STARS

 BRET EMRICK

STUHLER SNARES "CORNETT CLASH 100"!!!

(Portsmouth,OH 8-7-99)

 Gary Stuhler of Greencastle,PA earned his third STARS National DirtCar
Racing League sanctioned victory of the season Saturday pocketing the
$10,000 to win "6th Annual Cornett Clash 100" at Portsmouth Raceway Park in
Portsmouth,OH. Aboard the Reliable Painting/Duron Paints/ MasterSbilt
Chassis/Leggett Engine Research No. 19 Beitler Enterprises Pontiac Grand
Prix, Stuhler led the event on three seperate occasion's after starting
from the outside pole and took the lead for good on lap 71 holding off 10th
starting Chub Frank for the win. Mike Balzano, who started 7th, finished in
third with 9th starting Donnie Moran fourth and 15th starting Steve Shaver
fifth. Completing the top ten were Paul Harris, 17th starting John Mason,
Jack Boggs, Jackie Boggs and 23rd starting Aaron Scott.

 At the drop of the green flag pole sitter Jackie Boggs powered into the
lead with Stuhler, Harris, R.J. Conley and Shawn Holliday trailing at the
end of the first lap. Stuhler shot past Boggs for the lead on lap 3 as
Frank powered by Holliday for fifth. Boggs came right back at Stuhler
regaining the lead on lap 4. Two laps later Stuhler grabbed first back with
a high side move off of turn four with Harris taking the low road to move
into second. Stuhler began to open some distance on Harris by lap 9 as
Frank continued his move forward taking fourth from Conley. Stuhler entered
lapped traffic on lap 11 allowing Harris to close to within a car length as
Balzano shuffled Conley back to fifth. But before lap 12 could be completed
Holliday spun off of turn two bringing out the first of four caution
periods. One lap after going back to green Balzano worked past Conley for
fifth as Stuhler enjoyed the clear track ahead of him opening up a four car
length lead on Harris. Moran quickly entered the picture grabbing fifth
from Balzano on lap 15 and one lap later went by Boggs for fourth. Frank
went by Harris for second on lap 17 as Balzano climbed back to fifth
getting past Boggs. Stuhler had opened his lead up to six car lengths but
before lap 18 was in the books Conley spun in turn two bringing the yellow
back out.

 Once the race was restarted a long green flag period unfolded with Stuhler
moving to a two car length lead over Frank. Moran went by Harris for third
on lap 18 and on lap 25 worked his way past Frank for second just as
Stuhler and the rest of the lead pack worked back to lapped traffic.
Stuhler kept a two car advantage for several laps which saw Balzano move
past Frank for third on lap 31 with Frank regaining the spot on lap 38.
Aaron Bapst suddenly powered into fifth on lap 46 with Stuhler leading
Moran by two car lengths at the halfway point. Frank sat third with Balzano
and Bapst fourth and fifth respectively followed by Harris, Steve Shaver,
Jackie Boggs, John Mason and Jack Boggs. The great run for Bapst ended one
lap later when he broke an axle bringing out the caution moving Harris back
to fifth. Again on the restart Stuhler maintained his edge on Moran but
that changed when they hit lapped traffic on lap 59. Moran closed to within
a car length of Stuhler the next go round with Shaver grabbing fifth from
Harris. Moran ran side by side with Stuhler on laps 62 and 63 moving ahead
of Stuhler by a nose on lap 63 as they split a lapped car. Moran opened up
a four car length lead on Stuhler by lap 68 but again lapped traffic came
into play in a big way. Stuhler closed to within a car length of Moran on
lap 70 and as Moran exited turn four attempting to lap Jack Boggs the
bumper's of Moran and Boggs car's became locked together with both driver's
trying to shake themselves free of each other but were forced to stop in
turn one when neither could break free. According to rule Moran had to go
to the rear of the field handing the lead back to Stuhler. With several
car's one lap or more down to the leaders for the restart Moran saw himself
back in tenth position. Frank tried every groove available to run down
Stuhler over the remaining laps but could come no closer than a car length.
Moran worked his way back to fifth on lap 91 and then took fourth from
Shaver with two to go but out front Stuhler had opened up a healthy lead on
Frank and took the checkered flag by nearly a one second.

 The $38,000 event drew 39 driver's to the semi-banked 1/3rd mile with
Holliday setting quick time at 14.587 seconds. BORLA EXHAUST heat race wins
fell to Harris, Balzano (SCOTT PERFORMANCE WIRE heat race bonus winner),
Kenny Christy and Jackie Boggs who also snared the ISKY RACING CAMS dash.
Delmas Conley and John Mason captured the PRO SHOCKS "B" Mains. Conley went to a back-up car for the main event and according to rule started tail of
the field.

