Dave Hess Jr. Wins Coors/Glenwood Beers
Super Late Model Feature
at Eriez Speedway
By Glenn Slocum  

Erie , Pa : Mother’s Day was opening night at Eriez Speedway sponsored by Coors and Glenwood Beers. Dave Hess Jr. made an exciting last lap pass to win the Super Late Model feature as he and Chris Hackett had fought for the top spot almost the entire event. Lester Shoff won the Spectator feature during a last lap restart over Rick Thompson. Nathan Short passed Andy Knight on lap two of the Outlaw Cadet feature and never looked back. Bobby Rohrer won the Budweiser Super Sportsman race and Dave Hess Jr. led every lap to win the E-Mod feature. Glenn Slaney won the Super Challenger event and Leslie Armstrong the Lady Challengers.

            Chris Hackett led into one but lost the lead in two as Andy Boozel and Scott Johnson got by in the first lap of the Super Late Model feature event. Hackett regained the top spot two laps later as the leaders made it three wide coming out of four. A spin slowed the race on lap four with Hackett out front followed by Johnson, Dave Hess Jr., Boozel and Andy Kania. Johnson went wide on the restart letting Hess by for the second spot. Merle Terry had problems on lap five for the second yellow. Hackett led after the restart with Hess close behind the Johnson, Kania and Boozel. Johnson went into the pits on lap nine and the yellow flew for Mike Coyle up against the fence going into turn one. With Johnson retiring Kania was now third followed by Boozel and Brady Wonderling. Randy Lobb, Scott Gurdak, Rich Gardner and Steve Halpainy rounded out the top ten. The leaders were into lap traffic with five laps remaining. Hess was able to close a little with Hackett as traffic slowed the leader but was unable to capitalize until the white flag lap and leading the final lap of the event and completing a perfect weekend with wins at both Eriez and Stateline Speedway.

            Rick Thompson and Nate Lester were on the front row for the first double points feature of the evening. Thompson led Lester Shoff by a car length on lap one and was up alongside Thompson on lap two setting up the lap three pass in turn two. Lester was running third with Jason Heslop fourth and Josh Lucas fifth. Thompson battled back and recaptured the lead on lap six. Shoff would not relinquish the spot as the leaders caught the tail end of the filed on lap ten. Thompson managed a small lead when Shoff and Lester were trapped behind lap traffic. The only yellow occurred on lap fifteen with a spin by Heslop. Thompson took the green and white but Shoff beat him to turn one to take the win.

            Ron Seeley and Andy Knight brought the Outlaw Cadets to the speedway for their double points feature event. Knight was the dash to turn one with Nathan Short second, Phil Knight third and Seeley fourth. Seeley passed Knight on the next lap for the third spot then Knight retired one lap later. Chris Bowman ended up facing the wrong direction on the back straight on lap five bringing out the caution flag. The restart failed when Dave Tackett spun on the back stretch for the second caution. The next restart worked with Short coming out on top. Knight challenged Short on the next lap but could not make the pass. Tackett had more problems with seven laps complete bringing out the third yellow. Brian Zimmerly was caught in an incident on the restart and left the speedway with a flat tire. Short remained the leader after the restart with Knight and Seeley in tow. John Cline was fourth and Louis DeDionisio fifth. Short took the two to go signal with a ten car length advantage. Seeley was second at the checkers with Cline third.

            Bobby Rohrer won the pole position for Budweiser Super Sportsman event with his Heat 1 win. Chad Carlson passed Rohrer on the first lap for number one spot. Rohrer’s teammate Pat McGuire was third with Don McGuire fourth and Aaron Robinson fifth. Carlson was in lap traffic on lap eleven and lost the lead to Pat McGuire. The yellow flew on lap twelve for Jake Eller with a rear suspension problem. Pat McGuire went into the pits during the yellow putting brother Don into the third spot and John Boardman fourth. Rohrer won by half a car length at the finish over Carlson with Don McGuire one car length back.

