May 18th, 2003 - John Lobb Wins Mountain Dew Fan Appreciation Night
at Eriez Speedway
by Glenn Slocum 

            Mountain Dew sponsored Fan Appreciation Night at Eriez Speedway. John Lobb won the pole position in the Super Late event then lost the lead to Rod Maloy but fought back with four to go to win the event. Fred McClanahan and Steve Keith both won the their first Spectator feature of the season.  Dave Hess Jr. moved from the back of the field to win his second E-Mod feature. Tom Liberatore nearly lapped the field to win the Four Cylinder event. Dewey Kinnear won the Outlaw Cadet event over Mike Knight and Ron Seeley. Bobby Rohrer led all the laps to win the Super Sportsman feature.  Bob Vogt made a big move early in the Limited Late Feature to gain the top spot then held on surviving several restarts and heavy pressure from Pat McGuire who finished second in the event.

             Twenty-three cars were on hand for Super Late Model event with American Racer Dash winner John Lobb on the pole. Lobb had trouble right after the start with a spin in turn two. The field was put back in their original starting spots for the second attempt. Lobb led the first lap with Maloy second followed by Steve Halpainy, Andy Kania and Rich Gardner. Al Crocker stopped up against the retaining wall coming out of turn four on lap three for the second yellow. Doug Eck was sixth followed by Scott Gurdak, George LaBarbera, Ward Schell, Chris Blose and Dave Hess Jr. Gardner went under Kania on the restart moving to the fourth spot. Wendell Pinckney and John Lacki tangled on lap five for the third yellow. The Lacki car had heavy front-end damage and had to be towed from the speedway. Maloy won the next restart beating Lobb to turn one. Halpainy remained third with Eck moving to fourth and Gardner fifth. Mark Ashcraft and Bump Hedman brought out the yellow on lap eight. Gardner slipped on the restart back to the seventh spot with Kania taking the third spot followed by Eck and Gurdak. Hess had troubles on lap nine slowing to stop in turn four. Hess was pushed into the pits as the race was realigned. Chris Hackett moved into the top on lap thirteen pushing Eck back to sixth. Dusty Franklin spun on lap sixteen collecting Al Crocker. Maloy was firmly in control with early leader Lobb second followed by Halpainy, Kania and Hackett. Eck regained the fifth spot on the restart as Maloy and Lobb led. Lobb moved around Maloy on the high side on lap twenty-one and began to pull away from the field. Lobb won the event with a fifteen-car length lead over Maloy. Halpainy finished third with Hackett fourth and Kania fifth.

            Brian Fardink, Gary Eicher and Mike Coyle got the jump in the Limited Late Model event. John Pencille slowed to a stop on the back stretch bringing out the yellow on the start of lap two. Bob Vogt made a the big move on the restart moving from fourth to first. Eicher passed Fardink on the next lap a started to run down Vogt. Paul Briggs got a nose under Fardink on lap eight to move to third and both Tom Hagberg and Pat McGuire pressured Fardink for fourth. A spin in turn one with Tom Hagberg, Ed Simmer and Wayne Black brought out Spanky Halls caution flag with ten laps completed. The top five at the halfway mark were Vogt, Eicher, Briggs, McGuire and Fardink. Wayne Black had more troubles on lap twelve for the next caution. McGuire got under Eicher on the restart and completed the pass in turn three putting Eicher in the third spot. Briggs mad a similar move on Eicher two laps later for the third position. Dan Shellhouse spun on lap fifteen with only five laps remaining. Hagberg and Mike Coyle brought out the yellow on the restart with a spin in turn one. Vogt was under heavy pressure from McGuire over the last five laps but Vogt held on for the win even surviving a last lap dash caused when Dan Shellhouse spun on lap nineteen. McGuire was second and Paul Briggs third.  

             Mike Boyd, Bill Taylor and Justin Carlson were the leaders in lap one of the E-Mod feature. Carlson moved by Taylor for second on lap five while Dave Hess Jr and Mike Hess moved up through the field to the third and fourth spots by lap nine.  Dave Hess took advantage of a lap ten restart moving by Boyd for the top spot, Carlson also fought back to third. Dave Hess went on win his second feature of the year.

            Dale MacDonald led the first three laps of the first Spectator feature but the lap four leader was Fred McClanahan. A stalled car brought out the caution on lap five. McClanahan raced to the front on the restart and led the next three when a three car incident in turn four and the second place car of MacDonald lost a rear axel. Jason Stetson took over the second spot followed by Paul Norman in the third spot. McClanahan won the event and Stetson lost the second spot to Paul Norman then third to Jeremy English at the line.

            Barrett Brown and Mike Harmon were out front on lap one of the second Spectator feature but lap two say Harmon spin collecting Rush Firestone in turn four. Steve Keith was aligned second with Jason Heslop third and Dennis Lunger fourth. Heslop spun on the restart and Keith beat Brown to the line to led lap three. Lunger passed Brown two laps later. A spin by the 33 brought out the yellow with one to go. Tommy Fox moved to third on the restart and Keith went on for the win with Lunger second. 

 

             Tom Liberatore was the big winner on the initial start of the Four Cylinder division as he jumped to a large lead on the first lap. Larry Boumans was a distant second then Tom Bean in third. Liberatore almost lapped the field with only the second place car of Boumans and the third place car of Tom Bean the only other cars on the lead lap.  

