Blair doubles again, Black gets first-ever win!

July 22, 2019

Busti, NY (July 22, 2019): Jason Black (Penn-Ohio ProStocks) scored his first-ever feature win just as the rain started, ending the race night with the final feature. Max Blair continued his winning ways Saturday by scoring two wins (Dave Warren Auto Group Super Late Models and Close Racing Supply RUSH Late Models) for the second consecutive week while Cale Crocker became the first three-time winner of the season (Outlaw E-Mods). The veteran and former class champion Scott Gurdak (Chris Whyte’s Spray Foam Options RUSH ProMods) added another notch in the win column. The Challenger feature just took the green flag when the rain, which had been threatening all evening, started falling, ending the event with zero laps complete. The Challenger feature will be made up on Saturday, July 27th.

The first feature on the track was for the Chris Whyte’s Spray Foam Options RUSH ProMods with Nate Hartzell and former class champion Scott Gurdak leading the way. Gurdak led Hartzell from the start with Matt Harvey, defending champion Dennis Lunger, and June 29 winner, Adam Ashcroft, filling out the top five. Ashcroft came to fourth at lap three. The first of three cautions appeared at lap five when Mike Johnstone spun in turn four. At six complete Justin Carlson and Jarrod Silvis both spun in turn four but kept racing, averting the yellow flag. Deven Dudenhoeffer and Silvis then spun at turn four on the first lap back to green in turn two. Gurdak continued to lead at the halfway point with Harvey still second, Ashcroft up to third, Lunger fourth, and Hartzell fifth. Last week’s winner, Chad Carlson, took fourth on the back straight at lap eleven as yellow again flew for Johnstone, who spun again in turn two. Ashcroft advanced to second at lap twelve and Lunger to third on thirteen, then Carlson to fourth at fourteen, dropping Harvey to fifth. With two to go, Silvis again spun in turn four but kept moving. With the white flag flying Lunger took over second but Gurdak was on the way to his first win of the season over Lunger, Ashcroft, Carlson, and Harvey.

The Close Racing Supply RUSH Late Model feature was next on the bill with outside front row starting Jason Genco, a former champion, leading the way at the end of lap one over Ward Schell, former champion Scott Gurdak, Kyle Zimmerman, and John Woodward. Defending champion Max Blair, eighth of the grid, entered the top five at lap lap two. At three laps Schell and Gurdak were side by side for second with Gurdak owning the spot at four laps. Blair took over third at six laps. Caution flew at ten complete for Steve Houser, spun in turn two. The order at halfway was Genco, Blair, Gurdak, Schell, and Zimmermann, who got by Schell at lap eleven. Blair tried inside and outside looking for a way to the lead but was having no luck. Caution flew yet again at lap sixteen when Hunter Proctor, laps down, spun in turn one and was collected by Josh Beckstrom. On the restart, contact between Blair and Genco in turn one resulted in Genco spinning from the lead and getting collected by David Parker and Chad Schauers. Under the yellow, third-running Gurdak suffered a flat left-rear tire and pitted, rejoining the race before it was resumed. Houser spun again in turn one on the resumption of the race. With two to go, it was Blair leading Zimmerman, Schell, Bruce Hordusky, and June 29 winner Darrell Bossard. After Houser again spun with one to go, earning himself a trip pit side, the order remained the same to the checkers with Blair picking up his second consecutive win of the season.

