October 18, 2016

The 11th Annual Fall Classic concluded Saturday night with 161 race cars on hand from three states plus Australia and Canada. Max Blair of Centerville, PA was the big winner of the night. Blair for the second straight year won both the ULMS Late Model Series and Crate Late Model portion of the program. Blair’s ULMS win in the 12th annual Stephanie Eckl Memorial was worth $6000 and his crate late model win was worth $1500. Joel Watson won the Zimmers Service Center UEMS Emod Series event and took the series title.

The Zimmer’s Service Center UEMS Emod Series were the second of seven features on the night. Joel Watson sat on the pole in the Ken Zimmer 62 machine as Watson destroyed his car Friday night. Watson came into the event three points behind series point leader, Rich Michael Jr. At the drop of the green Watson got the jump on veteran Al Brewer at the start of the event. Lap two would see newly crowned MCR champion, Vic Vena get around Brewer for second. Watson would start to pull away from the field by lap five as fifth place starter, Dan Sasso got around Brewer for third in turn two. The first caution came out a lap later for Michael, giving Watson a commanding point lead as of lap six of the twenty five lap event. Watson continued to lead until a pair of lap 9 cautions which saw the fifth place running Kirk Bradley go pit side for the race. Watson again took off from Sasso and rest of the field as Rich Michael Jr worked his way back to sixth in his chase of Watson and the UEMS championship. With ten to go, Watson had a straightaway lead over Sasson who was fending off Vena and Brewer and John Boyd was still feeling the pressure of Michael. The final ten laps was all clear sailing for Watson who would pick up his second UEMS win of the year and by virtue of Michael not finishing third or better would pick up his second career Zimmer Service Center UEMS title by three points over Michael. Dan Sasso came home with his career best UEMS finish in second followed by Vena, Brewer and John Boyd.

The Zimmer’s Service Center ULMS Late Models highlighted the weekend with the $6000 to win 12th annual Stephanie Eckl Memorial. Last years winner, Max Blair sat on the pole due to the redraw with Shermandale, Pennsylvania driver, Mike Lupfer. Lupfer and his yellow number 06 machine outdragged the Keystone Kamikaze into turn one to take the lead at the start with Doug Eck sliding into third ahead of Bob Dorman and Rob Marhefka. The first yellow came out on lap three for John Lacki as newly crowned ULMS point leader, Dave Hess Jr came into the fifth positon. On the restart Eck got around Blair for second only to see the yellow come out again as contact between Hess and Dutch Davies would see Davies spinning out of control at the turn three pit exit. Hess would go pitside and would return before the restart. Lap six the yellow came out for Hess. Another quick yellow one lap later for Rich Gardner spinning out of turn four and seeing the Tobber Racing machine towed off the track with mechanical problems and one more yellow would come out for Greg Oakes one lap later. Finally green flag racing resumed and Blair was back around Eck and it was still Lupfer in the lead with Rick Singleton and Bob Dorman rounding out the top five. A lap 15 caution for Bobby Rohrer allowed Singleton to get around Eck on the restart as Blair hounded Lupfer for the lead. At the halfway point it was still Lupfer, Blair and now Singleton all within a few car lengths of each other. Blair would make his move to the top spot five laps later on lap 30 as Singleton followed. As ten to go approached, Blair was several car lengths ahead of Singleton as Lupfer was fending off the challenges of Eck and now Charles Powell, Jim Yoder, Bump Hedman and Greg Oakes coming back from the rear were all battling for fifth. Oakes all of sudden became the fastest car on the track and needed a yellow as he quickly went from eighth to third in a handful of laps. At the finish it was Blair winning his second of the night and for the second year in a row winning the Fall Classic finale and it was his first ever Stephanie Eckl Memorial. Blair joins his father, Rob along with Chub Frank and Boom Briggs as the only two time winners of the Fall Classic finale. Rick Singleton came home second followed by Oakes who was the Hard Charger of the event, Doug Eck and Lupfer rounded out the top five.

ZIMMERS SERVICE CENTER UEMS EMODS:

JOEL WATSON, Dan Sasso, Vic Vena, Al Brewer, John Boyd, Rich Michael Jr., Jacob Eucher, Percy McDonald, Rob Middleton, Bob Vogt, Joel Lanphere, Darren Tarabori, Kirk Bradley

Zimmer’s Service Center ULMS Late Models

Stephanie Eckl Memorial RaceFAN 50:

MAX BLAIR, Rick Singleton, Greg Oakes, Doug Eck, Mike Luper, Jim Yoder, Rod Phillips, Bump Hedman, Charles Powell Jr., Rob Marhefka, Nathan Hill, Dave Hess, Bob Dorman, Breyton Santee, Jason Dupont, John Volpe, Kirk Bradley, Joe Layfield, Tom Shaffer, Jason Dobson, Bobby Rohrer, Rich Gardner, Dutch Davies, John Lacki