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Ufo Media
PITTSBURGH, Penn. (September 20) - Steve Baker of Fairmont, WV was the winner of the 20th Annual Pittsburgher 100 at Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway on Saturday night. While the record will show that Baker led all 100 laps in earning the $12,000 winner's share, it was anything short of a normal race where the winner leads every lap. Top five positions exchanged constantly throughout the entire race. But more importantly, Baker held off a late race charge from Davey Johnson. Johnson was up to Baker's door at the white flag, but Baker fought off Johnson's last lap bid, earning every dollar of his winning payday.
In Friday night's heat race action, five heat races were run for the 48-car field, lined up by the luck of the draw. Lynn Geisler was the winner of Heat 1, from third starting position. Steve Baker came from the third starting spot to win Heat 2. Lou Bradich took the win in Heat 3, after starting sixth. Heat 4 went to Ed Ferree, from the pole. In Heat 5, starting ninth in the nine-car field, Josh Richards came through the pack to get the win.
The top three finishers from each of the heat races redrew for the top 15 starting positions for the 100 lap main event. Steve Baker was the second driver to draw, and pulled the outside of the front row. The pole position dropped way down in the redraw, as it went to the 14th driver to draw. Brandon Burgoon was the happy recipient of the pole position. Two B-Mains were run to complete the starting grid, won by Al Atallah and Kyle Lukon, and the 32-car starting grid was set.
Steve Baker blasted into the lead at the drop of the green flag for the 20th Annual Pittsburgher 100, ahead of Brandon Burgoon, Lou Bradich, Gregg Satterlee, and Lynn Geisler. The first caution appeared on lap 1 for a multi-car tangle off of turn four. Though a few cars made pit visits and returned, Keith Barbara and John Mollick were done for the event. Baker pulled ahead on the restart, as he did each time throughout the 14 caution periods in the event. This was notable as the entire 100-lap distance featured double file restarts, which set up some exciting racing as the drivers raced back up to speed each time.
Bradich took over second on lap 2, driving a team car to leader Baker. Burgoon settled into third ahead of Gary Stuhler and Satterlee. Josh Richards started tenth and moved to fifth on lap 3, and to fourth on lap 4. Lap 7 saw caution for a slowing Kyle Lukon. Richards grabbed second over Bradich, Burgoon, and Stuhler, as the next caution came on lap 10.
A period of green flag racing was next, with Baker continuing to lead Richards, Bradich, Stuhler, and Geisler. The best battle up front was for third, as the top two moved away from the competition. Baker began lapping cars at lap 17, as the battle for third continued. Stuhler moved to third on lap 20, with Bradich regaining the spot a lap later. Geisler passed Stuhler for fourth on lap 23, and moved past Bradich for third on lap 25. After being involved in the lap 1 incident, Al Atallah charged back through the pack and was now sixth at lap 32. Lap 33 saw the next caution, with 13 cars on the lead lap at the moment. With track rules allowing lapped cars to gain a lap back on each yellow, with no cars two laps down, all 29 running cars were now back on the lead lap.
The next restart shuffled the deck again, with Baker leading Richards at lap 34. Doug Dodd got a good restart to get to third, with Atallah fourth and Geisler fifth. The yellow appeared again at lap 35 for a tangle between Alex Ferree and Alan Sagi. Baker again took off on the restart, with Dodd and Burgoon slipping past Richards. Burgoon grabbed second from Dodd, as Geisler and Atallah swapped fifth. Fourth running Richards slowed with a flat tire on lap 38, the sixth caution of the event. Dodd and Geisler battled for second as racing resumed. Davey Johnson and Satterlee battled for fourth, with Satterlee taking the spot on lap 50. Caution at lap 51 came just past halfway, as many drivers opted to make quick pit stops, with 29 cars still running.
Baker led Dodd on the restart, with Satterlee now grabbing third from Johnson. Geisler and Richards, back from the tail on lap 38, battled for fifth. At lap 56, Richards slowed with another flat. Alex Ferree, who had also charged back through the field, made contact with Richards slowing car, but thanks to the yellow retained his position in 11th. Back to green it was still Baker over Dodd and Johnson. Jeremy Miller's quiet charge forward now found him fourth, with Satterlee fifth. Satterlee's race came to and end on lap 60 when his car suffered a broken driveshaft. Ferree inherited fifth at this point.
Baker now led Dodd, Miller, Johnson, and Ferree before Jared Miley, who had run well back through most of the event before advancing into the top ten, spun to bring out caution with 65 complete. The deck shuffled again as Johnson passed Dodd for second ahead of Miller and Geisler. Ferree regained fifth before the next yellow at lap 68, with 25 cars still running.
