Patience Rewards Flinner with 2nd PPMS Late Model Win;  Kamicker Adds Name to Pure Stock 20 Win List

PITTSBURGH, PA (Aug. 6) -  Dirt's Monster Half Mile provided plenty of exciting action Saturday evening, and coming out with big victories on Rudd Equipment Night at Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway  were repeat winners John Flinner (Zelienople)  in the Napa Late Models, Jim Stephans (Baldwin) in the Advance Auto Parts Limited Late Models, and Wayne Tessean (Austintown, OH)  in the E-Modifieds.  Collecting the headline special event, The 14th Annual Isiminger's Pennzoil Pure Stock 20, was current points leader Craig Kamicker from Hopewell.  A career first victory in the Amateur Stocks was recorded by Pittsburgh's Eric Goldberg..

The 25-lap Napa Late Model feature headed by Rick Heim and Tim Gould got off to a rousing start when nearly the entire back half of the 26-car starting field was involved in a crash on the back straightaway.  A complete restart minus five of the orginal starters took the green again, but before the lap could be completed, the yellow was back out for Ben Miley who was running third.  When the first lap finally counted, Steve Baker found himself with the lead.  Baker set a a torrid pace and by lap seven was approaching lapped traffic, but once again the yellow cloth appeared.  A wild restart on the next lap brought the yellow out again.  With the field back under green, Baker, Lou Bradich, John Flinner and George Kowatic battled it out for the front positions.  Bradich and Baker went  into turn one with Baker's momentum getting him into the wall to force another yellow.  The realignment put Bradich in front with Kowatic second, but as the field was being lined up, Bradich pitted with a broken oil pump belt, and Kowatic found himself the new leader of the pack..  Meanwhile Baker's crew hastily made repairs and Baker was able to rejoin the field without losing a lap.  When the race resumed, Flinner's Mopar made a move on Kowatic to take over the point, and once in front Flinner began to open up some distance between himself and the exciting race taking place for second.  Kowatic having a great run, took sole control of second, while Dave Wade from twelfth, was battling with Doug Dodd and Mark Banal.  Flinner's great lead dissolved when the yellow waved for the final time on the 16th lap, but the Mopar of Flinner was clearly headed for the checker, and he went unchallenged the remainder of the distance to claim his second win of the season.  The victory gives Flinner 19 career PPMS Late Model wins and ties him with John Beatty at 36 for tenth place on the PPMS All Division Career Win List.  Kowatic held tough for second over Wade, Dodd and Banal.  Al Atallah finished sixth while Baker charged back to seventh with Scott Peltz eighth, Michael Davis ninth, and Tim Gould completed the top ten  Dodd, Bradich and Kowatic took the heats and Danny Rich was the Monarch Oil Hard Charger.

The 14th Annual Isiminger's Pennzoil Pure Stock 20 took to the track with a four wide salute to the very large and enthusiastic crowd on hand.  Twenty-five anxious racers negated the original start, and then an accident in turn two brought out the yellow for the second time before a lap could be completed.  Finally the race got underway again  with Craig Kamicker, from the front row, taking off with the lead; however, another tangle brought the yellow back out..  Back under green, Kamicker took off once more with Jeff Broniszewski right behind, but yellow fever was in the air, and the color was waving again on lap 7.  Two more tries on the 7th lap and one more yellow on the tenth lap would be the last time the flag would be shown.  Kamicker, on a rail, went the rest of the distance to add his name to the winner's list of  the prestigious Pure Stock 20.  Jake Simmons won a spirited battle with Broniszewski to claim runner-up honors while Ron O'Patchen was right there for fourth over Aaron Jones who was a close fifth.  Six through ten were Joe Anthony, Shawn Bryan, Tim Folmer, Bob Schwartzmiller and Aaron Fraser.  The Schwartzmiller Ground Maintenance Dash was taken by Jake Simmons and the three heat races were won by O'Patchen, Broniszewski and Kamicker.  Aaron Jones picked up hard charger honors while Bill Robertson received the hard luck award.  Among the numerous special contingency awards were the Drew's Auto Service Lap 7 leader bonus which went to Kamicker and 7th place finisher, Shawn Bryan,  who picked up the Drew's Auto bonus presented in memory of friend and fellow racer,  Bill Adler and his car number 7A.

Things settled down for the Advance Auto Parts Limited Late Model feature with Ray Brown shooting into the lead from the start.  Mike Cecere held second until the fourth circuit when Jim Stephans went by with his sights set on Brown.  Close racing kept the field tight until the second and final yellow of the event slowed things down again just before the half way point of the 20 lapper.  Stephans grabbed the lead on the restart, and Brandon Burgoon came into the picture as he took third from Cecere, setting his sights on Brown.  While Stephans sailed around the half mile, Burgoon took over second, but Stephans lead was enough to easily take him to the stripe for his fourth victory of 2005.  Burgoon crossed unchallenged for runner-up with Cecere claiming third.  Brown settled for fourth with Jesse Burroughs rounding out the top five.  Tom Duratz was sixth, John Cain seventh, Bobby Castelveter eighth, Nick Duratz ninth, and Frankie Schneider completed the top ten.  Burroughs and Burgoon took the heats, and Stephans was the Monarch Oil Hard Charger

A rare straight up start found eventual winner Wayne Tessean on the pole for the 15-lap E-Modified feature.  Tom Martineck kept the pressure on Tessean for the first half of the event, but after the one and only caution of the race on lap 10, Tessean put it in overdrive for the restart and powered away to his third victory of the season.  The win is Tessean's 18th E-mod victory on the Monster Half Mile,  and his 58th on the  PPMS Career All Division Feature win list.  Martineck rode home second with Dennis Niederriter third, Cody Barack a strong fourth and Kari Gasser a close fifth.  The next round of five was Chuck Kennedy, Kurt Halbedl, Mitch Basich, Mike Basich and Ricky Meglaye.  Tessean and Niederriter won the two heat races and Halbedl claimed the hard charger award.