            Dave Hess Jr. led the first lap of the Emod feature with Troy Carr second and Tommy Fox third. Hess had a ten car length advantage as the yellow flew for Ed Simmer and Bill Taylor in turn two. Mike Hess and Justin Carlson rounded out the top five on the restart. Hess once more quickly built a ten car length advantage as Carr and Fox fought for the runners up spot. Alex Feisler, Bill Taylor and Tom Bean brought out the yellow on lap eight. Mike Hess gained the third spot on the restart sending Fox back to fourth. The yellow flew once more with ten laps complete after Eugene Stetson stopped in turn four. Stetson left the speedway attached to the wrecker as the race was realigned. Dave Hess remained the leader with Carr second and Mike Hess third. Hess ran away for the field in the final laps with Troy Carr a distant second and Mike Hess third.

            Daniel Clark led the first lap of the Lady Challenger event but Amber Belson passed her in lap two. Leslie Armstrong also passed Clark which set up a two car race to the checkers with Armstrong coming out on top.

            The Super Challenger feature was restarted do to an incident on the first start. Chris Withers moved from his ninth starting spot on the first lap of the restart to gain the top spot. Aaron Dascomb did a barrel roll in between turns one and two bringing out the red flag. Dascomb reported that he was okay and the race was restarted. Glenn Slaney passed Withers on the restart. Lee Matczak passed Withers for the second spot. Slaney won the event with Withers second after Matczak made contact with the turn two fence with one lap to go.

Spectators:

Heat 1: Rick Thompson, Nate Lester, Lester Shoff

Feature: Lester Shoff, Nate Lester, Rick Thompson, Josh Lucas, Steve Huling, Walter Johnson, Jason Heslop, Ken Lamp Jr., Rick Becker, Wade Watson

Outlaw Cadets:

Heat 1: Joe Weber, Ron Seeley, Nathan Short

Heat 2: Andy Knight, Phil Knight, Brian Zimmmerly

Feature: Nathan Short, Ron Seeley, John Cline, Louis DeDionisio, Andy Knight, Paul Norman, Dave Tolon, Brian Crandall, Brian Zimmerly, George Milks

Budweiser Super Sportsman:

Heat 1: Bobby Rohrer, Aaron Robinson, Scott Kuschel
Heat 2: Chad Carlson, Pat McGuire, Don McGuire

Feature: Bobby Rohrer , Chad Carlson, Don McGuire, John Boardman, Mike Murray, Scott Kuschel, Chris Kuschel, Pat McGuire, John Daugherty, Chris McGuire

E-Mod:

Heat 1: Troy Carr, Ed Simmer, Alex Fiesler

Heat 2: Dave Hess Jr., Tommy Fox, Brian Fardink

Feature: Dave Hess Jr., Troy Carr, Mike Hess, Tommy Fox, Justin Carlson, Brian Fardink, Dustin Eckman, Al Cressley, Mike Moon, Shawn McArdle

Super Late Model:

Heat 1: Chris Hackett, Scott Johnson, Scott Gurdak, Brady Wonderling, George LaBarbera, Brady Wonderling

Heat 2: Andy Boozel, Steve Halpainy, Merle Terry, Bump Hedman, Mike Coyle

Heat 3: Andy Kania, Dave Hess Jr., Randy Lobb, Rich Gardner, Paul Briggs

Feature: Dave Hess Jr., Chris Hackett, Andy Kania, Randy Lobb, Andy Boozel, Scott Gurdak, Rich Gardner, Brady Wonderling, Bump Hedman, Dave Lyon, Wendell Pinckney, Mike Knight, Matt Lanphere, Steve Halpainy, Merle Terry, Paul Briggs, Jason Morell, Doug Eck, Scott Johnson, John Lobb, Mike Coyle, George LaBarbera

Super Challenger:

Heat 1: Lee Matczak, Bob Belson, Jared Boardman

Heat 2: Aron Dascomb, Glenn Slaney, Ben Burgess Jr.

Feature:  Glenn Slaney, Chris Withers, Monty Seekins Jr., Tim Dulmus, Dan MacGarvie, Paul Cole, Scott Kinney, Lee Matczak, Len Strange, Aaron Danko

Lady Challenger:

Heat 1: Amber Belson, Leslie Armstrong, Kari Moore

Feature: Leslie Armstrong, Amber Belson, Mary Lou Keith, Kayla Riefstahl, Rachel Wright, Mary Hammond, Kari Moore