May 24th,2003 - John Karklin Jr. Wins ESS A-Main and Dan Armbruster Wins SLM Feature on
 Budweiser/Arthur R. Gren Night at Stateline Speedway
By Glenn Slocum

           A cool evening greeted fans at the Budweiser/Arthur R. Gren sponsored night at Stateline Speedway. The Empire Super Sprints were on hand with twenty-two racecars and ran along with all the regular classes for a very full night of racing.  John Karklin Jr. made an in traffic pass of Lance Yonge to notch his first ESS A-Main win at Stateline. Dan Armbruster was challenged a number of times in the Super Late Model race but cautions seemed to magically appear when he needed them. Rod Maloy, Rich Gardner and Dave Hess Jr. all made passes but Armbruster prevailed for the win. Ron Seeley won his first feature of the season after passing Matt Lamphere for the lead on lap nine. Pat McGuire won the Super Sportsman event. Mark Ramsey won the first Spectator feature after leading all the laps. Paul Norman led all but two to win the second Spectator event. Al Cressley made a late race pass to take the lead of the E-Mod event then fought off a last lap challenge by Dave Hess Jr. for the win. John Pencille ran green to checkers to win his first Limited Late Model feature.

            

        Lance Yonge and Billy “the Kid” Coffey were on the front row of the Empire Super Sprint main event. Yonge had Coffey by a car length at the end of lap one then John Karklin Jr. moved under Coffey for the second spot one lap later. Yonge stretched out his lead over the next six laps getting into lap traffic on lap seven. Yonge maintained his advantage through traffic as did the cars of Karklin and Coffey. Nick Fratto spun coming out of turn four on lap nine for the first yellow of the event. Yonge was the leader with Karklin second followed by Coffey and Rob Dietrick. The single file restart ended with Yonge out front by five car lengths and a clear racetrack to once again build his lead. Karklin would not let Yonge get any further ahead and at the halfway point stayed with in striking distance of the leader. Yonge caught the tail end of the field on lap sixteen. One lap latter Karklin took advantage of lap traffic to get by Yonge and lead for the first time. Karklin built his lead through the next few laps until a spin brought out the caution with one to go. Karklin won the last lap dash notching his first A-Main win at Stateline. Alain Bergeron was third with Dan Kaszubinski fourth and Bubby Kerrick fifth. 

            Rich Gardner and Dan Armbruster were on the front row of the Super Late Model feature with Rod Maloy and Wally Fox in row two. Twenty-seven cars started the event. Gardner fell to fourth on the start as Armbruster passed him high and Maloy low coming out of turn two on the first lap. Debris brought out the caution with two complete as Armbruster led followed by Maloy, Gardner then Fox. Maloy tested Armbruster on the restart but fell into second in turn four. Doug Eck came out of nowhere to the third spot on lap four relegating Gardner to fourth. Chad Valone brought out the yellow collecting Ward Schell and Dave Shagla on lap seven. The restart was marred by a multi car incident in turn two with John Lacki, Dan Maxim, Chad Valone, Moose Dunnewold, Bryan Emory and others becoming involved. Maloy had problems in thru four on the restart fading to sixth as Eck and Gardner fought for second with Dave Hess Jr. fourth. Gardner won the race for second and Hess moved to third. Gardner caught Armbruster on lap twelve but a quick yellow halted his advance as Dunnewold sat crosswise in turn four. Only twenty cars remained with Randy Lobb shown in eight after starting last. Armbruster got away form Gardner on the restart with Hess four car lengths back in third. Lobb was now sixth. Gardner got under Armbruster on lap eighteen completing the pass at the line to lead lap nineteen. Gardner was running the bottom and slipped on lap twenty-one avoiding a spin but losing the top spot to Armbruster. Hess tried Gardner on lap twenty-two but a lap car stopped the pass. Debris stopped the race on lap twenty-three. Hess make his move on the restart passing Gardner and getting up beside Armbruster then the yellow appeared for Ted Kosinski leaving one lap to complete the event. Hess lost the advantage to Gardner on the restart as Armbruster completed the last lap unchallenged for the win. Gardner finished second with Hess third.