Butch Southwell and Brodie Hill brought the Outlaw E-Mods to green with Zack Johnson getting into the back straight wall on the first try to get the race underway. Southwell led the first lap over two-time winner Cale Crocker, Al Brewer, Hill, and last week’s winner Steve Rex. At two laps, Hill had fallen out of the top five, advancing Rex to fourth and Dan Sasso into fifth. Caution flew at five laps when Justin Carlson spun, then Crocker went to the front on green, but Deven Dudenhoeffer spun in two, negating the lead change. At six laps it was Southwell, Brewer, Crocker, Rex, and Dennis Lunger. At halfway Lunger had displaced Rex for fourth when Dudenhoeffer again spun, this time in turn four. At the green, Brewer tried for the lead but got into Southwell’s quarter panel, spinning both and eventually involving all but four of the original sixteen-car field. With the Southwell and Brewer cars locked together in turn one and a deadline imposed by the town on starting the fireworks, the race was red-flagged and the fireworks set off. When racing resumed, fifth-running Lunger spun in turn four but kept moving, preventing a yellow and keeping him in fifth, rather than restarting from the rear. At thirteen laps Hill spun from sixth, stopped, and went to the rear for the restart. At this point John Boyd was up to second for the green flag with Rex now third, Mike Eschrich fourth, and Lunger fifth. Rex took over second at fourteen and Lunger advanced to third. Rex then suffered mechanical problems, stopping just out of turn two at fourteen complete. With five to go it was Crocker, Lunger, Boyd, Eschrich, and Sasso. The final caution was when Brewer spun in turn two, almost kept going, but stalled out. Over the final two laps Lunger used the outside to try for the lead but Crocker maintained his advantage, going on to his third win of the season. Lunger settled for second with Boyd third, Eschrich fourth, and Sasso fifth.

2009 champion Chad Valone and 2010 champion Chris Hackett brought the 21-car Dave Warren Auto Group Super Late Model field to green and the two remained nearly even throughout lap one with Hackett holding a slight edge at the stripe. Three-time former champion Dutch Davies (2011, 2012, and 2016) was third with Doug Eck fourth and Bump Hedman fifth. Wyatt Scott brought out the first caution when he got into the back straight wall on lap two. Hedman came to fourth at lap five. Points leader and two-time defending champion Max Blair came to fifth from ninth on the grid at lap five and was even with Hedman for fourth at seven laps. At ten laps, Valone and Davies were locked in a near even battle for second with Davis holding it at lap eleven and Hackett still leading. At twelve laps, Davies used the outside lane in turn four to sweep by Hackett for the lead. At thirteen Blair came to third and then to second before the end of the lap. At halfway it was Davies, Blair, Hackett, Valone, and Greg Oakes, the 2015 champion. The top five at halfway were all past champions! Yellow flew with ten to go when Easton Hedman spun in turn two. At sixteen laps the “race of champions” resumed with Blair taking the lead at seventeen laps over Davies with Hackett barely holding third over yet another two-time champion (1995 and 1997), David Scott. Scott and Hackett were side by side at lap 22 with Scott second at 23. Oakes got by Hackett for fourth at 24 complete and Valone just got by Hackett for fifth at the checkers. The final order of the top five was Blair, Scott, Davies, Oakes, and Valone.

Tony Marotto and Dennis Asel were at the fore for the Penn-Ohio ProStock main event with Marotto taking the lead over third-staring Jason Black, Asel, rookie Kyle Schreckengost, and former champion Dave Shagla. Yellow flew after one lap for David Schauers, Victor Redeye, David Baker, and Shane Applebee, all in turn four. On the back straight on lap two, Jason Black took over at the front, leading Marotto, Shagla, Asel, and defending champion John Boardman. Shagla was challenging Marotto for second at lap three and secured the spot at four laps. At six laps Boardman was third, then second at seven laps. The halfway order was Black, Boardman, Shagla, Gary Fisher, and Marotto. David Schauers spun at turns one and two on the restart. On the final green flag run, Joe Stajnragh came into the top five. Black, a second-generation driver, then went on to his first-ever win just as the rains started lightly falling. The final order was Black, Boardman, Shagla, Fisher, and Stajnragh.

The Challengers had Charles Sullivan leading from the pole over fourth starting William Van Guilder when the rains came before the lap could be completed. The race will be restarted next Saturday.

