FRIDAY, JULY 18, 2008

Daryn Pittman used a perfectly executed slide job on a 23rd lap restart to take the lead from Donny Schatz, then held on for a popular victory Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway.

It was opening night of the Cleveland Brothers Summer Nationals for sprint cars and was sanctioned y the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws. Chad Kemenah took the early lead from his front row starting spot and Schatz moved from fourth to second on the first lap.

Kemenah chose the high line and began to stretch his lead over Schatz. The current World of Outlaws points leader and defending champion stayed glued to the inside guard rail through the corners and began to close the gap on Kemenah.

Schatz drove by Kemenah exiting the fourth corner on lap 19 and appeared to be headed for his 15th career victory at Williams Grove, but Pittman had other ideas.

Pittman started sixth and was third by lap eleven. He passed Kemenah with four tours remaining and began to chase Schatz. A caution period with 22 laps down in the 25-lap contest gave the Owasso, Oklahoma, Outlaw the opportunity he needed.

Pittman's winning move was worth $8000. His margin of victory was 0.203 over Schatz. It was the second Williams Grove triumph of Pittman?s career, with the first coming in the 2006 Summer Nationals.

Kemenah held on for third with Steve Kinser fourth and Jason Meyers, who started 14th, finishing fifth. Jeff Shepard, Brian Leppo, Craig Dollansky, Alan Krimes and Keith Kauffman finished in positions six through ten respectively.


SUNDAY, JULY 13, 2008

Daryn Pittman has been searching for a spark all season long, as he has been close a number of times to breaking through for his first win of the campaign. He has had a number of strong runs cut short by bad luck, but that all changed on Sunday night as a fast race car and a little good fortune found him, as he was victorious in the 25th Annual Kings Royal at the famed Eldora Speedway in Ohio, with the cameras from SPEED capturing all of the action.

Pittman inherited the lead on the 28th lap after Joey Saldana who was leading came to a stop after making contact with the back straightaway wall due to a flat right rear tire. Pittman would lead on the restart and held off Jason Meyers on the last lap in traffic to pick up his first Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series win of the season. It was his third career win at Eldora Speedway, and he became the 14th winner of the famed Kings Royal and the fifth different winner in the last five years, as he donned the traditional purple robe, received the crown and held the scepter as he sat atop the throne with the Kings Court. The $50,000 triumph was his 26th career World of Outlaws win, which moved him into 15th on the all-time list.

“This is unbelievable right now,” said Pittman. “To put my name with the guys that I was able to listen to last night is amazing. It’s an honor for me. To be mentioned with (Doug) Wolfgang, (Jac) Haudenschild, Bobby Davis Jr., Sammy (Swindell), Steve (Kinser), Don Kreitz and all those guys is truly unbelievable.”

Pittman entered the 25th Annual Kings Royal with two Top-Five finishes in three starts at Eldora Speedway in 2008. He finished 11th on Friday in the Knight Before the Kings Royal, before rain postponed the Kings Royal on Saturday night.

“To say that we were underdogs coming into this weekend would be an understatement,” he commented. “We were good the first night and even better tonight. This is a turning point for our entire season hopefully. This is the time of the year to be good and the time of the year to make or break your season. We fell short early in the season and hopefully we can pick it up from here.”

Pittman who is just outside of the Top-10 in the championship standings was quick to credit his Titan Racing USA team for all of their hard work this season. For a large part of the season, crew chief Glenno Inglis has been doing the bulk of the work, as the team searched for an extra set of hands. They had former full-time crew member Bingo Jenkins and his father Gene helping the team at Eldora.

“We’ve been missing some parts to our race team and had one of our guys leave and just haven’t been able to fill them,” he explained. “We got him back this weekend and he’s not permanent, but he (Bingo Jenkins) and his dad (Gene) complete our race team in ways that are hard to describe. Glenno (Inglis) is an invaluable part and he was trying to carry the load on his own and it’s great to have some help to relieve him. You are only as good as the team around you and the people around you. That was never as true as this weekend.”

The race began with Saldana shooting to a quick lead on the high side of turns one and two. Pittman quickly charged by Dale Blaney and used a slide job to get around Meyers on the opening lap coming off turns three and four to move into second. Saldana opened a very sizeable lead in the first couple laps and by just the fourth lap was already in traffic.

He ran the high side of the track through traffic, with Pittman gaining ground on the seventh and eighth laps. On the ninth lap, Pittman was right on Saldana and was about to try a slide job coming off the fourth turn, when the red flag flew for a Shane Stewart flip. The open red flag period allowed the crews to come on the track and work on the cars.

On the restart, Pittman looked low on Saldana in turns one and two, but did not have enough momentum to make the pass. This allowed Saldana to again open a big lead, while Meyers and Dale Blaney closed in on Pittman.

The caution flag flew on the 15th lap after Dale Blaney spun while running fourth. Donny Schatz, the two-time defending Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series champion and current series point leader just avoided running into Blaney.

Saldana again used a strong restart to open a healthy lead. At the same time, Chad Kemenah worked his way around Schatz to snag the sixth spot. Saldana again was in traffic on the 18th lap and by this time had opened a very large lead, while Pittman had his hands full with Meyers as the pair battled for the runner-up spot.

Another caution flew on the 22nd lap, giving the leaders open race track with the lapped car going to the rear of the field. Saldana again used a strong restart to open a commanding lead, though the yellow flag would wave just two laps later as Terry McCarl got into the wall on the back straightaway while running fourth.

