From Path Valley Speedway Park
Six different divisions saw action Friday night at Path Valley Speedway and only one saw a new face in victory lane for 2010.
John Rasp started on the pole of the 4-Cylinder Thunder Car feature and led the first lap. But a slight bobble in turn two sent himself and Jeremy Ott high and opened the bottom lane. Tom Crum took advantage and made the three-wide pass for the lead. Crum held off Ott the remaining laps for his fourth win of the year. Lyle Barnes finished third ahead of D.J. Keefer and Eric Grubb. Crum and Ott also won the heat races.
Jim Young and Jesse Fitz started on the front row of the 600cc Micro Sprint feature. Young led the first four laps, but Fitz moved by and into the lead on lap five. Fitz was almost taken out of the lead on lap nine when Zach Newlin turned sideways right in front of Fitz. Newlin stopped, bringing out the caution, but Fitz never came to a stop, allowing him to retain the lead. Tyler Walton took over second on lap ten but was still several car lengths behind Fitz at the finish. It was Fitz?s second win this year, putting him one behind Jim Brookens and Walton. Young finished third with Kevin Steele in fourth and Jimmy Glenn in fifth. Point leader Jim Brookens was unable to start the feature after suffering engine problems in his heat race. Heat wins went to Fitz and Young.
Ryan Lynn collected his second win this year in the PA Sprint Series 305 Sprint feature. Lynn started on the pole and led all twenty laps. Tyler Bear passed Gary Zimmerman for second on lap two and was a few car lengths behind Lynn when the checkered flag fell. Rodney Westhafer held off Steve Whary for third while Marcus Defreitas finished fifth. Ben Naugle won the heat race.
The Late Model feature was action-packed from start-to-finish. The whole night started bad for the Late Models when four cars were involved in a wreck on lap one of their heat race, ending the night for Steve Bailor. In the feature Tommy Ericksen started first and grabbed the lead after banging wheels with Dave Dunkle, dropping Dunkle back to sixth. Kyle Wiser continually looked to the inside of Ericksen and finally found enough room to make the pass on lap twelve. Tim Fedder had been sent to the rear for an earlier incident and when the caution flag waved on lap eighteen Fedder was back in second. One lap after the restart Fedder found room underneath Wiser in turn three as he made the winning pass. Wiser held on to second, Dunkle recovered to finish third, Tim Burkholder struggled to a fourth place finish, and Transton Stoner finished fifth in his Late Model debut at Path Valley. The heat race was won by Wiser.
Todd Hornbaker led the field to the green flag in the Mini Stock feature. Hornbaker went too high into turn one and Ricky Harper took the lead. On the next lap Harper got out of shape in turn two and Frank Gordon moved into first. Gordon controlled the pace until he slowed just past halfway and came to a stop. Harper regained the lead at that time and he held it through lap sixteen. Kevin Thomas passed Harper on lap eighteen and led the remaining laps for his third win this year. Gary Newell passed Harper in the closing laps to claim second. Gary Dehart finished fourth and Leroy Long rounded-out the top five. Thomas and Newell won their heat races.
The 270cc Micro Sprint feature was dominated by Sean McAndrew. McAndrew started on the pole and led every lap, posting his fourth win this year. McAndrew was a full straightaway ahead of second place Brian Marriott by lap five and nearly half a lap ahead at the finish. Point leader Colby Dice finished third with Ryan McAndrew coming from starting eleventh to finish fourth. Steve Whary came home in fifth. Heat wins went to Ryan McAndrew and Marriott.
For information on the upcoming schedule, current point standings, and photographs of the racing action visit the track website at www.pathvalley.com.
Path Valley results 6/25
4-Cylinder Thunder Car: 1)Tom Crum (Carlisle, PA), 2)Jeremy Ott, 3)Lyle Barnes, 4)D.J. Keefer, 5)Eric Grubb, 6)Denny Scofield, 7)John Rasp, 8)Justin Rasp, 9)Bill Kennedy, 10)Shaun Linn, 11)Mike Fuller, 12)Chip Lawrence, 13)Josh Clever
Lap Leaders: John Rasp (1), Tom Crum (2-20)
Heats: Crum, Ott
600cc Micro Sprint: 1)Jesse Fitz (Crystal Spring, PA), 2)Tyler Walton, 3)Jim Young, 4)Kevin Steele, 5)Jimmy Glenn, 6)Ben McLeod, 7)Brock Bilger, 8)Steven Russell, 9)Andy Farley, 10)Zach Newlin, 11)Shelby Rowles, 12)Dwight Pilgram, 13)John Baker, 14)Lance Newlin, 15)Keith McIntyre DNS: Mark Brown, Jim Brookens
Lap leaders: Jim Young (1-4), Jesse Fitz (5-20)
Heats: Fitz, Young
PA Sprint Series 305 Sprint: 1)Ryan Lynn (Hollidaysburg, PA), 2)Tyler Bear, 3)Rodney Westhafer, 4)Steve Whary, 5)Marcus Defreitas, 6)Ben Naugle, 7)Gary Zimmerman, 8)Don Sotosky, 9)Mike Alleman
Lap leaders: Ryan Lynn (1-20)
Heat: Naugle
Late Model: 1)Tim Fedder (Millerstown, PA), 2)Kyle Wiser, 3)Dave Dunkle, 4)Tim Burkholder, 5)Transton Stoner, 6)Tommy Ericksen DNS: Steve Bailor
Lap leaders: Tommy Ericksen (1-11), Kyle Wiser (12-18), Tim Fedder (19-20)
Heat: Wiser
Mini Stock: 1)Kevin Thomas (St. Thomas, PA), 2)Gary Newell, 3)Ricky Harper, 4)Gary Dehart, 5)Leroy Long, 6)Dave Friedrich, 7)Jeremy Ott, 8)Todd Hornbaker, 9)Bryan Neff, 10)Jeremy Truax, 11)Ryan Laye, 12)Frank Gordon
Lap leaders: Ricky Harper (1, 11-16), Frank Gordon (2-10), Kevin Thomas (17-20)
Heats: Thomas, Newell
270cc Micro Sprint: 1)Sean McAndrew (Apollo, PA), 2)Brian Marriott, 3)Colby Dice, 4)Ryan McAndrew, 5)Steve Whary, 6)Levi Peck, 7)Jay Horvath, 8)Jacob Schatz, 9)Jason Houtz, 10)Jacob McConnell, 11)Eric Forsythe
Lap leaders: Sean McAndrew (1-20)
Heats: R. McAndrew, Marriott