Dave Warren Auto Group Victory Lane:

Dave Warren Auto Group Super Late Models:

Heat 1: Max Blair, Davis Scott, Doug Eck, Bump Hedman, John Volpe, Wyatt Scott, Cody Egner

Heat 2: John Lobb, Darrell Bossard, Rich Gardner, Chad Valone, Ryan Scott, Al Brewer, Wendell Pinckney

Heat 3: Greg Oakes, Kyle Bedell, Chris Hackett, Dutch Davies, Nathan Hill, Jake Finnerty, Easton Hedman

Feature: Max Blair, David Scott, Dutch Davies, Greg Oakes, Chad Valone, Chris Hackett, Darrell Bossard, Ryan Scott, Rich Gardner, John Lobb, Bump Hedman, Nathan Hill, Jake Finnerty, Doug Eck, Wendell Pinckney, John Volpe, Cody Egner, Al Brewer, Easton Hedman, Kyle Bedell, Wyatt Scott

Close Racing Supply RUSH Late Models:

Heat 1: Scott Gurdak, Bruce Hordusky, Darrell Bossard, Paul Norman, Chad Clement, Scott Dellahoy Jr, Harry Mason (DNS)

Heat 2: John Woodward Jr, David Parker, Ward Schell, Josh Beckstrom, Steve Houser, Hunter Proctor, Ron Boardman (DNS)

Heat 3: Max Blair, Jason Genco, Kyle Zimmerman, Chad Schauers, Brian Larson, Gary Troyer

Feature: Max Blair, Kyle Zimmerman, Ward Schell, Bruce Hordusky, Darrell Bossard, John Woodward Jr, Scott Gurdak, Chad Schauers, Paul Norman, Chad Clement, Scott Dellahoy Jr, David Parker, Josh Beckstrom, Harry Mason, Steve Houser, Hunter Proctor, Jason Genco, Gary Troyer, Brian Larson, Ron Boardman (DNS)

Outlaw E-Mods:

Heat 1: Al Brewer, Dan Sasso, Ron Seeley, Brodie Hill, Deven Dudenhoeffer, John Boyd, Hunter Hulley, Justin Carlson

Heat 2: Butch Southwell, Steve Rex, Zach Johnson, Cale Crocker, Mike Eschrich, Dennis Lunger, Brodie Hill, Greg Johnson (DQ)

Feature: Cale Crocker, Dennis Lunger, John Boyd, Mike Eschrich, Dan Sasso, Butch Southwell, Ron Seeley, Hunter Hulley, Mark Thrasher, Brodie Hill, Al Brewer, Steve Rex, Deven Dudenhoeffer, Justin Carlson, Zach Johnson, Greg Johnson (DNS)

Penn-Ohio ProStocks:

Heat 1: John Boardman, Jason Black, Gary Fisher, Steve Yokum, Donald Blood, Victor Redeye

Heat 2: Dennis Asel, Joe Stajnragh, Kreg Schreckengost, Dylan Greene, Justin Pratt, Jason Covey

Heat 3: Dave Shagla, David Baker, Anthony Marotto, Shane Applebee, David Schauers

Feature: Jason Black, John Boardman, Dave Shagla, Gary Fisher, Joe Stajnragh, Steve Yokum, Donald Blood, Anthony Marotto, Dennis Asel, Kreg Schreckengost, David Baker, Shane Applebee, Dylan Green, Justin Pratt, David Schauers, Victor Redeye, Jason Covey (DNS),

Chris Whyte’s Spray Foam Options RUSH ProMods:

Heat 1: Matt Harvey, Scott Gurdak, Dennis Lunger, Justin Carlson, Jarrod Silvis

Heat 2: Adam Ashcroft, Chad Carlson, Mate Hartzell, Brian Mohawk, Michael Johnstone

Feature: Scott Gurdak, Dennis Lunger, Adam Ashcroft, Chad Carlson, Matt Harvey, Nate Hartzell, Brian Mohawk, Jarrod Silvis, Michael Johnstone, Justin Carlson

Challengers:

Heat 1: Rick Feely, Holden Heineman, William Van Guilder, Mitchell Rex, Patrick Oyler, Donald May Jr, Brandon Hall

Heat 2: Chris Horton, Jessica Harvey, Tyler Walters, Jon Seekings, Jasmine Markham, Tommy LaBarbera

Heat 3: Charles Sullivan, John Mease, Jordan Melice, Joseph Sheats, Bart Sherman, Jacob Neamon

Feature: To be run July 27