From Steve Inch, image courtesy of Rick Rarer
SELINSGROVE, Pa. – Pat Cannon of Etters powered to a convincing win in
Saturday night’s 25-lap 358 sprint car main event at Selinsgrove Speedway.
Becoming the third different sprint car winner in as many races this season
at Selinsgrove, Cannon’s victory was the 18th of his career at the track
behind the wheel of the Highlands Tire Service No. 3.
Jeff Rine of Danville dominated the 25-lap season opening race for late
models for his 56th career win at the Snyder County oval. Rine led
flag-to-flag for third overall win this season.
Winning season firsts were AJ Hoffman of Richfield in the 15-lap pro stock
feature and Kyle Miller of Milton in the 12-lap roadrunner race.
Selinsgrove Speedway will present a four division program of 358 sprint
cars, late models, pro stocks, and roadrunners at 6 p.m. Saturday, April
17. Collier Paving & Construction will be the title sponsor of the annual
Roadrunner 20 championship race. Track gates will open at 4 p.m.
A four-car melee involving Matt Horst, Josh Beard, Charlie Anderson, and
Ryan Kissinger unfolded on the frontstretch at the start of the sprint car
feature. Only Kissinger was able to rejoin the field for the restart in
which polesitter Matt Heimbach powered into the lead.
At the completion of the first lap, M. Heimbach was being chased by
second-place starter Derek Locke and fifth-place starter Pat Cannon. On the
second circuit, Cannon advanced to second and set his sites on M. Heimbach.
M. Heimbach and Cannon set a blistering pace around the top of the race
track. Racing off turn four on the lap 10, Cannon shot underneath M.
Heimbach to make the winning pass. Then M. Heimbach lost the handle
entering turns one and two and brought out the caution flag.
On the ensuing restart, Cannon streaked away from the field while
third-place starter Phil Walter, 11th-place starter TJ Stutts, and Locke
raced in the top five. The caution flag unfurled again on lap 21 when Brian
Nornhold’s sprint car stopped on the track. When the race resumed, a torrid
battle for second took place between Walter and Stutts.
For the final three laps, Cannon pulled away, while Walter and Stutts raced
hard for the second position. Blane Heimbach, who started 12th, made a
late-race charge by eighth-place starter Nate Snyder for fourth. At the
checkered flag, Cannon was victorious by 1.7 seconds over Walter, Stutts,
B. Heimbach, and Snyder.
Third-place starter Jeff Rine turned in a powerhouse performance in the
late model season opener when he drove into the lead at the drop of the
green flag and never relinquished the top spot.
Rine was trailed by second-place starter Steve Campbell, sixth-place
starter Brett Schadel, fourth-place starter Eric Hons, and polesitter Jeff
Smith. At the halfway point of the race, Rine continued to hold a
commanding lead as 10th-place starter Jim Yoder moved by Campbell for the
runner-up position.
With 10 laps remaining in the race, Rine held a 10-second advantage over
Yoder. The race’s final caution flag unfurled on lap 19 when Matt Cochran’s
car spun in turn four. When the race resumed, Rine “checked out” and posted
a 4.4-second margin of victory over Yoder, Campbell, Hons, and Dave Zona.
Polesitter Cody McFadden powered into the lead at the drop of the green
flag in the pro stock feature. Third-place starter AJ Hoffman moved into
second and raced in McFadden’s shadow for the first seven laps.
On the eighth circuit, McFadden bobbled in turn four and spun out, while
Hoffman drove by McFadden’s disabled race car to take the lead. Hoffman
then had to contend with second-place starter Jason Schmidt and sixth-place
starter AJ Stroup through the 13th circuit. During a caution flag period,
Schmidt and Gerald Kratzer were involved in a tangle in turns one and two.
For the final two laps, Hoffman maintained the lead position and posted a
.44 of a second margin of victory over opening night winner AJ Stroup, Dave
Brouse Jr., Kyle Parsons, and Brad Trump.
Second-place starter Eric Pinkerton led the first six laps of the
roadrunner feature until polesitter Kyle Miller made the winning pass using
the inside lane racing down the backstretch. Pinkerton held on to the
second position for an additional lap before last week’s winner and
second-place starter Brad Mitch began to show some speed.
