Dan Armbruster Wins Craiger Race Engines
 Super Late Championship
at Stateline
By Glenn Slocum

               A beautiful late summer evening greeted race fans at Stateline Speedway for the Craiger Race Engines Super Late Model Championship event. Dan Armbruster passed Doug Eck on the final lap to win the “35” lap Championship event and win a front row starting spot in the Pepsi “60”. John Pencille won number four in the Outlay Cadet feature. Dave Cummings held off a late race challenge by Randy Parmenter to win his second of the year. Dave Hess Jr. made a lap ten pass for the lead and cruised to his seventh E-Mod win of the season. Paul Briggs gained the lead on lap one then lost it on a lap two restart but fought back to regain the lead on lap fifteen and win the Limited Late feature. Tommy Fox won the first Spectator feature and Merle Burlingham won the second.

           Tommy Fox led the first lap of the first Spectator feature with Rick Sperry and Pat Passanise in second and third. Barrett Brown, John Kelsey, Kevin Hill and Jason Stetson spun on lap five for the only caution of the event. Point leader Steve Hulings charged from the middle of the field to second at the halfway point. Passanise had troubles again on lap nine for the second caution. Fox was able to hold off Hulings at the checkers and Sperry finished third.

                  Merle Burlingham came out on top at the start of the second Spectator feature. Ray Churchill was second and David McClanahan third. Churchill slowed with one to go giving McClanahan second as Burlingham led from green to checkers in the caution less event for his first feature win. James Conner finished third.

           Nathan Short and Jeff VanArsdale brought the Outlaw Cadet to the green but lost to John Pencille and Louie DeDionisio on lap one. VanArsdale had recovered third by lap four when Greg Johnson and Jamie Schnars spun. VanArsdale moved under DeDionisio on the restart and two laps later made the pass stick for the second spot. Glenn Slaney moved by DeDionisio on lap seven for the third spot. With five to go it was Pencille and VanArsdale then five car lengths back Slaney and ten car lengths behind Slaney was DeDionisio. Lap twelve saw a spin by Matt Lamphere and Schnars for the second caution. Pencille led the finial three laps to win his fourth feature of the year.

           Mike Murray and Joe Buccola were leading when J.R. Nocero stopped for the first caution on lap two of the Budweiser Super Sportsman feature. Buccola spun on lap three and Dave Cummings took the lead with Murray second and Pat McGuire third. Buccola’s first spin did not cause a caution but his second on lap five did. Cummings got a big jump on the ensuing restart but Randy Parmenter was in second, Parmenter had started tenth in the event. A lap eight spin by Jim Lafferty brought out the third yellow. Parmenter tried the outside on the restart but could not make the pass as Cummings clung to the lead. Parmenter brushed the fence on the backstretch with two to go allowing McGuire into second. Cummings was not challenged again and won his second feature and maintained his lead in the points.

          Tom Anderson led the first lap of the E-Mod event but was passed by Tim Rater and Bill Thomas at the start of lap two with Rater gaining the top spot. A spin involving Chris Peterson, Dan MacDonald, Mike Hess and Mike Samuelson stopped the race on lap three. Rater and Thomas raced side by side on lap three and four when Randy Parmenter, Tink Mealy and Dale Applebee brought out the second caution.  Thomas fell back on the restart allowing Stu Rickart to second.  Thomas had more trouble one lap latter spinning coming out of turn three and collecting Justin Carlson for caution number three. Dave Hess Jr. was placed third for the restart with Rater in the lead and Rickart second. Applebee had recovered from an earlier incident to take fourth on the restart and Hess moved to second. A drive shaft left on the speedway by Tom Anderson brought out the fourth caution on lap seven. Applebee moved to third on the restart and Hess challenged Rater for the lead. Hess made the pass on lap ten as the three leaders started to move away from the field. Applebee took second with two to go and Hess cruised to his seventh win.

           Bobby Rohrer almost lead lap one of the Limited Late event but Paul Briggs passed on the high side for the top spot at the start finish line. Rohrer, Pat McGuire, Les Lyon, Troy Dorman and Mike Moore brought out the caution in turn two on lap two. Scott Gurdak wrested the lead from Briggs on the restart with Steve Moynihan third and Chris Sutton fourth. McGuire had more troubles on lap six with a spin in turn two. Briggs charged back to challenge Gurdak at the cross flags but then fell back to second until lap fifteen when Gurdak went high in turn two allowing Briggs the inside line. Briggs completed the pass coming out of turn four leading the next five to win his first of the year.