            Bill Thomas and Matt Swanson were first and second on lap one of the E-Mod feature. A slowing car brought out the yellow on lap two but the race was quickly restarted only to go to yellow as Boyd Whitehead and Randy Parmenter tangled in turn one. Dave Surrena backed into the back stretch wall on the restart collecting Quincy Turner. Thomas remained the leader with Swanson and Justin Carlson following. Swanson and Thomas swapped the lead several times of the next four laps an Al Cressley joined the fray to make it a three way fight for the lead.  Lap traffic allowed Cressley to get by Thomas on lap nine as Swanson faded to fifth placing Carlson in third and Dave Hess Jr. fourth. Hess got by Carlson on lap eleven then one lap latter passed Thomas to try and chase down Cressley. Hess caught Cressley on the last lap but fell a half a car length short at the line giving Cressley the win. Carlson finished third.

             Limited Late rookie John Pencille was the leader of the first lap of the Limited Late event. Ed Simmer and Andy Knight were second and third. Race was still green at the halfway mark with Pencille out front by ten car lengths. Pat McGuire was moving toward the front and Bobby Rohrer had moved to fifth but the top four remained the same. Rohrer took fourth from Tom Schnars with two to go then moved under Knight for third on the last lap as Pencille completed the perfect run to win the event. Simmers was second then Rohrer and Knight.

            Dave Cummings Jr. was the leader of lap one of the Super Sportsman event and Pat McGuire, Hank Francis and Chris Kuschel were three wide for second. Pat McGuire took the second spot on lap two then the lead one lap later as brother Don moved into the third spot. After a three-lap duel Don McGuire took second from Cummings. Pat McGuire went on to win the event unchallenged with brother Don second and Cummings third. 

            Eighteen Outlaw Cadets reported to the speedway for their feature event. John Boardman and Alex Feisler were in row one followed by Scott Lewis and Matt Lamphere fourth. Lamphere moved from fourth to first on lap one with Boardman second and Ron Seeley in the third spot. Cliff Lamphere lost a drive shaft after five completed laps for the first caution of the event. Matt Lamphere was still the leader with Boardman second followed by Seeley, Louie DeDionisio and Pete Alspaugh. The restart quickly fell under the yellow as a spin by Feisler stopped the race before the lap could be completed. Boardman brought out the yellow on lap seven with a spin between turns three and four moving Seeley to the number two spot and DeDionisio to third. Seeley moved under Lamphere on lap nine and made the pass stick in turn two to lead lap ten. Greg Johnson stopped in the entrance to the pits for the next yellow. Seeley was still the leader with DeDionisio in the second spot followed by Lamphere and Jeff Van Arsdale fourth. Lamphere spun on the last lap giving the third spot to Van Arsdale, Seeley won the event with DeDionisio second.

            Mark Ramsey started second but was the leader at the end of lap one in the first Spectator feature. Chris Couchenour was second at the half way mark followed by Steve Keith and Dave Auge. The yellow appeared with six laps complete when Nate Lester spun and collected a tire used to keep the racers out of the infield. Ramsey was still the leader with Keith second and Rush Firestone third. Couchenour had made a pit stop dropping to the rear of field for the restart. Dana Wellington made a move in traffic for the third spot then spun on lap nine for the second yellow of the event. Ramsey one the dash to the finish with Keith and Tommy Fox tied for the second spot.

            Merle Burlingham and Paul Norman were out front at the end of the first lap of second Spectator feature. Norman took control one lap later. The yellow flew for Chip Davis with front-end problems on lap four. Mike Beck was in the third spot and Brian Graham was fourth. Beck moved by Burlingham on the restart and J. R. Brown took fourth from Graham. Burlingham and Beck dueled for the number two position until Burlingham tagged the wall coming out of turn four. Beck finished second with a smoking Burlingham third and Norman taking the checkers.  