For the first time in the event, somebody was able to hang with Baker as racing resumed, as Johnson stayed within a few car lengths. That only lasted until the leaders caught lapped traffic at lap 77, and at this point Baker again drove away from his pursuers. Johnson held on to second, with Ferree and Miller swapping third. Miller settled into third, as Dodd passed Ferree for fourth at lap 90. Baker's flawless run through traffic hit a snag on lap 94, as he and Jon Hodgkiss made contact in turn one with Hodgkiss spinning to bring out the 14th caution of the event. The lead lap count had slipped to 11, and swelled to the 23 cars left running, with six laps left to the finish.
When racing resumed, Johnson settled in a few car lengths behind Baker. While the rest of the top five was still being shuffled as it had throughout the event, all eyes were glued to the leaders. A couple car lengths apart, the two-to-go mark was given with 98 laps complete. Johnson charged low in turn two, and nosed ahead of Baker. But Baker charged back on the outside, regaining his lead down the backstretch. Johnson again tried the low side, and at the white flag it was Johnson with his bumper at Baker's door. Racing side-by-side for the entire last lap, it was Baker by a nose at the checkered flag. "The fuel pressure light blinked on during the final caution," Baker said following the race. "I was just trying to get to the end of the race, and stay on the high side."
Davey Johnson settled for a close second, after starting eighth. Doug Dodd finished third, advancing from 18th starting spot. Alex Ferree was fourth, back from the tail on lap 34. Josh Richards went to the tail twice during the event in finishing fifth. Jeremy Miller was sixth, running in the top five and ten throughout most of the event. From 24th starting spot, Matt Lux advanced to finish seventh. Lynn Geisler ran in the top ten the entire distance, earning eighth. Al Atallah's early charge from the tail kept him in the top ten most of the way, as he was ninth. Driving a solid race throughout the event, Dave Hess, Jr. was tenth.
Matt Lux was the Pass-Maximum Award winner, advancing 17 positions, and earned a UFo Contingency Connection award. Shawn McGarvey and Matt Dobnak also earned awards. Each winner will receive product certificate awards depending on the number of products for which a driver is registered and eligible out of the 75+ product sponsors. A driver eligible for 20 products will receive $500 in awards.
Unified Force Championship Tour presented by Comcast Super Late Model results for Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway for Friday and Saturday, September 19-20, 2008.
Car count - 48.
Feature - with finish, start, car, driver, and hometown
1, 2, 0, Steve Baker, Fairmont, WV
2, 8, 1J, Davey Johnson, Latrobe, PA
3, 18, 12, Doug Dodd, Cambridge, OH
4, 7, 4, Alex Ferree, Saxonburg, PA
5, 10, 1R, Josh Richards, Shinston, WV
6, 12, 24, Jeremy Miller, Gettysburg, PA
7, 24, 21, Matt Lux, Franklin, PA
8, 6, 1C, Lynn Geisler, Cranberry Twp., PA
9, 21, 02, Al Atallah, Bridgeville, PA
10, 16, 44, Dave Hess, Jr., Waterford, PA
11, 1, 17B, Brandon Burgoon, McDonald, PA
12, 14, H1, Jared Miley, South Park, PA
13, 15, 2J, Mike Johnson, Imperial, PA
14, 22, 1L, Kyle Lukon, Burgettstown, PA
15, 29, 99, Ben Miley, Venecia, PA
16, 13, T8, Mark Banal, St. Clairsville, OH
17, 28, 8A, Alan Sagi, Hagerstown, MD
18, 11, 4E, Ed Ferree, Saxonburg, PA
19, 4, 0B, Lou Bradich, Chester, WV
20, 25, 17E, Lance Elson, Wellsburg, WV
21, 32, 84, Rodney Sweitzer, Stoystown, PA
22, 20, 81M, D.J. Miller, Hookstown, PA
23, 30, 75, Mel Minnick, Jr., Uniontown, PA
24, 23, 69, Jon Hodgkiss, Kennedy, PA
25, 19, 77, Rich Apolito, Scott Township, PA
26, 9, 48, John Flinner, Zelienople, PA
27, 26, 23, Mark Moats, Sr., Hookstown, PA
28, 3, 22, Gregg Satterlee, Rochester Mills, PA
29, 5, 90, Gary Stuhler, Grenncastle, PA
30, 31, 29R, Keith Rodriguez, Crescent, PA
31, 17, 17K, Keith Barbara, South Park, PA
32, 27, 4J, John Mollick, Toronto, OH
Feature Lead Changes - 0.
Baker 1-100.
Heat 1 - 1, Lynn Geisler. 2, Jeremy Miller. 3, Mark Banal. 4, Dave Hess, Jr. 5, Jon Hodgkiss. 6, Matt Lux. 7, Scott LeBarron. 8, Mark Moats, Sr. 9, Danny Rich. 10, Matt Dobnak.