The last race of the night proved to be worth waiting for as a very humble and thrilled Eric Goldberg finally captured his career first in the Amateur Stocks.  Davy Lee led the first circuit before Goldberg from ninth took over,  and he held off a persistent Gary Koteles in the late stages of the race to take the exciting win in the caution free event.  Lee hung on to third with Adam Chytil fourth, and Rick Gorsuch subbing for Ian Tomei claimed fifth.  Wes Wheeler was sixth with Bill Tennant seventh and Todd Evans placed eighth.  Tony Capo, subbing for Robby Torrens, finished ninth and Dennis Maffei was tenth.  Chytil and Goldberg took heats wins and Goldberg capped off his perfect evening by also earning Monarch Oil Hard Charger honors..

This Saturday, August 13, finds the MACS (Mid Atlantic Championship Series) Late Models  invading Dirt's Monster Half Mile for the running of the $5000 to win, 50-lap "Garin Memorial 50".  In addition, the Limited Late Models, E-Mods, Pure Stocks and Amateur Stocks will be presenting a complete racing program.  Grandstand gates open at 5:00pm with MACS Late Model time trials commencing at 6:30 with racing to follow.  For more information on the Garin Memorial you can contact the Pittsburgh Business Office at 412-279-7223, or call 724-853-7223, or visit our web site at www.ppms.com.

PITTSBURGH'S PENNSYLVANIA MOTOR SPEEDWAY AUGUST 6 RACE RESULTS

Napa Late Models -
Monarch Oil Hard Charger - Danny Rich
Heat Race Winners - Doug Dodd, Lou Bradich, George Kowatic
Feature (25 laps) - 1) John Flinner, 2) George Kowatic, 3) Dave Wade, 4) Doug Dodd, 5) Mark Banal, 6) Al Atallah, 7) Steve Baker, 8) Scott Peltz, 9) Michael Davis, 10) Tim Gould, 11) Ben Miley, 12) Jim Lepro, 13) Danny Rich, 14) Rick Heim, 15) George Dayieb, 16) Jared Miley, 17) Mark Moats, 18) Lou Bradich, 19) J. E. Stalder, 20) Jon Hodgkiss, 21) D. J. Miller, 22) Scott Gunn, 23) Rich Apolito, 24) Lance Elson, 25) Bob Moskey, 26) Keith Rodriguez, 27) Mike Martini DNS, 28) Lynn Geisler DNS

Advance Auto Parts Limited Late Models -
Monarch Oil Hard Charger - Jim Stephans
Heat Race Winners - Jesse Burroughs, Brandon Burgoon
Feature (20 Laps) - 1) Jim Stephans, 2) Brandon Burgoon, 3) Mike Cecere, 4) Ray Brown, 5) Jesse Burroughs, 6) Tom Duratz, 7) John Cain, 8) Bobby Castelveter, 9) Nick Duratz, 10) Frankie Schneider, 11) Bryan Hoffman, 12) John Hobbs, 13) J. E. Stalder, 14) Corey Behanna

E-Modifieds -
Monarch Oil Hard Charger - Kurt Halbedl
Heat Race Winners - Wayne Tessean, Dennis Niederriter
Feature (15 Laps) - 1) Wayne Tessean, 2) Tom Martineck, 3) Dennis Niederriter, 4) Cody Barack, 5) Kari Gasser, 6) Chuck Kennedy, 7) Kurt Halbedl, 8) Mitch Basich, 9) Mike Basich, 10) Rick Meglaye, 11) Bobby Watt, 12) Kevin Miller, 13) Dave Atkinson, 14) Dale Charlier, 15) Daryl Charlier, 16) Bruce Dreistadt,  17) Joel Johns, 18) Bob Freshour, 19) Frank Magill, 20) David Mercer, 21) Mike McKee, 22) John Myrgo, 23) Ben Laboon

Isiminger's Pennzoil Pure Stocks -
Monarch Oil Hard Charger - Aaron Jones
Dash - Jake Simmons
Heat Race Winners - Ron O'Patchen, Jeff Broniszewski, Craig Kamicker
Feature  (20 Laps) - 1) Craig Kamicker, 2) Jake Simmons, 3) Jeff Broniszewski, 4) Ron O'Patchen, 5) Aaron Jones, 6) Joe Anthony, 7) Shawn Bryan, 8) Tim Folmer, 9) Bob Schwartzmiller, 10) Aaron Fraser, 11) Steve Web, 12) John Hobbs, 13) Mike Cruszcz, 14) Ralph Hysong, 15) Charlie DiLoreto, 16) Robert Betz, 17) Eric Betz, 18) Don Bauerle Jr., 19) Nick Kocuba, 20) Jeff Przybysz, 21) Joe Hackimer, 22) Joe Koteles, 23) A.J. Poljak, 24) Bill Robertson, 25) Glenn Ritchea, 26) Darryl Robison DNS

Amateur Stocks -
Monarch Oil Hard Charger - Eric Goldberg
Heat Race Winners - Adam Chytil, Eric Goldberg
Feature (12 Laps) - 1) Eric Goldberg, 2) Gary Koteles, 3) Davy Lee, 4) Adam Chytil, 5) Rick Gorsuch, 6) Wes Wheeler, 7) Bill Tennant, 8) Todd Evans, 9) Tony Capo, 10) Dennis Maffei, 11) Darren Ferguson, 12) Richie Cooper, 13) Jason Herniak DNS