By Steve Inch
SELINSGROVE, Pa. – One of the largest crowds in recent history flocked to Selinsgrove Speedway Sunday night to witness a thrilling duel between Brent Marks of Myerstown and Danny Dietrich of Gettysburg, the top two PA Speedweek Series points drivers, in the 30-lap Opperman-Bogar-Heintzelman Memorial for 410 sprint cars.
Marks secured the lead late in the race after exchanging multiple slide jobs with Dietrich and took the checkered flag and $7,500 winner’s share. Dietrich, however, settled the Speedweek Series championship with his second career title. Only 50 points separated Dietrich and Marks entering Sunday’s finale.
Marks ended the eight-race series with a total of three wins and a second-place points finish. It was also his second sprint car win of the year at Selinsgrove.
Anthony Macri of Dillsburg was the night’s Fast Tees fast qualifier over the 33-car field with a lap time of 16.923. Blane Heimbach of Selinsgrove earned a $600 bonus as the race’s hard charger.
Garrett Bard of Wells Tannery won his second 20-lap 305 sprint car feature of the season at the track.
Selinsgrove Speedway is back in action at 7:30 p.m. this Saturday, July 10, with the 21st annual Mach 1 Chassis National Open for 360 sprint cars paying $5,075 to win. The Apache Tree Service 305 sprint cars and A&A Auto Stores roadrunners are also on the three-division racing card. Track gates open at 5 p.m.
The 410 sprint cars return to Selinsgrove along with the super late models in a special 75th Anniversary Race at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 20, the anniversary date of the track’s opening in 1946. Fans can get a $5 general admission discount on July 20 with their rain check from Sunday night’s PA Speedweek race.
Kyle Reinhardt and Danny Dietrich shared the front row for the start of the 410 sprint car main event with Dietrich powering into the early lead. Fourth-place starter Brent Marks made a bold move entering turn one to quickly take the second position.
By lap five, a high-speed chase ensued in slower traffic with Marks in pursuit of Dietrich. The first caution flag unfurled on lap nine when Chase Dietz’s car rolled to a stop on the frontstretch. When the race resumed, Reinhardt put in a bid for second but was shut out by Marks.
Anthony Macri, the night’s fast qualifier, brought his car to a stop on the frontstretch with mechanical issues on lap 11.
At the halfway point, Dietrich led Marks, Reinhardt, eighth-place starter Rico Abreu and sixth-place starter Logan Wagner. With 10 laps to go, Dietrich and Marks got into a battle royale for the lead, pulling off thrilling slide jobs through the turns for several laps.
Marks secured the lead on lap 25 but Dietrich wasn’t about to give up and fought a collapsed nose wing on his sprinter. At the checkered flag, Marks was victorious by just two second over Dietrich. Abreu was credited with third when Reinhardt’s car was disqualified for being under weight. Dewease and ninth-place starter Justin Peck rounded out the top five.
Second-place starter Derek Hauck led the first three laps of the 305 sprint car feature. Hauck was chased by fourth-place starter Garrett Bard. Early in the race, Hauck and Bard swapped the lead.
On the 13th circuit, Bard took the lead the lead away from Hauck. The race was stopped on lap 17 when Tyler Snook flipped over in turns three and four. He was not injured.
When the race resumed, Hauck challenged Bard to retake the lead but Bard held him off. At the checkered flag, Bard was victorious over Hauck, Nick Sweigart, Doug Dodson, and Mike Alleman.
SELINSGROVE SPEEDWAY RACE SUMMARY – 4 July 2021
410 Sprint Cars – 33 Entries
30-Lap PA Speedweek A-Main: 1) 19M Brent Marks 2) 48 Danny Dietrich 3) 24R Rico Abreu 4) 69K Lance Dewease 5) 13 Justin Peck 6) 1 Logan Wagner 7) 5M Paul McMahan 8) 5W Lucas Wolfe 9) 23 Pat Cannon 10) 21 Matt Campbell 11) 12 Blane Heimbach 12) 35 Jason Shultz 13) 91R Kyle Reinhardt (DQ for under weight) 14) 27 Devon Borden 15) 17B Steve Buckwalter 16) 1W Cody Keller 17) 6 Ryan Smith 18) 20B Alex Bright 19) 55 Mike Wagner 20) 15H Sam Hafertepe Jr. 21) 39M Anthony Macri 22) 39 Chase Dietz 23) 5 Dylan Cisney 24) 99M Kyle Moody
Heat Winners: Rico Abreu, Brent Marks, Danny Dietrich, Paul McMahan
B-Main Winner: Dylan Cisney
Time Trials: 1) 39M Anthony Macri 16.923 2) 91 Kyle Reinhardt 16.994 3) 69K Lance Dewease 17.074 4) 1 Logan Wagner 17.227 5) 24R Rico Abreu 17.254 6) 19M Brent Marks 17.311 7) 48 Danny7 Dietrich 17.316 8) 5M Paul McMahan 17.335 9) 23 Pat Cannon 17.347 10) 13 Justin Peck 17.405 11) 35 Jason Shultz 17.495 12) 39 Chase Dietz 17.502 13) 15H Sam Hafertepe Jr. 17.506 14) 5 Dylan Cisney 17.510 15) 55 Mike Wagner 17.526 16) 33W Michael Walter 17.555 17) 6 Ryan Smith 17.560 18) 5W Lucas Wolfe 17.624 19) 20 Alex Bright 17.736 20) 17B Steve Buckwalter 17.743 21) 99M Kyle Moody 17.765 22) 19W Colby Womer 17.774 23) 67 Justin Whittall 17.817 24) 27 Devon Borden 17.883 25) 24 TJ Stutts 17.887 26) 44 Dylan Norris 18.034 27) 21 Matt Campbell 18.090 28) 12 Blane Heimbach 18.098 29) 19 Curt Stroup 18.155 30) 1W Cody Keller 31) 24B Dustin Baney 18.509 32) 11P Greg Plank 18.885 33) M1 Mark Smith DNT
305 Sprint Cars – 33 Entries
20-Lap A-Main: 1) 95 Garrett Bard 2) 33 Derek Hauck 3) 8 Nick Sweigart 4) 20 Doug Dodson 5) 46 Mike Alleman 6) 67 Ken Duke 7) 99A Devin Adams 8) 11M Mikell McGee 9) 34 Austin Reed 10) 29 Jeff Oliver 11) 54 Mike Melair 12) 97 Kenny Heffner 13) 5S Logan Spahr 14) 8B Will Brunson 15) 25 Dustin Young 16) 71 Josh Spicer 17) 1M Paul Moyer 18) 55B Rick Romig 19) 31 Roger Weaver 20) 69K Kassidy Kreitz 21) 36 Dominic Melair 22) 56 Tyler Snook 23) 19 Kruz Kepner 24) 10 Jake Waters 25) 5 John Walp 26) 7 Drew Young
Heat Winners: Derek Hauck, Mikell McGee, Drew Young, Garrett Bard
B-Main Winner: Josh Spicer