April 22nd,2006 - David Scott Wins Opener on Coca-Cola Night at Stateline Speedway
by Glenn Slocum

Busti , NY : Cloudy and cool were the weather words on the 51^st Coca-Cola opening night at Stateline Speedway. The King of the Hill match race between 2005 Series Champ Andy Kania and Rich Gardner saw Gardner get the early jump which Kania was unable to make up. Dave Scott won a hard fought Super Late Model feature event which saw several major incidents. John Galati took the lead from Jason Genco on a lap two restart to win the Spectator feature. Chad Carlson led every lap to win the Budweiser Super Sportsman feature. Veteran Mike Moore, 2005 Cadet Champion, won the Outlaw Cadet feature leading from the start. Dave Hess Jr. beat Dennis Lunger to turn one and never looked back to win the E-Mod main event. Stephanie Devereaux won the Lady Challenger feature and Mike Genco Jr. was the Super Challenger winner.

            Twenty-seven Super Late Models started the feature with Scott Johnson on the pole and Paul Briggs second. David Scott and Scott Gurdak were in row two and Rich Gardner and Dick Barton in row three. Briggs led at the end of lap one with Gurdak second and Johnson third. Doug Eck made hard contact with the turn four concrete at the completion of lap two for the first yellow. In a close door to door battle Gurdak used the outside to beat Briggs to turn three on the restart where Briggs lost the handle, recovered but as the rest of the field tried to avoid the incident Ward Schell stopped bringing out the caution flag. Gurdak, Scott, Gardner, Briggs and Barton were the top five for lap four restart. An incident in turn two on the restart collected Bump Hedman, Greg Oakes, Chad Valone, Randy Lobb, Dave Tackett and Randy Shearer. Twenty-four remained for the lap four restart. Mark Matthews did not like the restart as Gurdak went too soon. The next start was better but Chris Hackett spun into the infield and the yellow quickly returned. Scott was the new leader after the restart and Gurdak settled into second. Ron Maloy retired with a flat and the race stayed green. Scott and Gurdak had a ten car length lead over Briggs and Gardner when Hackett had more problems nearly collecting the leader for the third yellow with nine laps complete. The top five for the restart were Scott, Gurdak, Gardner, Hess and Briggs. One more lap was completed then an incident involving Dave Lyon, Ward Schell and Mike Knight brought out the fourth yellow. Scott remained the leader after the restart. Gardner lost a couple of spots as Gurdak remained second followed by Hess and Barton. With five remaining the top four were nose to tail working lap traffic. Hess went three wide coming out of turn two on lap 22 grabbing the second spot from Gurdak. Gurdak tangled with Hess once more on the last lap losing several spots as Dave Scott took the checkers. Gardner finished second followed by Barton, Ron Davies and Hess.

            The Spectators reported to the speedway for the first feature of the evening and the season. A spin by Bill Reeves brought out the caution on lap two and was involved in a tangle on the restart for caution number two. Stan Davis hit the wall during the incident and had to be towed from the speedway. Jason Genco, John Galati and Mark Thompson were the leaders for the second restart of lap two. The next restart saw Dave Surrena slow in turn three for the third caution. Galati stole the lead on the restart. The yellow flew once more with eight laps complete when Jamie Brown slowed in turn two. Galati , Genco remained first and second and Lonnie Waldron held the third spot. Rick Thompson grabbed third on the white flag lap. Galati held on for the win with Genco giving chase.

            Chad Carlson won the dash to turn one on the start of the Budweiser Super Sportsman feature. The race remained green until five laps were complete when Ben Burgus spun on the exit of turn four. Carlson, Mike Kosinski and Bob Hazzard were the leaders for the lap six restart. The first restart was waved off as Carlson took off a little too early for Starter Mark Matthews. The second restart worked and Carlson quickly moved out to a seven car length lead over Kosinski. Carlson mastered lap traffic never giving Kosinski the opportunity to pass for the season opener win.

            The Outlaw Cadet feature started with heat winner Lou DeDionisio and Mike Moore on the front row with Moore taking the lead coming out of turn two on lap one.  Moore went on to lead every lap of the caution-free event to take his first win of the season.  The 2005 Season Champion took the checkers over Paul Norman, DeDionisio, John Cline, and Brian Crandall.

