Brian Zimmerly Wins Sysco Foods Outlaw Cadet Championship and
Scott Gurdak Wins Super Late Model Feature
at Eriez Speedway
By Glenn Slocum

Erie, Pa:. Sysco Foods sponsored the Outlaw Cadet Championship event at Eriez Speedway. Brian Zimmerly won the twenty-lap Outlaw Cadet Championship race. Zimmerly led from the beginning surviving a caution and a brush with the wall to win his first of the season. Scott Gurdak made it look easy in the Super Late Models leading every lap to win his first of the season at Eriez. Steve Keith held off Brian Crandall to win the Spectator feature and Dan Osborne won the Four Cylinder feature. Don McGuire won an exciting three wide finish in the Budweiser Super Sportsman event. Bill Thomas held of a charging Dave Hess Jr. to win the E-Mod feature.

            Rookie Paul Briggs was on the pole for the Super Late Model event with veteran Scott Gurdak second and Doug Eck and Andy Boozel in the third and fourth spot. Gurdak led the first lap as Briggs tucked in behind. Eck was third with Boozel fourth and Rich Gardner fifth. With five down Gurdak led Briggs by ten car lengths and Eck was a distant third. Gardner was on Boozel’s bumper for the third spot and Hackett was fourth trying to catch Gardner. Gurdak caught the tail end of the file on lap twelve when Matt Lanphere did a slow spin in two forcing late arriving Bump Hedman to spin for the first caution of the event. Gardner used the outside to move into the fourth spot on the restart as Gurdak and Briggs broke away from the field. Gardner move alongside Eck with five to go and after racing two laps side-by-side Gardner fell back to fourth. Gurdak took the white nearly a straight away ahead of Briggs who had a sizeable lead over Eck and Gardner. Gurdak made it look easy to winning the event with rookie Briggs gaining his best finish of the season in the runner up spot.

            Wade Watson led the Spectator division out for their feature event. Watson led lap one with Jeff Harvey in second. Brian Wagner and Tom Norland tangled at end of the first lap for the first caution of the event. Ken Lamp turned Dennis Lunger on lap two for the second caution forcing Lunger to go to the pits for repairs while the field was realigned. Lamp brought out the caution once more on the restart after getting into the front stretch wall. Watson and Mark Grabowski were the leaders on the restart. Lunger returned for the restart then tangled with Norland for another yellow. One more lap got in the books then Jim Van Cise spun to a stop on the front stretch.  Steve Keith made his first appearance in the number one position on the restart with Brian Crandall second and Watson third. Chris Couchenour and Russ Cressley slowed the race on lap seven. The restart failed once more when a number of cars tangled in turn tow including Watson, Lunger, Jeff Harvey and Dave Tackett. Matt Lozowski and Rick Thompson were third and fourth as Keith led Crandall with two to go. Keith held off Crandall at the line for his first win of the season.

            Brian Zimmerly and Alex Fiesler were on the front row of the Sysco Food Championship and Zimmerly used his starting spot to take the lead on the green. Louis DeDionisio was second with Fiesler third and Chuck Parker fourth. Andy Knight and Joe Weber moved from near the tail of the filed to break into the top five on lap seven as Parker slipped to sixth. Weber and Knight passed Feisler on lap nine and trailed DeDionisio by half a straight at the cross flags. Mike Knight made it into the top five on lap twelve as Weber and Andy Knight tried to catch Zimmerly and DeDionisio. Five laps remained when Zimmerly tapped the fence coming out of turn four allowing DeDionisio the inside but DeDionisio could not capitalize ad Zimmerly held on to the lead. Zimmerly was into lap traffic with one to go the caution flew for Fiesler who had spun high in turn two. The one lap dash for the win saw Zimmerly win the event as DeDionisio finished in the second spot.

            Dan Osborne took the lead from Tom Bean on a lap two restart in the Four Cylinder feature. Bean trailed Osborne for the remainder of the event but could not mount a challenge.

