Griffin wins two in a row in Limited Sprints at Sharon

sharon speedway
sharon speedway

From Sharon Speedway

HARTFORD, Ohio (June 24, 2010) – 6 PAK Saturday at Sharon Speedway saw Jack Sodeman earn his second victory in Gibson Insurance Agency 410 Sprints, Derek Dellinger recorded his first win after running six Hobby Stock races, his father, Alan Dellinger, wins in Pro Stocks, Guy Griffin turned in a repeat performance, winning two Limited Sprint races in three days, Rob Kristyak picked up his first Governor Insurance Big Block Modified feature win this season, Jeff Johnson winning in E-Mods after four top-five finishes.

The Gibson Insurance Agency 410 Sprints A-Main event saw 20 laps run without a caution.

The feature was all about points leader Jack Sodeman Jr. (North Jackson, Ohio). He jumped out early to set the pace. Behind him, Craig Keel (Green Springs, Ohio) was holding off Matt Reed (Mitcham, Victoria, Australia). Keel got a chance to make a move to take over the second place position on the 11th lap.

Gale Ruth Jr. (Pleasantville, Pa.) moved up from eighth place to challenge Reed, and Brian Smith (Fremont, Ohio) moved up from seventh to put pressure on Ruth.

It was Sodeman’s second win in 6 PAK Saturday action and he remains as the point leader.

Sodeman and Keel picked up heat wins in the Gibson Insurance Agency 410 Sprints.

Carl Weatherby (Volant, Pa.) started on the first row and found momentum on the outside line to lead the Governor Insurance Inc. Big Block Modified feature. Carl Murdick (Butler, Pa.), Ken Moy Jr. (Cortland, Ohio) and Rob Curtis (Greenville, Pa.) were victims of the race’s second caution on the second lap.

Rob Kristyak (Bristolville, Ohio) moved into second and Mark Flick (Apollo, Pa.) moved to third. Del Rougeux (Frenchville, Pa.) was in fourth and looking in on Flick. Brad Rapp (Shippenville, Pa.) ran the inside line, nosing in on Rougeux.

On the sixth lap, Kristyak was on Weatherby’s tail, moving to his outside through turn two and down the back stretch, taking the lead through turns three and fourth.

Flick, Rougeux, Rex King Sr. and Rapp were bumping and grinding for the third, fourth, fifth and sixth place position. King changed his line to move into fourth and send Rougeux to fifth. After a 12th-lap caution, King for a great restart to move into third and was all over the side of Weatherby, sending him back on the 14th lap.

Kristyak, in the #00 yellow Modified, held on to a solid lead running a high-outside line, as King started moving up from second. Rapp held off Flick to finish third as Rex “Cooter” King Jr. came all the way from 14th to round out the top five.

Overall, Governor Insurance Inc. Big Block Modified drivers remain close in points on the season, with Rex King Sr. edging out Brad Rapp, followed by Rob Kristyak, Rougeux and Curtis.

The heat winners in Governor Insurance Inc. Big Block Modifieds were Rex King Sr. and Dean Pearson.

E-Mod points leader Jeff Johnson started on the pole and charged to an authoritative first place in the 20-lap event. Johnson found competition in Sharon Speedway newcomer Todd Roncaglione (Linesville, Pa.). Arlan Coy (Salem, Ohio) ran side-by-side with Russ Dunn (Fenelton, Pa.) for third, with Dunn taking the position on the fourth lap.

A restart on the fifth lap, saw Johnson, Dunn and Scott Stiffler (Farmdale, Ohio) side-by-side, with Roncaglione falling to fourth. On restarts, they’d line-up door-to-door, but Johnson found momentum out of turn two to hold onto his lead.

Fifth through tenth places were hotly contested in the E-Mod feature, with Joe Gabrielson (Bristolville, Ohio) leading the pack.

It was the first win for Johnson during 6 PAK Saturday. Stiffler jumped to second on a green-and-white restart, sending Dunn to third and leaving Roncaglione to finish fourth. Gabrielson rounded out the top five.

“We definitely put together consistent finishes this season, but victories sure are nice, ” Johnson said after the race.

