KIRKWOOD, N.Y. — What a difference 24 hours made for Brian Weaver at Five Mile Point Speedway. On Saturday, he picked the 15th-starting spot, the worst in the draw among heat qualifiers for the opening race of the 2008 Twin Tiers Tour (T3) series for 358 modifieds. Then, it rained.
Sunday night brought a break in the weather and a turnaround in Weaver’s fortunes as well. He charged into the lead at the halfway point of the 40-lap feature and held off the closing challenge of Joey Grammes to score the victory. The victory marked a successful return to the series from which he had been suspended for an on-track incident at another speedway.
Weaver was up to third by lap 15, took second from pole starter J.R. Hurlburt on a 17th-lap restart and slid under James Cornell for the lead as the crossed flags were displayed. Grammes, who started one row in front of Weaver, took longer to reach the front, but overtook Cornell with seven laps to go and closed on the leader.
With three laps remaining, the battle was side by side, but Weaver’s aggressive disposal of two lapped cars coming to the two-to-go sign settled the issue. Grammes wound up five car lengths behind with veteran Glenn Knapp turning in his most impressive performance in several years to nail down third. Cornell faded to fourth while Chris Ostrowsky earned hard-charger honors by taking fifth from 21st.
Brent Wilcox, Mike Schane, Hurlburt, Joel Batzel, and J.R. Crouse completed the top 10.
Frank Yankowsky, Brian Terwilliger, Crouse, Wilcox  and Mitch Gibbs won heats on Saturday, while Dylan Dewert and Dale Welty topped the consolations. Gibbs did not return for Sunday’s feature due to racing commitments elsewhere.