From Steve Inch
SELINSGROVE, Pa. – Lance Dewease of Fayetteville won the Jim Nace Memorial
28th Annual National Open for 410 sprint cars at Selinsgrove Speedway
Saturday night by holding off a last-lap charge from Pat Cannon of Etters,
who fell one position short of earning $26,000 if he had been able to sweep
the pair of 22-lap segments that made up the 44-lap tribute race. The
unique format offered a complete payoff for both segments plus a $14,000
bonus if the same driver won both of them.
Dewease, driving the Catoctin Motorsports No. 30C, won a total of $7,600
(including a $500 bonus for finishing sixth in the first segment from R.E.
Davidson & Son) for his second win in a row and third career in the
National Open.
Cannon, driving the Highlands Tire Service No. 3, won $6,000 in the first
22-lap segment (plus $2,000 for finishing second in the second segment) by
passing Tyler Walker of Los Angeles, Calif., on a final-lap restart and was
in a position to do the same in the second segment when he restarted behind
Dewease, whose margin of victory was a mere .33 of a second.
Walker was the night’s fast qualifier with a lap time of 16.247. Todd
Shaffer of Millerstown, who was racing a Camel Express No. 26 as a tribute
to his life-long friend Nace, set a new eight-lap track record of 2:12.783
in qualifying and won the 5-lap H.F. Campbell & Son Trucking dash, which
placed him on the pole for the start of the first segment of the main
event.
One of the largest crowds in the 65-year history of the track was on hand
to pay tribute to Nace, the speedway’s only five-time sprint car track
champion who died last November following a seven-year battle with cancer.
Jeff Rine of Danville won his ninth race of the season in the 25-lap late
model feature, while Mario Page of Hillsboro, N.J., took the checkered flag
in the 12-lap SpeedSTR race.
Selinsgrove Speedway will present the final race of the season featuring
the 358 sprint cars, late models, pro stocks, and roadrunners at 7 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 25. Track gates will open at 5 p.m.
In the first 22-lap segment of the National Open, second-place starter
Tyler Walker led polesitter Todd Shaffer out of the second turn on the
first lap as third-place starter Pat Cannon trailed in third.
By lap eight, Cannon began to close in on Shaffer in a race for second. Two
laps later eighth-place starter Stevie Smith passed fourth-place starter
Mike Erdley for the fourth position. The event’s first caution flag
unfurled on lap 14 for debris on the speedway.
The first segment resumed for another lap until Greg Hodnett’s race car
rolled to a stop on the fronstretch. On the 16th circuit, Cannon secured
the runner up position with a pass by Shaffer.
Steve Buckwalter’s car stopped in turn four, which brought out the caution
flag and set up a one-lap shootout between Walker and Cannon. Entering turn
one on the restart, Cannon made the winning pass using the inside lane to
get by Walker. He took the checkered flag in the first segment by just .71
of a second over Walker, Shaffer, Smith, and Erdley.
The top six finishers from the first segment were inverted for the start of
the second segment, which placed Lance Dewease on the pole for the drop of
the green flag. Dewease powered into the lead at the drop of the green flag
while fourth-place starter Shaffer dueled with second-place starter Erdley
for the runner up position for a full circuit.
Shaffer moved into second on lap three and set his sites on Dewease. The
caution flag regrouped the field on lap 12 when Smith’s car fell off of the
pace. Then, on a lap 13 restart, Shaffer pulled alongside of Dewease in
turns one and two but could not complete the pass. By lap 15, Cannon was
racing third and made it a close three-car battle at the front of the pack.
On the 21st circuit, Cannon passed Shaffer for second when the red flag
stopped the race for Brent Marks’ flipped over race car in turn four. Marks
escaped injury. Another one-lap chase to the checkered flag put Cannon in a
realistic position to pass Dewease and win both segments and collect the
$14,000 bonus. However, Dewease maintained his momentum around the top of
the race track on the restart and took the checkered flag by a mere .33 of
a second over Cannon, Shaffer, Walker, and Hodnett.
Second-place starter Scott Haus took the lead at the start of the late
model feature. On the fourth circuit, third-place starter Jeff Rine passed
polesitter Al Shawver Jr. for the second position and began to reel in
Haus.
On a lap nine restart, Rine made the winning pass by Haus in turn one and
began to stretch his lead over the rest of the field. At the finish, Rine
was victorious by more than 11 seconds over Steve Campbell, Haus, Shawver,
and Dave Zona.
Second-place starter Freddie Rahmer Jr. led the first seven laps of the
SpeedSTR race until sixth-place starter Mario Page made the winning pass.
At the finish, Page was victorious over Taylor Potts, Rahmer, Matt Janish,
and Kyle Itiaber.
