Rob Blair Wins Bossard Crawford MACS “Battle by the Lake
at Eriez Speedway
By Glenn Slocum 

Erie, Pa:  Thirty Super Late Models were on hand for the Bossard Crawford sponsored Mid Atlantic Championship Series “Battle by the Lake” at Eriez Speedway. Titusville’s Rob Blair won the first event on Friday at Raceway 7 then Bear Lake’s Chub Frank won from his eleventh starting spot on Saturday at Stateline. It looked like Frank was going to repeat at Eriez but a flat tire forced him to the rear with twenty laps remaining setting up Rob Blair for his second MACS win of the weekend. Tom Norland led from green to checkers in the Spectator feature. Joe Weber won his first feature of the season in the Outlaw Cadets.  Dave Hess Jr. won the E-Mod feature. Dan Osborne won his third Four Cylinder event and Pat McGuire was the Budweiser Super Sportsman winner. Bob Belson won his first Super Challenger feature.

     Chris Hackett had trouble in the first MACS heat collecting Dave Hess Jr. and Andy Boozel as Chub Frank led. Hackett, Hess and Boozel were all able to continue but from the rear of the field. One lap later Mickey Wright spun in the same spot but everyone got by. The remainder of the event went green with Frank getting the win followed by Rod Conley and David Scott.

     The second MACS heat saw a spin in one at the start also. Chevy Scott fell victim to the incident. Mike Johnson led every lap while Keith Barbara lost second to Paul Wilmoth on the final lap.

    The third heat was marred by a spin on lap four involving Scott Cross. Rob Blair was in the lead with Ryan Markham second followed by rookie Paul Briggs. Chuck Harper retired on lap five and Wendell Pinckney stopped in the infield on lap six. Blair won by a straight away.

    Jason Morell had a right rear flat as the MACS B-Main pulled onto the speedway and officials let him repair it before the event was started. Morell had more troubles with a spin on lap three. Andy Boozel was the leader with Darrell Bossard second and Scot Cross third. Boozel won the event to advance to the 50 Lap $5000 to win feature event and Morell’s troubles continued as his car slowed to stop with water leaking from under the car.

     Chub Frank took the lead at the start of the Dash and never looked back with Merle Terry second and Mike Johnson third.

     Chub Frank and Merle Terry were on the front row for the 50-lap MACS event. Frank wasted no time getting out front. Mike Johnson grabbed second as Terry slid to fourth behind Rob Blair. Paul Wilmoth completed the top five. Blair moved under Johnson on lap seven for the runner up spot as Frank caught the end of the field. David Scott was sixth with Ron Conley seventh and Rich Gardner in eighth. Blair closed a little with Frank as they worked through lap traffic. Dick Barton was moving up and was shown ninth behind Gardner on lap seventeen. Briggs got into the loose dirt high in turn four for a slow spin bringing out the first caution of the event with nineteen laps complete. A lap car separated Blair and Frank on the restart with another lap car between Blair and Johnson. Blair disposed of the lap car one lap later but Frank had built a ten car length lead. At the half way point Frank had lengthened his lead over Blair and Blair was a half lap ahead of the third place Johnson. Scott Cross spun in two on lap twenty-eight and Barton spun after the yellow to avoid hitting Cross. Dave Hess was penalized two spots for jumping the last restart and Blair was now on Franks rear bumper for the restart. Frank and Blair broke away from the field. Doug Eck brought out the next yellow with twenty laps remaining. Frank suffered a flat during the yellow and was given the mandatory two caution laps to return. Frank rejoined at the end of the field giving Blair the lead with Johnson second and Paul Wilmoth third. Blair pulled away from Johnson on the restart. Wilmoth fought by Johnson for second on lap thirty eight. Blair was into lap traffic with ten remaining. Blair finished the run in the top spot after following Frank for over half the event. Paul Wilmoth finished a strong second with Mike Johnson third.

    John Bailey by Spanky Hall’s starter stand at the start of the Spectator feature necessitating a complete restart. Bill Van Volkenburg brought out the second caution on lap two as Tom Norland led with Ken Lamp second and Bob Kinne third. The yellow flew once more with Kinne needing a push to restart after the yellow. Spanky Hall disqualified Jeff Harvey after the incident as the race was being realigned. Brian Crandall had trouble on lap seven with a spin in turn three and Rush Firestone spun to avoid hitting Crandall. Mark Thompson was third with Dana Wellington fourth and Matt Lozowski fifth. Thompson did a slow spin on lap seven but the race continued but one lap later Thompson was involved in multi-car incident with Barrett Brown, Dana Wellington and Brian Crandall. Jeremy English was in second with Lester Shoff third for the restart, which ended quickly with another incident involving Crandall, Wellington, Rusty Briggs and Jim Van Cise. English lost second with a spin with two to go but the green stayed out. Bill Van Volkenburg was second at the finish as Norland won.

     Tom Bean hit the wall on the initial start of the Four Cylinder event collecting J.R. Cross and sending them both to the pits. Scott Douglas led briefly then Dan Osborne too the lead on lap three. Douglas lost second to Dale Wise with four remaining. Osborne won the event for his third win of the season.

