From Selinsgrove Speedway
Selinsgrove, PA — (June 9, 2012) — When Brock Zearfoss’ race car lost power while leading on lap 21, TJ Stutts of Liverpool inherited the front spot and went on to win his first 358 sprint car feature of the season in Saturday ’s 25-lap main event at Selinsgrove Speedway on Paul Stine Chevrolet night.
For Stutts, driving the Mountain View Travel No. 23, the victory marked the 14th of his career at the track. He became the division’s seventh different winner this season.
In the 30-lap late model championship, Coleby Frye of Dover came away with the victory following a suspenseful battle with current point leader Jeff Rine of Danville. The $2,500 win was the ninth of Frye’s career at the speedway, and he became the track’s fifth different late model feature winner in 2012.
Gregg Saterlee of Rochester Mills was the night’s fast qualifier with a lap time of 19.742.
AJ Hoffman of Richfield won his fourth race of the season in the 15-lap pro stock feature, while Brian Johnson of Ashland won his second feature of the year in the 12-lap roadrunner race.
Fans contributed $2,457.06 as part of a “helmet collection” conducted by race car drivers Saturday night for the family of former late model racer and micro sprint car driver Roger Spencer, 51, of Montgomery, who died Friday night from an apparent heart attack while racing in the 25-lap micro sprint car feature at Selinsgrove Raceway Park.
Selinsgrove Speedway will present the Ninth Annual Joe Whitcomb Memorial for 358 sprint cars plus late models, pro stocks, and roadrunners at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 16, sponsored by A&A Auto Stores. The 30-lap tribute race will pay $2,071 to win and $250 to start. Track gates will open at 5 p.m.
Second-place starter Joel VanBuskirk pulled into the early lead in the sprint car feature. VanBuskirk was chased by polesitter Brock Zearfoss for the first lap until Zearfoss made a pass for the lead on the second circuit. The caution flag regrouped the field on lap four when Larry Kelleher made contact with the third turn wall and rolled to a stop.
When the race resumed, Zearfoss quickly stretched his lead and ninth-place starter TJ Stutts advanced from fifth to third. A lap later, Stutts was into second and set his sites on Zearfoss.
By lap 10, Zearfoss began to encounter slower traffic and Stutts was able to close the gap. At the halfway point, third-place starter Colby Womer, fifth-place starter Phil Walter, and VanBuskirk raced in the top five.
On a lap 17 restart, the race for the top five positions intensified. 11th-place starter Blane Heimbach stormed into the third spot on the 18th circuit. On the 21st lap, Zearfoss’ car lost power on the backstretch, allowing Stutts to take command of the field.
In the final laps, Heimbach attempted to reel in Stutts to no avail. At the checkered flag, Stutts was victorious by 1.3 seconds over Heimbach, Walter, 12th-place starter Jason Shultz, and 10th-place starter Pat Cannon.
Lead-foots Coleby Frye and Jeff Rine shared the front row for the start of the late model championship race. At the drop of the green flag, polesitter Frye powered into the lead with Rine chasing him around the top of the track at full throttle.
In the early laps of the race, Frye led Rine, third-place starter Bryan Bernheisel, sixth-place starter Gregg Satterlee, and fifth-place starter Jamie Lathroum. On the eighth circuit, Satterlee passed Bernheisel for the third position. At the halfway point, a close battle unfolded for second between Rine and Satterlee.
By lap 18, however, Frye began to approach slower traffic, allowing Rine and Satterlee to reel in the leader. With five laps remaining, Rine was in striking distance and looking for a way around Frye. Entering turn one on lap 27, when Rine attempted an inside pass for the lead, he and Frye made contact, sending Rine’s car into a wild spin.
On the final restart, Frye maintained the lead as Lathroum passed Satterlee for second. At the finish, Lathroum made a last-ditch effort to steal the lead and win exiting turn four but came up just .49 of a second short. Frye was victorious over Lathroum, Satterlee, B. Bernheisel, and Dylan Yoder.
Original third-place starter Hayes Mattern found himself starting the pro stock feature on the pole when Brad Mitch scratched from the event. Mattern took the lead at the start and was followed by fifth-place starter Jason Smith.
Eighth-place starter AJ Hoffman showed some speed early in the race and moved by Smith for the runner up position. On the 10th circuit, Hoffman made the winning pass using the outside lane in turn two. Once in front of the pack, Hoffman began to stretch his lead.
At the checkered flag, Hoffman was victorious by 1.4 seconds over Mattern, Smith, Nate Kerstetter, and Pete Lauver.
In the roadrunner race, second-place starter Bruce Wyland Jr. led the first two laps until polesitter Cory Long took command of the field. On the fourth circuit, ninth-place starter Brian Johnson pulled into the lead and was chased by Long for the duration of the event.
