STARS

BRET EMRICK
BALZANO BAGS STARS WIN AT CHALLENGER!!!

Indiana(Jacksonville),PA 8-15-99

Mike Balzano of Parkersburg,WV scored his first STARS National DirtCar
Racing League sanctioned victory of the season Sunday pocketing the
$5,000 to win "Challenger 50" at Challenger Raceway near Indiana,PA. Driving the Eddie's Auto Parts/Ault Swimming Pools/E.R. Corbin Trucking/Rocket Chassis/Draime Racing Engines No. E1 Balzano Racing Enterprises Chevrolet Monte Carlo, Balzano grabbed the lead from John Flinner on a lap 10 restart
and held off Flinner for the win despite a failing rear-end. Balzano's
car started to show smoke with ten laps to go and began to throw fire from
underneath of the car with two laps remaining but Balzano brought the
faltering car to the finish. "I'm glad this wasn't a 51 lap race", stated
Balzano in victory lane. "We would've never made it. The rear-end is
totally burnt up. I just need to thank our sponsors and the crew for
never giving up. Finally we win another STARS race. It's been a long time, back to the end of June last year when we last got one of these. The
competition is just so strong you never know who's going to win and that makes it tough to get a win". Todd Andrews finished third with 10th starting Chub Frank fourth and Mike Blose fifth. Completing the top ten were 17th starting Donnie Moran, R.J. Conley, Steve Shaver, 24th starting Gary Stuhler and Dave Satterlee.

At the drop of the green flag Flinner jumped into the lead from the
outside pole at the end of the first lap with Conley, Balzano, Blose and
Satterlee trailing. Before lap two could be completed Ron Davies spun in
turn two bringing out the caution. Balzano quickly moved past Conley for
second on the restart and began to close on Flinner who had opened up a
three car length advantage. Blose took third from Conley on lap 3 with
Frank taking fifth from Satterlee on lap 6 and then fourth from Conley
one lap later. Satterlee moved back to fifth dropping Conley back a spot on
lap 10 but the caution waved to slow the pace when Davies stopped with a
blown motor. On the restart Lynn Geisler spun collecting Aaron Scott before
another lap could be completed. On the second attempt at the restart
Balzano blew past Flinner grabbing the lead and opening up a two car
length margin. Frank grabbed third from Blose on lap 13 but had a lot of ground to make up to catch Flinner who trailed Balzano by three car lengths. Cautions on laps 18, 22 and 23 slowed the pace and at the halfway point the leader board showed Balzano with the lead trailed by Flinner, Frank, Satterlee and Blose with Dick Barton, Conley, Shaver, Andrews and Rob Blair completing the top ten.

Frank ran down Flinner by lap 30 and began to put heavy pressure in him
grabbing the second spot on lap 33 as Conley blew back into fifth.
Balzano enjoyed a four car margin on Frank who had his hands full with Flinner. Frank banged the turn two cushion on lap 39 allowing Flinner to regain the runner-up spot. Balzano now had a five car length advantage but the smoke from his failing rear-end started to show slowing his pace. Andrews made a strong move taking fifth on lap 41 and then fourth on lap 43 as Conley moved Blose back to sixth. Blose came right back at Conley to regain the spot the next lap with Andrews working past Frank for third on lap 47. Flinner had whittled Balzano's lead down to two car lengths with one lap to go but could get no closer as Balzano "flamed" across the finish line.

The $22,000 event drew 44 driver's to the semi-banked 4/10ths mile of
Jack and Donna Lentz. Balzano topped the field in time trials with his quick
lap of 15.320 seconds. BORLA EXHAUST heat race wins fell to Shaver, Geisler, Scott (SCOTT PERFORMANCE WIRE heat race bonus winner) and Frank. Conley snared the ISKY RACING CAMS dash while the PRO SHOCKS "B" Main wins went to Moran and Mike Johnson.