            Jake Eller did a slow spin in traffic at the conclusion of lap one of the Budweiser Super Sportsman division. Mike Corrigan and Pat McGuire were on the front row for the restart. Corrigan lost several positions as Don McGuire, Randy Parmenter and Hank Francis all got by. Bobby Rohrer passed Francis on lap five for the fourth spot as Don McGuire used the high side to take the lead from brother Pat. Rohrer passed Parmenter for the third spot just before the two to go signal. It was three wide at the finish with Don McGuire winning by a nose, Pat McGuire second and Bobby Rohrer third. 

            Mike Hess and Dale Applebee led the E-mods to Spanky Halls green flag with Mike Hess grabbing the top spot on the start. Mike Hess lost the handle collecting Applebee, Dave Hess Jr. and K.C. Decker on lap two. Bill Thomas managed to miss the spinning leaders to take the top spot with Holly Nelson second, Dustin Eckman third and Dave Will fourth. Mike Hess retired to the pits on the yellow. Two laps were completed when Applebee and Shawn McArdle tangled in turn two. Thomas, Nelson and Decker broke away from the field at the half way mark then a spin by McArdle brought out the caution on lap nine. Decker slid up the speedway on the restart allowing Thomas and Nelson to gain a ten car length advantage. Mike Boyd’s motor went up in smoke on lap ten for the final caution of the event. Dave Hess Jr. used the restart to get by Decker then tried to pass Nelson for two laps before making the pass with two to go. Hess dove low out of two to try to get under Thomas but Thomas held on as the two crossed the line nearly side by side.

            Casey Swabik won the Super Challenger event after surviving an early caution.

Spectators:

Heat 1: Wade Watson, Jeff Harvey, Jim Tolen

Heat 2: Tom Norland, Steve Keith, Mark Thompson

Feature: Steve Keith, Brian Crandall, Matt Lozowski, Rick Thompson, Jeremy English, Dave Tackett, Chip Davis, Larry Boumans, Chris Couchenour, Brian Wagner

Outlaw Cadets:

Heat 1: Louis DeDionisio, Chuck Parker, Paul Norman

Heat 2: Tom Hagberg, Joe Weber, Mike Knight

Feature: Brian Zimmerly, Louis DeDionisio, Joe Weber, Andy Knight, Phil Knight, Tom Hagberg, Mike Knight, Paul Dorman, Billy Dunn, Nathan Short

Four Cylinders:

Heat 1: Tom Bean, Brian Duryee, Doug Kirik

Feature: Dan Osborne, Tom Bran, Brian Duryee, Doug Kirik, Mike Welder, Stan Davis Jr., Scott Douglas

Budweiser Super Sportsman:

Heat 1: Don McGuire, Pat McGuire, Bobby Rohrer

Feature: Don McGuire, Pat McGuire, Bobby Rohrer, Randy Parmenter, Hank Francis, Mike Murray, Brian Collins, Jake Eller, Mike Corrigan, Jim Leonard

E-Mods:

Heat 1: Mike Hess, Joe Hemme, Justin Carlson

Heat 2: Dale Applebee, Dave Hess Jr., Bill Thomas

Feature: Bill Thomas, Dave Hess Jr., Holly Nelson, K.C. Decker, Justin Carlson, Shawn McArdle, Dave Will, Mike Moon, Mike Boyd, Dustin Eckman

Super Late Model:

Heat 1: Paul Briggs, Doug Eck, Rich Gardner, Chris Hackett, Dave Hess Jr.

Heat 2: Scott Gurdak, Andy Boozel, Merle Terry, Frank Ponitowski, Rod Maloy,

Feature:  Scott Gurdak, Paul Briggs, Doug Eck, Rich Gardner, Andy Boozel, Merle Terry, Chris Hackett, Rod Maloy, Dave Hess Jr., Frank Ponitowski, Bump Hedman, Andy Kania, Moose Dunnewold, Mike Brocious, Matt Lanphere, Wendell Pinckney

 Super Challenger:

 Heat 1: Wade Slaney, Ryan Scott, Lee Matczak