Race Results 7/26/02

Newberrytown, PA: When Jamie Mills of Milford, Delaware won on opening day he became the first driver from Delaware to win an RSCA modified feature event. Now he is the first winner to repeat at Susquehanna Speedway in 2002. Extreme overcast skies still saw 38 modifieds take to the post. It even drizzled some before the feature. Mills, who started tenth, drove a masterful race as he methodically moved to the front.

In the super late model feature, Tom Myers copied Mills by starting ninth and worked hard for his win picking off competitors one at a time to garner the victory. Myers became the fifth different winner in five late model events. A total of 118 cars in the pit area also saw Rodney Kistler win an exciting Legends race, John Stoll won the 4-cylinder stocks, and Karl Windish picked up his second enduro triumph.

Brian Johnson grabbed the early lead in the Henry R. Sharman Builder/Developer modified main and held on for three laps before Larry Solomon moved past on the outside on a lap 4 restart. Solomon looked like he was going to check out on the field as he led Johnson for 3 laps and then Kevin Hirthler for 3 laps. Mills got by Hirthler for second on lap 10 and set his sights on Solomon.

Solomon showed his veteran talent as he held off the charging Mills repeatedly. Jamie took to the outside and found a fast lane to capture the lead. Todd Burley and Jeff Strunk saw the outside move and immediately moved to the top of the speedway. When Mills got the lead on lap 14, Burley was sixth. Six laps later on lap 20, Burley passed Solomon for second.

The Spencerport, New York driver tried everything to close on Mills in the final ten laps. Finally, Burley got the momentum he needed, but time ran out and had to settle for second. Solomon finished a solid third with points leader, Strunk coming home fourth for a fifth consecutive top five. Last time out winner, Randy Fortna rounded out the top five.

Rick Laubach was running in contention all night finished sixth followed by Kyle Strickler with his fifth consecutive top ten and another good showing in front of his co-owner/sponsor’s fans. Randy Stoudt and Gary Hager both had good runs for 8th and 9th and Johnson finished tenth.

Local, Scott Sipe brought the late model field around for the first circuit. Scott Lupfer jumped to the lead on lap 2 and motored away. Jere Weirman moved to the runner-up spot and reeled in the leader. Tom Myers and Chris Shuey joined in on the pack and made it a four car battle for the lead. Myers got by Weirman on lap 11, but found a tougher going with Lupfer.

Past two winners Mike Lupfer and Billy Wampler now caught the lead bunch along with Travis Dillman making it anybody’s race at that point. A couple of tangles sorted the field leaving Myers to deal with Scott Lupfer one-on-one. Still, Lupfer held off every challenge until lap 25. Myers said later, “It wasn’t easy. This was a good race to win. We worked hard for this and maybe this will help give us some momentum for the rest of the year.”

Shuey wrestled second away from Scott Lupfer on lap 28 and Mike Hess charged like a bandit from eighth to third in the last ten laps. Lupfer settled for fourth and Dillman got fifth. Wampler and Weirman went to the rear and came back for a sixth and seventh respectively. Points leader Mike Christopher got eighth with Keith Crossley and Bob Spahr rounding out the top ten.

The Super Lates will return on September 1st for their Twin 20’s to be part of the big York County Nationals for 410 Sprints that pays $7,500 to win and a $2,500 Coors champion bonus. The Late

Models will receive $1,000 to win each and will draw for positions.

A spectacular 29 car Legends field took the green and put on a fantastic battle for the lead. Heat winners Tim Tomson and Ronnie Dunstan were inverted to start fifth and sixth. They pressured the leaders the entire race, but Rodney Kistler and Ricky Harring had their own side-by-side battle for the lead and wouldn’t give Dunstan or Tomson the room they needed to pass.

Harring actually had his nose in the lead and nearly made the final pass at the wire, but Kistler literally held on for the win. Dunstan got third, Austin Kirby fourth and Tomson fifth.