STARS National DirtCar Racing League Race Report (for 8-15-99)
Race No. 25-1999 Season-"Challenger 50"
Challenger Raceway-Indiana (Jacksonville),PA-4/10ths Mile Oval
$22,000 Purse-$5,000 To Win-50 Lap Feature

(Showing Finish Pos.,Start Pos.,Car #,Driver,Laps,Purse,reason Out)

1. (4) #E1 Mike Balzano 50 $5,050 Running
2. (2) #93X John Flinner 50 $2,580 Running
3. (6) #42 Todd Andrews 50 $1,535 Running
4. (10) #1* Chub Frank 50 $1,000 Running
5. (3) # 5 Mike Blose 50 $960 Running
6. (17) #99 Donnie Moran 50 $890 Running
7. (1) #71C R.J. Conley 50 $900 Running
8. (7) #30 Steve Shaver 50 $750 Running
9. (24) #19 Gary Stuhler 50 $740 Running
10. (5) #79 Dave Satterlee 50 $690 Running
11. (13) #04 Bob Close 50 $600 Running
12. (14) #W11 Rob Blair 50 $550 Running
13. (11) #28B Dick Barton 50 $500 Running
14. (23) #14L Dave Lyon 50 $490 Running
15. (20) # 3 David Scott 50 $440 Running
16. (15) #D2 Nolan Dalton 50 $350 Running
17. (22) #SR1 Glenn Ray 50 $340 Running
18. (21) #10 Gary Lyle 50 $340 Running
19. (25) #24X Dave Norton 50 $300 Running
20. (16) #32L Greg Lucas 50 $300 Running
21. (8) #1C Lynn Geisler 47 $300 Handling
22. (9) #33 Aaron Scott 39 $300 Suspension
23. (19) #75 Bart Hartman 31 $340 Handling
24. (18) #2J Mike Johnson 28 $340 Handling
25. (11) #V2 Ron Davies 10 $300 Engine

TIME OF RACE: 35 Mins.
YELLOW FLAGS: Eight-Laps 1,10,10 (RS),18,22,23,31,41
RED FLAGS: None
> LAP LEADERS: Two-Flinner 1-10;Balzano 11-50
> "ROOKIE OF THE RACE": Dalton
> OUTERWEARS CO. "Hard Charger of the Race": Stuhler
> PROVISIONAL STARTERS: Lyon,Stuhler,Norton
> CAR COUNT: 44
> FAST QUALIFIER: Balzano 15.320 secs.
> BORLA EXHAUST Heat Race Winners: Shaver,Geisler,A. Scott,Frank
> SCOTT PERFORMANCE WIRE Heat Race Bonus Winner: A. Scott ($100)
> ISKY RACING CAMS Dash Winner: Conley
> PRO SHOCKS "B" Main Winners: Moran,Johnson
>
> SUMMARY
> Qualifying: 1)#E1 Mike Balzano 15.320; 2)#79 Dave Satterlee 15.374;
3)#93X John Flinner 15.416; 4)#5 Mike Blose 15.441; 5)#42 Todd Andrews 15.483; 6)#71C R.J. Conley 15.516; 7)#32L Greg Lucas 15.551; 8)#W11 Rob Blair 15.556; 9)#30 Steve Shaver 15.573; 10)#1C Lynn Geisler 15.630; 11)#04 Bob Close 15.641; 12)#1* Chub Frank 15.647; 13)#V2 Ron Davies 15.664; 14)#D2 Nolan Dalton 15.769; 15)#33 Aaron Scott 15.789; 16)#28B Dick Barton
15.790; 17)#75 Bart Hartman 15.806; 18)#2J Mike Johnson 15.813; 19)#14L Dave Lyon 15.829; 20)#3 David Scott 15.829; 21)#99 Donnie Moran 15.839; 22)#19 Gary Stuhler 15.929; 23)#W7 Thomas Ware 15.955; 24)#18 John Britsky 15.968; 25)#01S Ron Slavic 15.984; 26)#SR1 Glenn Ray 15.992; 27)#10 Gary Lyle 15.993; 28)#01 John Venable 16.023; 29)#11R Rusty Whitmore 16.039;30)#SR2 Jake Shady 16.156; 31)#11 Chris Conner 16.167; 32)#90 Wally Fox 16.170; 33)#21 Bob Cessna 16.224; 34)#24X Dave Norton 16.228; 35)#2S Sam Stile > 16.321; 36)#14 Corey Conley 16.355; 37)#80 Bryan Durig 16.368; 38)#17 Charlie Duncan 16.523; 39)#40 Dutch Davies 16.549; 40)#15 Jason Carnahan 16.559; 41)#99s Marshall Shunk 16.589; 42)#28 Chris Stewart 16.753;43)#38R William Reges 16.872; 44)#M1 Mickey Wright 16.965