Saldana pulled away on the restart, though he lost a right rear tire on the 28th lap, making contact with the back straightaway wall and coming to a stop, thus giving the lead to Pittman. A caution just two laps later, setup a final 10 lap shootout to determine who “King 25” would be.

Pittman, piloting the Titan Garages Maxim, maintained his lead over Meyers as the laps wound down. He entered heavy traffic with five laps to go and this allowed Meyers to gain more ground each lap. With just three laps remaining, Meyers was all over Pittman. A lapped machine held up Pittman for the last two laps of the race, allowing Meyers to close in on the finale two laps.

“You don’t get these opportunities very often and you have to take advantage of them,” noted Pittman, who is a native of Owasso, Oklahoma. “You have to buckle down and drive your hardest laps. You know that if you make one mistake that it could cost you the race. I calmed myself down and hit my marks and tried not to hit the fence. I had to keep my tires under me because I knew the (No.) 14 car was definitely there and probably had a faster race car.”

For the third consecutive race, Meyers aboard the GLR Investments KPC tried a slide job exiting the fourth turn on the last lap of the race. The move won him a race at Limaland Motorsports Park last Wednesday, and earned him runner-up finishes both nights at Eldora.

“It wasn’t enough,” said Meyers. “I had a lapped car in the way. I was going to slide him and a lapped car was in my way. I am truly disappointed. I had a good enough race car to win and didn’t get it done.”

Chad Kemenah lined up 13th for the 40-lap contest and worked his way to an impressive third-place finish aboard the Kantor Oil Company Maxim. After falling back to 15th on the opening lap, he steadily worked his way back to the front. The native of Findlay, Ohio found himself in the Top-10 on the ninth lap and was in the Top-Five by the 23rd lap.

“We were close and we were coming,” Kemenah said. “We just started too far back. I think I used up the tires too much. My hat is off to my crew. My nephew A.J. (Havens) has stuck with me and we brought on Adam (Brough) a kid from around home. I have the best car owner in the world, Jon Kantor.”

Donny Schatz, the 2007 Kings Royal winner finished fourth in the Armor All J&J. He remains the only driver that has finished in the Top-10 in all 30 events this season.

Steve Kinser, who has six Kings Royal wins during his career finished fifth driving the Q Oil Maxim. After having some trouble in the first heat race, his crew changed engines and won the B-Main to work his way into the A-Feature. He is the only driver that has started the main even in each and every Kings Royal.

Kenny Jacobs was sixth, piloting the Southern Crane & Tractor Supply JEI. He began the night by setting fast time for the second consecutive time in the Kings Royal. He was quickest in time trials on Friday night as well, which marked the second consecutive season that he has been fastest on both night of the Kings Royal event.

Stevie Smith was seventh aboard the R.A.C.E. Foundation JEI, with Kerry Madsen eighth in the TK Concrete Maxim, Paul McMahan ninth in the Casey’s General Stores Maxim and three-time Kings Royal winner Jac Haudenschild was 10th in the Owens-Corning Fiberglass Maxim.

Meyers, who had a flat tire earlier this season at Eldora Speedway while leading the Crane Cams Dash, knew exactly how Saldana and a couple of the other drivers that lost tires were feeling. His third-place run was his 22nd Top-Five finish of the season and he recently moved back into the second spot in points.

“It’s always a concern here, especially with our past here,” he shared when asked about tires. “We have lost four tires here this year. We made it through this weekend with the tires on the car, so I guess you can call that a win.”

Meyers would have liked to have seen longer green flag runs, as it was hard to get into a good rhythm with the five cautions and one red flag that interrupted the 40-lap contest. His crew made a few changes to his machine during the early red flag.

“It was hard to pass out in the open and we needed lapped traffic,” said Meyers. “We never really got to it. We kept getting yellows and reds. Had we gotten to it, I think we would have had a better car in traffic.”

Kemenah also could relate to what happened to Saldana as he been out front at Eldora in the past and encountered problems. In his Kings Royal career, Kemenah now has six Top-10 finishes, including five in a row.

“I’ve led this thing a lot too and not finished,” commented Kemenah. “To win, you have to finish. I am just tickled to death for the crew. We are consistent and getting the Top-10’s and Top-Fives. I want to thank Jon Kantor for this opportunity.”

Kemenah made up a lot of ground in the last five laps of the race, as he tried to track down Meyers and Pittman. He battled with Schatz and McMahan for a number of laps before having a shot at the leaders.

“I wish we would have gotten to traffic a little earlier,” said Kemenah. “We got there with about two laps to go and I could actually get down off the cushion and move, but we’re not going to complain. We came from 13th to third, so we are happy.”

The 25th Annual Kings Royal will air on SPEED on Saturday, July 19 from 4-6 p.m. Eastern.

The Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series returns to action on Tuesday, July 15 at Lernerville Speedway in Pennsylvania with the Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup, which will pay the winner $40,000.


SUNDAY, JULY 13, 2008

In Championship Sprint action, it was Jody Rosenboom once again topping the field with win #9 on the season.


