From Selinsgrove Speedway
Selinsgrove, PA — (July 20, 2013) — Brock Zearfoss of Jonestown made the ultimate comeback from an early-season racing injury when he won his first career 358 sprint car feature Saturday night at Selinsgrove Speedway in the division’s 25-lap main event.
Zearfoss, driving the Mach 1 Chassis No. 1W, collected $2,000 for the victory on Jeff’s Auto Body & Recycling Center Driver & Fan Appreciation Night and became the eighth different winner in 358-360 sprint car competition at the track this year.
Teenager Hayes Mattern of Beavertown wired the field for his first career late model win worth $2,000 in the division’s 25-lap feature. Mattern, a rookie this year, became the seventh different late model winner this year.
Brad Mitch of McClure made a late-race pass by Nathan Long of Selinsgrove to score his third win of the year in the 15-lap pro stock feature.
Brian Johnson of Ashland won his fourth race of the season in the 12-lap roadrunner feature. Johnson is now tied with Bob Bussey of Northumberland and John Fowler Jr. of Montandon for the most wins in the division this season.
Race fans, teams, and businesses contributed $3,773.00 to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) fundraiser that was held at the track and was coordinated by Nathan Long of Selinsgrove and Krista Paige of Middleburg for the second year in a row.
The start of Saturday’s racing program was delayed for one hour due to rain that fell on the track at about 6:30 p.m.
Selinsgrove Speedway will present a racing program of 358 sprint cars, late models, pro stocks, and roadrunners at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, July 27, sponsored by PEPSI. Track gates will open at 5 p.m.
Fourth-place starter Duane Mausteller stormed by polesitter Scott Wilson for the early lead in the sprint car feature. On the second circuit, third-place starter Brock Zearfoss powered around Wilson for the runner-up position. Within the first three laps, sixth-place starter Cody Keller and ninth-place starter Pat Cannon both withdrew from the event with mechanical problems.
On the seventh lap, 12th-place starter Josh Beard showed a lot of speed and passed seventh-place starter Colby Womer for the third position. At the halfway point, Mausteller held a commanding lead while Zearfoss and Beard see-sawed for the second position.
Mausteller’s strong run came to an end when his motor soured on the 20th lap. For the restart, Beard inherited the lead with Zearfoss occupying the second spot. The race was red flagged shortly after it was restarted when Phil Walter and John Troxell were involved in a hard crash in turn three. All drivers escaped injury.
On the final restart, Zearfoss got a run on the outside lane and made the winning pass by Beard exiting the second turn on lap 22. Zearfoss went on to post his first career sprint car win by 3.2 seconds over Beard, 10th-place starter Jason Shultz, 15th-place starter Ryan Kissinger, and eighth-place starter Nyle Berkes.
Polesitter Hayes Mattern drove into the lead at the start of the late model feature. Mattern was chased by second-place starter AJ Hoffman for the first 14 laps until Hoffman dropped out of the race during a caution flag period for Chad Davis.
On the restart, Mattern opened up a comfortable lead over seventh-place starter Ken Trevitz, 10th-place starter Jim Yoder, and 12th-place starter Jeff Rine. During the final five laps, an intense race shaped up at the front of the pack. With two laps to go, Rine advanced to third as Trevitz began to pressure Mattern for the lead.
On the final lap Mattern’s car bobbled on the high side of turn two and just as Trevitz was about to take advantage of the slip the caution flag unfurled when Yoder’s car rolled to a stop with engine woes. For the one-lap chase to the checkered flag, Mattern held his line as Rine powered into second and scored his first win by just .42 of a second. Rine, Trevitz, Bryan Bernheisel, and Jim Bernheisel rounded out the top five.
Front row starter Jim Gearhart led the first lap of the pro stock feature until fifth-place starter Nathan Long drove into the lead. Fourth-place starter Brad Mitch advanced to second and chased Long around the half-mile oval through lap eight when Mitch made the winning pass.