Johnson remains atop the point standings with one feature win and five-top five finishes, followed by Gabrielson, with four top-five finishes and Alan Dellinger, with two feature wins and three top-five finishes.

Dunn, Stiffler and Bob McCann were the E-Mod heat winners.

Robert Felix Jr. (Pittsburgh, Pa.) charged to first place on the first lap of the limited Sprint feature. A.J. Albrecht (Warren, Ohio) was right behind him and Jason Scoville (Warren, Ohio) was looking for his chance. By the third lap, Guy Griffin (Greenville, Pa.) had taken an outside line to move from his ninth-place starting position to move into fourth. Jonathan Frederick (Tylersburg) and Adam Kekich(Hermitage, Pa.) were battling for the fifth place Limited Spring position.

But on the eighth lap of the 15-lap feature, Albrecht, the previous 6 PAK Saturday feature winner, slowed to a stop on the front stretch, bringing out a caution. Albrecht got it going again and re-joined the pack at the rear.

Felix took the lead again on the restart, and Griffin got a jump on Felix to move into second before getting a set-up with a caution on the ninth lap to take the lead on the restart. Behind Felix, Scoville was in close quarters, but Albrecht, Frederick, Kekich and Justin Whitesell (Austintown, Ohio) were dicing in on each other, running as a tight group, but the checkered flag fell before Whitesell could break into the top five.

Griffin said in a post-race interview the restart was the only reason he could make the pass for the win, his second in a row and fourth this season. Griffin currently leads the Limited Sprint division in points with four feature wins.

Albrecht, running third in points at Sharon Speedway behind Felix, picked up his first heat win in Limited Sprints Saturday.

John Shannon took the initial lead in the Hobby Stock A Main event, but fell into a shoving match with Randy Sprouse in turn four and found himself sitting against the guardrail, bringing out a caution. On that caution, Sprouse went from leading to the pits, giving the first-place position to Chris Roberts (Cortland, Ohio).

On the restart, Derek Dellinger’s blue-and-white Dodge Neon went to first and found Mike Scharba (Masury, Ohio) looking for the position. Bill Fuchs, the 6 PAK Saturday points leader, was running his black -and-red Saturn in third.

Scharba, on the inside, and Dellinger, on the outside, were running side-by-side. Scharba took the lead down the front stretch on lap 8, but Dellinger took the lead back by turn three.

The last lap brought out lap traffic, but Dellinger was able to steer clear on danger and stay out in front of Scharba to win his first-ever race. After the race, Dellinger said he learned a lot about racing from his father, Alan Dellinger.

Fuchs recorded his second heat win at Sharon Speedway during 6 PAK Saturday Hobby Stock Action.

The Pro Stock feature saw the leaders go three-wide through turns one and two, with Bobby Robinson (Greenville, Pa.) taking the lead on the second lap. Pole sitter Eric Williams (New Waterford, Ohio) and Tim Burns (Greenville, Pa.) got hooked up on each other and brought out a caution, but Robinson held onto the lead, with Paul Davis (Fowler, Ohio) holding on to second place.

On the second lap, Marty Warren Jr. (Wheatland, Pa.) came to a stop on the fourth turn and one of the night’s heat winners – Jamie Duncan – would leave the track. The sun began to set as the cars came around slowly for a double file restart, with Alan Dellinger diving in for the lead, Robinson finding the middle groove and Davis going wide. Dellinger came out with the lead and Robinson fell back, getting into trouble in turn three, setting up a four-car caution that sent Allan Hudzik (Youngstown, Ohio) to the pits and Stan Woomer and Robinson to the back of the field.

Dellinger, the Pro Stock points leader, used the restart to secure a solid lead as Jamie Scharba (Masury, Ohio) and Paul Davis (Fowler, Ohio) were battling for second place. Mike Clark (Bristolville, Ohio) was gaining momentum and looking to the inside of Davis but left the track during a caution on the seventh lap. Tim Burns (Greenville, Pa.) inherited the fourth place position and Pat Adams (Bristolville, Ohio) moved into the top five.

