Path Valley, PA — (September 28, 2012) — For some racecar drivers it takes years before they win their first race. Some never win. But a select few are able to find victory lane in their rookie season and that happened Friday night at Path Valley.
The Mini Stock feature was the first event of the evening and Dave Friedrich led the eleven-car field to the green flag. Friedrich led the first seven laps with Jeremy Ott and Kevin Thomas right behind. Friedrich was trying to guard the inside line, so Ott drove in on the outside and then turned back to the inside as they exited turn four. Ott made the pass for the lead and the win on lap eight. Friedrich stayed right behind Ott until he got too low on the final lap, clipping a tire on the apron and losing second to Thomas. Bill Kennedy finished fourth and Eric Seibert fifth. Ott and Thomas also won the heat races.
Andy Swope started on the pole of the Street Stock feature and led the first lap. Ronnie Garlock took over on the next circuit. Ken Singer came from starting sixth and was up to second when Garlock had trouble exiting turn two on lap five. Singer went to go around Garlock and suddenly Garlock swerved right and into the side of Singer. Singer continued on and Garlock slowed on the backstretch as the rest of the field scrambled to avoid him. After that Singer drove away from the pack, leading by over a straightaway at the finish for his tenth feature win this year. Garlock worked his way back through the field to finish second. After the race Garlock stopped in victory lane to congratulate Singer and explained that his steering wheel had come off, which what is caused him to veer into Singer. Emory Covert showed much improvement with his third place finish, ahead of Steve Harlan and Justin Gearhart. Singer won the heat race too.
The PA Sprint Series 305 Sprints were added to Friday night’s schedule to make up for previous rainouts. Eric Parker was glad that decision was made. Parker started first in the feature, and twenty laps later he was still there. This is Parker’s first year of driving a racecar and this was his first win ever. As the track got drier Parker used a smooth line and good throttle control to put distance between himself and second place Kody Lehman. Craig Myers made a late race charge to finish third, with Tim Dietz fourth and point leader Tyler Bear fifth. The race was red-flagged twice in the first five laps. Keith McIntyre rolled over in turn one and two laps later Tyler Lebo and Steve Kenawell made contact, resulting in Lebo’s car rolling over. Heat race wins went to Bear and Lebo.
Justin Rasp led all twenty laps for the 4-Cylinder Thunder Car feature win. Tony Hampton finished second and Shaun Linn third. Hampton leads Linn by one point in the championship with one race remaining.
Adam Imes started the night with a seven point lead in the Super Stock championship over Curtis Guyer and they found themselves starting first and second in the feature. Guyer out-powered Imes on the start to grab the lead. The two leaders ran bumper-to-bumper nearly the entire event. Carl Miller closed in on the leaders, but fell back just past halfway. With two laps to go Imes got to the inside of Guyer as they went through turn three, but Guyer closed the door exiting turn four and Imes lost four car lengths. Guyer needed all of that lead when as his right rear tire started losing air. Imes charged back and tried to go around Guyer in the final turn, but he hit a bump exiting turn four allowing Guyer to beat him back to the finish line. The win put Guyer less than five points behind Imes with one race to go. Miller finished third, Keith Walls fourth, and Ray Duffy fifth. Miller won the heat race.
Path Valley results 9/28
Mini Stock: 1.Jeremy Ott (Upper Strasburg, PA), 2.Kevin Thomas, 3.Dave Friedrich, 4.Bill Kennedy, 5.Eric Seibert, 6.Ronnie Garlock, 7.Dylan Wilson, 8.Chris Anderson, 9.Korey Washinger, 10.Mike Hawbaker, 11.Kurt Knepper
Lap Leaders: Dave Friedrich (1-7), Jeremy Ott (8-20)
Heats: Jeremy Ott, Kevin Thomas
Street Stock: 1.Ken Singer (Robertsdale, PA), 2.Ronnie Garlock, 3.Emory Covert, 4.Steve Harlan, 5.Justin Gearhart, 6.Ridge Bookwalter, 7.Andy Swope, 8.Tom Wakefield
Lap Leaders: Andy Swope (1), Ronnie Garlock (2-4), Ken Singer (5-20)
Heat: Ken Singer
305 Sprint: 1.Eric Parker (Lewistown, PA), 2.Kody Lehman, 3.Craig Myers, 4.Tim Dietz, 5.Tyler Bear, 6.Jim Kennedy, 7.Mark Watkins, 8.Chad Myers, 9.Paul Snyder, 10.Daren Bolac, 11.Tyler Reeser, 12.Eric Mathiot, 13.Steve Kenawell, 14.Tyler Lebo, 15.Keith McIntyre, 16.George Riden DNS: Alex Schanz
Lap Leaders: Eric Parker (1-20)
Heats: Tyler Bear, Tyler Lebo
4-Cylinder Thunder Car: 1.Justin Rasp (McConnellsburg, PA), 2.Tony Hampton, 3.Shaun Linn
Lap Leaders: Justin Rasp (1-20)
Heat: Justin Rasp
Super Stock: 1.Curtis Guyer (James Creek, PA), 2.Adam Imes, 3.Carl Miller, 4.Keith Walls, 5.Ray Duffy, 6.Rich Earhart, 7.Alex Boozel, 8.Deron Henry
Lap Leaders: Curtis Guyer (1-20)
Heat: Carl Miller
Coming up next weekend:
Fri. 10/5: Mini Stock, 4-Cyl. Thunder Car, Street Stock, Late Model, Super Stock
Sat. 10/6: 12th Annual 4-Cylinder Shoot-Out & 11th Annual Strictly Stock Showdown
Plus Street Stock and Super Stock