From Selinsgrove Speedway
Selinsgrove, PA — (May 26, 2013) — Brent Marks of Myerstown turned in an impressive performance for his first career win at Selinsgrove Speedway in Sunday night’s inaugural 30-lap Ray Tilley Classic for 410 sprint cars.
Marks, driving the BAPS/Memtec Services No. 19M, shared the front row with Selinsgrove’s Blane Heimbach for the start of the main event and made the winning pass by Heimbach on the 18th circuit for the $5,000 victory.
Members of both the Tilley and Grimm families were in attendance to present Marks with a custom trophy cup to commemorate his victory in the Tilley Classic. Tilley won four track championships at Selinsgrove during the late 1960’s driving the famous Bud Grimm Ford-powered No. 88 and remains on top of the track’s all-time open wheel career win list with 69 victories. He passed away on Aug. 19, 2011, at the age of 77.
Steve Buckwalter of Royersford was the night’s Fast Tees fast qualifier with a lap time of 16.994.
Chad Trout of Dover wired the field for his career win at Selinsgrove in the 20-lap super sportsman feature, while Mike Wagner II of Harrisonville won the first-ever 305 sprint car feature at the track in the division’s 20-lap main event.
Sunday night’s open wheel tripleheader sponsored by Icon Legacy Custom Modular Homes drew a stellar field of 92 entries.
The 410 sprint cars and the super sportsman will return to Selinsgrove Speedway Sunday, July 7, for the Jan Opperman Memorial PA Speedweek finale.
Polesitter Blane Heimbach beat second-place starter Brent Marks into the first turn for the lead at start of the sprint car feature. Heimbach was chased by Marks for more than half of the race as Heimbach began to open up a lead in the first five laps. He quickly began to encounter slower traffic as Marks raced a distant second and third-place starter Greg Hodnett held down the third position.
By lap 12, Marks started to close the gap and gain real estate on Heimbach in the traffic. At the halfway point, Marks was closing fast using the high-line and on lap 16 moved into striking distance. On the 18th lap, Marks powered around the outside of Heimbach exiting the second turn and stole the lead. Heimbach attempted to take it back using the inside lane racing back into the third turn to no avail.
Once in front of the pack, Marks started to stretch his lead but had to take evasive action in turn two on lap 20 when Colby Womer’s car did a 360-degree spin in front of him. On the lap 21 restart, Marks continued to set the pace as Hodnett drove by Heimbach for second.
In the final laps, Marks lived up to his nickname “The Myerstown Missle” as he soared to a convincing 3.5-second margin of victory over Hodnett, Heimbach, sixth-place starter Pat Cannon, and fourth-place starter Rick Lafferty.
Polesitter Chad Trout powered into the lead at the drop of the green flag in the super sportsman feature. Trout was chased by second-place starter Chris Meleason until fifth-place starter Gregg Foster advanced to second.
By the halfway point of the race, Trout began to encounter slower traffic as Foster tried to close the gap. Meanwhile, fourth-place starter Chad Criswell passed Meleason for the third spot. In the final laps, a close battle unfolded for second between Foster and Criswell until Criswell’s racer lost power on the 18th lap.
At the finish, Trout took the checkered flag over Foster, eighth-place starter Scott Geesey, Meleason, and seventh-place starter Carmen Perigo Jr.
Polesitter Freddie Rahmer pulled into the early lead at the start of the 305 sprint car feature until fourth-place starter Mike Wagner took over the front spot at the completion of the first lap. On the fourth circuit, second-place starter John Braim passed Rahmer for the runner up position.
At the halfway point, third-place starter Logan Wagner drove into the second position and set his sites on his brother at the front of the pack. A flip by George Riden in turn four brought out the red flag on lap 10. Riden was not injured in the crash.
When the race resumed, the Wagner brothers chased each other around the big half-mile with Rahmer eventually working his way back into the third position. The race was stopped again on lap 19 when George Loux flipped between turns three and four. Loux escaped injury.
L. Wagner made a last-ditch effort to get by M. Wagner in turns one and two on the last restart but couldn’t pull off a pass. At the finish, M. Wagner was victorious over Rahmer, Anthony Fiore, and Tyler Bear.