     Alex Fiesler was the first lap leader in the Outlaw Cadet feature and a spin by Bill Dunn brought out the yellow as the lap ended. Rick Loomis was bounced back in forth n the middle of the field on lap two finally ending up facing the wrong way in front of the starters stand for the second yellow in as many laps. Joe Weber and Mike Knight both got by Fiesler on the restart then Fiesler spun in two for caution three. Scott Lewis was third on the restart with Nathan Short fourth and Louis DeDionisio fifth. Short picked up third on lap six as Knight tested Weber on the inside. DeDionisio and Brian Zimmerly sent Lewis back to sixth with ten laps completed. Weber held off Knight for the win with Short picking up third.

     Aaron Robinson and Brent Crandall were out in front early in the Budweiser Super Sportsman event. Pat McGuire captured second from Crandall with three laps completed then passed Robinson for the lead two laps later. Randy Parmenter was fourth with Bobby Rohrer fifth. Parmenter moved to third then one lap later the yellow flew for Mike Murray on lap nine. Pete Volpe brought out the yellow on lap eleven. Parmenter did a half spin with one lap remaining giving the third spot to Rohrer with Don McGuire fourth and Chad Carlson fifth. Murray, Hank Francis, Rohrer, Chad Carlson and John Boardman all suffered in the next yellow in turn one. The white and green flew for the restart and Pat and Don McGuire were one and two with Mike Corrigan in the third spot.

    Mike and Dave Hess were first and second at the end of the first lap of the E-Mod event. Dave Will spun on lap two for the fist caution. Mike Hess remained the leader with Dave Hess second then Justin Carlson, Dale Applebee and Chub Frank. Dave Hess used the low groove coming out of turn two on lap seven to move into the lead. Frank had moved to third with Applebee fourth and Carlson fifth. Shawn McArdle and Jason Illig brought out the caution on lap twelve. Bill Taylor was pulled into the infield on the hook during the caution. Just one more lap was completed when a spin by Will and Mike Moon brought out the yellow. Dave Hess won the event with Mike Hess just holding off Frank for the second spot.

Spectators:

Heat 1: Bill Van Volkenburg, Bob Kinne, Jeff Harvey

Heat 2: Brian Crandall, Matt Lozowski, Jeremy English

Feature: Tom Norland, Bill Van Volkenburg, Matt Lozowski, Bob Kinne, Brian Crandall, Ken Jackson, Rush Firestone, Mark Thompson, Jeremy English, Jim Van Cise

Four Cylinder:

Heat 1: Tom Bean, Dan Osborne, Dale Wise

Feature: Dan Osborne, Dale Wise, Doug Kirik, Scott Douglas, Stan Davis Jr.

Outlaw Cadets:

Heat 1: Brian Zimmerly, Dennis Lunger, Rick Loomis

Heat 2: Ron Seeley, Andy Knight, Joe Weber

Feature: Joe Weber, Mike Knight, Nathan Short, Lewis DeDionisio, Brian Zimmerly, Scott Lewis, Ron Seeley, Paul Norman, Dennis Lunger, Philip Knight

Budweiser Super Sportsman:

Heat 1: Chad Carlson, John Boardman, Scott Kuschel
Heat 2: Hank Francis, Pat McGuire, Bobby Rohrer

Feature: Pat McGuire, Don McGuire, Mike Corrigan, Bob Van Arsdale, Scott Kuschel, Jim Leonard, Mike Murray, Randy Parmenter, Chris Kuschel, Pete Volpe

E-Mod:

Heat 1: Mike Hess, Brad Pease, Holly Nelson

Heat 2: Dave Hess Jr., Justin Carlson, Dale Applebee

Feature: Dave Hess Jr., Mike Hess, Chub Frank, Dale Applebee, Justin Carlson, Bill Thomas, Brian Fardink, Holly Nelson, Mike Boyd, Dan MacDonald

Super Late Model:

Heat 1: Chub Frank, Rod Conley, David Scott, Rich Gardner, Dick Barton

Heat 2: Mike Johnson, Paul Wilmoth, Keith Barbara, Doug Eck, Ty Myers

Heat 3: Rob Blair, Ryan Markham, Paul Briggs, Mike Christopher, Merle Terry

B-Main: Andy Boozel, Darrel Bossard, Scott Cross, Dave Hess Jr., Boom Briggs, Mark Ramsey, Wendell Pinckney, Mickey Wright, Jason Morell, Chevy Scott, Chuck Harper

Dash: Chub Frank, Merle Terry, Mike Johnson, Rob Blair, David Scott, Paul Wilmoth, Rich Gardner, Paul Briggs

Feature: Rob Blair, Paul Wilmoth, Mike Johnson, Rod Conley, Merle Terry, Rich Gardner, Ryan Markham, Dick Barton, Keith Barbara, Ty Myers, Denny Chamberlain, Dave Hess Jr., Chris Hackett, Doug Eck, Andy Boozel, Darrell Bossard, Chuck Harper, Wally Fox, Scott Cross, David Scott, Chub Frank, Paul Briggs, Mike Christopher, Scott Gurdak

Super Challenger:

Heat 1: Bob Belson, Casey Swabik, Dereck Frank

Feature:  Bob Belson, Ryan Scott, Jason Dingle, Casey Swabik, Glenn Slaney, Steve Soto, Bob Swanson, Lee Natczak, Jason Lynn, Chris Withers

 Macs Time Trials: