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Holiday Weekend Victories At Stateline Speedway

Dave Hess Jr. was the winner of the UMP Modified at Stateline Speedway on Saturday. Submitted photo

BUSTI — Nothing better than a holiday weekend in the Chautauqua Lakeland Area, which is one of the premier resort areas in the state of New York, that is so rich in history. But, if we want to go even further in the conversation of rich history in Chautauqua County, we will definitely have to talk about Jim and Jean Scott’s, historic Stateline Speedway, that lies just south of the scenic lake shore.

Stateline’s loyals made their way to the stands to take in six divisions of action filled racing, with a total of 129 cars filling the pits, on a gorgeous Saturday evening. The UMP Modifieds would headline Stateline’s holiday weekend festivities, with a 30 Lap $2,000 to win feature.

Dave Hess Jr., no stranger to victory lane, would captivate the evening, by winning the UMP Modified $2,000 to win Special. Andy Michael would win a heart-stopper in the RUSH Crate Late Model main. Smethport’s, Steve Dixon would end his dry spell by picking up the victory in the RUSH Pro Mods. Ryan Card would finally find victory lane in the Sharp Mini Late Models. Jason Covey would survive disaster in the Pro Stocks for win #1 of 23′, as John Mease would continue his winning ways in the Challengers.

First feature up, would be the RUSH Crate Late Models. Jimmy Johnson, and Matt Sipes would bring the 26 car field to green. Matt Sipes who’s had a rocky start, to open the 2023 season, would jump out in front to lead the first 4 laps. Jason Genco would use his 4th place starting position to grab the lead from Sipes on lap 5. Genco would use the clean air to cushion his lead for the next 5 circuits. The field would hit heavy lapped traffic at the halfway mark, and Allegany, N.Y.’s Andy Michael would use this to his advantage, moving around Sipes for 2nd on lap 10. As the field stayed submerged in lapped traffic, Michael would start tracking down the leader Genco, and would finally catch Genco on lap 16. On lap 19 the duo would pull even in turn 1 as the white flag was shown. Michael would use a banzai move heading into turn three, to dive under the leader Genco, as the two would head for the checkered. With the crowd on their feet, Michael would gain enough momentum heading to the stripe, to claim the 20 lap thriller. This would be Michael’s first feature win of the young season. A dejected Genco would have to settle for 2nd, as Sipes, Jeff Hoffman, and Johnson would round out the top 5.

Next up would be the RUSH Pro Mods for their 20 lap feature event. The sharp looking #50 of veteran Steve Dixon would grab the lead at the start. Albion’s Dennis Lunger would move around Tyler Oakes for 2nd on lap 4, setting his sights on Dixon. Lunger would dog Dixon the remainder of the event, but the poised Dixon would not be denied, holding off Lunger to pick up his first Stateline win of 2023. Lunger, who is the divisions all time winner, settled for 2nd. Oakes would run a consistent race for 3rd, Zain Harvey would ride home 4th, and Chad Ramsey, would round out your top 5.

The third feature event to hit the 1/3 mile oval would be the much awaited 30 lap $2,000 to win UMP Modified Special. Two veteran hard hitters, Troy Johnson, and David Scott would make up the front row to take Spanky Hall’s green flag. Johnson would set a torrid pace for the first 8 laps, as all eyes were on 6th place starter Dave Hess Jr., who would move into 3rdon lap 5. The second generation driver would then overtake 2nd place runner Scott on the 9th circuit. Hess would use the next 4 laps to track down the leader, and then grab the lead from Johnson on lap 14. Hess would cruise the rest of the way to pick up his 2nd Stateline win of the season, and his biggest UMP Modified payday of 2023. “The Albion Assassin” Dennis Lunger would make a late race charge to bring home the bridesmaid spot. David Scott would have another podium finish, placing 3rd, a fading Troy Johnson was 4th, and Conneaut, OH’s Bud Watson would nail down 5th.

The Sharp Mini Late Models would be next on the docket. But, before the green would fly. Late Model Standout, Wyatt Scott, in a rare Mini Late Model appearance, would not be able to get started, having to go pit side. This would end Scott’s night, after a convincing win in his heat event. Ryan Card, who seems to have had one of the fastest cars thus far in 23′, would finally get it done, leading all 15 laps. This would be Card’s first Stateline win of 2023. Terry Mealy, Jack Black, Chris Whyte, and Jesse Isadore would round out the top 5.

