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by Jay Pees
Conneaut, OH, May 16, 2008: The threat of rain didn’t deter the hardy race fans of NE Ohio and Western Pennsylvania as a good crowd was on hand for the annual Race of Champions for the Applebee Motorsports E-Mods, won handily by former Stateline Speedway Champion Justin Carlson over former Raceway 7 Champion Joel Watson, and McKean County area many-time Champion Rich Michael Jr.
In regular racing action Rusty Wheeler continued his domination of the Street Stocks and Dave Hess Jr won the E-Mod feature after a strong challenge by Randy Hall. Many-time Late Model champion Dick Barton won the FASTRAK Late Model feature after a long duel with John Lacki. E-Mod star Dave Hess Jr came out on top after a hard-fought duel with Randy Hall. Jim Hamblin won the Mini Stock feature over Ed Sergeff and Joe Plesniak.
The Precision Weld Fab FASTRAK Late Models started their feature with Bob Dorman and John Lacki leading the way. Lacki charged to the lead over Dorman and Bob Diver. Bobby Powell took over third at lap four and Max Blair coming to fourth the next lap from his tenth starting spot. Caution flew on lap seven when Bert Blackson spun in turn two, erasing Lacki’s substantial lead. On the restart pandemonium broke loose when Dorman slipped sideways causing a chain reaction with Roger French getting upside down in the outside wall. Max Blair, Bert Blackson, Calvin Clay, and Greg Oakes were also involved. Although there were no injuries, three of the six, Blair, Blackson, and Dorman were able to continue after repairs. On this restart Scott Jones spun in turn three, losing a wheel in the process. When racing resumed, Barton immediately got by Powell and started challenging Lacki. Using the low side, Barton raced Lacki hard, getting alongside in turns one and two several times but Lacki was able to use the momentum of the high side to maintain the lead. At lap 21 Alex Anderson spun in turn two, bringing caution back over the raceway and allowing Barton to restart right on Lacki’s rear. Using the high side this time, Barton was able to get by for the lead at lap 23 and go on for the win. Lacki had to settle for second with Powell third, Dave Osterberg fourth and Blair fifth.
Dave Hess Jr led the Applebee Motorsports E-Mod feature nearly flag-to-flag after starting on the pole position with Justin Carlson chasing until lap nine when Randy Hall got by and started chasing down the leader. With two laps remaining, Hall got by for the lead but was immediately involved in a wreck when the last cars on the lead lap spun in turn one, handing the lead back to Hess. Justin Carlson also was caught up in the wreck and retired to the pits. Hall also suffered enough damage to head to the pits. Hess handily led the final two laps, winning over Quincy Turner, Ron Roncaglione, Russ Dunn, and Gary Eicher.
Jamie Duncan and Steve Horvath led the Joslin-Landis Insurance Agency Street Stocks to the green with Horvath leading to turn one. At lap four Dave McLaughlin got into the turn three wall, bringing caution over the raceway. At the restart, Rusty Wheeler restarted fifth, coming from 12th on the starting grid. After another caution at lap 6, Wheeler jumped to second on lap seven and then worked over Horvath for several laps before getting by on the high side to gain his second feature of the season. Horvath held on to finish second wit Ken Zimmer third, Dan Lewis fourth, and Shawn Fawcett fifth.
Feature racing action for the Mighty Mini stocks started with Ricky Tackett and Brad Cole bringing the twelve cars to Tom Anderson’s green flag. Brad Cole jumped out to the early lead. At the end of two laps Jim Hamblin had advanced to second, losing it the next lap to Bud Sergeff, who had started ninth. At lap four yellow flew for Pail Dickens, who had stopped on the racing surface after having been safely in the infield. At green Hamblin came to the front with Joe Plesniak second. Sergeff took over third and advanced to second on the final lap. Plesniak wound up third with Cole fourth and Kyle Dickenson fifth.
Precision Weld Fab FASTRAK Late Models:
Heat 1: Max Blair, Dick Barton, Jay Watson, Bob Dorman, Bob Diver, John Lacki, Scott Jones, Roger French
Heat 2: Greg Oakes, Bobby Powell, Bobby Whitling, Bert Blackson, Dave Osterberg, Calvin Clay, Alex Anderson, Dennis Lunger
Feature: Dick Barton, John Lacki, Bobby Powell, Dave Osterberg, Max Blair, Bobby Whitling, Bob Diver, Bert Blackson, Jay Watson, Alex Anderson, Bob Dorman, Greg Oakes, Roger French, Calvin Clay, Scott Jones, Dennis Lunger
Applebee Motorsports E-Mods:
Heat 1: Dave Hess Jr, Russ Dunn, Jack Young, Justin Carlson, Brian Douglas, Gary Sullivan, Carl McKinney, Bill Taylor
Heat 2: Randy Hall, Quincy Turner, Gary Eicher, Jason Genco, Rick Pratschler, Gary Vanryswyk, Gerry Kielar, Dan McDonald (DNS)
Heat 3: Joel Watson, Hugo Litwiler, Ron Roncaglione, Rich Michael Jr, Percy McDonald, Mike Potosky, Justin Tatlow, Chuck Steinle Jr
Race of Champions: Justin Carlson, Joel Watson, Rich Michael Jr, Dave Hess Jr, Russ Dunn, Ron Roncaglione, Hugo Litwiler, Carl McKinney, Randy Hall, Mike Potosky
Feature: Dave Hess Jr, Quincy Turner, Ron Roncaglione, Russ Dunn, Gary Eicher, Percy McDonald, Hugo Litwiler, Dan McDonald, Jason Genco, Brian Douglas, Jack Young, Chuck Steinle Jr, Rick Pratschler, Bill Taylor, Russ Dunn, Gerry Kielar, Randy Hall, Justin Carlson, Mike Potosky, Carl McKinney, Justin Tatlow, Gary Van Ryswyk, Joel Watson, Rich Michael
Joslin-Landis Insurance Agency Street Stocks:
Heat 1: Jamie Duncan, Matt Keith, Ed Bolyard, Jamie Brown, Jason Stanke, Mike Harmon, Carlos Aponte, Chuck Fultz, Becky Kase
Heat 2: Ken Zimmer, Shawn Fawcett, Dan Lewis, Steve Horvath, Dave McLaughlin, Mike Cross, Rusty Wheeler, Charlie Beck, David Brown, Art Gilchrest
Feature: Rusty Wheeler, Steve Horvath, Ken Zimmer, Dan Lewis, Shawn Fawcett, Jamie Duncan, Dave McLaughlin, Matt Keith, Ed Bolyard, Mike Cross, Jamie Brown, Dave Brown, Jason Stanke, Chuck Fultz, Becky Kase, Mike Harmon, Charlie Beck,
Challenger Mini Stocks:
Heat 1: Jim Hamblin, Brad Cole, Duane Westfall, Bud Sergeff, Chris Pildner, Paul Dickenson
Heat 2: James Edison, Ed Huge, Ricky Tackett, Kyle Dickenson, Joe Plesniak, Chuck Simms Jr,
Feature: Jim Hamblin, Ed Sergeff, Joe Plesniak, Brad Cole, Kyle Dickenson, Chris Pildner, Ricky Tackett, Ed Huge, Duane Westfall, Chuck Simms Jr, Paul Dickenson