Erin Crocker Wins the Coors Original
 Empire Super Sprint Tour 2002 A-Main
at Eriez Speedway          

Coors Original sponsored the final appearance of the Empire Super Sprint Tour 2002 at Eriez Speedway and Erin Crocker won her first Sprint Car A-Main. Dave Hess Jr. celebrated his eighteenth birthday with a Super Late win. Dale Applebee posted his first E-Mod win and Tom Liberatore won the Four-Cylinder event. Pat McGuire was the Limited Late winner. Wade Slaney won his first in the Outlaw Cadets and Brian Larson and Joel Watson won the Spectator features.

 John Karklin and Tom Taber were on the front row of the ESS B-Main with Ryan Coniam Scott Bonnell in row two. Jeff Banyas spun on the initial start then Tim Zimbardi stalled on the second attempt. The third start worked with Karklin taking the point, Taber, Coniam and Jared Zimbardi in the last transfer spot. Kyle Drum turned his car around with three laps remaining. Bonnell passed Jared Zimbardi on the white flag lap to take the final spot, Coniam was third, Taber second and Karklin the winner.

 Tom Liberatore moved from the middle of the starting grid to the lead on lap one of the Four-Cylinder feature. Point leader Larry Bouman was second and Steve Forstein third at the halfway point as Ken Wanzer slowed to a stop on the front stretch bringing out the yellow flag. Bouman tried to move around Liberatore on the outside on the restart but could not make the pass then one lap later Bouman lost control and hit the wall on the front stretch. Bouman was okay but his car sustained heavy right front damage. Liberatore went unchallenged for the final four laps to win his fourth feature event. Forstein was second and Andy Warzynak third.

 Dale Applebee took firm control of the E-Mod feature right from the initial green. Mike Hess was second and Bill Taylor third. Dave Hess Jr. moved to third on lap three as Applebee gained a twenty car length advantage. At halfway Kevin Decker at moved to fourth and Dave Hess moved to second. Justin Carlson brought out the yellow with a spin on lap fourteen. Carlson’s smoking car had to be towed from the speedway. Russ Dempsey and Bill Taylor tangled on the restart for the second caution then Dempsey and Tom Anderson spun for caution three. Applebee won the final lap dash to post his first win of the season. Dave Hess was second and Mike Hess third.

 Al Cressley led lap one of the Limited Late Model feature with Pat McGuire second and Bobby Rohrer third. McGuire move up beside Cressley on lap five and completed the pass on lap six then began building a lead over the rest of the field. McGuire was in lap traffic at the halfway mark but still maintained a fifteen-car length lead over Cressley. Ed Simmer spun on lap nineteen for the only yellow of the event. This allowed the field to catch McGuire but a lap car was placed between McGuire and second running Cressley. The lap car quickly moved out of the way on the restart but McGuire could not be caught. It was McGuire’s second win at Eriez this season. Cressley finished second with Bobby Rohrer third.

 Bobby Podolak and Erin Crocker in Mike Woodring’s back up car were on the front row of the Empire Super Sprints Tour 2002 A-Main. Crocker had tumbled her car down the backstretch of Stateline Speedway on Saturday night and came back in a back up to win her qualifying heat for her front row starting spot. After the traditional four wide salute to the fans Spanky Hall dropped the green and Crocker led lap one with Podolak second and Jeff VanDusen third. Crocker remained the leader at halfway. Debris in turn one brought out the first caution of the event on lap fifteen. The leaders remained the same with last nights winner Tim Kelly in fourth and Don Sharp fifth. Points leader Mike Woodring was tenth right behind second in points Lance Yonge. Crocker got a huge jump on the restart and never looked back to win her first ever A-Main event.

 Rod Maloy by virtue of his qualifying heat win sat on the pole of the Super Late Model feature and immediately took advantage by gaining the led on the start. Scott Gurdak and Chris Hackett were second and third with Randy Lobb fourth. Hackett moved around Gurdak on the outside on lap nine as Maloy led by a straightaway. Hackett slowed on lap twelve and pulled into the infield giving second back to Gurdak. Maloy was working through lap traffic with five to go and slowed pulling to the infield as Hess moved by Gurdak for the lead. Randy Lobb passed Gurdak on the white flag lap for second. Hess led the final four to win his third feature of the year.

Dana Cummings led the first three laps of the Budweiser Super Sportsman feature. John Robinson moved by Cummings on lap four. Pat McGuire broke on lap five causing the first caution. Scott Bayle was second with Don Stanley and Dave Cummings fourth. Robinson stumbled on the restart as Bayle and Dave Cummings moved to the front.  Randy Parmenter and Don McGuire were now third and fourth. Robinson and Stanley tangled on lap eight for caution number two. Bayle resumed the lead on the restart after a brief battle with Dave Cummings. Bayle won the event for his third of the year with Cummings second and Don McGuire third.

Gary Eicher beat Bill Dunn to turn one for the lead in the Outlaw Cadet feature. Wade Slaney passed Dunn for second on lap two as Eicher quickly jumped to a ten-car length lead. Shawn McArdle, John Pencille and Jim Moon were involved in a crash on the backstretch on lap four causing the first caution of the event. All three cars were towed from the speedway. Willie Kashack spun on lap eight for the second yellow. Eicher remained in control at half way with Slaney second and Dunn third. Chris Blose passed Dunn for third on lap ten. Eicher lost the lead on lap twelve by spinning in turn three and causing the third yellow. Slaney was on the point for the restart with Blose second and Dunn third. Vern Plymire was credited for the fourth caution on lap fourteen. Herm Hilyer had passed Dunn and was set in the third spot for the restart. Matt Lamphere, Phil Knight, Louie DeDionisio, James Irwin and Brian Zimmerly were involved in a wreck in turn three on the restart. Wade Slaney led the final two laps to win his first feature of the year. Chris Blose was second and Herm Hilyer third. Early leader Eicher had recovered from his spin to finish fifth.