Six drivers broke away from the rest of the field in a tight, wheel-to-wheel race at the front of the pack.
Johnson went on to take the checkered flag by about one second ahead of Long, 19th-place starter Ricky Bender, 10th-place starter Bob Bussey, and Wyland.
SELINSGROVE SPEEDWAY RACE SUMMARY – 9 June 2012
358 Sprint Cars – 25 Entries
25-Lap A-Main: 1)23 TJ Stutts 2) 12 Blane Heimbach 3) 5W Phil Walter 4) 2 Jason Shultz 5) 3 Pat Cannon 6) 77 Derek Locke 7) 19 Colby Womer 8) 5b Josh Beard 9) 29 Matt Horst 10) 14 Brian Nornhold 11) 81 Bob Beidleman 12) 11 Joel VanBuskirk 13) 15 Jay Reichard 14) 80M Rocky Magaro 15) 42 Alan Spriggle 16) 38 Scott Wilson 17) 6s Bill Sherman 18) 74 Brock Zearfoss DNF 19) 21 Duane Maustellar DNF 20) 1w Eric Tomecek 21) 99K Cody Keller DNF 22) 76 Larry Kelleher DNF 23) 03 Jeff Miller DNF 24) 55 John Troxell DNS 25) 99B Nyle Berkes DNS
Heat Winners: Brock Zearfoss, Pat Cannon, Josh Beard
Late Models-24 Entries
30-Lap A-Main: 1) 32 Coleby Frye 2) 6 Jamie Lathroum 3) 22 Gregg Saterlee 4) 119B Bryan Bernheisel 5) 24 Dylan Yoder 6) 2 Steve Campbell 7) 76 Andy Haus 8) 99Z Dave Zona 9) 119 Jim Bernheisel 10) 91 Chad Davis 11) 27 Jim Yoder 12) 2J Jeff Rine 13) 16 Matt Cochran 14) 21 Scott Haus 15) 61 Ken Trevitz 16) 4D Chad Hollenbeck 17) 24r Jon Rohaverovich DNF 18) 99 Jeff Smith DNF 19) M1 Mike Mort DNF 20) 45 Eric Hons DNF 21) 7M Meade Hahn DNF 22) 88 Tony Adams DNF 23) 90 Kyle Rhoads DNS
Heat Winners: Jim Bernheisel, Coleby Frye, Bryan Bernheisel
Time Trials: 1) Gregg Satterlee 19.742 2) Jeff Rine 19.784 3) Dylan Yoder 19.800 4) Jeff Smith 19.804 5) Coleby Frye 19.822 6) Jamie Lathroum 19.865 7) Jim Bernheisel 19.972 8) Steve Campbell 20.002 9) Bryan Bernheisel 20.018 10) Donnie Schick 20.135 11) Chad Hollenbeck 20.178 12) Andy Haus 20.186 13) Dave Zona 20.232 14) Meade Hahn 20.296 15) Jim Yoder 20.416 16) Chad Davis 20.544 17) Matt Cochran 20.596 18) Scott Haus 20.650 19) Eric Hons 20.818 20) Kenny Trevitz 20.834 21) Jon Rohaverovich 21.515 22) Tony Adams No Time 23) Kyle Rhoads NoTime 24) Mike Mort No Time
Pro Stocks – 15 Entries
15-Lap A-Main: 1) 19 AJ Hoffman 2) 9 Hayes Mattern 3) 28 Jason Smith 4) 8K Nate Kerstetter 5) 85L Pete Lauver 6) 12 Doug Minium 7) 99H Peanut Heintzelman 8) 34 Hank Steffen 9) 4 Jim Payne 10) 28J Jeff Ceballo 11) 99 Kyle Bachman DNF 12) 63 Nathan Long DNS 13) 06 Frank Reisser DNS 14) 85 Terry Lauver DNS 15) 10M Brad Mitch DNS
Heat Winners: Jason Smith, Kyle Bachman
Roadrunners – 19 Entries
12-Lap A-Main: 1)201 Brian Johnson 2) 00 Cory Long 3)29B Ricky Bender 4)76 Bob Bussey 5) 3 Bruce Wyland Jr. 6)15 Dustin Snook 7)02 John Fowler 8)31B Brandon Shultz 9)28I Curtis Lawton 10)111 Matt Lawrence 11)5D Dave Adams 12) 44 Corey Collier 13)112 Ben Feree 14) 8K Jeremy Kline DNF 15) 7 Butch Shaffer DNF 16) 11 Keith Bissinger 17) 111X Larry Alvord DNS 18) 2 Adam Campbell DNS 19) 41D Dennis Conrad DNS
Heat Winners: Bruce Wyland Jr., Dustin Snook