Boom Briggs Captures MCR Priority Care RaceFAN 50!!!
September 30, 2008
(E. Smethport, PA) The 2008 season came to an end Saturday night at McKean County Raceway as Boom Briggs of Bear Lake, Pennsylvania swept the entire three day event and pocketed over $15,500 in prize money driving his Meridan Hardwoods, Custom Racing Engines, Genesis Shocks Rocket Chassis. The Bear Lake Banzai won Thursday night’s Dave Lundgren Memorial King of the Hill and Friday nights, Don Hardy Memorial and capped the weekend off with his biggest career win, the Priority Care RaceFAN 50!
Boom started on the pole for the $12,000 Priority Care RaceFAN 50 due to his Andrews Auto Salvage Dash win. Starting next to him was his teacher, Chub Frank, the inaugural winner of Priority Care RaceFAN 50 in 2006. The pair of Rockets shot down the front stretch at the initial green with Chubzilla using the cushion to stay even with Boom. As the pair completed lap one, it was Frank by a half of a car length. The two stayed even till Briggs would lead his first lap on lap four. Chub would come back and nip Briggs at the line on lap five as Rich Gardner, Jeff Hoffman and Chad Valone rounded out the top five. Briggs would come back on lap seven to grab the lead back from Chub. The white #99B of Briggs hugged the inside berm as he started to pull a few car lengths on Frank. As lap ten clicked off the board Boom still had a three car length lead over Frank, with Gardner, Hoffman and Valone still your remaining top five cars. Hoffman slipped in turn two on the next lap to allow Valone and twelfth place starter and defending race winner Rob Blair to claim the fifth position. Valone moved into third on lap thirteen, as Gardner and Blair were still fourth and fifth. Blair would dispose of Gardner the next lap and sixteenth starting Mike Blose would claim fifth on lap fifteen. Briggs meanwhile still had a comfortable lead over Chub. On lap 20 the first yellow of the event came out as a steady rain was falling and ULMS and MCR officials waited till the precipitation let up and the track was race able again. On the restart, Brigg chose the inside lane and Chub tried to use the cushion again to race with the Bear Lake Banzai. Boom again started to distance himself over Chub as Valone, Blair and Blose were locked into a battle for third. At the halfway point the top five were still the same with Hoffman, eighteenth starting Todd Andrews now in seventh, Gardner, Bob Close and Doug Eck rounding out the top ten.
Close driving a backup Chub Frank machine moved into eighth on the next lap. Eck would put Gardner back to tenth on lap twenty eight as Briggs had lap traffic coming into play allowing Chub to close in again. On lap thirty-four, near disaster happened for Briggs as the lap car of Scott Lebarron spun in middle of turn 3 and 4 and Briggs had to take evasive action to miss the spun #8L machine. On the restart Boom lead Chub into turn one, while fifth place running and 2008 Northern Tier Inc. ULMS Late Model Champion, Todd Andrews made his outside move to get around Mike Blose for fifth and hounded Blair for fourth. Andrews did a slide job out of turn 2 which resulted in contact between him and Blair allowing Blose to regain fifth. Blair would come right back pass Blose for fifth as he was glued to Andrews black #42 machine. Valone would slip above the cushion on lap 40 to allow Andrews and Blair to move past and now be in third and fourth. The yellow would come out again on lap 43 for the slow machine of Jared Miley. Briggs again pace the field and shot ahead of Chub on the restart as Andrews went to the top groove in turns one and two in his attempt to move around Chubzilla. This allowed Blair to slide underneath Andrews and regrab third. Boom kept a slight comfortable lead over Chub as Blair, Andrews and Valone were all hounding each other for those four positions. But nobody had enough for Boom Briggs as he came across the stripe for his biggest career win. The past two Priority Care RaceFAN 50 winners, Chub Frank and Rob Blair were second and third. Andrews claimed fourth from his eighteenth starting spot and we crowned the 2008 Northern Tier Inc. ULMS Late Model Champion. Chad Valone had an impressive fifth; Doug Eck came home sixth from his seventeenth starting spot. Blose came home seventh from sixteenth, Hoffman was eight, Bob Close came home ninth in one of Chub Frank’s backup cars, with Rich Gardner claiming tenth.