Ray Houser led the first lap of the First Spectator feature, but a spin caused a lap two restart that was won by Brian Larson. The yellow quickly flew again and the field was once more realigned. Barrett Brown was second on the restart with Justin Krieger in third. Krieger passed Brown on lap four for second and the third yellow flew on lap six for Ken Seymore who had stopped on the front straight. Larson led the remaining laps to win the event with Krieger second and Brown third.

Art Churchill tagged the front stretch wall on the initial start of Spectator feature number two. Mark Thompson jumped to the front on the complete restart with Mike Boyd second. Boyd caught and passed Thompson on lap five, as did the 11x of Joel Watson. Brian Guzowski spun with two to go for the second caution. Watson passed Boyd and led the final lap to notch his first win in Spectator class.

Results:

   Spectators:

      Heat 1: Fred McClanahan, John McNaughton, Brian Larson

      Heat 2: Dave Surenna, Merle Burlingham, Art Churchill

      Heat 3: Joel Watson, Matt Thomas, Brian Crandall

      Feature 1: Brian Larson, Justin Krieger, Barrett Brown, Jack Bates, Eric Kimmy, Dan Shellhouse, Ray Houser, Wayne Watson, Danielle Weber, Rick Becker

      Feature 2: Joel Watson, Mike Boyd, Matt Lazowski, Mark Thompson, Matt Thomas, Merle Burlingham, Dave Surenna, Mark Ramsey, Paul Norman, Brian Johnson

   4-Cylinder Sportsmen

      Heat 1: Larry Bouman, Steve Forstein, Dale Wise

      Feature: Tom Liberatore, Steve Forstein, Andy Warzynak, ale Wise, Bethany Pease, Larry Taylor, Jason Smith, J.R. Cross, Larry Bouman, Ken Wanzer

Cadets

      Heat 1: Wade Slaney, Herm Hilyer, Matt Lamphere

      Heat 2: Bill Dunn, Louie DeDionisio, John Pencille

      Heat 3: Gary Eicher, Chris Blose, Jim Moon

      Feature 1: Wade Slaney, Chris Blose, Herm Hilyer, Bill Dunn, Gary Eicher, Terry Daniels, Matt Lamphere, Vern Plymire, Jeff Campbell, Doug Dunham

  E-Mods:

     Heat 1: Dave Hess Jr., Justin Carlson, Bill Thomas

      Feature: Dale Applebee, Dave Hess Jr., Mike Hess, Bill Thomas, Bill Taylor, Russ Dempsey, Kevin Decker, Justin Carlson, Tom Anderson

   Budweiser Super Sportsmen:

      Heat 1: Don McGuire, Dave Cummings, Scott Bayle

      Feature: Scott Bayle, Dave Cummings, Don McGuire, Randy Parmenter, Gary Foster, Don Stanley, Mike Murray, Brent Crandall, John Daugherty, John Robinson

   Limited Late Models:

      Heat 1: Al Cressley, Bobby Rohrer, Mike Moore

      Heat 2: Pat McGuire, Chris Sutton, Bob Vogt

      Feature: Pat McGuire, Al Cressley, Bobby Rohrer, Mike Moore, Bob Vogt, Paul Briggs, Chris Sutton, Tom Hagberg, Andy Knight, Don McGuire

   Super Late Models:

      Heat 1: Rod Maloy, Scott Gurdak, Randy Lobb, Mark Gilbert, Rich Gardner

      Heat 2: Al Crocker, Chris Hackett, Doug Eck, Dave Hess Jr., John Lacki

      American Racer Dash: Randy Lobb, Doug Eck

      Feature: Dave Hess Jr., Randy Lobb, Scott Gurdak, Doug Eck, Rich Gardner, Jason Morrell, John Lacki, Mark Gilbert, Dave Shagla, Steve Halpainy, Andy Boozel, Rod Maloy, Chris Hackett, Al Crocker

    Empire Super Sprints:

      Heat 1: Erin Crocker, Dick Spadaro, Phil Mott, Ray Preston, Mike Woodring, Brian Dumigan

      Heat 2: George Ely, Tim Kelley, Mike Stelter, Bubby Kerrick, Mike Lutz, Rob Dietrick

      Heat 3: Jeff VanDusen, Bobby Podolak, Don Sharp Jr., Billy Coffey, Lance Yonge, Billy White

      B-Main: John Karklin Jr., Tom Taber, Ryan Coniam, Scott Bonnell

      A-Main: Erin Crocker, Bobby Podolak, Tim Kelly, Jeff VanDusen, Don Sharp Jr., Bubby Kerrick, Phil Mott, Bill Coffey, Lance Yonge, Mike Woodring, Mike Lutz, Brian Dumigan, Ryan Coniam, Ray Preston, Tom Taber, Rob Dietrick, Billy White, John Karklin Jr., Mike Stelter, Scott Bonnell, Dick Spadaro, George Ely