Riden Wins 305 Feature at Path Valley

From Path Valley Speedway Park

Path Valley Speedway hosted the 12th Annual Sprint Nationals Saturday night.  When it is a full moon, strange things tend to happen at the races, and Saturday night was no exception.

The 270cc Micro Sprints were the first feature.  Josh Stoyer started third and slipped inside pole-sitter Daryl Beakler at the start to take the lead.  While Stoyer was showing the way and extending his lead Sean McAndrew was working forward from starting seventh.  McAndrew moved into second on lap four.  Stoyer’s lead began to dwindle and McAndrew was only one car length behind when the yellow flag waved on lap fifteen.  Two more cautions slowed the race, but on each restart Stoyer pulled away by several car lengths and he led all thirty laps for his first win at Path Valley.  McAndrew came home second, ahead of Tyler Snook, Matt Campbell, and Jerry Palm.  Heat wins went to Bob Brubaker, Beakler, and Stoyer.  Chad Myers won the consi.

Mike Dicely took the lead from Zach Overmiller on lap two and was half of a lap ahead when Seth Kearchner lost a wheel and rolled over in turn one on the final lap.  Dicely again pulled away on the restart to win the Sidewinder Sprint feature.  Overmiller held off Mike Zielonis for second with Jason Stahl fourth and Donnie Hendershot fifth.  Stahl won the heat race.

During the PA Sprint Series 305 Sprint feature is when things started to go bad.  On the very first lap Randy Kaylor rolled onto his side, bringing out a complete restart.  Pole-sitter Keith McIntyre had beat George Riden to the lead on the first start, but on the second attempt Riden drove around McIntyre to show the way.  The race stayed fairly uneventful as Riden led the way until McIntyre began to fade, losing second to Craig Myers on lap eleven and then dropping two more spots to Kody Lehman and Tim Dietz before the yellow flag waved on lap eighteen.  A caution two laps later set the stage for “full moon racing”.  On the restart Chad Myers brushed the outside wall on the front stretch and as he slowed down “Cowboy” Jim Kennedy made contact, sending Kennedy high into the air and rolling before coming to rest on his wheels.  When the officials got to Kennedy he was unconscious.  A few minutes later he came to and was able to climb from the car under his own power.  Kennedy was complaining of back and shoulder pain and was transported to the hospital.  The red flag came out again with two laps remaining when Tim Dietz rolled over on the front stretch.  Dietz climbed out unharmed.  Riden used the high groove to lead all thirty laps and claim his first feature win this year.  Craig Myers improved one spot over Friday night, finishing second.  Third went to Kody Lehman, fourth Steve Kenawell, and fifth Tyler Bear.  Riden and McIntyre were the heat race winners.

The 600cc Micro Sprint feature concluded the night, but the rollovers and red flags kept coming.  Shane Lewis led the field to green and was ahead when Chad Vanhorn rolled onto his side on lap two, bringing out the red flag.  Lewis continued to set the pace until he made contact with a car he was putting a lap down and lost a wheel on lap fifteen.  When Lewis slid to a stop Tyler Walton could not avoid him and was also taken out of the race.  This accident brought out the second red flag.  While Hehnly was out in front, Mike Dicely was getting a spot on each restart and was second when the final caution waved with two laps to go.  Dicely could not mount a challenge over the last two laps and Hehnly returned to victory lane at Path Valley for the first time in several years.  Third thru fifth went to Jesse Snyder, Steve Whary, and Jeff Stelter.  Whary and Zack Light both finished eleven positions ahead of where they started.  Heat wins went to Nick Wood, Walton, Snyder, and Tom Schearer.  The two consolation races were won by Sam Lamothe and Kevin Steele.

Path Valley results 9/29

270cc Micro Sprint: 1.Josh Stoyer (Reading, PA), 2.Sean McAndrew, 3.Tyler Snook, 4.Matt Campbell, 5.Jerry Palm, 6.Brian Marriott, 7.Cory Myers, 8.Daryl Beakler, 9.Zack Fouse, 10.Heath Hehnly, 11.Gary Keister, 12.Levi Peck, 13.Brandon Heist, 14.Adam Warner, 15.Grady Johnston, 16.Mike Boer, 17.Brandon Hawkins, 18.Dave Hawkins, 19.Chad Myers, 20.Mike Boyer, 21.Bob Brubaker, 22.Scott Hawkins, 23.Cody Hackenberry, 24.Chad Thomas   DNQ: Don Roush, Eric Forsythe, Sam Lamothe, Rob Best
Lap Leaders: Josh Stoyer (1-30)
Heats: Bob Brubaker, Daryl Beakler, Josh Stoyer

Sidewinder Sprint: 1.Mike Dicely (Etters, PA), 2.Zach Overmiller, 3.Mike Zielonis, 4.Jason Stahl, 5.Donnie Hendershot, 6.Seth Kearchner, 7.Rohan Beasley, 8.Mike Deimler
Lap Leaders: Zach Overmiller (1), Mike Dicely (2-20)
Heat: Jason Stahl

PASS 305 Sprint: 1.George Riden (Dauphin, PA), 2.Craig Myers, 3.Kody Lehman, 4.Steve Kenawell, 5.Tyler Bear, 6.Alex Schanz, 7.Eric Parker, 8.Daren Bolac, 9.Tim Dietz, 10.Jim Kennedy, 11.Tyler Reeser, 12.Chad Myers, 13.Paul Snyder, 14.Randy Kaylor, 15.John Braim, 16.Keith McIntyre
Lap Leaders: George Riden (1-30)
Heats: George Riden, Keith McIntyre

600cc Micro Sprint: 1.Heath Hehnly (Manheim, PA), 2.Mike Dicely, 3.Jesse Snyder, 4.Steve Whary, 5.Jeff Stelter, 6.Nick Wood, 7.David Holbrook, 8.Stan Fleming, 9.Tom Schearer, 10.Kameron Morral, 11.Zack Light, 12.Mike Duncan, 13.Scott Scholl, 14.Kevin Steele, 15.Hannah Riser, 16.Josh Mehring, 17.Sam Lamothe, 18.Jason Houtz, 19.Jim Young, 20.Jim Callahan, 21.Shane Lewis, 22.Tyler Walton, 23.Brett Widener, 24.Chad Vanhorn.   DNQ: Paul Benfer, Travis Scott, Nathan Prazenica, Adam Nicholson, Zane Walter, Mike Rynard, Bret Cronrath, Chandler Leiby, Cheyenne Topper, Garrett Bard
Lap Leaders: Shane Lewis (1-14), Heath Hehnly (15-30)
Heats: Nick Wood, Tyler Walton, Jesse Snyder, Tom Schearer