Baker’s Rocket Launches  to Season First PPMS Late Model Win;  E-Mod Special to Tessean

PITTSBURGH, PA (7-2-05) –  The Fourth of July holiday celebration got off to an early start for Steve Baker (Napa Late Models), Ron O’Patchen (Isiminger’s Pennzoil Pure Stocks) and Davy Lee (Amateur Stocks) as they collected their first wins of the 05 season Saturday night at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway.  Wayne Tessean found victory lane for the first time since opening night when he convincingly won the E-Modified special, and Jim Stephans continued his winning ways in the Advance Auto Parts Limited Late Models.

After the on track driver autograph session was completed, the Late Models fired up the engines for their 25-lap feature event.   D.J. Miller and Michael Davis paraded the field to the green with Davis’s patriotic body panels sporting the stars and stripes, getting the advantage, to lead lap one.  The D’Animal, Danny Rich, swept by Davis on the next round, and he set a torrid pace until sixth starting Steve Baker caught him, and the cat and mouse game began.  Baker repeatedly rode the top of the track to finally complete what turned out to be the winning pass on lap ten.  From that point on, the West Virginia rim rider stayed in command until the yellow flew for the first time on the 22^nd circuit.  Four tries to get the next lap in the books had Baker biting his nails, but he remained in control to collect the well deserved win, his first of the season and 22^nd of his late model career on the Monster Half Mile.  Lou Bradich advanced to second with Lynn Geisler third, John Flinner fourth and Danny Rich rounded out the top five.  Last week’s winner, Scott Gunn, rode home sixth with Miller seventh, Davis eighth, Dave Wade ninth, and first time visitor, Jarred Hawkins scoring a top ten finish.  Heats went to Gunn and Flinner with Gunn also earning the Monarch Oil Hard Charger honors.

Baldwin’s Jim Stephans burst into the lead on the first lap of the Advance Auto Parts Limited Late Model feature and he never glanced back for the next nineteen circuits to pick up another convincing win, his third of the season and twelfth of his career at PPMS.  Limited Late Model rookie Ray Brown tucked into second, and held off Monarch Oil Hard Charger Jesse Burroughs to claim the runner-up position.  Newcomer Ty Myers rode home fourth with Bobby Castelveter picking up fifth.  Six through ten were Tommy Schirnhofer, John Cain, Tom Duratz, Laura Lukon and Nick Duratz.  Schirnhofer and Burroughs were the heat race winners

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Grabbing his first win since April 16, Austintown Ohio’s Wayne Tessean picked the perfect night to become a repeat winner in the E-Mods as they were running a 4^th of July special for an increased purse.  Ricky Meglaye led the opening lap, but both Tessean and Kari Gasser got by on the second circuit.  Gasser gave Tessean a spirited chase, but Tessean’s setup worked flawlessly, and he went on to take the checker and the trophy with room to spare in the caution free event.  Gasser settled for second with Mike Basich third, and Meglaye hung on for fourth.  Fifth went to Daryl Charlier.  The next round of five were Tom Martineck, Shawn Domhoff, Chuck Kennedy, J.J. Bametzrieder, and Dennis Niederriter.  Domhoff and Charlier won the heats while Kari Gasser collected hard charger honors.

Although he won from the pole position, the veteran  Ron O’Patchen  had his hands full the entire distance to land his first feature of the season in the Pure Stocks.  O’Patchen first battled with Craig Kamicker, then Darryl Robison joined the pair to make it an exciting three car race for the second half of the event.  With two to go, second running Kamicker and Robison traded some paint giving the Scott Township driver a chance to gain a little breathing room.  The final lap saw O’Patchen first with Kamicker hanging on for second and Robison close for third.  Mike Chruszcz drove to a season best fourth, with Aaron Jones completing the top five.  Finishing sixth was A.J. Poljak, Steve Webb took seventh, Nick Kocuba eighth, Bill Robertson ninth and Doug Foster, subbing for Jeff Broniszewski, claimed the tenth position.  Robison and Kamicker were heat race winners, and Foster was named hard charger of the event.