           Doug Eck and Rod Maloy followed by Rich Gardner and Bob Craig took Spanky Halls green flag for the start of the Craiger “35” Super Late Model Championship event.  Eck quickly moved to the front with Gardner beating Maloy for second. Maloy slid to fifth as Scott Johnson and Chris Hackett moved to third and fourth. Hackett and Johnson passed Gardner on lap three, as did Maloy on lap five pushing Gardner to fourth. Bob Craig and Dan Armbruster tangled on lap eight with Armbruster getting away and Craig stalled in turn two allowing the field to close behind Eck. Al Crocker, Bump Hedman and John Lobb marred the restart as they collided in turn three for the second yellow. Armbruster was now in the battle as he passed Maloy on lap nine for fourth and then Hackett one lap later for third. Eck had a ten-car advantage over Johnson on lap twelve with Armbruster three car lengths back. Maloy and Hackett were fighting for fifth. Eck was in heavy lap traffic at the halfway but had a straight away lead over Johnson battling Armbruster for second. Armbruster got by Johnson for second on lap twenty as Eck maintained his lead. Armbruster began to close with five laps to go as Eck fought through lap traffic. Armbruster was two car lengths back with two go and moved under Eck on the back straight but was foiled by lap traffic. One lap later Armbruster made the pass work in turn two as Eck got into the fence stopping in turn three as the rest of the field took the checkers.

Results:

   Spectators:

      Heat 1: Ray Churchill, Fred McClanahan, J.R. Surenna

      Heat 2: Rick Sperry, Mike Knight, Merle Burlingham

      Heat 3: Steve Hulings, Tommy Fox, Mark Ramsey

      Feature 1: Tommy Fox, Steve Hulings, Rick Sperry, Brian Crandall, Bill Baker Jr., Steve Keith, Paul Norman, Jason Stetson, Kevin Hill, Barrett Brown

      Feature 2: Merle Burlingham, David McClanahan, James Conner, Ken Jackson, J.R. Surenna, Mike Ciffo, Jermin Strickland, Stan Davis, Wade Watson, Ken Moore

   E-Mods

      Heat 1: Dale Applebee, Mike Hess, Dave Hess Jr.

      Heat 2: Dan MacDonald. Tom Anderson, Tim Rater

      Feature: Dave Hess Jr., Dale Applebee, Tim Rater, Al Cressley, Randy Parmenter, Stu Rickart, Justin Carlson, Dan MacDonald, Tink Mealy, Chris Peterson

   Outlaw Cadets

      Heat 1: Nathan Short, John Pencille, Jeff Campbell

      Heat 2: Jeff VanArsdale, Louie DeDionisio, Ed Streich

      Feature 1: John Pencille, Jeff VanArsdale, Glenn Slaney, Louie DeDionisio, Ed Streich, Greg Johnson, Jeff Campbell, Nathan Short, Terry Daniels, Dustin Eckman

   Limited Late Models:

      Heat 1: Bobby Rohrer, Les Lyon, Steve Moynihan

      Heat 2: Paul Briggs, Pat McGuire, Scott Gurdak

      Feature: Paul Briggs, Scott Gurdak, Steve Moynihan, Chris Sutton, Ton Schnars, Chad Ramsey, Pat McGuire, Bobby Rohrer, Mike Moore, Tom Hagberg

   Budweiser Super Sportsmen:

      Heat 1: Randy Parmenter, Mike Kosinski, Pat McGuire

      Heat 2: Pete Volpe, Mike Murray, Don Stanley

   Feature: Dave Cummings, Pat McGuire, Randy Parmenter, Mike Kosinski, Gary Foster, Pete Volpe, Mike Murray, Don McGuire, Hank Francis, John Robinson

American Racer Dash: Rod Philips, John Lacki, Dave Shagla

   Super Late Model:

      Heat 1: Doug Eck, Bob Craig, Rod Philips

      Heat 2: Rod Maloy, Scott Johnson, John Lacki

      Heat 3: Rich Gardner, Chris Hackett, Dave Shagla

      Feature: Dan Armbruster, Scott Johnson, Rod Maloy, Rod Phillips, Chris Hackett, Rich Gardner, Dave Hess, John Lacki, Doug Eck, Randy Lobb, Chad Valone, Wally Fox, Dave Shagla, Andy Boozel, Ted Kosinski, Steve Halpainy, Dusty Franklin, Bob Craig, Ward Schell, Bump Hedman, Chad Clement, Al Crocker, John Lobb, Moose Dunnewold, Dick Litz