SATURDAY, JULY 12, 2008

Beaver Dam, Wi 7/12 It was long overdue, but Brian Kristan won his first Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw Sprint Series A-main event by capturing Round 3 of Charter Raceway Park's Duel At The Dam series. The second generation driver drove the bottom of the banked third-mile to perfection, holding off multiple challange's by runner-up Donny Goeden, however Kristan aboard his Weiland Racing Enerprises / J&J Powdercoating Maxim opened up a comfortable margin at the checkerd, and then the popular pilot executed a great set of victory donuts thrilling the large crowd. Kristan has had numerous top five finishes in IRA career but was never able to seal the deal, however on this night he put his name in the IRA record book with a big exclamation point. Goeden came home a strong second over point leader Billy Balog, with a charging duo of Bill Warren and Scott Biertzer completing the top five. Mike Kertscher edged Tommy Sexton and Mike Reinke in a wild battle for sixth, with Kurt Winker and Todd Hepfner rounding out the top ten. Reinke set fast time over a solid 35 car field, while heat wins went to Russel Borland, Scotty Neitzel, Tommy Sexton, and Kristan. Reinke captured the B-main. IRA is an ASA affiliated series with additional support from United Trailers, Bar's Leaks & Rislone, Osborn & Son Trucking, TW Metals, and Hoosier Tire. IRA/Charter Raceway Park A-main Finish; 1. Brian Kristan, Donny Goeden, Billy Balog, Bill Warren, Scott Biertzer, Mike Kertscher, Tommy Sexton, Mike Reinke, Kurt Winker, Todd Hepfner, John Haeni, Johnny Fahl, Scotty Neitzel, Scott Uttech, Scott Youing, Kim Mock, Tim Vandervere, Dave Uttech, Russel Borland, Ryan Irwin, Steve Meyer, Billy Hafemann IRA travels northwest this weekend as the series headlines the Hancock County Fair in Britt IA on Friday, then moves east to Minnesota's Deer CreeK Speedway on Saturday.


SATURDAY, JULY 12, 2008

Doug "the Hammer" Esh is on a roll. A month after missing a Lincoln feature because his team was out of
cars, Doug Esh won his second straight Lincoln main and claimed his second big-money win of the weekend in the 30-lap, $5,600-to-win 56th Anniversary Show Saturday night.

Esh started on the pole after fast timer Alan Krimes drew a number six pill for the inversion, and he led every lap, crossing 3.13 seconds in front of points leader Fred Rahmer. It was the second straight night that the Pancho's Racing Products/Leach Racing #30 and the C&S Lawn & Landscaping/Miler Brothers Chevrolet #51 crossed first and second. Friday night's Williams Grove win earned Esh $5,000. Counting the PA Speedweek opener, Esh's winnings in the last two Lincoln features has totaled $12,600.

Esh beat outside front row starter Brian Leppo to the first and second turns at the start and led the field during each of four caution flags over the first six laps. The last 24 laps went non-stop, with Esh hitting lapped traffic by lap 12 and making a number of daring sliders to pass lapped cars.

"You watch the leader board and you know who's behind you is the best in the business," said Esh in victory lane, "I love racing with that guy (Rahmer). I love beatin' him more than racin' with him. But he's the master in lapped traffic and I knew I had to get through 'em (lapped cars) and get going and keep my momentum up."

"What an intense race," added Esh, "I knew he had to be with me, but he doesn't like to run around the top like I typically do. I figured we were okay if we kept the momentum up. I just didn't want to get messed up in lapped traffic."

Rahmer, who set third-quick time and started fourth in the inversion, was the only car within striking range over the final 24 laps, getting as close as 1.23 seconds on lap 22, but fading over the final five laps. Leppo, Jeff Shepard, and Cris Eash completed the top five. Sixth through tenth were Brian Montieth, Niki Young, Alan Krimes, Jim Siegel, and
Michael Carber.

"Rahmer's got a couple races up on me for our bet we have every year," added Esh, "So I've got a bit of catchin' up to do. Seems like we're on a good trail now."

The anniversary show was sponsored by John Gleim, Jr. Excavating, and Esh's win was the 19th of his career in the Pigeon Hills, moving him into a 16th-place tie with Dan Dietrich on the all-time win list.

Sprint heats were won by Jeff Busby, Mike Bittinger, and Rahmer.Quickest in time trials over the 24-car field was Alan Krimes, with a one-lap time of 13.126-seconds (102.849 MPH).


SUNDAY, JULY 6, 2008

Fred Rahmer, of Salfordville, clinched his 11th career Cindy Rowe Auto Glass PA Speedweek Series title with a win in Sunday night’s 30-lap Jan Opperman Memorial 410 sprint car race at Selinsgrove Speedway.

The $5,000 victory at the wheel of the Miller Bros. Chevrolet No. 51 marked Rahmer’s 12th of the season and 30th of his career in Speedweek competition. Rahmer now owns 54 career sprint car victories at Selinsgrove Speedway, ranking him third on the track’s all-time win list behind Ray Tilley and Mitch Smith.

Rahmer was the night’s fast qualifier with a lap time of 17.966 seconds. He was the only repeat winner in the 18th annual PA Speedweek series, having won the Tuesday night event at Grandview Speedway. Three of the eight events in the series were rained out this year.

AJ Hoffman, of Richfield, drove to his second win of the season in the 15-lap pro stock feature.

Selinsgrove Speedway’s next racing event will be the Paul Stine Chevrolet Jack Gunn Memorial for URC/358 sprint cars at 7 p.m. Saturday, July 19. The late models and pro stocks will also be on the racing program. There will be no racing on July 12.

