From Port Royal Speedway
Port Royal, PA – (May 12, 2013) – Blane Heimbach of Selinsgrove turned in an exciting come from behind performance to score a convincing win in Saturday night’s 25-lap 410 sprint car feature at Port Royal Speedway, worth $3,000.
In the 20-lap pro stock championship event, Tim Krape of Bellefonte picked up the checkers for his 80th career victory at the oval.
And Tim Wilson powered to his first win of the season in the late model main, wiring the field from the pole for the $1,500 victory.
Many may have thought the sprint car feature was a write off when the lineup was announced with two-time 2013 winner Doug Esh on the pole alongside Mike Erdley.
But Heimbach proved them all wrong.
While Esh drove out to the early lead with Erdley keeping pace, Heimbach bided his time from the third starting spot.
In fact, he allowed fourth starter Davey Sammons to run into third for the first eight laps before taking the spot back.
Racing through traffic, Erdley was still keeping pace with Esh on the ninth tour when a caution flag regrouped the field.
For the next several laps after the restart Esh and Erdley pulled away with Erdley applying pressure for the lead but with 10 to go, Heimbach began closing on both drivers.
The front pair of Esh and Erdley nearly crashed on the frontstretch as they got caught up racing one another with Esh pulling a massive drop back to the bottom of the track just as Erdley was making a run for the lead off of the fourth corner.
After some evasive swerving by the pair to avoid a collision, Heimbach pounced on Erdley for second with seven laps to go and then set his sights on Esh.
And with Esh on the cushion, Heimbach had his machine hugging the inside rail off of the fourth corner and that’s where he made the winning pass to motor by Esh with five to go.
And from there it was clear sailing through traffic for the victory, which was the fourth of Heimbach’s career at the speedway.
Esh held on for second with Erdley third followed by Chad Layton and Dylan Cisney.
Sixth through 10th went to Mike Wagner, Davey Sammons, Daryl Stimeling, Rick Lafferty and Keith Kauffman
Heats for the 23-car field went to Esh, Erdley and Heimbach.
Krape started sixth in the pro stock championship race and took the lead from polesitter Dan Berry on the fourth circuit.
A yellow flag with seven laps completed found Tim Fedder on Krape’s tail for the restart and although Fedder was able to get his car underneath Krape on the restart, Krape was able to motor away on the straightaways.
After being involved in a multi-car crash on the seventh lap, Scott Landis rejoined the field at the rear and came racing back through the field to finish a stout third.
Nate Stroup, who was also involved in the incident, came back for fourth followed by Nate Fisher.
Sixth through 10th went to Jared Fulkroad, Dave Berry, Chase Bowsman, Dustin Kirk and Shawn Stahl.
Heats for the 13 entries went to Krape and Andrew Shoop.
After finishing in the top three several times over the previous weeks, Tim Wilson finally put together a winning performance in the late model main.
Wilson was trailed by Sam Schaeffer early and then Chad Hollenbeck up until the halfway point when Hollenbeck came up with a left front flat after contact with the inside turn three wall.
Jeff Miller restarted second but failed to challenge Wilson, instead falling victim to Terry Naugle and Nick Dickson.
Dickson took second from Naugle on a restart with six laps to go but Naugle powered back to the inside in the third corner to reclaim the spot, where he would finish.
Dickson finished third followed by Miller and 12th starter Steve Campbell.
Chris Casner crossed the line sixth followed by Justin Kann, Brett Schadel, Mitch Hack and Schaeffer.
Heats for the 25-car field went to Hollenbeck, Mike Lupfer and Miller.
Lupfer was running fourth with six to go when he bit the frontstretch wall, damaging his mount and forcing him from the race.
May 11, 2013 finishes:
410 sprints, 25 laps, 23 entries: 1. Blane Heimbach, 2. Doug Esh, 3. Mike Erdley, 4. Chad Layton, 5. Dylan Cisney, 6. Mike Wagner, 7. Davey Sammons, 8. Daryl Stimeling, 9. Rick Lafferty, 10. Keith Kauffman, 11. Ryan Bohlke, 12. Kyle Reinhart, 13. Nate Snyder, 14. Joey Hershey, 15. Dan Shetler, 16. Bob Bennett, 17. Jason Leffler, 18. Jim Shuster, 19. Curt Stroup, 20. Tracey Templin, 21. Jordan Frontz, 22. Cliff Brian, 23, Steve Buckwalter
Late model feature, 20 laps, 25 entries: 1. Tim Wilson, 2. Terry Naugle, 3. Nick Dickson, 4. Jeff Miller, 5. Steve Campbell, 6. Chris Casner, 7. Justin Kann, 8. Brett Schadel, 9. Mitch Hack, 10. Sam Schaeffer, 11. Chad Hollenbeck, 12. Eric Zembower, 13. Danny Snyder, 14. Mike Altobelli Jr., 15. Trent Brenneman, 16. Bryon Sipe, 17. Jason Schmidt, 18. Todd Snook, 19. Ken Stitt Jr., 20. Mike Lupfer, 21. Patrick Bryner, 22. Mike Mort, 23. Steve Stitt
DNS: Scott Haus, Matt Parks
Pro stocks, 20 laps, 13 entries: 1. Tim Krape, 2. Tim Fedder, 3. Scott Landis, 4. Nate Stroup, 5. Nate Fisher, 6. Jared Fulkroad, 7. Dave Berry, 8. Chase Bowsman, 9. Dustin Kirk, 10. Shawn Stahl, 11. Kyle Rapp, 12. Andrew Shoop, 13. Dan Berry