Selinsgrove, PA — (April 7, 2012) — Pat Cannon of Etters continued his early season domination in the 358 sprint car division with another victory in Saturday night’s 25-lap main event at Selinsgrove Speedway.
The win was Cannon’s third of the year in 358 sprint cars, having also won events at Port Royal and Williams Grove Speedways, and fourth overall with his victory in last weekend’s Mach 1 Chassis 360 Sprint Car Series opener at Selinsgrove.
Cannon’s win at the wheel of the Highlands’ Tire Service No. 3 also moved him ahead of Selinsgrove’s Blane Heimbach on the division’s all-time career win list with 34 victories at the track.
Dylan Yoder of Selinsgrove won the 25-lap late model season opener in convincing style, while
two-time defending champion AJ Hoffman of Richfield scored his second pro stock feature of the season in the division’s 15-lap main event.
Defending champion Bob Bussey of Northumberland pulled off a “spin and win” in the 12-lap roadrunner feature when contact from another competitor caused Bussey’s car to complete a 360-degree spin on the frontstretch. Bussey made a great save and drove to victory.
Selinsgrove Speedway will present another four division show of 358 sprint cars, late models, pro stocks, and roadrunners at 6 p.m. Saturday, April 14, on Boy Scouts of America weekend.
At the start of the sprint car feature, second-place starter Scott Flammer pulled into the early lead. By the completion of the first lap, sixth-place starter Blane Heimbach began to challenge polesitter Cody Keller for the runner up position.
The caution flag waved on lap three when Phil Walter’s car developed a flat tire and Scott Wilson stopped on the track. On the ensuing restart, Flammer continued to lead until lap five, when Heimbach made an inside pass in turn two for the front spot. Engine woes on lap nine, however, caused Heimbach’s car to roll to a stop on the frontstretch and return the lead to Flammer.
Ninth-place starter Pat Cannon entered the picture when the race resumed and took the lead with an inside pass by Flammer in turn one. At the halfway point, 12th-place starter Mark Smith advanced to second and set his sites on Cannon. In lapped traffic, Smith started to reel in Cannon, then was aided by a caution flag on lap 18 when Keller spun in turn three.
During the final laps, Cannon pulled away from Smith, posting a two second margin of victory. 11th-place starter Jason Shultz, eighth-place starter TJ Stutts, and fifth-place starter Larry Kelleher completed the top five. Flammer, who finished the race in the fourth position, was disqualified when his car failed to meet the minimum weight requirements during the post-race inspection.
Third-place starter Jim Bernheisel stormed into the lead at the start of the late model feature and was chased by fourth-place starter Coleby Frye. Bernheisel quickly opened up a sizeable lead until the event’s first caution flag unfurled on lap four. When the race resumed, Bernheisel led through the tenth circuit, when sixth-place starter Dylan Yoder made the winning pass using the inside lane on the backstretch.
In the second half of the race, D. Yoder kept the field at bay while 11th-place starter Jeff Rine worked his way into the runner-up position. In the final laps of the race, however, Frye reclaimed the second position and attempted to reel in D. Yoder.
At the checkered flag, D. Yoder posted a convincing 4.6 second margin of victory over Frye, Rine, seventh-place starter Jim Yoder, and Bernheisel.
Original third-place starter Peanut Heintzelman started on the front row of the pro stock feature when polesitter Brad Mitch was forced to withdraw from the race. At the start of the event, last week’s winner and fifth-place starter Mike Kiehl was involved in a hard crash in turn four when his car was turned sideways and collected several other cars.
When the race resumed, Heintzelman led the first lap until seventh-place starter Jason Schmidt took command of the field with an inside pass in turn three. At the halfway point, both fourth-place starter Jason Smith and 11th-place starter AJ Hoffman drove by Schmidt when his car bobbled in turn two. Smith and Hoffman then dueled for the lead with Hoffman taking command of the field. At the same time, sixth-place starter Shaun Miller advanced to third.
On lap 11, Miller was forced to withdraw from the race and Smith bowed out on lap 14, setting up a chase to the checkered flag between Hoffman and 10th-place starter Nate Kerstetter. On the final restart, Kersetter put in a bid for the lead entering turn one to no avail. At the finish, Hoffman was victorious by .66 of a second over Kerstetter, ninth-place starter Kyle Bachman, second-place starter Hayes Mattern, and 18th-place starter Nathan Long.
