FLINNER AND BRADICH COLLECT TWIN 20 CHECKERS.  KARI GASSER POWERS TO CAREER FIRST E-MOD VICTORY ON SUBURBAN ENERGY PRODUCTS NIGHT

PITTSBURGH, PA (5-21-05) -  Zelienople’s John Flinner and Chester, WV’s Lou Bradich shared victory lane as they split the NAPA Late Model Twin 20’s on Suburban Energy Products Night at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway Saturday evening.  Other new faces in victory lane for 2005 were Bobby Castelveter of Moon Township in the Advance Auto Parts Limited Late Models, and Kari Gasser from Girard, Ohio who claimed a career first in the E-Modifieds.  Winning his second of the year was Darryl Robison of Beaver Falls, who picked up the Isiminger’s Pennzoil Pure Stock main event; and Robby Torrens from Kennedy Township remains undefeated in the Amateur Stocks.

John Flinner took full advantage of his front row starting spot as he flawlessly drove his Mopar powered Rocket straight to victory lane to claim the win in the first NAPA Late Model Twin 20 event.  Runner up Dave Wade tried to chase him down, but Flinner  maneuvered the lapped traffic perfectly to stay well in front and pick up his first PPMS win of 2005 giving  him eighteen Late Model checkers on the Monster Half Mile.   D.J. Miller had a great run for third followed closely by Neal Isiminger for fourth and Ben Miley, from fifteenth, took the fifth spot.  Mark Moats finished sixth with Monarch Oil Hard Charger, George Kowatic seventh, Lou Bradich eighth, Jared Miley ninth, and Danny Rich rounded out the top ten.  Isiminger, Wade and Scott Gunn picked up the qualifying heat race wins

An invert twelve draw by Flinner put Keith Rodriguez and Scott Gunn on the front row for the second twenty lapper.  Gunn immediately shot into the lead.  Fifth starting Lou Bradich moved into second by the completion of the first lap with George Kowatic in pursuit. Gunn developed a push near midway as the threesome all battled for the lead.  Bradich got by on the twelfth circuit coming out of turn four, and  maintained the lead to the checker ending a long string of bad luck to grasp his first of the year.  The victory, his 21st, ties him with Steve Baker for 7th on the all time PPMS Late Model win list.  Kowatic's strong run placed him second at the finish with Flinner advancing from twelfth for third, Gunn hung on for fourth, and Wade completed the top five.  Western PA's 2004 Late Model Rookie of the Year, Jared Miley took sixth, Neal Isiminger was seventh, Ben Miley eighth, Danny Rich ninth, and Monarch Oil Hard Charger, Michael Davis rode home tenth. 

Bobby Castelveter took command and was in complete control of the  Limited Late Model 20 lap event from the drop of the green until the fourth and final turn coming for the checker.   At that point, rookie Brandon Burgoon, who had been steadily catching up with Castelveter, made a last ditch effort to overtake him as they headed for the flag.  The exciting finish saw Castelveter win it by a nose giving him his first of the season.  Burgoon settled for second with Ray Brown turning in an excellent run for third.  Nick Duratz was fourth and Jesse Burroughs recovered from being involved in  an opening lap skirmish to take fifth.  Tom Duratz, Jim Shahan, Tommy Schirnhofer, Jeris Collins and John Hobbs completed the top ten.  Heats went to Burroughs and Monarch Oil Hard Charger Burgoon.

An inverted start put Kari Gasser on the front row for the 15-lap E-Mod main.  Gasser immediately set sail for the checker as she has done many, many times in her nine-year career, but always to no avail.  She finally did it!  Chuck Kennedy gave it his best shot, but Gasser never faltered, and had nearly every fan in the house on their feet cheering as she crossed the stripe to win her first ever feature and go into the record books as the first female to win a main event at PPMS.  Runner-up Kennedy was in victory lane to offer his congratulations to Gasser on her hard fought and well deserved victory.  Wayne Tessean finished third, with Tom Martineck fourth and Dennis Niederriter fifth.  Newcomer J. E. Stalder was sixth, Cody Barrack seventh, Joe Pemberton eighth, Bob Freshour ninth, and Bobby Watt completed the top ten.  Stalder and Martineck won the heat races, and Freshour was the Monarch Oil Hard Charger.

The most competitive race of the night belonged to the Isiminger’s Pennzoil Pure Stocks.  After a melee at the start which saw Jake Simmons ride the wall on two wheels, the group settled down to provide thrilling three and four wide racing for the remainder of the event.  Stacie White, driving the Ron O’Patchen #51, held the lead until the halfway point when Darryl Robison took over.  Craig Kamicker pressured Robison the rest of the way, but Robison hung tough to take the win, his second of the young season.  Kamicker took second while White hung on for third with Bill Robertson right behind for fourth, and Jeff Broniszewski made his season debut in fifth.  Six through ten were A. J. Poljak, Joe Anthony, Shawn Bryan, Pete Rech and Steve Webb.  Heats went to Poljak and Kamicker and Broniszewski took Hard Charger honors.