Rob Blair set fast time with a new track record of 14.66 seconds in Friday’s Weber Hydraulics Keeping the Pressure On Time Trials. Heat winners were: Jeff Hoffman, Chad Valone, Chub Frank, Rich Gardner and Mike Knight. Mike Blose and Doug Eck won the consolation events while Briggs and Frank won the Andrews Auto Salvage Dashes.
RESULTS:
Northern Tier Inc. ULMS Late Models PRIORITY CARE RACE FAN 50:
BOOM BRIGGS, Chub Frank, Rob Blair, Todd Andrews, Chad Valone, Doug Eck, Mike Blose, Jeff Hoffman, Bob Close, Rich Gardner, Mike Knight, Sam Stile, Dutch Davies, Gregg Satterlee, David Scott, Doug Ricotta, Greg Oakes, Alan Sagi, Jason Dupont, Jared Miley, Scott Lebarron, Dave Hess, Brent Rhebergan, Dick Barton
DNQ: Chris Hackett, John Lobb, Dan Stone, Luke Hoffner, Dennis Lunger, Kirk Bradley, Doyle Benton, Darrell Bossard, Shawn McGarvey, George Lebarbara, Andy Kania, Bump Hedman, Bernie Whiteford, Al Brewer
MCR FALL CLASSIC SCHEDULE
September 24, 2008
Thursday September 25
Gates Open 5PM
Racing Begins at 7:30PM
Driver Meeting 6:30 PM
ULMS PILL DRAW CUT OFF 6:45PM
Practice (Round 1) @ 7PM
- FASTRAK Late Models
- BRP CanAm
- ULMS Late Models
- Emod
- Street Stocks
Race Time – 7:30 PM
- ULMS Dave Lundgren Memorial KoH Qualifiers (Positions 13-30 to be determined)
- Mini Stock Heats
- Pure Stocks Heats
- Dave Lundgren Memorial King of the Hill
Practice (Round 2)
- FASTRAK Late Models
- BRP CanAm
- Emod
- Street Stocks
- ULMS Late Models
Features
- Mini Stock Feature – 20 Laps
- Pure Stock Feature 20 Laps
Practice (Round 3)
- FASTRAK Late Models
- BRP CanAm
- Emod
- Street Stocks
- ULMS Late Models
Additional Practice will be determined with Time Permitting.
Friday September 26
Gates Open at 2PM
ULMS Driver Meeting and ULMS Pill Cut off @ 6PM ($100 total Entry Fee)
Time Trials @ 6:30PM
- ULMS Late Models – Fast qualifier $250
- Sponsored by Weber Hydraulics / Callahan Motion “Keeping the Pressure On”
FASTRAK LM Driver Meeting at 7PM
Racing Starts @ 7:30PM
- FASTRAK LM Heats
- ULMS Heats
- Street Stock Heats
- FASTRAK Bmains
- ULMS Andrews Auto Salvage Dashes
- ULMS Bmains
- Street Stock Bmains
Features
- *ULMS – Don Hardy Memorial (30 Laps) Sponsored by Andrews Auto Salvage
- *FASTRAK LM Feature (30 Laps) Jim Jerge Memorial
- NE Regional Tour Race Sponsored by Jerge’s Used Auto Parts
- *Street Stock Feature – Finale- NY/PA Border Skirmish (20 Laps)
* Sponsored by Asel Enterprises
Saturday September 27
Gates Open @ 2PM
Drivers Meeting @ 4PM
First Race @ 5PM
- FASTRAK LM Heats
- ULMS Heats
- Emod Heats
- BRP CanAm Heats
- FASTRAK LM Bmains
- ULMS Andrews Auto Salvage Dashes
- ULMS Bmains
- Emod Bmains
- BRP CanAm Bmains
Features
- ULMS Priority Care RaceFAN 50 (50 Laps) $12,000 to Win plus lap $$
- FASTRAK LM Jim Duffy Memorial $750 to Win (25 laps) Sponsored By Jerge’s
- Emod NY/PA Border Skirmish Finale $2000 to Win (25 Laps)
- BRP CanAm Series (30 laps) $1000 to Win
Keith Berner Grabs UEMS Pittsburgher Feature
September 24, 2008
(Noblestown, PA) Former Ohio dirt late model standout, Keith Berner of Millersburg, OH became the fifth different winner of the inaugural United Emod Series, Saturday night at Pittsburgh PA Motor Speedway. The UEMS racers ran in part of the 20th Annual Pittsburgher Weekend and Berner went back to the Buckeye state $1000 richer!
