358’s Rained Out at Selinsgrove: Double Features Next Week

From Steve Inch

SELINSGROVE, Pa – Jeff Rine of Danville scored another milestone win Saturday night at Selinsgrove Speedway in a special edition No. 5K car that was a tribute to his car owner Jeff Kurtz’s late model racing career in the 1980’s. Rine’s 100th overall win in late model racing came on Driver & Fan Appreciation Night, which was also sponsored by Jeff and Kathy Kurtz of Jeff’s Auto Body & Recycling Center.

The $2,000 victory marked Rine’s fifth of the season and 77th career at the Snyder County oval.

Rookie Hayes Mattern of Beavertown became this season’s leading pro stock winner with his fifth win of the year in the division’s 15-lap feature.

The 25-lap 358 sprint car and 12-lap roadrunner features were postponed when Saturday night’s racing program ran past midnight.

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 28. The make-up sprint car feature from July 21 will also be run. In addition, Saturday night’s program will be a Race-For-A-Cure benefit for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund (JDRF) coordinated by high school seniors Nathan Long of Selinsgrove and Krista Paige of Middleburg. Track gates will open at 5 p.m.

Polesitter Tony Adams pulled into the early lead in the late model feature and was closely chased by sixth-place starter Bryan Bernheisel and fourth-place starter Matt Cochran. Adams maintained a strong lead despite a series of caution flags that regrouped the field in the first half of the race.

On lap 11, a caution flag unfurled for Cochran’s stopped racer. When the race resumed on lap 12, 17th-place starter Jeff Rine stormed around B. Bernheisel for the runner up position and set his sites on Adams.

Rine made the winning pass by Adams using the inside lane through turns three and four on the 14th circuit. Three laps later, the caution flag came back out when Adams’ car fell off the pace.

In the final laps of the race, Rine held off fifth-place starter Jim Yoder and seventh-place starter Jim Bernheisel, posting a 2.5-second margin of victory. Donnie Schick and Steve Campbell rounded out the top five.

In the pro stock feature, original eighth-place starter Hayes Mattern quickly powered to the front of the pack. Mattern raced wheel-to-wheel with seventh-place starter Kyle Bachman before securing the front spot on lap two.

Throughout the event, Bachman and ninth-place starter Nate Kerstetter dueled for the runner-up position while keeping Mattern in their sites. At the finish, Mattern was victorious by 1.4 seconds over Kerstetter, Bachman, 16th-place starter Jason Smith, and third-place starter Shaun Miller.

Point leader and 10th-place starter AJ Hoffman was sidelined following contact with another car at the start of the race.

SELINSGROVE SPEEDWAY RACE SUMMARY – 21 July 2012
358 Sprint Cars – 22 Entries
25-Lap A-Main: Postponed Until July 28
Heat Winners: Jason Shultz, Pat Cannon, Brock Zearfoss
Late Models- 29 Entries
25-Lap A-Main: 1)5K Jeff Rine $2,000 2)27 Jim Yoder 3)119 Jim Bernheisel 4)44 Donnie Schick 5)2 Steve Campbell 6)06 Mike Lupfer 7)61 Ken Trevitz 8)6M Harry Miller 9)88T Ernie Millon 10)90 Kyle Rhoads DNF 11)4D Chad Hollenbeck DNF 12)88 Tony Adams DNF 13)16 Matt Cochran DNF 14)24 Dylan Yoder DNF 15)55 Chris Shuey DNF 16)119B Bryan Bernheisel DNF 17)32 Coleby Frye DNF 18)33C Chris Casner DNF 19)11L Lincoln Ritchey DNF 20)91 Chad Davis DNF 21)99Z Dave Zona DNF 22)34 Bob Dunn DNF 23)26 Jerry Bard DNF 24)45 Eric Hons DNF 25)M1 Mike Mort DNF 26)99 Jeff Smith DNS 27)7M Meade Hahn DNS 28)76 Andy Haus DNS 29)21 Scott Haus DNS
Heat Winners: Tony Adams, Bryan Bernheisel, Ken Trevitz
Pro Stocks – 18 Entries
15-Lap A-Main: 1)9 Hayes Mattern 2)8K Nate Kerstetter 3)99 Kyle Bachman 4)28 Jason Smith 5)115 Shaun Miller 6)21K Mike Kiehl 7)99H Peanut Heintzelman 8)63 Nathan Long 9)85L Pete Lauver 10)34 Hank Steffen 11)4 Jim Payne 12) 28J Jeff Ceballo 13)85R Russ Lauver 14)06 Frank Reisser DNF 15)85 Terry Lauver DNF 16)19 AJ Hoffman DNF 17) 07 Tim Krape DNS 18)10M Brad Mitch DNS
Heat Winners: Nate Kerstetter, Kyle Bachman
Roadrunners – 18 Entries
12-Lap A-Main: Make-Up Date To Be Announced
Heat Winners: Brian Johnson, Bruce Wyland Jr.