BORLA EXHAUST Heat #1: Shaver,R. Davies,Andrews,Balzano,Moran,
Hartman,Slavic,Cessna,Whitmore,Durig,Shunk (Top 4 advance to feature)
> BORLA EXHAUST Heat #2: Geisler,Satterlee,R. Conley,Dalton,Johnson, Ray,
> Stuhler,Duncan,Stewart,Norton,Shady (Top 4 advance to feature)
> BORLA EXHAUST/SCOTT PERFORMANCE WIRE Heat #3: A. Scott,
> Flinner,Close,Lucas,Lyle,Lyon,D. Davies,Ware,Stile,Reges,Conner (Top 4
> advance to feature)
> BORLA EXHAUST Heat #4: Frank,Barton,Blair,Blose,D. Scott,Venable,
> Fox,Carnahan,Wright,Britsky,C. Conley (Top 4 advance to feature)
> ISKY RACING CAMS Dash: R. Conley,Flinner,Blose,Balzano,Satterlee,
> Andrews (Finish determines first three rows of feature)
> PRO SHOCKS "B" Main #1: Moran,Hartman,Lyle,D. Davies,Reges,Lyon,
> Durig,Cessna,Ware,Stile,Slavic,Shunk,Conner,NS-Whitmore (Top 3
> advance to feature)
> PRO SHOCKS "B" Main #2: Johnson,D. Scott,Ray,Stuhler,Britsky,
> Carnahan,Fox,C. Conley,Wright,Duncan,Stewart,NS-Norton,Shady (Top 3
> advance to feature)
>
> STARS National DirtCar Racing League Point Standings (after 8-15-99)
>
> 1. #99 Donnie Moran Dresden,OH 6,170
> 2. #E1 Mike Balzano Parkersburg,WV 5,900
> 3. #1* Chub Frank Sugar Grove,PA 5,710
> 4. #30 Steve Shaver Parkersburg,WV 4,720
> 5. #19 Gary Stuhler Greencastle,PA 4,440
> 6. #71C R.J. Conley Wheelersburg,OH 4,330
> 7. #33 Aaron Scott Newark,OH 3,440
> 8. #42 Todd Andrews Eldred,PA 3,180
> 9. #32L Greg Lucas Whitesburg,KY 2,540
> 10. #75 Bart Hartman Zanesville,OH 2,240
> 11. # 0 Davey Johnson Greensburg,PA 2,150
> 12. #68 Tim Hitt Weston,WV 2,100
> 13. #D2 Nolan Dalton Morgantown,WV 2,000
> 14. #W7 Thomas Ware Cynthiana,KY 1,830
> 15. #99c Rick Aukland Zanesville,OH 1,680
> 16. #71R Rod Conley Wheelersburg,OH 1,640
> 17. #80 Bryan Durig Warren,OH 1,600
> 18. #4B Jackie Boggs Grayson,KY 1,590
> 19. #W11 Rob Blair Titusville,PA 1,420
> 20. # 3 David Scott Garland,PA 1,370
>
> STARS "Rookie of the Year" Points
>
> 1. #33 Aaron Scott Newark,OH 3,440
> 2. #32L Greg Lucas Whitesburg,KY 2,540
> 3. #D2 Nolan Dalton Morgantown,WV 2,000
> 4. #W7 Thomas Ware Cynthiana,KY 1,830
> 5. #80 Bryan Durig Warren,OH 1,600
> 6. #F45 Russ Frohnapfel Columbus,OH 1,020
> 7. # 1 Eddie Carrier Jr. leburn,KY 980
> 8. #1H Wayne Hughes Mt. Hope,WV 750
> 9. # 5 Tony Marks Napolean,OH 250
>
> PRO SHOCKS "B" MAIN Points
>
> 1. #80 Bryan Durig Warren,OH 1,350
> 2. #W7 Thomas Ware Cynthiana,KY 1,020
> 3. #F45 Russ Frohnapfel Colmubus,OH 840
> 4. #32L Greg Lucas Whitesburg,KY 750
> 5. #1H Wayne Hughes Mt. Hope,WV 490
>
> STARS FEATURE EVENT Winners
>
> 1. #99 Donnie Moran Dresden,OH 7
> 2. #19 Gary Stuhler Greencastle,PA 4
> 3. #1* Chub Frank Sugar Grove,PA 2
> 4. #30 Steve Shaver Parkersburg,WV 2
> 5. #99c Rick Aukland Zanesville,OH 2
> 6. # 0 Davey Johnson Greensburg,PA 2
> 7. #E1 Mike Balzano Parkersburg,WV 1
> 8. #75 Bart Hartman Zanesville,OH 1
> 9. #10 Paul Harris Prestonsburg,KY 1
> 10. #10 John Lobb Frewsburg,NY 1
> 11. #6M Wendell Wallace Batesville,AR 1
> 12. # 1 Jimmy Mars Lakeville,MN 1