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Test & Tune

Zeleznik Takes The Checkers in Challenger Special! Lunger doubles up in both RUSH classes!

June 12, 2017

By: Allen Seybert

 

BUSTI, N.Y. - Early in the night, John Zeleznik signed his name on programs for Stateline Speedway's Annual Autograph Night. Not long later, he signed his name on the winner's check in Victory Lane.
 
Zeleznick led wire-to-wire, holding off all challengers, winning the 20-lap, $200-to-win Bailey's Towing and Recovery Super Challengers Special, Saturday, at the Busti one-third mile dirt oval.
 
In other action, Doug Eck picked up the victory in the Overhead Door Super Late Model event, Dennis Lunger was the first finisher in the Ed Shults Auto Group RUSH Crate Late Model feature and David Scott took the checkers for the Sugar Grove Beverage Outlaw E-Mod race. Lunger later earned his fifth straight feature win in the Rusted Nutz Pro-Mod event, Brandon Groters was victorious in the Wellington Log Homes Street Stocks division and Ted Kosinski finished the night with a victory in the Himes Auction Company Super Sportsman class.
 
Zeleznick and Chris Knisley led the field to green in the Super Challengers main event while the other 2017 feature winners - Andy Proper and William VanGuilder - rolled off 7th and 11th respectively. Proper had worked his way to seventh by the end of lap four, but had trouble moving forward from there as Zeleznick continued to lead. Zeleznick held his lead over Dylan Greene and Roger Hall until the eighth lap when Pat Oyer did a barrell roll on the backstretch after contact with Benjamin Stover. The race was briefly red flagged while the cars were removed from the track.
 
After the restart, Zeleznick went back to work on rebuilding his pre-caution cushion. Behind him, Gary Troyer was tearing through the field, climbing as high as fourth after advancing to the A-Main through the B-Main. However, this night was all about Zeleznick who rolled into Victory Lane for the second straight week, picking up a $200 winners' check in the process. Greene was second followed by Chris Horton, Hall and Troyer. Zeleznick, Oyer and Horton won heat races and Troyer won the B-Main with Josh Crull, Kevin Covell, Dakota Curry, Brandon Huffman and Aaron Marcy also advancing to the A-Main.
 
In other action, Dennis Lunger and Ryan Scott led the field to the green in the Crate Late Model feature event. Lunger grabbed an early lead with Max Blair, Scott Gurdak and Wyatt Scott in hot pursuit. One of the races' hottest contested battles early on was for the third spot as Gurdak and Wyatt Scott traded third place on several occassions. Drivers Jason Genco and Darrell Bossard also showed speed early on, climbing as high as fourth and seventh. However, a lack of cautions in the race kept them from catching the early front runners.
 
All of the tight battles were behind Lunger on this night as the veteran driver from Albion led wire-to-wire in a caution free event to win his first Crate Late Model feature victory of the 2017 season. Blair was second followed by Gurdak, Genco and Wyatt Scott. Genco and Max Blair were the winners of the Saturday's heat races.
 
Doug Eck outdueled Robbie Blair for the early lead in the Super Late Model feature. Behind Eck, the action was hot and heavy with Max Blair, Robbie Blair and Dave Hess Jr. even going three-wide for second-place at one point. The tight battle allowed Eck to extend his cushion, but it wasn't long before Max Blair broke clear into second and set his sights on Eck's #20 machine.
 
Blair remained about a half-second back for much of the middle portion of the race, but began to close when Eck encountered heavy lapped traffic with nine laps to go in the 25-lap event. The field would get as tight as it possibly could with five laps to go when the yellow flew for Hess Jr. who was running third at the time of his spin.
 
The caution set up a five-lap shootout between Eck, Max Blair, David Scott, Robbie Blair and Chad Valone. The cars started single file and Eck was able to get a good enough jump to maintain the lead and cruise to his first feature victory of the young Stateline Speedway season. Max Blair was second, last week's winner David Scott was third, Robbie Blair wound up fourth and Jake Finnerty put together a late charge to earn a top five. Valone, Robbie Blair and Eck won the three Super Late Model heat races.
 
The Outlaw E-Mods feature saw Butch Southwell lead the first lap from the pole. However, by the second lap of the race, Greg Johnson had moved his #05 machine to the point. Southwell continued to hound Johnson for the top spot while last week's winner of the Paula Southwell Memorial event - David Scott - passed outside pole winner Justin Carlson for third just three laps into the race.
 
