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Knight, Gardner, Ottaway, Buccola, Fenno, and Hebner collect the winning beads on Mardi Gras Night at Eriez Speedway!

Hammet, PA (July 18, 2010): Mardi Gras was celebrated a bit late at Eriez Speedway with fans being encouraged to dress for the event.  Several prizes were given to lucky fans.  The on-track action was as hot as ever even after morning rains soaked the track. 

Mike Knight and Dennis Lunger brought the 23 Jay’s Auto Wrecking Super Late Models to the green with Knight launching out to a big lead.  The race ran smooth with Doug Eck coming to second at the halfway point.  At lap 24 of the 30-lap race, Bruce Hordusky spun in turn one, bringing out the yellow flag, bunching up the field and erasing Knight’s quarter-lap lead.  Knight completed the final six laps with the lead to collect his third win of the season over Dutch Davies, who got by Eck on the final lap. Ron Davies was fourth, and Andy Kania was fifth. 

The 29 Plyler Overhead Door E-Mods were led to the green by Mike McGee and Rich Gardner.  Gardner, a many-time Super Late Model Champion, led lap through lap three when the pole-sitter spun in turn two after contact with Troy Carr, who was sent to the rear for rough driving.  Also caught up in the wreck was Randy Hall, who was looking for his second win of the season.  Under caution points leader Dave Hess Jr went pitside.  When racing resumed two-time winner Rich Michael Jr began hounding Gardner on the low side and the two ran side-by-side through each turn until lap 12 when Michael succeeded in completing the pass.  At lap 13 Dan Davies was third after starting eleventh.  Just one lap later caution was shown when Greg Johnson came to a halt on the front straight, tightening the field.  Michael appeared to be headed to his third win of the season until coming out of turn two on the final lap when his mount lost power, allowing Gardner to gain his first win of the season over Davies and Brian Fardink (all the way from 17^th at the start).  Michael coasted over the line in fourth with Scott Gurdak fifth. 

Chris Ottaway was looking for his second win of the season in the Route 8 Boardwalk Bar and Grill Limited Late Models and started the feature on the pole with Bob Vogt to his right.  Ottaway immediately sped out to a big lead with Vogt and Tyler Green fighting for second.  Green finally got the spot at lap six but Ottaway had a straight-a-way lead by that point.  At halfway Ottaway was lapping backmarkers but Green was not able to close the gap. At the end, it was Ottaway over Green, point’s leader Wade Slaney, Chad Carlson, and Paul Norman.

Ben Reed started from the pole and led the first three laps of the Hunter Trucking Sportsman feature with yellow coming over the speedway when Eric Ester spun in turn four.  Class dominator Ben Burgess Jr made a visit to the pits for undisclosed problems during the yellow flag period but returned to the track before green was again shown.  Reed then led the next two laps until a spin by Wade Watson.  This yellow flag period saw second place points car John Boardman pit and return before green.  At the start, Joey Buccola made contact with Eric Ester with both Ester and Brent Crandall slamming the outside wall and both needing towed to the pits. With green back on the track, Reed continued to lead with Buccola second until two laps to go when he spun coming out of turn two.  Buccola inherited the lead and went on to his first win of the season over Wade Watson.  Reed rebounded to third with Mike Murray fourth and Ben Burgess Jr fifth.

Pat McGuire and Brian Bush set the pace for the Mill Run Collision Street Stocks with McGuire jumping into the lead at the start only to see caution as he completed lap one for a spin in turn one.  At the restart, McGuire again led, with Bush following and Greg Fenno third, looking for win number four. Fenno came to second at lap five and began closing on the leader. Fenno used the high side to get around for the lead at lap eleven.   With two laps remaining, Withers got by McGuire for second just as yellow was shown for a spin by Justin Skinner.  For the final two laps, McGuire restarted in second with Withers third.  At the white flag, Withers was back in second but had nothing for Fenno, who went on to his fourth win of the season.  McGuire was third with Brian Bush fourth and ’09 champion Paul Schreckengost fifth.   

Greg Rockwell led the opening laps of the Summit Auto Auction Challengers from the pole, holding the lead through two cautions but surrendering it to five-time winner Josh Hebner at lap five.  Hebner then went on to win number six.  Rockwell held on for second with Dale Haines third. 

