Jennerstown, PA – May 12, 2001 – It took a couple of weeks into the 2001 NASCAR Weekly Racing Season for Neil Brown to reach victory lane, but Saturday night he crunched the competition with a wire-to-wire victory in the Wheeler Bros./AC Delco Late Model division feature at Jennerstown Speedway. Other feature winners during Snyder of Berlin Race Night at the Laurel Highlands Oval were Adam Kostelnik in Brown Timber and Land Street Stock, Tracy Colarruso in the Street Stock Make-up feature. Bryan Thomas won in Jennerstown Pro Truck, Jason Fritz in Jennerstown Charger, and Mark Howard of Randleman, North Carolina in Cover Insurance Agency/PA Legacy Series action.

Neil Brown took off from the outside pole position, and remained poised under the pressure of seventeen other Wheeler Bros./AC Delco Late Model competitors breathing down his neck to claim his first win of the 2001 racing season. Although he lead the race from start to finish, Brown faced early challenges from Barry Awtey and Mark Smith, who renewed their side-by-side action from a week ago. The pair of tough competitors were able to pass each other on occasion, and attempt to run down the race leader, but would once again fall back into their own battle. As the laps began to wind down, Awtey finally laid claim to the second spot, with Shawn Beam returning to his primary car and a third place finish. Brad Creighton came home in fourth, in only his fourth start at Jennerstown, while Smith faded in the final laps to a fifth place finish at the checkered flag. Heat race wins went to Sean Beam and Bobby Henry.

The Brown Timber and Land Street Stock division feature was as close as they get, with Tracy Colarusso and Adam Kostelnik chasing each other for most of the twenty-five-lap race. Kostelnik took off with the lead from the pole position, while Colarusso maneuvered around last week’s winner Todd Knight to give chase to the race leader. The two drivers raced within a car length of each other for most of the race, and on lap twenty Colarusso finally got underneath Kostelnik for the lead. A late yellow flag brought the field under caution, forcing a double file restart that put the two front runners side-by-side. With only three laps to go Kostelnik found racing room on the outside groove, and maintained the door-to-door battle with Colarusso all of the way to the finish line, where he took the win by mere inches. Todd Knight held onto a loose handling racer to finish in third. Former divisional champion Mike Bakalon brought a loaner race car home in fourth, with Chris Deyarmin rounding out the top five. John Stanko and Todd Knight won the heat races. 

In the Street Stock division make up race, run earlier in the evenings race program, it was Tracy Colarusso taking the win over Adam Kostelnik. This race was much more of a comfortable win for Colarusso, as he did not receive a great challenge throughout the majority of the event. Kostelnik started in sixth position, and had to battle through race traffic for the first half of the race, and simply ran out of laps to mount a serious charge for the win. The third through fifth positions were a much closer affair, as John Stanko, Chris Deyarmin, and Matt Berkebile combined to make a great showing at the finish line.

The Cover Insurance Agency/PA Legacy Car feature race was yet another close battle between all of the top five contenders. But it was a new face in the crowd who came home victorious as Mark Howard of Randleman, North Carolina held off all of the regular competitors to claim the win. Howard runs the Allison Brothers National Legacy Car Tour, and used an off weekend to travel to the Jennerstown Speedway for the high level of racing action provided by the PA Legacy Car Series. The main challenge throughout the race came from Rick Boyer, who hounded Howard but could not overtake the visiting Tarheel State driver. Finishing closely behind Boyer were Jayme Bolkovac in third, Will Thomas in fourth, and Joey Dennewitz in fifth.

There were a number of mishaps in the Jennerstown Pro Truck division feature race, before eventual race winner Bryan Thomas took the checkers. It all began when front row starter Dave Brunell was sent to the outside retaining wall early after contact with George Englert, to bring out the first caution. The next yellow flag occurred when Todd Price had a mechanical problem and brought his race truck to a halt. As the yellow flag flew, three trucks were gathered up on the front stretch, including Jason Houndshell, Berry Geary, and Jason Lasky. This dropped the remaining field of competitive trucks to five, and allowed Thomas to cruise to the finish. Following behind in second through fifth were Englert, Brandon Manns, Josh Coughenour, and Marion Reno Jr. The heat race wins went to Todd Price and Dave Brunell.

In the Jennerstown Charger division feature race it was Jason Fritz once again asserting himself as the man to beat. He used an outside front row starting position to his advantage, and held of a hard charging Greg Praysner to capture yet another win. Praysner tried gallantly to get alongside Fritz in the closing laps, but had to settle for the runner-up position. Jason Holder made up some ground late in the race to come home in third, while June Wyant and Jeff Petrini showcased a hard fought battle to close out the top five. Heat race wins went to Jason Holder and Ed Slate.

Enduro Results

1. 93
2. 31
3. 32
4. 26
5. 44
6. 30
7. 88
8. 77
9. 28
10. 89
11. 12
12. 56
13. 00
14. 40
15. 57
16. 29
17. 55
18. 01
19. 72
20. 78
21. 22
22. 20
23. 50
24. 420
25. 17
26. 16
27. 66
28. 13