After moving into third, it took Scott just two laps to find himself in a familiar position over the last two seasons as the #68 took over a lead he would never relinquish. In the night's second caution-free feature, Scott continued to get smaller and smaller in front of his closest competitors, Greg Johnson and Shawn Shingledecker. Michael McGee nipped Southwell for fourth at the line and Joel Watson, Carlson, Al Brewer, Tim Rockwell and Ron Seeley completed the top ten. Watson and McGee were victorious in heat races.
 
Lunger entered the Pro-Mods feature looking to extend his perfect start to the 2017 season in the class. In order to make it a perfect 5-for-5, Lunger would have to come from the final starting position on the grid. Early on, Scott Gurdak and Richard Michael Jr. traded the lead while Lunger lunged into the top five, passing Matt Harvey for fifth by the completion of lap three.
 
Michael Jr. led through the quarter-mark of the race, but fell back behind Gurdak with 15 laps to go. Just two laps later, Lunger completed the journey to the front of the field, passing Gurdak and rocketing away for a fifth consecutive Pro-Mods victory to begin the 2017 season. Gurdak held on for second with Ryan Scott third, Harvey fourth and Jason Covey claiming the fifth spot. Covey and Lunger took the checkers first in the heat races.
 
The theme for the Street Stocks feature was set early as an opening lap crash gave damage to nine of the 23 starters, including Scott Freer, John Boardman, Eric Hastings, Wesley McCray, David Baker, Cassi Rockwell, Wes Vollentine, Brian Crandall and Anthony Marotto. After things got back going, pole sitter Gary Fisher was the early leader, but the years' two most winning drivers were close behind with David Shagla Jr. in second and Brandon Groters in third.
 
Groters and Shagla entered into a fierce side-by-side battle for second with Groters ultimately prevailing. Not long later, Groters again used the high side to blast by Fisher and into the top spot. From there. Groters would keep his #22 up front for the remainder of the race, surviving a bevy of cautions that slowed the pace several times. The race ultimately ended after 13 laps and a 25-minute time limit. The win was Groters' third in a row on the year and he was followed to the finish by John Boardman, Shagla Jr., Fisher and Scott Dellahoy.
 
Boardman, Fisher and Groters all won heat races. Cassi Rockwell won a Street Stocks B-Main event, advancing to the A-Main along with David Warrior, Wes Vollentine, Dana Maybee and Deven Dudenhoeffer.
 
Steve Longo led the field early in the Super Sportsmen feature until a multi-car wreck on lap two slowed the field and bunched things back up. Just after the ensuing restart, Dan Nocero Jr. shot into the lead and it wasn't long before a big wreck gave damage to his three closest competitors - Longo (2nd), Matt Kosinski (3rd) and Jim Kibbe (4th). Kibbe and Matt Kosinski were unable to continue and the DNF ended Kibbe's perfect 3-for-3 start to the season.
 
The race resumed with 12 laps to go and Nocero Jr. withstood a charge for the lead from Tommy Kosinski. However, just three laps later, Nocero Jr. was challenged again - this time by Ted Kosinski - and the #88 was able to get by Nocero Jr. and into the lead. Ted Kosinski would take advantage of the track position, holding off the field for his first feature win at Stateline since last June. Nocero Jr. was good enough for second followed by Tommy Kosinski, Mike Kosinski and Mike Genco. Matt Kosinski and Kibbe won the heat races.
 
The 2017 racing season resumes next Saturday with a regular night of racing action. All seven divisions will take to the track. All fathers will receive $5 off regular admission in celebration of Father's Day the following Sunday.
 
RESULTS
 
Saturday, June 10, 2017
 
Autograph Night and Challenger Special
 
at Stateline Speedway- Busti, N.Y.
 
OVERHEAD DOOR SUPER LATE MODELS (18 cars)
 
Heat 1 (8 laps, 6 cars): 1. Chad Valone, 2. Ward Schell, 3. Dutch Davies, 4. Rick Tripodi, 5. Damian Bidwell, 6. Chris Hackett
 
Heat 2 (8 laps, 6 cars): 1. Robbie Blair, 2. Dave Hess Jr, 3. David Scott, 4. Jake Finnerty, 5. John Lacki, 6. John Lobb
 
Heat 3 (8 laps, 6 cars): 1. Doug Eck, 2. Max Blair, 3. Bump Hedman, 4. John Volpe, 5. Greg Oakes, 6. Rich Gardner
 
