Aug 24th, 2003 - Rich Gardner Wins 
on Seamans Auto Wrecking Night
 at Eriez Speedway
By Glenn Slocum         

Hammet Pa.:  The Tim Chitwood Thrill Show and “Junk Yard Wars – Eriez Style” headlined the events sponsored by Seamans Auto Wrecking at Eriez Speedway. Tim Chitwood performed several stunts through out the evening’s events. Rich Gardner cruised to his third feature win in the Super Late Model division. Bob Vogt Jr. won the first Spectator feature for his second win of the season, as did Brian Crandall in the second Spectator feature. Dave Hess Jr. passed Mike Hess on lap eight for his eight win of the season. Terry Daniels made his first trip to victory lane at Eriez in the Outlaw Cadet class. Dan Osborne won his sixth in the Four Cylinder class. Pat McGuire led from lap three in the Budweiser Super Sportsman class winning his third of the season. Rookie Andy Knight won the Limited Late Model feature in convincing fashion. The “Junk Yard War – Eriez Style” demo was won by Bill Van Gilder with Ray Crawford in the number two spot.

            Doug Eck and Rich Gardner were on the front row of the Super Late Model feature with Andy Boozel and Scott Gurdak in row two. Eck led the first lap with Gardner second and Gurdak third. Rookie Paul Briggs was in the fourth spot and Boozel in fifth. The field quickly became spread out on the speedway with Gardner waiting for ten laps before challenging Eck for number one spot. Dave Hess Jr. retired to the infield on lap eleven and one lap later Eck and Gardner became hooked together nearly stopping on the backstretch and forcing Crocker to stop against the fence bringing out the yellow. Eck went into the pits with a flat as Gardner was now in front followed by Gurdak Boozel and Chris Hackett. George LaBarbera was in the fourth spot and John Lacki fifth. Gardner was into lap traffic on lap twenty-two with Gurdak a distant second and Boozel five car lengths behind Gurdak. Gardner cruised to the checkers for his third win of the season.  

            Alex Feisler led the initial Outlaw Cadet feature lap then lost the handle on lap two turning the lead over to Terry Daniels. Brian Zimmerly backed into the turn four fence bringing out the caution with three laps complete. Zimmerly was able to continue. Tom Norland was placed in second for the restart with Jim Moon third, Rich Becker fourth and Chuck Parker fifth. Daniels won the race to turn one on the restart followed by Norland, Moon and Dustin Eckman. Contact near the end of the field broke Chuck Parkers car and the yellow flew again with four laps completed. Daniels remained the leader after the restart with Louis DeDionisio moving up to fourth. Early leader Feisler, Cliff Lamphere and Josh Morell tangled in turn two with six complete. Daniels was still the leader at the half way point. Eugene Bevil spun in turn one after eight completed laps. Daniels ran the next four completely in control then the race was slowed one more when Morell came to a stop on the backstretch. Daniels was able to finish the race unchallenged with Norland second and Eckman third.  

            Joe Harvey was the leader after one in the E-Mod main event. Shawn McArdle slipped up the speedway in turn four nearly spinning then came down in front of several cars collecting Justine Carlson, Tom Anderson, Bill Taylor and Chris Peterson. Mike Hess beat Harvey into turn one on the restart. Jason Illig, Anderson and Tim Churchill tangled on lap three in turn one for the second caution. Mike Hess lead the pack into one on the restart with Harvey second and Dave Hess Jr. third. Dave Hess did not remain third for long passing Harvey on lap four. Dave pulled under Mike several times in the next three laps then the yellow appeared for Tim Rater, Taylor and Carlson.  Dave Hess used the outside groove to move by Mike Hess on the restart as Harvey continued in the third spot with Mike Boyd fourth and Bill Thomas fifth. Thomas passed both Harvey and Boyd on lap eleven. Harvey lost the handle soon after being passed by Thomas then retired from the race when it was discovered his engine was leaking a water and oil mixture. Dave Will and Dave Surrena brought out the caution after spinning in turn four with just two laps remaining. Dave Hess Jr. completed the last two laps notching his eight feature win of the season.  

            Andy Knight and Andy Sweetland were the leaders after one in the Limited Late Model feature with Garry Eicher third and Ed Simmer fourth. Eicher moved up to challenge Sweetland for the second spot making the pass on lap nine as Bobby Rohrer moved by Simmer for the fourth spot. Rohrer passed Sweetland on lap ten as did Simmer on lap twelve.  Knight had a fifteen-car length advantage on lap thirteen with Rohrer, Simmer and Pat McGuire. Knight continued to motor away from the field as the white flew. McGuire got by Simmer as did Pencile in the last few laps. Knight won the event for his first of the season. Eicher was second with Rohrer third.  

            Brent Crandall led lap one of the Budweiser Super Sportsman feature. Don McGuire and Mike Murray spun on the backstretch on lap two. McGuire was able to continue but Murray was towed from the speedway. Crandall retained the lead after the restart with Pat McGuire second and Hank Francis in the third spot. McGuire passed Crandall coming to the line at the end of lap three becoming the new leader. Francis was second with Pete Volpe taking over third. Pat McGuire finished in commanding fashion for his third win.           

