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Ron Davies Wins Roberts Trucking Super Late Model Thriller with last lap pass at Eriez Speedway! Knight, Hess Jr, Slaney, Burgess Jr, Withers, and Hebner crowned Champions!
Hammet, PA (August 29, 2010): It was “Fan Appreciation Night” at Eriez Speedway with Roberts Trucking sponsoring a special 30-lap feature for the Jay’s Auto Wrecking Super Late Models and Craiger Racing Engines sponsoring the King of the Hill portion of the event for the Late Models. It was a wild night with Ron Davies grabbing the Super Late Model win with a last lap pass and Steve Kania coming up short by just two points in his bid to win the championship for the Limited Late Models in his rookie year. Rich Michael Jr, John Boardman, Paul Schreckengost, and Jamie Hebner also picked up feature wins. Former Late Model driver Mike Coyle was remembered on the pace laps for the 30-lap Jay’s Auto Wrecking feature by Roberts Trucking with a four-wide salute. Coyle, fondly remembered by the Super Late Model drivers, passed away unexpectedly last January. As Mike had requested, his ashes were spread at the speedway by his family and from the rear deck lid of his racer, being driven by friend Chad Ramsey. When the race started pole-sitter Dave Hess Jr led to turn one, but Knight assumed the lead coming through turn two. Caution was shown on lap two as Dennis Lunger, Jason Morell, and Scott Gurdak tangled on turn one with Morell and Lunger stopped on the track. After green, Hess Jr, using the high side, got around Knight at lap three. By 12 laps in it was Hess with a three car-length lead over Knight with tenth-starting Ron Davies another two lengths back in third. At 13 laps Ron Bem spun into the infield, necessitating caution and putting Davies right next to Knight for the restart. John Lobb, fresh off a win at Stateline was fourth with Hackett up to fifth from his 13th starting spot. At lap 19, Bem again brought out caution, this time by coming to a halt on the front straight. Davies and Knight again lined up side by side behind Hess. At lap 20 Davies got by Knight coming out of turn four and was then able to get next to Hess, where he ran the next two laps before Hess once again assumed the lead. With five to go, Hackett got by Knight for third. The order at the front remained the same until the final lap when lapped traffic in turn one slowed Hess’s momentum just enough for Davies get by and grab the win. On the back straight on the final lap, Hackett also got by for second. Mike Knight wound up fourth, good enough to give him his second point’s championship, the first coming in 2007. Bump Hedman, the 2008 champion, was fifth at the end. Dave Hess Jr started the Plyler Overhead Door E-Mod feature in fifth spot after the bitter disappointment of a last-lap loss in the Late Model finale but with a 152-point edge in the points battle. Dan Davies and Scott Gurdak were the front row but Rich Michael Jr blasted to the lead on lap one, coming from row two at the start. Coming out of turn four, several cars got tangled with six cars coming to a stop with damage, including pole-sitter Davies. Michael, looking for his third Eriez win of the season, built a sizable lead, losing his advantage only for a caution at lap five. Butch Southwell came to second at lap six but Gurdak got back by when Southwell slipped up a lap later. Hess, looking for win number five on the season, tried both high and low to get by for second, finally succeeding at lap 13 on the high side. However, Michael had built a full straight-a-way lead and was not to be caught. Following Michael