Chad Ruhlman Wins on Busch Beer Night at Stateline Speedway

By Glenn Slocum

           An afternoon shower did not affect the one hundred and forty five racecars on hand for Busch Beer Night at Stateline Speedway.  Chad Ruhlman ran away from the field in a caution less Super Late Model feature event, for his second win of the year. Bobby Rohrer passes an ailing Pat McGuire to post his third win. Greg Johnson survived several yellows to win his second in the Outlaw Cadet feature. Mark Ramsey won his fourth in the first Spectator feature and Rich Becker his second of the year in the second Spectator feature. Randy Parmenter won his fifth Budweiser Super Sportsman event. Mike Hess won his first E-Mod feature in a race marred with eight cautions.

         Rush Firestone led a wild lap one in the first Spectator feature, as several cars spun in to the infield narrowly avoiding reentering the speedway. Dave Surenna and Vic Earle were in the second and third spot. Dana Wellington spun on lap four for the first caution of the event. Steve Keith moved into third on the restart then Chris Couchenour spun in front of most of the field on lap five for the second caution. Mark Ramsey passed Earle for third on lap eight and quickly moved up be side Keith to challenge for second. Wellington again brought out the caution on lap nine. Ramsey was placed second on the restart and beat Firestone into turn one to lead the final two laps and won his fourth feature event. Firestone finished second with Steve Keith fourth.

           Fred McClanahan and Ron Fish led the first two laps of the second Spectator feature. Joe Houser and Ken Jackson collided on the front stretch almost turning over and stopping the race on lap three. Rich Becker and Ron Bush passed the leader on lap five and Fish remained in third as McClanahan fell back through the field. A last lap tangle between Jason Stetson and Bush allowed Fish second and Mike Knight third as Becker won his second of the year.

           Paul Briggs capitalized on his pole starting position and led lap one of the Limited Late Model feature. Pat McGuire and Tom Hagberg ran behind the leader with Bobby Rohrer getting by Hagberg for third before a spinning T.J. Shaw brought out the first caution on lap six. Briggs resumed the lead on the lap six restart with McGuire a close second and Rohrer three car lengths behind McGuire. Andy Knight stopped in turn one on lap nine for the second caution. An incident involving John Cline and Ed Simmer on the restart quickly brought out the third caution before another lap was completed. McGuire moved up beside Briggs at the crossed flags but the caution flew for Cline who had returned to the speedway with a trouble light dangling from the rear of his car. Briggs maintained the led on the restart and led for the next seven until McGuire moved by with two to go. McGuire slowed after losing his drive shaft going into three on the last lap allowing Rohrer to pass for the win. Briggs finished second with McGuire third.

           Twenty-one of the twenty-three Outlaw Cadets reported for their feature event. John Pencille and Pete Alspaugh were on row one with Greg Johnson and Glenn Slaney in row two. The initial start failed when Jamie Schnars spun in turn four. Alspaugh dueled with Pencille for the lead on lap one then Pencille and Slaney spun with out a caution and Greg Johnson moved into second with Louie DeDionisio third. Pencille ended up nosed into the turn two wall for the second caution of the event on lap three. Johnson won the race to turn one on the restart but the yellow flew for Eugene Bevil and John Boardman and Johnson was placed back into second for the restart. Johnson won the race to turn one again but Jim Martin and Schnars tangled for the next caution. On the third attempt Johnson made the pass and began to move away from the field. Jeff Campbell stopped on lap eight for caution five. Campbell was towed from the speedway. John Pencille the current points leader moved from second to last then seventh before pulling into the infield on the restart. Johnson once led the restart and led the next three laps when DeDionisio brought out the caution on lap twelve. Chris Blose was now third with Shane Jones fourth and Terry Daniels fifth. Blose moved by Alspaugh for second with two to go as Johnson ran away for the win.

           Chad Valone and Bryan Emory led twenty-five Super Late Models to Spanky Halls green flag. Emory took control at the start as Valone faded to fourth. Ruhlman moved from second to first on lap four with Rod Maloy third. Ruhlman began to extend his lead as the rest of the field began to string out around the speedway. Dave Scott was on the move and into fifth on lap ten. And Ruhlman was into lap traffic on lap twelve. Scott moved to fourth with five to go as Ruhlman continued weaving through lap traffic. Scott moved to third on the white flag lap but there was no catching Ruhlman who won by almost a half of a lap over Maloy and Scott. It was second win of the year for Ruhlman.

           Robert Nocero led lap one of the Budweiser Super Sportsman event with Don McGuire second and Dana Cummings third. McGuire tangled with Scott Bayle on lap six for the first caution. McGuire left the speedway with a flat as the field was realigned for the restart. Nocero sat on the pole with Randy Parmenter second and Dana Cummings third. Parmenter moved under Nocero on the restart and took the lead with five to go. Joe Buccola spun on lap ten losing his third place spot. Parmenter, Nocero and Dave Cummings were the top three for the lap ten restart. The restart never happened causing McGuire, Kosinski and the second place car to wreck on the front stretch with Nocero doing a slow roll and coming to rest back on all four wheels. Nocero was unable to continue moving Dave Cummings to second and Dana Cummings to third. Pete Volpe spun collecting Don McGuire and Dana Cummings with one to go for the final caution of the event. Hank Francis and Dave Cummings made contact coming down to the checkers forcing Cummings into the infield and allowing Francis to the second spot as Parmenter won for the fifth time.