Racing off turn four on the start of the roadrunner feature, polesitter Bob Bussey found himself maneuvering his race car out of a 360-degree spin while others behind him scurried to avoid a collision with the defending champion.
Since Bussey was able to continue without stopping on the track, he retained his pole starting position and powered into the lead when the race resumed. Bussey wired the field for the win but not without several serious challenges coming from second-place starter Brian Johnson.
On the final lap, Johnson pulled in front of Bussey using the inside line entering one, only to be passed by Bussey again when his car drifted high exiting turn two. At the checkered flag, Bussey was victorious by just .80 of a second over Johnson, Scott Dunham Jr., last week’s winner Keith Bissinger, and Matt Lawrence.
SELINSGROVE SPEEDWAY SUMMARY – 7 April 2012
358 Sprint Cars – 24 Entries
25-Lap A-Main: 1) 3 Pat Cannon 2) 1 Mark Smith 3) 2 Jason Shultz 4) 23M TJ Stutts 5) 76 Larry Kelleher 6) 77 Derek Locke 7) 1W Eric Tomecek 8) 5W Phil Walter 9) 71 Jessica Anderson 10) 29 Matt Horst 11) 66 Ryan Kissinger 12) 67 Jason Cherry 13) 1N Brian Nornhold 14) 71C Charlie Anderson 15) 37 Scott Flammer 16) 99K Cody Keller 17) 29W Ryan Wilson 18) 21F Scott Fisher 19) 19 Colby Womer 20) 12 Blane Heimbach 21) 21 Duane Mausteller 22) 38 Scott Wilson 23) 5B Josh Beard 24) 42 Alan Spriggle
Heat Winners: Pat Cannon, TJ Stutts, Colby Womer
Late Models – 19 Entries
25-Lap A-Main: 1) 24 Dylan Yoder 2) 32 Coleby Frye 3) 2J Jeff Rine 4) 27 Jim Yoder 5) 119 Jim Bernheisel 6) 2 Steve Campbell 7) 99Z Dave Zona 8) 44 Donnie Schick 9) 119 Brian Bernheisel 10) 88 Tony Adams 11) 7M Meade Hahn 12) 99 Jeff Smith 13) 91 Chad Davis 14) 16 Matt Cochran 15) 45 Eric Hons 16) 90 Kyle Rhoads 17) 3 Robbie Smith 18) 22R Randall Paxton 19) 61T Ken Trevitz
Heat Winners: Dylan Yoder, Tony Adams
Pro Stocks – 21 Entries
15-Lap A-Main: 1) 19 AJ Hoffman 2) 8K Nate Kerstetter 3) 99 Kyle Bachman 4) 9 Hayes Mattern 5) 63 Nathan Long 6) 12 Doug Minium 7) 2 Jason Schmidt 8) 29 Adam Wray 9) 99H Peanut Heintzelman 10) 28 Jeff Ceballo 11) 28 Jason Smith 12) 85R Russ Lauver 13) 70J John Schreffler 14) 115 Shaun Miller 15) 21K Mike Kiehl 16) 85L Pete Lauver 17) 66 Dustin Wolfgang 18) 15S Shawn Stahl 19) 10M Brad Mitch 20) 07 Tim Krape 21) 34 Hank Steffen
Heat Winners: Brad Mitch, Jason Smith, Jason Schmidt
Roadrunners – 21 Entries
12-Lap A-Main: 1) 76 Bob Bussey 2) 201 Brian Johnson 3) 69 Scott Dunham 4) 11 Keith Bissinger 5) 111 Matt Lawrence 6) 29B Ricky Bender 7) 7 Butch Shaffer 8) 31 Brandon Shultz 9) 28 Curtis Lawton 10) 8K Jeremy Kline 11) 111X Larry Alvord 12) 2 Adam Campbell 13) 3 Bruce Wyland Jr. 14) 25J Nate Romig 15) 15W Shawn Wondoloski 16) 44 Corey Collier 17) 02 John Fowler 18) 15 Dustin Snook 19) 89 John Schoch 20) 99 Chris Hoffman 21) 112 Ben Feree
Heat Winners: Brian Johnson, Bob Bussey