and Hess to the line were Gurdak, Greg Johnson, and John Boyd. The closest point’s race was for the Route 8 Boardwalk Bar and Grill Limited Late Models with Wade Slaney enjoying a 44-point edge coming into the final night over rookie Steve “Kid” Kania. Kania started the feature from the outside front row with Slaney starting fifth. In order to secure the championship, Slaney needed only to finish within five positions of the “Kid”. Pole-sitter Brian Crandall brought the 15-car field to the green but it was Kania taking the lead at the drop of the green. Slaney dropped to seventh early in the going but then started working his way back to the front. The race ran green to checkers caution-free with Kania gaining the win over Chris Ottaway, Chris McGuire, Bobby Rohrer, and Wade Slaney. With his fifth place finish, Slaney became the 2010 champion by a margin of only two points! Ben Burgess Jr, on the strength of nine feature wins this season, had wrapped up the points chase to the point of just needing to start the feature tonight. He started the Hunter Trucking Sportsman feature from the 11th starting berth and immediately started moving forward in the order while at the front the number two point’s car, John Boardman was opening a huge lead. Boardman’s lead evaporated at lap five when Don McGuire’s bad luck in 2010 continued as he erupted an engine in a cloud of smoke on the front straight. When green was again shown, Burgess quickly replaced Jake Eller in the runner-up spot and started hounding Boardman for the lead. Boardman managed to hold onto his lead, at times increasing it, only to see his lead again vanish with one lap remaining when caution again flew. Boardman was able to maintain his lead for the final lap with Burgess second and Eller third at the checkers. Joe Rohrer and Matt Lozowski led the 19 Mill Run Collision Street Stocks to Spanky Hall’s green flag for their final points-paying feature of the year. With Greg Fenno absent August 15, Chris Withers had a 180 point lead going into the night. Joe Rohrer, looking for his first feature win of the season, led the first laps with Lozowski second. Rush Firestone, looking for win number two, came to third at lap three just as Matt Sampson spun in turn one, bunching the field with the first caution. After the race resumed Paul Schreckengost was on the move from his ninth spot on the starting grid. Lap five saw the second caution of the race, for a minor spin. One lap after green it was Firestone to the lead with Schreckengost to second and then to the lead at lap eight. Schreckengost, winless to date in 2010, led the rest of the way with Firestone second by several car-lengths at the stripe. Chris Withers, the 2010 point’s champion, was third with Greg Fenno fourth and Rohrer fifth. Jamie Hebner, second in season points to his brother Josh, by a mere 27 points, started on the pole for the Summit Auto Auction Challenger feature. Point’s leader Josh Hebner started the event ninth. Jamie took off to the lead as Josh fell back in the standings. At the finish it was Jamie Hebner picking up the win and the championship with Dave Kineston second in the race and Richard Weed third. With Josh back in the standings, Jamie Hebner was crowned the champion.
Results:
