Stateline Beats The Rain!

July 29, 2019

Busti, NY (July 29, 2019): It was “Fan Appreciation Night” at Stateline with only $5 admission for all adults and fun and games for the younger fans behind the grandstands prior to race time. A good time was had by all, especially the teams in Victory Lane. Those teams included Willie VanGuilder, who was victorious in the first feature of the evening, the Challenger event that was rained out last Saturday. The ProMods had Dennis Lunger winning his fourth feature in the class, then won the Outlaw E-Mod feature for the third time this season. The Dave Warren Auto Group Super Late Models had David Scott in the Winner’s Circle after using the extreme high groove to take over the lead at only three laps into the race. Former champion Jason Genco went to Victory Lane for the first time this season at Stateline after winning the Close Racing Supply RUSH Late Model feature. John Boardman captured the Penn-Ohio Pro Stock feature just as rain started falling. The rain stopped in time to get the Challenger night-capper run, with John Zeleznik the first to complete the mandated distance.

Adam Ashcroft and Brian Mohawk brought the twelve-car starting field to green with Ashcroft, the winner June 29, leading from the green. Chad Carlson got by Mohawk for second on lap two and began the task of catching the leader. That task was aided by a spin in turn two by Mike Johnstone, putting Carlson right next to Ashcroft for the restart. On the green, third-starting Dennis Lunger, already a two-time winner, charged into second and was next to Ashcroft for the lead at lap five with Carlson, Mohawk, and C J Irons filling out the top five. Yellow flew at lap seven for sixth-running Steve Dixon, who spun but kept moving, although falling back to eighth for the restart with Ashcroft, Lunger, Carlson, Scott Gurdak, and Mohawk not the top five. At the halfway point it was Carlson up to second and Jarrod Silvis moving into the top five when caution again flew, this time for Chris Paar, spun in turn four. Mohawk spun on the restart in turn two, collecting Irons in the process. At lap eleven a battle for second developed between Carlson and Ashcroft the ran side by side through lap twelve when Ashcroft re-established himself in second. Debris in turn four was the next caution at lap thirteen. With two to go, Silvis got sideways and jumped the rim into the infield but never slowed and didn’t lose a position. Had he stopped he would have gone to the back for the next green. Coming to the finish Carlson spun in turn four but also kept his foot in the throttle and only slipped back to fourth. When checkers flew it was Lunger, Ashcroft, Gurdak, Carlson, and Silvis.

Next up were the Close Racing Supply RUSH Late Models. Ward Schell and Paul Norman brought the field to Spanky Hall’s green flag but Josh John spun in turn one, forcing a complete restart. Schell led the race to turn two but both Norman and Jason Genco got by on the back stretch dropping him to third at the end of lap one with defending champion Darrell Bossard fourth and Scott Gurdak fifth. Coming off turn two on lap two it was four abreast for the lead with Genco emerging first over Norman after running side by side at the line at lap three. At five laps Bossard took second from Norman. Max Blair got to fifth, next to Schell, at lap six. Steve Houser spun in turn four at six lap, then Josh Beckstrom spun with Houser getting involved. At the halfway point it was Genco leading Gurdak, Bossard, Blair, and Schell. At fifteen laps a backmarker driven by Hunter Proctor bunched up the leaders with Gurdak, Schell, Austin Hauser, and Blair taking evasive action and Blair scraping the back stretch wall. In the melee Hauser lost a piece of his nosepiece, slowing the field under yellow for cleanup. After green Blair came to third at lap seventeen. The finish was Genco, his first of the year, Gurdak, Blair, Bossard, and Bruce Hordusky.