SELINSGROVE SPEEDWAY RACE SUMMARY – 18 September 2010
410 Sprint Cars – 39 Entries
44-Lap National Open:
Second Segment for National Open Title (22 Laps): 1) 30C Lance Dewease 2)
3C Pat Cannon 3) 26 Todd Shaffer 4) 17 Tyler Walker 5) 22 Greg Hodnett
6) 11 Mike Erdley 7) 51 Fred Rahmer 8) 21 Brian Monteith 9) 12 Blane
Heimbach 10) 5G Curt Michael 11) 17B Steve Buckwalter 12) 27 Daryn
Pittman 13) 71 Brian Leppo 14) 7 Chad Layton 15) 7M Mark Smith 16) 99K
Cody Keller 17) 5W Phil Walter 18) 15 Adam Wilt 19) 19M Brent Marks DNF
20) 21L Trevor Lewis DNF 21) 26S Curt Stroup DNF 22) 1 Stevie Smith DNF
23) 39 Keith Kauffman DNF 24) 63 Mike Walter DNF
First Segment (22 Laps): 1) 3C Pat Cannon 2) 17 Tyler Walker 3) 26 Todd
Shaffer 4) 1 Stevie Smith 5) 11 Mike Erdley 6) 30C Lance Dewease 7) 7M
Mark Smith 8) 5G Curt Michael 9) 12 Blane Heimbach 10) 51 Fred Rahmer
11) 71 Brian Leppo 12) 21 Brian Montieth 13) 7 Chad Layton 14) 27 Daryn
Pittman 15) 17B Steve Buckwalter 16) 99K Cody Keller 17) 19M Brent Marks
18) 39 Keith Kauffman 19) 5W Phil Walter 20) 63 Mike Walter 21) 26S Curt
Stroup DNF 22) 22 Greg Hodnett DNF 23) 15 Adam Wilt DNF 24) 21L Trevor
Lewis DNF
Heat Winners: Todd Shaffer (NTR 8 Laps: 2:12.783), Daryn Pittman, Pat
Cannon, Mike Erdley, Brian Leppo
B-Main Winner: Blane Heimbach
Dash Winner: Todd Shaffer
Time Trials: 1) 17 Tyler Walker 16.247 2) 7M Mark Smith 16.285 3) 5G Curt
Michael 16.301 4) 26 Todd Shaffer 16.334 5) 3C Pat Cannon 16.351 6) 71
Brian Leppo 16.354 7) 27 Daryn Pittman 16.358 8) 1 Stevie Smith 16.360
9) 22 Greg Hodnett 16.364 10) 30C Lance Dewease 16.369 11) 25 Aaron Ott
16.383 12) 99K Cody Keller 16.394 13) 51 Fred Rahmer 16.439 14) 17B
Steve Buckwalter 16.496 15) 63 Mike Walter 16.505 16) 11 Mike Erdley
16.505 17) 21L Trevor Lewis 16.520 18) 39 Keith Kauffman 16.532 19) 21
Brian Montieth 16.543 20) 12 Blane Heimbach 16.568 21) 15 Adam Wilt
16.591 22) 5W Phil Walter 16.685 23) 7 Chad Layton 16.689 24) 48 Danny
Deitrich 16.777 25) 66 Ryan Kissinger 16.816 26) 65 Johnny Mackison
16.873 27) 19M Brent Marks 16.882 28) 19 Colby Womer 16.885 29) 19H
Davie Franek 16.920 30) 18 Daryl Steimling 16.932 31) 27S Alan Cole
16.960 32) 3 Bob Bennett 17.060 33) 26S Curt Stroup 17.118 34) 42 John
Smith 17.256 35) 33 Brian Ehrenzeller 17.324 36) 5B Chuck Brion 17.767
37) 31 Jim Campbell 18.033 38)TJ Winegardner 18.190 39) 16 Gerald
McIntyre Jr. No Time
Late Models – 27 Entries
25-Lap A-Main: 1) 2J Jeff Rine 2) 2 Steve Campbell 3) 21H Scott Haus 4)
215 Al Shawver Jr. 5) 7X Dave Zona 6) 6 Donnie Schick 7) 99 Jeff Smith
8) Gary Beward 9) 45 Eric Hons 10) 90 Kyle Rhoads 11) 7 Alan Sagi 12)
4D Chad Hollenbeck 13) 61 Ken Trevitz 14) 91 Chad Davis 15) 9 Carl
Graves 16) 14 Dave Brouse Sr. 17) 7M Meade Hahn 18) 13B James Cornell
DNF 19) 76 Andy Haus DNF 20) 71B Randy Burkholder DNF 21) 88 Tony Adams
DNF 22) 27 Jim Yoder DNF 23) 12K Corey Kepner DNF 24) 77 Dick Houtz DNF
25) 115 Troy Miller DNF 26) M1 Mike Mort DNF 27) 0N Ryan Nearhood DNF
Heat Winners: Donnie Schick, Steve Campbell, Jim Yoder
SpeedSTRs – 14 Entries
12-Lap A-Main (Top 10): 1) 10 Mario Page 2) 12 Tyler Potts 3) 51 Freddie
Rahmer Jr. 4) Matt Janish 5) Kyle Hieber 6) 14 Scott Monrue 7) 56 Gary
Hieber Jr. 8) 8 Brandon Rahmer 9) 75 Dan Zrinksi 10) 15 Brittany Wixon
Heat Winner: Mario Page