Eriez Speedway
August 11, 2014
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Max Blair wins FASTRAK Northeast Touring event at Eriez Speedway
Blair doubles up with Super Late Model win; Eicher, Scott, Groters, and Marcy all add to win totals

by Jay Pees
HAMMOND, PA (August 10) - Auto Racers for Kids held their annual night benefitting Erie area children’s charities Sunday night with fundraisers all evening on the main concourse and first-rate racing on the 3/8 mile oval. Max Blair started from the outside of row two and got to the lead at lap six. Although briefly falling behind defending champion Chad Wright after a restart, Blair went on to a convincing win in the headlining Northeast Touring Event.

Blair also won the Super Late Model feature after starting third, then making a daring three-wide run for the lead on lap two and going on to a near half-lap triumph. Gary Eicher won his first feature of the year in a special last week and made it two in a row this week in the E-Mod feature. Defending Limited Late Model champion Ryan Scott gained some ground on the leaders in the points race in his bid to pick up another championship title. Street Stock points leader Brandon Groters and second place Challengers driver Matt Marcy each picked up a fifth feature win in their features.

The on-track feature race action started with the Waterford Hotel Street Stocks, led to the green by Kyle Reinwald and Chad Clement. Reinwald led the first circuit with Tyler Lygarkos second but caution slowed the event when outside front row starter Clement slowed at the end of the lap, coming to a halt in the infield. Points leader Brandon Groters was second at the end of two laps and leading at the end of six. Eighth place starter Don McGuire was third at the halfway point and second a lap later. For Groters it was win number five with McGuire second, Reinwald third, Ron Boardman fourth, and Mark Thompson fifth.

The thirty lap FASTRAK Northeast Touring Series feature for the Bonnell Collision Center FASTRAK Late Models started with Kevin Santee and Andy Michael at the front of the lineup. Michael took the lead at green with Mike Mitchell quickly coming to second and leading at the end of two with Max Blair right next to him at three. The two remained side by side until lap six when the lapped car of Chris Nicholson got in Mitchell’s way, allowing Blair to assume the lead. A lap later Nicholson and Bobby Rohrer got together with Rohrer suffering a flat tire and Nicholson getting black flagged. After green defending champion Chad Wright came to second. After a lap eight restart Wright came to the lead and began pilling away from Blair. Another caution at lap thirteen put the leaders side by side again with Blair getting the lead this time. Blair led the rest of the way with Wright settling for second. Mike Mitchell and Mike Knight battled the last half of the race for third with Mitchell prevailing for the spot. Matt Latta made a last ditch effort over the last three laps to get by Knight but slipped on the final turn, settling for fifth.

Jack Young and Gary Eicher led the Plyler Overhead Door E-Mods starting field to the green with Young leading the way after one lap. Using the low side Eicher charged to the lead at lap six. At halfway Eicher led Young, Shane Crotty, points leader Joel Watson, and former champion John Boyd. Crotty had problems at lap sixteen, allowing Watson to slip by before he gathered it up and continued. The top five wound up Eicher, Young, Watson, Crotty, and Boyd. Only one yellow flag slowed the event.

The Jay’s Auto Wrecking Super Late Models were paced by Andy Boozel and Rich Gardner with Boozel just edging Gardner for the lead at the end of one lap. On the back straight of lap two Max Blair drove between them and took over the lead. Halfway saw Blair leading Boozel, Gardner, Darrell Bossard, and defending champion Robbie Blair. Matt Urban displaced Rob Blair for fifth at lap seventeen. Bossard got by Gardner at lap nineteen and slipped into second a lap later but it was Boozel back to second with two laps remaining. Blair had a near half-lap lead at the finish with Boozel edging Bossard for second, Gardner fourth, and Urban Fifth.

Former champions Ryan Scott and Chris Ottaway started from the front of the Conway & O’Malley Limited Late Models field with Scott leading the way after one lap. On lap two points leader Nate Short uncharacteristically spun in turn two, slowing the event. Three cars, including Short, got together in turn three at lap seven, again slowing the event. Chris McGuire got by Ottaway at the halfway point when the second running Ottaway ‘jumped the cushion’. Ottaway again slipped up at lap thirteen allowing Dustin Eckman to get by but got the spot back a lap later. Scott slowly opened his lead and went on to his second win of the season. The top five were Scott, Chris McGuire, Ottaway, Eckman, and Pat McGuire.