Dellinger sailed around the 3/8-mile, Scharba crossed the finish line second, followed by Davis in third and Brian Carothers (Youngstown, Ohio) in fourth. Tom Miller recorded his first top-five finish of the season.

Burns and Duncan were the Pro Stock heat winners.

June 26, 2010 6 PAK Saturday results (* denotes heat winner):

Limited Sprints: 1.) Guy Griffin 2.) Rob Felix Jr. 3.) Jason Scoville 4.) A.J. Albrecht* 5.) Jonathan Frederick 6.) Adam Kekich 7.) Justin Whitesell 8.) Adam Anderson 9.) Chad Matthews 10.) Jim Morris III

Hobby Stocks: 1.) Derek Dellinger 2.) Mike Scharba 3.) Bill Fuchs* 4.) Lucas Sprouse 5.) Ken Koby 6.) Mitch Stokes 7.) Randy Sprouse DNF: Chris Roberts, Dan McEwen, Mike McElheney, John Shannon

Gibson Insurance Agency 410 Sprints: 1.) Jack Sodeman Jr.* 2.) Craig Keel* 3.) Matt Reed 4.) Gale Ruth Jr. 5.) Brian Smith 6.) Bob Lime 7.) Andy Paden 8.) Shawn Minor 9.) Daryl Stimeling 10.) Chris Shuttleworth 11.) Nate Stein 12.) Leo O’Malley 13.) Paul Kish 14.) Paul Shetler DNS: Dan Shetler

Pro Stocks: 1.) Alan Dellinger 2.) Jamie Scharba 3.) Paul Davis 4.) Brian Carothers 5.) Tom Miller 6.) Pat Adams 7.) Steven Burns 8.) Tony Spaghetti 9.) Bobby Robinson 10.) Dan McEwen DNF: Tim Burns*, Michael Clark, James Flaherty, Stan Woomer, Allan Hudzik, Jamie Duncan*, Eric Williams, Marty Warren Jr.

Governor Insurance Inc. Big Block Modifieds: 1.) Rob Kristyak 2.) Rex King Sr.* 3.) Brad Rapp 4.) Mark Flick 5.) Rex “Cooter” King Jr. 6.) Del Rougeux 7.) Carl Weatherby 8.) Mark Frankhouser 9.) Stephen Feder 10.) Tom Shaffer DNF: Dean Pearson*, Jason Longwell, Don Brown, Ken Moy Jr., Rob Curtis, Carl Murdick

E-Mods: 1. Jeff Johnson 2.) Scott Stiffler* 3.) Russ Dunn* 4.) Todd Roncaglione 5.) Joe Gabrielson 6.) Jim White 7.) Kevin Miller 8.) Arlan Coy 9.) Paul Drotar 10.) Robert Williamson 11.) JR Mechling 12.) Mike Monreal 13.) Alan Dellinger DNF: Vince Crisanti, Robert McCann*, Steven Haefke, Paul Phillips, Jeff Hassay, James Turley, Gary Janson, Dwayne Clay DNS: Jim Dellinger, Wayne Brugmann

There will be no racing at Sharon Speedway during the Independence Day holiday weekend. Racing will resume on Wednesday, July 7 for the Lou Blaney Memorial Classic, featuring Sprints and Modifieds. It’ll also be featuring Nascar drivers Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahnne and Dave Blaney . Vintage racecars will also be showcased during the event.

6 PAK Saturday will continue on July 10 and Friday Night Thunder will run again July 9 and 16.

UPCOMING EVENTS: 6 PAK Saturday July 10, 17 and 24. Friday Night Thunder July 9 and 16. Lou Blaney Memorial July 7, Northwest Pa. Truck & Tractor Pullers July 25. World of Outlaws Late Models and Fastrak Late Models on July 28. Fastrak Late Models, again, July 31.

Sharon Speedway is a 3/8-mile dirt oval located in Hartford, Ohio. Sharon Speedway is one of the oldest, continuously running weekly racetracks in the United States. Visit sharonspeedway.com for a complete schedule, directions to the track and the latest news. “Buckle Up and Hang On” as Sharon Speedway brings you dirt track racing at its finest!