Burch Wins McGarvie Memorial At Eriez
7 min readHammett, PA (June 23, 2019) —Beautiful summer weather greeted fans entering Eriez Speedway Sunday for the annual Dan McGarvie Memorial for the L & D Tree Service Challengers. Racing in the five divisions was complete at 9 PM! Casey Burch was the class of the field in the McGarvie Memorial, leading all 15 laps. Max Blair prevailed again in the New Motors Super Late Model division for his fourth win of the season, Gary Eicher got his second win of 2019, Ty Rhoades was victorious in the Johnson’s Car Care Economod feature, his first this year, and John Boardman led the distance for the Curtze Food Service Street Stocks win.
The Johnson’s Car Care and Collision Economod feature was first up with Kyle Layton and John Boyd at the front. Layton led from green with Nate Young, Boyd, Steve Simon, and Ty Rhoades right behind. Yellow flew before the first circuit was complete when Justin Clark and Ed Roberts got together on the back chute. After a yellow for Roberts at lap five, experiencing mechanical issues and not being able to get far enough off the track, racing was caution free through halfway with Layton leading Young, Rhoades, Simon, and defending class champion Matt Alexander. Alexander got to third with five laps remaining just as James Myers spun in turn two. At the green a chain reaction type incident occurred on the back straight with several cars involved but all able to continue. Then, again just after green, Myers and Reinwald got together in turns one and two with Reinwald heading to the pit, done for the evening. The race for second was close at lap twelve with Young and Rhoades side by side at the line. The final caution was for a spin in turn two by Jarrett Young with Gary Olson stopping before making contact. Rhoades took over the top spot on the back straight at lap fourteen. At the checkers it was Rhoades, Layton, Young, Alexander, and points leader Kyle Miller.
Next up was the Waterford Hotel E-Mods with Mike McGee and Randy Hall at the fore with McGee grabbing the early lead. At two laps Steve Rex spun in turn two. At five laps McGee was leading a side by side race between Hall and Gary Eicher with Eicher securing the spot the next lap. At seven the side by side by side action was for third with Casey Bowers challenging Hall and taking over third. Then the race was for the lead with Eicher and McGee side by side on laps eight and nine with Eicher slightly ahead at nine then pulling away at the halfway point, ten laps. Bowers got to second in turns one and two of lap eleven but the pass was negated by a caution for Dave Lamphere, spun in turn two. Tim Rockwell spun his car at the restart. At twelve laps Dennis Lunger used the high line to sweep around Bowers for third then switched to the low side to challenge McGee at thirteen, holding the spot at fourteen complete. McGee came back to the position on the back side of the track at lap fourteen but Bowers held it by a nose with four to go and had the spot permanently at seventeen complete. Eicher was speeding to his second win of the season by a full straight-a-way margin. Bowers settled for second over McGee, Lunger, and John Boyd.
Every year since his untimely passing in 2007 Dan McGarvie has been remembered with a extra lap, extra purse L & D Tree Service Mini Stock special. This year’s event paid $500 to win with Carey Mason and Tyler Walters bringing the race to green with Walters leading the race to turn two then fourth-starting Casey Burch taking over at the front. Jessica Harvey and Jeff Nunemaker had problems on the back straight on lap one for the first caution on the event. Burch led lap two with William Van Guilder second, Walters third, Zack Eller fourth, and Mark Lawrence fifth. Chris Horton came into the top five at lap four then Van Guilder muscled past Burch for the lead a lap later. At halfway it was Van Guilder, Burch, Eller, Horton, and Walters. Burch came back to the lead at lap ten as Van Guilder was experiencing problems and slowly made his way to the pit. Burch then led the rest of the distance, winning over Eller, Horton, Walters, and Lane Reinwald.
2009 points champion Chris Hackett was the pole sitter for the New Motors Super Late Model feature with Steve Kania on the outside. Kania grabbed the lead at the start over Hackett, Doug Eck, Chad Wright, and Max Blair. Blair advanced to third on the back straight of lap two. Chad Wright got up to fourth then spun in turn one at lap three. Kania, Hackett, Blair, Greg Oakes, and Darrell Bossard brought the race back to green with Mike Knight up to fifth at four laps. At five laps Blair and Hackett were side by side with Blair second the next time by the flag. Bossard was third at lap nine. Blair used the high line to sweep around Kania for the lead at lap ten. At the halfway point it was Blair, Kania, Bossard, Hackett, and Knight showing the way. Knight made it to fourth eleven laps and Oakes was fifth at twelve. With three laps left Bossard and Kania were side by side for the runner-up spot with Bossard holding it with two to go. The final run down was Blair for his fourth win of the season in four events, Bossard, Kania, Knight, and Oakes.
