From Trail-Way Speedway
Hanover, PA — (July 26, 2013) — Usually, racing a car above a dirt track’s cushion is a tactic that spells disaster. However, Brad McClelland is not a typical driver.
Using a high line which defied the accumulation of mud above the racing groove, McClelland posted his final two passes of rivals on Friday night and claimed his fourth 358 sprint feature of the 2013 season at Trail-Way Speedway.
Following two straight rainouts at Trail-Way, McClelland notched his second straight triumph there to conclude a thrilling high-speed three-car duel for the lead over the race’s middle stages. Along the way, he found his car would travel in places which would put many 358 sprints in jeopardy.
The former National 410 Sprint Car Rookie of the Year said to the large crowd, “I was too loose on the bottom and I said, ‘Well, if I’m going to win it away, I’ll put it above the cushion.’ I said, ‘Man, that thing feels pretty good,’ so we stood on the gas a little bit.”
That tactic paid off with McClelland’s 31st career 358 sprint feature win as he pushed to regain the track points lead from Jeff Rohrbaugh, who placed fifth after he had to put with two laps down to replace a flat tire. By starting 11th among 18 cars, McClelland’s drive to the top spot also gave the Westminster, Md., driver the Hard Charger Award.
“You’ve got to run it hard,” McClelland said. “I told the (crew) guys, ‘These things will turn. Put in the corner and work pretty hard and it will go around as long as this thing is set up right.’”
Dwight Leppo led the first 13 laps and gamely attempted to hold back the charges of both Wagaman and McClelland, who used the outside line in the third and fourth corners to circle past Wagaman on the 13th lap for second place. One lap later, McClelland did the same thing against Leppo. From there, McClelland drove away to win by 3.68 seconds over Wagaman, who passed Leppo for second spot with six laps remaining. For Wagaman and Leppo, those finishes were the best of the season at Trail-Way.
McClelland, who trailed Rohrbaugh by two points entering the night, avoided the problems which struck two other top performers in the point standings. In addition to Rohrbaugh’s tire problem, Cris Eash opened the 25-lap feature at the first-turn fence when his car suddenly veered right while in the middle of traffic. Remarkably, no car hit Eash, whose No. 17E wound up nose-first against the wall.
However, because of another caution flag which eventually forced a single-file restart, Eash’s crew repaired the broken steering and he returned to eventually placed fourth. Isaac Sneeringer took sixth ahead of Ryan Wilson, heat winner Randy Whisler, Austin Kirby and Bob Anderson. Kirby overcame a sixth-lap spin for his finish. During that caution period, heat winner Robbie Kendall, who was in second place at the time, was forced to stop on the frontstretch when his car’s fuel line developed a leak, spraying fuel on Kendall and forcing him from the race.
In other action, Brad Shank led the first 19 laps of the 25-lap Precise 358 Limited Late Model Series feature, but Shank’s car drifted up in the fourth turn just enough to allow Cam Zeigler to make a pass to the inside on the 20th lap. From there, Zeigler never looked back for his first win of the season at Trail-Way.
The win broke the two-race win streak of Dover’s Gene Knaub, who did not compete in Friday’s program.
Shank, who joined Bobby Beard as heat winners, placed second ahead of Bernie Beard, Grant Adams and Pat Beard. Series points leader Travis Mease, whose own No. 116 developed an engine problem which kept him from the feature, replaced Jake Moser in Moser’s No. 5. Starting 11th, Mease claimed the Hard Charger Award by placing sixth in the 12-car field.
In the 270cc micro sprint feature, New Oxford’s Jim Still inherited the lead when race leader Brian Marriott’s car stopped in the second turn midway through the race. From there, Still drove to his first win of the season and 16th of his Trail-Way career. Michael Boer took second spot ahead of Steven Cox, Bill Laughman and Cory Myers.
Eric Heath and Marriott claimed heat wins among the 16 teams competing.
