Jason Hamilton, Dave Jenkins, Billy Reese, Scott Frack, Bobby Tarpper, Alan Kellogg, Mike Doty, John Lutes Jr., Jim Gabriel Jr., Bill Miller, Darwin Greene, John Keller, Billy Jenkins, Mike Nagel
Race of Champions Sportsman(40 laps) : 1. DANNY CREEDEN 2. Ken Titus 3. Mike Lartz 4. Mike Loney 5. Gary Wagner Jr. 6. PJ Goodwin 7. Shawn Walker
8. Chris Wood 9. Eric Holmgren 10. Justin Holland 11. Russ Zimmerman 12. Les Gillette 13. Eric Stevens 14. Tom Tomasko 15. Steve Way 16. Jeff
Leslie 17. Dwayne Robbins 18. Dan pompey 19. Paul Rooney 20. Tom Perrego 21. Rick Brown 22. Nick Petrilak 23. Joey Colsten 24. Ladd Yoemans 25.
Tim Nye DNQ: Steve Davis, Ted Stout, Mike Taylor, Matt Janczuk, Eric Griffin, Bernie Griffin, Dave Carlin, Mike Nagel Jr., Kevin Beach
IMCA Modifieds (20 laps) : 1. SEAN LIAS 2. Rich Talada 3. Tyler Stoddard 4. Joe Cole 5. Kevin Cole 6. Mike Stoddard 7. Ray Menard 8. Brad Weaver
9. Matt Cole 10. Ricky Hunsinger 13. Jeremy Shaw