IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BRADICH & STEPHANS REPEAT, MARTINECK, BRONISZEWSKI & KOTELES GET SEASON FIRSTS AT PPMS

PITTSBURGH, PA (6-4-05) –  Lou Bradich (Napa Late Models) and Jim Stephans (Advance Auto Parts Limited Late Models) collected their second victories of the season Saturday night at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway.  Other winners going into the record books for the first time in 2005 were Tom Martineck (E-Modifieds), Jeff Broniszewski (Isiminger’s Pennzoil Pure Stocks), and Craig Koteles (Amateur Stocks).

From the front row, the Hookstown Hornet, D.J. Miller, launched his  Rocket straight into the early lead in the 25 lap Napa Late Model main.  Miller’s comfortable lead was short lived as Lynn Geisler caught up to Miller, and the duo staged a tremendous battle for the next several laps.   With Miller still in front, Ben Miley joined the hunt , and Lou Bradich, who had started twelfth, was on the charge as well.  The action halted for the second time in the event  on lap twelve.  On the third restart for that lap, Bradich found himself fourth in the line up, and he continued his assault to the front when he moved into second on the next circuit with Miley, Geisler, Scott Gunn , Jim Zarin and John Flinner mixing it up right behind.  Bradich took the top spot on the sixteenth round, and Geisler regained second the following lap.  A caution for Jon Hodgkiss on lap 17 slowed the exciting action, and while the cars were being realigned,  D.J. Miller pitted with a flat tire ending his great run.  When the green came back out, Bradich took command again, and Lucky Lou held off  Geisler, Miley, Flinner , and Gunn to the checker.  After a string of bad luck runs, the Chester WV driver now has back to back wins on the Monster Half Mile.  Jim Zarin made his first outing of the season a good one with a sixth place showing, Neal Isiminger finished seventh, with Dave Wade eighth.  Bill Adler and Steve Baker crossed the stripe in a photo finish for the ninth spot.  Adler got the position with Baker tenth.  Shortly after the feature Adler felt ill thinking that it may have been heat related from the race; however, the EMT personnel determined that he be transported immediately to Ohio Valley Hospital for further evaluation and treatment.  The three qualifying heat races were taken by Bradich, George Kowatic and Jared Miley.  Jim Lepro was the Monarch Oil Hard Charger.

Showing no ill effects from an injured wrist of a couple of weeks ago, Baldwin’s Jim Stephans took the lead on lap 8 from Tommy Schrinhofer, who had led from the start of the Limited Late Model feature event,  Schirnhofer kept Stephans in his sights, but as the race wore on, Stephans increased his lead and handily won his second main event of the season.  Jesse Burroughs made a late race challenge on Schirnhofer but settled for third in a close finish coming for the stripe.  Nick Duratz claimed fourth and  limited late model rookie, Ray Brown, took fifth.  Jim Shahan crossed the line sixth with John Hobbs seventh.  Making her first ever start in competiton,  Laura Lukon rode home eighth, with Tom Duratz ninth, and Jeris Collins was credited with tenth.  Heat wins went to Burroughs and Brown while Stephans garnered hard charger honors.

Daryl Charlier controlled the first three laps of the E-Modified main before Tom Martineck, who hounded him from the start,  made what turned out to be the winning pass.  The Washington, PA driver survived several cautions during the 15-lap event and Charlier kept him in his sights, but Martineck  drove flawlessly the remainder of the race, and he went on to score the second win of his career on Pittsburgh’s tricky half mile.  Chuck Kennedy followed second finishing Charlier for the third spot with Dennis Niederriter fourth and Mike Basinger claimed the fifth position.  Six through ten were Cody Barack, Mitch Basinger, Kari Gasser, Wayne Tessean and Bobby Watt.  Charlier and J. E. Stadler won the heat races and the Monarch Oil Hard Charger was Wayne Tessean.

Jeff Broniszewski  from Coraopolis made his second start in 2005 a winning one as he took full advantage of his pole position start for the 15 lap Pure Stock main.   Broniszewski was hounded the entire event by Craig Kamicker and then Bill Robertson and A.J. Poljak; however, the beautifully painted #08 was running to perfection and he crossed the stripe with a little room to spare.  The hotly contested battle for runnerup went right to the finish line with second going to Kamicker while Robertson and Poljak settled for third and fourth respectively.  Monarch Oil Hard Charger Darryl Robison took fifth with sixth going to Joe Anthony.  Shawn Bryan, Ron Opatchen, Aaron Jones and Nick Kocuba completed the top ten.  Poljak and Robertson were the winners of the two qualifying heat races.

