Aug 10th, 2003 - Chris Hackett Wins on Molson and Coors Night and Tom Liberatore Four-Cylinder Championship Winner at Eriez Speedway
By Glenn Slocum

 Hammet Pa.: Threatening weather never materialized and Eriez Speedway was able to compete a night of racing after back-to-back rain outs. Molson and Coors sponsored the events lead by the Four Cylinder Championship event and Sponsors Night. Dewey Kinnear survived several cautions and heavy lap traffic to narrowly defeat Nathan Short in the Outlaw Cadet feature. Justin Carlson and Dave Hess Jr. put on a driving exhibition as they raced side by side for eight laps with Carlson winning when lap traffic forced Hess to lift. Tom Liberatore held off a charging Dan Osborne to win the Four Cylinder Championship race. Chris Hackett won his fourth Super Late Model feature making an early race pass to lead the remainder of the event. Justine Krieder and Dennis Lunger both won their first Spectator feature of the season. Bobby Rohrer won the Budweiser Super Sportsman feature. Scott Gurdak cruised to his third Limited Late Model win after taking control from Brian Fardink on the lap five restart.

             Rich Hamblin went up in smoke on the first lap of the Four Cylinder Championship race. Larry Boumans was the leader with Tom Liberatore in second and Dan Osborne in the third spot. Liberatore won the drag race to turn one on the restart to take control of the event. Osborne slipped by Liberatore two laps later. Liberatore and Osborne has a straight away lead at the half way mark with J. R. Cross and Tom Bean in third and fourth. Liberatore was slowed by a lap car and Osborne slipped by but Liberatore came right back to resume the lead. Liberatore took advantage of lap traffic in the final laps to win the event with Osborne a close second and Bean fourth.

             Dave Hess Jr. and Chris Hackett brought the Super Late Models to Spanky Halls green flag. Hess led the first lap when Wally Fox and Chris Blose became hooked together bringing out the caution with one lap in the books.  Hess and Hackett battled side by side on the restart making side-to-side contact in turn three. Hackett was in the lead at the end of lap two and led the next lap when Ward Schell stopped in turn four bringing out the yellow. Hackett remained the leader after the restart with Hess second, George LaBarbera third and Al Crocker fourth. Crocker passed LaBarbera on lap seven then Scott Gurdak got by on the outside one lap later as Hackett and Hess checked out on the field. Merle Terry passed LaBarbera on lap ten to take his spot in the top five. Andy Kania was moving up as the half way sign was given. Hackett and Hess were into lap traffic with ten laps remaining. LaBarbera spun on lap twenty in turn two allowing the field to close with the leaders. Gurdak was in front of Crocker on the restart with Kania in fifth. Hackett and Hess were the leaders with Hackett having the clear advantage over Hess. Jason Morell spun with two to go and Wendell Pinckney spun to avoid Morell.  Track Champion Rich Gardner had troubles on the restart spinning in turn one. Gurdak tried moving under Hess on the restart as Kania tried to pass them both. Both moves failed as Hackett won his fourth of the year followed by Hess, Gurdak and Kania.

             John Pencile was the first Limited Late across the line in their feature then suffered mechanical difficulties giving the lead to Brian Fardink. Scott Gurdak took the lead from Fardink on lap three and a spin by Bobby Rohrer brought out the first caution on lap five. Gurdak took the lead on the restart as Fardink battled Pat McGuire and Mike Coyle for the runner up spot. McGuire won the fight for second but Gurdak had a ten car length advantage. The laps wound down with Gurdak cruising followed by McGuire then Fardink a distant third. Rick Cooney brought out the caution when he spun backing into the turn two fence with five laps remaining. Gurdak and McGuire moved away from the pack on the restart with Gurdak having the stronger car. Gurdak cruised to his third win with McGuire second and Fardink third.

Ken Lamp lead Monty Seeking across the start finish line to lead lap one of the first Spectator feature but Seeking took the lead from Lamp one lap later. Justin Krieder came from mid pack to assume the lead on lap seven passing Seekings in lap traffic. A last lap incident involving Rodney Thoms, Jim Wyant and Mike Rhines brought out the yellow with the checkers as Krieder notched his first win of the season. Seekings was second with Lee Rider in the third spot.    

Fred McClanahan brought out the second Spectator feature. The first lap was marred with an incident collecting Steve Keith, Barrett Brown and Tommy Fox. Brown was towed to the pits while Fox and Keith drove in. McClanahan brought them around for the second attempt at a start. Dan McGarvie brought out the caution on lap two. McClanahan brought them around once more with Mark Thompson in the second spot followed by Jason Stetson and Rick Thompson. During that lap Stetson and Rich Thompson tangled collecting Bill Van Volkenburg for the third yellow sending Stetson to the pits with a flat and Volkenburg to the infield on a wrecker. Mark Thompson took advantage of the restart to take the lead from McClanahan as Dana Wellington settled into the third spot. The yellow flew on more time on lap four for Dan McGarvie who had stopped in turn three. Mike Zemcik stopped up against the front stretch retaining wall on the restart for the fifth caution. McClanahan took back the lead on the lap four restart then slowed on lap six allowing Wellington by. McClanahan continued to slip back as Dennis Lunger moved to the front with two laps remaining. Lunger went on to win the event with Wellington second and Keith recovering from the first lap incident to finish third.