PPMS regular, Tom Martineck paced the thirty-one care field for start of the First Commonwealth UEMS Pittsburgher 25. West Virginia hot shoe, Dave Groves in his #T3 GRS chassis shot around Martineck in turn one to grab the initial lap lead. As lap one was completed, the cars of Vince Laboon, Kevin Miller and Jared Domhoff were sitting in turn one, with Domhoff leaving the track for repairs. The top five was Groves, Martineck, Daryl Charlier, Rich Michael was fourth from his sixth place starting spot and Andre Layfield was fifth from 8th. Groves shot out in from of Martineck on the restart and the Layfield and Charlier went top side with Layfield sweeping by cars and charging from tenth and eleventh were Keith Berner and UEMS point leader, Randy Hall. As lap five clicked off the board, the 333 of Mike McKee was the culprit for the second yellow of the event. The top five was Groves, Berner charging into second from tenth place in five laps. Layfield, Martineck, Hall was up to fifth and Michael was back to his original starting spot in sixth for the restart.
The next lap, Berner would take the lead from Groves as the pair of GRS machines were one – two. As lap seven clicked off the board, Andre Layfield slapped the turn one wall hard while flirting with the extreme outside groove bringing out the third yellow and ending his night while running in third. The next three laps were ran under green and the UEMS point leader, Randy Hall was now making his presence felt with the two GRS machines, but coming behind him was Jake Hawkins, who started twenty-seventh and was up to fourth in nine laps! Local favorite, Kyle Lukon who was doing triple duty spun at the halfway mark to tighten the field. Berner was still your leader with Groves and Hall threatening in third. Hawkins was fourth and Martineck was still running a fine fifth. Over the next few laps, Berner started to pull away from the field as Groves and Hall were locked in a battle for second. On lap sixteen, Hall would make the inside move on Groves for second just before the yellow would come out for the cars of JJ Bamietzreider and James Wagner.
With nine laps to go, Berner would have to fend off Hall on the restart. Berner had no problem on the restart as he crept away from the NY driver. Groves kept Hall in his sight as did Hawkins. With five to go, Hall started to creep back up on Berner. Joining the fifth thru ninth place battle was Tim Peterson who was up to eighth from his twenty-first starting spot. Hall closed in within a few car lengths with three to go, but Berner must have sensed him as he turned in three perfect laps on the monster half-mile to grab the $1000 First Commonwealth Pittsburgher 25 prize. Hall came home second for his third straight second place finish in the last three UEMS events. Groves hung on for third, with Hawkins finishing fourth from twenty-seventh and Daryl Charlier, the Midway Missle was fifth after a mid race collision on the backstretch that almost saw him clear the backstretch wall. Pole sitter, Tom Martineck was sixth with Rich Michael, Tim Peterson who came from twenty-first was eighth. Carl McKinney and Butch Lambert rounded out the top ten.
Heat winners for the thirty-two UEMS Emods that were on hand Friday night were: Andre Layfield, Berner and Hall. The season UEMS finale will be Saturday, October 4 at Mercer Raceway Park in Mercer PA. The season finale will pay $2000 to win.
