May 11th-2003 - Nathan Short Wins American Racer Outlaw Cadet Championship
and Dave Hess Jr. Wins Super Late Model Feature
at Eriez Speedway
by Glenn Slocum

                         The American Racer Outlaw Cadet Championship event at Eriez Speedway was held under threatening skies as a fast moving cold front quickly dropped the temperature and brought a stiff wind to the speedway. Nathan Short led every lap of the Championship event after barely beating Brian Zimmerly to line on lap one. Dewey Kinnear made a late race charge but fell just short with a spin on the final lap. Dave Hess Jr. ran green to checkers winning a hard fought Super Late Model race.  Dave Hess

Bill Dunn and Brian Zimmerly were on the front row of the American Racer Outlaw Cadet Championship event but it was Nathan Short who nosed out Zimmerly for the lead at the end of lap one. Short quickly built a lead then Mark Hall and Rich Becker spun stopping the race after three completed laps. Zimmerly was still second followed by Dewey Kinnear and Dustin Eckman. Kinnear and Zimmerly banged together on the restart causing Kinnear to lose third to Eckman. Mike Knight and Matt Lamphere brought out the yellow again on lap five. Terry Daniels and Dave Tolon make contact on the restart lap with Tolon ending up facing the wrong direction in turn three and collecting the 99 of Mark Hall and Mike Knight. Short was still the leader with Eckman second then Zimmerly, Jeff Campbell and Ron Seeley. Kinnear moved back into the top five on lap nine after falling behind in the restarts. Dave Tolon was also moving up through the field after the earlier incident. At the half way point Short remained in control and Kinnear was now shown in the fourth spot but a quarter of a lap behind Short. Just as the starter was preparing to give the two to go signal a spin by Scott Lewis just in front of the leaders allowed the field to close with Short. Attempting to pass Zimmerly for third Kinnear’s run stopped when he spun on the final lap. Short won the Championship event with Eckman second and Zimmerly third.

Twenty-two Super Late Models reported to the speedway for their feature event. Mark Ashcraft, Chris Blose, Chris Hackett, Kelly Frederes and Brad Fiesler tangled on the initial start. Everyone got their spot back and the field was realigned for the start. Dave Hess Jr. took the green again and again a multi-car incident in turn one collected Chris Blose, Scott Gurdak and Wally Fox. The third attempt succeeded as Hess lead lap one followed by Al Crocker and Doug Eck. John Lobb and Dave Shagla make contact with Shagla ending up in the infield with three laps complete and the yellow once more out. Lobb had more troubles in lap five spinning in turn one collecting Jason Morell. Rich Gardner was now in the top five as Hess led followed by Crocker, Eck, John Lacki and Gardner. After the single file restart the next five laps were run without incident then John Lobb came to a stop bringing out the caution. The top five remained the same with Chris Hackett sixth followed by Andy Kania, Andy Boozel and Dan Maxim. Hackett challenged Gardner on the outside at the restart but could not make the pass as Hess continued to build a lead over Crocker and Eck. Hess had caught the end of the field on lap nineteen and the caution flew with two remaining as fourth running John Lacki spun to a stop on the back stretch. Hess ran the final two winning his first feature of the season, Crocker was second with Eck third and Gardner fourth.  

John Pencille, Ed Simmer and Mike Moore were out front in the Limited Late Model event. By lap five Moore and Paul Briggs had passed Simmer for second and third as Pencille checked out on the field. Briggs passed Moore on lap eight and started to run down the leader. Pat McGuire was also moving to the front as he began to challenge Moore for the third spot. McGuire took third on lap eleven as Moore faded to fourth. Briggs and McGuire caught Pencille on lap fifteen and a three wide exit of turn two on lap seventeen saw McGuire move in to the top spot with Pencille second then Briggs. McGuire completed the final circuits winning the event.  

Danielle Wilbur led lap one of the first Spectator feature then gave way to Merle Burlingham. Justin Krieder and Bob Kinne brought out the first yellow of the evening on lap three. Paul Norman moved into the second spot on the restart. Lee Rider lost a wheel in turn four on lap seven for the second caution. Jeremy English was third on the restart. The race finished with out further incidents as Burlingham won with Norman second followed by English.  

Rush Firestone got the big jump on the start of the second Spectator feature as Dennis Lunger and Tommy Fox fought for the second spot. Two laps went well then Fox and Lunger banged together coming out of four. Lunger ended up against the fence in turn one for the first caution of the event. Firestone led the next two when last weeks feature winner Tommy Fox passed for the lead on lap five. Steve Keith was third and Barrett Brown a distant fourth. Fox cruised to his second victory at Eriez with Firestone second and Keith third.  

Dan Osborne held off Larry Boumans to win the Four Cylinder event. Tom Liberatore made a late race pass of Tom Bean for third.  

