From Lincoln Speedway
ABBOTTSTOWN, PA , 3/12/11 – Last year wasn’t exactly what Doug Esh would have called one of his better seasons of his 410 Sprint car career. Enter former car owners Dick and Leslie Leach into the picture.
During the offseason, the Leach Motorsports team was reformed with Esh as the driver and it didn’t take long for the team to find its way back to victory lane.
After leading the first two laps of Saturday’s 25-lap 410 Sprint car feature at Lincoln Speedway, Esh settled into the second spot until making a late race move on Brian Leppo and drove to his 24th career feature win at the track.
“It’s just amazing for Dick to put this team back together and in the second race out we win,” said the Lancaster veteran, who won the Lincoln track championship in 2006. “We only have one guy missing from the original deal, he’s with Mark Smith now and we miss him alittle but I’ve driven for a lot of good car owners and Dick and Leslie are some of the best ever.”
Esh started alongside Leppo as Esh grabbed the early lead.
Leppo drove around Esh during the third lap and opened up some space over the field as several early race yellows kept the field bunched. Doug Dodson spun on the fifth lap and four laps later, three-time defending track champion and last week’s feature winner Brian Montieth spun. While Leppo held the point over Esh, a good battle for third place was shaping up between Daryn Pittman, Tyler Walker and Lance Dewease.
Walker took third from Pittman on lap 12 while Dewease moved Pittman back another spot a lap later. Dewease, who started eighth was the man on the move, taking third place from Walker with 17 laps complete as Esh began to close in on Leppo, of New Oxford.
Esh made the race-winning move in turn two, nosing the Leach Brothers Motorsports Triple X #30 in front of Leppo to grab the lead as Dewease motored around Leppo a lap later. Dewease, who started eighth, made it exciting at the finish, coming up a mere .136 seconds short of Esh at the checkered flag.
“I knew I couldn’t mess up there in lapped traffic because I knew Lance was coming there at the end,” said Esh who earned $3,200 for the win. “Brian was able to move around the top out front and we had to stay on the bottom. The rubber was getting better and better and I knew if I could hit my marks, we’d be okay. He got loose there in turn two and we were able to take a shot and jam it in there. I probably took his line a little bit but it sure feels good being back on top.”
The win moved Esh into sole possession of 11th place on the all-time winners list in the Pigeon Hills.
Esh is thrilled to be back with his former team and crew chief Dennis Kohler.
“It’s all about camaraderie and cohesion and Dennis and I are just unbelievable together,” stated Esh. “He just knows how I like my car and Dick puts everything together that we need to win. I swear Dick went broke this year just trying to win a race.”
Dewease, of Fayetteville was second with Leppo settling for the third spot over Walker and Pittman.
Completing the top 10 finishers were Aaron Ott, Alan Krimes, Justin Henderson, Greg Hodnett and Fred Rahmer.
Heats for the 33 “410” Sprints were won by Doug Esh, Brian Leppo, Brent Marks and Alan Krimes with Danny Dietrich winning the consolation.
Former 410 Sprint car regular Niki Young led all but one lap of the 20-lap 358 Sprint car feature giving his new car owners Griffin Racing their first career Lincoln Speedway.
Young’s win was also the first ever 358 Sprint car feature win at Lincoln, making him one of only a handful of drivers to win in all three main divisions at the track. He owns wins in the 410 Sprints and thundercars.
“It was a goal of mine to win in the 358 when they asked me to drive the car for them this year,” said the East Berlin racer. “There are a bunch of good racers in that pit area and it’s nice to be able to win one of these. I’d like to thank Logan for racing me clean. I made the car was wide as I could and as hard as I could for him to get around me.”
Schuchart, the 2010 track champion, led lap 14, finished in the runner-up spot ahead of Eric Tomecek, Chad Trout, Jeff Rohrbaugh, Glenndon Forsythe, Adrian Shaffer, Nate Snyder, Steve Storrie and Billy Pauch, Jr.
Heats for the 30 “358” Sprints were won by Jeff Rohrbaugh, Chad Trout and Logan Schuchart. Steve Owings won the consolation. Rohrbaugh set a new 10 lap track record with a 10-lap time of 2:23.72, breaking the old record of 2:24.16 set back on May 3, 2008 by Aaron Ott.
Next Saturday, March 19th, Lincoln Speedway will switch over to its first night show of the 2011 racing season featuring the Lawrence Chevrolet 410 Sprinters, 358 Late Models and Thundercars. Race time will be 6PM.
To get all the latest news, results, schedule changes and rule changes, visit Lincoln Speedway’s website at http://www.lincolnspeedway.com to stay up-to-date on all the action or pending weather conditions at Central Pennsylvania’s “Premier” Saturday night race track – The Fabulous Lincoln Speedway.
