By Paul Harkenrider
(Selinsgrove, Pa) Dominant is the easiest way to describe the A-Main that Carlisle, Pa driver Jason Shultz ran Saturday night at Selinsgrove Speedway, winning by nearly 14 seconds over the second-place driver, Derek Locke.
22 cars were signed in for the 19th annual Joe Whitcomb Memorial, where it was Shultz starting alongside Parker Evans, and they would bring the field to green. Evans would challenge early, but Shultz would begin to pull away from Evans and the rest of the field. Meanwhile, Derek Locke, Davie Franek, Jake Karklin, and Adam Carberry would shuffle for a position in the top five, all while Shultz continued to build his lead.
The only caution would happen on lap three when Jason Wagner would stop in turn two. A single file restart allowed Shultz to get out in clean air and pull away from the field. One driver who would continue to move forward was Mark Smith, who started in ninth and maneuvered his way up through the field into the top five, where he would go toe to toe with Jake Karklin.
As laps clicked, Shultz would continue to separate himself from the rest of the field, passing lap cars left and right.
By lap 18, Smith found himself up to third and started to track down second-place driver Derek Locke, and the two would contest for it. Karklin would sit uncontested for fourth, while Davie Franek and Adam Carberry would race for the final top-five position.
In the end, it was Shultz lapping to the eighth place and scoring his second career Joe Whitcomb memorial event over Derek Locke and Mark Smith.
Heat race winners went to Locke, Jordan Thomas, and Mike Thompson. A unique format where the heats were set by time trials and that was set by Adam Carberry.
This was the Patriot’s first of three races in June, with the next one coming up this Friday, June 17, at the Utica Rome Speedway.
For more information, please visit patriotsprinttour.com or connect with PST on Social Media by liking Patriot Sprint Tour on Facebook and following @PatriotSprints on Instagram and Twitter.Patriot Sprint Tour Quick Results
Selinsgrove Speedway Quick Results
A Main: 1) JASON SHULTZ (1) 2) 77- Derek Locke 3) M1- Mark Smith 4) 5k- Jake Karklin 5) 28f- Davie Franek 6) 47- Adam Carberry 7) 11T-Mike Thompson 8) 79- Jordan Thomas 9) 32- Kyle Smith 10) 61- Parker Evans 11) 22- Jonathan Preston 12) 22e-Nash Ely 13) 19- Kruz Kepner 14) 41- Dalton Rombough 15) 2- Dave Axton 16) 7J- Andrew Jacobus 17) 121- Steve Glover 18) 55- Dallas Schott 19) 2J- Aaron Jacobus 20) 66- Jordan Hutton 21) 17-Jason Wagner 22) 10K- Joe Kata
Heat 1: 1) 77- Derek Locke 2) 55- Dallas Schott 3) 5k-Jake Karklin 4) 47- Adam Carberry 5) 66- Jordan Hutton 6) 7j- Andrew Jacobus 7) 32- Kyle Smith 8) 121- Steve Glover
Heat 2: 1) 79- Jordan Thomas 2) 35- Jason Shultz 3) 28f- Davie Franek 4) 19- Kruz Kepner 5) 22e- Nash Ely 6) 17- Jason Wagner 7) 2- Dave Axton
Heat 3: 1) 11T- Mike Thompson 2) 61- Parker Evans 3) M1- Mark Smith 4) 22- Jonathan Preston 5) 41 Dalton Rombough 6) 2j- Aaron Jacobus 7) 10K- Joe Kata III
Time Trials: 1) 47- Adam Carberry 18.944 2) 28f- Davie Franek 18.946 3) M1 Mark Smith 18.985 4) 77- Derek Locke 18.986 5) 22e- Nash Ely 19.018 6) 22- Jonathan Preston 19.029 7) 55- Dallas Schott 19.085 8) 35- Jason Shultz 19.220 9) 11T- Mike Thompson 19.464 10) 66- Jordan Hutton 19.521 11) 79- 19. 573 12) 61- Parker Evans 19.654 13) 5k- Jake Karklin 19.695 14) 2- Dave Axton 19.799 15) 41- Dalton Rombough 19.815 16) 121- Steve Glover 19.918 17) 19- Kruz Kepner 19.949 18) 2J- Aaron Jacobus 19) 7J- Andrew Jacobus 20) 17- Jason Wagner 21.157 21) 10K- Joe Kata (NT) 22) 320 Kyle Smith (