From Mike Leone
Markleysburg, PA — (May 5, 2013) — History was made on Sunday evening when Sprint Cars invaded the scenic Roaring Knob Motorsports Complex for the first time ever in the 15-year history of the Markleysburg, Pa. oval. The inaugural “410 Showdown in the Laurel Highlands” drew a quality field of 22 race teams including some of the best of “PA Posse”, western Pa., and several of the All Star Circuit of Champions.
Two of Pennsylvania bests put on quite a show that had fans on the edge of their seats for the duration of the 30-lap feature. Lance Dewease and Tim Shaffer put on a driving clinic using every inch of the racy, 3/8-mile oval trading the lead back and forth. In the end, Dewease made a last lap move to steal the win away from the defending four-time All Star Champion to earn the $4,000 payday. The victory was the first of the season for the future hall of famer, who has gotten off to a slow start with his new team.
“That was a hell of a race going on there,” exclaimed the 47-year-old Fayetteville, Pa. great. “I wished it was a little easier than we made it, but Tim (Shaffer) and those guys are a bunch of good racers. This is their ballgame here. My motor didn’t take off on that last restart- we might have detuned it a little bit too much. It got me out of my rhythm in turn one. My guys were telling me they were coming for me on the top, but I was hitting my marks good on the bottom. We fell back there, but was fortunate enough to get back by them. This is a neat little place. I really enjoyed it. Once they watered the top, it really balanced everything out. You could move around and do slide jobs. It was a fun place to race tonight.”
An invert six put Dewease and Shaffer on the front row. Dewease took charge with Shaffer in tow. Logan Schuchart found the outside to his liking taking third from Cole Duncan. With an open weekend for the All Stars, Cap Henry came into western Pa. and was fresh off a win Friday night at Lernerville Speedway and a runner-up Saturday at Mercer Raceway Park. Henry looked strong early on advancing from his seventh starting spot into the top five after three laps.
After caution-free preliminary events and the first feature four laps going green, four stoppages occurred between laps four and seven. A caution for a spin by Ohio racer Wes McGlumphy slowed action for the first time with four laps scored. When racing resumed, Shaffer showed his frontend racing alongside Dewease on laps five and six before a spin by up and coming central Pa. racer Ryan Smith, who is a teammate to the legend Don Kreitz, Jr.
It was a rough night for opening night Mercer Raceway Park winner Brandon Spithaler. Following a solid run with the BOSS non-wing Sprints on Saturday night at Fremont Speedway, Spithaler spun in turn four to bring out the caution with seven laps scored. Then on the ensuing restart, Spithaler got high in turn two and flipped. He was okay, but done from the event.
The last 23 intense laps would go green-to-checkered. Back under green flag conditions, Shaffer again got alongside of Dewease and this time made the pass stick in turn four. Dewease then would lose runner-up to Schuchart in turn four on lap nine. Shaffer caught lapped traffic on lap 12 and Schuchart faced a half-straightaway deficit.
While Shaffer continued to lead and work lapped traffic, the battle for second intensified again on lap 14 with Schuchart trying to keep Dewease and Cole Duncan at bay. Dewease raced side-by-side with the grandson of the great Bobby Allen. Shaffer dealt with heavy lapped traffic on lap 16 allowing the trio to close.
It was now a four-car race for the lead with 10 laps to go. Dewease got a great run down the backstretch on lap 20 to drive by Schuchart for second. One lap later, Duncan dropped Schuchart back to fourth. Dewease sensed a chance at the victory as he closed in on Shaffer on lap 23. Then on lap 24 was right on the tail tank of the #83. Dewease tried every line to get by Shaffer then followed him in the closing laps. With the white flag waving, everyone expected Dewease to try to go around Shaffer on the top. Dewease though surprised everyone including Shaffer as he snuck under the leader in turns one and two then got a great bite off turn two powering by down the backstretch.
Dewease opened up some ground heading into turn three, but had traffic to deal with through the final turns. Shaffer wasn’t about to give up as he rode the cushion and nearly stole the win at the checkered flag, but came up one car-length back. Dewease’s victory came in the Michael Heffner-owned, Lelands.com/Donny Owens/Pasquariello’s/Conduit Connections-sponsored #27.
“I didn’t even realize it was the final lap,” revealed Dewease. “We were in traffic so hard there. I was really nice on the bottom. I didn’t think those guys could stay tight and if they got slowed up a little and unable to run the top. I was shocked Tim moved to the top and left the bottom open. Once he went outside, I just dove to the bottom and it worked out. Tim and I are the seniors, but Logan (Schuchart) is going to be a real good racer for a long time. I’m really happy for Mike Heffner. He’s not here tonight, but is going to be real happy about this win. We haven’t had the year we wanted. The tire change put us behind, but we’re slowly gaining on it.”
Shaffer, who competed with the World of Outlaws on Friday and Saturday night at Eldora Speedway, earned $2,000 for his runner-up finish. “It was one of those nights I think you needed to be running second,” explained the former Knoxville Nationals winner. “The cars just didn’t fall the way we wanted, but that’s part of racing. It stinks to run second, but we’ll take it. The CH Motorsports team is going good this year. You couldn’t ask for a better track. When you can run the bottom and the top you can put on great racing. A lot of tracks get single lane and follow the leader. They did a great job.”