The Amateur Stock 12-lap  feature wound up the night’s racing, and when the final checker waved, Craig Koteles had run off from the competition to win his first of the season.  John Chipps led the first three laps before Koteles took over, and Chipps kept it a close race until the final two laps when Koteles put it in overdrive for the victory.  Chipps held off Eric Goldberg for second, Wes Wheeler rode home fourth and Bill Tennant completed the top five.  The second round of five went to Robby Torrens, Davy Lee, Tony Capo, Butch Levandosky, and Rick Gorsuch.  Heats were taken by Torrens and Wheeler with Torrens also earning hard charger honors.

PITTSBURGH’S PENNSYLVANIA MOTOR SPEEDWAY JUNE 4 RACE RESULTS

NAPA LATE MODELS

Monarch Oil Hard Charger – Jim Lepro

Heat Race Winners – Lou Bradich, George Kowatic, Jared Miley

Feature (25 Laps) – 1) Lou Bradich, 2) Lynn Geisler, 3) Ben Miley, 4) John Flinner, 5) Scott Gunn, 6) Jim Zarin, 7) Neal Isiminger, 8) Dave Wade, 9) Bill Adler, 10) Steve Baker, 11) Tony Musolino, 12) Danny Rich, 13) Jim Lepro, 14) Jim Arcuragi, 15) Bod DeJulio, 16) Dave Johnson, 17) Jon Hodgkiss, 18) Jared Miley, 19) Mike Martini, 20) D.J. Miller, 21) Mark Moats, 22) Gary Knollinger, 23) George Kowatic, 24) Michael Davis, 25) Bob Moskey, 26) Keith Rodriguez DNS

ADVANCE AUTO PARTS LIMITED LATE MODELS

Monarch Oil Hard Charger – Jim Stephans

Heat Race Winners – Jesse Burroughs, Ray Brown

Feature (20 Laps) – 1) Jim Stephans, 2) Tommy Schirnhofer, 3) Jesse Burroughs, 4) Nick Duratz, 5) Ray Brown, 6) Jim Shahan, 7) John Hobbs, 8) Laura Lukon, 9) Tom Duratz, 10) Jeris Collins, 11) Bobby Castelveter, 12) Frankie Schneider, 13) John Cain, 14) Larry Marks DNS

E-MODIFIEDS

Monarch Oil Hard Charger – Wayne Tessean

Heat Race Winners – Daryl Charlier, J.E. Stadler

Feature  (15 Laps) – 1) Tom Martineck, 2) Daryl Charlier, 3) Chuck Kennedy, 4) Dennis Niederriter, 5) Mike Basich, 6) Cody Barack, 7) Mitch Basich, 8) Kari Gasser, 9) Wayne Tessean, 10) Bobby Watt, 11) Bill Westlake, 12) Bob Freshour, 13) Joel Johns, 14) Bob Williams, 15) Kevin Miller, 16) Chad Will, 17) J.E. Stadler, 18) Mike McKee, 19) Ben Laboon DNS

ISIMINGER’S PENNZOIL PURE STOCKS

Monarch Oil Hard Charger – Darryl Robison

Heat Race Winners – A.J. Poljak, Bill Robertson

Feature (15 Laps) – 1) Jeff Broniszewski, 2) Craig Kamicker, 3) Bill Robertson, 4) AJ Poljak, 5) Darryl Robison, 6) Joe Anthony, 7) Shawn Bryan, 8) Ron Opatchen, 9) Aaron Jones, 10) Nick Kocuba, 11) Joe Hackimer, 12) John Hobbs, 13) Jim Moore, 14) Eric Betz, 15) Jim Wagner, 16) Don Bauerle Jr., 17) Jake Simmons, 18) Tim Folmer, 19) Bob Betz

AMATEUR STOCKS

Monarch Oil Hard Charger – Robby Torrens

Heat Race Winners – Robby Torrens, Wes Wheeler

Feature (12 Laps) – 1) Craig Koteles, 2) John Chipps, 3) Eric Goldberg, 4) Wes Wheeler, 5) Bill Tennant, 6) Robby Torrens, 7) Davy Lee, 8) Tony Capo, 9) Butch Levandosky, 10) Rich Gorsuch, 11) Todd Evans, 12) John Graynolds, 13) Richie Cooper, 14) Dennis Maffei, 15) Jim Kosut