Rich Gardner Wins Super Late Model Double Point Race
Barrett Brown and Steve Keith Win Spectator Championship Races  at Stateline Speedway
by Glenn Slocum 

Busti NY: The Sugar Bowl at Stateline Speedway sponsored double points for the Super Late Models and a Spectator Championship race. Cloudy weather and a threat of rain did not slow the racing action. Rich Gardner did what he had to do winning the double point event but came up short in the standings as Dan Armbruster’s fourth place finish made him the 2003 Champion. Steve Keith beat Dennis Lunger to the checkers to win his first feature of the season and the first Spectator Championship race of the evening. Barrett Brown narrowly defeated Ken Bush in the second Spectator Championship race for his third win of the season. Greg Johnson took the lead on a lap four restart to win his third Outlaw Cadet feature.  Pat McGuire won his fifth feature in the Budweiser Super Sportsman class. Steve Moynihan broke into the winner’s column leading every lap of the Limited Late Model feature. Quincy Turner joined the first time winners winning the E-Mod feature.  

            Rod Maloy and Al Crocker were on the front row of last Super Late Model point race of the season. An unofficial tally reported that if Dan Armbruster finished in the top fourteen he would repeat as the Super Late Model Champion as Stateline. Maloy led lap one then John Lacki, Keith Zimmerman and Andy Boozel tangled in turn two. Zimmerman drove into the pits and Boozel was pushed in while Lacki was able to continue. Maloy regained the point on the restart but spins at opposite ends of the speedway involving point leader Armbruster and Hordusky on one end and Scott Gurdak on the other brought out the second yellow. LaBarbera beat Crocker for second on the restart with Chris Hackett fourth and Rich Gardner fifth. Armbruster was shown in the thirteenth spot with five complete. Crocker and Hackett had trouble on lap seven allowing the field to catch up to Maloy under the yellow. Armbruster was eleventh for the restart.  Moose Dunnewold was fourth with Dave Lyon fifth and Wally Fox sixth. Gardner passed LaBarbera on lap eight. Maloy stopped high in turn four ending his run with ten laps complete. Crocker, Lacki and Eck brought out the yellow one lap later with spins in turn one. Chad Ruhlman was fifth after the restart with Fox sixth and Armbruster seventh. Dunnewold went wide on lap fifteen letting Ruhlman and Lyon by. Lyon did the same in turn two two laps later letting Dunnewold and Fox by then spun on lap seventeen. Eck also had trouble during the yellow and had to be towed from the speedway. Gardner, Ruhlman, Dunnewold, Fox and Armbruster were the top five for the restart. Spanky Hall waived off the first attempted restart then accepted the second as Gardner struggled to stay ahead of the second place Ruhlman.  Jason Morell brought out the yellow with five to go. Lobb was fifth for the restart with Armbruster sixth. Gardner remained high with Ruhlman trying to make the low groove work. Gardner maintained a three car length advantage over Ruhlman to win the event and Armbruster made a last lap move to pass Fox at the line for the fourth spot and Moose Dunnewold finished in the third spot. Gardner won the event but lost the point race to Armbruster.

             Bill Dunn was spun into the pit entrance bringing out the yellow before the first lap was completed in the Outlaw Cadet feature. Pete Alspaugh led the first lap with Greg Johnson just inches behind. Debris on the speedway brought out the yellow with three down. Matt Lamphere was third with Jeff Campbell in the fourth spot. Johnson used the restart to take the lead and immediately began to build a lead. Point leader Ron Seeley was sixth with five laps remaining. Jim Bergman moved up to fourth with four to go. Johnson went on to win the event by several car lengths over Alspaugh and Campbell.   

            Bill Van Volkenburg led the first lap of the first Spectator Championship race with Steve Keith and David Auge in second and third. Dana Wellington and Chris Couchenour tangle in turn four on lap four bringing out the first yellow flag. Auge retired during the yellow moving Merle Burlingham up to the third spot. Rich Thompson took third on the next lap with Brian Crandall also moving by Burlingham for the fourth spot. Burlingham fought back on lap seven retaking the fourth spot. Van Volkenburg slipped up the speedway and became entangled with Crandall bringing out the yellow as placing Keith in the number one spot with Burlingham second and Thompson third. Dennis Lunger was fourth with Kevin Brumett in fifth. The restart was marred with an incident involving Joe McMurdy in turn one. Lunger used the restart to take the runners up spot then Nate Lester spun collecting Tony Lyngarkos for the fourth caution. Keith and Lunger were side by side with one to go but Keith prevailed at the line to win by a car length.  

            Wade Watson moved for his second row starting spot to take the lead on lap one of the second Spectator Championship race. Bob Frisbee was second with Justin Krieder in third. Krieder took second one lap later then the yellow flew for an errant wheel form then Mike Coast car.  Bill Germonto brought out the yellow on the next lap with Krieder the new leader followed by Watson and Barrett Brown. Frisbee and Brown bumped on the backstretch and Watson took the lead from Krieder. Frisbee brought out the yellow with mechanical problems with five complete. Brown used the high side to pass Watson on the backstretch and lead lap six. Ken Bush was third on lap eight then took the second spot one lap later. Bush was looking for a way around Brown as the white flew but was blocked by a lap car at the checkers letting Brown take the win by a car length.

