Pittsburgh's Pa. Motor Speedway
Baker's UFO victory pays career-high $8,000
From series reports
Steve Baker (0) works through traffic. (Frank Wilson)
IMPERIAL, Pa. (July 13) — Polesitter Steve Baker of Morgantown, W.Va., led all but the first lap of the Red Miley 53 at Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway to become the first two-time winner on the first-year Unified Force Race Championship tour. Baker, who earned a career high of more than $8,000 ($5,300 from the purse, the rest from lap money), let Jim Stephans slip underneath to lead the first lap, but then took control and led the rest of the way at the half-mile oval.
Davey Johnson of Latrobe, Pa., rallied from his 10th starting spot to finish second, but couldn't get close enough in the final laps to make a serious charge at Baker. John Flinner of Zelienopole, Pa., who started outside the front row, was third ahead of UFO points leader Jared Miley of South Park, Pa., who started ninth. Keith Barbara of South Park rounded out the top five and Stephans ended up seventh.
Notes: Among the race stoppages was a lap-26 fuel stop. Baker's car ran out of gas as the cars lined up to be refueled. ... Lynn Geisler got into the turn-one wall on the first lap and retired after an attempt to make repairs. ... Dave Wade's lap-15 spin triggered a multicar tangle in turn three. ... Jared Miley, who posted his fifth-straight top-five finish in UFO action, has 439 points to lead the series over Alex Ferree (434) and Keith Barbara (427). ... Baker won his heat race from the pole position, just the second time that's happened this season. ... Next up for UFO competitors is the $4,000-to-win Earl Hill Championship on Aug. 3 at Tyler County Speedway in Middlebourne, W.Va.
UFO @ PPMS: (1) Steve Baker, (2) Davey Johnson, (3) John Flinner, (4) Jared Miley, (5) Keith Barbara, (6) Alex Ferree, (7) Jim Stephans, (8) Donnie Moran, (9) Brandon Burgoon, (10) Gregg Satterlee, (11) Jim Lepro, (12) Keith Rodriguez, (13) Larry Marks, (14) Matt Dobnak, (15) Herman Bertolini, (16) C.A. Medved, (17) Mark Moats, (18) Mike Johnson, (19) Dave Wade, (20) Rodney Sweitzer, (21) D.J. Miller, (22) Kari Gasser, (23) Ben Miley, (24) B.A. Malcuit, (25) Shawn McGarvey, (26) Mel Minnick Jr., (27) Al Atallah, (28) Steve Banal, (29) Tom Duratz, (30) Lynn Geisler, (31) Lou Bradich. Heat race winners (among 31 cars): Geisler, D. Johnson, Baker.
