From Selinsgrove Speedway
Selinsgrove, PA — (August 16, 2014) — Selinsgrove’s Cody Keller made a breakthrough Saturday night at Selinsgrove Speedway and scored an impressive victory in the 25-lap 360 sprint car feature following a season filled with mechanical woes.
The $2,000 win was Keller’s first of the season and first career in a 360 sprint car at the wheel of the Keller’s Auto Body/Trautman’s Meat Market No. 99. He became the division’s seventh different winner this season and in doing so ended point leader Mark Smith’s three-race winning streak. Keller previously won two 358 sprint car races at the track.
Coleby Frye of Dover also turned in a convincing performance for his first win of the season in the 25-lap late model feature. Frye became the 10th different late model winner this season in 15 races.
Brad Mitch of McClure scored his fifth win of the year in the 15-lap pro stock feature and put himself in a position to clinch the track championship, while Keith Bissinger of Orangeville held off a late-race challenge for his sixth win in the 12-lap roadrunner race.
Selinsgrove Speedway will hold a $2,000-to-win tune-up race for the super late models at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 23, in preparation for the upcoming two-day World of Outlaws Late Model Series National Open weekend Aug. 30-31. The 360 sprint cars, pro stocks, and roadrunners will round out the four-division racing card.
Tickets for the Aug. 30-31 World of Outlaws Late Model Series National Open events are on sale now in the track office on race days or by calling the speedway at 570.374.2999. The pro stocks will join the late models on the Aug. 30 program and the limited late models will race on the Aug. 31 show.
Polesitter Troy Betts and fourth-place starter Cody Keller battled for the lead on the start of the sprint car feature. Entering turn three on the first lap, Keller streaked underneath Betts and took the early lead. Keller set a torrid pace in front of Betts, eighth-place starter Jason Shultz, and 12th-place starter Mark Smith at the front of the pack.
The first caution flag unfurled on lap six when Michael Walter’s No. 33 rolled to a stop on the track. When the race restarted, Keller kept his sprinter out in front the pack. On lap nine, Shultz passed Betts for the runner-up spot as 17th-place starter TJ Stutts rocketed into the top five.
At the halfway point, Keller began to encounter slower traffic. With five laps to race, Keller was leading Shultz, Smith, Stutts, and Betts in a high-speed chase around the half-mile oval. Betts, however, brought out the final caution flag when his car came to a stop on the backstretch.
On the final restart, Keller maintained his momentum around the top of the race track as Smith took the second spot away from Shultz. At the checkered flag, Keller was victorious by 2.5 seconds over Smith. Shultz, Stutts, and seventh-place starter Larry Kelleher completed the top five.
Coleby Frye started the late model feature in the fourth position and horsepowered his way into the lead at the completion of the first lap, when the event’s only caution flag unfurled for Chad Hollenbeck’s stalled car on the backstretch.
When the race resumed, Frye checked out from the field while second-place starter Eric Hons, third-place starter Hayes Mattern dueled for the runner up position. By lap nine, sixth-place starter Gene Knaub took over the second spot with 10th-place starter Jeff Rine racing third.
On the 19th circuit, Rine passed Knaub for the second position and attempted to reel in Frye at the front of the pack. At the finish, Frye posted a convincing eight-second margin of victory over Rine, ninth-place starter Dylan Yoder, 12th-place starter Jim Yoder, and eighth-place starter Dave Zona.
Polesitter Matt Hornberger led the first five laps of the pro stock feature. On the sixth lap, 11th-place starter Brad Mitch made the winning pass using the inside lane entering turn three. Mitch was then tracked down by 10th-place starter Kyle Bachman until Bachman’s car lost speed on the ninth lap.
Mitch went on to take the checkered flag over Hornberger, Tommy Slanker, Adam Campbell, and Cory Long. Jamin Chapmin’s car, which crossed the line in the third position, was disqualified during a post-race inspection.
Fifth-place starter Keith Bissinger stormed into the lead on the first lap of the roadrunner race. Bissinger was followed at a distance by fourth-place starter John Fowler Jr. until the last two laps. On the final circuit, Fowler moved into striking position and attempted a last-ditch pass coming off turn four but came up short for the checkered flag. Bissinger was victorious over Fowler, Curtis Lawton, Butch Shaffer, and Jeremy Kline.
SELINSGROVE SPEEDWAY RACE SUMMARY – 16 August 2014
360 Sprint Cars – 20 Entries
25-Lap A-Main: 1)99K Cody Keller 2) 1 Mark Smith 3) 29 Jason Shultz 4) 23 TJ Stutts 5) 76 Larry Kelleher 6) 49 Mike Walter 7) 28F Davie Franek 8) 67 Steve Collins 9) 1H Hunter Schuerenberg 10) 77 Derek Locke 11) 19 Colby Womer 12) 35 Shannon Fisher 13) F5 Mark Bittner 14) 29H Matt Horst 15) 29S Derek Steward 16) 13 Ryan Higgins 17) 1W Ryan Kissinger 18) 49S Mallie Shuster 19) 22 Troy Betts 20) 33W Michael Walter II
Heat Winners: Davie Franek, Cody Keller, Mark Smith
Late Models – 20 Entries
25-Lap A-Main: 1)F1 Coleby Frye 2) 2J Jeff Rine 3) 24 Dylan Yoder 4) 27 Jim Yoder 5) 99Z Dave Zona 6) 43A Gene Knaub 7) 119B Bryan Bernheisel 8) 2 Steve Campbell 9) 88 Tony Adams 10) 3 Jim Bernheisel 11) 45 Eric Hons 12) 9 Hayes Mattern 13) 28 Jason Smith 14) 21 Sam Schaeffer 15) 4S Danny Snyder 16) 3V Scott Richwine 17) 61 Ken Trevitz 18) 88T Ernie Millon 19) 4D Chad Hollenbeck 20) 7M Meade Hahn DNS
Heat Winners: Tony Adams, Hayes Mattern, Coleby Frye
Pro Stocks – 18 Entries
15-Lap A-Main: 1)10M Brad Mitch 2) 88 Matt Hornberger 3) 40 Tommy Slanker 4) 2C Adam Campbell 5) 6C Cory Long 6) 71 Kurt Wray 7) 26 AJ Stroup 8) 11 Jake Buck 9) 14C Bill Conrad 10) 00 John Troxell 11) 99 Kyle Bachman 12) 8M Brandon Moser 13) 63 Nathan Long 14) 01 David Berry 15) 11G Derrick Garman 16) 28J Jeff Ceballo 17) 1C Jamin Chapman DQ 18) 83 Matt Wilson DNS
Heat Winners: Matt Hornberger, Tommy Slanker
Roadrunners – 9 Entries
12-Lap A-Main: 1) 11 Keith Bissinger 2) 02 John Fowler Jr. 3) 28 Curtis Lawton 4) 7 Butch Shaffer 5) 8K Jeremy Kline 6) 89 John Schoch 7) 22 Ricky Buss 8) 12 Tom Underwood 9) F14 Ed Capper