Kevin Decker Wins Mike Hendrickson Motor Sports
E-Mod Championship at Stateline
By Glenn Slocum

 ( See Picture Gallery from Autograph Session at end of Article )

           A warm summer evening greeted fans for the inaugural E-Mod Championship race sponsored by Mike Hendrickson Motor Sports. Halfway through the qualifying events all one hundred and forty-eight racecars were brought out on to the speedway for the annual Autograph night. Kevin Decker passed early leader Justin Carlson on lap five and went on toe win the E-Mod Championship race. Dan Armbruster lead every lap of the Super Late Model event for his fifth win of the year. John Pencille proved why he’s atop the Outlaw Cadet class by winning his fourth feature event. Randy Parmenter also won his fourth in the Budweiser Super Sportsman feature and Bobby Rohrer fought off a late race challenge by Pat McGuire to win his second feature in the Limited Late Model class. Joel Watson and Terry Suppa won the Spectator events.

         Merle Burlingham and Chris Couchenour brought the first Spectator feature to the speedway. Burlingham was the leader after one lap when a multi-car accident involving Vic Earle, David Auge and Couchenour brought out the first caution of the event. Rick Sperry move into the top spot on the restart with Steve Hulings second as Burlingham began to slide back in the field. Hulings passed Sperry with four to go and quickly had a ten-car length advantage. Pat Passanise spun with three remaining for the second caution. Couchenour spun on the restart causing the third caution and Sperry stopped as the yellow came out and had to be towed from the speedway. Mark Ramsey was moved up to the second spot with Joel Watson in third. Watson and Ramsey passed Hulling on the restart and finished in that order.

 Fred McClanahan led the first two laps of the second Spectator feature. Tim Christensen stopped on lap three causing the first caution. Rick Becker took advantage of the restart and moved to the number one spot with Stan Davis in second. Ken Jackson stopped in four for the second caution. Dan Shellhouse and Fred McClanahan tangled on lap six ending up nosed into to the wall on the exit of turn two for the third caution. Terry Suppa moved into the second spot on the restart followed closely by Ron Bush in third. Suppa made a daring outside pass of Becker on the white flag lap to win by a nose at the flag. Bush was third.

 The Outlaw Cadets were the third feature event of the evening with Jim Hilyer and Jeff Campbell on the front row. Hilyer led the first lap with Campbell battling Glenn Slaney and Jeff VanArsdale for second. John Boardman and Nathan Short spun on lap three causing the first caution. Hilyer got the jump on the restart with Campbell still in second. Debris on the speedway brought out the yellow on lap six with Hilyer in first followed by Campbell, Slaney and points leader John Pencille. Pencille passed Slaney for third at the halfway an immediately moved up beside Campbell to challenge for second. Lonnie Waldron spun on lap eleven for the third caution. Phil Knight and Dustin Eckman had trouble on the restart for caution number four. Hilyer cut a tire down on the restart giving the lead to Pencille with Slaney in second. Eckman spun on the white flag lap and Pencille won the one lap dash to notch his fourth feature win.

 Randy Parmenter controlled the initial start of the Budweiser Super Sportsman event. Pat McGuire and Scott Bayle fought for the second spot with McGuire taking the spot by the halfway mark. Charley Robinson stopped in turn two for the only caution of the event on lap eleven. Parmenter also led the final two for his fourth feature. Pat McGuire was second and Bayle third.

Rod Maloy and Dan Armbruster brought twenty-five Super Late Models to speedway for the fifth feature of the evening. Armbruster took the early lead with Rod Maloy running low. Dave Scott and Doug Eck were running second and third. A stone through the scoring towers center window brought out the caution until the scorer’s could be moved to another location. Rich Gardener passed Eck on the restart for third and Eck fought back as the tow swapped the position of the next several laps as Armbruster built his lead over Maloy. Ted Kosinski stopped on lap eight for the second caution and the only one so far caused by a racecar. Eck was shown third with Gardner fourth and Randy Lobb then Dave Scott. Maloy had trouble on the restart and Eck moved to second with Gardner in tow. Maloy retired on the next lap. Armbruster was into lap traffic on lap fifteen but a spin by Bump Hedman brought out the yellow negating Armbruster’s lead with ten laps remaining. Randy Lobb tried a quick move under Gardner on the restart but could not make the pass. Armbruster had a straight away lead by lap nineteen as Lobb slipped to sixth and Dave Scott and Matt Urban began to challenge Gardner for third. Urban passed Gardner in traffic for the third spot on the white flag lap as Armbruster won his fifth feature of the year.

