Stateline Speedway
  Saturdays May thru Sept.  Gates Open 5:30 pm. Racing at 7:00 pm.
4150 Kortwright Road, Busti NY      716-487-2368 / 814-688-4550

Chad Ruhlman the Big Winner at Stateline
by RIch Berry

 

Busti, NY (June 8) - Chad Ruhlman was the big winner in the 25-lap Super Late Model feature event on Saturday night at Stateline Speedway.  Other winners on the program were Pat McGuire in the Limited Late Models, Jim Hilyer in the Cadets, Shane Applebee in the E-Mods, Don McGuire in the Sportsman, and Rick Becker and Steve Hulings in the Spectators.

 

        The 25-lap Super Late Models feature started with Chad Ruhlman and Dan Armbruster on top of  the starting grid.  Ruhlman nosed ahead as the lead battle was side-by-side, before he slipped to allow Armbruster to gain the lead on lap 3.  With green flag laps clicking by, Ruhlman started to close in as race traffic would soon be an issue.  On lap 9, Ruhlman moved to the inside of Armbruster down the backstretch, and made the inside pass in turn three to gain the race lead on lap 10.  Ruhlman started to pull away before the first caution of the event would slow the pace on lap 14.  With a clear race track ahead, Ruhlman would dominate the race as the green flag reappeared.  Leaving Armbruster to battle with sixth starting Matt Urban, Ruhlman would have a full-straight advantage before the final yellow flag waved on lap 21.  Ruhlman would have no problems the rest of the way, as he went on to score his first feature win of the seasson.  Urban made the move at the white flag to gain second, dropping Armbruster to third.  Scott Johnson was fourth, with point leader Rod Maloy finishing fifth.  Doug Eck, Rich Gardner, Matt Lux, Brian Emory, and Randy Lobb completed the top ten.  Heat race winners for the 30-car field were Scott Gurdak, Armbruster, and Ruhlman, as Al Crocker took the Last Chance Race.  John Lobb was the winner of the American Racer Dash.

 

        The 20-lap feature race for the Limited Late Models had heat race winners Chad Ramsey and Pat  McGuire on top of the starting field.  Ramsey took the early lead as a yellow waved on lap 1 for a multi-car tangle in turn two.  This would be the only caution flag of the event, as McGuire would nose ahead of Ramsey on the restart.  Once in front, McGuire would pull away from the field leaving all battles behind him.  McGuire would continue his dominance of the division by winning his fifth feature event in seven weeks of racing.  Ramsey would hold on for second, with Andy Sweetland third.  Fourth place went to Chris Sutton, with Bob Rohrer fifth. 

 

        Jim Hilyer and Nathan Short led the 15-lap Cadet feature on the starting grid as Hilyer took the early lead.  Jeff Van Arsdale used a lap 2 restart to take the lead, before Hilyer returned the favor on a lap 4 restart.  With an extended period under the green, Hilyer would continue to lead with Van Arsdale looking for an opportunity to pass.  The leaders would enter race traffic on lap 10 as Van Arsdale made a move to nose ahead.  The two would make contact, allowing Hilyer to pull back ahead.  Hilyer would go on to score his second feature win of the season over Van Arsdale.  Louis Dedionisio, Bill Dunn, and Chris Swanson rounded out the top five.  Heat winners were Hilyer, Van Arsdale, and Short.

 

        The 15-lap E-Mod feature had Jason Covey and Don Loney leading the field to the green flag.  Covey led the first round before Shane Applebee moved ahead on a lap 2 restart.  The event was a caution-filled one, as between the yellows Applebee faced several strong challenges from Al Cressley.  But Applebee would be up to each challenge, as he went on to post his first feature win of the season despite 12 caution periods.  Cressley was a close second, ahead of Dale Applebee, Mike Hess and Dave Hess, Jr.  Bill Thomas and Dale Applebee were the heat winners.

 

        Mike Murray and Robert Nocero led the 12-lap Sportsman feature to the green flag with Nocero quickly taking command.  As a non-stop event raced on, Nocero held the lead until he encountered race traffic on lap 7.  Having a problem on the backstretch, it allowed Don McGuire to flash by for the lead on lap 8.  McGuire went on to score his first feature of the season, as he held command for the remaining distance.  Nocero recovered from his problem to finish second, as Pete Volpe, Dave Cummings, and Scott Bayle filled the top five.  Murray and Volpe were the heat winners.

 

        The Spectator field was divided into two feature events.  In feature 1, Mark Luce and Carol Tavona led the field to the green flag, but Rick Becker blasted from sixth starting position to take the lead on lap 1.  Skip Joslin moved up to challenge before a yellow flag waved on lap 4.  Joslin would take the lead on the restart, but the move was wiped out by another yellow flag.  With another chance, Becker resumed in the lead, as Matt Lazowski joined the lead battle.  Lazowski moved inside of Becker on the last lap, and the cars made contact down the backstretch.  Becker held on to win his first feature of the season over Lazowski, Joslin, Rick Sperry, and Eric Gurdak.  The second feature started with Dan Shellhouse and Joe Houser on the front row.  Houser led a lap before Dana Wellington moved to the race lead.  A caution waved on lap 5 when Steve Keith lost a wheel.  Steve Hulings made the move on the restart to take over the race lead.  Despite a caution period with two laps remaining, Hulings went on to notch his third victory of the season over Wellington, Victor Earle, Bill Baker, Jr., and Dennis Lunger.  Heat race winners were Sperry, Lunger, and Paul Norman.

