July 6th,2003 - Dave Hess Jr. Wins Budweiser E-Mod Summer Nationals
 and Wendell Pinckney Won the Super Late Feature
 at Eriez Speedway
By Glenn Slocum 

            Budweiser sponsored the events with the York Triathlon second Summer Nationals event heading the bill. The first event was held at Stateline on Saturday with Randy Hall the winner followed across the line by Dave Hess Jr. Hall tagged the fence in his qualifying heat and then finished third in a B-Main to start deep in the field. Hess won his heat and the Coy Trucking Dash to sit on the pole and never was seriously challenged through out the thirty lap event. Hess also took home the $500.00 bonus for the best overall finish. Wendell Pinckney won his first feature event in a Super Late Model division.  Pinckney survived several cautions and a late race challenge by Merle Terry for the win. Nathan Short won his third Outlaw Cadet of the year. Point leader Tommy Fox won his fourth Spectator feature. Tom Liberatore won his second Four Cylinder feature. Bobby Rohrer won the Budweiser Super Sportsman feature. John Pencile won the Limited Late Model feature.

             Dave Hess Jr. and Ron Roncaglione brought the Budweiser E-Mod Summer Nationals to the speedway in row one. Scott Pangrazio, Fuzzy Stiffler and Bret Porter stopped in turn one on the initial start. The race was realigned with the stopped cars now in the rear of the field. Stu Rickart and Andy Teno were in row two. Hess was in front by a straight away on lap five as the field started to string out behind him. Hess caught the tail end of the file by lap eight. The yellow reappeared on lap nine for Jeff Taylor who had stopped with a flat tire. Teno stalled during the yellow and was pushed into the pits. Jeff Sharp was in the fourth spot on the restart. Hess motored away from the field on the restart catching the back markers on lap sixteen and started putting competitors a lap down. Roncaglione was still second with Stu Rickart third. With ten laps remaining Hess was hung up behind the lap car of Porter for several laps but Roncaglione did not take advantage. A incident in four collecting Justin Carlson, Tim Rhoades and Pangrazio brought out the yellow with six to go. Hess was in front with Sharp second, Roncaglione third and Rickart fourth. Al Cressley jumped a wheel in heavy traffic on the restart ending his run to the front. Cressley was in the top ten when the incident occurred after starting eighteenth. Hess mastered the restart once again and once again a major incident occurred in turn three collecting several cars including Carlson, Gasser and J.B. Dandy. Three laps remained with Hess now followed by Dale Applebee then Sharp and Roncaglione. Hess held true to form easily leading the last three laps for the win with Applebee second and Sharp third. BY virtue of his second place finish at Stateline Saturday night Hess won the Budweiser $500.00 bonus for the best overall finish in both events.    

            George LaBarbera spun on the initial lap of the Super Late Model feature as Wendell Pinckney led. Pinckney prevailed on the restart with Merle Terry second followed by LaBarbera. Andy Kania was fourth then Doug Eck and Rod Maloy. Rich Gardner was slowly advancing through the filed gaining the eight spot by lap ten. Jason Morell spun after making contact with Ward Schell with twelve laps completed. Dave Hess Jr. stopped in the entrance to the pits and joined the tail of the field for the restart. Eck challenged Kania on the restart but Kania held the fourth position. Gardner was seventh passing Schell for the spot with nine to go. Kania faded on lap nineteen losing several spots. Bump Hedman and John Lacki brought out the caution and Kania slowed and went into the pits. Pinckney fired first on the restart. Two laps later Al Crocker, Lacki, Hess and Morell tangled in turn two. Pinckney fought off a challenge from Merle Terry on the next to last lap to lead every lap for his first win of the season.

             Ed Simmers was on the point in the Limited Late Model feature and quickly built a ten car length lead over John Pencile in the second spot. Tom Hagberg was third followed by Bob Vogt and Scott Gurdak. Simmer got loose on lap seven losing four spots as Pencile took the point followed by Hagberg, Vogt and Rohrer. Pat McGuire was in the fifth spot with Gurdak sixth. The top six cars were running in a tight group on lap thirteen when contact was made sending Vogt into the infield with a flat tire bringing out the caution flag. Pencile was the leader followed by Hagberg, Rohrer, McGuire and Gurdak. Early leader Simmer had trouble retiring to the infield on the restart. Rohrer passed Hagberg for the runner up spot with five to go. Rohrer tried an outside pass on lap eighteen that Pencile blocked but Pencile allowed Hagberg under when he went up in front of Rohrer. The group made contact but Pencile got away leaving McGuire, Rohrer and Gurdak stopped on the track. Pencile followed by Mike Moore and Paul Briggs led the final two laps after the restart to win the event.

            Brian Zimmerly led lap one of the Outlaw Cadet event. Dustin Eckman slowed on the backstretch to bring out the yellow on lap two. The restart was foiled when Josh Morell spun in three. Zimmerly remained the leader on the restart with Nathan Short in second followed by Terry Daniels and Bill Dunn. John Boardman brought out the yellow on lap eight by stopping in turn two. Cliff Lamphere and Adam Hilyer spun in turn one for the fourth caution. The lap eight restart worked on the third attempt with Zimmerly barely beating short to line to lead the lap. Short was not to be denied and took the lead with six to go. Daniels slipped high in turn two on lap ten allowing Dunn into third. The yellow flew once more on lap eleven for Dave Tolon, Jeff Campbell and Mike Knight in turn two. Dunn lost several spots on the restart allowing Ron Seeley into the fourth spot. Daniels slipped up on the next to last lap giving Seeley the third spot. Boardman got into the front stretch wall stopping the race with one to go. Short won the dash to the checkers with Zimmerly second and Seeley third.