Next, the 19 car field of Pro Stocks would hit the surface for their 15 lap main event. Multi-winner in the division, Jason Covey would grab the lead at the outset. Once in the lead, Covey would have to overcome disaster, as Covey would fold under his nose piece, while hitting the berm late in the race. With Covey now having to man handle his car to turn left, would manage to fend off a late race caution, and challenges from Tanner Ramsey, and former track champion John Boardman, to claim a much deserved victory, for win #1 of 2023. Boardman finally got around Ramsey for 2nd on the final lap. Ramsey settled for 3rd, as Michael Oakes, and Tyler Dynys rounded out the top 5.

In the nightcap, 24 Challengers would take the green, for their action packed main event. John Mease would lead the entire distance, as a great race for 2nd transpired throughout the event, that included Brandon Huffman, Chris Horton, and Rick Feely. Even though the trio had a battle of their own going on, they still kept Mease within striking distance, and nearly overtook the leader, until a caution came out with two laps to go. As the field got back underway, Mease would not be denied, picking up his 2nd Stateline win of the season, extending his points lead. Huffman, Horton, Feely, and Heineman rounded out the top 5.

UMP MODIFIEDS (29 Entries)

Group A Top Qualifier: Michael McGee, 18.294

Group B Top Qualifier: Bud Watson, 18.150 (Overall Fastest)

Heat 1: 1) Michael McGee 2) Troy Johnson 3) Tim Peterson 4) Tim Rockwell 5) Matt Haskins 6) John Lobb 7) Bryon Johnson

Heat 2: 1) Bud Watson 2) David Scott 3) Dan Davies 4) Dan Sasso 5) Butch Southwell 6) Andrew Beatman 7) Tom Kosinski

Heat 3: 1) Dennis Lunger 2) Zach Johnson 3) Joel Watson 4) Cale Crocker 5) Troy Loomis 6) James Wilburn 7) Chris Deponceau 8- Greg Johnson

Heat 4: 1) Dave Hess Jr. 2) Steve Rex 3) Jason Brightman 4) Kyle Schreckengost 5) Dave Lanphere 6) Brian Mohawk 7) Matt Kosinski

Consi (Top 4 Advanced) : 1) Lobb 2) B. Mohawk 3) M. Kosinski 4) T. Kosinski 5) Deponceau 6) Wilburn 7) B. Johnson 8- Beatman 9) G. Johnson

30 Lap Feature: 1) Hess Jr. 2) Lunger 3) Scott 4) T. Johnson 5) B. Watson 6) McGee 7) Rex 8- Davies 9) Z. Johnson 10) Sasso 11) Brightman 12) M. Kozinski 13) Schreckengost 14) Rockwell 15) Mohawk 16) Crocker 17) Peterson 18- Southwell 19) T. Kozinski 20) Lobb 21) Lanphere 22) Loomis 23) J. Watson 24) Haskins

Lap Leaders: T. Johnson (1-13), Hess Jr. (14-30)

RUSH CRATE LATE MODELS (26 Entries)

Heat 1: 1) Will Pinckney 2) Ward Schell 3) Scott Gurdak 4) Steve Blodgett 5) Kassie Norman 6) Shawn Little 7) Rick Karash

Heat 2: 1) Jeff Hoffman 2) Jason Genco 3) Khole Wanzer 4) John Lacki 5) Steve Houser 6) Draven Kuzminski 7) Drake McCray

Heat 3: 1) Andy Michael 2) Matt Sipes 3) Charlie Houser 4) Ray Houser 5) Chad Clement 6) Lonnie Waldron

Heat 4: 1) Jimmy Johnson 2) David Parker 3) Randy Hall 4) Josh Ferry 5) DJ Krug 6) Hunter Proctor