RACE RESULTS
Sat., March 12, 2011
LINCOLN SPEEDWAY
Abbottstown, PA
LAWRENCE CHEVROLET 410 SPRINTS
Feature (25-Laps) – 1. 30-Doug Esh; 2. 30C-Lance Dewease; 3. 71-Brian Leppo; 4. 17-Tyler Walker; 5. 27-Daryn Pittman; 6. 77-Aaron Ott; 7. 87-Alan Krimes; 8. 35-Justin Henderson; 9. 39-Greg Hodnett; 10. 51-Fred Rahmer; 11. 6-Brad McClelland; 12. 48-Danny Dietrich; 13. 11C-Cory Haas; 14. 7-Chad Layton; 15. 92-Justin Collett; 16. 19M-Brent Marks; 17. 21-Brian Montieth; 18. 84C-Chad Criswell; 19. 12-Mike Bittinger; 20. 85-Shawn Weaver; 21. 5-Adam Lawrence; 22. 12J-Lynton Jeffrey (DNF); 23. 7M-Mark Smith (DNF); 24. 14-Doug Dodson (DNF). No Time
Lap Leaders – Doug Esh (1-2); Brian Leppo (3-20); Esh (21-25)
1st Heat (10 Laps/5 to qualify) – 1. 30-Doug Esh; 2. 27-Daryn Pittman; 3. 17-Tyler Walker; 4. 7M-Mark Smith; 5. 21-Brian Montieth; 6. 48-Danny Dietrich; 7. 4-John Rudisill; 8. 15-Adam Wilt; 9. 20S-Derek Sell. Time 2:34.80
2nd Heat (10 Laps/5 to qualify) – 1. 71-Brian Leppo; 2. 39-Greg Hodnett; 3. 14-Doug Dodson; 4. 12-Mike Bittinger; 5. 85- Shawn Weaver; 6. 22-Brandon Spithaler; 7. 16-Gerard McIntyre, Jr.; 8. 10-Zach Escalon (DNF). No Time
3rd Heat (10 Laps/5 to qualify) – 1. 19M-Brent Marks; 2. 30C-Lance Dewease; 3. 6-Brad McClelland; 4. 5-Adam Lawrence; 5. 12J-Lynton Jeffrey; 6. 92-Justin Collett; 7. 44-Frank Cozze; 8. 49-Bob Howard (DNF). No Time
4th Heat (10 Laps/5 to qualify) – 1. 87-Alan Krimes; 2. 77-Aaron Ott; 3. 35-Justin Henderson; 5. 84C-Chad Criswell; 5. 51-Fred Rahmer; 6. 59-Jim Siegel; 7. 11C-Cory Haas; 8. 7- Chad Layton. Time 2:43.82
Consolation (10 Laps/4 to qualify) – 1. 48-Danny Dietrich; 2. 92-Justin Collett; 3. 11C-Cory Haas; 4. 7-Chad Layton; 5. 59-Jim Siegel; 6. 15-Adam Wilt; 7. 4-John Rudisill; 8. 20S-Derek Sell; 9. 44-Frank Cozze; 10. 10-Zach Eucalano; 11, 22-Brandon Spithaler (DNF); 12. 16-Gerard McIntyre, Jr. (DNS); 13. 49-Bob Howard(DNS). No Time
KEIZER ALUMINUM WHEELS 358 SPRINTS
Feature (20-Laps) – 1. 65-Niki Young; 2. 1S-Logsan Schuchart; 3. 1W-Eric Tomecek; 4. 7C-Chad Trout; 5. 45-Jeff Rohrbaugh; 6. 5T-Glenndon Forsythe; 7. 91-Adrian Shaffer; 8. 56-Nate Snyder; 9. 0-Steve Storrie; 10. 23B-Billy Pauch; Jr.; 11. 18-Scott Geesey; 12. 1-Tim Wagaman; 13. 97-Brie Hershey; 14. B52-Brook Weibley; 15. 66-Dale Hammaker; 16. 50B-Tim Berkheimer; 17. 8D-Billy Dietrich; 18. 11D-Mike Duncan, Jr.; 19. 8E-Rich Eichelberger; 20. 35-Steve Owings; 21. 8R-Michael Ruttcamp; 22. 42-Alan Spriggle; 23. 50-Chris Shuttlesworth (DNF); 24. 85-Nathan Berwager (DNF). No Time
Lap Leaders – Niki Young (1-13, 15-20); Logan Schuchart (14).
1st Heat (10 Laps/6 to qualify) – 1. 45-Jeff Rohrbaugh. 2. 50B-Tim Berkheimer; 3. 1W-Eric Tomecek; 4. B52-Brook Weibley; 5. 85-Nathan Berwager; 6. 18-Scott Geesey; 7. 8E-Rich Eichelberger; 8. 35-Steve Owings; 9. 1-Tim Wagaman; 10. 67-Jason Cherry. Time 2:23.72 (New Track Record)
2nd Heat (10 Laps/6 to qualify) – 1. 7C-Chad Trout; 2. 91-Adrian Shaffer; 3. 0-Steve Storrie; 4. 8D-Billy Dietrich; 5. 23B-Billy Pauch, Jr.; 6. 56-Nate Snyder; 7. 11D-Mike Duncan; 8. 8R-Michael Ruttcamp; 9. 94-Ted Thomas; 10. 23-Chris Arnold (DNF). No Time
3rd Heat (10 Laps/6 to qualify) – 1. 1S-Logan Schuchart; 2. 5T-Glenndon Forsythe; 3. 66-Dale Hammaker; 4. 65-Niki Young; 5. 42-Alan Spriggle; 6. 97-Brie Hershey (DNF); 7. 50B-Chris Shuttles worth (DNF); 8. 21-Scott Fisher (DNF); 9. 74-Dwayne Morris (DNF); 10. 99-John Trone, Jr. (DNF). No Time
Consolation (10 Laps/6 to qualify) – 1. 35-Steve Owings; 2. 8-Rich Eichelberger; 3. 1-Tim Wagaman; 4. 50-Chris Shuttlesworth; 5. 11D-Mike Duncan, Jr.; 6. 8R-Michael Ruttcamp; 7. 99-Joe Trone, Jr.; 8. 23-Chris Arnold; 9. 67-Jason Cherry; 10. 21-Scott Fisher (DNF).; 11. 94-Ted Thomas (DNF); 12. 74-Dwayne Morris (DNF). No Time