John Stoll hoped that his luck would change and it did as he moved past Dale Kreiser and romped to victory in the 4-cylinder stock feature. Ed Hollenbach came through the pack to get second and two-time winner Ron Buck came up to third, but never challenged Stoll. Wes Irwin and Eric Hollenbach rounded out the top five.

The 30-lap enduro saw lots of passing. Many of the contenders came from deep in the field and later had to deal with lapped traffic to secure the victory. Young Tom Slanker led for the first ten laps until hot-shoe, Karl Windish took the lead from his 15th starting spot. The very next lap, Ray Repp who started 14th stole the lead from Windish.

Windish recaptured the top spot three laps later, but had to fight off Repp and lapped traffic the rest of the way. Ronald Vance came from 16th to third, Darrin Williams came from 13th to fourth, and Smoke Christine finished fifth. The top eight remained on the lead lap and they were as follows: Greg Miller, Gary Cekovich, and Tom Slanker.

Legends: (12 Laps) 1- Rodney Kistler; 2- Ricky Harring; 3- Ronnie Dunstan; 4- Austin Kirby; 5- Tim Tomson; 6- Lawrence Garrison; 7- Butch Brough; 8- Rick Potts; 9- Rich Landis; 10- Ray Swank; 11- Randy Fetterolf; 12- Bob Murray; 13- Greg Burd; 14- Tim Henry; 15- Denny Rothermel; 16- Allen Felix; 17- Nate Fisher; 18- George Craker; 19- Jason Ewing; 20- Zach Dunkelberger; 21- Evan Ford; 22- Ed Wentz; 23- Jim Black; 24- Bill Harris

4-Cylinder Stocks: (12 Laps) 1- John Stoll; 2- Ed Hollenbach; 3- Ron Buck; 4- Wes Irwin; 5- Eric Hollenbach; 6- Ken Miller; 7- Jerry Schott; 8- Dennis Christ; 9- Kyle Levingood; 10- Zach Beck; 11- Dale Kreiser; 12- Frank Grubic

Enduro: (30 Laps) 1- Karl Windish; 2- Ray Repp; 3- Ronald Vance; 4- Darrin Williams; 5- Smoke Christine; 6- Greg Miller; 7- Gary Cekovich; 8- Tom Slanker; 9- Matt Newcomer; 10- Allen Miller; 11- Matt Altobelli; 12- Anthony Toumas; 13- Mike Henry; 14- Justin Ehrhart; 15- Mike Goodwin; 16- Rob Stitley; 17- Timothy Barnes; 18- Mike Unger; 19- James Gross; 20- Charlie Pensinger; 21- Ben Cornbower; 22- Matt Frye; DNS- Matt Smith

Top 16 - Super Late Models

Pos. Driver Car #

1 Tom Myers 43a

2 Chris Shuey 21

3 Mike Hess 39

4 Scott Lupfer 77

5 Travis Dillman 22D

6 Billy Wampler 1W

7 Jere Weirman 65

8 Mike Christopher 66

9 Keith Crossley

10 Bob Spahr 86

11 Sterling Kinard 12

12 Butch Calpion 21

13 Mike Lupfer 06

14 Scott Sipe 88

15 Kirk Ryan 5K

16 Harold Beinhower 33

Top 24 - 358 Modifieds

Pos. Driver Car #

1 Jamie Mills 1W

2 Todd Burley 5

3 Larry Solomon 517

4 Jeff Strunk W9

5 Randy Fortna 4$

6 Rick Laubach 16

7 Kyle Strickler 16

8 Randy Stoudt R10

9 Gary Hager 44

10 Brian Johnson 30

11 Tom Umbenhauer 88

12 Al Shawver 15

13 Kevin Hirthler 117

14 Ryan Beltz 221

15 Randy Mohn 505

16 Scott Schaeffer 8

17 Bill Moyer Jr. 17Jr

18 Brian Rehbein 55

19 Jeff Ebersole 72

20 Ray Swinehart 33

21 Rich Brown 5

22 Bob Ebersole 27

23 Darrell Rhine 2

24 Scott Albert 10