Eric Goldberg led two laps of the Amateur Stock main event before an aggressive move by Davy Lee put him in front of the pack.  The Independence PA pilot went on to score the Fourth of July weekend victory by several car lengths.  After the pass by Lee, Goldberg hung on to second while Robby Torrens and Wes Wheeler tried every move to get by during the 12-lap chase.  Torrens finally overtook Goldberg, and at the finish it was Lee first, with Torrens second and Goldberg settled for third.  Wheeler was a strong fourth and Ian Tomei rounded out the top five.  Six through ten were Adam Chytil, Gary Koteles, Todd Evans, Dennis Maffei and Bill Tennant.  Chytil and Torrens collected heat race wins and Lee was the Monarch Oil Hard Charger of the event.

PITTSBURGH’S PENNSYLVANIA MOTOR SPEEDWAY JULY 2 RACE RESULTS

Napa Late Models
Monarch Oil Hard Charger:  Scott Gunn
Heat Race Winners:  Scott Gunn, John Flinner
Feature (25 Laps):  1) Steve Baker, 2) Lou Bradich, 3) Lynn Geisler, 4) John Flinner, 5) Danny Rich, 6) Scott Gunn, 7) D. J. Miller, 8) Michael Davis, 9) Dave Wade, 10) Jarred Hawkins, 11) Jon Hodgkiss, 12) Mike Cecere, 13) Dave Johnson, 14) Keith Rodriguez, 15) Jared Miley, 16) Jim Arcuragi, 17) Gary Knollinger, 18) Butch D’Antonio, 19) Mike Martini, 20) Tim Gould

Advance Auto Parts Limited Late Models
Monarch Oil Hard Charger:  Jesse Burroughs
Heat Race Winners:  Tommy Schirnhofer, Jesse Burroughs
Feature (20 Laps):  1) Jim Stephans, 2) Ray Brown, 3) Jesse Burroughs, 4) Ty Myers, 5) Bobby Castelveter, 6) Tommy Schirnhofer, 7) John Cain, 8) Tom Duratz, 9) Laura Lukon, 10) Nick Duratz, 11) John Hobbs

E-Modifieds
Monarch Oil Hard Charger:  Kari Gasser
Heat Race Winners:  Shawn Domhoff, Daryl Charlier
Feature (15 Laps):  1) Wayne Tessean, 2) Kari Gasser, 3) Mike Basich, 4) Ricky Meglaye, 5) Daryl Charlier, 6) Tom Martineck, 7) Shawn Domhoff, 8) Chuck Kennedy, 9) J. J. Bametzrieder, 10) Dennis Niederriter, 11) Joel Johns, 12) Kyle Brown, 13) Mitch Basich, 14) Bob Freshour, 15) Kevin Miller, 16) Joe Pemberton, 17) Ben Laboon, 18) David Mercer DNS, 19) Denny Nakutis DNS

Isiminger’s Pennzoil Pure Stocks
Monarch Oil Hard Charger:  Doug Foster
Heat Race Winners:  Darryl Robison, Craig Kamicker
Feature (15 Laps):  1) Ron O’Patchen, 2) Craig Kamicker, 3) Darryl Robison, 4) Mike Cruszcz, 5) Aaron Jones, 6) A.J. Poljak, 7) Steve Webb, 8) Nick Kocuba, 9) Bill Robertson, 10) Doug Foster, 11) Bob Schwartzmiller, 12) John Hobbs, 13) Joe Hackimer, 14) Bob Betz, 15) Ralph Hysong, 16) Tim Folmer, 17) Don Bauerle, 18) James Wagner, 19) Jake Simmons, 20) Joe Anthony, 21) Shawn Bryan

Amateur Stocks
Monarch Oil Hard Charger:  Davy Lee
Heat Race Winners:  Adam Chytil, Robby Torrens
Feature (12 Laps):  1) Davy Lee, 2) Robby Torrens, 3) Eric Goldberg, 4) Wes Wheeler, 5) Ian Tomei, 6) Adam Chytil, 7) Gary Koteles, 8) Todd Evans, 9) Dennis Maffei, 10) Bill Tennant, 11) Richie Cooper, 12) Skeets Levandosky, 13) Skeets Levandosky, 14) Butch Levandosky DNS, 15) Jason Herniak DNS