From Steve Inch
SELINSGROVE, Pa. – Pat Cannon of Etters drove to his fifth win of the
season in Saturday night’s 25-lap main event for 358 sprint cars at
Selinsgrove Speedway. Both Mike Walter of Penns Creek and Blane Heimbach of
Selinsgrove attempted to reel in Cannon on the speedway’s smooth,
“glass-top” surface to offer a challenge for the victory to no avail.
Both Mike Walter of Penns Creek and Blane Heimbach of
Selinsgrove attempted to reel in Cannon on the speedway’s smooth,
“glass-top” surface to offer a challenge for the victory to no avail.
The victory marked the 22nd of Cannon’s career at the track and the ninth
overall win in central PA in 2010 at the wheel of the Highlands’ Tire &
Service Center No. 3.
Dylan Yoder of Selinsgrove returned to Victory Lane for the second week in
a row after taking the checkered flag in the 25-lap late model feature.
Yoder, who started 12th, tracked down Brett Schadel of Herndon to make the
winning pass on lap 21.
Shaun Miller of Tower City won his first race of the season in the 15-lap
pro stock feature, while Brad Mitch of McClure scored his fourth win of the
season in the 12-lap roadrunner main event.
Selinsgrove Speedway will present back-to-back racing programs over the
upcoming Independence Day holiday. The speedway will host the Middleswarth
Potato Chips Firecracker 30 for 358 sprint cars plus late models, pro
stocks, and roadrunners at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, July 3. The track will
return to racing action at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, July 4, with the Jan Opperman
Memorial PA Speedweek Series Finale for 410 sprint cars sponsored by Mach 1
Chassis.
Polesitter Cody Keller and second-place starter Matt Heimbach dueled with
fourth-place starter Bob Beidleman for the lead on the first lap of the
sprint car feature. Entering turn three, Beidleman made an inside pass to
come away with lead while exiting turn four.
Beidleman was chased by M. Heimbach for the next four laps. On the fifth
circuit, while racing with sixth-place starter Phil Walter for second, M.
Heimbach’s car spun sideways, bringing out the event’s first caution flag.
On the lap six restart, Pat Cannon, who started 12th, was in fourth and
passed fifth-place starter Mike Walter for third. Cannon then moved into
second on the seventh lap and started to gain real estate on Beidleman.
Cannon made the winning pass using the inside line through turns one and
two on a lap eight restart, while Beidleman continued to race second. The
Walter brothers, Phil and Mike, had a spirited battle for the third
position for several laps.
On lap 16, M. Walter moved into second and used the inside line to close in
on Cannon, who was racing the top of the track. M. Walter appeared to be
Cannon’s only serious challenger as he was consistently gaining on Cannon
until a caution on lap 21 for TJ Stutts regrouped the field and allowed
Cannon to protect the lead by switching lanes on the restart.
Cannon pulled away as 11th-place starter Blane Heimbach began to show a lot
of speed in the final laps of the race. B. Heimbach powered into second on
the final lap and followed Cannon across the finish line 3.9 seconds later.
M. Walter, P. Walter, and Davie Franek completed the top five.
Second-place starter Chad Davis led the first lap of the late model feature
until eighth-place starter Brett Schadel took command of the field with an
outside pass in turn four. On lap four, sixth-place starter Matt Cochran
passed Davis for the runner up position.
Dylan Yoder, who started 12th, stormed into third by lap seven. The caution
flag unfurled on lap nine for Jeff Rine when debris came off of his race
car, forcing him to withdraw from the race. On the 10th circuit, Yoder
passed Cochran for second and set his sites on Schadel. At the midway point
of the race, Schadel was leading Yoder, Cochran, 10th-place starter Steve
Campbell, and ninth-place starter Dave Zona.
On the 20th lap, Yoder made an inside pass by Schadel for the lead entering
turn one. Racing down the backstretch, Schadel attempted to regain the lead
to no avail. Yoder secured the front spot in turns three and four and began
to stretch his lead in the final laps of the race.
At the checkered flag, Yoder was victorious by 2.4 seconds over Schadel,
Campbell, Zona, and Kenny Trevitz.
Second-place starter Gerald Kratzer beat polesitter Kyle Bachman into the
first turn for the early lead in the pro stock feature. Fifth-place starter
Shaun Miller wasted no time moving into the runner up position by the
completion of the first lap, while Bachman raced third.
On the seventh lap, Miller edged out Kratzer for the lead at the
start/finish line. Two laps later, last week’s feature winner Doug Minium
lost control of his race car and backed into the first turn wall. Three
other cars were involved in the incident, including AJ Stroup, who flipped
over in his car. All drivers escaped injury.
