Rich Gardner Wins Mountain Dew Double Points Feature
 and Super Late Title at Eriez Speedway

     Fireworks and double points highlighted the last point event of the year at Eriez Speedway. Rich Gardner showed his mettle as he had to do well to clinch the title and that is what he did as he won his heat and then led every lap of the main event to post his third Eriez Super Late Championship in a row. Bob Vogt passed a spinning Pat McGuire to win the Limited Late feature. Brian Crandall and Dennis Lunger were the Spectator winners and Larry Boumans won the Four-Cylinder race.  Wade Slaney was given the Outlaw Cadet win but John Pencille won the point race. Don McGuire was the winner in the Budweiser Super Sportsman class.

Tommy Fox, Brian Crandall and Merle Burlingham were the leaders on lap one of the first Spectator feature. Bill Baker Jr. spun and ended up facing the wrong way in between turns three and four on lap five. Fox was still first followed by Crandall, Mark Ramsey and Burlingham. A multi car incident on the restart collected Rush Firestone, Mark Thompson, Brad Pease and Ramsey. Rick Sperry took advantage of the restart and moved into third and Fox pulled away from the field. Burlingham stopped on the speedway on lap seven and during the caution Fox pulled into the pits giving Crandall the lead. Sperry was now second with Matt Lazowski third and Steve Hulings fourth. Fox returned to the speedway to restart from the tail end of the field. Eugene Stetson tagged the wall and then crossed in front of the field collecting Mark Thompson on the restart. Neither Stetson nor Thompson could continue. One more lap was completed then Mike Beck spun in turn two, seven laps were now complete with three remaining.  Hulings passed Sperry on lap nine as the yellow flew for Chuck Hart and Rush Firestone. Mark Ramsey moved to third on the last lap restart as Crandall won with Matt Lazowski second.

Debris on the speedway stopped the second spectator Feature on lap two as Joe Heslop led. Both Ron Watson and Barrett Brown challenged Heslop on the next lap and Heslop spun in turn two for the second caution. Brown was the leader with Fred McClanahan second and Watson third. Rich Becker and Watson tangled on lap four and Dennis Lunger moved to second as the third caution flew. Lunger continued his charge on the restart by taking the lead. Barb Bellinger stopped in the infield on lap seven for the fourth yellow. Lunger, Brown and Josh Lucas were the leaders on the restart and finished two laps later in that order. It was the second win of season for Lunger.

Jim Tolon took control of the Four-Cylinder event on lap two and lost the lead to Larry Boumans because of a right front flat on five. Boumans was chased by Ken Wanzer and Dan Maxim. Wanzer faded with one to go as Boumans won with Maxim second and Tom Liberatore third.

Dave Tolon and Gary Eicher lead twenty-two Outlaw Cadets to the speedway for their feature event. Tolon got a big jump on the start but went in to hard in turn three slipping up the speedway giving the lead briefly to Dewey Kinnear then Gary Eicher recovered from the start to take the point on lap two. Eicher had motor problem on lap five slowing to a stop on speedway bringing out the first caution. Dewey Kinnear was once again the leader with Wade Slaney second and Herm Hilyer third. Points leader John Pencille was ninth. Jeff Campbell spun on lap seven collecting Matt Lamphere and Louie DeDionisio. DeDionisio went to the pits and returned to the race but Campbell was towed from the speedway. Pencille had moved to fifth and early leader Tolon was third behind Kinnear and Slaney. Campbell was also able to return before the race was restarted. Pencille passed Tolon on the restart for the third spot as Spanky Hall showed five to go. Mike Moon brought out the next caution on lap twelve and a major incident on the ensuing restart collected Bill Dunn, Joe Harvey and Cliff Lamphere. Dunn and Lamphere suffered major damage and all were towed from the speedway. Tolon slowed to a stop on the restart and the yellow came out once more. Slaney tapped Kinnear going into turn one on lap thirteen then passed for the lead as Kinnear slid to fourth. Slaney was given the win with Herm Hilyer third and points leader John Pencille second.

