Pat McGuire, Scott Gurdak Win at Eriez Speedway

By Glenn Slocum

Erie, Pa: The lights went out but the racing continued on the Mountain Dew sponsored races at Eriez Speedway. Part way through the qualification events the power went out at the Speedway, so with out a Public Address System and no power to the scoring tower or lights on the speedway the racing continued with flagmen at each corner. Two laps were complete in the Spectator feature event before the power was restored.

Pat McGuire was the third leader of the Super Sportsman Championship Race and the first to cross the finish line. It was the third win of the season for McGuire. Scott Gurdak led every lap of the Super Late Model feature to win his third feature. Dave Hess Jr. beat his uncle Mike Hess to win his third E-Mod feature of the season. Brian Crandall won his second Spectator feature passing early leader Matt Lozowski. Louis DeDionisio won his second Outlaw Cadet feature and Dan Osborne continued to dominate the Four Cylinders. Lee Matczak won the Super Challenger feature.

            Eric Ester led the first lap of the Budweiser Super Sportsman Championship race then spun while leading collecting Richard Digirolamo. Jim Leonard became the leader with Brent Crandall second and John Boardman third. Pat McGuire took second on the restart then one lap later passed Leonard for the lead. Leonard fell back several spots moving Crandall to second with Chad Carlson third and Randy Parmenter fourth. McGuire ran away from the field and the four cars of Crandall, Parmenter, Carlson and Bobby Rohrer fought for the second spot. Crandall and Carlson touched wheels on lap fifteen allowing Rohrer to take second with Parmenter third then Carlson and Crandall. McGuire won with a full straight away lead over Rohrer. Parmenter was third with Crandall fourth.

            The green flag fell and the Super Late Models started stacking up bringing out the first yellow before one lap could be completed. Andy Kania, Andy Boozel, Chris Hackett and Matt Lanphere were stopped on the speedway as the yellow flew. Scott Gurdak and Paul Briggs in the Kevin Weise car were on the front row with Bump Hedman and Merle Terry in row two. The start was waved off by Spanky Hall for the second yellow of the event. Gurdak was first across the line on the restart with Briggs second and Hedman third. Terry was fourth followed by Doug Eck and Rich Gardner. Gurdak quickly built a ten-car length lead over Briggs with Gardner and Eck the only cars in the top five fighting for a spot. Gardner passed Eck on lap seven as started to run the fourth running Terry. Gurdak caught the tail end of the field with eleven laps completed. Gardner used the inside lane to pass Terry on nineteen for fourth as Gurdak continued to put cars a lap down. Kevin Santee did a slow spin the quickly recovered on lap twenty-two and the race stayed green. The win went to Gurdak who won his third of the season with rookie Paul Briggs second and Bump Hedman third.

            Barrett Brown spun during the first lap of the Spectator feature as Matt Lozowski and Wade Watson led. Mark Thompson and Rush Firestone were in row two. Lozowski led lap two but Mark Thompson spun for the second yellow in as many laps. Lozowski was first with Rush Firestone second and the yellow flew for Jeff Fellows.             The lap four restart brought Brian Crandall into the second spot with Firestone third and Rick Thompson to fourth then Don Standley slowed for the fourth yellow. Rick Thompson got wide coming out of turn four and lost several spots and Crandall took the lead from Lozowski. Firestone was third with Lester Shoff fourth. Crandall hung on for the win with Lozowski second and Firestone third.

            Brian Crandall led the first lap of the Outlaw Cadet feature but Cliff Lanphere had troubles exiting turn four which caused Dennis Lunger to suffer a flat, Mike Knight struck a slowing Lunger and then tangled with Bill Dunn. Paul Norman was the new leader with Ron Seeley second and Nathan Short third. Phil Knight got into the fence on the backstretch on lap three for the second yellow. Seeley used his outside starting spot to take the lead from Norman. Norman lost the handle one lap later for the third caution. Short spun on the restart collecting Brian Zimmerly and Bill Dunn. Seeley was still the leader with Louis DeDionisio second, Andy Knight third and John Cline fourth for the restart. DeDionisio moved under Seeley on lap eight for the lead leaving Seeley to battle with Andy Knight for the runner up spot. Frank Paladino spun on lap ten for the fourth yellow. Andy Knight go around Seeley on the white flag lap then had to fend of John Cline for the spot and Seeley slipped to fourth. DeDionisio ran the last five unchallenged to make his second appearance in victory lane.