STARS National DirtCar Racing League Race Report (for 8-7-99)
Race No. 23-1999 Season-"6th Annual Cornett Clash 100"
Portsmouth Raceway Park-Portsmouth,OH-1/3rd Mile Oval
$38,000 Purse-$10,000 To Win-100 Lap Feature

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

1. (2) #19 Gary Stuhler 100 $10,080 Running
2. (10) #1* Chub Frank 100 $5,000 Running
3. (7) #E1 Mike Balzano 100 $3,000 Running
4. (9) #99 Donnie Moran 100 $2,000 Running
5. (15) #30 Steve Shaver 100 $1,500 Running
6. (4) #10 Paul Harris 100 $1,450 Running
7. (17) #72 John Mason 100 $1,340 Running
8. (6) #B4 Jack Boggs 100 $1,235 Running
9. (1) #4B Jackie Boggs 99 $1,200 Running
10. (23) #33 Aaron Scott 99 $1,040 Running
11. (24) #71 Delmas Conley 98 $940 Running
12. (8) # 2 Kenny Christy 98 $800 Running
13. (13) #71R Rod Conley 97 $700 Running
14. (19) #77 Barry Bragdon 97 $690 Running
15. (22) # 1 Eddie Carrier Jr. 97 $640 Running
16. (14) #21M Jason Montgomery 97 $550 Running
17. (18) #1B Nick Bocook 95 $540 Running
18. (20) #18A Bob Adams Jr. 85 $540 Suspension
19. (21) #96F Keith Berner 59 $540 Handling
20. (16) #111P David Powers 52 $500 Handling
21. (11) #43 Aaron Bapst 51 $500 Axle
22. (12) #B1 Bill Bocook 38 $500 Ignition
23. (3) #71C R.J. Conley 17 $560 Steering
24. (5) #1PJ Shawn Holliday $540 Steering

TIME OF RACE: 43 Mins.
YELLOW FLAGS: Four-Laps 12,17,52,70
RED FLAGS: None
LAP LEADERS: Three-Jackie Boggs 1-2,4-5;Stuhler 3,6-62,71-100;
Moran 63-70
ROOKIE OF THE RACE: Scott
OUTERWEARS CO. "Hard Charger's of the Race": Scott,D. Conley
PROVISIONAL STARTERS: Carrier Jr.,Scott
CAR COUNT: 39
FAST QUALIFIER: Holliday 14.587 secs.
BORLA EXHAUST Heat Race Winners: Harris,Balzano,Christy,Jackie
Boggs
SCOTT PERFORMANCE WIRE Heat Race Bonus Winner: Balzano ($250)
ISKY RACING CAMS Dash Winner: Jackie Boggs
PRO SHOCKS "B" Main Winners: D. Conley*,Mason
* = Went to back-up car, started 24th

SUMMARY

Qualifying: 1)#1PJ Shawn Holliday 14.587; 2)#1 Eddie Carrier Jr. 14.601;
3)#B4 Jack Boggs 14.626; 4)#4B Jackie Boggs 14.670; 5)#10 Paul Harris
14.682; 6)#72 John Mason 14.702; 7)#32L Greg Lucas 14.723; 8)#19 Gary
Stuhler 14.723; 9)#71C R.J. Conley 14.747; 10)#E1 Mike Balzano 14.753;
11)#71R Rod Conley 14.785; 12)#111P David Powers 14.815; 13)#99 Donnie
Moran 14.870; 14)#1* Chub Frank 14.885; 15)#2 Kenny Christy 14.920; 16)#97
Jim LeMasters 14.922; 17)#71 Delmas Conley 14.935; 18)#B1 Bill Bocook
14.946; 19)#55 Jim Leeth 14.953; 20)#21M Jason Montgomery 14.970; 21)#6
Richard Jenkins 14.978; 22)#80 Bryan Durig 15.017; 23)#1B Nick Bocook
15.033; 24)#D2 Nolan Dalton 15.044; 25)#18A Bob Adams Jr. 15.075; 26)#30
Steve Shaver 15.180; 27)#43 Aaron Bapst 15.228; 28)#12D Doug Dodd 15.255;
29)#21 George Lee II 15.325; 30)#7 Matt Miller 15.338; 31)#33 Aaron Scott
15.352; 32)#96F Keith Berner 15.358; 33)#W7 Thomas Ware 15.457; 34)#17
Shannon Thornsberry 15.506; 35)#17W Chris Wilson 15.520; 36)#18 Brandon
Kinzer 15.546; 37)#12 Larry Martin Jr. 16.202; 38)#77 Barry Bragdon NT,
39)#A1 Randy Boggs NT

BORLA EXHAUST Heat #1: Harris,Moran,R.J. Conley,Holliday,Adams Jr.,
D. Conley,Lee II,Jenkins,Ware,Martin Jr. (Top 4 advance to feature)
BORLA EXHAUST/SCOTT PERFORMANCE WIRE Heat #2: Balzano,
Frank,B. Bocook,Shaver,Mason,Bragdon,Miller,Durig,Carrier Jr.,
Thornsberry (Top 4 advance to feature)
BORLA EXHAUST Heat #3: Christy,Bapst,R. Conley,J. Boggs,Leeth,N.
Bocook,R. Boggs,Wilson,Scott,Lucas (Top 4 advance to feature)
BORLA EXHAUST Heat #4: Jackie Boggs,Stuhler,Montgomery,Powers,
Berner,Dalton,Dodd,Kinzer,LeMasters (Top 4 advance to feature)
ISKY RACING CAMS Dash: Jackie Boggs,Stuhler,R.J. Conley,Harris,
Holliday,J. Boggs (Finish determines first three rows of feature)
PRO SHOCKS "B" Main #1: D. Conley,N. Bocook,Adams Jr.,Leeth,Lee II,
Ware,Jenkins,Lucas,R. Boggs,Wilson,Scott,NS-Martin Jr. (Top 3 advance
to feature)
PRO SHOCKS "B" Main #2: Mason,Bragdon,Berner,Miller,Dalton,Carrier
Jr.,Durig,Dodd,Thornsberry,Kinzer,LeMasters (Top 3 advance to feature)