Selinsgrove, PA — (August 2, 2014) — Sprint car driver Mark Smith has found a rhythm he likes at Selinsgrove Speedway. The Sunbury speedster scored his second win in a row and fifth of the season in Saturday night’s 25-lap 360 sprint car feature.
Smith’s victory came at the wheel of the Mach 1 Chassis No. 1 entry and was worth $2,500 on Jeff’s Auto Body & Recycling Center Driver & Fan Appreciation Night. It was Smith’s ninth career win in 358-360 sprint car competition at the track and strengthens his points lead in the chase for the championship.
Three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart of Columbus, Ind., made his first visit to Selinsgrove Speedway since he won on April 6, 2013, and turned in a sixth-place finish in the 360 sprint car feature.
Jeff Rine of Danville held off a hard-charging Coleby Frye of Dover in a last-lap shoot-out for his fourth win of the season and 89th career at the track in the 25-lap super late model feature. Frye was the night’s fast qualifier over a field of 29 entries with a lap time of 19.452.
Derrick Garman of Loysville also had to endure a last-lap chase to the checkered flag for his second win of the year in the 15-lap pro stock feature, while John Folwer Jr. of Montandon drove to his second victory of the season in the 12-lap roadrunner race.
Selinsgrove Speedway will present the Kramer Cup for 360 sprint cars plus super late models and pro stocks at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 9. The Kramer Cup, sanctioned by the United Racing Company (URC), will be a 25-lap race paying $2,573 to win in memory of Hall of Fame sprint car driver Kramer Williamson of Palmyra who succumbed to injuries from a sprint car racing accident at the Lincoln Speedway in August of 2013.
At the start of the sprint car feature, fourth-place starter Ryan Kissinger stormed around the highline of the race track to take the early lead. Kissinger was chased by second-place starter Michael Walter and sixth-place starter Derek Locke.
The caution flag waved on lap three for a four-car melee in turn two. When the race resumed, Kissinger set the pace as 10th-place starter Mark Smith took over third and a three-car battle for the lead unfolded between Kissinger, Locke and Smith.
On the seventh circuit, Locke pulled ahead of the field only to have Smith pull alongside of him and take the lead with an outside pass in turn three. Once he secured the lead, Smith checked out from the field while Locke maintained the runner-up position until late in the race when ninth-place starter TJ Stutts made a charge to the front.
On the 18th lap, Stutts passed Locke for the runner-up position and started to erode a three-second deficit on race leader Smith. Stutts quickly closed on the leader in the final laps but fell short by one second as Smith took his fifth checkered flag of the season. Locke finished third, followed by polesitter Cody Keller, and eighth-place starter Davie Franek. NASCAR star Tony Stewart started the race in the 11th position and advanced to sixth late in the race.
Time trials and a redraw placed Dylan Yoder and Jeff Rine on the front row for the start of the late model feature. At the drop of the green flag, Rine horsepowered his way into the lead entering turn one. By lap eight, Rine and Yoder started to encounter slower traffic. On a lap nine restart, several lapped cars separated Rine and Yoder. By the halfway point, however, Yoder closed the gap as fifth-place starter Coleby Frye set his sights on the leaders.
The last 10 laps of the race produced a suspenseful chase through traffic with Yoder reeling in Rine at a fast clip. At one point, Yoder was racing right on Rine’s rear bumper and appeared poised to make a challenge for the lead. With one lap to go, Yoder’s car developed a flat tire and a caution flag regrouped the field for a one-lap shootout with Frye inheriting the runner-up position.
On the final lap, Frye made two last-ditch efforts at each end of the race track to power underneath Rine but it was Rine who maintained an edge and posted a .98 of a second victory. Frye settled for second, followed by third-place starter Steve Campbell, seventh-place starter Jerry Bard, and 22nd-place starter Jim Yoder.
Polesitter Cory Long powered into the lead at the start of the pro stock feature and was followed by second-place starter Tommy Slanker on the first lap. On the second circuit, seventh-place starter Derrick Garman advanced to second and set his sights on Long. A lap later, Long’s car started to lose power on the backstretch, allowing Garman to drive into the lead in turn three.
At the halfway point, eighth-place starter Kyle Bachman and ninth-place starter Brad Mitch began to show a lot of speed and closed in on Garman. Mitch got by Bachman on the ninth lap and reeled in Garman at the front of the pack. The caution flag unfurled on lap 14, setting up a one-lap chase to the checkered flag between Garman and Mitch.
At the finish, Garman held off Mitch by just .22 of a second for the victory. Bachman, Slanker, and Matt Wilson rounded out the top five.
