WONDERLING CONQUERS STATELINE’S BILL LAW MEMORIAL AS HORTON, APPLEBEE, FRANK, BREWER, HESS JR. AND WHYTE ALL FIND THEIR WAY TO VICTORY LANE, CASHING IN ON NIGHT #2 OF 2023!

May 14, 2023 | by Marc Hoegerl

Busti, NY (May 13, 2023): Fans filed in to The New Stateline Speedway for one of the speedway’s biggest yearly events, the 6th Annual Bill Law Memorial, featuring the prominent RUSH Touring Series Crate Late Models. 42 RUSH Lates took stage, with a total of 163 cars on hand, competing in seven divisions of racing.

Jeremy Wonderling would maintain his streak of winning the Bill Law Memorial, on an odd numbered racing season, by claiming the 6th Annual Bill Law Memorial in the RUSH Touring Series sanctioned event, at the famed Stateline Speedway. Wonderling also captured the event in 2015, 2017 and 2019. Orwell, Ohio’s, Chad Sines would pick up the win in the Non Qualifier feature, for his first ever Stateline win.

In other classes, Chris Horton would pick up his first win of 23’ in the Challengers. Shane Applebee would go wire to wire in the Pro Stock main. Veteran Chub Frank added to his Stateline win totals by grabbing the win in the Super Lates. Al Brewer, after a lengthy dry spell, finally got the monkey off his back, picking up the win in the RUSH Pro Mods. It was all Dave Hess Jr. in the UMP Mods. Chris Whyte would close out the evening, by picking up the victory in the Sharp Mini Late Models.

Wellsville’s, Jeremy Wonderling would take use of heavy lapped traffic to overtake leader Joe Martin, on lap 12 to go on to win the RUSH Touring Crate Late Model sanctioned Bill Law Memorial. Martin would chase Wonderling throughout the remainder of the race, but could never muster more than five car lengths to close the gap. Wonderling would take home a cool $3,000 for his winnings. 2022 winner, Martin would settle for 2nd, local favorite Jason Genco would ride home 3rd, last week’s winner, Brock Pinkerous was 4th and Ward Schell would have one of his best runs to round out your top 5.

It was all the Mellow Yellow subcompact ride of Chris Horton, in the Challenger main event. Horton seemingly was the fastest car to hit the track throughout the evening, going the entire 12 lap event, uncontested, to pick up his first win of 2023. Rick Feely came home a distant 2nd, last week’s winner John Mease was 3rd, Pete Volpe 4th and Raceway 7’s all time female winner, Jess Harvey was 5th.

Shane Applebee would show he was the man to beat at the drop of the green in the Pro Stock A-Main.

Applebee would weather several cautions, and a late race charge from Jason Black, to go on to win his first Pro Stock feature of the young season. Jason Black, after a valiant effort, would have to settle for the bridesmaid spot. Opening night winner, Gary Fisher Jr., Matt Sampson, and Bill Applebee rounded out the top 5.

Next up would be 21 of the best Super Late Models in the Southern Tier Region, set to do battle in the 25-lap showcase. At the drop of Spanky Hall’s green, it was Crate Late Standout, Jason Genco taking the point for the first two circuits. Opening nights winner Greg Oakes would muscle his way around leader Genco on lap 3, and hold that spot for the next 10 laps, with heavy pressure from last week’s winner, Ryan Scott, and the Wily Veteran Chub Frank. Frank would finally make his move coming out of turn 2, to overtake Oakes, as the field was heading to complete lap 13. Frank would hold his line for the remaining 12 laps to pick up his first Stateline win of 23”, and his 18th career Super Late Model victory at the Chautauqua County speed plant. Ryan Scott, Greg Oakes, Dave Hess Jr, and 15th starter Wyatt Scott rounded out the top 5.

The talk around the pits entering the evening, was who will be the guy to break the streak of “The Albion Assassin,” Dennis Lunger, in the RUSH Pro Mod division. At the drop of the green Al Brewer showed that he was not to be denied. Brewer would lead the entire distance in a flawless performance to pick up his first Stateline RUSH Pro Mod win in nearly two seasons, dating back to, August 21, 2021. Steve Dixon made numerous attempts to overtake Brewer, but had to settle for 2nd. Lunger would come home 3rd, Tyler Oakes 4th, and Josh Wilcox would complete the top 5.

It was all Dave Hess Jr. in the UMP Modifieds. Hess would take advantage of his pole position, on the starting grid, to pick up win #1 of 2023. A dicey battle would go on behind Hess the entire 20 laps, between Bud Watson, Troy Johnson, and Dan Sasso. The trio would exchange positions throughout the feature event. But, when the smoke cleared, Bud Watson would secure 2nd, Troy Johnson 3rd, Dan Sasso 4th, and newcomer Nate Young 5th.

Chris Whyte would once again show the way in the Sharp Mini Late Models, in a caution marred event.

Jack Black, Terry Mealy, Kyle Coons, and Holdyn Whitmire rounded out the top 5.