             Tom Nocero spun on lap two of the Budweiser Super Sportsman feature as Scott Kuschel led. Pete Volpe became the new leader on the restart with Chad Carlson second and Kuschel third. McGuire moved to third on lap three then the yellow flew for Tom Nocero. McGuire passed Carlson on lap seven and began to chase down Volpe. McGuire made his move with two laps remaining passing Volpe in turn four. The yellow appeared on lap eleven for Randy Parmenter. Bob Van Arsdale was third for the restart with Don McGuire fifth. Al White, Jim Leonard spun on the restart. The top three remained the same though the last two laps and Pat McGuire won his fifth of the season. 

            Steve Moynihan led the initial lap of the Limited Late feature with Randy Lobb second. Mike Moore was third by lap five with Chad Ramsey fourth and Les Lyon fifth. The top four broke away from the rest of the filed and were several car lengths ahead of the field at the halfway mark. Point leader Pat McGuire was sixth on lap eleven then fifth on lap twelve as the leaders started to encounter lap traffic. Chad Ramsey was third and McGuire caught and passed Moore for the fourth spot on lap fifteen. Moynihan led Lobb by two car lengths with two to go and McGuire passed Ramsey for the third spot. McGuire beat Lobb on the final lap as Moynihan took the checkers for the first win of the season.

            Jim Irwin, Randy Parmenter and Brad Pease were the early leaders in the E-Mod feature. Irwin lost control before the second lap could be completed spinning in turn four. Pease led the next green flag lap then an incident in two ended with Al Cressley and Mike Boyd stopped in turn two. Pease led after the restart with Quincy Turner second and Shane Applebee third. Al Cressley brought out the yellow on lap four. Turner used the restart to gain the top spot then Pease slipped on lap five letting Applebee by for second. Rickard spun with seven down. Nocero passed Pease for third on the restart then Boyd passed both of them for the spot. Chad Silleman spun high in turn three with two laps remaining. Turner ran the last two laps unchallenged to win his first of the year. Shane Applebee was second and Mike Boyd third.

Results:

   Spectators:

      Heat 1: Dan Surrena, Scot Perrin, Bill Germonto

      Heat 2: Wade Watson, Josh Lucas, Barrett Brown

      Heat 3: Dennis Lunger, Dana Wellington, Kevin Brumett

      Feature 1: Steve Keith, Dennis Lunger, Rick Thompson, Merle Burlingham, Kevin Brumett, Dana Wellington, Ken Jackson, Paul Norman, Dave McClanahan, J. R. Brown

      Feature 2: Barrett Brown, Ken Bush, Wade Watson, Justin Krieder, Rod Thoms, Bob Kinne, Brian Johnson, Monty Seekings, Louis Kinney, Bill Germonto

  Outlaw Cadets

      Heat 1: Matt Lamphere, Scott Lewis, Jeff Campbell

      Heat 2: Jamie Erhard, Dustin Eckman, Jeff Van Arsdale

      Heat 3: Louis DeDionisio, Greg Johnson, Ron Seeley

      Feature 1: Greg Johnson, Pete Alspaugh, Jeff Campbell, Jim Bergman, Matt Lamphere, Ron Seeley, Nathan Short, Terry Daniels, John Boardman, Scott Lewis

   Budweiser Super Sportsmen:

      Heat 1: Scott Kuschel, Hank Francis, Chris Kuschel

      Heat 2: Chad Carlson, Bob Van Arsdale, Pete Volpe

      Feature: Pat McGuire, Pete Volpe, Bob Van Arsdale, Don McGuire, Bobby Rohrer, Scott Kuschel, Randy Parmenter, Mike Murray, J. R. Nocero, Hank Francis

  E-Mods:

     Heat 1: Bill Thomas, Stu Rickard, Randy Parmenter

      Heat 2: Al Cressley, Justin Carlson, Dan Nocero

      Feature: Quincy Turner, Shane Applebee, Mike Boyd, Justin Carlson, Dan Nocero, Brad Pease, Bill Arnold, Jay Irwin, Chad Silleman, Bill Thomas

   Limited Late Models:

      Heat 1: Tom Hagberg, Troy Dorman, John Pencile

      Heat 2: Steve Moynihan, Mike Moore,  Jr. Peters

      Feature: Steve Moynihan, Pat McGuire, Chad Ramsey, Randy Lobb, Mike Moore, Les Lyon, Tom Hagberg, Bobby Rohrer, John Pencile, Tom Schnars

   American Racer Dash: Rod Maloy, George LaBarbera, Ward Schell

   Super Late Models:

      Heat 1: George LaBarbera, Chris Hackett, Rich Gardner, Bruce Hordusky, Paul Briggs

      Heat 2: Rod Maloy, Al Crocker, Dan Armbruster, John Lacki, Bryan Emory

      Heat 3: Ward Schell, Moose Dunnewold, Wally Fox, Chad Ruhlman, Scott Gurdak

      Feature: Rich Gardner, Chad Ruhlman, Moose Dunnewold, Dan Armbruster, Wally Fox, Randy Lobb, Scott Gurdak, Chad Valone, Ward Schell, Al Crocker, Bruce Hordusky, Jason Morell, George LaBarbera, John Lacki, Dave Lyon, Doug Eck, Chris Hackett, Rod Maloy, Keith Zimmerman, Andy Boozel, Paul Briggs