Second-place starter Sean Michael powered into the lead at the start of the sprint car feature. Michael was chased by polesitter Greg Hodnett and third-place starter Keith Kauffman.

The event’s first caution flag unfurled on lap six when Duane Mausteller looped his sprint car in turn two. On the ensuing restart, sixth-place starter Fred Rahmer drove by Kauffman for third and set his sites on Hodnett.

At the midway point of the race, Hodnett and Rahmer reeled in Michael in traffic. On the 17th circuit, Rahmer passed Hodnett for second and quickly gained real estate on the leader. Racing down the frontstretch on lap 19, Rahmer made the winning pass by Michael at the start/finish line.

Following Rahmer’s pass for the lead, a lap 19 caution flag turned into a red flag fuel stop. When the race resumed, Rahmer pulled away from the field and posted a 2.2-second margin of victory over Michael, Kauffman, Hodnett, and Jeff Shepard.

Polesitter Cody McFadden led the first lap of the pro stock feature only to withdraw from the race on the second circuit, relinquishing the lead to second-place starter Dan Jensen. On the third lap, fourth-place starter AJ Hoffman made the winning pass using the inside lane entering turn one.

Hoffman’s most serious challenger was sixth-place starter Peanut Heintzelman. On several occasions Heintzelman put in a bid for the lead to no avail. With a four laps remaining, Heintzelman made contact with another car and began to fall off the pace.

At the finish, Hoffman was victorious by 1.73 seconds over seventh-place starter Jason Smith. Chad Davis, Troy Miller, and Scott Landis completed the top five.


SUNDAY, JUNE 29, 2008

Mark Dobmeier and Kyle Nordquist each recorded their 3rd consecutive win at Huset's Speedway Sunday night in Outlaw Sprint and B-Modified action respectively. For Dobmeier, the win is his 4th overall at the speedway in 2008. Jody Rosensoom earned his 7th feature win in 10 tries in Championship Sprint competition and Justin Arends scored his first win of 2008 in Hobby Stock


SATURDAY, JUNE 28, 2008

Doug "the Hammer" Esh took the green flag from wife Kelly and never looked back in scoring the $7,000 win on opening night of the 18th Annual Cindy Rowe Auto Glass Pennsylvania Sprint Car Speedweek early Sunday morning at Lincoln Speedway.

Esh started on the pole and led every lap of the 9th Annual Kevin Gobrecht Memorial after the packed house waited through a 3-hour, 40-minute rain delay which began when a thunderstorm stopped action in the middle of the third heat at 8:45 p.m.

By the time the "410" sprint cars resumed action, it was 12:25 a.m. During the delay, organizers of a fund-raising raffle to benefit the Kevin Gobrecht Memorial Fund selected Kelly Esh's number as the winner of the drawing to determine the honorary starter for the start of the "A" main.

She stood behind the officials in the flagstand for the remainder of the event and watched as her husband was challenged numerous times by Brian Montieth and Fred Rahmer over the middle stages of the race.

Several times between laps 14 and 18, the Premier Auto Works/Auto Locator #21 pulled alongside the leader with Rahmer right behind as the leaders worked through lapped traffic.

The three-car race cooled down after a caution flag was waived for a bizarre turn of events on the front stretch. The string of red lights dropped down dangerously close to the top wings of the sprint cars, and had to be removed before the race could continue.

When the green waived again on lap 19, Esh pulled away to a comfortable lead until the leaders again entered lapped traffic on lap 25. Esh's .97-second lead on lap 23 evaporated to .66-seconds on lap 26, and a final charge by Montieth over the last two laps reduced the margin of victory to a scant .22-seconds at the end.

Rahmer crossed third, with Chad Layton and Greg Hodnett completing the top five. Rounding out the top ten were Jeff Shepard, Niki Young, Cody Darrah, Brian Paulus, and 20th-starting Brian Leppo.

Heats for the 410 Sprinters were won by Young, Layton, Paulus and Shawn Weaver, with Darrah winning the B-Main.

Fast time in time trials over the 36-car field was set by Rahmer, with a one-lap time of 13.510-seconds (99.926 MPH).

A.J. Michael was transported to York Hospital for a check-up after he and Jeff Busby both flipped into the turn one catch fence in heat #4. A.J. was conscious and talking with emergency crews as he was placed into the ambulance. Todd Shaffer was uninjured when he plowed into the outside wall in turn one and brought out the red flag in heat #3. The thunderstorm hit when crews were cleaning up from his crash, leading to the lengthy delay.

Esh left Lincoln with the PA Speedweek points lead (167), six points ahead of 10-time Speedweek champ Fred Rahmer (161). Brian Montieth (145), Chad Layton (133), and Greg Hodnett (127) were third through fifth in Speedweek points after the first night.


FRIDAY, JUNE 27, 2008

Chico, CA June 27, 2008 Last season Andy Gregg was awarded with the Most Improved Driver award at the Silver Dollar Speedway and although he had come close to cracking into victory lane a few different times, the Placerville driver had been unable to do so. This year he has come back to run on just a limited basis at the track and going into this past Friday's event he had made only two prior starts in point race action.