Mitch reeled in Miller, while Pinkerton, fourth-place starter Cory Long,
and fifth-place starter Ricky Bender raced in the top five. The red flag
stopped the race on lap 11 when Ken Schreffler rolled over his roadrunner
in turn one. Schreffler escaped injury.
For the chase to the checkered flag, Miller held off Mitch and posted a .42
of a second victory. Pinkerton, Long, and Bender completed the top five.
SELINSGROVE SPEEDWAY RACE SUMMARY – 10 April 2010
358 Sprint Cars – 25 Entries
25-Lap A-Main: 1) 3 Pat Cannon 2) 5 Phil Walter 3) 2T TJ Stutts 4) 12 Blane
Heimbach 5) 56 Nate Snyder 6) 76 Larry Kelleher 7) 4R Davie Franek 8) 19W
Colby Womer 9) 14 Matt Heimbach 10) 77 Derek Locke 11) 71 Jessica Anderson
12) 22T Matt Boland 13) 21 Duane Mausteller 14) 66 Ryan Kissinger 15) 769
Steve Nederostek 16) 1 Brian Nornhold 17) 37 Scott Flammer 18) 99K Cody
Keller 19) 16H Matt Horst 20) 5B Josh Beard 21) 71C Charlie Anderson 22) 81
Bob Beidleman 23) 2 Jason Shultz (DNS) 24) 28 Chuck Paige DNS 25) 63 Mike
Walter DNS
Heat Winners: Josh Beard, Duane Mausteller, Pat Cannon
Late Models – 23 Entries
25-Lap A-Main: 1) 2J Jeff Rine 2) 27 Jim Yoder 3) 2 Steve Campbell 4) 45
Eric Hons 5) 99Z Dave Zona 6) 22 Brett Schadel 7) 27 Bobby Stokes 8) 90
Kyle Rhoads 9) 23P Bud Phillips 10) 4D Chad Hollenbeck 11) 51 Dave Graber
12) 3 Robbie Smith 13) 16 Matt Cochran 14) 9 Carl Graves 15) 91 Chad Davis
16) 7M Meade Hahn 17) 38 Rob Baker 18) 88 Tony Adams 19) 14 Dave Brouse Sr.
20) 99 Jeff Smith 21) 115 Troy Miller 22) 32 Dylan Yoder 23) 0 Ryan
Nearhood
Heat Winners: Jeff Smith, Steve Campbell, Jeff Rine
Pro Stocks – 25 Entries
15-Lap A-Main: 1) 19 AJ Hoffman 2) 26 AJ Stroup 3) 14 Dave Brouse Jr. 4) 38
Kyle Parsons 5) 3 Brad Trump 6) 44 Matt Johnson 7) 21K Mike Kiehl 8) 27 T
Jess Tometter 9) 28 Jason Smith 10) 83 Marc Berzowski 11) 64 Cody McFadden
12) 27 Jason Schmidt 13) 85 Terry Lauver 14) 8H Dick Houtz 15) 70 Kyle
Bachman 16) 10 Gerald Kratzer 17) 28J Jeff Ceballa 18) 99H Peanut
Heintzelman 19) 88 Randy Nowlen 20) 6J Dan Jensen 21) 115 Shaun Miller 22)
12 Doug Minium 23) 1 Rick Bixlier 24) 71 Kurt Wray 25) 8K Nate Kerstetter
Heat Winners: Jason Sherman, Eric Pinkerton
Roadrunners – 25 Entries
12-Lap A-Main: 1) 1 Kyle Miller 2) 10M Brad Mitch 3) 37 Eric Pinkerton 4)
00 Cory Long 5) 29B Ricky Bender 6) 77J Jeff Swanger 7) 76 Bob Bussey 8) 7
Butch Shaffer 9) 77 Scott Dunham Jr. 10) 201 Brian Johnson 11) 31B Brandon
Shultz 12) 70J John Schreffler 13) 6 Tom Jensen 14) 105 Tim Mitch 15) 32
Ken Schreffler 16) 2 Andrew Smith 17) 69 Marlin Dunham 18) 721 Jason
Sherman 19) 12 Doug Minium 20) 28 Rob Mentzer 21) 57 Rusty Walls 22) 71D
Kevin Dunkleberger 23) 3D Chris Herman
Heat Winners: Jason Sherman, Eric Pinkerton