By Steve Inch
SELINSGROVE, Pa. – Popular teenage driver Logan Schuchart of Hanover drove
to a convincing win in Saturday night’s 10th Annual Middleswarth Potato
Chips Firecracker 30 358 sprint car race at Selinsgrove Speedway.
The $2,000 victory marked the first of Schuchart’s career at the track and
the fourth overall this season. He leads the central PA Hoosier Tire
Mid-Atlantic 358 sprint car point standings aboard the Shark Motorsports
No. 1S.
For the second time this season, Blane Heimbach of Selinsgrove set fast
time in sprint car qualifying with a lap of 17.752.
Jeff Rine of Danville captured his fifth win of the season in the 25-lap
late model feature. The victory also marked the 69th of Rine’s career at
the track, which ties him with Bobby Croop of Nescopeck for the top spot on
the division’s all-time win list.
AJ Hoffman of Richfield scored his seventh win of the season in dramatic
fashion with a last-lap, last-turn pass in the 15-lap pro stock feature.
With the victory, Hoffman became the speedway’s all-time pro stock winner
with 34 career checkered flags.
In another close finish, Brad Mitch of McClure won his third race of the
season in the 12-lap roadrunner feature.
Selinsgrove Speedway will present a four division show of 358 sprint cars,
late models, pro stocks, and roadrunners at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, July 9,
sponsored by Central Builders. Also on the racing card will be the June 4
358 sprint car makeup feature. Track gates will open at 5 p.m.
Pat Cannon and Blane Heimbach, two former Firecracker winners, shared the
front row for the start of the main event. At the drop of the green flag,
Cannon powered into the early lead and was chased by Heimbach, third-place
starter Colby Womer, and fourth-place starter Logan Schuchart.
While Cannon began to stretch his lead at the front of the pack, a torrid
battle unfolded behind him for the top five spots. On the sixth circuit,
Schuchart advanced to second and set his sites on Cannon. Schuchart reeled
in Cannon in lapped traffic and made the winning pass using the inside lane
exiting turn two on lap 10.
The event’s first caution flag unfurled on lap 13 when Bill Sherman spun in
turn three. On the restart, Schuchart checked out from the field while
Cannon maintained second. The leaders raced around the top of the track the
entire second half of the race as Schuchart encountered slower traffic with
five laps remaining.
At the finish, Schuchart took the checkered flag by more than a
straightaway over Cannon, Womer, point leader and seventh-place starter TJ
Stutts, and Heimbach.
Third-place starter Dave Zona took the early lead in the late model
feature. On the second circuit, fifth-place starter Jeff Smith drove by
polesitter Meade Hahn for second and began to close in on Zona.
On a lap four restart, 10th-place starter Jeff Rine raced around
ninth-place starter Steve Campbell for third. Three laps later, Rine passed
Smith for second and quickly gained real estate on Zona. On the 10th
circuit, Rine made the winning pass using the inside lane racing off turn
four.
By lap 11, current point leader and 13th-place starter Jim Yoder moved into
third and on lap 17 took over the runner up position. The race went
non-stop for the duration and Rine cruised to a 3.2-second margin of
victory over J. Yoder, Zona, Campbell, and 12th-place starter Dylan Yoder.
Third-place starter Doug Minium raced into the lead at the start of the pro
stock feature. Minium led the first six laps of the race until fourth-place
starter Tim Krape took command of the field. Meanwhile, 10th-place starter
and current point leader AJ Hoffman began to show some speed and work his
way to the front of the pack.
For the second half of the race, Hoffman chased Krape around the top of the
race track. On the final lap, racing off the final turn, Hoffman made a
dive to the bottom of the race track and scored the win by the slimmest of
margins over Krape. The win placed Hoffman on top of the division’s
all-time win list with 34 career victories. Mike Kiehl, Minium, and Jason
Smith completed the top five.
After several restarts in the roadrunner feature, original seventh-place
starter Jeff Swanger led the first three laps. On the fourth circuit,
eighth-place starter Ricky Bender took over the front spot while 11th-place
starter Brad Mitch stormed into second.
Lap after lap, Bender and Mitch dueled for the front spot. In a
side-by-side race for the lead and win on the final lap, Mitch was
victorious by just .18 of a second over Bender, Scott Dunham Jr., point
leader Bob Bussey, and Swanger.
SELINSGROVE SPEEDWAY RACE SUMMARY – 2 July 2011
358 Sprint Cars – 24 Entries
Firecracker 30-Lap A-Main: 1) 1S Logan Schuchart $2,000 2) 3 Pat Cannon
3)19 Colby Womer 4)23M TJ Stutts 5) 12 Blane Heimbach 6) 1W Eric Tomecek
7)56 Nate Snyder 8)5W Phil Walter 9)99K Cody Keller 10) 77 Derek Locke 11)
5B Josh Beard 12) 22T Matt Boland 13) 1M Jason Shultz 14) 8R Michael
Ruttkamp 15)16H Matt Horst 16) 80M Dan Richcreek 17) 42 Alan Spriggle 18)6S
Bill Sherman 19) 1N Brian Nornhold DNF 20) 99B Nyle Berkes 21) 21 Duane
Mausteller DNF 22) 66 Ryan Kissinger DNF 23) 76 Larry Kelleher DNF 24) 71
Jessica Anderson DNF
Heat Winners: Phil Walter, Pat Cannon, Logan Schuchart
Time Trials: 1) 12 Blane Heimbach 17.752 ($100) 2) 19 Colby Womer 17.909
3) 1S Logan Schuchart 17.929 4) 5B Josh Beard 17.966 5) 3 Pat Cannon 19.994
6) 1W Eric Tomececk 18.144 7) 23M TJ Stutts 18.191 8) 56 Nate Snyder 18.329
9) 99K Cody Keller 18.375 10) 1M Jason Shultz 18.390 11) 21 Duane
Mausteller 18.395 12) 8R Michael Ruttkamp 18.412 13) 71 Jessica Anderson
18.439 14) 77 Derek Locke 18.575 15) 76 Larry Kelleher 18.583 16) 5W Phil
Walter 18.592 17) 42 Alan Spriggle 18.809 18) 22T Matt Boland 18.814 19)
99B Nyle Berkes 18.927 20) 16H Matt Horst 18.929 21) 66 Ryan Kissinger
18.940 22) 1N Brian Nornhold 18.993 23) 80M Dan Richcreek 19.194 24) Bill
Sherman DQ