That didn't matter to Gregg however, as he not only led all 25 laps of the main event, but also held off a furious charge from one of the top drivers in all of California to score his first ever Silver Dollar Speedway and 410 sprint car win. “Oh man I just can't believe we finally one of these 410 races. I have to thank my wife and my parents, as well as my crew chief Bill and my whole crew who work hard for me every week. I'm so excited I don't know what to say,� Gregg said following the big victory.

The night as a whole went very well for Gregg and the Guts Racing team as the Dale Miller Plumbing, Myers & Sons Drywal No. 16x was locked down all evening long. Gregg came out fifth in the qualifying order and his fastest lap of 12.264 was good enough to give him the third fastest time in the 23 car field. He then did great work in his heat race to charge from sixth to third in one lap and transfer into the main event.

When fast qualifier Andy Forsberg pulled the number four pill it gave Gregg a front row starting spot in the 25 lap contest. Earlier in the night Gregg had joked that he didn't want a front row starting spot because it always seemed like trouble came along with it, but on this night however, it would be different. At the waving of the green flag he jumped out into the lead and remained composed through a number of early cautions and reds that slowed the pace of the main event.

Once the racing got back underway Gregg pulled away from the field and easily held a near straightaway lead over second place Kyle Hirst. As traffic came into the play the Placerville driver picked his spots wisely and didn't force the issue while dealing with the slower cars. With about eight laps remaining in the race Chico's Jonathan Allard began to close in as Gregg was dealing with the lapped traffic. This is when things got nerve racking as Allard seemingly gained ground lap after lap until a caution appeared on the 21st circuit.

For the restart Gregg had a lapped car cushion, but it didn't last long as Allard got underneath the lapper to get right up on his bumper for the final four lap shootout. Gregg continued to run his own race as Allard closed in while running the high line in turns three and four. When the white flag came out Gregg had Allard all over him and as the pair rounded the final turns Gregg made a veteran move by sliding up and taking his line away. The exciting finish saw Gregg cross under the stripe to pick up his first Chico win aboard the Comstock Mortgage, JP's Paint & Body No. 16x.

Following the race Gregg went to apologize to Allard for moving up in turn four, but as he commented to infield announcer Troy Hennig, Allard was more upset at him for apologizing as he summed it up as good racing. "I felt bad that we ran out of racetrack, but darnit I had to win one of these things one of these days. I went over and just told Jonathan that I was sorry I didn't give him more room off turn four, but he was more upset that I apologized, because he said that it was just good racing and there was no need to apologize," Gregg said.

During post race Gregg also commented about how much the support of all the sponsors mean to him and the team. "I definitely want to thank all of our sponsors and the people who help out in getting this car to the track every week. JP's Paint & Body bought me a tire for tonight and without people like that we might not be able to make it up here. I love running the 410 and love coming to Chico, but with Placerville being so close it makes it easy to just head over there every week," Gregg concluded.

Tonight Gregg and the Team Guts Racing No. 16x will look to make it two in a row with a weekly point event at the Placerville Speedway. Going into the night Gregg sits sixth in points and will look to move up in the standings at his home track.


MONDAY, JUNE 23, 2008

Don Ott Racing Engines has another 7 win weekend. Jim Siegel won on 6-20-08 at Williams Grove Speedway, PA in the 410 division. Jayme Barnes had a two win weekend winning the Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup at Skagit Speedway, WA winning both his preliminary night and the feature event. Fred Rahmer and Aaron Ott were winners in the 410 and 358 divisions respectively at Lincoln Speedway, PA with Aaron Ott picking up a 10th place finish in the 410 Division. Jody Rosenboom and Mark Dobmeir completed an Ott sweep at Husets Speedway, SD with Rosenboom winning the 358 and Dobmeir winning the 410 show.


SUNDAY, JUNE 22, 2008

Mark Dobmeier passed Scott Winters with 3 laps to go and then outraced Jake Peters to the checkers to score his 2nd consecutive Outlaw Sprint feature win Sunday night at Huset's Speedway. In Championship Sprint action, it was Jody Rosenboom picking up his 6th win of the year.


SATURDAY, JUNE 21, 2008

The last time a local, weekly 410 racer won the Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup at Skagit Speedway was 1992. Tonight; Everett , WA driver Jayme Barnes put his name on the trophy with a scintillating 40 lap victory that had some amazing moments.

Tyler Walker from Los Angeles , CA led the first 12 laps with Barnes stuck right to his rear nerf bar. In heavy traffic, Barnes and Walker started swapping the lead, with Barnes narrowly splitting two lapped cars trapping Walker and earning the front spot. Barnes pulled away, time after time through numerous restarts. Barnes led the final 28 laps. Battles behind him ensued, as cars crashed out trying to work their way through the fully loaded field and higher up the standings. The almost capacity crowd came to their feet as Barnes completed the last lap and remained in the stands through his podium interviews.

Barnes earned $25,000.00 for the win, with the final two podium spaces filled by runner up Roger Crockett of Medford , OR in second place and San Jose , CA driver Tim Kaeding in third.
Winning the D Main was Michael Harris of Sedro Woolley , WA . The C Main winner was Josh DeWitt of Snohomish , WA . Capturing B Main event honors was Kyle Hirst of Loomis , CA .
Three 6-lap scrambles set the starting 3 rows for the C, B and A Main events. Winning the C Scramble was Nick Engberg of Burlington , WA , Steve Kilcup of Sedro Woolley , WA won the B Scramble and Tyler Walker won the A Scramble.