Heat 2 - 1, Steve Baker. 2, John Flinner. 3, Alex Ferree. 4, Keith Barbara. 5, Kyle Lukon. 6, Al Atallah. 7, Dave Wade. 8, Denton Boyer. 9, Jim Stine. 10, Nick Duratz.
Heat 3 - 1, Lou Bradich. 2, Mike Johnson. 3, Davey Johnson. 4, Doug Dodd. 5, John Mollick. 6, Tommy Beck. 7, Jim Lepro. 8, Keith Rodriguez. 9, Rodney Sweitzer. 10, Dave Johnson.
Heat 4 - 1, Ed Ferree. 2, Jared Miley. 3, Brandon Burgoon. 4, Rich Apolito. 5, Ben Miley. 6, Mel Minnick, Jr. 7, Chuck Medved. 8, Shawn McGarvey. 9, Bob Moskey.
Heat 5 - 1, Josh Richards. 2, Gary Stuhler. 3, Gregg Satterlee. 4, D.J. Miller. 5, Lance Elson. 6, Alan Sagi. 7, Kari Gasser. 8, Tom Duratz. 9, Jim Kutas.
B-Main 1 - (top 4 transfer from both) 1, Al Atallah. 2, Jon Hodgkiss. 3, Lance Elson. 4, John Mollick. 5, Jim Lepro. 6, Mel Minnick, Jr. 7, Rodney Sweitzer. 8, Kari Gasser. 9, Denton Boyer. 10, Scott LeBarron. 11, Danny Rich. 12, Nick Duratz. DNS, Shawn McGarvey, Jim Kutas.
B-Main 2 - 1, Kyle Lukon. 2, Matt Lux. 3, Mark Moats, Sr. 4, Alan Sagi. 5, Ben Miley. 6, Tommy Beck. 7, Dave Wade. 8, Bob Moskey. 9, Tom Duratz. 10, Dave Johnson. 11, Chuck Medved. 12, Matt Dobnak. 13, Jim Stine. 14, Keith Rodriguez.
Did not qualify - 0K, Kari Gasser, Girard, OH. 1S, Jim Kutas, Uniontown, PA. 2M, C.A. Medved, Imperial, PA. 6, Jim Lepro, Midway, PA. 8H, Shawn McGarvey, Coalport, PA. 8L, Scott LeBarron, Dover, PA. 11D, Nick Duratz, Canonsburg, PA. 11S, Jim Stine, Middleburg, PA. 33, Bob Moskey, St. Clairsville, OH. D42, Matt Dobnak, West Mifflin, PA. 55D, Tom Duratz, Carnegie, PA. 56, Denton Boyer, Punxsutawney, PA. 67X, Danny Rich, Bavington, PA. 76, Dave Wade, Clinton, PA. 91, Tommy Beck, Jeanette, PA. 697, Dave Johnson, Toronto, OH.
Updated UFo Series point standings.
1, 704.5, 4, Alex Ferree, Saxonburg, PA
2, 696.5, H1, Jared Miley, South Park, PA
3, 667.5, 17, Keith Barbara, South Park, PA
4, 658.5, 22, Gregg Satterlee, Rochester Mills, PA
5, 625, 8H, Shawn McGarvey, Coalport, PA
6, 622, 2J, Mike Johnson, Imperial, PA
7, 607, 84, Rodney Sweitzer, Stoystown, PA
8, 579, D42, Matt Dobnak, West Mifflin, PA
9, 512, 75, Mel Minnick, Jr., Uniontown, PA
10, 450.5, 81M, D.J. Miller, Hookstown, PA
11, 448.5, 0, Steve Baker, Fairmont, WV
12, 367, 7X, Herman Bertolini, Creighton, PA
13, 357, 48, John Flinner, Zelienople, PA
14, 349, 1J, Davey Johnson, Latrobe, PA
15, 329, 1C, Lynn Geisler, Cranberry Twp., PA
16, 300, 6, Jim Lepro, Midway, PA
17, 257.5, 02, Al Atallah, Bridgeville, PA
18, 254.5, 17, Brandon Burgoon, McDonald, PA
19, 239, 47, Matt Gaston, Rochester Mills, PA
20, 234, 09/0, Lou Bradich, Chester, WV
21, 233, 21, Matt Lux, Franklin, PA
22, 228.5, 29R, Keith Rodriguez, Crescent, PA
23, 228, 23, Mark Moats, Hookstown, PA
24, 227, 53, Chris Farrell, Clearfield, PA
25, 226.5, 76, Dave Wade, Clinton, PA
177 drivers have run with the UFo Championship Tour in 2008
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