In the Central PA Legends program, whose 24 entrants were the most of the four divisions, East Berlin’s Bob Stough grabbed the lead from polesitter Richard Miller on the third tour of the 1/3-mile clay oval and led the rest of the 20-lap distance for his first win of 2013 at Trail-Way. Stough won by one second over Lucas Montgomery, who joined Bill Diehl and Scott Gobrecht as heat winners.
Jacob Feltch, who started on the outside pole, claimed third position ahead of Diehl and Gobrecht.
Trail-Way will kick off August’s schedule with the 600cc Micro Sprint Championship as the headline event on a 7:30 p.m. program on the first Friday (8/2) of the month. The 358 sprints, street stocks and limited stocks will also be part of the program, which will be T-Shirt Night after the event, originally scheduled Friday, was postponed. Fans wearing drivers’ T-shirts will be eligible for prizes.
The speedway will celebrate Sign Night the next Friday night (8/9), during which fans may bring signs to the track for the opportunity to win prizes, The car divisions competing will be the 358 sprints, 600cc micro sprints, street stocks and limited stocks.
For all the latest news and related information from Trail-Way Speedway, fans are reminded to visit the speedway website at www.trail-wayspeedway.com. The complete story and agate from each race night is posted shortly after the final checkered falls.
Trail-Way Speedway
July 26, 2013
RACE RESULTS
358 Sprint Cars
Feature (25 Laps)
1. 6R-Brad McClelland; 2. 1*-Tim Wagaman II; 3. 4-Dwight Leppo; 4. 17E-Cris Eash; 5. 45-Jeff Rohrbaugh; 6. 19Z-Isaac Sneeringer; 7. 55-Ryan Wilson; 8. 64-Randy Whisler; 9. 28-Austin Kirby; 10. 81B-Bob Anderson; 11. 00-Shane Smith; 12. 30-Seth Kearchner (DNF); 13. 55K-Robbie Kendall (DNF); 14. 9C-Bill Case Jr. (DNF); 15. 45A-Anthony Fay (DNF); 16. 69-Shane Hoff (DNF); 17. 66A-Cody Fletcher (DNF); 19. 30M-Marcus DeFreitas (DNF). No Time.
Lap Leaders – Dwight Leppo (1-14), Brad McClelland (15-25).
Heat 1 (10 Laps/All Qualify)
1. 55K-Robbie Kendall; 2. 45-Jeff Rohrbaugh; 3. 66a-Cody Fletcher; 4. 69-Shane Hoff; 5. 1*-Tim Wagaman II; 6. 28-Austin Kirby; 7. 9C-Bill Case Jr.; 8. 45-Anthony Bay; 9. 00-Shane Smith (DNF). Time – 2:23.45.
Heat 2 (10 Laps/All Qualify)
1. 64-Randy Whisler; 2. 6R-Brad McClelland; 3. 19Z-Isaac Sneeringer; 4. 17E-Cris Eash; 5. 4-Dwight Leppo; 6. 55-Ryan Wilson; 7. 81B-Bob Anderson; 8. 30M-Marcus DeFreitas; 9. 30-Seth Kearchner (DNF). No Time.
Precise 358 Limited Late Model Series
Feature (25 Laps)
1. 21Z-Cam Zeigler; 2. 57-Brad Shank; 3. X-Bernie Beard; 4. 64-Grant Adams; 5. 7-Pat Beard; 6. 5-Travis Mease (replaced Jake Moser); 7. 25X-Jed Latshaw; 8. 29-Bobby Beard (DNF); 9. 18-Erick Markle; 10. 14-Tyler Horst. DNS: 116-Travis Mease; 25-Sam Gallagher. No Time.
Lap Leaders – Brad Shank (1-19), Cam Zeigler (20-25).
Heat 1 (10 Laps/All Qualify)
1. 29-Bobby Beard; 2. 7-Pat Beard; 3. 116-Travis Mease; 4. 21Z-Cam Zeigler; 5. 14-Tyler Horst; 6. 5-Jake Moser. No Time.