Feature (25 laps, 18 cars): 1. Doug Eck, 2. Max Blair, 3. David Scott, 4. Robbie Blair, 5. Jake Finnerty, 6. Dutch Davies, 7. Chad Valone, 8. Ward Schell, 9. John Volpe, 10. John Lobb, 11. Rich Gardner, 12. Damian Bidwell, 13. Bump Hedman, 14. Rick Tripodi, 15. Greg Oakes, 16. Chris Hackett, 17. Dave Hess Jr., 18. John Lacki
 
ED SHULTS AUTO GROUP RUSH CRATE LATE MODELS (14 cars)
 
Heat 1 (8 laps, 7 cars): 1. Jason Genco, 2. Wyatt Scott, 3. Nathan Earle, 4. Ryan Scott, 5. Matthew Sipes, 6. Chad Schauers, 7. Steve Houser
 
Heat 2 (8 laps, 7 cars): 1. Max Blair, 2. Dennis Lunger, 3. Dave Lyon, 4. Scott Gurdak, 5. Darrell Bossard, 6. Paul Norman, 7. Chad Clement
 
Feature (20 laps, 14 cars): 1. Dennis Lunger, 2. Max Blair, 3. Scott Gurdak, 4. Jason Genco, 5. Wyatt Scott, 6. Dave Lyon, 7. Darrell Bossard, 8. Nathan Earle, 9. Ryan Scott, 10. Matthew Sipes, 11. Paul Norman, 12. Chad Schauers, 13. Chad Clement, 14. Steve Houser
 
SUGAR GROVE BEVERAGE OUTLAW E-MODS (15 cars)
 
Heat 1 (8 laps, 7 cars): 1. Joel Watson, 2. Greg Johnson, 3. Justin Carlson, 4. Al Brewer, 5. Ron Seeley, 6. Percy McDonald, 7. Tim Rockwell, 8. Dave Lanphere DNS
 
Heat 2 (8 laps, 8 cars): 1. Michael McGee, 2. Steve Rex, 3. David Scott, 4. Butch Southwell, 5. Shawn Shingledecker, 6. Dominic DePonceau, 7. Scott Dellahoy, 8. Mike Eschrich
 
Feature (20 laps, 16 cars): 1. David Scott, 2. Greg Johnson, 3. Shawn Shingledecker, 4. Michael McGee, 5. Butch Southwell, 6. Joel Watson, 7. Justin Carlson, 8. Al Brewer, 9. Tim Rockwell, 10. Ron Seeley, 11. Steve Rex, 12. Percy McDonald, 13. Scott Dellahoy, 14. Dominic DePonceau, 15. Mike Eschrich, 16. Dave Lanphere
 
RUSTED NUTZ RUSH PRO-MODS (11 cars)
 
Heat 1 (8 laps, 6 cars): 1. Jason Covey, 2. Matt Harvey, 3. Chad Carlson, 4. Ryan Scott, 5. Zach Johnson, 6. Chad Silleman
 
Heat 2 (8 laps, 5 cars): 1. Dennis Lunger, 2. Richard Michael Jr., 3. Scott Gurdak, 4. Dennis Hagg Jr., 5. Brian Mohawk
 
Feature (20 laps, 11 cars): 1. Dennis Lunger, 2. Scott Gurdak, 3. Ryan Scott, 4. Matt Harvey, 5. Jason Covey, 6. Dennis Hagg Jr., 7. Brian Mohawk, 8. Zach Johnson, 9. Richard Michael Jr., 10. Chad Silleman, 11. Chad Carlson DNS
 
BAILEY'S TOWING AND RECOVERY SUPER CHALLENGERS (31 cars)
 
Top 6 in each heat advance to A-Main; Top 6 in B-Main advance to A-Main
 
Heat 1 (8 laps, 11 cars): 1. John Zeleznick, 2. Roger Hall, 3. Andy Proper, 4. Skip Jackson, 5. John Seekings, 6. Bob Leonard, 7. Tommy LaBarbara, 8. Jasmine Markham, 9. Aaron Marcy, 10. Nick Reed, 11. Gary Troyer
 
Heat 2 (8 laps, 11 cars): 1. Pat Oyer, 2. Mike Riche Jr., 3. Dylan Greene, 4. Brandon Hall, 5. William VanGuilder, 6. Rory Houser, 7. Dakota Curry, 8. Josh Crull, 9. Tom Mason, 10. Jazz Jackson, 11. Kevin Covell
 
