photo courtesy of Frank Wilson
Randy Hall of Olean, NY has won events all up and down the east coast but had never won at Pittsburgh PA Motor Speedway until last night. Hall would slay the monster in winning the United Emod Series portion of the Pittsburgher and extended his point lead going into the final few events of the year.
2008 Alltel Allstar champion, Dave Hess Jr and Brent Rhebergen who has won championships at Tri City (E Series) and Little Valley Speedway were the front row starters for the UEMS Emod portion of Pittsburgher. Hess would use the low line to get the early jump on Rhebergen on the opening lap. As lap two clicked off the board, Hess was already pulling away from the field. A three wide battle was taking place between Rhebergen, Dave Groves and Wayne Tessean. Groves would move into second over Rhebergen as JE Stalder kicked Tessean back to fifth. The first yellow would come out on lap four for Evan Taylor who got into the turn four wall.
Hess would again fire at the start and now had Groves all over him for the lead. With Hess running the low line and Groves running up against the wall the two started to pull away from the remainder of the field. Entering the top five on lap seven was World 100 late model winner, Bart Hartman who just completed a $30,000 sweep earlier in the evening winning the twin late model events that were held. With ten laps completed, Hess was still leading over Groves with JE Stalder now in third with Rhebergen in fourth and Bart Hartman in fifth. Randy Hall had worked his way to seventh from restarting twelth on the lap four restart. Brent Rhebergen and Bart Hartman engaged in a battle for fourth on lap twelve with Hartman grabbing the position one lap later as Stalder made a turn 2 slide job on Groves for second. With fifteen laps down, Hess was still in charge with Stalder in second over Groves, Hartman, Rhebergen and the car on the move was Randy Hall, who was now in sixth. Jacob Hawkins was ninth after starting twenty-sixth!
Hall would battle Rhebergen on lap sixteen and use the outside groove to make the pass to enter the top five. On the very next lap, Hall would get under Hartman for fourth and Rhebergen would get around Hartman the next lap for fifth. JE Stalder had now found himself on Hess’s rear bumber on lap 19 as Hess encountered lap traffic. The two battled for the lead only to find a new car joining them; Randy Hall had found himself a few car lengths back! On lap 22 the yellow would come out as Denny Nakutis would loop his car in turn two only to get collected by fourth place running Dave Groves and seventh place running Jacob Hawkins, ending all three drivers night. The running order was Hess, Stalder, Hall, Hartman, Rhebergen, JJ Bamzreider, Kevin Miller, Tim Peterson, Kari Gasser and Daryl Charlier rounding out the top ten.
Hess would get the jump again on the start as Hall would quickly dispose of Stalder for second. The fans now had the 2008 and 2009 Alltel Allstar champions running one – two. Hall would take his Follman’s Rental Property #10 BMS chassis to the extreme top side of the track as Hess would use the bottom groove only to see Hall motor by in turn four to grab the lead on lap 24. The yellow would come back out on lap 25 with two laps remaining for Vince Laboon and fourth place running car of Bart Hartman would retire with a flat tire ending his chance at winning $31,000 for the evening at Pittsburgh Pa Motor Speedway. The top ten was Hall Hess, Stalder, Rhebergen Bamzreider, Tim Peterson, Kevin Miller, Kari Gasser, Dale Charlier and Joe Gabrielson.
The restart was wild behind Hall and Hess and Bamzreider made the move on Rhebergen and Stalder would lose a few spots as Tim Peterson was making a bid for fifth in the wild scramble for third on back. Hess would try to stay with Hall but it was Randy Hall picking up his fourth UEMS win of the year and his 16th win of season.
Hess would come home second for the third straight UEMS event, JJ Bamzreider came home third from his twelth place starting spot, Rhebergen finished fourth but lost points to Hall and Kevin Miller came out on top for the mad scramble for fifth. Rounding out the remainder of the top ten was, JE Stalder, Peterson, Gasser, Dale Charlier and Joe Gabrielson.
The United Emod Series will be back in action this coming Friday and Saturday at McKean County Raceway for a pair of $1000 to win events and next Saturday will head to Mercer Raceway Park for a $2000 to win show.
UEMS – Pittsburgher
Randy Hall, Dave Hess, JJ Bamzreider, Brent Rhebergen, Kevin Miller, JE Stalder, Tim Peterson, Kari Gasser, Dale Charlier, Joe Gabrielson, Kevin Decker, Clayton Kennedy, Jonathan Taylor, Chuck Kennedy, Rich Curry, Vince Laboon, Mike Eschrich, Dave Atkinson, Bart Hartman, Daryl Charlier, Dave Groves, Jacob Hawkins, Chris Basich, Denny Nakutis, Wayne Tessean, Evan Taylor, Tom Martineck (DNS)
Heat 1
Kari Gasser, Kevin Miller, Randy Hall, Bart Hartman, Clayton Kennedy, Joe Gabrielson, Dale Charlier, Kevin Decker, Vince Laboon
Heat 2:
Brent Rhebergen, Darryl Charlier, Dave Hess, Wayne Tessean, Evan Taylor, Tim Peterson, Tom Martineck, Mike Eschrich, Jacob Hawkins
Heat 3:
JE Stalder, Dave Groves, JJ Bamzreider, Jonathan Taylor, Dave Atkinson, Chris Basich, Denny Nakutis, Rich Curry
