Luck Prevails for Scott Gunn in Thrilling Late Model Main at Pittsburgh’s PA Motor Speedway Saturday.  Career Firsts for Mike Basich and Nick Kocuba

PITTSBURGH, PA (5-7-05) –  Saturday night at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway was full of highs and lows for several competitors.  A mildly surprised Scott Gunn of West Mifflin found himself in the Late Model winner’s circle, while Baldwin’s Jim Stephans also appeared in Limited Late Model victory lane only to announce that he had lost a motor in the process.  Adena Ohio’s Mike Basich drove an outstanding race to pick up his first ever in the E-modifieds, while Nick Kocuba from Imperial finally made it to victory lane to notch a career first in the Pure Stocks.  The wild and wooly Amateur Stocks saw Gary Koteles outlast his competitors to take the trophy in the nightcap event only to have to relinquish it after a post race inspection found him to be illegal.  Robby Torrens of Kennedy Twp. inherited the win making him two for two in Amateur Stock action.

Mike Johnson and Lou Bradich brought the NAPA Late Model field to the green for 25 fast and furious laps.  Bradich immediately jumped into the lead with Scott Gunn tucking into second.  Two early cautions regrouped the field, but each time Bradich showed he was going to be tough to beat.  Gunn, Steve Baker, Johnson and Flinner kept Bradich in sight as the race continued, but Bradich was on a rail.  Gunn closed in several times using the bottom line while Bradich was making it work on the high side.  As the race wound down to the final few laps, it suddenly became apparent that Bradich was losing straightaway speed, and Gunn was on him like a new suit.  Bradich would regain his advantage going into the turns, but the relentless Gunn battled him in dramatic fashion during the final two circuits.  Finally Gunn shot in front, and Bradich, who had lost a cylinder, struggled to keep his slowing car ahead of the pack behind him as they came for the checker.  Gunn, last year’s Late Model Rookie, took the win, the second of his late model career, and Bradich settled for a disappointing second with Baker third,  Johnson fourth, and Flinner taking fifth.  Defending track champion, Dave Wade, was sixth, Lynn Geisler, from 15^th, finished seventh, and Jon Hodgkiss, Michael Davis and Bill Adler rounded out the top ten.   Heats went to Flinner and Baker.  Bob Moskey was the Monarch Oil Hard Charger.

Cylinders came into play in the Advance Auto Parts Limited Late Model 20 lap main event as well, but Jim Stephans had better luck than Bradich.  Stephans was in front by the completion of lap one, and he never looked back on his way to the checker.  After meeting the weight and height requirements at the scales, Stephans was pushed to victory lane where he announced that his win was an expensive one, as he too had lost a cylinder in the closing laps.  The win was the 10^th of Stephans’ career.  Bobby Castelveter pursued Stephans for the entire event, and took runner-up honors over a charging Jesse Burroughs and Tommy Schirnhofer.  Nick Duratz ran a steady race  to complete the top five.  Six through ten were Ray Brown, Kirk Young, Jim Stephans, John Hobbs and John Cain.  Schirnhofer and Brown claimed the two heat races, and Schirnhofer was also the Monarch Oil Hard Charger of the event.

While engine woes factored into the outcome of the first two main events, there was no loss of power under the hood of the flying math teacher, Nick Kocuba’s potent #10 during the Isiminger’s Pennzoil Pure Stock feature.  Kocuba battled with the front runners led by Bill Robertson for the first six laps.  Somehow Kocuba ended up in front as the lead group of Robertson, Aaron Jones, Craig Kamicker and Joe Anthony shuffled out of turn four.  Two laps later the yellow waved, and the anxious field was regrouped for the restart with Kocuba holding the point.  One final yellow, with two to go, added drama to the closing laps, as Robertson had one last chance to spoil Kocuba’s bid for the win.  Kocuba hung on to the checker, and the very excited 3^rd year driver claimed his career first with Robertson a close second.  Monarch Oil Hard Charger Darryl Robison finished third, with Ron O’Patchen fourth and A.J. Poljak rounded out the top five.  Completing the top ten were Joe Anthony, Kamicker, Steve Webb and Bob Betz.  The two heat races were taken by Kamicker and O’Patchen.

A second career first win went into the record books as second year driver Mike Basich topped the field in the E-modified 15 lap feature.  Mitch Basich,  (Mike’s uncle) was present to congratulate him in the winner’s circle. Mitch raced late models at PPMS when the track opened back in 1979.  And fitting for Mother’s Day weekend, Basich profusely thanked his Mom, along with Dad, for giving him the opportunity to race.  The Buckeye State prevailed in the E-mod main as a trio of Ohio drivers claimed the first three spots.  Following Basich across the stripe was Cody Barrack second, and Wayne Tessean coming from 12^th took third.  Chuck Kennedy drove to fourth and Kari Gasser completed the top five.  Six through ten were Dennis Niederriter, Tom Martineck, Joel Johns, Bill Westlake and Joe Pemberton.  Hard Charger Tessean won a heat and the other qualifying race was taken by Kari Gasser.

