By Steve Inch
SELINSGROVE, Pa. – Blane Heimbach of Selinsgrove held off Ryan Smith of Kunkletown for the $5,000 victory in Saturday night’s 25-lap Jeff’s Auto Body Summer Championship race at Selinsgrove Speedway.
For Heimbach, who is one of the track’s all-time career leading 358-360 sprint car winners, it was his second in the 410 sprint car ranks at the wheel of the Creasy Signs No. 12 entry.
Bryan Bernheisel of Lebanon came out the winner of a thrilling 25-lap super late model championship race over Rick Eckert of York and Gregg Satterlee of Rochester Mills.
Bernheisel also collected $5,000 for this second win of the season and the 11th of his career at the track. He became the first repeat winner in the division while driving the Lazer Chassis No. 119.
Jake Jones of Hunlock Creek drove to his second career win in the annual Roadrunner 20 race. The win was also his fifth of the year at the track.
Selinsgrove Speedway’s next race will be at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug.6, featuring the Renegades of Dirt Super Late Model Series in a $4,000-to-win race plus the USAC East Coast Wingless 360 sprint cars, and a roadrunner championship race sponsored by Hilly Ridge Sales & Service.
Third-place starter Blane Heimbach got a start in the sprint car feature and pulled into the early lead. The race was stopped on lap two for a three-car incident in turn two when Ron Aurand’s car turned over on its side.
When the race resumed, Heimbach led sixth-place starter Ryan Smith while a battle for third unfolded between polesitter Nick Sweigart and second-place starter Mark Smith.
By lap nine, the leaders began to encounter slower traffic and R. Smith kept Heimbach in his sights. The caution flag regrouped the field again on lap 12 for debris.
On lap 22, Michael Walter, who was racing fourth, crashed hard in turn three when one of his car’s tires exploded. The race was slowed again with one lap to go when M. Smith’s car developed a flat tire.
In the chase to the checkered flag, Heimbach was victorious by just .80 of a second over Smith, Sweigart, fifth-place starter Chad Trout, and seventh-place starter Steve Buckwalter.
In the super late model feature, second-place starter Jim Bernheisel powered into the lead at the drop of the green flag. J. Bernheisel was chased by his son and polesitter Bryan Bernheisel and fourth-place starter Tim Wilson in the early laps of the race.
The leaders caught slower traffic by lap six when fifth-place starter Coleby Frye advanced to third, only to drop off the pace two laps later.
The first caution flag of the race waved on lap 11 for debris on the speedway. When the race resumed, J. Bernheisel set the pace in front of B. Bernheisel as 10th-place starter Rick Eckert made a thrilling pass between both sixth-place starter Jeff Rine and seventh-place starter Gregg Satterlee for the third position.
J. Bernheisel’s bid for his first win of the season came to an end when his car fell off the pace on lap 16, allowing B. Bernheisel to inherit the lead with Eckert and Satterlee in tow.
The top three broke away from the pack in a close, high-speed chase for the lead and win with B. Bernheisel coming out the victor by just .53 of a second over Eckert, Satterlee, 15th-place starter Dylan Yoder, and third-place starter Andrew Yoder.
Polesitter Tom Underwood led the first lap of the Roadrunner 20 until sixth-place starter Keith Bissinger stormed into the front spot. On the fifth circuit, second-place starter and runner Nate Romig bobbled in turn two, allowing fourth-place starter Jake Jones to power into second.
At the halfway point, just as Jones was challenging for the lead in turns three and four, Bissinger’s car developed a flat tire and brought out the caution flag.
For the rest of the way, Jones went unchallenged as ninth-place starter Levi Vial showed some speed and powered into the second position in the final laps. Bob Bussey, Dan Condo, and Romig rounded out the top five.
SELINSGROVE SPEEDWAY RACE SUMMARY – 23 July 2022
410 Sprint Cars – 15 Entries
25-Lap A-Main: 1) Blane Heimbach 2) 6 Ryan Smith 3) 8 Nick Sweigart 4) 1X Chad Trout 5) 17B Steve Buckwalter 6) M1 Mark Smith 7) 49 Bradley Howard 8) 33W Michael Walter 9) 11P Niki Young 10) 90 Jordan Givler 11) 77 Derek Locke 12) 86 Ron Aurand 13) D57 Jeff Miller 14) 9 Ryan Linder 15) 17 Jason Wagner
Heat Winners: Mark Smith, Ryan Smith
Super Late Models – 24 Entries
25-Lap A-Main: 1) 119 Bryan Bernheisel 2) 0 Rick Eckert 3) 22 Gregg Satterlee 4) 24 Dylan Yoder 5) 2 Andrew Yoder 6) 0 Deshawn Gingerich 7) 76 Andy Haus 8) 3 Tim Wilson 9) 27 Jim Yoder 10) 61 Ken Trevitz 11) 21M Matt Murphy 12) 92 Brett Schadel 13) 63 Nathan Long 14) G05 Paul Spear 15) 121 Larry Neiderer 16) 31 Jim Bernheisel 17) 2J Jeff Rine 18) 9 Hayes Mattern 19) 32J Shaun Jones 20) 25 Kody Lyter 21) 32 Coleby Frye 22) 1 Gene Knaub 23) 7 Meade Hahn
Heat Winners: Deshawn Gingerich, Jeff Rine, Shaun Jones
Roadrunners – 16 Entries
20-Lap A-Main: 1) 7 Jake Jones 2) 19 Levi Vial 3) 83 Bob Bussey 4) 82 Dan Condo 5) 25 Nate Romig 6) 11 Keith Bissinger 7) 60 Jimmy Kessler 8) 12 Tom Underwood 9) 14 Pete Leister 10) 5 Matt Ney 11) 8 Chance Mattern 12) 28 Miranda Minium 13) 77 Scott Dunham Jr. 14) 992 Terry Kramer 15) 14 Cory Lindenmuth 16) 81 Tom Beers
Heat Winners: Keith Bissinger, Dan Condo