The night-capper was the feature for the Curtze Food Service Street Stocks with Braidy Westfall and John Boardman leading the way to Mark Matthews’ green flag. Boardman led to turn one then Westfall took over to lead lap one over Boardman, Michael Reed, Jimmy Kennerknecht, and Joshua Seippel. In turn two Westfall got sideways but righted himself. The racers behind accordioned with Shane Applebee spinning and Westfall heading pitside. He rejoined the race before green was again shown. After green John Boardman was the leader. At halfway, with Boardman still leading, Kennerknecht was up to second over Reed, Seippel, and Gary Fisher, up from eleventh at the start. Chris Withers spun at the halfway point, slowing the race under yellow. With four to go Wesley McCray came to fifth as Kennerknecht and Fisher went door to door for second with Fisher holding it at lap twelve with Kennerknecht and Reed now side by side. At the checkers it was Boardman, Fisher, Reed, Kennerknecht, and Seippel.
New Motors Super Late Models:
Heat 1: Max Blair, Greg Oakes, Chad Wright, Wendell Pinckney, Alex Anderson, Dave Hess Jr
Heat 2: Mike Knight, Darrell Bossard, Michael Smith, Andy Boozel, Chris Peterson, Chris McDonald
Heat 3: Chris Hackett, Doug Eck, Steve Kania, Joel Watson, Terry Porter, Matt Urban
Feature: Max Blair, Darrell Bossard, Steve Kania, Mike Knight, Greg Oakes, Joel Watson, Chris Hackett, Andy Boozel, Wendell Pinckney, Matt Urban, Chad Wright, Doug Eck, Michael Smith, Terry Porter, Chris McDonald, Chris Peterson, Alex Anderson, Dave Hess Jr (DNS), Bumpy Hedman (DNS)
The Waterford Hotel Outlaw Modifieds:
Heat 1: Michael McGee, Casey Bowers, Troy Johnson, Dennis Lunger, Butch Southwell, Steve Rex, Dave Lamphere, Steve Sornberger Jr
Heat 2: Gary Eicher, John Boyd, Randy Hall, Tim Rockwell, Steve Simon, Dan Sasso, Jarred Silvis, Calvin Thompson
Feature: Gary Eicher, Casey Bowers, Michael McGee, Dennis Lunger, John Boyd, Randy Hall, Troy Johnson, Butch Southwell, Jarred Silvis, Dan Sasso, Steve Simon, Tim Rockwell, Dave Lamphere, Calvin Thompson, Steve Sornberger, Steve Rex
Johnson’s Car Care and Collision Economods:
Heat 1: Kyle Miller, Kyle Layton, Jason Brightman, Eric Reinwald, James Myers, Kyle Reinwald (DNS)
Heat 2: Nate Young, Ty Rhoades, Steve Simon, Gary Olson, Tyler Davis, Justin Clark (DNS)
Heat 3: Matt Alexander, Brad Boyd, Dustin DeMattia, Jarrett Young, Ed Roberts! Garrett Calvert
Feature: Ty Rhoades, Kyle Layton, Nate Young, Matt Alexander, Kyle Miller, Jason Brightman, Gary Olson, Kyle Reinwald, Jarrett Young, Tyler Davis, Dustin DeMattia, Steve Simon, Eric Reinwald, Brad Boyd, James Myers, Ed Roberts, Justin Clark, Garrett Calvert (DNS)
Curtze Food Service Street Stocks:
Heat 1: Chris McGuire, Michael Reed, John Boardman, Jimmy Kennerknecht, Anthony Marotto, Doug Eck, Chris Fenno
Heat 2: Mike Miller, Bill Applebee, Gary Fisher, Chris Withers, Shane Applebee, Brent Crandall, Steve Yokum
Heat 3: Joshua Seippel, Wesley McCray, Brady Westfall, Joe Rohrer, Dylan Green, Tom Teed, Drake McCray
Feature: John Boardman, Gary Fisher, Michael Reed, Jimmy Kennerknecht, Joshua Seippel, Wesley McCray, Mike Miller, Joe Rohrer, Chris McGuire, Doug Eck, Steve Yokum, Shane Applebee, Chris Withers, Dylan Greene, Braidy Westfall, Tom Teed, Brent Crandall, Drake McCray, Chris Fenno, Bill Applebee, Anthony Marotto
L & D Tree Service Challengers Dan McGarvie Memorial:
Heat 1: Zack Eller, Tyler Walters, Carey Mason, Roger Hall, Jeff Nunemaker, Chuck Homa, John Zeleznik
Heat 2: William Van Guilder, Chris Horton, Mark Lawrence, Skip Jackson, Brian McGarvie, Donnie May, Lane Reinwald
Heat 3: Casey Burch, Jessica Harvey, Brandon Huffman, Joe Syzmanski, Scott Stemer, Joe Richter
Feature: Casey Burch, Zack Eller, Chris Horton, Tyler Walters, Lane Reinwald, Brandon Huffman, Roger Hall. Skip Jackson, Mark Lawrence, Joe Syzmanski, Jeff Nunemaker, Chuck Homa, Brian McGarvie, Scott Stemer, Joe Richter, Carey Mason, William Van Guilder, Jessica Harvey, Donnie May, John Zeleznik