George
LaBarbera Gets First Late Model win on Ken Asel RV Center Night at Stateline
Speedway
By
Jay Pees
Busti,
NY (May 20, 2006 Twin features for
Late Models, E-Mods, and Outlaw Cadets highlighted the Ken Asel RV Center night
at Stateline thanks to rain interrupting events last Saturday.
Nathan Short finished the Cadet feature right where he was when rain
stopped it last week with six laps remaining, at the front.
Mike Moore won the second Cadet feature.
The first feature for the E-Mods went to Dave Hess Jr, after coming from
the rear at the start. E-Mod feature
number 2 also went to Hess as the first three positions were the same as last
week’s event. The May 13th
Super Late Model feature went to Scott Gurdak and the scheduled Late Model
feature was won by George LaBarbera, the first Late Model win of his career.
The Spectator win went to Glenn Slaney.
First
up was the resumption of the Outlaw Cadet Championship from Graf-X and Finn’s
E-Mods
were next for their May 13th feature.
Pole-sitter Scooter Pangrazio looped it in turn two on lap one,
necessitating a complete restart. Justin
Carlson led till lap six when he exited with mechanical problems, turning over
the lead to Troy Carr. Meanwhile
Dave Hess Jr. had been working his way to the front, running sixth at lap six and
third at halfway. Carr held on to
the lead for five more laps with Hess running on the low side.
After Hess got by at lap 15, Carr had his hands full with Quincy Turner
until Turner got by on lap nineteen. Hess
was again the winner with Turner second. Tom
Hagberg got to third after a lap 19 restart saw Greg Johnson and Carr get
together. Mike Hess was fourth with
Carr recovering for fifth.
The
Late Models also ran a ‘make-up’ feature with Scott Johnson and Scott Gurdak
on the front row. Johnson led the
26-car field but the race was immediately interrupted by a yellow flag for the
stalled car of Ward Schell. On the
green flag, Johnson and Gurdak ran side-by-side for two laps until Gurdak got
the lead at the start of lap three. The
race went green until lap 13 when Rod Maloy spun in turn four. After
restarting the race went the distance under the green flag with Gurdak getting
the win over Johnson, Dave Hess Jr, Dave Lyon, and Darrell Bossard.
Sixth through tenth were Randy Lobb, Dick Barton, Chad Valone, Andy
Kania, and Matt Urban.
Derek
Dickerson led the Spectators for their scheduled feature with Aron Dascomb
chasing. Yellow flags in the early
laps kept the field bunched. At lap
three Glenn Slaney grabbed the lead. Yellow
flags were the order of the day as the Spectators were hard-pressed to race more
than a lap at a time. Through it
all, Slaney maintained his lead and won handily over Jason Genco, Lonnie
Waldron, Rick Thompson, and John Britt.
The
Budweiser Super Sportsman extra-distance feature was brought to the green by
Brian Ester and Rusty Briggs with Briggs getting the immediate lead.
Unfortunately, yellow flew for an incident with Bob Van Arsdale in turn
one, erasing the start. On the
second start Briggs again got away with Ben Burgess Jr taking over second until
Don McGuire got by on lap three. Ted
Kosinski got around McGuire on lap eight just as yellow again was displayed for
a two car incident on the back straight. On
the restart, Jake Eller and Chris Kuschel crashed hard on the front straight,
gathering up Brian Ester in the process. With
five laps remaining Briggs had a two car length lead over Kosinski with John
Boardman running third. That was the
way they ran the next four laps. With
Jim Leonard bringing out the caution with only one lap remaining, the field was
bunched for the one-lap dash. Briggs
was up to the task and held on for his first win in the Sportsman class.
Kosinski and Boardman followed him to the stripe with Bob Hazard and Don
McGuire filling out the top five.
John
Cline and Steve Moynihan brought the Outlaw Cadets to the green for their
regularly schedule feature. Cline
led from the drop of the green with Brian Crandall taking over second before the
end of lap one. Mike Moore came to
third on lap seven and got by Crandall for second on lap nine.
He caught Cline three laps later and got the lead on the back straight.
Moore
won by half a straight-away
with Cline second, Crandall third. Nathan
Short, fresh off a win earlier in the evening, was fourth and Phil Knight was
fifth.
The
twenty six cars present started the scheduled E-Mod feature with pole-sitter
Greg Johnson leading from the start over visitor Ryan Learn.
Learn spun at the end of lap two in front of the field, but escaped
disaster as everyone got by safely. Dave
Hess Jr, starting thirteenth, was second at the end of two laps!
At a restart from a lap two yellow, he started alongside the leader and
blasted into the lead. Once at the
front, Hess was not to be denied as he cruised to his second win of the evening.
At halfway Tom Hagberg was running second with Quincy Turner third.
At lap fourteen Turner got around Hagberg and set sail for the leader,
but to no avail. Turner settled for
second, with Hagberg third, the same order as the first feature.
Troy Carr was fourth with Nathan Short fifth.
Twenty-eight
Late Models started the scheduled Late Model feature with Mike Knight grabbing
the early lead. Action was halted on
lap two when six cars piled up in turn one.
At the restart George LaBarbera got the lead and began stretching his
lead over Knight. Randy Lobb came to
second at lap seven but Knight came back for the spot a lap later.
Another multi-car incident at lap ten again slowed the field when a
back-marker slowed and bunched up the field in a chain-reaction.
After the restart Lobb quickly got by Knight and started chasing
LaBarbera, who was in turn chasing his first Late Model victory.
LaBarbera held on for the win over Lobb with Knight third, Rich 
The
first Super Challenger feature was red flagged at the start of lap two when
Travis Darling barrel rolled his car in turn one.
He was unhurt and the race resumed with Derrick Dickerson leading.
Carlos Aponte took over at the front on the restart.
Aponte went on to the win over Rod Birt and Jimmy Hahn.
The
second Super Challenger feature was won by Jamie Hebner, with Brandon Pierce,
and Shawn Seekings. Hebner got the
lead when Curt Hanson was spun coming out of turn four with one lap to go by
Butch Camarata, who was black flagged for the incident.
Scheduled
Spectator Feature: Glenn
Slaney, Jason Genco, Lonnie Waldron, Rick Thompson, John Britt, Mort John,
Stanley Davis, Clarence Dickerson, Dave Surrena, Rodney Thoms, Berton Chapel,
Daniel Clark, Jamie Brown, Brian Graham, John Meese, Mike Zemcik, Casey Swabik,
Ken Lamp, Bob Frisbee, David McClanahan, Aron Dascomb, Wade Watson, John Galati,
Chris Couchenour, Mark Thompson Jr., Shayne Erhard
Scheduled
Sportsman Feature: Rusty
Briggs, Mike Kosinski, John Boardman, Bob Hazzard, Don McGuire,