Pat McGuire led the first two laps of the Super Sportsman event then a spin involving Mike Murray and Dave Cummings brought out the caution flag. Aaron Robinson and Don McGuire raced for second over the next three laps with Don McGuire coming out on top. Robinson then fell in to the clutches of Randy Parmenter who was running fourth. Robinson an Parmenter tangled on lap ten resulting in entangling the two cars and delaying the race while the wreckers separated them. Cummings had moved up to the third spot on the restart. Pat McGuire easily won the event with brother Don second and Cummings third.

Bill Taylor and Chris Peterson were on the front row of the E-Mod feature event which required a restart as the field was too anxious on the first start. Jason Illig spun as lap one ended and Jay Irwin spun to avoid Stu Rickard. Taylor was the leader with Bill Thomas second and Mike and Dave Hess third and fourth. Thomas won the race to turn one to lead lap two but lap three started with Mike Hess getting spun by Chad Ruhlman as the leaders slowed in turn one. Dave Hess Jr. was in second with Ruhlman third and Brad Pease fourth. Dave Hess moved by Thomas on the outside in turn one on the restart as Ruhlman and Thomas raced for second. A spin by Jay Irwin on lap six ruined the lead Hess had built. Justin Carlson had moved by Pease for fourth at this point. Ruhlman finally got the best of Thomas on lap ten and Dale Applebee moved by Carlson for fourth. Mike Hess had more problems on lap thirteen with a spin coming out of turn four. One more lap was completed then Rickard spun in turn two. Shawn McArdle with Chris Peterson had trouble in turn one negating the restart. Hess slipped up the speedway in turn four as the white flag flew letting Chad Ruhlman pass for the lead. Ruhlman hung on for the win with Thomas second and Applebee third.

Results:

   Spectators:

      Heat 1: Merle Burlingham, Justin Krieder, Paul Norman

      Heat 2: Mark Thompson, Mike Harmon, Barrett Brown

      Feature 1: Merle Burlingham, Paul Norman, Jeremy English, Ron Watson, Brian Johnson, Danielle Wilber, Justin Krieder, George Thomas, Lee Rider, Bob Kinne

      Feature 2: Tom Fox, Rush Firestone, Steve Keith, Barrett Brown, Mark Thompson, Pat Passanise Jr., Mike Harmon, Kevin Brumett, Dennis Lunger, Joe Heslop

    4-Cylinder Sportsmen

      Heat 1: Dan Osborne, Larry Boumans, Tom Bean

      Feature: Dan Osborne, Larry Boumans, Tom Liberatore, Tom Bean, Dale Wise, Stan Davis Jr., Boyd Hess

   Outlaw Cadets

      Heat 1: Nathan Short, Dave Tolon, Terry Daniels

      Heat 2: Matt Lamphere, Brian Zimmerly, Ron Seeley

      Feature 1: Nathan Short, Dustin Eckman, Brian Zimmerly, Ron Seeley, Jeff Campbell, Dave Tolon, Louis DeDionisio, Terry Daniels, Bill Dunn, Scott Lewis, Dewey Kinnear, Rich Becker, Mark Hall, Matt Lamphere, Mike Knight

   E-Mods:

     Heat 1: Mike Hess, Dale Applebee, Mike Boyd

      Heat 2: Bill Thomas, Dave Hess Jr., Chad Ruhlman

      Feature: Chad Ruhlman, Bill Thomas, Dale Applebee, Justin Carlson, Dave Hess Jr., Brad Pease, Tom Anderson, Jay Irwin, Chris Peterson, Jason Illig

    Budweiser Super Sportsmen:

      Heat 1: Pat  McGuire, Don McGuire, Aaron Robinson

      Feature: Pat McGuire, Don McGuire, Dave Cummings Jr., Randy Parmenter, Mike Murray, Aaron Robinson, Hank Francis, 6, Jim Leonard, Bobby Rohrer

    Limited Late Models:

      Heat 1: Mike Moore, John Pencille, Ed Simmer

      Feature: Pat McGuire, John Pencille, Paul Briggs, Mike Moore, Ed Simmer, Mike                     Coyle, Andy Knight, Gary Eicher, Brian Fardink, Bob Vogt

    American Racer Dash: Dave Hess Jr., Steve Halpainy, Al Crocker

    Super Late Models:

      Heat 1: Dave Hess Jr., Mark Ashcraft, Dave Shagla, Rod Maloy, Wally Fox

      Heat 2: Steve Halpainy, Doug Eck, John Lobb, Chris Hackett, Scott Gurdak

      Heat 3: Al Crocker, John Lacki, Chris Blose. Brad Fiesler, Andy Kania

      Feature: Dave Hess Jr., Al Crocker, Doug Eck, Rich Gardner, Chris Hackett, Andy                 Kania, Andy Boozel, Dan Maxim, Jason Morrell, Dave Shagla, Wendell Pinckney,                Chris Blose, John Lacki, George LaBarbera, John Lobb, Kelly Frederes, Steve               Halpainy, Mark Ashcraft, Rod Maloy, Wally Fox, Scott Gurdak, Brad Fiesler