Feature: 1) Michael 2) Genco 3) Sipes 4) Hoffman 5) Johnson 6) Pinckney 7) Hall 8- Schell 9) Gurdak 10) Ferry 11) Parker 12) Wanzer 13) Lacki 14) S. Houser 15) Krug 16) Blodgett 17) Proctor 18- Kuzminski 19) R. Houser 20) Karash 21) Clement 22) McCray 23) Norman 24) Little 25) C. Houser 26) Waldron

Lap Leaders: Sipes (1-4), Genco (5-19), Michael (20)

RUSH PRO MODS (20 Entries)

Heat 1: 1) Tyler Oakes 2) Dennis Lunger 3) Chad Ramsey 4) Ian Degolier 5) Brendan Warner 6) John Cline 7) Nick Arnold 8- Jarrod Silvis 9) Donald May Jr. 10) Bryson Hill

Heat 2: 1) Steve Dixon 2) Zain Harvey 3) Chad Carlson 4) Brian Mohawk 5) Al Brewer 6) Derek Peterson 7) Vaughn Nystrom 8- Cody Rickard 9) Cameron Sherwood 10) Tyler Sutton

Feature: 1) Dixon 2) Lunger 3) Oakes 4) Harvey 5) C. Ramsey 6) Carlson 7) Brewer 8- B. Mohawk 9) Nystrom 10) Degolier 11) Warner 12) Peterson 13) Arnold 14) Cline 15) May Jr. 16) Rickard 17) Hill 18- Silvis 19) Sherwood 20) Sutton

Lap Leaders: Dixon (1-20)

SHARP MINI LATE MODELS (12 Entries)

Heat: 1) Wyatt Scott 2) Ryan Card 3) Jack Black 4) Jesse Isadore 5) Terry Mealy 6) Chris Whyte 7) Oakley Terrill 8- Kyle Coons 9) Holdyn Whitmire 10) Morgan Curry 11) Eric Hastings 12) Nate Morrison

Feature: 1) Card 2) Mealy 3) Black 4) C. Whyte 5) Isadore 6) Terrill 7) Morrison 8- Coons 9) Whitmire 10) Curry 11) Hastings 12) Scott

Lap Leaders: Card (1-15)

PRO STOCKS (19 Entries)

Heat 1: 1) Jason Covey 2) Tanner Ramsey 3) John Boardman 4) Wesley McCray 5) Tyler Dyns 6) John Cline 7) Donald Blood 8- Joe Stajnrajh 9) Mikael Beaver

Heat 2: 1) Michael Oakes 2) Gary Fisher Jr. 3) Bill Applebee 4) Douglas Eck 5) Shane Applebee 6) William Reeves 7) Brent Marotto 8- Grant Richard 9) Dale Sheets 10) Justin Pratt

Feature: 1) Covey 2) Boardman 3) T. Ramsey 4) Oakes 5) Dynys 6) Fisher Jr. 7) S. Applebee 8- Reeves 9) McCray 10) B. Applebee 11) Cline 12) Eck 13) Blood 14) Stajnrajh 15) Marotto 16) Richard 17) Beaver 18- Sheets 19) Pratt

Lap Leaders: Covey(1-15)

CHALLENGERS (24 Entries)

Heat 1: 1) Chris Horton 2) Brandon Huffman 3) Phil Powell 4) Nicholas Reed 5) Tyler Pearson 6) Hailey Moore 7) Jordan Richard 8- Brandon Marotto

Heat 2: 1) Holden Heineman 2) Jess Harvey 3) Domingo Echevarria 4) Rachel Butler 5) Kraig Karns 6) Cassandra Goodwill 7) Kayla York 8- Annaleesa Diabo

Heat 3:1) Rick Feely 2) John Mease 3) Peter Volpe 4) Mark Lawrence 5) Jon Seekings 6) Dave Moller 7) Nick Harvey 8- Tyler Rendell

Feature: 1) Mease 2) Huffman 3) Horton 4) Feely 5) Heineman 6) Echevarria 7) J. Harvey 8- Powell 9) Volpe 10) Butler 11) Karns 12) Lawrence 13) Pearson 14) Moller 15) Seekings 16) Goodwill 17) Diabo 18- York 19) Moore 20) Rendell 21) Reed 22) Richard 23) N. Harvey 24) Marotto

Lap Leaders: Mease(1-12)

“NO SUPER LATE MODELS”

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