Once he took the lead, Mitch kept Long and sixth-place starter AJ Stroup at bay. At the finish, Mitch was victorious by 1.7 seconds over Stroup, point leader Troy Miller, and Shaun Miller.
Fourth-place starter Brian Johnson quickly pulled into the lead in the roadrunner race and kept his No. 201 out in front for the flag-to-flag victory. Johnson held off a late-race charge by sixth-place starter Bob Bussey and scored the win by just .38 of a second. Bussey settled for second, while John Fowler Jr., Brandon Shultz, and Butch Shaffer completed the top five.
SELINSGROVE SPEEDWAY RACE SUMMARY – 20 July 2013
358 Sprint Cars – 19 Entries
25-Lap A-Main: 1) 1W Brock Zearfoss 2) 5B Josh Beard 3) 2 Jason Shultz 4) 66 Ryan Kissinger 5) 99B Nyle Berkes 6) 77 Derek Locke 7) 29S Derek Steward 8) 38 Scott Wilson 9) 15 Johnny Smith 10) 19 Colby Womer DNF 11) 5 Phil Walter DNF 12) 21 Duane Mausteller DNF 13) 33 John Troxell DNF 14) 35 Shannon Fisher DNF 15) 18 Matt Sowers DNF 16) 80M Dan Richcreek DNF 17) 3 Pat Cannon DNF 18) 99K Cody Keller DNF 19) 100 Mike Walter DNS
Heat Winners: Mike Walter, Pat Cannon
Late Models – 25 Entries
25-Lap A-Main: 1) 9 Hayes Mattern 2) 2J Jeff Rine 3) 61 Ken Trevitz 4) 119B Bryan Bernheisel 5) 119 Jim Bernheisel 6) 2 Steve Campbell 7) F1 Coleby Frye 8) 4D Chad Hollenbeck 9) 16 Matt Cochran 10) 24 Dylan Yoder 11) 99Z Dave Zona 12) 6 Donnie Schick 13) 88 Tony Adams 14) 90 Kyle Rhoads 15) 91 Chad Davis 16) 99 Steve Stitt 17) 10 Dave Stamm 18) 27 Jim Yoder DNF 19) 31 Ron Shultz DNF 20) 19 AJ Hoffman DNF 21) 06 Mike Lupfer DNF 22) 19F Tim Fedder DNF 23) 18 Eric Markel DNF 24) 92 Nate Romig DNF 25) 28 Jason Smith DNS
Heat Winners: Hayes Mattern, Mike Lupfer, Dave Zona
Pro Stocks – 19 Entries
15-Lap A-Main: 1) 10M Brad Mitch 2) 63 Nathan Long 3) 26 AJ Stroup 4) 115 Troy Miller 5) 115S Shaun Miller 6) 99 Kyle Bachman 7) 06 Frank Reisser 8) 1 Rick Bixler 9) 85 Terry Lauver 10) 85L Pete Lauver 11) 32 Tom Hartman 12) 8M Brandon Moser 13) 4 Jim Payne DNF 14) 28J Jeff Ceballo 15) 34 Hank Steffen DNF 16) 3G Jim Gerhart DNF 17) 19H Tommy Slanker DNF 18) 11 Jake Buck DNF 19) 26S Nate Stroup DNS
Heat Winners: Kyle Bachman, Brad Mitch
Roadrunners – 12 Entries
12-Lap A-Main: 1) 201 Brian Johnson 2) 76 Bob Bussey 3) 02 John Fowler 4) 31B Brandon Shultz 5) 7 Butch Shaffer 6) 28 Curtis Lawton 7) 89 John Schoch 8) 99 Chris Hoffman 9) 55 Lori Croop 10) 22 Ricky Buss 11) 8K Jeremy Kline DNS 12) 41D Dennis Conrad DNS
Heat Winners: Brian Johnson, John Schoch