The Outlaw E-Mods were led to green by Ron Seeley and Tim Peterson. Peterson led to turn one but got sideways in turn two, collecting Greg Johnson, Tim Rockwell, Dave Lamphere, Zach Johnson, and Mike Eschrich. Dennis Lunger was deemed to have “jumped” the restart and was penalized one spot for the restart. Seeley and third-starting Butch Southwell ran side by side through turn four when Southwell edged ahead to lead lap one. July 13th winner, Steve Rex, was third, with Dennis Lunger fourth and Troy Johnson fifth.Zach Johnson spun in turn two on lap two with Southwell now leading Rex, Seeley, Lunger, and Johnson. Lunger got to third then Rex and Southwell spun in turn two with Al Brewer also involved. Southwell needed towed to the pit, thus ending his night. Coming to green, Mark Thrasher, Greg Johnson, and Brodie Hill spun on the main straight. The top five at this restart were Rex, Lunger, Seeley, Johnson, and Dan Sasso. Sasso was fourth at lap five with Seeley fourth at lap six. Then at lap seven, three-time winner Cale Crocker got into the mix by moving up to fourth, while Rex and Lunger were side by side for the lead. Lunger had the spot all to himself at eight complete when yellow again flew for Zach Johnson. Since it was his third charged caution, he was sent pitside. At nine laps the order was Lunger, Rex, Johnson, Crocker, and Seeley when Peterson and Deven Dudenhoeffer spun in turn two, ending the race as the time limit was reached.

June 8th winner Ryan Scott and Nate Hill brought the Dave Warren Auto Group Super Late Models to green with Scott leading from the start. Two-time champion David Scott was using the extreme high line, dusting the walls, to maintain momentum and swept into the lead at three complete. At five laps David Scott had a half straight lead. Caution flew for Easton Hedman and Cody Egner, spun in turn two. After restarting, it was three-wide coming off two with Ryan Scott, Dutch Davies, and David Scott all scrambling for the front spot. David Scott led lap six over Ryan Scott and Davies with twelfth-starting Max Blair, the points leader, fourth at lap seven. Egner spun again at seven complete, then pitted during the caution, done for the night. After green, Davies came to second at lap ten and 2009 champion Chad Valone was fifth. Blair and Davies were side by side at lap fourteen while Scott now had a quarter lap lead. Both David Scott and Blair were using the high groove when Blair changed his line to the extreme low groove, but not even that could help him catch the flying Scott, who was on his way to the win. Blair settled for second over Davies, Valone, and Ryan Scott. During the Victory Lane interview rain began falling but eased enough for racing to continue.

Former champions Dave Shagla and John Boardman led the Penn-Ohio Pro Stocks to green with Shagla leading the way at one lap over Boardman, Douglas Eck, Jason Covey, and Joe Stajnragh. At lap six Boardman took over at the front with Covey up to third. With two to go Victor Redeye wound up in the turn one wall after contact from Shane Applebee, who was sent to the pits and scored last on the lead lap. At the checkers, as rain again falling, it was Boardman, Shagla, Covey, last week’s winner Jason Black, and Stajnragh.

The rain quit in time for the Challenger feature which saw John Mease and Points leader Rick Feely on the front row. Feely led lap one then on lap two it was three wide for the lead coming out of turn two with sixth-starting Willie Van Guilder, Mease, and Feely racing hard. Van Guilder was the leader at lap three with Feely second, Mease third, John Zeleznik fourth, and ninth-starting Holden Heineman fifth. Zeleznik was second at eight complete then dove low in turn one on the final lap to take over the lead by turn three and go on for the win. Van Guilder wound up second with Feely third, Mease fourth, and Heineman fifth.

