From Kalida Landis
Hanover, Pa. (7/26/19) – Westminster’s Steve Owings took advantage of a second-chance restart and avoided near disaster with a lapped car, en route to his third 358 Sprint Car win of 2019 at Trail-Way Speedway.
The 25-lap Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic sponsored feature began with a tight, back-and-forth battle between Owings, Jeff Rohrbaugh and Mike Bittinger. The three drivers jockeyed for position while Dylan Norris battled polesitter Andrew Hake for the lead.
“It was a tricky night,” Owings admitted in victory lane. “I tried running the bottom and it was really slick. Rohrbaugh was down there, and I knew he was going to stay down there. He’s the fastest one to go around on the bottom. I started moving up, and the car started pushing and pushing, so I started pushing the wing back, and we got it in a good spot.”
Following a lap 6 caution, Norris was able to pass Hake on the restart. However, three laps later, Rohrbaugh and Owings raced around Hake, immediately setting their sights on the leader. The following lap, Owings maneuvered around Rohrbaugh for the runner-up spot.
A slowing Steven Kisamore brought out the caution, putting Owings inches behind Norris for the next restart. Owings raced around the top of Norris, taking the lead coming out of turn two. However, a car hitting the cone on the restart brought the field back together and erased Owings’ pass for the lead.
Wise to Owings’ game, Norris was able to protect the high side on the next restart, but only through turns one and two. Owings took advantage of the mere inches Norris gave him in turns three and four, zipping around him and taking the lead on the 12th lap.
“Nobody is gonna let you do that two times in a row, and I knew it!” Owings said. “I knew I couldn’t run the bottom, so I figured maybe he might go down just a little bit, enough to give us room to go up around the top.”
Owings’ final obstacle of the night came on the 18th lap as he approached lapped traffic. While passing the slower car of Brody Treaster, Treaster suddenly checked up, sending Owings’ sprinter in the air as he climbed Treaster’s rear wheel.
“That 10 came up there, and he was down, then all of a sudden at the last minute he was up,” Owings said. “We ran over him on the back straightaway, but we were going 15 miles per hour faster. Thank God. I thought the front would’ve been pushed back!”
Owings’ sprint car suffered minimal damage and he maintained the lead over the final seven laps, winning his 23rd career 358 Sprint Car feature at Trail-Way.
Owings’ three wins at Trail-Way and two wins at Lincoln Speedway put him at the top of the 2019 358 Sprint Car win list.
Following Owings across the line was Norris, Rohrbaugh, Cody Fletcher and Bittinger.
Heat wins went to Fletcher and Bittinger.
Jesse Snyder got the monkey off his back with a win in the 20-lap 600 Micro Sprint feature Friday night at Trail-Way Speedway.
“By most people’s standards we are having a good year,” Snyder said, “but to finish second and third most of the year, it felt like this would never come.”
Polesitter Jayden Wolf held a 1.161 second lead when the caution came out for Scott Gesford stopping in turns one and two.
Snyder wasted no time on the restart, passing the rookie driver and taking the lead on the 14th lap.
Snyder crossed the line 2.831 seconds ahead of Wolf, who finished in the runner-up spot. Third through fifth went to Jim Young, Zane Rudisill and Bradley Weber.
Heat winners for the 600 Micro Sprints were Randy Kunkle Jr. and Hannah Riser.
Outside polesitter, Ryan Smith, took the lead on the initial start and held on for 20 laps to win his third career Street Stock feature at Trail-Way Speedway.
“The car was a little loose in the heat race, so we threw the book at it and it worked,” Smith said in victory lane.
Dalton Myers, Danny Beard, Jamie Zentmyer and Justin Wagaman rounded out the top five.
Kyle Martin and Zentmyer were heat race winners.
Robbie Carroll raced his brand new Limited Stock to victory lane Friday night at Trail-Way Speedway.
Carroll led the entire 15-lap feature, claiming his sixth win of 2019 at Trail-Way.
Completing the top five were Matt Worley, Matt Chronister, Travis Brown and Justin Oberlin.
Worley, Brown and Jason Chronister were heat race winners.
Roland Brown won the 20-lap Classic Car Lyle Adcock Memorial. Brown led the entire feature and was followed at the line by Wes Brown, Jim Rost, Neal Reamer and Jimmy Combs.
Heat wins went to Roland and Wes Brown.
Trail-Way Speedway
Hanover, Pa.
Friday, July 26, 2019
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
HOOSIER TIRE MID ATLANTIC 358 SPRINT CARS
Feature (25 Laps) – 1. 35-Steve Owings, [5]; 2. 44-Dylan Norris, [3]; 3. 00X-Jeff Rohrbaugh, [4]; 4. 66A-Cody Fletcher, [7]; 5. 93-Mike Bittinger, [6]; 6. 77-David Holbrook, [10]; 7. 99-Joe Trone Jr, [8]; 8. 17-Andrew Hake, [1]; 9. 12K-Kyle Rohrbaugh, [9]; 10. 34-Mark Van Vorst, [13]; 11. 6-Tim McClelland, [11]; 12. 48-Nat Tuckey, [16]; 13. (DNF) 29T-Neal Amspacher, [15]; 14. (DNF) 10T-Brody Treaster, [14]; 15. (DNF) 77K-Steven Kisamore, [12]; 16. (DNF) 51-Austen Treuchet, [2]. No time.
Lap Leaders – Andrew Hake (1-6), Dylan Norris (7-11), Steve Owings (12-25)
358 Sprint Car Heat 1 Finish (10 Laps/All Qualify) – 1. 66A-Cody Fletcher, [2]; 2. 35-Steve Owings, [4]; 3. 44-Dylan Norris, [3]; 4. 51-Austen Treuchet, [1]; 5. 99-Joe Trone Jr, [5]; 6. 77-David Holbrook, [8]; 7. 34-Mark Van Vorst, [6]; 8. 29T-Neal Amspacher, [7]. Time – 2:24.973
358 Sprint Car Heat 2 Finish (10 Laps/All Qualify) – 1. 93-Mike Bittinger, [1]; 2. 00X-Jeff Rohrbaugh, [4]; 3. 77K-Steven Kisamore, [6]; 4. 17-Andrew Hake, [2]; 5. 12K-Kyle Rohrbaugh, [3]; 6. 6-Tim McClelland, [7]; 7. 10T-Brody Treaster, [5]; 8. 48-Nat Tuckey, [8]. Time – 2:28.392