June
6th, 2004 - Dave Hess Jr. Wins
Conway O’Malley Goodyear E-Mod Championship
and
Scott Gurdak Wins Super Late Model Feature
at Eriez Speedway
By
Glenn Slocum
Erie, Pa: Mother Nature presented racers and fans with a beautiful Sunday evening at Eriez Speedway. Conway and O’Malley Goodyear sponsored the evening’s events, which featured a $1,000 to win E-mod Championship race. Dave Hess Jr. won the event at Stateline the evening before and was on hand to try for the second win and obtain the $500 dollar bonus for anyone who could win them both. Hess proved up to the task moving from his fifth starting spot to take the lead on lap five and never looked back. Mike Hess moved from last to third and K.C. Decker was second. Scott Gurdak led every lap of the Super Late Model event surviving several cautions to win his second of the season. Chris Hackett was second with Doug Eck third, Merle Terry fourth and Rich Gardner fifth.
Dave Tackett won his first Spectator feature and Chad Carlson won his first in the Budweiser Super Sportsman division. Dan Osborne continued to decimate the Four Cylinder division with his fourth win of the season. Louis DeDionisio survived a caution filled Outlaw Cadet feature for his first win of the season. Ryan Scott won his second Super Challenger feature.
Scott Gurdak and Wendell Pinckney were on the front row of the Super Late Model event with Chris Hackett and Bump Hedman in row two. Row three consisted of Andy Kania and Moose Dunnewold. Gurdak was on top at the end of the first lap with Hackett second and Pinckney third. Andy Boozel stopped in turn two on lap three for the first caution. Mark Ramsey and Jason Morell tangled coming down for the green and Merle Terry spun collecting Ward Schell in turn two forcing another restart. Doug Eck moved by Hedman on the restart then passed Pinckney one lap later for third. Gurdak and Hackett were putting distance between themselves and the field with Ward Shell lost the handle coming out of turn four on lap six collecting Kevin Weise and John Lobb. Weise and Schell brought out the caution again with nine laps complete. Dunnewold got the worst of the banging and shoving on the restart bringing out the yellow before a lap was completed. Valone did a snap spin in the middle of the field on the restart and during the ensuing caution Schell pulled into the pits. Gurdak remained unfazed by the multiple restart and quickly moved out to a ten-car length advantage and Eck tried to muscle his way under Hackett for second. Terry was fourth, Pinckney fifth and Kania sixth. Kania moved into the top five on lap fifteen as Gurdak began to lap the field. Hedman slowed to a stop on the back stretch with six laps remaining. The top five remained the same for the restart with Rich Gardner in the sixth spot. Gardner passed Kania for fifth on lap twenty then an incident involving Morell, Paul Briggs and Todd Roncaglione brought out the yellow. Gurdak continued to control the event over the final five laps to get his second win of the season.
Justin Carlson jumped into the lead at the start of the Outlaw Cadet Championship event. Shane Applebee was second followed by Dave Hess Jr., Dale Applebee and Bill Thomas. The yellow flew for Chris Peterson, Dave Will and Mike Moon on lap four. Dave Hess was aligned second for the restart and immediately pressed Carlson for the lead. Peterson had more trouble on lap five and the caution flew for the second time. Dave Hess took the lead from Carlson on the restart. Dale Applebee was third followed by K.C. Decker and Shane Applebee. Dave Hess had a ten-car length lead by lap nine when the yellow flew for Jason Illig in turn two. Dale Applebee pulled into the pits during the caution. Hess remained the leader with Carlson second then Decker, Thoms and Shane Applebee. Hess had rebuilt his lead at the half way point and Decker had passed Carlson for the number two spot. Brian Fardink spun with seven laps remaining just as Dave Hess was catching the tail end of the field. Mike Hess moved into to the top five on the restart then passed first Thomas then Carlson to gain the third position as the white flew. Spanky Hall used four checkered flags to honor the win by Dave Hess Jr.
Bill
Dunn and Alex Feisler were on the front row for the Outlaw Cadet event with Paul
Norman and Dennis Lunger in row two. Feisler led the first lap then fell briefly
to Lunger on lap two who then was passed by Ron Seeley. The yellow flew for Paul
Norman who had spun to a stop in turn three on lap three. Phil Knight was fourth
for the restart followed by Nathan Short and Andy Knight. Mike Knight ended up
against the fence on the restart and the field was realigned to retry the
restart. Brian Campbell stopped on the front stretch one lap later as Seeley
continued to lead with Phil Knight second and Short third. Andy Knight was
fourth, Louis DeDionisio fifth and Lunger sixth. Nathan Short and Andy Knight
made contact on the restart with Short ending up stopped in turn two for the
yellow. Andy Knight was sent to the rear as a result of the incident so the top
four were Seeley, Phil Knight, DeDionisio and Lunger. Feisler and Campbell spun
for the next caution collecting Seeley who was considered part of the yellow and
sent to the rear for the restart. DeDionisio led with Lunger second and Brian
Zimmerly third. Scott Lewis lost the handle in traffic collecting several cars
in turn four. Lunger was sandwiched between Zimmerly and Andy Knight on the
restart losing second to Zimmerly and the caution flew for Fiesler and Jason
Evans with nine completed laps. Two laps later Lunger spun collecting Phil and
Mike Knight. Short was back in the top three for the restart and quickly passed
Zimmerly for the second spot as Spanky Hall gave the two to go signal. Short
could not catch DeDionisio.
Jeffery
Fellows and Josh Silleman brought the Spectator Division out for their feature
event. Fellows fell back at the start as Silleman took the lead. Ken Jackson was
second with Bill Van Volkenburg third. Ken Lamp brought out the first caution by
spinning to a stop in turn three. Jackson and Volkenburg used the restart to
pass Silleman. Steve Keith, Mark Thompson and Dave Tackett were the top five.
Jackson tangled with Keith sending Keith to the pits but the green flag stayed
out until Jackson lost a wheel in lap eight. Volkenburg was the leader with
Tackett second followed by Thompson, Brian Crandall and Tom Norland. Bob Kinne
turned Jim Tolen around on lap nine for the third caution. Tackett beat
Volkenburg to turn one on the restart and Thompson spun and continued. Tackett
ran the last two laps unchallenged with Volkenburg second and Chris Couchenour
third.
Aaron
Robinson took control of Budweiser Super Sportsman event at the drop of the
green. Mike Corrigan broke an axel on lap two. Robinson, John Boardman, Chris
Kuschel and Pete Volpe were the top four for the restart. Chad Carlson jumped
into the second spot on the restart setting Boardman to third and Pat McGuire
moved up to fourth. Pat McGuire passed Boardman one lap later and started to run
down Robinson and Carlson. The yellow flew for Chris Kuschel who had stopped in
turn two. The leader w went three wide on lap eight with Carlson coming out on
top followed by Pat McGuire and Robinson. Bobby Rohrer took third from Robinson
on lap ten and began to pressure Pat McGuire for the runner up spot. Rohrer took
the spot on white flag lap. Carlson held on to win his first of the season.
Stan Davis Jr. led the first lap of the Four Cylinder event but after as second lap caution lost the lead to Tom Bean. Dan Osborne passed Bean for his fourth win.
Aaron
Dascomb brought out the caution on the initial lap of the Super Challenger
feature as Wade Slaney, Ryan Scott and Glenn Slaney were one two and three by
the end of the second lap. Scott used lap traffic to get by Wade Slaney just as
the white flag flew then held on to notch his second win.