SATURDAY, JUNE 21, 2008

16-year-old Aaron Ott capped off two heat wins and a top ten finish in the "410" sprint feature by claiming his second win of the year in the 20-lap "358" sprint feature.

It was also Miller Brothers Chevrolet’s second appearance in victory lane on Lawrence Chevrolet Night.

Ott started fifth and had the lead by the end of the first lap.He led all 20 laps, with Adrian Shaffer coming from sixth starting spot to finish second and Jeff Rohrbaugh coming from eighth starting spot to finish third.Tenth-starting Gerard McIntyre, Jr. and front row starter Chad Myers completed the top five.Sixth through tenth were Dale Hammaker, 18th-starting Todd Rittenhouse, Jr., Chad Criswell, Tim Berkheimer, and Kevin Nagy.

Heats for the 46 "358" Sprints were won by Dale Hammaker, Ott, McIntyre, and Kevin Nouse. Twin consolations were won by Adam Wilt and Rittenhouse.


SATURDAY, JUNE 21, 2008

There’s been a lot of talk this year about Lincoln’s crop of young drivers and the next generation of sprint car superstars. But it’s the veterans who have dominated victory lane in the Pigeon Hills for the past six weeks.

And the master took ‘em to school in the25-lap Lawrence Chevrolet Night"410" sprint feature at Lincoln Speedway Saturday night.

Fred Rahmer came from his customary 12th starting spot to track down and pass race-leading Jim Siegel in the third and fourth turns of the 19th lap, then raced away to his fifth win of 2008. With his 159th career Lincoln win, the 10-time track champ ended a resurgent Cris Eash’s three-race win streak.

"I’m just too stubborn to let them beat me," said Rahmer upon exiting his Chad and Jen Clemens-owned C&S Lawn & Landscaping/Miller Brothers Automotive No.51 sprinter in victory lane, "It was tricky racing out there, and I just went where they weren’t...everybody went to the bottom like I always do, and that was the wrong move tonight."

"Tonight I wasn’t going to let starting position beat me," Rahmer added with a smile, "Right now, for whatever reason, everybody is just blocking you running for ninth and the idea is to get to eighth...it makes it a lot tougher but you do what you’ve got to do."

Outside frontrow starter Craig Keel grabbed the lead from polesitter Mike Bittinger at the drop of the green and led the opening laps while fourth-starting Jimmy Siegel flexed his muscles following his Friday night win at Williams Grove Speedway and moved into the runner-up spot on lap five.

Siegel got around Keel for the top spot with a low-side move in the third and fourth turns of lap 15.

But Rahmer was on the move too, and was in fifth spot when a spinning Alan Krimes brought out the caution on the 16th lap.Rahmer passed Nick Schlauch and then Craig Keel for third on the restart, drove around Brian Leppo for second a lap later, and then his sights on Siegel.He snatched the race lead one lap before a caution came out for the spinning cars of Cory Haas and Cody Darrah in the first two turns of lap 20.

From there, as Rahmer would say, it was "church over," with Rahmer driving away to a 2.83-second win.

Leppo got around Siegel for second on lap 21, and Siegel settled for third.Doug Esh and Nick Schlauch, Jr. completed the top five.Rounding out the top ten were Niki Young, 19th-starting Brian Montieth, Cris Eash, Chad Layton, and Aaron Ott.

"Next week is the beginning of PA SpeedWeek, and we really try to be prepared," said Rahmer, "Don (Ott) has got all our motors fresh.SpeedWeek is always a goal of mine.I like to win it so somebody else can’t, and if we could win it again I’d be really happy."

Heats for the 27 "410" Sprints were won by Leppo, Bittinger and Ott, with Montieth winning the consolation.


SUNDAY, JUNE 15, 2008

Mark Dobmeier passed Lynton Jeffrey on lap 10 and went on to capture his 2nd Outlaw Sprint feature win of the season Sunday night at Huset's Speedway.


SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2008

DRUMMMONDVILLE, QUE. – As lightening lit up the sky in the distance, Alain Bergeron lit up the competition on Saturday night at Autodrome Drummond to score his first 25th Anniversary Lucas Oil Empire Super Sprint tour win since July of 2005. The win came as part of the SMAC Magazine Canadian Invasion series and it was the ninth of his career. It paid him a hefty $2,200. “It’s been a long, long time,” stated Bergeron after the victory in the caution free Fondations 4 Saisons sponsored 25-lap A-Main. “This feels so much better than last night (3rd place finish at Granby).”
Bergeron’s previous win prior to Saturday night also came at Drummond, a place he’s turned many laps in his racing career in the Mini-Sprint ranks. “I’ve got 12 to 15 wins here in my career,” commented Bergeron. “I really like this track. It’s better for me because it is very fast and tacky.” Racing action got underway with Brandon Warner and Tommy Wickham bringing the field down to the green flag with Wickham winning race into turn one for the lead. Wickham, of Constantia, N.Y., led while Bergeron moved from the inside of the second row around Jeff Cook on lap eight to take the runner-up position away. Bergeron then began to close in on Wickham as he was attempting to maneuver through slower traffic at the tail of the field. On lap 12, Bergeron got a run to the outside of turns three and four and he drove by Wickham to take the race lead away. “The door was open on the top,” said Bergeron. “I kept my foot to the floor and drove by him (Wickham) to get the lead.” Now the leader, Bergeron was not going to be denied as he worked through traffic to pull away from Cook, who had moved into second on lap 13, to take the checkered. Cook, of Antwerp, N.Y., ran the very same Maxim chassis that he put on its roof on Friday night. The second place finished garnered him $1,250 for his efforts. “This is a lot better than last night,” joked Cook. “I thought I had something for him (Bergeron) but I got slowed up in traffic and he got away from me. I needed a couple more laps.” Michael Parent had his best run of the season as he placed third in his Fisher powered Schnee after starting the race from sixth. “Steve (Poirier) helped me out a little tonight,” commented Parent. “The car was a lot better that it has been. It was nice to finally go out and run well.” Wickham ended up fading back to fourth while Steve Poirier moved up from the eighth starting position to complete the top five which gave him the current ESS point lead.


SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2008

Last week, Cris Eash said he was having one of the best nights of his life after winning two 410 Sprint car features on the same night at Lincoln Speedway.

Saturday night, with the O’Reilly All Star Circuit of Champions in town to battle the Pennsylvania Posse, Eash waited out a three hour rain delay and then came out on top of a thriller to win the 30-lap feature event. Eash took the lead from All Star regular Greg Wilson on lap 19 and then held on during the final 11 laps for his 41st career Lincoln victory and sixth career All Star win.

"Man that was awesome," said the Hanover, PA driver following his $5,000 victory. "There towards the end of the race I lost my brakes. But luckily I was running the top and I didn’t need a lot of brakes up there."

Eash started third but jumped into the second spot behind Wilson, who beat fellow front row starter Fred Rahmer into turn one.

Brian Montieth moved Rahmer back to fourth on lap three as Cody Darrah moved into to challenge Rahmer for the fourth spot. Then just as Montieth got under Eash for the runner-up spot, Darrah slowed on the track with a flat tire. Eash held the spot, which would be one of the big breaks of the race.

Wilson maintained the top spot as Eash, Montieth, Rahmer and Doug Esh put on a fantastic battle for top five positions.

Esh blasted from fifth to third on lap 18 just as Eash was racing his way around Wilson for the top spot entering the third turn.

Esh drove by Wilson on lap 20 as Rahmer moved Wilson back another spot a lap later. Wilson faded to fifth on lap 22 when Montieth went into fourth place.

Scott Geesey brought out the final caution of the event on lap 26 when he spun in turn four as Eash had opened up some distance out front.

Rahmer disposed of the lapped car of Alan Krimes on the restart but Eash was up to the challenge and easily picked up the win, his third straight in the Pigeon Hills.

"Darren had this car really good tonight," Eash said of car owner/brother who owns the E & G Classics, Macri Concrete No. 17E. "We’re really on to something. Anytime you beat Fred Rahmer, you feel like you’ve done something."


SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2008

KNOXVILLE, Iowa (June 14) After only one hour of sleep in the past twenty-four hours, Mark Dobmeier did the seemingly impossible and took a late race lead from multi-time Knoxville Raceway track champion Danny Lasoski to win the 20-lap feature event at this Marion County race facility.

With an invert of twelve cars on this night, Dobmeier started 7th and Lasoski started 9th. But it was pole sitter Davey Heskin who answered the call and grabbed the immediate lead. He raced hard with Lynton Jeffrey but the Australian had to settle for the runner-up slot at this point.

Lap five saw Lasoski slide Jeffrey in turns one and two to take second. On the next go around he roared into turns three and four on the high cushion and when he and Heskin came down the front chute nearly side by side it was Lasoski in the lead at the flag stand. With that move the seven-time track champion began to pull away from the field. Then, just as he was coming upon lap traffic, the caution flag was thrown for a stalled car on the track.

On the restart Lasoski again assumed control of the race. Behind him a torrid battle for the runner-up spot broke out between Jeffrey, Billy Alley and Dobmeier. Jeffrey had the spot at first, then Alley took it and finally on lap 13, Dobmeier was in control. However, while that battle ensued, Lasoski had broken away to a lead of nearly a full chute on Knoxville’s big half mile.

With the race past the half-way point, most of the front-running cars were on the high cushion. Alley, however, tried to run down second place Dobmeier by taking the bottom line.

When Lasoski finally hit lap traffic again on lap 16, he seemed unable to negotiate through the backmarkers with the ease for which he is noted. This allowed Dobmeier to quickly run him down and pull within striking range of the Guy Forbrook machine.

It was on lap eighteen that Dobmeier made the pass in his Lunstra J&J as he and “The Dude” shot out of turn four. On the next go around Lasoski tried a slider in turns one and two but Dobmeier fended off the maneuver. Then, just after the white flag flew and both drivers were headed into heavy lap traffic, a yellow flag was displayed for Brian Brown who had stopped in turn one.

This meant the the race would go 21 laps with a green/white/checkers on the restart.

All eyes were watching to see what Lasoski would do when the race went green again. Dobmeier chose to run full bore on the cushion while Lasoski dove to the bottom to pull a slider in turns one and two. As both cars raced into turn two, Dobmeier drove around Lasoski on the cushion with mere inches no doubt separating him from the fence.