Heat 2 (10 Laps/All Qualify)
1. 57-Brad Shank; 2. 64-Grant Adams; 3. X=Bernie Beard; 4. 25X-Jed Latshaw; 5. 25-Sam Gallagher (DNF); 6. 18-Erick Markle (DNF). No
Time.
270cc Micro Sprints
Feature (20 Laps)
1. 8-Jim Still; 2. 22-Michael Boer; 3. 58-Steven Cox; 4. 2-Bill Laughman; 5. 20-Cory Myers; 6. 1B-Brent Bull; 7. 99-Joe Trone Jr.; 8. 20H-Eric Heath; 9. 75-Broc Lawrence; 10. 18-Brian Marriott (DNF); 11. 27-Jacob Schatz (DNF)., DNS: 72K-Kory Shissler, 82-Joe Long Jr.; 29K-Misti Kopp, 09-John Horton, 2D-Charles Ford. No Time.
Lap Leaders – Brian Marriott (1-9), Jim Still (10-20).
Heat 1 (8 Laps/All Qualify)
1. 20H-Eric Heath; 2. 1B-Brent Bull; 3. 58-Steven Cox; 4. 75-Broc Lawrence; 5. 2-Bill Laughman; 6. 20-Cory Myers; 7. 27-Jacob Schatz; 8. 29-Misti Kopp (DNF). Time – 2:16.41.
Heat 2 (8 Laps/All Qualify)
1. 18-Brian Marriott; 2. 22-Michael Boer; 3. 72-Kory Shissler; 4. 99-Joe Trone Jr.; 5. 8-Jim Still; 6. 82-Joe Long Jr. (DNF). DNS: 2D-Charles Ford; 09-John Horton. No Time.
Central PA Legends
Feature (20 Laps)
1. 07-Bob Stough; 2. 13-Jacob Feltch; 3. 15-Lucas Montgomery; 4. 44-Scott Gobrecht; 5. 53-Bill Diehl; 6. 38-Richard Miller; 7. 35-Keith Haring; 8. 09-Chris Spidle; 9. 1-Travis McClelland; 10. 85-Chad Earnst; 11. 18-Chris Transeau; 12. 90-Scott Spidle; 13. 79-Ed Trump; 14. 56-Mike Gable; 15. 3M-Chris McKinney; 16. 32-James Buckingham; 17. 97H-George Hanson; 18. 8-Wayne Strout; 19. 75R-Ron Dick Jr. (DNF); 20. 521-Scott Deaner Sr. (DNF); 21. 20-Vernon Houseman (DNF); 22. 6-Joe Long Jr. (DNF); 23. 93-David Miller (DNF); 24. 33-Chris Ward (DNF). No Time.
Lap Leaders – Richard Miller (1-2), Bob Stough (3-20).
Heat 1 (8 Laps/All Qualify)
1. 07-Bob Stough; 2. 15-Lucas Montgomery; 3. 18-Chris Transeau; 4. 35-Keith Haring; 5. 56-Mike Gable; 6. 1-Travis McClelland; 7. 8-Wayne Strout; 8. 20-Vernon Houseman (DNF). No Time.
Heat 2 (8 Laps/All Qualify)
1. 53-Bill Diehl; 2. 09-Chris Spidle; 3. 13-Jacob Feltch; 4. 90-Scott Spidle; 5. 79-Ed Trump; 6. 33-Chris Ward; 7. 75R-Ron Dick Jr.; 8. 32-James Buckingham. No Time.
Heat 3 (8 Laps/All Qualify)
1. 44-Scott Gobrecht; 2. 85-Chad Earnst; 3. 38-Rick Miller; 4. 6-Joe Long Jr.; 5. 93-David Miller; 6. 97H-George Hanson; 7. 521-Scott Deaner Sr. (DNF). DNS: 3M-Chris McKinney. No Time.