 Rich Gardner moved from his second starting spot to take the lead in the Super Late Model feature. Doug Eck spun collecting Moose Dunnewold and bringing out the yellow on lap two. Scott Johnson was second with Dave Hess third and Andy Kania fourth. Gardner jumped away from the field on the restart and one more lap was completed as before Dave Shagla and Ron Olson spun to stop in turn one for the second caution. Jeff Buccella and Moose Dunnewold collided on lap four causing the third caution. Dunnewold drove from the speedway but Buccella left on the hook. Kania moved to second on the restart but a spinning Dave Shagla and Doug Eck stopped the race before completing a lap as Johnson was moved back to second with Kania third. Matt Urban moved to the fourth spot on the restart pushing Hess to fifth, Kania was unable to regain second as Johnson chased Gardner for the top spot. Just as Gardner was nearing lap traffic Chuck Steinle spun to a stop in turn three with eight laps completed. Rod Maloy moved into the top six on lap ten as debris brought out caution. Maloy passed Hess for fifth and began pressing Kania as Gardner powered away. Steinle stopped in turn four on lap thirteen stopping the race once more. Urban moved to the outside and passed Johnson as Gardner built another lead and Maloy was trying to get under Johnson for third. Gardner caught the tail end of the file on lap nineteen. Jason Morrell, Dusty Franklin and Bump Hedman spun with three laps remaining and the field was realigned with lap cars in amongst the leaders preparing for the single file restart. Gardner was separated by two lap cars from Urban with one lap car between Urban and Maloy. All the lap cars quickly gave way as Urban and Maloy battled for second while Gardner drove away from the field. Gardner did what he had to do to win the race and the Championship. It was the third year in row that Gardner had one the Championship.

 Pat McGuire, Bob Vogt and Ron Seeley were the first three across the line on lap one of the Limited Late Model feature. Mike Moore passed Seeley on lap five for third as McGuire moved out to a straight-away advantage over Vogt. Second in points Bobby Rohrer was in the fifth spot at the halfway point. Brian Fardink had problems on lap thirteen spinning to stop in turn one for the first caution. Moore beat Vogt on the restart for the second spot and Rohrer moved to fourth. Moore tapped McGuire and they both lost several spots giving the lead to Bob Vogt with Rohrer second. McGuire stopped on the next lap bringing out the caution. McGuire pushed Moore around during the yellow and drove to the pits. Moore also went to the pits as the cars were realigned. Cressley was now third with Seeley fourth and Chris Sutton fifth. Cressley and Rohrer tangled on lap nineteen with Cressley spinning then stopping on the front stretch. Vogt led the final two laps to win his first feature of the season. Rohrer was second and Chris Sutton third.

 John Robinson led the first four laps of the Budweiser Super Sportsman feature. J.R. Nocero stopped against the fence in turn two bringing out the caution flag. Don McGuire moved to second on the restart with Dave Cummings second and Scott Bayle third. Don McGuire took the lead and led until a lap ten spin by Bob VanArsdale stopped the race with three to go. Hank Francis was shown second with Parmenter third and Cumming fourth. Don McGuire held on for the win with Francis second and Dave Cummings third.

Bill Taylor took the lead on drop of the green in the E-Mod feature and led for two laps with Justin Carlson, Randy Parmenter and Stu Rickart spun in turn two. The lap three restart was won by Dave Hess Jr. as he and Dale Applebee both passed Taylor. Three laps later Mike Hess moved past Tayor. The leader lost the handle on lap eight doing a slow spin in one to stop the race for the second time. Applebee was now in control with Mike Hess second and Taylor third. Dave Hess was now at the end of the field. Randy Parmenter and Tom Anderson spun on lap ten for the third caution. Justin Carlson spun and the restart had to be redone. One more lap was completed then a spin by Carlson collected Dan MacDonald and another caution flag. Dave Hess had recovered to move into the fourth spot on this restart. Hess passed Taylor for third with one to go then the caution flew for Taylor who had spun in turn three. Applebee won the dash for the win and Mike Hess squeezed Dave Hess nearly into the front stretch wall to take second.