             Dewey Kinnear brought the Outlaw Cadets to the speedway then led lap one with Matt Lamphere second and Mike Knight third. Dustin Eckman spun on lap two and had to be towed to the pits. Kinnear won the restart as Knight moved into the second spot in front of Lamphere. One lap later a spin by Dave Tolon and Alex Fiesler brought out the second yellow. Kinnear was still the leader when Brian Zimmerly spun collecting Louie DeDionisio for the third caution. Kinnear, Knight and Lamphere were still out front at the halfway point with Ron Seeley and Terry Daniels completed the top five. Alex Fiesler and Scott Lewis tangled for caution four on lap ten. Seeley took advantage of the restart to move by Lamphere for the third spot. Lap ten was completed but as lap eleven started and spin near the front collected Pete Alspaugh and Terry Daniels, Lamphere was also involved but did not stop retaining his fourth spot. Lamphere slid up the racetrack on lap thirteen losing several spots moving George Cole to fourth. A last lap incident collected Dave Tolon, Louie DeDionisio and Daniels. Kinnear won the event with Knight second and Seeley third. 

            Bobby Rohrer and Hank Francis were first and second on lap one of the Four Cylinder feature. Randy Parmenter moved to the second spot on lap three as Rohrer ran away from the filed. Aaron Robinson passed Francis for the third spot on lap eight followed by Don and Pat McGuire one lap later. Rohrer led the all to win the event with Parmenter second and Don McGuire passing Robinson for third. 

Results:

   Spectators:

      Heat 1: Fred McClanahan, Ron Watson, Mike Welder

      Heat 2: Josh Lucas, Paul Norman, Jason Heslop

      Heat 3: Rush Firestone, Tommy Fox, Steve Keith

      Feature 1: Fred McClanahan, Paul Norman, Jeremy English, Jason Stetson, Justin Kreider, Ron Watson, Derek Johnson, Mike Welder, John Austin

      Feature 2: Steve Keith, Dennis Lunger, Tommy Fox, Barrett Brown, John Kelsey, Mark Thompson, Mike Kinney, Mike Harmon, Dave Auge, Rush Firestone

   4-Cylinder Sportsmen

      Heat 1: Tom Bean, Boyd Hess, Stan Davis Jr.

      Heat 2: Tom Liberatore, Larry Boumans, Dale Wise

      Feature: Tom Liberatore, Larry Boumans, Tom Bean, Boyd Hess, T7, Dale Wise, Stan Davis, Ken Wanzer, Rich Hamblin, Sam Trace

  Outlaw Cadets

      Heat 1: Matt Lamphere, Ron Seeley, Dewey Kinnear

      Heat 2: Brian Zimmerly, Dave Tolon, Terry Daniel

      Feature 1: Dewey Kinnear, Mike Knight, Ron Seeley, George Cole, Bill Dunn, Alex Fiesler, Rick Becker, Nathan Short, Scott Lewis, Louie DeDionisio

  E-Mods:

     Heat 1: Mike Boyd, Ron Roncaglione, Bill Taylor

      Heat 2: Dave Hess Jr., Randy Parmenter, Jason Carlson

      Feature: Dave Hess Jr., Mike Boyd, Justin Carlson, Mike Hess, Dale Applebee, Bill Thomas, Ron Roncaglione, Bill Taylor, Chris Peterson, Tim Rater

   Budweiser Super Sportsmen:

      Heat 1: Hank Francis, Robert Nocero, Brian Collins

      Heat 2: Randy Parmenter, Bobby Rohrer, Don McGuire

      Feature: Bobby Rohrer, Randy Parmenter, Don McGuire, Aaron Robinson, Pat McGuire, Hank Francis, Pete Volpe, Dave Cummings, John Daugherty, Brent Crandall

   Limited Late Models:

      Heat 1: Andy Knight, Mike Coyle, Joe Weber

      Heat 2: Bobby Rohrer, Pat McGuire, Bob Vogt

      Feature: Bob Vogt, Pat McGuire, Paul Briggs, Bobby Rohrer, Les Lyon, Gary Eicher, Brian Fardink, Andy Knight, Mike Coyle, Tom Hagberg

  American Racer Super Late Model Dash: John Lobb, Rod Maloy, Steve Halpainy

   Super Late Models:

      Heat 1: Rod Maloy, Andy Kania, Doug Eck, Scott Gurdak, John Lacki

      Heat 2: John Lobb, AL Crocker, Dan Maxim, Ward Schell, Chris Blose

      Heat 3: Steve Halpainy, Rich Gardner, George LaBarbera, Dave Hess Jr., Andy Boozel

      Feature: John Lobb, Rod Maloy, Steve Halpainy, Chris Hackett, Andy Kania, Doug Eck, Scott Gurdak, Rich Gardner, George LaBarbera, Ward Schell, Todd Roncaglione, Jason Morel, Andy Boozel, Al Crocker, Bump Hedman, Chris Blose, Mark Ashcraft, Dusty Franklin, Kelly Frederes, Dave Hess Jr., John Lacki, Wendell Pinckney, Dan Maxim