Heat 3 (8 laps, 9 cars): 1. Chris Horton, 2. Chris Knisley, 3. Charles Sullivan, 4. Benjamin Stover, 5. Will Dunn, 6. Joey Karash, 7. Jordan Melice, 8. Brandon Huffman, 9. Greg Marsh DNS
 
B-Main (8 laps, 9 cars): 1. Gary Troyer, 2. Josh Crull, 3. Kevin Covell, 4. Dakota Curry, 5. Brandon Huffman, 6. Aaron Marcy, 7. Tommy LaBarbara, 8. Jordan Melice, 9. Jasmine Markham
 
Feature (20 laps, 24 cars): 1. John Zeleznick, 2. Dylan Greene, 3. Chris Horton, 4. Roger Hall, 5. Gary Troyer, 6. Mike Riche Jr., 7. Andy Proper, 8. Chris Knisley, 9. Skip Jackson, 10. Bob Leonard, 11. Kevin Covell, 12. Joey Karash, 13. Rory Houser, 14. Josh Crull, 15. William VanGuilder, 16. Brandon Hall, 17. John Seekings, 18. Aaron Marcy, 19. Brandon Huffman, 20. Dakota Curry, 21. Charles Sullivan, 22. Benjamin Stover, 23. Pat Oyer, 24. Will Dunn
 
WELLINGTON LOG HOMES STREET STOCKS (27 cars)
 
Top 6 in each heat advance to A-Main; Top 6 in B-Main advance to A-Main
 
Heat 1 (8 laps, 9 cars): 1. John Boardman, 2. Victor Earle, 3. Scott Freer, 4. David Schauers, 5. David Baker, 6. Bill Best, 7. Kevin Golden, 8. David Warrior, 9. Wayne Mohawk
 
Heat 2 (8 laps, 9 cars): 1. Gary Fisher, 2. Brian Crandall, 3. Devon Dudenhoeffer, 4. Scott Dellahoy, 5. Wesley McCray, 6. Vid Reduie, 7. Eric Hastings, 8. Dana Maybee, 9. Luke Rutsky
 
Heat 3 (8 laps, 9 cars): 1. Brandon Groters, 2. David Shagla, 3. Tyler Dynys, 4. Anthony Marotto, 5. Mike Moore, 6. Joe Staj, 7. Cassi Rockwell, 8. Paul Nelson 9. Wes Vollentine
 
B-Main (5 laps, 5 cars): 1. Cassi Rockwell, 2. David Warrior, 3. Wes Vollentine, 4. Dana Maybee, 5. Devon Dudenhoeffer
 
Feature (20 laps, 23 cars): 1. Brandon Groters, 2. John Boardman, 3. Dave Shagla, 4. Gary Fisher, 5. Scott Dellahoy, 6. Victor Earle, 7. Brian Crandall, 8. Joe Staj, 9. Wesley McCray, 10. Vic Reduie, 11. Wes Vollentine, 12. David Schauers, 13. Eric Hastings, 14. Anthony Marotto, 15. David Baker, 16. Scott Freer, 17. Bill Best, 18. Deven Dudenhoeffer, 19. Mike Moore, 20. David Warrior, 21. Cassi Rockwell, 22. Tyler Dynys, 23. Dana Maybee DNS
 
SUPER SPORTSMEN (15 cars)
 
Heat 1 (8 laps, 8 cars): 1. Matt Kosinski, 2. Tommy Kosinski, 3. Michael Kosinski, 4. Steve Longo, 5. Jeffrey Maynard, 6. Tom Kosinski, 7. Mike Genco, 8. Shane Horner
Heat 2 (8 laps, 7 cars): 1. Jim Kibbe, 2. Dan Nocero Jr., 3. Ted Kosinski, 4. Doug Birath, 5. Dan Oaks, 6. Tim Thorp, 7. Kendelle Kosinski
 
Feature (15 laps, 15 cars): 1. Ted Kosinski, 2. Dan Nocero Jr., 3. Tommy Kosinski, 4. Michael Kosinski, 5. Mike Genco, 6. Tim Thorp, 7. Steve Longo, 8. Dan Oaks, 9. Matt Kosinski, 10. Tom Kosinski, 11. Jim Kibbe, 12. Doug Birath, 13. Kendelle Kosinski, 14. Jeffrey Maynard DNS, 15. Shane Horner DNS