Results:

   Spectators:

      Heat 1: James Connor, Wayne Watson, Fred McClanahan

      Heat 2: Josh Lucas, Dennis Lunger, Joe Heslop

      Heat 3: Mark Thompson, Mike Beck, Brian Crandall

      Feature 1: Brian Crandall, Matt Lazowski, Mark Ramsey, Steve Keith, Joey Stafford, Tommy Fox, Rick Sperry, Paul Norman

   Feature 2: Dennis Lunger, Barrett Brown, Josh Lucas, Justin Krieder, Gary Davis, James Connor, Ken Seymour, David Surrena, Ken Jackson, Jeff Burger

   4-Cylinder Sportsmen

      Heat 1: Dale Wise, Jim Tolon, Kan Wanzer

      Heat 2: Larry Boumans, J.R. Cross, Tom Liberatore

      Feature: Larry Boumans, Dan Maxim, Tom Liberatore, Ken Wanzer, J.R. Cross, Wendell Pinkney, Bruce Diemer, Jason Smith, Craig Hardway, Brian Duryea

Cadets

      Heat 1: Dave Tolon, Pete Alspaugh, Herm Hilyer

      Heat 2: Gary Eicher, Glenn Slaney, Louie DeDionisio

      Feature 1: Wade Slaney, John Pencille, Herm Hilyer, Dewey Kinnear, Vern Plymire, Nathan Short, Dustin Eckman, George Cole, Jeff Campbell, Jim Moon

  E-Mods:

     Heat 1: Stu Rickart, Dan MacDonald, Brian Snow

      Heat 2: Mike Hess, Dave Hess Jr., Kevin Decker

      Feature: Dale Applebee, Mike Hess, Dave Hess Jr., Kevin Decker, Randy Parmenter, Tim Rater, Dustin Carlson, Dave MacDonald, Stu Rickart, Tom Anderson

   Budweiser Super Sportsmen:

      Heat 1: Gary Foster, J.R. Nocero, Robert Nocero

      Heat 2: Scott Bayle, Pat McGuire, John Robinson

      Feature: Don McGuire, Hank Francis, Dave Cummings, Scott Bayle, Randy Parmenter, Pat McGuire, Gary Foster, Don Stanley, Robert Nocero, J.R. Nocero

   Limited Late Models:

      Heat 1: Pat McGuire, Ron Seeley, Tom Hagberg

      Heat 2: Mike Moore, Bob Vogt, Ed Simmer

      Feature: Bob Vogt, Bobby Rohrer, Chris Sutton, Mike Coyle, Ed Simmer, Troy Dorman, Steve Moynihan, Brian Fardink, Ron Seeley, Brian Johnson

   American Racer Dash: Randy Lobb, Mark Boozel, Doug Eck

   Late Models:

      Heat 1: Scott Johnson, Andy Kania, Andy Boozel, Al Crocker

      Heat 2: Dave Hess Jr., Brad Fiesler, Randy Lobb, Matt Urban

      Heat 3: Rich Gardner, Rod Maloy, Doug Eck, George LaBarbera

      Feature: Rich Gardner, Matt Urban, Rod Maloy, Scott Johnson, Bump Hedman, Dave Hess, Andy Kania, Brad Fiesler, John Lacki, Al Crocker, Bob Craig, Dave Scott, Andy Boozel, Doug Eck, Dave Shagla, Ron Olson, Chuck Steinle, Jason Morell, Dusty Franklin, Randy Lobb, Wendell Pinkney, Moose Dunnewold, George LaBarbera, Jeff Buccella, Chris Hackett