Results:

Spectators:

  Heat 1: Ron Fish, Brian Johnson, Brian Graham
   Heat 2: Kevin Brumett, Chip Davis, Paul Norman
   Heat 3: Dennis Lunger, Steve Keith, Tommy Fox

   Feature 1: Mark Ramsey, Steve Keith, Tommy Fox, Rush Firestone, Pat Passanise, Charles Beck, Chris Couchenour, Dennis Lunger, Dave Auge, Dana Wellington

   Feature 2: Paul Norman, Mike Beck, Merle Burlingham, David McClanahan, J. R. Brown, Brian Graham, Mark Luce, Dave Surrena  

   E-Mods:

    Heat 1: Matt Swanson, Kevin Decker, Dave Surrena
    Heat 2: Dale Applebee, Dave Hess Jr., Stu Rickart

    Feature: Al Cressley, Dave Hess Jr., Justin Carlson, Bill Thomas, Kevin Decker, Matt Swanson, Mike Hess, Dale Applebee, Dan Nocero, Boyd Whitehead

     Outlaw Cadets:

    Heat 1: Ron Seeley, Phil Knight, Louie DeDionisio
    Heat 2: Matt Lamphere, Bill Dunn, Rick Loomis

    Feature: Ron Seeley, Louie DeDionisio, Jeff Van Arsdale, Phil Knight, Pete Alspaugh, Terry Daniels, Bill Dunn, Scott Lewis, Rick Loomis, Matt Lamphere

    Limited Late Models:

   Heat 1: Les Lyon, Mike Coyle, Troy Dorman
   Heat 2: Paul Briggs, Joe Weber, Todd Church
   Heat 3: Bobby Rohrer, Pat McGuire, Bob Vogt

   Feature: John Pencille, Ed Simmer, Bobby Rohrer, Andy Knight, Pat McGuire, Tom Schnars, Chad Ramsey, Andy Sweetland, Bob Vogt, Steve Moynihan, 

     Budweiser Super Sportsmen:

     Heat 1: Bobby Rohrer, Pat McGuire, Randy Parmenter
     Heat 2: Bob Van Arsdale, Hank Francis, Bob Kosinski

     Feature: Pat McGuire, Don McGuire, Dave Cummings Jr., Joe Buccola Jr., Pete Volpe, Randy Parmenter, Aaron Robinson,, Chris Kuschel, Bobby Rohrer

American Racer Dash: Wally Fox, Ted Kosinski, Doug Eck

   Late Models:

      Heat 1: Rich Gardner, Wally Fox, Chris Hackett, Al Crocker, Andy Boozel
      Heat 2: Rod Maloy, Doug Eck, Dave Hess Jr., Ward Schell, John Lacki
      Heat 3: Dan Armbruster, Ted Kosinski, George LaBarbera, Bump Hedman, Chad Valone

      Feature: Dan Armbruster, Rich Gardner, Dave Hess Jr., Rod Maloy, Doug Hess, Randy Lobb, Wally Fox, Chad Valone, Chris Hackett, Scott Gurdak, John Lobb, Bump Hedman, Al Crocker, Keith Zimmerman, Dan Maxim, John Lacki, George LaBarbera, Dave Shagla, Ted Kosinski, Chris Blose, Moose Dunnewold, Andy Boozel, Bryan Emory, Scott Johnson, Steve Halpainy, Ward Schell, Dusty Franklin

   Empire Super Sprints:

    Heat 1: Don Sharp Jr., Lance Yonge, John Karklin Jr., Tim Zimbardi, Bubby Kerrick
    Heat 2: Jeff VanDusen, Justin Barger, Scott Bonnell, Dan Kaszubinski, Nick Fratto
    Heat 3: Mike Stetler, Alan Bergeron, Rob Dietrick, Mike Lutz, Billy Coffey

    A-Main: John Karklin Jr., Lance Yonge, Alain Bergeron, Dan Kaszubinski, Bubby Kerrick, Bill Bailey, Justin Barger, Mike Lutz, Billy Coffey, Rob Dietrick, Don Sharp Jr., Jeff VanDusen, Tim Zimbardi, Mike Stetler, Ray Preston, Randy Years, Jim McCaffrey, Jared Zimbardi, Nick Fratto, Jeremy Barnhard, Scott Bonnell, Martan Gerard