First Commonwealth UEMS Pittsburgher 25
#18 Keith Berner (Milersburg, OH) (from 10th)
#10 Randy Hall (Olean, NY) (from 11th)
#T3 Dave Groves (Morgantown WV)
#13 Jake Hawkins (Fairmont, WV) (from 25th)
#12 Daryl Charlier (Midway PA)
#65 Tom Martineck (Butler, PA)
#17x Rich Michael (Ischua, NY)
#07P Tim Peterson (Wilcox, PA) (from 21st)
#6m Carl McKinney (Mars PA)
#27 Butch Lambert (Mars PA)
#44 Dave Hess (from 28th)
#01 Vic Vena (from 24th)
#4M Keviin Miller
#17JE JE Stalder
#67 Jack Young
#47 Russ Dunn
#DOGG Bryan Douglas
#7E Evan Taylor
#17L Vince Laboon
#58 Joel Gabrielson
#0x Bob Bland
#68 Tim Engles
#8B Kyle Lukon (raced 3 classes at PPMS)
33 Mike McKee
1 Jared Domhoff
#6 Darren Tarabori
#74 JJ Bamietzreider
#8W James Wagner
#48 Denny Nakutis
#11 Andre Layfield
#54s Shawn Shingledecker
#7L Ron Lanhon (DNS)
Pittsburgher Weekend Up Next For UEMS Emods
September 15, 2008
The fledgling United Emod Series (UEMS) will venture the farthest southern trip of the year this coming weekend when the UEMS stars tackle the monster half mile oval at Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Motor Speedway as part of the annual Pittsburgher weekend.
PPMS will have open practice on Thursday night, September 18 for all classes. Gates open at 4:30PM with racing practice starting at 6PM. On Friday, September 19, the UEMS teams will race their qualifying heat events for the Pizza Hut Commonwealth Pittsburgher Emod Championship event on Saturday. Gates open Friday at 4PM with racing at 7PM. Saturday will see the UEMS teams running their consolation events and the $1000 to win 25 Pizza Hut Commonwealth Pittsburgher Emod Championship. Gates open at 1PM on Saturday with racing at 7PM.
McKean County Raceway 2008 point champion, Randy Hall currently is the UEMS point leader. Hall won the inaugural UEMS event at Mercer Raceway Park in the spring. A pair of second place finishes during the Tri City Speedway events over Labor Day weekend has sprung him to the top of the point chart. Chatham NY driver, George Catanzano travels to each UEMS event from the Albany, NY area. Catanzano currently sits second in points to Hall by nine marks. The Hudson Valley region IMCA New York driver has adapted very well to the open motor Emod division and is looking for his first UEMS win. Dave Hess Jr. sits third in points, but the regional dirt late model and Emod standout is expected to be racing in West Virginia a dirt late model event. 2007 Calvacade Emod champion, Rich Michael Jr. will also be on hand. Michael sits just five points behind Hess. Michael just unveiled a new machine a few weeks ago and has been consistently in the top five over the past few events. Shawn Shingledecker of Franklin PA is fifth in points just two marks behind Michael. Shingledecker was in contention for the point lead going into the final night of Tri City weekend till the opening lap crash that severely damaged his machine. Other teams expected are Russ Dunn, Tim Peterson, Vic Vena, Bruce Powell, Carl McKinney, Bryan Douglas and Darren Tarabori is also a possibility in his v6 powered machine.
A bad night by Hall and Catanzano along with a good night for Michael, Shingledecker, Dunn, Vena and others could really make the point championship a battle for the season ending event at Mercer Raceway Park on October 4. But before then, they must compete against the monster half mile of Pittsburgh PA Motor Speedway and the PPMS stars of Wayne Tessean, Daryl Charlier, Tom Martineck, Kevin Miller, JE Stalder and the rest of the PPMS weekly racers who will no doubt be looking to defend their home turf against the northern UEMS invaders and southern invading Emod teams from West Virginia and Ohio.
Also on the card will be the annual Pittsburgher 100 for the UFO super late models, crate / semi late models, cadets, sportsman and young guns will all be in action.
For more information about this weekend’s Pittsburgher Weekend, check out the PPMS website out at www.PPMS.com or go to the UEMS website at www.unitedlatemodelseries.com.