Results:

Jay’s Auto Wrecking Super Late Models:

Heat 1: John Volpe, Chris Hackett, Dave Hess Jr, Dennis Lunger, Jason Morell, Dwayne Pond, Bob Vogt Jr, Ryan Scott

Heat 2: Mike Knight, Andy Kania, Ron Davies, Dutch Davies, Bump Hedman, Randy Lobb, John Lobb, Ben Burgess Jr

Heat 3: Dave Lyon, Scott Gurdak, Doug Eck, Bruce Hordusky, Andy Boozel, Scott Johnson, Wendell Pinckney, Ron Bem

Burger King of the Hill: Mike Knight, John Volpe

Feature: Mike Knight, Dutch Davies, Doug Eck, Ron Davies, Andy Kania, Chris Hackett, Bump Hedman, Dennis Lunger, Dave Hess Jr, Andy Boozel, Dave Lyon, Scott Johnson, John Volpe, John Lobb, Scott Gurdak, Bruce Hordusky, Jason Morell, Ryan Scott, Wendell Pinckney, Ben Burgess, Dwayne Pond, Randy Lobb, Bob Vogt, Ron Bem (DNS)

Plyler Overhead Door E-Mods:

Heat 1: Dave Hess Jr, John Boyd, Dave Atkinson, Greg Johnson, Jordan Eck, Gary Eicher, Steve Simon, Ron Seeley, Chuck Steinle Sr

Heat 2: Mike McGee, Randy Hall, Dan Davies, Scott Gurdak, Mike Knight, Al Crocker, Brian Fardink, Steve Sornberger, Tom Norland, Shane Crotty (DNS)

Heat 3: Rich Michael Jr, Troy Carr, Rich Gardner, Mike Munsee, Mark Gilbert, Tim Gillespie. Bill Taylor, Dustin Eckman, Mike Kinney, Kevin Peru

Feature: Rich Gardner, Dan Davies, Brian Fardink, Rich Michael, Scott Gurdak, John Boyd, Dave Atkinson, Mike Munsee, Ron Seeley, Steve Simon, Bill Taylor, Gary Eicher, Dustin Eckman, Mike McGee, Shane Crotty, Troy Carr, Tom Norland, Steve Sornberger, Tim Gillespie, Chuck Steinle Sr, Mark Gilbert, Jordan Eck, Greg Johnson, Mike Kinney, Mike Knight, Dave Hess Jr, Randy Hall, Al Crocker, Tom Hagberg (DNS)

Boardwalk Bar and Grill Limited Late Models:

Heat 1: Steve Kania, Wade Slaney, Bob Vogt Jr, Chad Carlson, Paul Norman, Chris McGuire, Rodney Thoms, Paul Himes, Brian Crandall

Heat 2: Chris Ottaway, Tyler Green, John Cline, Bobby Rouche, Chris Nicholson, Mike Lozowski, Bobby Rohrer

Feature: Chris Ottaway, Tyler Green, Wade Slaney, Chad Carlson, Paul Norman, Bobby Vogt, Bobby Rouche, Chris McGuire, Steve Kania, Bobby rohrer, Ryan Scott, Brian Crandall, Mike Lozowski, John Cline, Rodney Thoms, Paul Himes, Chris Nicholson

Hunter’s Peterbilt Sportsmen:

Heat 1: Eric Ester, Joey Buccola, Ben Reed, Wade Watson, Brent Crandall, Scott Lawson

Heat 2: Ben Burgess Jr, John Boardman, Jake Eller, Mike Murray, Don McGuire

Feature: Joey Buccola Jr, Wade Watson, Ben Reed, Mike Murray, Ben Burgess Jr, John Boardman, Eric Ester, Brent Crandall, Jake Eller, Don McGuire, Scott Lawson

Mill Run Collision Street Stocks:

Heat 1: Paul Schreckengost, Tommy Fox, Tim Thompson, John Coughlin, Pat McGuire, Tony Bates, Rush Firestone, Terry White

Heat 2: Greg Fenno, Chris Withers, John Phelps Jr, Brian Bush, Matt Lozowski, Joe Rohrer, Justin Skinner

Feature: Greg Fenno, Chris Withers, Pat McGuire, Brian Bush, Paul Schreckengost, Matt Lozowski, Rush Firestone, Tim Thompson, Tony Bates, John Phelps Jr, Terry White, Justin Skinner, Tommy Fox, John Coughlin, Joe Rohrer

Summit Auto Challengers:

Heat 1: Rob Brooks, Khole Wanzer, Dale Haines, Jeff Nunemaker, Jeremiah Blystone, Don Hebner, Casey Burch, Mike Brown, David Kineston, Curt Hanson, Mike Rotunda, Mike Swanson, Larry Oaks, Andy Faulhaber, Travis Clabbatz,

Heat 2: Jamie Hebner, Josh Hebner, Greg Rockwell, Brandon Umphrees, Jeff Loomis, Rick Emerson, Richie Langer, Kevin Scalise, Wesley Stull, Geoff Maloney, Richard Weed, Tracy Paxton, Larry Campbell, Eric Winkels

Feature: Josh Hebner, Greg Rockwell, Dale Haines, Khole Wanzer, Jamie Hebner, Don Hebner, Jeff Nunemaker, Rob Brooks, Jeremiah Blystone, Casey Burch, Tracy Paxton, Travis Clabbatz, Curt Hanson, Richie Langer, Larry Oaks, Mike Rotunda, Jeff Loomis, Rick Emerson, Andy Faulhaber, Kevin Scalise, Wesley Stull, Mike Brown, Mike Swanson, Brandon Umphrees, David Kineston, Geoff Maloney, Richard Weed, Larry Campbell (DNS), Eric Winkels (DNS)