            Dennis Lunger brought the E-Mod division on to the speedway with Dave Hess Jr. on the outside pole. Hess was the leader coming out of turn two and as the rest of the field stacked up behind Lunger. Lunger slipped on lap three letting Matt Lux and Scooter Pangrazio by. Hess began lapping cars on lap six leading Lux by several laps. The first caution flew with eight of the twenty laps complete after Adam Hilyer spun coming out of turn two. Hess, Lux, Pangrazio and Quincy Turner were the leaders on the restart. Lux tried and outside move on Hess on the restart but Hess held him off. At the half way point Hess led Lux by two car lengths. Chad Silleman stopped in turn four with eleven complete for yellow number two. Lux lost the number two spot to Pangrazio shortly after the restart and one lap later a Quincy Turner spun for the third yellow. Hess, Pangrazio and Dale Applebee led after the restart. Hess and Pangrazio began to build a lead on the rest of the field as the laps wound down. Hess completed the last five like the first fifteen winning the event with Pangrazio second and Applebee third.

Spectators:  

Heat 1: John Galati, John Britt, Joe Heslop       

Heat 2: Jason Genco, Mark Thompson, Bill Reeves

Heat 3: David McClenahan, Rick Thompson, Joshua Lucas

Feature: John Galati, Jason Genco, Rick Thompson, Mark Thompson Jr., Lonnie Waldron, Mike Zemcik, Wade Watson, Bill Reeves, Ryan Seekings , Clarence Dickerson

Outlaw Cadets:

Heat 1: Louis DeDionisio, Mike Moore, Nathan Short

Feature: Mike Moore, Paul Norman, Lou DeDionisio, John Cline, Brian Crandall, Troy Dorman, Joe Harvey, Steve Moynihan, Lester Shoff, Nathan Short

Budweiser Super Sportsman:

Heat 1: Mike Kosinski, Jake Eller, John Boardman

Heat 2: Chad Carlson, Bob Hazzard, Tim Nocero

Feature: Chad Carlson, Mike Kosinski, Bob Hazzard, Jake Eller, John Boardman, Rusty Briggs, Bob VanArsdale, Jim Leonard, Chris Kuschel, Hank Francis

E-Mod:

Heat 1: Dennis Lunger, Matt Lux, Scott Pangrazio,

Heat 2: Dave Hess Jr., Kyle Scott, Quincy Turner

Feature: Dave Hess Jr., Scott Pangrazio, Dale Applebee, Matt Lux, Justin Carlson, Troy Carr, Greg Johnson, Nathan Short, Rich Michael Jr., Dustin Eckman

Super Late Model:

Heat 1: Scott Johnson, Scott Gurdak, Kirk Bradley, Matt Urban, Randy Shearer

Heat 2: Paul Briggs, Rich Gardner , Bump Hedman, Andy Kania, Dave Hess

Heat 3: David Scott, Dick Barton, Greg Oakes, Steve Halpainy , Chad Valone

Feature: David Scott, Rich Gardner , Dick Barton, Ron Davies, Dave Hess Jr., Kirk Bradley, Scott Gurdak, Paul Briggs, Matt Urban, Scott Johnson, Steve Halpainy, George LaBarbera, Darrell Bossard, Randy Shearer, Mike Knight, Chris Hackett, Dave Tackett, Andy Kania, Ward Schell, Andy Boozel, Rod Maloy, Dave Lyon, Bump Hedman, Randy Lobb, Greg Oakes, Chad Valone, Doug Eck

Lady Challenger:

Heat 1: Stephanie Deveraux, Michelle Swabik, Amanda Swanson

Feature:  Stephanie Deveraux, Amanda Swanson, Jodee Jordan, Michelle Swabik

Super Challenger:

Heat 1: Mike Genco, Butch Camarata, Brad Strickland,

Heat 2: Carlos Aponte, Tim Dulmus, Greg Rockwell

Heat 3: Curt Hansen, Brandon Pierce, Randy Wilson