              Twenty-five Spectators reported to the speedway for their main event with Bob Vogt the leader. The yellow appeared on lap two for Steve Keith and Mike Welder. Vogt lead Dennis Lunger to turn one on the restart with Chip Davis third and Dan McGarvie fourth. Lunger passed Vogt on lap three then a spin by Josh Lucas on the front stretch brought out the second caution. Merle Burlingham slowed on the backstretch for caution number three before a lap could be completed. The green fell for the second restart of lap three with Lunger in front followed by Tommy Fox and Brian Crandall. A car spun in turn two and as the yellow flew Dan McGarvie and Mark Thompson were involved in bumping session in turn two, flagman Spanky Hall pursued McGarvie into the pits with the black flag in hand. Tommy Fox pulled alongside Lunger on the restart and they raced side by for two laps. Matt Thomas rolled over going into turn three bringing out the red flag on lap seven. Fox beat Lunger to the line to lead lap eight. Thompson spun on lap nine bringing out the yellow. Lunger grabbed the lead from Fox on the restart then lost it to Fox coming out of four. A lap ten tangle collected Jeremy English and Derrick Dickerson. Lunger began leaking fluid and retired from the race. Fox was in the top spot with Crandall second and Keith with a left front tire going flat third. Lee Rider spun the pulled on to the speedway and stopped bringing out the yellow with one lap remaining.  Fox held off Crandall to win his fourth feature, Norman finished third and Keith fourth.

Dan Osborne started second but was in the number one spot after one complete lap in the Four Cylinder feature. Tom Liberatore moved by Osborne on lap three then the yellow flew for Rich Hamblin and Stan Davis in turn two. Liberatore retained control after the restart with Osborne and Tom Bean in second and third. Osborne faded in the late stages of the race allowing Bean the second spot as Liberatore notched his second win of the season.

 Mike Murray and Aaron Robinson had troubles right away in the Budweiser Super Sportsman event spinning before reaching Spanky Halls green flag. Bobby Rohrer was the leader after completion of the first lap with Pat McGuire second and Don McGuire third. Rohrer was still the leader at the halfway mark followed very closely by the McGuire brothers. Gary Foster brought out the caution with nine complete. Rohrer held off the McGuires to win his second of the year.

Results:

   Spectators:

      Heat 1:  J. R. Brown, Bob Vogt Jr., Chip Davis

      Heat 2: Jason Heslop, Mark Thompson, Steve Keith

      Feature 1: Tommy Fox, Brian Crandall, Paul Norman, Steve Keith, Tony Lyngarkos, Dale McDonald, Jason Heslop, Barrett Brown, Mike Hines, Lee Rider

    4-Cylinder Sportsmen

      Heat 1: Steve Forstein, Dan Osborne, Tom Liberatore

      Feature: Tom Liberatore, Tom Bean, Scott Friend, Bob Craig, Rich Hamblin, Larry Taylor, Dan Osborne, Ken Wanzer, Stan Davis, Scott Douglas

     Outlaw Cadets

      Heat 1: Dewey Kinnear, Louie DeDionisio, Scott Lewis

      Heat 2: Brian Zimmerly, Terry Daniels, Dave Tolon

      Feature: Nathan Short, Brian Zimmerly, Ron Seeley, Pete Alspaugh, Dustin Eckman, Scott Lewis, George Cole, Jeff Campbell, Terry Daniels, Bill Dunn

  Triathlon E-Mods:

     Heat 1: Dave Hess Jr., Jeff Taylor, Tim Rhoades

      Heat 2: Andy Teno, Jeff Sharp, Mike Potosky

      Heat 3: Stu Rickart, Rick Meglaye, Justin Carlson

      Heat 4: Ron Roncaglione, Fuzzy Stiffler, Bill Thomas

      B-Main: Brad Pease, Mike Samuelson, Randy Hall, Mike Hess, Kari Gasser

      B-Main: Al Cressley, Scott Pangrazio, Brett Porter, Bob Diver, Carl McKinney

      Coy Trucking Dash: Dave Hess Jr.

      Feature: Dave Hess Jr., Dale Applebee, Jeff Sharp, Ron Roncaglione, Mike Samuelson, Randy Hall, Mike Hess, Mike Potosky, Mike Boyd, Scott Pangrazio

   Budweiser Super Sportsmen:

      Heat 1: Don McGuire, Bobby Rohrer, Aaron Robinson

      Feature: Bobby Rohrer, Pat McGuire, Don McGuire, Randy Parmenter, Aaron Robinson, Hank Francis, Gary Foster, Brent Crandall, Jim Leonard, Mike Murray

   Limited Late Models:

      Heat 1: John Pencile, Bob Vogt, Tom Hagberg

      Heat 2: Scott Gurdak, Bobby Rohrer, Dan Shellhouse

      Feature: John Pencile, Mike Moore, Paul Briggs, Andy Knight, Gary Eicher, Mike Coyle, John Cline, Brain Fardink, Pat McGuire, Bob Rohrer

   American Racer Dash: Doug Eck, Andy Boozel

   Super Late Models:

      Heat 1: George LaBarbera, Andy Kania, Andy Boozel, Jason Morell, Ward Schell

      Heat 2: Wendell Pinckney, Merle Terry, Doug Eck, Rod Maloy, Moose Dunnewold

      Feature: Wendell Pinckney, Merle Terry, Doug Eck, George LaBarbera, Andy Boozel, Ward Schell, John Lacki, Moose Dunnewold, Bump Hedman, Mark Gilbert, Rich Gardner, Rod Maloy, Andy Kania, Dave Lyon, Al Crocker, Jason Morell, Dave Hess Jr., Dave Shagla