Ken Seymore was first out on the track and lead the first lap of the first Spectator feature. Debris brought the caution out on lap two and the leader retired giving the lead to George Thomas with Bob Vogt Jr. in second. Vogt took control on lap three and began to runaway from the rest of the field. Brian Johnson was in third at the half way mark followed by Mort Johns. Ron Watson moved up to third with three to go. Johnson, Watson and Thomas battled for the runners up spot on the final lap with Johnson coming out in the second spot as Vogt took the checkers. Johnson was black flagged giving the second place finish to Watson.  

Jeremy English and Merle Burlingham were on the front row of the second Spectator feature with Burlingham getting the early lead. Brian Crandall moved by English on lap tow for the second spot and Tommy Fox also go by putting English in the fourth spot as Fox and Crandall set off after Burlingham. Mike Zemcik brought out the caution with six laps completed allowing Fox and Crandall to catch up to Burlingham. Burlingham slowed during the yellow and had to be pushed into the pits allowing Crandall to inherit the lead. Crandall and Fox remained the leaders after the restart with Dennis Lunger in third and J.R. Brown in fourth. Fox tried every thing to get around Crandall but nothing worked as Crandall won his first feature of the season.  

Rich Hamblin and J. R. Cross crossed the line side by side on lap one of the Four Cylinder feature with Cross gaining the advantage on lap two. Tom Liberatore spun in turn one to bring out the first caution with three complete. Cross was beat into turn one on the restart by Dan Osborne. Dale Wise got by Cross on the next lap then the yellow flew for Scott Friend in the fire engine red number 22.  Friend tangled with Brian Duryee on lap eight making contact with the front stretch concrete ending his night. The field quickly became strung out after the restart and Osborne ran the remaining laps unchallenged. Wise was second followed by Tom Bean and Boyd Hess.

Results:

   Spectators:

      Heat 1:  Tony Lyngarkos, George Thomas, Mort John

      Heat 2: Bill Van Volkenburg, Tommy Fox, Merle Burlingham

      Feature 1: Bob Vogt Jr., George Thomas Mort Johns, Monty Seekings, Walt Johnson, Ray Churchill, Ken Lamp, Ron Watson, Brian Johnson, Mike Rhines

      Feature 2: Brian Crandall, Tommy Fox, Dennis Lunger, J.R. Brown, Justin Krieder, Jeremy English, Tony Lyngarkos, Bill Van Volkenburg, Rick Thompson, Mark Thompson

   Outlaw Cadets

      Heat 1: Dustin Eckman, Nathan Short, Dewey Kinnear

      Heat 2: Mike Knight, George Cole, Brian Zimmerly

      Feature: Terry Daniels, Tom Norland, Dustin Eckman, Louie DeDionisio, Dewey Kinnear, Nathan Short, Ron Seeley, Jeff Campbell, Mike Knight, Pete Alspaugh 

   4-Cylinder Sportsmen

      Heat 1: Dale Wise, J.R. Cross, Tom Bean

      Feature: Dan Osborne, Dale Wise, Tom Bean, Boyd Hess, J. R. Cross, Stan Davis, Rich Hamblin , Scott Douglas, Bob Harrison, Brian Duryee 

  E-Mods:

     Heat 1: Mike Hess, Tim Rater, Mike Boyd

      Heat 2: Dave Hess Jr., Bill Thomas, Dave Will

      Feature: Dave Hess Jr., Mike Hess, Bill Thomas, Brad Pease, Mike Boyd, Tim Churchill, Dave Will, Dave Surrena, Brett Porter, Joe Harvey 

   Budweiser Super Sportsmen:

      Heat 1: Randy Parmenter, Gary Foster, Mike Corrigan

      Feature: Pat McGuire, Hank Francis, Pete Volpe, Gary Foster, Don McGuire, Bobby Rohrer, Randy Parmenter, Chad Carlson, Brian Collins, Don Standley 

   Limited Late Models:

      Heat 1: Tom Hagberg, John Pencile, Joe Weber

      Heat 2: Scott Gurdak, Mike Moore, Bobby Rohrer

      Feature: Andy Knight, Gary Eicher, Bobby Rohrer, Pat McGuire, John Pencile, Ed Simmer, Mike Coyle, Scott Gurdak, Andy Sweetland, Joe Weber 

   American Racer Dash: Scott Gurdak, Dave Hess Jr., Paul Briggs 

   Super Late Models:

      Heat 1: Andy Boozel, Paul Briggs, Chris Hackett, George LaBarbera, Bump Hedman

      Heat 2: Doug Eck, Scott Gurdak, Jason Morell, Merle Terry, John Lacki
      Heat 3: Rich Gardner, Dave Hess Jr., Rod Maloy, Al Crocker, Moose Dunnewold 

      Feature: Rich Gardner, Scott Gurdak, Andy Boozel, Chris Hackett, George LaBarbera, John Lacki, Rod Maloy, Merle Terry, Andy Kania, Kelly Frederes, Steve Halpainy, Bump Hedman, Moose Dunnewold, Paul Briggs, Wally Fox, Al Crocker, Doug Eck, Jason Morel, Wendell Pinckney, Dan Tercho, Dave Hess Jr.