Twenty-six Outlaw Cadets reported to the speedway for their feature event. Bill Dunn and Dewey Kinnear were on the front row with Kinnear jumping into the lead at the start followed by Dunn and Nathan Short. A spinning Rich Becker at the completion of lap one collected Jim Moon and Chuck Parker for the first caution. Kinnear won the restart with Short in the runner up spot, point leader Ron Seeley was in third. Pete Alspaugh and Tom Norland spun on lap four for the second caution. Cliff Lamphere, Dustin Eckman, Vern Sheldon and George Cole tangled on the restart bringing out the yellow for the third time in the event. Cole and Jeff Campbell spun on the restart for the fourth caution. Seeley was up and under Short for the second spot as the fifth yellow appeared when Alex Feisler spun in turn one. Kinnear remained the leader with Short second followed by Seeley and Mike Knight. Kinnear caught the tail end of the field on lap nine with Short and Seeley in tow. Seeley hung back by four or five car lengths and Short tried time and again to get under Kinnear. Seeley tested Short with two to go but could not make the pass. Kinnear hung on beating Short to the line by two car lengths in heavy traffic.

 Jason Illig led the first E-Mod lap with Bill Taylor in the second spot. Tom Anderson, Shawn McArdle and Joe Harvey tangled on the front stretch at the beginning of lap two bringing out the caution. Taylor and Justine Carlson both beat Illig into turn one on the restart then Illig lost the handle in heavy traffic bringing out the caution. Carlson led the next lap with point leader Dave Hess Jr. in hot pursuit. Dale Applebee was in the third spot and Taylor slipped to fourth. John Rupczyk spun on lap seven for the third yellow. Carlson led lap seven then only led lap eight by a nose as Hess was underneath. The two raced side by side for the next eight laps and only a spinning Illig blocking the inside lane on the last lap forced Hess to lift allowing Carlson to cross the line two car lengths ahead of Hess. Dale Applebee finished in the third spot.

Hank Francis led the first Budweiser Super Sportsman feature lap six Bobby Rohrer in the second spot and Randy Parmenter third. Rohrer passed Francis on lap five and began to move away from the rest of the field. Don and Pat McGuire were in the fourth and fifth spots at the half way point. Don McGuire moved into the third spot on lap eight forcing Francis to fourth. Rohrer won the event unchallenged as Parmenter held off Don McGuire for second.

Results:

   Spectators:

      Heat 1:  Brian Johnson, Justin Krieder, Lee Rider

      Heat 2: Dana Wellington, Steve Keith, Jason Stetson

      Feature 1: Justine Krieder, Monty Seekings, Lee Rider, Ken Jackson, Jeremy English, Clarence Dickerson, Ken Lamp, Brian Graham, Ken Seymore, Scott Peggan

      Feature 2: Dennis Lunger, Dana Wellington, Steve Keith, Fred McClanahan, J.R. Brown, Mark Thompson, Tony Lyngarkos, Rick Thompson, Brian Johnson, Louis Kinney

   4-Cylinder Sportsmen

      Heat 1: Tom Bean, Rich Hamblin, Dan Osborne

      Feature: Tom Liberatore, Dan Osborne, Tom Bean, J.R. Cross, Scott Friend, Dale Wise, Bob Harrison, Stan Davis, Boyd Hess, Larry Boumans

  Outlaw Cadets

      Heat 1: Cliff Lamphere, Bill Dunn, John Boardman

      Heat 2: Matt Lamphere, Brian Zimmerly, Dewey Kinnear

      Heat 3: Dave Tolon, Louis DeDionisio, Nathan Short

      Feature: Dewey Kinnear, Nathan Short, Ron Seeley, Mike Knight, Dave Tolon, Louis DeDionisio, Terry Daniels, Bill Dunn, Scott Lewis, Jim Moon

  E-Mods:

     Heat 1: Joe Harvey, Tom Anderson, Shawn McArdle

      Heat 2: Dave Hess Jr., Justin Carlson, Bill Thomas

      Feature: Justin Carlson, Dave Hess Jr., Dale Applebee, Bill Taylor, Bill Thomas, Brad Pease, Kevin Decker, Tom Anderson, Chris Peterson, John Rupczyk

   Budweiser Super Sportsmen:

      Heat 1: Bob Van Arsdale, Don Standley, Gary Foster

      Heat 2: Don McGuire, Aaron Robinson, Bobby Rohrer

      Feature: Bobby Rohrer, Randy Parmenter, Don McGuire, Pat McGuire, Hank Francis, Chad Carlson, Don Standley, Aaron Robinson, Pete Volpe, Robert Nocero

   Limited Late Models:

      Heat 1: Mike Coyle, Andy Knight, Mike Moore

      Heat 2: Andy Sweetland, Joe Weber, Scott Gurdak

      Feature: Scott Gurdak, Pat McGuire, Brian Fardink, Mike Coyle, Mike Moore, Tom Hagberg, Bobby Rohrer, Ed Simmer, Andy Knight, Joe Weber

   American Racer Dash: Scott Gurdak, Wally Fox, Chris Blose

   Super Late Models:

      Heat 1: Dave Hess Jr., Merle Terry, Scott Gurdak, Rod Maloy, Doug Eck

      Heat 2: George LaBarbera, Andy Kania, Chris Blose, Rich Gardner, John Lacki
      Heat 3: Chris Hackett, Al Crocker, Wally Fox, Paul Briggs, Jason Morell

      Feature: Chris Hackett, Dave Hess Jr., Scott Gurdak, Andy Kania, Al Crocker, Merle Terry, George LaBarbera, Rod Maloy, Doug Eck, Paul Briggs, Wally Fox, John Lacki, Andy Boozel, Rich Gardner, Ward Schell, Dan Maxim, Jason Morell, Wendell Pinckney, Chris Blose