STARS Report: Pittsburgher 100 at Pennsylvania Motor Speedway
23 September 1997
Pittsburgh, PA - Rick Aukland, of Fargo, ND, took the lead with 46 laps left and led the rest of the way to pocket the $21,000 winner's share of the purse in the "Pittsburgher 100" at Pennsylvania Motor Speedway in Pittsburgh, PA. The win, although only Aukland's second on the STARS Dirt Racing Series in 1997 was yet another "Big Purse" win for the North Dakota driver who has won just about every big purse he has gone after this year. Aukland kept the Rayburn/Malcuit/E-Z Crusher Camaro in the lead despite heavy pressure from three-time Pittsburgher winner Scott Bloomquist over the closing laps and crossed the finish line just one car length ahead. Following Aukland and Bloomquist across the line were Gary Stuhler, Donnie Moran and Tim Hitt.Pole sitter Todd Andrews emerged with the lead after the first lap with Steve Francis, Jack Boggs, Rick Eckert and Rod Conley in trail. As Andrews pulled away from his pursuers, Bart Hartman mover into the top five and on the 10th lap he moved up to third at the same time that Aukland moved into fifth. As Andrews continued to widen his lead on lap 11 Hartman worked his way around Francis for second. Aukland passed Boggs for fourth on lap 15 but the fastest car on the track was likely John Mason who started the race 25th and by this point was already up to sixth spot. Mason tried to take the outside line around Boggs as the two cars exited turn two on lap 16, but there was contact and Boggs spun into the inside guard rail ending his race early.
On the ensuing restart Hartman shot past Andrews to take the point and Aukland made a similar move on Francis to take third. Mason and Eckert began to battle for fifth, a war that continued until lap 25 until Mason took the spot. On lap 27 Aukland got past Andrews for second and set off in pursuit of Hartman. Mason continued to work the high side of the slippery track and on lap 28 he too was able to work his way around both Andrews and Aukland into second on lap 28. Coming from his 21st starting position, Bloomquist now entered the fight as he took fifth and also working the high side of the track was into fourth on lap 33. Mason took the lead on lap 40 and Moran worked his way into fifth as the race neared the 50 lap mandatory fuel stop. At the halfway point Mason was the leader with Aukland second, Hartman third, Bloomquist fourth, and Moran rounding out the top five.
Bloomquist fired the first shot of the second half as he moved into third on lap 51 and then quickly got around Aukland and tracked down Mason. With Bloomquist looking for a way around Mason, Aukland shot past the both of them on the low side and took the point on lap 54. Aukland quickly pulled away and opened a big lead until a caution came out on lap 90 bunching the field up. Hitt had worked his way into the top five and after taking over third on lap 81 he was able to get around Bloomquist for second just after the restart on lap 93. When another caution came out with just four laps left, Hitt was right on Aukland's bumper with Bloomquist sitting in third. On the restart Bloomquist took second and still running the high line began to challenge Aukland for the lead. Aukland maintained his preferred low groove and the two cars battled it out for the final laps with Aukland taking the win, one car length ahead of Bloomquist. Stuhler worked his way into third over the closing laps after starting in 26th and Moran was able to get by Hitt on the final lap.
A record 90 cars were on hand for the race with Rick Eckert setting the fast time in qualifying at 18.875 seconds around the high banked 1/2 mile oval. Hitt, R.J. Conley, Hartman Aukland, Moran and Skip Arp took the heat wins while Andrews won the ISKY Racing Cams Fast Dash to gain the pole. Three 'B' Mains were held due to the large car count with Ronnie Johnson, Bob Salathe and Bloomquist taking the wins.
John Kaiser -- The Auto Channel
RESULTS "PITTSBURGHER 100" Pos Srt Car Driver Laps Purse Reason out 1. 10 12 Rick Aukland 100 $21000 Running 2. 21 0 Scott Bloomquist 100 6040 " 3. 26 19 Gary Stuhler 100 4040 " 4. 11 99 Donnie Moran 100 3500 " 5. 7 68 Tim Hitt 100 3000 " 6. 9 75 Bart Hartman 100 2500 " 7. 12 31 Skip Arp 100 2000 " 8. 17 1J Davey Johnson 100 1500 " 9. 25 72 John Mason 100 1340 " 10. 2 15 Steve Francis 100 1225 " 11. 1 42 Todd Andrews 100 1190 " 12. 19 5 Ronnie Johnson 99 1240 " 13. 6 71R Rod Conley 99 1170 " 14. 14 2J Mike Johnson 99 1160 " 15. 18 84 Steve Baker 99 1150 " 16. 24 E1 Mike Balzano 99 1180 " 17. 20 RG3 Bob Salathe 99 1170 " 18. 27 5L Steve Lucas 98 1160 " 19. 5 24 Rick Eckert 98 1200 " 20. 28 25 Mike Benedum 97 1040 " 21. 16 30 Steve Shaver 97 1000 " 22. 3 77 Barry Bragdon 96 1000 " 23. 30 79 B. A. Malcuit 67 1000 Handling 24. 29 32 Scott Hartley 64 1040 Handling 25. 15 71 Delmas Conley 51 1000 Accident 26. 22 28B Dick Barton 42 1040 Handling 27. 13 1* Chub Frank 31 1000 Handling 28. 31 48J John Johnson 31 1000 Handling 29. 4 B4 Jack Boggs 15 1050 Accident 30. 23 99T Ricky Thomas 15 1040 Driveshaft 31. 8 71C R.J. Conley 99 1000 DQ-Light Time of Race: 1Hr 20 mins Cautions: 9 Lap Leaders: Andrews, Hartman, Mason, Bloomquist, Aukland Rookie of Race: Benedum 1997 STARS Racing Series Points 1. Steve Francis 8070 2. Tim Hitt 6910 3. Rick Eckert 6650 4. Mike Balzano 6580 5. Steve Shaver 5670 6. Rod Conley 5660 7. Bart Hartman 4610 8. Delmas Conley 3810 9. Todd Andrews 3800 10. Barry Bragdon 3780