Travis Darling started the Challenger feature from the pole but it was the outside front row starter leading the way from the start, four-time winner Matt Marcy. Marcy went on to the win over Darling. Steve Morse came to third with two laps to go. Tomas Cupp and Justin Boardman filled out the top five.

Jay’s Auto Wrecking Super Late Models:
Heat 1: Max Blair, Greg Oakes, Chris Hackett, Bump Hedman, Scott Gurdak, Jordan Eck, Chuck Parker
Heat 2: Rich Gardner, Darrell Bossard, Robbie Blair, Boom Briggs, Mike Knight, Chub Frank, Bob Dorman
Heat 3: Andy Boozel, Matt Urban, Jake Finnerty, Steve Kania, Brian Fardink, Ryan Scott
Burger King of the Hill: Rob Blair, Max Blair
Feature: Max Blair, Andy Boozel, Darrell Bossard, Rich Gardner, Matt Urban, Rob Blair, Chris Hackett, Boom Briggs, Chub Frank, Mike Knight, Greg Oakes, Ryan Scott, Steve Kania, Bump Hedman, Scott Gurdak, Bob Dorman, Jake Finnerty, Brian Fardink, Jordan Eck, Chuck Parker

Bonnell Collision FASTRAK Crate Late Models:
Heat 1: Chad Wright, Kyle Zimmerman, Breyton Santee, Bobby Rohrer, Mark Tatalovic, Mike Lozowski
Heat 2: Max Blair, Mike Mitchell, Scott Gurdak, Eric Andrus, Khole Wanzer, Chris Nicholson
Heat 3: Mike Knight, Andy Michael, Bruce Hordusky, Matt Latta, Joel Prosser, Joe Long
Feature: Max Blair, Chad Wright, Mike Mitchell, Mike Knight, Matt Latta, Kyle Zimmerman, Scott Gurdak, Breyton Santee, Andy Michael, Joel Prosser, Joe Long, Mike Lozowski, Eric Andrus, Khole Wanzer, Mark Tatalovic, Bruce Hordusky, Bobby Rohrer, Chris Nicholson

Plyler Overhead Door E-Mods:
Heat 1: Gary Eicher, Shane Crotty, Joel Watson, Chad Carlson, Troy Carr, Steve Sornberger, Mike Potosky, Walt Johnson
Heat 2: Jack Young, John Boyd, Steve Simon, John Boardman, Mike Kinney, Mike Smith, Eric Reinwald, Alan Atkinson
Feature: Gary Eicher, Jack Young, Joel Watson, Shane Crotty, John Boyd, John Boardman, Chad Carlson, Mike Smith, Mike Potosky, Steve Simon, Mike Kinney, Troy Carr, Steve Sornberger, Eric Reinwald, Alan Atkinson, Walt Johnson

Conway and O’Malley Limited Late Models:
Heat 1: Chris Ottaway, Chris Ottaway, Nate Short, John Cline Jr, Mike Moon, Matt Tuzynski
Heat 2: Ryan Scott, Dustin Eckman, Tyler Green, Pat McGuire, John Cline Sr, Dan MaximMatt Marcy
Feature: Ryan Scott, Chris McGuire, Chris Ottaway, Dustin Eckman, Pat McGuire, Nate Short, John Cline Sr, John Cline Jr, Mike Moon, Matt Tuzynski, Dan Maxim, Tyler Green

Waterford Hotel Street Stocks:
Heat: Jimmy Kennerknecht, Don McGuire, Mark Thompson, Kenny Lamp, Brandon Groters, Ron Boardman, Tyler Lyngarkos, Chad Clement, Kyle Reinwald
Feature: Brandon Groters, Don McGuire, Kyle Reinwald, Ron Boardman, Mark Thompson, Kenny Lamp, Jimmy Kennerknecht, Tyler Lyngarkos, Chad Clement

Kandy’s Gentlemen’s Club Challengers:
Heat 1: Matt Marcy, Thomas Cupp. Justin Boardman, Steve Morse, Skip Jackson, Ken Luma, Jimmy Nicholson, Charles Morris, Chris Lyons
Heat 2: Travis Darling, Andy Proper, Wes Stull, Gary Olson, Justin Brightman, Ryan White, Hunter Hully, Jeff Nunemaker
Feature: Matt Marcy, Travis Darling, Steve Morse, Thomas Cupp, Justin Boardman, Wes Stull, Jason Brightman, Skip Jackson, Andy Proper, Hunter Hulley, Jimmy Nicholson, Ken Luma, Jeff Nunemaker, Ryan White, Gary Olson, Chris Lyons, Charles Morris