By Eric Westendorf
Sarver, PA (July 24, 2014) With the Firecracker 100, BOSS Wingless Sprints, Elite 8 Late Models and Renegades of Dirt Modifieds all in the rearview mirror, it’s time to decide which four drivers will add their names to the illustrious list of Lernerville Speedway Track Champions with five straight Fast Fridays of Fab Four Racing!
A driver can amass a maximum of 40 points per week. 10 points are awarded for winning a heat race and 30 for winning the feature, but the minimum is 7 points for starting both the heat and feature; 2 points in the Sportsman. Thus a driver on any given week can make up only 33 points, (37 in the Sportsman) per week if the leading driver is in attendance.
In the Peoples TWP DIRTcar Sprints, 2011 Track Champion Carl Bowser maintains a 12-point lead over Brandon Matus who seeks his first career Track Championship; an accomplishment that has to this point also escaped his father, but accomplished by his Hall of Fame grandfather Jerry Matus three times (1981, 1983, 1984). Jack Sodeman Jr. is just two points behind Matus, but a broken leg during last week’s Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup has sidelined him indefinitely. Mike Lutz is fourth in points over 60 out of the lead and Dan Shetler is fifth place 90 points out of the lead.
Bowser also leads the Peoples TWP Sprint division with three feature wins this season. Former Track Champion and current All Star regular Danny Holtgraver has two feature wins in limited Fab Four action, while Brandon Matus, Jared Zimbardi, Ed Lynch Jr. and Rod George have also stood in Sheetz Victory Lane this season.
Four-Time and Defending Track Champion Alex Ferree has the most comfortable lead in Fab Four Racing heading into the homestretch. Early season points leader Russ King is now 49 points out of the lead, while Mike Pegher Jr. and John Garvin Jr. are tied for third 74 points behind Ferree. Multiple-Time Modified Track Champion Brian Swartzlander is a distant 100+ points behind in fifth.
Ferree, like Bowser, also leads his respective division with three feature wins this season in the Precise Late Models. Russ King and Jared Miley each have two feature wins, but Miley’s $3,000 Elite 8 feature win last week was a non-points race. Mike Pegher Jr., Dave Hess Jr. and Michael Norris have also scored feature wins in 2014.
Rex King Jr. seeks his first Lernerville Speedway Track Championship in the Diehl Auto Group DIRTcar Northeast Big Block Modifieds and holds a 10-point lead over his father Rex King Sr. and a 13-point lead over Two-Time Track Champion Dave Murdick. Seven-Time Track Champion Brian Swartzlander is 46 points out of the lead in fourth, while Two-Time Track Champion Jeremiah Shingledecker is fifth in points just three behind Swartzlander.
King Jr., Murdick and Swartzlander each have two feature wins this season, while King Sr., Shingledecker and outgoing Track Champion Mat Williamson each have a feature win to their credit. Williamson has since shut down his Big Block program and is prioritizing his small block program at tracks closer to home in St. Catharines, ONT.
Leading all drivers in Fab Four Racing with four feature wins, Jim Fosnaught stretched his lead to 24 points over Two-Time Defending Millerstown Pic-A-Part DIRTcar Sportsman Track Champion Corey McPherson. Rob Shook slipped to more than nights’ worth of points out of the lead last week and is now 42 points behind Fosnaught. Terry Young is fourth in points (-58), while Mark Sanders rides fifth (-65).
Fosnaught’s four Pic-A-Part Sportsman feature wins are just one more than McPherson’s three. No other driver has repeated with only Terry Young, Chris Schneider and Mark Sanders scoring feature wins thus far this season. Rob Shook, Joe Kelley and Aaron Easler have been knocking on the door to Sheetz Victory Lane, but haven’t yet found the key that Fosnaught and McPherson have apparently mastered!
This Friday is Twin State Night as our friends from the fan club for racing enthusiasts in Pennsylvania and Ohio make their annual visit to the Action Track. Our friends from the Pittsburgh Circle Track Club will do the same next Friday, August 1. In between, on Tuesday, July 29 is “Summer Vacation” School Bus and Kids Bike Races along with Trailer Races and the first $1,000-to-win, 100-lap Enduro of 2014. Some of the Heroes of Fab Four Racing have agreed to be on hand next Tuesday to hand out trophies and ribbons to the bike race participants!
August 8 is our annual Nostalgia Night coordinated and hosted by local racing media icon Don Gamble. Jackie Matus and friends will also be hosting their now annual MRO Injured Driver Benefit Auction that night. August 15 is Turner Dairy Farms Night and August 22 is Championship Night. To review the rest of the remaining 2014 Lernerville Speedway schedule that includes the World of Outlaws Late Model Series Working Man 50, World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series Commonwealth Clash and DIRTcar Round Up Steel City Stampede, click on Lernerville.com!