 

        Stateline Speedway will be back in action on Saturday, June 15, as the featured event will be the Tony White Super Late Model Championship, sponsored by Tobber Race Cars, Schuyler's Service Station, and Upton Contracting.  The Limited Late Models, Cadets, E-Mods, Sportsman, and Spectator divisions will also be a part of the racing program.  The gates open at 5:30, with racing starting at 7:00.  Stateline Speedway is located on Kortwright Road in Busti, NY.  For more information, please call the track phone at 716-664-2326.  For the complete source of track information, please visit the track's web site at www.statelineeriezspeedway.com.

 

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Stateline Speedway results for Saturday, June 8, 2002.

 

Super Late Models - Car Count - 30.
        Heat winners - Scott Gurdak, Dan Armbruster, 
                                                        Chad Ruhlman.
        Last Chance Race winner - Al Crocker.
        Feature - 1)Chad Ruhlman. 2)Matt Urban. 3)Dan Armbruster. 4)Scott Johnson. 5)Rod Maloy. 6)Doug Eck. 7)Rich Gardner. 8)Matt Lux. 9)Brian Emory. 10)Randy Lobb. 11)Chris Hackett. 12)Al Crocker. 13)Ron Olson. 14)Dave Hess, Jr. 15)Chad Valone. 16)Steve Halpainy. 17)Andy Boozel. 18)Wally Fox. 19)Ted Kosinski. 20)George LaBarbera. 21)Dave Shagla. 22)Moose Dunnewold. 23)Bob Craig. 24)John Lacki. 25)John Lobb. 26)Scott Gurdak.
        Did not qualify, Mark Gilbert, Kelly Fredress, Chris Clement, Bump Hedman.

 

Limited Late Models - Car Count - 18.
        Heat winners - Chad Ramsey, Pat McGuire.
        Feature - 1)Pat McGuire. 2)Chad Ramsey. 3)Andy Sweetland. 4)Chris Sutton. 5)Bob Rohrer. 6)Al Cressley. 7)Bob Vogt. 8)Paul Briggs. 9)Tom Hagberg. 10)Les Lyon. 11)Steve Moynihan. 12)Tom Schnars. 13)Mike Moore. 14)John Cline. 15)Troy Dorman. 16)Andy Knight. 17)Mike Coyle. 18)Ron Seeley.

 

Cadets - Car Count - 27.
        Heat winners - Jim Hilyer, Jeff Van Arsdale,  
                                                        Nathan Short.
        Feature - 1)Jim Hilyer. 2)Jeff Van Arsdale. 3)Louis Dedionisio. 4)Bill Dunn. 5)Chris Swanson. 6)Mark Hall. 7)Matt Lamphere. 8)Aaron Robinson. 9)Terry Daniels. 10)Shane Jones. 11)John Pencille. 12)Brian Fardink. 13)Dusty Franklin. 14)Tom Norland. 15)Jeff Campbell. 16)Phillip Knight. 17)Dustin Eckman. 18)Chris Blose. 19)Scott Kuschel. 20)Pete Alspaugh. 21)John Boardman. 22)Nathan Short. 23)Todd Church. 24)Bob Cettell. 25)Dan Slye. 26)Brian Campbell. Did not start, Rick Loomis.

 

E-Mods - Car Count - 15.
        Heat winners - Bill Thomas, Dale Applebee.
        Feature - 1)Shane Applebee. 2)Al Cressley. 3)Dale Applebee. 4)Mike Hess. 5)Dave Hess, Jr. 6)Jason Covey. 7)Justin Carlson. 8)Mark Gabrowski. 9)Bill Thomas. 10)Ken Drake. 11)Tim Rater. 12)James Irwin. 13)Tink Mealy. 14)Don Loney. Did not start, Kevin Decker.

 

Sportsman - Car Count - 18.
        Heat winners - Mike Murray, Pete Volpe.
        Feature - 1)Don McGuire. 2)Robert J. Nocero. 3)Pete Volpe. 4)Dave Cummings. 5)Scott Bayle. 6)Randy Parmenter. 7)Mike Kozinski. 8)Mike Murray. 9)Pat McGuire. 10)Joe Buccola, Jr. 11)Chris Kuschel. 12)Bob Van Arsdale. 13)Brent Crandall. 14)J.R. Nocerro. 15)Dana Cummings. 16)Al White. 17)Tom Kozinski. Did not start, John Robinson.

 

Spectators - Car Count - 39.
        Heat winners - Rick Sperry, Dennis Lunger, 
                                                  Paul Norman.
        Feature 1 - 1)Rick Becker. 2)Matt Lazowski. 3)Skip Joslin. 4)Rick Sperry. 5)Eric Gurdak. 6)J.R. Surenna. 7)Mark Luce. 8)Joe McMurty. 9)Brian Johnson. 10)Pat Passaniese. 11)Rush Firestone. 12)Ken Jackson. 13)Lee Fisher. 14)Ron Barr. 15)John Parmenter. 16)Carol Tavona.  Did not start, Walt Houser, Ray Houser, Merle Birmingham
        Feature 2 - 1)Steve Hulings. 2)Dana Wellington. 3)Victor Earle. 4)Bill Baker, Jr. 5)Dennis Lunger. 6)Barrett Brown. 7)Brian Larson. 8)Randy Rockwell. 9)Joe Houser. 10)Brian Crandall. 11)Scott Ottaway. 12)Kevin Brumett. 13)John Kelsey. 14)Terry Suppa. 15)Paul Norman. 16)David Surenna. 17)David Auge. 18)Steve Keith. 19)Dan Shellhouse. 20)Ron Bush disqualified.