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

Dan Armbruster Wins Pepsi “60”  and Championship Title at Stateline Speedway
By Glenn Slocum

                  The rain subsided just in time for the races and the Pepsi “60” was run as advertised. The speedway was in perfect racing condition and thirty-four Super Late Models were on hand to vie for the $5,000 first place purse. Armbruster led the first half of the “60” and Dick Barton the second but at the end Armbruster made a controversial pass on the white flag lap to win the event. Dave Lyon would get the headache award as he won his heat then the dash for a front row starting spot but his car would not fire for the feature. Steve Hulings and Dennis Lunger were the Spectator winners. Gary Eicher won the Outlaw Cadet event and Joe Buccola Jr. won his first Budweiser Sportsman feature. Mike Hess won his third E-mod feature. Pat McGuire handily won his twelfth of the year in the Limited Late Model event.  

Rush Firestone Pat Passanise were on the front row of the first Spectator feature and Firestone lead lap one as Passanise slid backwards to fifth with Steve Hulings and Vic Earle running second and third. Tommy Fox moved into fourth on lap four bur it was still Firestone at the half way mark. Barrett Brown spun on lap nine for the only yellow of the event. Hulings made an outside move as Firestone fended off Earle on white flag lap. Firestone held on to second as Hulings won and Earle was third.

           Justin Kreider moved to the front of second Spectator feature. A lap three spin involving Rich Becker and David McClanahan brought out the first caution. Dennis Lunger passed Kreider for the lead on the restart then Kreider spun for the second yellow on lap four. Brandon Grates spun in four bringing out the yellow for the third time. Lunger led with Stan Davis second and Dave Surenna third. Surenna beat Davis out of four on lap seven to move into the second spot as Lunger checked out from the field. Lunger won with a straight away lead with Davis fading at the flag letting Surenna finish second and Josh Lucas third.

           Eighteen Outlaw Cadets took Spanky Halls green flag and Gary Eicher moved by Greg Johnson to lead lap one. Glenn Slaney, Nathan Short and Chris Blose completed the top five. John Pencille was fifth by lap five as the top five were strung out around the speedway. Eicher was in to lap traffic on lap seven. Eicher nearly spun lap nine allowing Johnson to close but not pass. Bill Dunn and Louie DeDionisio stopped on lap thirteen causing a yellow and closing up the field behind Eicher. Eicher led on the restart as Johnson and Slaney battled for second. Eicher won going away and Slaney nipped Johnson at the line for second. 

           Hank Francis was passed by Don McGuire on lap two of the Budweiser Super Sportsman feature then faded on lap five as Joe Buccola Jr. took the lead. Scott Bayle was third with last week winner Pete Volpe in fourth. Buccola led to the checkers with Don McGuire second and Scott Bayle third.

           Dave Lyon had won his heat and the American Racer Dash to win a front row starting spot with Dan Armbruster but his car would not fire for the Pepsi “60” moving Scott Johnson to second position. Armbruster led lap one with Johnson second and Maloy third, Wally Fox moved up beside Maloy on lap two and Urban was fifth. Bump Hedman stopped facing the wrong way in turn three bringing the race under yellow on lap five. Dick Barton had moved from near the tail end of the field to twelfth on the restart as Armbruster was first followed by Johnson, Maloy, Fox and Urban. Armbruster moved away for the field but the second place car of Scott Johnson broke for the second caution. Johnson went to the pits and the field was realigned for the lap eight restart. Fox was now second behind Armbruster with Maloy, Urban, David Scott, Jay Watson, Doug Eck and Dick Barton. Two more laps were completed when Johnson spun in four for the third caution. Watson had passed Scott for fifth at this point and the leaders remained the same. Armbruster quickly moved away from Fox and Maloy on the restart. Armbruster was into lap traffic on lap eighteen as Maloy and Fox ran side by side for second. Dick Barton passed Scott and Urban then one lap latter by Watson and Fox on lap twenty-four. Barton beat Maloy on lap twenty-six but Armbruster had a thirty car length advantage as they both fought through lap traffic, Maloy went to the pits at the half way point as Armbruster maintained his lead over Barton. Dave Hess Jr. nosed into the wall coming out of turn two on lap thirty-seven for caution four. Armbruster led with Barton followed by Fox, Urban, Watson and Todd Andrews. There were two lap cars placed between Barton and Armbruster then four lap cars between Barton and Fox. Both Barton and Armbruster were out of the lap traffic two laps after the restart. Barton was up beside Armbruster on lap forty-one and took the lead at the flag on lap forty two. Armbruster fought back on the next lap but just could not make the pass as Barton went to the high side. The leaders had caught the tail of the field by lap forty-seven. Barton slipped low at this point and with the aid of Spanky Halls passing flag fought thru the lap traffic. The leaders remained in heavy traffic until a late race caution occurred when Randy Lobb stopped against the fence coming out of turn two. Fifty-five laps were complete Barton led with Armbruster second then Urban, Andrews and Watson and there were just eleven cars on the lead lap. Barton and Armbruster battled for the next three with Armbruster tapping Barton on the white flag lap then making the pass to win the Pepsi “60”.