From the pole, Eric Goldberg led the first lap of the Amateur Stock main.  Gary Koteles got by on the next lap, and then the excitement began as  Koteles and Ian Tomei went at it side by side for the next several laps.  Suddenly Tomei wiggled and spun on the back stretch with the oncoming pack scattering causing the flagman to throw the yellow.  Tomei, who never actually stopped was relegated to the rear and from that point on Koteles held off Robby Torrens to take his first win of the season.  However Koteles win was disallowed after a post race inspection handing the win over to Torrens.  John Chipps drove a great race for third, but was also disqualified in the inspection so Davy Lee ended up second, Tomei was third, Wes Wheeler finished fourth with Todd Evans fifth.  Eric Goldberg, Mitch Wattelet, Lonnie Lamb. John Greywolds and Tim Warman completed the top ten. Chipps and Torrens were the heat race winners, with Torrens also claiming hard charger honors. 

NAPA Late Models - Heat Race Winners:  John Flinner, Steve Baker
Monarch Oil Hard Charger - Bob Moskey
Feature (25 Laps) - 1) Scott Gunn, West Mifflin, 2) Lou Bradich, 3) Steve Baker, 4) Mike Johnson, 5) John Flinner, 6) Dave Wade, 7) Lynn Geisler, 8) Jon Hodgkiss, 9) Michael Davis, 10) Bill Adler, 11) Bob Moskey, 12) D.J. Miller, 13) Ben Miley, 14) Gary Knollinger, 15) Keith Rodriguez, 16) Dave Johnson, 17) George Kowatic, 18) Butch D'Antonio, 19) Mark Moats, 20) Danny Rich, 21) Jim Arcuragi, 22) Jared Miley, 23) Neal Isiminger DNS

Advance Auto Parts Limited Late Models - Heat Race Winners:  Tommy Schirnhofer, Ray Brown
Monarch Oil Hard Charger - Tommy Schirnhofer
Feature (20 Laps): 1) Jim Stephans, Baldwin, 2) Bobby Castelveter, 3) Jesse Burroughs, 4) Tommy Schirnhofer, 5) Nick Duratz, 6) Ray Brown, 7) Kirk Young, 8) Jim Shahan, 9) John Hobbs, 10) John Cain, 11) Brandon Burgoon, 12) Blaine Heater, 13) Jeris Collins DNS, 14) Frankie Schneider DNS

E-Modifieds - Heat Race Winners:  Kari Gasser, Wayne Tessean
Monarch Oil Hard Charger - Wayne Tessean
Feature (15 Laps):  1) Mike Basich, Adena OH, 2) Cody Barrack, 3) Wayne Tessean, 4) Chuck Kennedy, 5) Kari Gasser, 6) Dennis Niederriter, 7) Tom Martineck, 8) Joel Johns, 9) Bill Westlake, 10) Joe Pemberton, 11) Kevin Miller, 12) Ben Laboon, 13) Daryl Charlier, 14) Bobby Watt, 15) Bruce Dreistadt, 16) Denny Nakutis DNS

Isiminger's Pennzoil Pure Stocks - Heat Race Winners:  Craig Kamicker, Ron OPatchen
Monarch Oil Hard Charger - Darryl Robison
Feature (15 Laps) - 1) Nick Kocuba, Imperial,  2) Bill Robertson, 3) Darryl Robison, 4) Ron OPatchen, 5) AJ Poljak, 6) Shawn Bryan, 7) Joe Anthony, 8) Craig Kamicker, 9) Steve Webb, 10) Bob Betz, 11) Aaron Jones, 12) Eric Betz, 13) Marc Greer, 14) James Wagner, 15) Pete Rech, 16) Jake Simmons DNS, 17) Don Bauerle Jr. DNS, 18) Jim Moore DNS

Amateur Stocks - Heat Race Winners:  John Chipps, Robby Torrens
Monarch Oil Hard Charger - Robby Torrens
Feature (12 Laps) - 1) Robby Torrens, Kennedy Twp.  2) Davy Lee, 3) Ian Tomei, 4) Wes Wheeler, 5) Todd Evans, 6) Eric Goldberg, 7) Mitch Wattelet, 8) Lonnie Lamb, 9) John Greywolds, 10) Tim Warman,  11) Adam Chytil, 12) Jim Kosut, 13) Butch Levandosky DNS, 14) Gary Koteles DQ, 15) John Chipps DQ,  16) Skeets Levandosky DNS, 17) Rich Cooper DNS