Sipes Claims First Stateline Victory

Jul 24, 2023

Matt Sipes won the RUSH Crate Late Models feature at Stateline Speedway on Saturday night.Submitted photo

BUSTI — The evening started out giving tribute to one of Stateline Speedway’s all-time staff members, Jay Pees, who passed away last week after an unexpected illness.

Pees was the longtime public relations guru and photographer at Stateline. He will be truly missed for all his passion and hard work that he gave to the sport.

Matt Sipes would finally seal the deal in the RUSH Crate Late Models. “The Albion Assassin” Dennis Lunger outclassed a star-studded field in the UMP Modifieds main. Ryan Card picked up another win in the Sharp Mini Late Models. Lunger showed he’s still the man to beat in the RUSH Pro Mods. Mike Knight, in rare appearance, picked up a convincing win in the Super Lates. It was Chris Horton once again in the Challengers and Tanner Ramsey would end the evening crossing the line first in the Pro Stocks.

Girard, Pennsylvania’s, Will Pinckney would grab the lead at the drop of the green in the RUSH Crate Late Models caution filled a-main. Pinckney would hold that point for the first four laps, until a determined Sipes would take over the lead on lap five. Sipes would coast the rest of the way to pick up his first-ever Stateline RUSH Crate Late Models feature win. Sipes became the 36th different winner in 133 Crate Late Models feature events since the division surfaced at Stateline in 2010. Following the elated Sipes across the stripe, was July 8 winner David Parker finishing second. Two-time 2023 winner Jason Genco was third as Scott Gurdak and Pinckney would round out the top five.

Lunger would show why he is one of the top wheelmen in the region as the UMP Modifieds would take center stage. It would take Lunger only four laps to grab the lead from Troy Johnson, to go on to pick up his second UMP Modifed feature win of the season, as well as his 12th career Stateline victory in the class. The race of the evening was for the bridesmaid position, between Johnson, David Scott and Dave Hess Jr. When the smoke cleared, it would be the division’s all-time winner, Hess, taking second, Johnson third, three-time 2023 winner Scott was fourth as Cale Crocker rounded out the top five.

It was all Card in the Sharp Mini Late Models. The Spring Creek, Pennsylvania native would grab the lead at the outset and never look back. Terry Mealy, Jesse Isadore, Steve Coons and Oakley Terrill would complete the top five.

Lunger would gun down his competition in the RUSH Pro Mods, leading the entire distance and holding off a late-race challenge from five-time winner and points leader Steve Dixon. Lunger would stand in Stateline’s victory lane for the 44th time in RUSH Pro Mod competition. Dixon would settle for second. Al Brewer, in his 53rd year of competition, was third, Chad Ramsey, in one of his best outings of the season, was fourth and eighth-place stareter and former Crate Late Model standout Damian Bidwell was fifth.

Knight would be a surprise visit to the Chautauqua County-based oval, but when the night ended there would be no surpise as Knight would grab the lead from Wyatt Scott on lap three, to lead the remaining distance in the Super Late Models main event. Darrell Bossard would not make it easy for Knight, as Bossard would stalk Knight the entire second half of the 25-lapper, with the two competitors running side-by-side through the corners on many occasions. Hard to believe this would be Knight’s first Stateline Super Late Model win since Sept. 11, 2010. Bossard, in one of his best showings of 2023, would come home second. Scott, in the Schreckengost No. 9x, was third. Two-time 2023 winner Greg Oakes was fourth as veteran David Scott would complete the top five.

Horton would have victory put in his lap as race leader Rick Feely would go pitside on lap five, giving the lead up to second-place runner Horton, who would lead the remaining seven laps unscathed to pick up his fourth Stateline Challenger win of the season. Tommy Labarbera finally found the right set-up finishing second, three-time 2023 winner John Mease was third, June 10 winner Domingo Echevarria was fourth and Holden Heineman would complete the top five.

In the nightcap, Ramsey would grab the point from Jason Black on the lap eight restart, to bag Stateline Pro Stock win No. 2 of 2023, making it two in a row for the Ripley, New York native. Two-time 2023 winner Jason Black would come home second, Clymer, New York’s Shane Applebee was third, multi-time champ John Boardman was fourth and Gary Fisher Jr. would round out the top five.