            Tom Bean led the first four laps of the Four Cylinder feature when a yellow flew for Doug Kirik. Dan Osborne used the restart to pass Bean and never looked back. Osborne won by several car lengths with Bean second and Dale Wise third.

            Dave Hess Jr. was on the pole with Dale Applebee alongside for the E-Mod feature event. Dave Hess led one then and incident in four involving Shawn McArdle, Bill Taylor and Mike Moon brought out the first yellow. Lap two was led by Dale Applebee with Dave Hess second and Mike Hess third. Applebee narrowly led lap three then Brad Pease and Chris Sutton brought the second yellow with three laps complete. Dave Hess led lap four as Applebee and Mike Hess contested the second spot. Bill Thomas was fourth with Justin Carlson fifth and Bret Porter sixth. Mike Hess finally got by Applebee won lap seven then Sutton brought out the caution on lap ten. Mike Hess began pressuring Dave Hess on the restart and they began to move away form the rest of the field. Mike moved under Dave several times but could not make the pass giving Dave Hess his third win.

            Harry Seekings was the leader after one lap on the Super Challenger event with Duane Hinkson second and Wade Slaney third. Lee Matczak used a lap three restart to grab the lead and the win with Slaney second and Hinkson third.

Spectators:

Heat 1: Jim Tolon, Wade Watson, Jeff Fellows

Heat 2: Mat Lozowski, Jeremy English, Tom Norland

Feature: Brian Crandall, Matt Lozowski, Rush Firestone, Lester Shoff, Jeremy English, Tom Norland, Jeff Harvey, Rusty Briggs, Bill Van Volkenburg, Jim Tolon

Outlaw Cadets:

Heat 1: Mike Knight, Dennis Lunger, Bill Dunn

Heat 2: Nathan Short, Joe Weber, Phil Knight

Feature: Louis DeDionisio, Andy Knight, John Cline, Ron Seeley, Paul Norman, Nathan Short, Joe Weber, Brian Zimmerly, Brian Campbell, Cliff Lanphere

Four Cylinder:

Heat 1: Tom Bean, Dan Osborn, Dale Wise

Feature: Dan Osborne, Tom Bean, Dale Wise, Brian Duryee, Stan Davis, Doug Kirik

Budweiser Super Sportsman:

Heat 1: Brent Crandall, Scott Kuschel, Brian Collins
Heat 2: Chad Carlson, Randy Parmenter, Pat McGuire

Feature: Pat McGuire, Bobby Rohrer, Randy Parmenter, Brent Crandall, Jim Leonard, Hank Francis, Don McGuire, Chad Carlson, Mike Murray, Scott Kuschel

E-Mod:

Heat 1:Dave Hess Jr., Bill Thomas, Brad Pease

Heat 2:Dale Applebee, Mike Hess, Justin Carlson

Feature: Dave Hess Jr., Mike Hess, Dale Applebee, Bill Thomas, Justin Carlson, Mike Boyd, Dustin Eckman, Chris Peterson, Dave Will, Bret Porter

Super Challenger:

Heat 1: Lee Matczak, Ryan Scott, Steve Soto

Feature:  Lee Matczak. Wade Slaney, Duane Hinkson, Casey Swabik, Luke Rutsky, Bob Belson, Shayne Erhard, Jeff Kinnear, Scott Dellahoy, Jason Dingle

Super Late Model:

Heat 1: Scott Gurdak, Bump Hedman, Andy Kania, Chris Hackett, Matt Lanphere

Heat 2: Paul Briggs, Merle Terry, Doug Eck, Rich Gardner, Rod Maloy

Feature: Scott Gurdak, Paul Briggs, Bump Hedman, Rich Gardner, Merle Terry, Doug Eck, Dave Hess Jr., Wendell Pinckney, Ward Schell, Andy Kania, Rod Maloy, Chris Hackett, Andy Boozel, Steve Halpainy, Moose Dunnewold, Kevin Santee, Matt Lanphere, Mike Coyle, Mark Ramsey