By Steve Inch
SELINSGROVE, Pa. – Blane Heimbach of Selinsgrove backed up his
record-setting win from a week ago with a second victory in Saturday
night’s 25-lap 358 sprint car feature at Selinsgrove Speedway. The win
marked the 32nd of Heimbach’s career at the track driving the Goff
Racing/Creasy Signs No. 12.
Jeff Rine of Danville opened the late model season with his 65th career win
in the division’s 25-lap feature.
Jason Smith of Williamsport repeated a win in the 15-lap pro stock feature
and set a new track record in 6:06.445, while Bob Bussey of Northumberland
also returned to Victory Lane for the second week in a row in the 12-lap
roadrunner race.
Selinsgrove Speedway will present the Collier Paving & Construction
Roadrunner 20 at 6 p.m. Saturday, April 16. Also on the racing card will be
the 358 sprint cars, late models and pro stocks. Track gates will open at 4
p.m.
Polesitter TJ Stutts powered into the lead at the start of the sprint car
feature. Stutts was chased by second-place starter Davie Franek,
fourth-place starter Mark Smith, and third-place starter Matt Horst. On the
fourth circuit, eighth-place starter Blane Heimbach advanced to third.
A caution flag on lap five for Brian Nornhold turned into a red flag
situation when Franek tagged the fourth turn wall and flipped over in his
sprint car. Franek walked away from the accident uninjured. On the lap six
restart, the red flag unfurled again when Horst made a hard impact with the
second turn guardrail and flipped over after contact with fifth-place
starter Pat Cannon and Smith. All three drivers escaped injury but were
sidelined for the night.
When the race resumed, Heimbach stormed to the front of the pack and made
the winning pass by Stutts using the outside lane through turns three and
four. At the halfway point of the race, Heimbach led Stutts, seventh-place
starter Nate Snyder, sixth-place starter Larry Kelleher, and 11th-place
starter Logan Schuchart.
With five laps remaining, Stutts reeled in Heimbach in lapped traffic to no
avail. At the checkered flag, Heimbach was victorious by 2.7 seconds over
Stutts, Snyder, Kelleher, and Schuchart.
Dylan Yoder and his father Jim Yoder shared the front row for the start of
the first late model feature of the season. After an initial caution flag,
however, Dylan was forced to withdraw from the race, leaving the front row
open to defending champion and original fourth-place starter Jeff Rine and
J. Yoder.
Rine and J. Yoder dueled for the lead at the drop of the green flag, with
J. Yoder pulling into the early lead. On the second circuit, Rine passed J.
Yoder for the lead on the frontstretch. J. Yoder attempted to keep Rine in
his sites through the first half of the race.
At the mid-way point of the race, Rine lapped up to the sixth-place car on
the track. On lap 16, Steve Campbell, who was racing third, withdrew from
the race. In the final laps, Rine continued to streak away from the pack
and posted a 6.7-second margin of victory over J. Yoder, fifth-place
starter Kenny Trevitz, ninth-place starter Chad Hollenbeck, and 18th-place
starter Matt Cochran.
Third-place starter Jason Schmidt out-dueled polesitter Kyle Bachman for
the early lead in the pro stock feature. On lap three, fifth-place starter
Jason Smith advanced to second and began to close in on Schmidt.
On the 10th circuit, Smith made the winning pass by Schmidt using the
outside lane in turn two. In the final five laps, Smith began to stretch
his lead and posted a 1.7-second margin of victory over Schmidt, defending
champion AJ Hoffman, Nate Kerstetter, and AJ Stroup.
Second-place starter Brian Johnson led the first lap of the roadrunner
feature before falling off the pace when his race car developed mechanical
problems. Johnson’s misfortune allowed sixth-place starter Keith Bissinger
to drive into the lead as third-place starter Bob Bussey maintained the
runner-up position.
On the fourth circuit, Bussey took the lead from Bissinger with an inside
pass in turn three. Bussey’s car appeared to be racing on rails for the
duration of the event, and he followed up last week’s win with another
convincing victory over Bissinger, John Schreffler, John Fowler, and Jeff
Swanger.
SELINSGROVE SPEEDWAY RACE SUMMARY – 9 April 2011
358 Sprint Cars – 23 Entries
25-Lap A-Main: 1) 12 Blane Heimbach 2) 23M TJ Stutts 3) 56 Nate Snyder
4) 76 Larry Kelleher 5) 1S Logan Schuhart 6) 21T Kevin Nouse 7) 5B Josh
Beard 8) 77 Derek Locke 9) 5W Phil Walter 10) 99K Cody Keller 11) 19
Colby Womer 12) 37 Scott Flammer 13) 94 Ted Thomas 14) 769 Steve
Nederostek 15) 71C Charlie Anderson DNF 16) 1 Mark Smith DNF 17) 3 Pat
Cannon DNF 18) 16H Matt Horst DNF 19) 4R Davie Franek DNF 20) 50 Chris
Shuttlesworth DNF 21) 1M Jason Shultz DNF 22) 1N Brian Nornhold DNF 23)
07 Billy Schoffstall DNF
Heat Winners: Pat Cannon, Mark Smith, Matt Horst