Duncan and Schuchart really went at it for third swapping the position back and forth several times in the closing laps with Schuchart getting the nod and $1,300 payday. “I had a lot of fun at this place,” stated the Hanover, Pa. 2013 Lincoln Speedway winner. “I’m looking forward to coming back here again. I’m glad you watered the top so we could run up there and made it real exciting especially when we got in lapped traffic. It was fun racing with Lance and getting close to Tim and I have to thank Cole Duncan, who raced me real clean. We were sliding each other back and forth- it got hairy a few times, but we didn’t hit each other. Cole is a good competitor to race against.”
Duncan, who won earlier this season at Lincoln and scored a big $5,000 win last year at Path Valley Speedway in central Pa. was fourth over Helms. Completing the top 10 were Henry, 12th starting Justin Henderson in the Rick Ferkel-owned #0, Ed Lynch, Jr., Billy Dietrich, and Jack Sodeman, Jr. Helms set fast time in qualifying by more than three tenths of a second and received $100 from Eddy Esposito Automotive Group Parts in Grove City, Pa. bringing his earnings for the night to $1,100. Heat victors were Duncan, Shaffer, and Henry.
The STAR’s Mod Lite Series capped off the night at it was Jeff Teeters of Warren, Ohio making the three-hour plus tow pay off capturing the 20-lap $500 feature win over Mikey Hay, Alan Knepper, George Englert, and Lynn Knepper. Heat winners were Mikey Hay, Englert, and Lynn Knepper. The 20-car field was made up of racers from Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland, and Iowa.
“410” Sprint Car Feature (30 laps): 1. LANCE DEWEASE (Heffner 27) $4,000 2. Tim Shaffer (Call/Holbrook 83) $2,000 3. Logan Schuchart (Allen 1s) $1,300 4. Cole Duncan (22) $1,100 5. Caleb Helms (40) $1,100 6. Cap Henry (54) $900 7. Justin Henderson (Ferkel 0) $800 8. Ed Lynch, Jr. (2L) $700 9. Billy Dietrich (8) $600 10. Jack Sodeman, Jr. (Rudzik 94) $500 11. Danny Smith (4) $425 12. Ryan Smith (69) $400 13. Jacob Allen (1a) $375 14. Dan Shetler (7K) $370 15. Brandon Matus (13) $365 16. Wes McGlumphy (35) $360 17. Brian Ellenberger (20E) $355 18. Brent Matus (33) $350 19. Charlie Cornelius (c9) $350 20. Skip Dougherty (27) $350 21. Bob McMillin (5) $350 22. Brandon Spithaler (22) $350.
“410” Sprint Car Qualifying: 1. Caleb Helms 14.039 2. Billy Dietrich 14.319 3. Logan Schuchart 14.493 4. Cole Duncan 14.544 5. Tim Shaffer 14.577 6. Lance Dewease 14.613 7. Jacob Allen 14.720 8. Brandon Spithaler 14.821 9. Cap Henry 14.888 10. Jack Sodeman, Jr. 14.901 11. Justin Henderson 14.923 12. Dan Shetler 14.982 13. Ryan Smith 15.035 14. Ed Lynch, Jr. 15.075 15. Brian Ellenberger 15.108 16. Danny Smith 15.118 17. Brent Matus 15.209 18. Brandon Matus 15.228 19. Wes McGlumphy 15.511 20. Charlie Cornelius 15.627 21. Bob McMillin 15.677 22. Skip Dougherty 15.803.
“410” Sprint Car Heat 1 (10 laps): 1. Cole Duncan 2. Caleb Helms 3. Jack Sodeman, Jr. 4. Ryan Smith 5. Danny Smith 6. Jacob Allen 7. Wes McGlumphy 8. Skip Dougherty.
“410” Sprint Car Heat 2 (10 laps): 1. Tim Shaffer 2. Ed Lynch, Jr. 3. Billy Dietrich 4. Justin Henderson 5. Brandon Spithaler 6. Brent Matus 7. Charlie Cornelius.
“410” Sprint Car Heat 3 (10 laps): 1. Cap Henry 2. Lance Dewease 3. Logan Schuchart 4. Dan Shetler 5. Brian Ellenberger 6. Brandon Matus 7. Bob McMillin.
STAR’s Mod Lite Feature (20 laps/$500 to-win): 1. JEFF TEETERS (L1) 2. Mikey Hay (22) 3. Alan Knepper (20) 4. George Englert (11x) 5. Lynn Knepper (21) 6. Josh May (99) 7. Tim White (16) 8. Mitch Wood (862) 9. Eric Hay (27) 10. Darin Gallagher (12) 11. Mark Marcucci (8M) 12. Paul Smith (23TT) 13. Anthony Cavicchia (41) 14. Tom Showman (69s) 15. Glenn Teeter (40) 16. Jeff Dillinger (14) 17. Matt Hall (9) 18. Shane Pfeuffer (70×7) 19. Mylan Markovich, Jr. (28M) 20. Chad Tasker (21T)
Stay tuned for a possible second “410” Sprint Car show later this season!
Roaring Knob Motorsports Complex is a 3/8-mile clay oval located near Markleysburg, Pa. just off of scenic Route 40 at 380 Fearer Road (look for the road sign) just seven miles east of Nemacolin Woodlands on the right, one mile west of Yough Lake on the left. Check out the website at www.roaringknob.com or call 410-857-3821 (office) or 724-329-0306 on race day.