When the race resumed, Kratzer remained in striking distance of race leader
Miller. On the final lap, Kratzer attempted a low pass entering turn three.
The last-ditch effort almost paid off as Kratzer came up a half of a
car-length short at the finish. Miller was victorious over Kratzer,
Bachman, Jason Smith, and Mike Kiehl.
Polesitter Brian Johnson charged into the lead at the start of the
roadrunner feature. Johnson was trailed by second-place starter Tim Mitch
for the first three laps until current point leader and ninth-place starter
Brad Mitch took over the runner up position.
When Johnson and Mitch raced side-by-side through turns three and four on
lap eight, Johnson’s car got loose and spun sideways. Mitch inherited the
lead at this point and had to hold off seventh-place starter Ricky Bender
to the finish. Mitch was victorious by just .35 of a second over Bender,
Cory Long, Eric Pinkerton, and Jason Sherman.
SELINSGROVE SPEEDWAY SUMMARY – 26 June 2010
358 Sprint Cars – 21 Entries
25-Lap A-Main: 1) 3 Pat Cannon 2) 12 Blane Heimbach 3) 63 Mike Walter
4) 5 Phil Walter 5) 4R Davie Franek 6) 19 Colby Womer 7) 7 Mike Erdley
8) 99K Cody Keller 9) 71 Jessica Anderson 10) 76 Larry Kelleher 11) 1M
Tommy Martocci 12) 16H Matt Horst 13) 42 Alan Spriggle 14) 21 Duane
Mausteller 15) 769 Steven Nederostek 16) 81 Bob Beidleman DNF 17) 2T TJ
Stutts 18) 66 Ryan Kissinger DNF 19) 55 John Troxell DNF 20) 14 Matt
Heimbach DNF 21) 1N Brian Nornhold DNF
Heat Winners: Larry Kelleher, Pat Cannon, Davie Franek
Late Models – 20 Entries
25-Lap A-Main: 1) 27 Dylan Yoder 2) 0 Brett Schadel 3) 2 Steve Campbell
4) 99Z Dave Zona 5) 61 Ken Trevitz 6) 16 Matt Cochran 7) 99 Jeff Smith
8) 13B James Cornell 9) 88 Tony Adams 10) 115 Troy Miller 11) 91 Chad
Davis 12) 9 Carl Graves 13) 4Ds Chad Hollenbeck 14) 7M Meade Hahn 15)
14 Dave Brouse Sr. 16) 2J Jeff Rine DNF 17) 90 Kyle Rhoads DNF 18) 45
Eric Hons DNF 19) 0N Ryan Nearhood DNF 20) 15 Jim Yoder DNS
Heat Winners: Chad Davis, Dave Zona, Brett Schadel
Pro Stocks – 22 Entries
15-Lap A-Main: 1) 115 Shaun Miller 2) 10 Gerald Kratzer 3) 70G Kyle
Bachman 4) 28 Jason Smith 5) 21K Mike Keihl 6) 14 Dave Brouse Jr. 7)
19 AJ Hoffman 8) 44 Matt Johnson 9) 97 Alex Frey 10) 27 Jason Schmidt
11) 71 Kurt Wray 12) 64 Cody McFadden 13) 99 Peanut Heintzelman 14) 4
Jim Payne 15) 3Brad Trump 16) 85L Pete Lauver 17) 28J Jeff Ceballa 18)
88 Randy Nowlen DNF 19) 85 Terry Lauver DNF 20) 28P Scott Sipe DNF 21)
12 Doug Minium DNF 22) AJ Stroup DNF
Heat Winners: Kyle Bachman, Shaun Miller, Jason Smith
Roadrunners – 21 Entries
12-Lap A-Main: 1) 10M Brad Mitch 2) 29 Ricky Bender 3) 00 Nathan Long 4)
37 Eric Pinkerton 5) 721 Jason Sherman 6) 105 Tim Mitch 7) 70J John
Schreffler 8) 32 Ken Schreffler 9) 5D Dave Adams 10) 44 Jim Collier Sr.
11) 77J Jeff Swanger 12) 201 Brian Johnson 13) 57 Rusty Walls 14) 25J
Nate Romig 15) 69 Marlin Dunham DNF 16) 41D Dennis Conrad DNF 17) 77
Scott Dunham Jr. DNF 18) 2 Andrew Smith DNS 19) 31B Brandon Shultz DNS
20) 1 Kyle Miller DNS 21) 7 Butch Shaffer DNS
Heat Winners: Brian Johnson, Marlin Dunham