SELINSGROVE SPEEDWAY RACE SUMMARY – 26 May 2013
410 Sprint Cars – 31 Entries
30-Lap Ray Tilley Classic A-Main: 1) 19M Brent Marks ($5,000) 2) 39 Greg Hodnett 3) 12 Blane Heimbach 4) 3 Pat Cannon 5) 0 Rick Lafferty 6) 19 Stevie Smith 7) 20S Fred Rahmer 8) 2T TJ Stutts 9) 1 Danny Lasoski 10) 27 Lance Dewease 11) 7 Chad Layton 12) 17B Steve Buckwalter 13) 11 Mike Erdley 14) 95 Hunter Mackison 15) 5W Phil Walter 16) 1A Jacob Allen 17) 1S Logan Schuchart 18) 19 Colby Womer 19) 5 Dylan Cisney DNF 20) 2 Jim Seigel DNF 21) 21 Brian Monteith DNF 22) 48 Danny Deitrich DNF 23) 66 Ryan Kissinger DNF 24) 75 Nicole Bower DNF
Heat Winners: Lance Dewease, Danny Lasoski, Greg Hodnett, Pat Cannon
B-Main Winner: Colby Womer
Time Trials: 1) 17B Steve Buckwalter 16.994 2) 1 Danny Lasoski 17.010 3) 19 Stevie Smith 17.149 4) 12 Blane Heimbach 17.210 5) 11 Mike Erdley 17.276 6) 48 Danny Dietrich 17.287 7) 39 Greg Hodnett 17.316 8)20S Fred Rahmer 17.337 9) 7 Chad Layton 17.349 10) 2T TJ Stutts 17.483 11) 19M Brent Marks 17.594 12) 3 Pat Cannon 17.633 13) 27 Lance Dewease 17.781 14) 0 Rick Lafferty 17.901 15) 5 Dylan Cisney 18.069 16) 5W Phil Walter 18.070 17) 19W Colby Womer 18.072 18) 1S Logan Schuchart 18.213 19) 75 Nicole Bower 18.307 20) 95 Hunter Mackinson 18.415 21) 1080 Jordan Mackinson 18.447 22) 2 Jim Seigel 18.452 23) 49 Bob Howard 18.548 24) 21S Rod Stroup 18.605 25) 21 Brian Monteith 18.635 26) 52 Jim Shuster 18.669 27) 66 Ryan Kissinger 18.786 28) 1A Jacob Allen 18.832 29) 14 Ryan Slothower 19.112 30) 24B Dustin Baney DNT 31) 38 Scott Wilson DNT
Sportsman – 30 Entries
20-Lap A-Main: 1) 2 Chad Trout 2) 32 Gregg Foster 3) 33 Scott Geesey 4) 318 Chris Meleason 5) 93 Carmen Perigo Jr. 6) 45 Dave Socks 7) 25 Bob Hockenberry 8) 99 Frankie Herr 9) 222 Jay Fannasy 10) 00 Rick Barr 11) 8 Rich Eichelberger 12) 3B Mike Enders 13) 30 Scott Dellinger 14) 11 Steve Fannasy 15) 43 Doug Dobson 16) 77 Russ Mitten 17) 69 Mallie Shuster 18) 7 Todd Leonard 19) 55C Chad Criswell DNF 20) 35 Gary Johnston DNF 21) 56 Jeff Leisey DNF 22) 64 Stan Wanner DNF 23) 29 Dwayne Smith DNF 24) 888 John Wolfe DNF
Heat Winners: Bobby Hockenberry, Carmen Perigo Jr., Mike Enders
B-Main Winner: Frankie Herr
305 Sprint Cars – 31 Entries
20-Lap A-Main: 1) 55 Mike Wagner II 2) 7W Logan Wagner 3) 51 Freddie Rahmer 4) 91 Anthony Fiore 5) 25 Tyler Bear 6) 44 John Braim 7) 17M Phil Meisner 8) 47K Kody Lehman 9) 36 Mark Watkins 10) 22K Mike Koehler 11) 23 Nathan Grawley 12) 39 Eric Parker 13) 9 Dalton Dietrick 14) 66 Gary Zimmerman 15) 44G Scott Gobrecht 16) 5T Tyler Reeser 17) 48G George Loux 18) 8D Scott Ellerman 19) 8 Randy Kaylor 20) 35B Derrick Bowersox 21) 26V Sean Kirkpatrick 22) 26 Ryan Lynn 23) 88 Brandon Rahmer 24) 10X Jake Waters 25) 99 George Riden 26) 4B Jason Bergstresser
Heat Winners: Mike Wagner II, Logan Wagner, John Braim, Freddie Rahmer
B-Main Winner: Tyler Reeser