           Justin Carlson and Mike Hess tangled on the first lap of the E-Mod feature causing a complete restart of the event. Charlie Winchell led with Tom Anderson second. Carlson move to second on the start then a near spin by Winchell collected Anderson and Carlson. Stu Rickart and Mike Hess beat Winchell to the yellow to lead the event for the lap three restart. Mike Hess passed Rickart for the lead on restart and Winchell and Dave Applebee battled for third. Tim Rater spun on lap five for the third caution. Applebee was third on the restart with early leader Winchell fourth. Applebee caught and passed Rickart on lap eight as Hess led by fifteen car lengths. Hess could not be caught as he won his third feature event of the season with Applebee second and Rickart third.

           Dave Scott and Chad Ramsey were on the front row of the Limited Late Model event and Scott led the first two but Pat McGuire was on the point on lap three. Bobby Rohrer was involved in a incident in his qualifying heat and ran the feature event in the Brian Zimmerly racecar. Scott spun collecting Ramsey on lap thirteen bringing out the first caution of the event and moving Steve Moynihan to second, Tom Schnars to third. Al Crocker driving the Tom Hagberg car finished fourth as McGuire won his twelfth of the season.            

Results:

   Spectators:

      Heat 1: Merle Burlingham, Rick Sperry, Dennis Lunger

      Heat 2: Vic Earle Sr., Mark Ramsey,, Dana Wellington

      Feature 1: Steve Hulings, Rush Firestone, Vic Earle Sr., Tommy Fox, Mark Ramsey, Brian Crandall, John Kelsey, Bill Baker Jr. Rick Sperry, Pat Passanise

      Feature 2: Dennis Lunger, Dave Surenna, Josh Lucas, Stan Davis, Rich Becker, Justin Kreider, James Connor, Ken Jackson, Dan Shellhouse, Mike Ciffo

   Outlaw Cadets:

      Heat 1: Greg Johnson, Nathan Short, Glenn Slaney

      Heat 2: Gary Eicher, John Pencille, Bill Dunn

      Feature 1: Gary Eicher, Glenn Slaney, Greg Johnson, Nathan Short, John Pencille, Jeff VanArsdale, Chris Blose, Jeff Campbell, Pete Alspaugh, Louis DeDionisio

   Budweiser Super Sportsmen:

      Heat 1: Scott Bayle, Mike Kosinski, Randy Parmenter

      Heat 2: Hank Francis, Don Stanley, Mike Murray

   Feature: Joe Buccola Jr., Don McGuire, Scott Bayle, Pete Volpe, Randy Parmenter, Brent Crandall, Don Stanley, Robert Nocero, Mike Kosinski, Dave Cummings

   E-Mods:

      Heat 1: Justin Carlson, Tink Mealy, Charlie Winchell

      Heat 2: Dale Applebee, Tim Rater, Mike Hess

      Feature: Mike Hess, Dale Applebee, Stu Rickart, Charlie Winchell, Dave Hess Jr., Tim Rater, Justin Carlson, Tink Mealy, Tom Anderson, Ken Smith

   Limited Late Models:

      Heat 1: Tom Hagberg, David Scott, Chris Sutton

      Heat 2: Chad Ramsey, Pat McGuire, Paul Briggs

      Feature: Pat McGuire, Steve Moynihan, Tom Schnars, Al Crocker, Mike Moore, Joe Weber, Paul Briggs, Ed Simmer, Bob Rohrer, Mike Coyle

American Racer Dash: Dave Lyon, Scott Johnson, Matt Urban, Wally Fox

   Super Late Model(34):

      Heat 1: Matt Urban, David Scott, Randy Lobb, Bill Watson, Dave Shagla

      Heat 2: Dave Lyon, Doug Eck, Chad Valone, Andy Boozel, Bruce Hordusky

      Heat 3: Scott Johnson, Jay Watson, Rod Philips, Dick Litz, Bob Craig

      Heat 4: Wally Fox, Dave Hess Jr., John Lacki, Chris Hackett, Chad Ruhlman

      Consolation: Todd Andrews, Dick Barton, John Lobb, Bump Hedman, Al Crocker, Ron Olson, Moose Dunnewold, Kelly Frederes, Dusty Franklin, Chad Clement, Rich Gardner, Ted Kosinski, Bryan Emory

      Feature: Dan Armbruster, Dick Barton, Matt Urban, Todd Andrews, Jay Watson, Doug Eck, David Scott, Bruce Hordusky, Ron Phillips, Bill Watson, John Lobb, Wally Fox, Bob Craig, Chad Valone Bump Hedman, Bryan Emory, Dick Litz, Chris Hackett, Dave Shagla, Rich Gardner, Randy Lobb, Scott Johnson, Dave Hess Jr., Ron Maloy, Ted Kosinski, John Lacki, Andy Boozel, Chad Ruhlman, Dave Lyon ( DNS )