Dave Warren Auto Group Victory Lane:

Dave Warren Auto Group Super Late Models:

Heat 1: Max Blair, Nate Hill, Bump Hedman, Greg Oakes, Jake Finnerty, Darrell Bossard, Cody Egner,

Heat 2: Wyatt Scott, Dave Scott, Ryan Scott, Hn Lobb, Wendell Pinckney, Matt Urban

Heat 3: Rick Tripodi, Chad Valone, Dutch Davies, Rich Gardner, Easton Hedman, Al Brewer

Feature top five: David Scott, Max Blair, Dutch Davies, Chad Valone, Ryan Scott

Close Racing Supply RUSH Late Models:

Heat 1: Andy Boozel, Paul Norman, Ward Schell, Brian Larson, Josh Beckstrom, David Parker, Joshua John (DNS)

Heat 2: Andy Boozel, Jason Genco, Bruce Hordusky. Gary Troyer, Matt Sipes, Scott Dellahoy Jr, Chad Clement

Heat 3: Scott Gurdak, Darrell Bossard, John Oakes, Austin Houser, Steve Houser, Hunter Proctor

Feature top five: Jason Genco, Scott Gurdak, Max Blair, Darrell Bossard, Bruce Hordusky

E-Mods:

Heat 1: Dan Sasso, Butch Southwell, Ron Seeley, Troy Johnson, Dave Lamphere, Mark Thrasher

Heat 2: Dennis Lunger, Cale Crocker, Randy Hall, Tim Peterson, Zach Johnson, Deven Dudenhoeffer

Heat 3: Greg Johnson, Steve Rex, Tim Rockwell, Al Brewer, Mike Eschrich, Brodie Hill

Feature top five: Dennis Lunger, Steve Rex, Troy Johnson, Cale Crocker, Ron Seeley

Penn-Ohio ProStocks:

Heat 1: John Boardman, Jason Covey, Douglas Eck, Jason Black, Anthony Marotto, Dale McDonald, Tyler Oakes

Heat 2: Dave Shagla, Joe Stajnragh, Steve Yokum, Victor Redeye, Dennis Asel, David Baker

Heat 3: Shane Applebee, Donald Blood, Justin Pratt, Dylan Greene, Gary Fisher, Brandon Birdsall

Feature top five: John Boardman, Dave Shagla, Jason Covey, Jason Black, Joe Stajnragh

Chris Whyte’s Spray Foam Options RUSH ProMods:

Heat 1: Chad Carlson, Dennis Lunger, Brian Mohawk, Steve Dixon, Jarrod Silvis, Mike Johnstone

Heat 2: C J Irons, Adam Ashcroft, Scott Gurdak, Vaughn Nystrom, Nicholas Mohawk, Christopher Paar

Feature top five: Dennis Lunger, Adam Ashcroft, Scott Gurdak, Chad Carlson, and Jarrod Silvis

Challengers:

July 20 Feature: Willie Van Guilder, Charles Sullivan, Rick Feely, Tyler Walters, Holden Heineman, Jessica Harvey, Chris Horton, Patrick Oyler, John Mease, Mitchell Rex, Jon Seekings, Jasmine Markham, Jordan Melice, Tommy LaBarbera, Donald May Jr, John Angeletti, Brandon Hall

Heat 1: John Zeleznik, Jessica Harvey, Mitchell Rex, Charles Sullivan, Patrick Oyler, Jasmine Markham. Charles Silvis, Jon Seekings, Dean Sullivan

Heat 2: Willie Van Guilder, Ashley Schoonaver, John Mease, Brandon Hall, Trevor Putt, Brady McIntyre, Tommy LaBarbera, Jarrod Lyon

Heat 3: Holden Heineman, Chris Horton, Tyler Walters, Rick Feely, Jordan Melice, Joseph Foti, Donald May Jr, Rachel Moller (DNS)

Feature: John Zeleznik, Willie Van Guilder, Rick Feely, John Mease, Holden Heineman, Charles Sullivan, Chris Horton, Jessica Harvey, Tyler Walters, Pat Oyler, Brandon Hall, Jasmine Markham, Ashley Schoonaver, Donald May Jr, Jordan Melice, Tommy LaBarbera, Charles Silvis, Joseph Foti, Trevor Putt, Mitchell Rex, Brady McIntyre, Jarrod Lyon, Jon Seekings (DNS), Dean Sullivan (DNS), Rachel Moller (DNS)