By Steve Inch
SELINSGROVE, Pa – In the 30th race sanctioned by the United Racing Company (URC)at Selinsgrove Speedway since 1959, Mark Smith of Sunbury drove to a convincing victory in the 25-lap main event Saturday night for 360 sprint cars. The $2,000 win marked Smith’s third of the season at Selinsgrove and his first of the year in URC competition at the wheel of the Mach Chassis No. 1.
Pat Cannon of Etters scored his fifth win of the season at Selinsgrove in the 25-lap 358 sprint car feature driving the Highlands’ Tire Service No. 3. Cannon, the division’s points leader, made a late-race pass by Phil Walter of McClure to take his 37th career checkered flag at the track in 358-360 sprint car action.
In the 25-lap late model feature, Tony Adams of Sunbury wired the field for his second win of the season and the 17th of his career at Selinsgrove.
Points leader Bob Bussey of Northumberland scored his seventh win of 2012 in the 12-lap roadrunner race.
Selinsgrove Speedway will present a four division show of 358 sprint cars, late models, pro stocks, and roadrunners at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 18, sponsored by Reinhart Food Service. The roadrunners will also run a 12-lap makeup feature from July 21. Track gates will open at 5 p.m.
Hall-of-Famer Kramer Williamson started on the pole in the URC sprint car feature and powered into the early lead. Williamson was chased by third-place starter Ed Aiken on the first lap when the caution flag unfurled for a collision involving Larry Kelleher and Chad Trout in turn two.
When the race resumed, Williamson continued to set the pace with Aiken and second-place starter Robbie Stillwaggon in pursuit. By lap six, 12th-place starter Mark Smith advanced to fifth and set his sites on the leaders. On the 10th circuit, Smith drove by Stillwaggon for second and quickly reeled in Williamson.
On lap 11, Smith made the winning pass by Williamson using the outside lane in turn four. Once in front of the pack, Smith began to stretch his lead over Williamson, Stillwaggon, eighth-place starter Davie Franek and sixth-place starter Kevin Darling.
With two laps to go, Franek made a late-race charge and took over the third position. On the final lap, Franek edged out Williamson for second as Smith took the checkered flag by 5.8 seconds. Williamson settled for third, while Stillwaggon and Darling rounded out the top five.
In the 358 sprint car feature, fourth-place starter Phil Walter passed polesitter Scott Wilson for the lead at the close of the first lap. Two laps later, seventh-place starter Cody Keller drove by Wilson for the runner-up position. On the fourth circuit, ninth-place starter Pat Cannon powered into third.
Cannon reeled in Keller in a battle for second and took over the position on the fifth lap. Then a race for third unfolded between Keller and fifth-place starter John Smith. By lap 15, Walter began to encounter slower traffic, which allowed Cannon to reel-in the high-flying leader.
The caution flag unfurled on lap 22 when Wilson spun in front of the leaders in turn four. With the field regrouped for a restart, Cannon applied heavy pressure on Walter for the race lead and took the front spot with an inside pass through turns three and four.
At the checkered flag, Cannon was victorious by 1.3 seconds over Walter, eighth-place starter TJ Stutts, 10th-place starter Mark Smith, and 17th-place starter Jason Shultz.
At the start of the late model feature, polesitter Tony Adams pulled into the lead and held the front spot for the duration of the non-stop (9:20.75) event. On the second circuit, fourth-place starter Dave Zona passed second-place starter Meade Hahn for the runner-up position.
For the first five laps, Zona was in striking distance of Adams but Adams soon began to distance himself from the rest of the field. At the midway point, Adams was leading Zona, Hahn, seventh-place starter Dylan Yoder and fifth-place starter Donnie Schick.
In the final laps of the event, Zona began to close in on Adams again. Meanwhile, on lap 21, D. Yoder passed Hahn for third and quickly pulled up on Zona in a race for second. Adams went on to take the checkered flag by one second over D. Yoder, who edged out Zona for second at the finish line. Hahn and eighth-place starter Jim Bernheisel rounded out the top five.
Fourth-place starter Adam Campbell darted into the lead at the start of the roadrunner feature. Campbell was soon trailed by sixth-place starter Brian Johnson. By the fifth lap, a close four-car battle unfolded at the front of the pack between Campbell, Johnson, seventh-place starter Dustin Snook, and ninth-place starter Bob Bussey.
On the ninth circuit, Bussey made the winning pass by Campbell using the inside lane on the backstretch. Bussey then began to stretch his lead and went on to post a one-second margin of victory over Campbell, Johnson, Curtis Lawton, and Snook.
SELINSGROVE SPEEDWAY RACE SUMMARY – 11 August 2012
URC 360 Sprint Cars – 31 Entries
25-Lap A-Main: 1)m1 Mark Smith 2)28f Davie Franek 3)73 Kramer Williamson 4)89 Robbie Stillwaggon 5)9D Kevin Darling 6)3 Pat Cannon 7)25 JJ Grasso 8)18 Ryan Bohlke 9)7 Ed Aiken 10)56W Randy West 11)63 Josh Weller 12)88b Andy Best 13)71 Jessica Anderson 14)39 Tim Hogue 15)12S Jimmy Stitzel 16)15 Mark Bittner 17)22 Troy Betts 18)47 Scott Lutz 19)X Dan Mazy 20)21 Jared Fink 21)1B Joey Biasi DNF 22)2L Art Liedl DNF 23)21m Duane Mausteller DNF 24)76 Larry Kelleher DNF 25)7C Chad Trout DNF
Heat Winners: Kramer Williamson, Robbie Stillwaggon, Davie Franek
B-Main Winner: Tim Hogue
358 Sprint Cars – 18 Entries
25-Lap A-Main: 1)3 Pat Cannon 2)5W Phil Walter 3)23 TJ Stutts 4)1 Mark Smith 5)2 Jason Shultz 6)25 John Smith 7)99K Cody Keller 8)66 Ryan Kissinger 9)19 Colby Womer 10)77 Derek Locke 11)38 Scott Wilson 12)63 Mike Walter 13)71 Jessica Anderson 14)21 Duane Mausteller 15)42 Alan Spriggle 16)29 Derek Steward 17)55 John Troxell DNF 18)10 Ryan Greth DNF
Heat Winners: Cody Keller, Phil Walter
Late Models – 16 Entries
25-Lap A-Main: 1)88 Tony Adams 2)24 Dylan Yoder 3)99Z Dave Zona 4)7M Meade Hahn 5)119 Jim Bernheisel 6)119B Bryan Bernheisel 7)2J Jeff Rine 8)44 Donnie Schick 9)2 Steve Campbell 10)27 Jim Yoder 11)61 Ken Trevitz 12)91 Chad Davis 13)90 Kyla Rhoads 14)99 Jeff Smith 15)24r Jon Rohacevich DNF 16)0n Ryan Nearhood DNS
Heat Winners: Tony Adams, Chad Davis
Roadrunners – 17 Entries
12-Lap A-Main: 1)76 Bob Bussey 2)2 Adam Campbell 3)201 Brian Johnson 4)28I Curtis Lawton 5)15 Dustin Snook 6)7 Butch Shaffer 7)89 John Schoch 8) 25J Nate Romig 9)5D Dave Adams 10)44 Corey Collier 11)111X Larry Alvord 12)99 Chris Hoffman 13)111 Matt Lawrence DNF 14)3 Bruce Wyland Jr. DNF 15)41D Dennis Conrad DNF 16)112 Ben Feree DNF 17)11 Keith Bissinger DNS
Heat Winners: Bruce Wyland Jr., Nate Romig