Jay’s Auto Wrecking Super Late Models: Round 1: Doug Eck, Jason Morell Bump Hedman, Greg Oakes Dave Hess Jr, Scott Gurdak John Lobb, Ron Bem Mike Knight, Dave Lyon Dutch Davies, John Lacki Andy Boozel, Dennis Lunger Wendell Pinckney, Ward Schell Randy Lobb, Chad Ramsey Ron Davies, Chris Hackett Andy Kania, Bob Dorman Round 2: Bump Hedman, Doug Eck John Lobb, Dave Hess Jr Mike Knight, Dutch Davies Andy Boozel, Wendell Pinckney Ron Davies, Randy Lobb Bump Hedman, Andy Kania Round 3: Mike Knight, John Lobb Ron Davies, Andy Boozel Round 4: Mike Knight, Bump Hedman King of the Hill Final Round: Mike Knight, Ron Davies Burger King of the Hill: Mike Knight, Andy Kania Feature: Ron Davies, Chris Hackett, Dave Hess Jr, Mike Knight, Bump Hedman, John Lobb, Dutch Davies, Andy Kania, Scott Gurdak, Greg Oakes, Andy Boozel, Doug Eck, Wendell Pinckney, Ward Schell, Chad Ramsey, Randy Lobb, John Lacki, Ron Bem, Dave Lyon, Bob Dorman, Dennis Lunger, Jason Morell
Plyler Overhead Door E-Mods: Heat 1: Mike Knight, Gary Eicher, John Boyd, Jason Illig, Shane Crotty, Greg Johnson, Chris Peterson, Joe Weber, Mark Gilbert Heat 2: Rich Michael Jr, Scott Gurdak, Leonard Enos, Steve Simon, Rich Gardner, Brian Fardink, Ron Roncaglione, Kevin Peru, Mike Potosky Heat 3: Dustin Eckman, Dave Hess Jr, Dan Davies, Butch Southwell, Ron Seeley, Tom Norland, Dewey Kinnear, Dave Atkinson, Tim Gillespie Feature: Rich Michael Jr, Dave Hess Jr, Scott Gurdak, Greg Johnson, John Boyd, Mike Knight, Brian Fardink, Jason Illig, Ron Seeley, Leonard Enos, Tom Norland, Ron Roncaglione, Shane Crotty, Dustin Eckman, Mark Gilbert, Joe Weber, Dewey Kinnear, Steve Simon, Kevin Peru, Butch Southwell, Mike Potosky, Chris Peterson, Rich Gardner, Tim Gillespie, Dan Davies, Gary Eicher, Dave Atkinson (DNS)
Boardwalk Bar and Grill Limited Late Models: Heat 1: Steve Kania, Chris McGuire, Wade Slaney, Paul Norman, Brian Crandall, Chris Ward, Mike Lozowski, Chris Nicholson Heat 2: Chris Ottaway, Chad Carlson, Bob Vogt, Tyler Green, Bobby Rohrer, Ken Wanzer, Kevin King
Feature: Steve “Kid” Kania, Chris Ottaway, Chris McGuire, Bobby Rohrer, Wade Slaney, Tyler Green, Paul Norman, Mike Lozowski, Bob Vogt Jr, Chris Ward, Brian Crandall, Kevin King, Ken Wanzer, Chris Nicholson, Chad Carlson
Hunter’s Peterbilt Sportsmen: Heat 1: Don McGuire, Wade Watson, Jake Eller, Joey Buccola, Ben Reed, Orville Echard, Mike Murray, Hank Francis Heat 2: John Boardman, Ben Burgess Jr, Eric Ester, Allen Haskins, Brent Crandall, Clint Haskins, Allen Yarbrough, Cliff Harmon (DNS) Feature:
Mill Run Collision Street Stocks: Heat 1: Matt Lozowski, Chris Withers, Joe Rohrer, Tony Hyde, Tony Bates, Brad Pease, Matt Sampson, Terry White, Ken Lamp, Carl White Heat 2: John Coughlin, John Phelps Jr, Rush Firestone, Justin Skinner, Greg Fenno, Paul Schreckengost, Brian Bush, Tim Thompson, Walter Johnson Feature: Paul Schreckengost, Rush Firestone, Chris Withers, Greg Fenno, Joe Rohrer, John Phelps Jr, Carl Marcy, Brian Bush, John Coughlin, Tony Bates, Matt Lozowski, Terry White, Ken Lamp, Tony Hyde, Walter Johnson, Matt Swanson, Justin Skinner, Tim Thompson (DNS)
Summit Auto Challengers: Heat 1: Josh Hebner, Jeff Nunemaker, Richard Weed, Jason Black, Heather Tolon, Carl White Sr, Richie Langer, Joe Keney, Travis Clabbatz, Mike Wheeler, Kevin Scalise, Fred Lunger, Geoff Maloney, Mike Rotunda Heat 2: David Kineston, Jamie Hebner, Steve Keith Jr, Khole Wanzer, Donald Hebner, Andy Faulhaber, David McAvoy, Rick Emerson, Wesley Stull, Jeff Reigel, Aaron Gibbons, Joshua Seekings, Rob Brooks Feature: Jamie Hebner. David Kineston, Richard Weed, Don Hebner, Heather Tolon, Jeff Nunemaker, Khole Wanzer, Travis Clabbatz, Steve Keith Jr, Carl White Sr, Josh Hebner, Richie Langer, Rob Brooks, David McAvoy, Rick Emerson, Mike Rotunda, Joe Keney, Geoff Maloney, Kevin Scalise, Wesley Stull, Fred Lunger, Aaron Gibbons, Josh Seekings, Jeff Reigel, Andy Faulhaber, Jason Black (DNS)
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