RUSH CRATE LATE MODELS (20 Entries)

Heat Race Winners: Andy Michael, Will Pinckney, Matt Sipes

Feature:1) Matt Sipes 2) David Parker 3) Jason Genco 4) Scott Gurdak 5) Will Pinckney 6) Andy Michael 7) Ward Schell 8. Chad Clement 9) Randy Hall 10) Ray Houser 11) Steve Blodgett 12) Khole Wanzer 13) Hunter Proctor 14) Gary Youngs 15) Shawn Little 16) Kassie Norman 17) Charlie Houser 18. Ronald Watson 19) Rick Karash 20) Steve Houser

Lap Leaders: Pinckney (1-4), Sipes (5-20)

UMP MODIFIEDS (21 Entries)

Heat Race Winners: Greg Johnson, Dennis Lunger, Troy Johnson

Feature:1) Dennis Lunger 2) Dave Hess Jr. 3) Troy Johnson 4) David Scott 5) Cale Crocker 6) Greg Johnson 7) Tim Peterson 8. Dan Sasso 9) Mike Eschrich 10) Tim Rockwell 11) Butch Southwell 12) Chris McDonald 13) Bryon Johnson 14) Dennis Asel 15) James Irwin 16) Tom Kosinski 17) Matt Kosinski 18. Dave Lanphere 19) Matt Haskins 20) Zach Johnson 21) Eric Reinwald

Lap Leaders: G. Johnson (1,2), T. Johnson (3), Lunger (4-20)

SHARP MINI LATE MODELS (9 Entries)

Heat Race Winners: Morgan Curry, Ryan Card

Feature:1) Ryan Card 2) Terry Mealy 3) Jesse Isadore 4) Steve Coons 5) Oakley Terrill 6) Morgan Curry 7) Treyton Whyte 8. Chris Whyte 9) Dale Hainse III

Lap Leaders: Card (1-12)

RUSH PRO MODS (17 Entries)

Heat Race Winners: Al Brewer, Tyler Sutton, Dennis Lunger

Feature:1) Dennis Lunger 2) Steve Dixon 3) Al Brewer 4) Chad Ramsey 5) Damian Bidwell 6) Brendan Warner 7) Tyler Oakes 8. Tyler Sutton 9) Derek Peterson 10) Nick Arnold 11) Chad Carlson 12) Cody Rickard 13) Will Silvis 14) John Cline 15) Ian Degolier 16) Vaughn Nystrom 17) Donald May Jr.

Lap Leaders: Lunger (1-20)

SUPER LATE MODELS (18 Entries)

Heat Race Winners:Darrell Bossard, Mike Knight, David Scott

Feature:1) Mike Knight 2) Darrell Bossard 3) Wyatt Scott 4) Greg Oakes 5) David Scott 6) Bump Headman 7) Dutch Davies 8. Michael Smith 9) Dave Hess Jr. 10) Bob Dorman 11) Ryan Scott 12) Jake Finnerty 13) Kyle Bedell 14) Kevin Smith 15) Anthony Marotto 16) Khole Wanzer 17) Justin Carlson 18. Jason Genco

Lap Leaders: W. Scott (1-3), Knight (4-25)

CHALLENGERS (24 Entries)

Heat Race Winners: Chris Horton, John Mease, Holden Heineman, Tommy Labarbera

Feature:1) Chris Horton 2) Tommy Labarbera 3) John Mease 4) Domingo Echevarria 5) Holden Heineman 6) Nicholas Freed 7) Dan Bittinger 8. Jess Harvey 9) James Wilburn 10) Vince Norton 11) Sam Baughman 12) Hailey Moore 13) Tyler Peardon 14) Jordan Richard 15) Kasey Markham 16) Cassandra Goodwill 17) Adam Britsky 18. Kayla York 19) Todd Hanlon 20) Rick Feely 21) AnnaleesaDiabo 22) Pat Hanlon 23) Pete Volpe 24) Chelsea Haskins

Lap Leaders: Feely (1-5), Horton (6-12)

PRO STOCKS (20 Entries)

Heat Race Winners: Matt Sampson, Jason Black, Shane Applebee

Feature: 1) Tanner Ramsey 2) Jason Black 3) Shane Applebee 4) John Boardman 5) Gary Fisher Jr. 6) Jason Covey 7) Matt Sampson 8. Douglas Eck 9) Michael Oakes 10) Donald Blood 11) Brent Marotto 12) Pat Passane 13) Mikael Beaver 14) John Cline 15) Dean Gibson Jr. 16) Andrew Hammond 17) Justin Pratt 18. Kevin Hill 19) Dale Sheets 20) George Ploss

Lap Leaders: Black (1-8., T. Ramsey (9-15)

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