           Bill Uhl, Joe Watson and Jason Covey collided one lap one of the E-Mod feature quickly bringing the race under yellow. Chris Peterson led the first lap with Jim Irwin second and Gerry Schimp third. Tim Rater was bounced around on the restart collecting Uhl and Watson for the second caution on lap two. Peterson maintained control on the restart with Schimp second and Randy Parmenter third. Schimp slowed on lap five allowing several cars by as Mike Hess moved into second. Uhl spun on lap seven and as the caution flew Tim Rater pulled to the infield as flames engulfed his engine compartment. The track safety crew quickly pulled Rater from the car and the fire was extinguished. Rater was not injured in the incident. Mike Hess, Parmenter and Mike Samuelson all passed Peterson on the restart and then yellow flew for Uhl once more on lap eight. Dave Hess passed Peterson on restart for fourth as Spanky Hall indicated half way. Justin Carlson stopped on lap nine for the fifth caution of the event. Dave Hess moved to second on lap ten as early leader Peterson spun into the infield on the front stretch for caution number six. Mike Hess was still the leader with Dave Hess second and Parmenter third. One more lap was completed before Tom Anderson brought out the seventh caution. Uhl stopped the field once more on lap thirteen as Mike and Dave Hess fought for the lead. Parmenter spun to the infield on the white flag lap losing third to Mike Samuelson as Mike Hess held off Dave Hess for his first win of the season.

Results:

   Spectators (31):

      Heat 1: Brian Johnson, Mike Knight, Fred McClanahan

      Heat 2: John Kelsey, Dave Surenna, Dennis Lumger

      Heat 3: Brian Crandall, Bill Baker Jr., Pat Passanise

      Feature 1: Mark Ramsey, Rush Firestone, Steve Keith, John Kelsey, Pat Passanise, Vic Earle Sr., Rick Sperry, Bill Baker Jr., Steve Huling

      Feature 2: Rich Becker, Ron Fish, Mike Knight, Jason Stetson, Eric Gurdak, Ron Bush, Jim Leonard, Mike Ciffo, Ray Churchill, Eric Buell

   E-Mods (22):

      Heat 1: Bill Thomas, Randy Parmenter, Tink Mealy

      Heat 2: Al Cressley, Mike Hess, Tim Rater

      Feature: Mike Hess, Dave Hess Jr., Mike Samuelson, Bootie Petsko, Randy Parmenter, Dan McDonald, Gerry Schimp, Stu Rickart, Justin Carlson, Jim Irwin

   Outlaw Cadets (23):

      Heat 1: John Pencille, Shane Jones, Phil Knight

      Heat 2: Pete Alspaugh, Glenn Slaney, Terry Daniels

      Heat 3: Greg Johnson, Louie DeDionisio, Bill Dunn

      Feature 1: Greg Johnson, Chris Blose, Pete Alspaugh, Bill Dunn, Glenn Slaney, Terry Daniels, Shane Jones, Dustin Eckman, Louis DeDionisio, Matt Lamphere

   Limited Late Models (19):

      Heat 1: Paul Briggs, Pat McGuire, Bobby Rohrer

      Heat 2: Tom Hagberg, Al Cressley, Chad Ramsey

      Feature: Bobby Rohrer, Paul Briggs, Pat McGuire, Tom Hagberg, Chad Ramsey, Al Cressley, Mike Moore, Tom Schnars, Steve Moynihan, Ron Seeley

   Budweiser Super Sportsmen (21):

      Heat 1: Robert Nocero, Hank Francis, Gary Foster

      Heat 2: Don McGuire, Dave Cummings, Pat McGuire

   Feature: Randy Parmenter, Hank Francis, Dave Cummings, Scott Bayle, Brent Crandall, Gary Foster, Don Stanley, Joe Buccola Jr., Dana Cummings, J.R. Nocero

American Racer Dash: Andy Boozel, Dave Hess Jr., John Lacki

   Super Late Model (29):

      Heat 1: Chad Valone, Chad Ruhlman, Andy Boozel

      Heat 2: Rod Maloy, Wally Fox, John Lacki

      Heat 3: Bryan Emory, Al Crocker, Dave Hess Jr.

      Consolation: Doug Eck, Moose Dunnewold, Bob Craig, Steve Halpainy, Dusty Franklin

      Feature: Chad Ruhlman, Rod Maloy, Dave Scott, Bryan Emory, Rich Gardner, Chad Valone, Dave Lyon, Dave Hess Jr., Matt Urban, Dan Armbruster, Wally Fox, Chris Hackett, Doug Eck, Ron Davies, Ted Kosinski, Moose Dunnewold, Al Crocker, Scott Johnson, John Lobb, John Lacki, Bob Craig, Dave Shagla, Andy Boozel, Ron Olson, Randy Lobb