 Justin Carlson and Jason Covey were on the front row of the first E-Mod Championship event to be held at the speedway. Justin Carlson led the first lap with Kevin Decker moving by Covey for second. As Decker was passing Carlson for the lead on lap four Chris Peterson stopped on the speedway for the first caution and saving the lead for Carlson. Dale Applebee was in third for the restart with Covey fourth and Tim Rater fifth. Mike Samuelson made the big move on the start for fourth and one lap later Decker got by Carlson for first. Applebee went to second placing Carlson in third on lap seven and the filed began to string out. A smoking Al Cressley stopped against the turn four wall brought out the second caution on lap ten. Tim Rater was lined up in third for the restart with early leader Justin Carlson in fourth. A false start collected Shane Applebee, Mike Hess and Mike Samuelson in turn four extending the second caution. Decker retained the lead on the restart with Applebee and Rater in tow. Dave Hess Jr. moved into the fray with seven to go for a four-car battle for the lead. Randy Parmenter spun on lap fifteen allowing the field to close behind the four lead cars. Dave Hess passed Rater one lap after the restart for third but a spin by Mike Hess, Chris Peterson, Stu Rickard and Parmenter cause the caution to fly as Spanky Hall was preparing for the two to go signal. Dave Hess moved under Applebee for second on the white flag lap and a spin brought out the caution once more setting up a one lap race for the win. Hess tried Decker up high on the restart but could not make the pass allowing Applebee to pass him for second as Decker won the inaugural Championship event.

 The Limited Late Models were the last feature of the evening and Bobby Rohrer was out front with Chris Sutton second and Pat McGuire third. The three leaders distanced themselves from the field until a spin by Ron Bem and Troy Dorman slow the field with five laps down. Rohrer was still in control at halfway and McGuire was keeping the pressure on Sutton for second. Debris stopped the race on lap thirteen. Joe Weber and Ed Simmer caused caution four.  McGuire moved under Sutton on the restart then challenged Rohrer for first as the white flag flew. Rohrer fought off the attempted pass by McGuire to win his second feature.

Results:

   Spectators: (39)

      Heat 1: Walt Houser, Dan Shellhouse, Fred McClanahan

      Heat 2: Kevin Brumett, Brian Larson, Merle Burlingham

      Heat 3: Steve Hulings, Mark Ramsey, Rick Sperry

      Feature 1: Joel Watson, Mark Ramsey, Steve Huling, Rush Firestone, Steve Keith, Brian Larson, Bill Baker Jr., Matt Lazowski, Paul Norman, Pat Passanise

      Feature 2: Terry Suppa, Rich Becker, Ron Bush, David Surenna, Ken Jackson, Stan Davis, Jim Leonard, Mike Ciffo, Art Jimmerson, Eric Gurdak

   E-Mods (17)

      Heat 1: Kevin Decker, Tink Mealy, Jason Covey

    Heat 2: Dale Applebee, Mike Hess, Dave Hess Jr.

      Feature: Kevin Decker, Dale Applebee, Dave Hess Jr., Tim Rater, Shane Applebee, Justin Carlson, Mike Hess, Randy Hall, Tom Anderson

   Outlaw Cadets (25)

      Heat 1: Glenn Slaney, John Pencille, Lonnie Waldron

      Heat 2: Jim Hilyer, Terry Daniels, Phil Knight

      Heat 3: Jeff Campbell, Jeff VanArsdale, Louie DeDionisio

      Feature 1: John Pencille, Glenn Slaney, Jeff Campbell, Jeff VanArsdale, Louie DeDionisio, Chris Blose, Greg Johnson, Matt Lamphere, Terry Daniels, Pete Alspaugh

   Limited Late Models: (20)

      Heat 1: Steve Moynihan, Chris Sutton, Paul Briggs

      Heat 2: Bobby Rohrer, Tom Schnars, Andy Knight

      Heat 3: Pat McGuire, Tom Hagberg, Chad Ramsey

      Feature: Bobby Rohrer, Pat McGuire, Chris Sutton, Chad Ramsey, Paul Briggs, Tom Hagberg, Steve Moynihan, Les Lyon, Mike Moore, Andy Knight

   Budweiser Super Sportsmen: (17)

      Heat 1: Scott Bayle, Pat McGuire, Don McGuire

      Heat 2: Dana Cummings, Bob VanArsdale, Robert Nocero

   Feature: Randy Parmenter, Pat McGuire, Scott Bayle, Pete Volpe, Don McGuire, Dave Cummings, Mike Kosinski, Bob VanArsdale, Robert Nocero, Mike Murray

American Racer Dash: Dave Scott, John Lobb, Moose Dunnewold

   Super Late Model: (30)

      Heat 1: Rod Maloy, Dave Scott, Rich Gardner, Chad Valone, Matt Urban

      Heat 2: Doug Eck, Moose Dunnewold, Randy Lobb, Bob Craig, Chad Ruhlman

      Heat 3: Dan Armbruster, John Lobb, John Lacki, Scott Gurdak, Scott Johnson

      Feature: Dan Armbruster, Doug Eck, Matt Urban, Rich Gardner, David Scott, Randy Lobb, Dave Hess Jr., Scott Gurdak, Wally Fox, Chad Ruhlman, Scott Johnson, Rick Briggs, Moose Dunnewold, Chad Valone, Bump Hedman, Bob Craig, John Lacki, AL Crocker, Steve Halpainy, Chad Clement