Pittsburgh's Pa. Motor Speedway
Flinner dominates UFO opener at Pittsburgh
IMPERIAL, Pa. (June 6) — John Flinner of Zelienople, Pa., ran virtually unchallenged at Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway for a $2,500 victory in the first Unified Race Force Championship event of the season. Flinner started on the pole and pulled away for comfortable leads after several restarts in winning the Penn National 33.
Alex Ferree of Saxonburg, Pa., finished second followed by Al Atallah of Bridgeville, Pa. Brandon Burgoon of McDonald, Pa., and John Mollick of Toronto, Ohio, rounded out the top five. Outside front-row starter Jim Stephans of Pittsburgh was sixth
Notes: Flinner's Rocket Chassis is sponsored by River Salvage and SouthSide Welding. ... Lynn Geisler was the first car out when he hit the turn-two wall on the sixth lap. ... Mark Banal of St. Clairsville, Ohio, was making his first started of the season; he finished 14th after running second midway through the race but dropped out with an overheating car. ... Keith Barbara retired with radiator problems with six laps remaining. ... Jared Miley of South Park, Pa., tagged the wall in turns three and four on the 30th lap to draw the final caution. ... John Mollick's fifth-place finish was his best career performance at PPMS. ... On the undercard, Mark Moats Jr. of Hookstown, Pa., won his first UMP Crate Late Model feature of the season. ... Next up for the UFO tour is a July 11 event at Roaring Knob Motorsports Complex in Markleysburg, Pa., paying $3,000 to the winner.
Penn National 33: (1) John Flinner, (2) Alex Ferree, (3) Al Atallah, (4) Brandon Burgoon, (5) John Mollick, (6) Jim Stephans, (7) Lance Elson, (8) Ben Miley, (9) Mike Norris, (10) Chuck Medved, (11) Jim Lepro, (12) Jared Miley, (13) Keith Barbara, (14) Mark Banal, (15) Tommy Beck, (16) Kyle Lukon, (17) Lou Bradich, (18) Lynn Geisler. Scratched: Mike Masich, Brandon Wearing. Heat race winners (among 20 cars): Flinner, Barbara.