RUSH TOURING SERIES CRATE LATE MODELS (42 Entrants)

FK Rods Fast Qualifier Group A: Joe Martin 17.286 (Overall)

FK Rods Fast Qualifier Group B: Josh Ferry 17.782

FK Rods Heat Race Winners: Joe Martin, Jason Genco, Brock Pinkerous, Jeremy Wonderling, Ward Schell, Craig Graham

B Main Winners: John Watters, Jim Rasey

Sunoco Dash: 1) Joe Martin 2) Jason Genco 3) Jeremy Wonderling 4) Brock Pinkerous 5) Craig Graham 6) Ward Shell

Non-Qualifier Feature: 1) Chad Sines 2) Khole Wanzer 3) Logan Jaquay 4) Draven Kuzminski 5) Jake Peterson 6) Marc Berzowski 7) Steve Houser 8- Gary Youngs 9) Chad Clement 10) Kassandra Norman 11) Charlie Houser DNS) Shane Crotty, Ray Houser, Mason Jaquay, Rick Karash, D.J. Krug, Hunter Proctor

6th Annual Bill Law Memorial 30: 1) Jeremy Wonderling 2) Joe Martin 3) Jason Genco 4) Brock Pinkerous 5) Ward Schell 6) Breyton Santee 7) Craig Graham 8- Ashton Briggs 9) Josh Ferry 10) David Parker 11) Austin Hauser 12) Randy Hall 13) Scott Gurdak 14) John Watters 15) Mike Wonderling 16) Billy Henry 17) Brandt Graham 18- Andy Michael 19) Jim Rasey 20) Colby Beighey 21) Andy Boozel 22) Zack Carley 23) Matt Sipes 24) Cody Dawson 25) Chub Frank

Lap Leaders: Martin (1-11), J. Wonderling (12-30)

CHALLENGERS (25 Entrants)

Heat Race Winners: Holden Heineman, John Mease, Chris Horton

Feature:1) Chris Horton 2) Rick Feely 3) John Mease 4) Pete Volpe 5) Jess Harvey 6) Holden Heineman 7) Domingo Echevarria 8- Jon Seekings 9) Nicholas Reed 10) Tommy LaBarbera 11) Rachel Butler 12) Dave Moller 13) Craig Karns 14) Cassandra Goodwill 15) Vince Norton 16) Jordan Richard 17) Hailey Moore 18- Kayla York 19) Amber Silvis 20) Brandon Huffman 21) Tyler Pearson 22) Nick Harvey 23) Chelsea Haskins 24) Dan Bittinger 25) Todd Hanlon

Lap Leaders: Horton (1-12)

PRO STOCKS (17 Entrants)

Heat Race Winners: Tanner Ramsey, Shane Applebee, Douglas Eck

Feature:1) Shane Applebee 2) Jason Black 3) Gary Fisher Jr., 4) Matt Sampson 5) Bill Applebee 6) Joe Stajnrajh 7) Tyler Dynys 8- Mikael Beaver 9) Donald Blood 10) John Cline 11) Grant Richard 12) Tanner Ramsey 13) Brent Marotto 14) John Boardman 15) Dean Gibson Jr. 16) Douglas Eck 17) Dale Sheets

Lap Leaders: S. Applebee (1-15)

SUPER LATE MODELS (21 Entrants)

Heat Race Winners: Ryan Scott, Dutch Davies, Chub Frank

Feature: 1) Chub Frank 2) Ryan Scott 3) Greg Oakes 4) Dave Hess Jr. 5) Darrell Bossard 6) Wyatt Scott 7) Breyton Santee 8- Kyle Bedell 9) Jason Genco 10) John Volpe 11) Jake Finnerty 12) Bob Dorman 13) Nicholas Eck 14) Khole Wanzer 15) Anthony Marotto 16) Paul Schreckengost 17) Kevin Smith 18) Scott Dellahoy Jr. 19) Dutch Davies 20) Bump Headman 21) Chevy Scott

Lap Leaders: Genco (1,2), Oakes (3-12), Frank (13-25)

RUSH PRO MODS (17 Entrants)

Heat Race Winners: Dennis Lunger, Tyler Oakes, Nick Arnold

Feature: 1) Al Brewer 2) Steve Dixon 3) Dennis Lunger 4) Tyler Oakes 5) Josh Wilcox 6) Brendan Warner 7) Tyler Sutton 8- Chad Ramsey 9) Nick Arnold 10) Derek Peterson 11) Ian Degolier 12) Vaughn Nystrom 13) Cody Rickard 14) Ryan Sanders 15) Jarrod Silvis 16) Cameron Sherwood 17) John Cline

Lap Leaders: Brewer (1-20)

UMP MODIFIEDS (29 Entrants)

Heat Race Winners: Dan Davies, Dan Sasso, Troy Johnson, David Scott

Feature: 1) Dave Hess Jr. 2) Bud Watson 3) Troy Johnson 4) Dan Sasso 5) Nate Young 6) Tim Peterson 7) David Scott 8- Dan Davies 9) Michael McGee 10) Steve Rex 11) Cale Crocker 12) Curtis King 13) Dan Lanphere 14) Andrew Beatman 15) Tim Rockwell 16) Jason Brightman 17) Kyle Schreckengost 18- Matt Kosinski 19) Zach Johnson 20) Dalton Bradley 21) Tom Cupp 22) Bryon Johnson 23) Tom Kosinski 24) James Irwin 25) James Wilburn 26) Greg Johnson 27) Butch Southwell

Lap Leaders: Hess Jr. (1-20)

SHARP MINI LATE MODELS (12 Entrants)

Heat Race Winner: Dale Haines

Feature: 1) Chris Whyte 2) Jack Black 3) Terry Mealy 4) Kyle Coons 5) Holdyn Whitmire 6) Nate Morrison 7) Dale Haines 8- Morgan Curry 9) Oakley Terrill 10) Trey Whyte 11) Ryan Card 12) Jesse Isadore