The nightcap Amateur Stocks got underway with Tim Warman taking a chunk out of the turn one and two wall as he went upside down.  Unhurt, the safety crew cleaned up the accident scene, and Wes Wheeler proceeded to  set the pace on the restart.  Robby Torrens got by on the fifth circuit and went on to hold off a late race challenge by Davy Lee to pick up his third straight win.  Lee was credited with second, John Chipps was third, Shawn Bryan subbed for Ian Tomei and finished fourth, with Eric Goldberg claiming the fifth spot.  Bill Tennant rode home sixth with Craig Koteles seventh, Wes Wheeler eighth, Richie Cooper ninth, and Jim Kosut tenth.  Chipps and Hard Charger Torrens won the heat races.

PITTSBURGH'S PENNSYLVANIA MOTOR SPEEDWAY MAY 21 RACE RESULTS

NAPA Late Models:
Heat Race Winners:  Neal Isiminger, Dave Wade, Scott Gunn
Monarch Oil Hard Charger:  Feature #1 -George Kowatic, Feature #2 - Michael Davis
Feature #1(20 Laps):  1) John Flinner, 2) Dave Wade, 3) DJ Miller, 4) Neal Isiminger, 5) Ben Miley, 6) Mark Moats, 7) George Kowatic, 8) Lou Bradich, 9) Jared Miley, 10) Danny Rich, 11) Scott Gunn, 12) Keith Rodriguez, 13) Jon Hodgkiss, 14) Dave Johnson, 15) Bobby Hoffman, 16) Bob DeJulio, 17) Jim Arcuragi, 18) Gary Knollinger, 19) Bob Moskey, 20) Mark Banal, 21) Gary Swiger, 22) George Dayieb, 23) Michael Davis

Feature #2 (20 Laps):  1) Lou Bradich , 2) George Kowatic, 3) John Flinner, 4) Scott Gunn, 5) Dave Wade, 6) Jared Miley, 7) Neal Isiminger, 8) Ben Miley, 9) Danny Rich, 10) Michael Davis, 11) Mark Moats, 12) DJ Miller, 13) Keith Rodriguez, 14) Bobby Hoffman, 15) Dave Johnson, 16) Gary Knollinger, 17) Jim Arcuragi, 18) George Dayieb, 19) Jon Hodgkiss, 20) Bob Moskey, 21) Gary Swiger, 22) Bob DeJulio, 23) Mark Banal DNS

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

E-Modifieds
Heat Race Winners:  J. E. Stalder, Tom Martineck
Monarch Oil Hard Charger:  Bob Freshour
Feature (15 Laps):  1) Kari Gasser, 2) Chuck Kennedy, 3) Wayne Tessean, 4) Tom Martineck, 5) Dennis Niederriter, 6) J. E. Stalder, 7) Cody Barrack, 8) Joe Pemberton, 9) Bob Freshour, 10) Bobby Watt, 11) Joel Johns, 12) Kevin Miller, 13) David Mercer, 14) Vince Laboon, 15) Randy McElhaney DNS

Isiminger's Pennzoil Pure Stocks
Heat Race Winners:  A.J. Poljak, Craig Kamicker
Monarch Oil Hard Charger:  Jeff Broniszewski
Feature (15 Laps):  1) Darryl Robison, 2) Craig Kamicker, 3) Stacie White, 4) Bill Robertson, 5) Jeff Broniszewski, 6) A.J. Poljak, 7) Joe Anthony, 8) Shawn Bryan, 9) Pete Rech, 10) Steve Webb, 11) Nick Kocuba, 12) Bob Betz, 13) Aaron Jones, 14) John Hobbs, 15) Jim Moore, 16) Joe Hackimer, 17) Jake Simmons

Amateur Stocks
Heat Race Winners: John Chipps, Robby Torrens
Monarch Oil Hard Charger:  Robby Torrens
Feature (12 Laps):  1) Robby Torrens, 2) Davy Lee, 3) John Chipps, 4) Shawn Bryan, 5) Eric Goldberg, 6) Bill Tennant, 7) Craig Koteles, 8) Wes Wheeler, 9) Richie Cooper, 10) Jim Kosut, 11) Ferguson, 12) Todd Evans, 13) Lonnie Lamb, 14) Tim Warman, 15) Butch Levandosky DNS, 16) Skeets Levandosky DNS, 17) Chris Heinlein DNS, 18) John Greynolds DNS