Second-place starter Curtis Lawton led the first three laps of the roadrunner feature until third-place starter John Fowler Jr. took over the front spot. On each of the subsequent restarts, Fowler was able to open up a lead and at the finish posted a three-second margin of victory over Lawton, Brandon Shultz, Jeremy Kline, and Dave Kamp.
SELINSGROVE SPEEDWAY RACE SUMMARY – 2 August 2014
360 Sprints – 19 Entries
25-Lap A-Main: 1) 1 Mark Smith 2) 23 TJ Stutts 3) 77 Derek Locke 4) 99K Cody Keller 5) 28F Davie Franek 6) 14 Tony Stewart 7) 29 Jason Shultz 8) 66 Ryan Kissinger 9) 33W Michael Walter II 10) 19 Colby Womer 11) 79 Jordan Thomas 12) 49S Mallie Shuster 13) 71C Charlie Anderson 14) 29S Derek Steward 15) 1W Brock Zearfoss 16) 1H Hunter Schuerenberg 17) 29M Mark Maneiri 18) 100 Jeff Lebowski 19) 35 Shannon Fisher
Heat Winners: Cody Keller, Michael Walter II
Late Models—29 Entries
25-Lap A-Main: 1) 2J Jeff Rine 2) F1 Coleby Frye 3) 2 Steve Campbell 4) 26 Jerry Bard 5) 27 Jim Yoder 6) 06 Mike Lupfer 7) 99Z Dave Zona 8) 16 Matt Cochran 9) 43A Gene Knaub 10) 76 Andy Haus 11) 9 Hayes Mattern 12) 76H Scott Haus 13) 24 Dylan Yoder 14) 5 Chad Julius 15) 3V Scott Richwine 16) 19 Dustin Hoffman 17) 11 Jason Schmidt 18) 4P Patrick Bryner 19) 88 Jeff Smith 20) 61 Ken Trevitz 21) 6M Harry Miller 22) 33C Chris Casner 23) 119B Bryan Bernheisel 24) 119 Jim Bernheisel
Heat Winners: Steve Campbell, Dylan Yoder, Jim Bernheisel
B-Main Winner: Gene Knaub
Time Trials: 1) F1 Coleby Frye 19.452 2) 2J Jeff Rine 19.492 3) 119 Jim Bernheisel 19.515 4) 2 Steve Campbell 19.603 5) 24 Dylan Yoder 19.750 6) Jim Yoder 19.786 7) 119B Bryan Bernheisel 19.894 8) 06 Mike Lupfer 19.928 9) 3 Tim Wilson 19.943 10) 26 Jerry Bard 19.986 11) 99Z Dave Zona 20.007 12) 11 Jason Schmidt 20.026 13) 33C Chris Casner 20.158 14) 43A Gene Knaub 20.181 15) 76 Andy Haus 20.233 16) 16 Matt Cochran 20.236 17) 19 Dustin Hoffman 20.264 18) 88 Jeff Smith 20.266 19) 76H Scott Haus 20.338 20) 9 Hayes Mattern 20.397 21) 61 Ken Trevitz 20.423 22) 5 Chad Julius 20.460 23) 4P Patrick Bryner 20.504 24) 3V Scott Richwine 20.544 25) 7M Meade Hahn 20.778 26) 41 Derrick Casner 21.055 27) 6M Harry Miller 21.213 28) 10 Dave Stamm 21.599 29) M1 Mike Mort 22.816
Pro Stocks – 20 Entries
15-Lap A-Main: 1) 11G Derrick Garman 2) 10M Brad Mitch 3) 99 Kyle Bachman 4) 40 Tommy Slanker 5) 83 Matt Wilson 6) 2C Adam Campbell 7) 11 Jake Buck 8) 28J Jeff Ceballo 9) 26S Nate Stroup 10) 14C Bill Conrad 11) 6 Nate Herman 12) 00 John Troxell 13) 6C Cory Long 14) 1 Rick Bixler 15) 63 Nathan Long 16) 88 Matt Hornberger 17) 71 Kurt Wray 18) AJ Stroup 19) 21 Austi Johnson 20) 70J John Schreffler
Heat Winners: Brad Mitch, Kurt Wray
Roadrunners – 11 Entries
12-Lap A-Main: 1) 02 John Fowler 2) 28 Curtis Lawton 3) 31B Brandon Shultz 4) 8K Jeremy Kline 5) 9K Dave Kamp 6) 7 Butch Shaffer 7) 22 Ricky Buss 8) 32 Ken Schreffler 9) 11 Keith Bissinger 10) 76 Bob Bussey 11) 41D Dennis Conrad