Keith Berner Grabs UEMS Pittsburgher Feature
(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)