One lap later Dobmeier had captured his third career feature event here. Twenty-four hours earlier he had nearly destroyed his sprinter at a World of Outlaws event in South Dakota and had stayed up nearly the entire night and day getting a car ready for the Knoxville race. The win paid the Grand Forks (North Dakota) driver $3,000. Completing the top five were Lasoski, Jeffrey with a late pass, Alley and Travis Cram all the way from fifteenth. Rounding out the top ten were Heskin, Calvin Landis, Skip Jackson, Dion Hindi (from 14th) and Jake Peters.


FRIDAY, JUNE 13, 2008

MECHANICSBURG , PA (6-13-08) by Bryan Autullo – All Star PR Director
The O’Reilly All Star Circuit of Champions made another pilgrimage to the home of the PA Posse – Williams Grove Speedway - on a hot, humid night to take on some of the best local competition in the country. All Star points leader Lance Dewease might have been the most comfortable All Star driver on the tour being that he is also one of the most successful central PA drivers in history. Hannagan, Wilson, McMahan, and the rest of the All Stars would try to gain valuable points on the leader as he showed them how to get around one of the most storied speedways in the country.

The A-main redraw for the Top 6 starting positions put Dewease on the front row alongside another Posse legend, Fast Freddie Rahmer. Rahmer would get the jump on the initial start and never looked back as the race went green to checkers with Rahmer setting a blistering pace. Dewease lost sight of the leader at the midpoint and had his hands full with Cody Darrah nipping at his heels.

Darrah got around Dewease as Rahmer checked out and put seven lapped cars and a straightaway between him and second place, showing once again why he is one of the winningest drivers in the sport. He went on to take the checkers on lap 30 with Darrah second followed by Dewease, Todd Shaffer, and Keith Kauffman rounding out the Top 5.

Stevie Smith and Brian Montieth put on a show for the fans coming from the back of the pack to bring home respectable finishes. Smith started 14th and crossed the finish line 6th. Monteith started 22nd and drove all the way up to 9th in what looked to be the fastest car on the track as the race went on.

Cody Darrah was the Kistler Engines Fast Qualifier for the night with a time of 17.030. Darrah has been a stand out in Central PA so far this season and has continued to impress with his performance at such a young age.

Heats were won by Dale Blaney, Cory Haas, Mark Smith, and Ryan Bohlke. Brian Leppo won the B-main. The All Star Dash was won by Dale Blaney.


SATURDAY, JUNE 7, 2008

ABBOTTSTOWN, PA, 6/7/08 - "This is one of the best days of my life!"

Hanover’s Cris Eash had not won a 410 sprint feature since September 25th, 2004. Retiring shortly after his last win, Eash announced his retirement to spend more time with wife Amy and the kids. He spent a couple years watching weekly from the grandstands, and eventually returned to his other love - racing.

Saturday night, the former World of Outlaw Rookie of the Year completed the comeback by winning not one, but two features in the same night.

"I have goose bumps right now like it’s my very first race I ever won," said a visibly emotional Eash after scoring Lincoln career win #39 in the remainder of the May 17th show which started the night, "My brother Darren is one heck-of-a mechanic. Sorry my Dad’s not here tonight...he’s in Europe. We came back to have fun doing this deal, and it’s so much more fun with my family."

Eash lined up third with six laps completed, inherited the lead when race leader Cory Haas spun while trying to hold off the E&G Classics #17E on turn four of lap 14, then led the rest of the way to take the checkered .78 seconds ahead of Alan Krimes. Eash became the 8th different Lincoln winner of 2008.

Nick Schlauch, Jr., who graduated earlier in the week from Archbishop Wood High School, crossed third, with Josh Wells and Michael Carber completing the top five. Sixth through tenth were Adam Lawrence, Aaron Ott, Niki Young, Chad Jumper, and Bobby Howard.

Career win number 40 came a few hours later, when Eash again took the lead on lap 14 and held off the late-race charges of high-flying "The Edge" Brian Montieth.

"He’s pretty crazy, and he likes to run that wall," said Eash on Montieth’s last lap charge for the lead. "There is really nobody around here that does it better than him...we were just lucky to hold on."

Eash’s final margin of victory was .66 seconds, down significantly from the 5-second lead he enjoyed as he reached lapped traffic with two laps to go. Montieth was featured driver of the night, in a car sponsored by race-night sponsors Premier Auto Works and Auto Locator.

Montieth came up just short of his feat from last year, when he won on his sponsors’ night.

"We’ve been pretty good here of late, but we’ve just had some bad luck," said Eash after his second win of the night, "Things just went our way tonight...I don’t know what to say."

"When Cody (Darrah) did it (two wins in one night) a few weeks ago, I said ‘Nobody will ever do that again.’ But I guess I was wrong."

Third through fifth were Michael Carber, Niki Young, and Chad Layton. Rounding out the top ten were Alan Krimes, Brian Leppo, Jim Siegel, Nick Schlauch, Jr., and Cory Haas.

Heats for the 24 "410" sprints were won by Alan Krimes, Cris Eash and Cory Haas.


SATURDAY, JUNE 7, 2008

Dave Ely started second and led wire-to-wire in the 25-lap United Racing Company sprint car feature. Ely crossed .48 seconds ahead of Trevor Lewis for his first win since the URC opener at Bridgeport Speedway and his 10th career URC win. Lewis came in from his new home in Colorado to race for the weekend, and scored his second straight top five finish.

Third through fifth were polesitter Justin Collett, URC points leader Curt Michael, and Brian Seidel.

Heats for the 37 URC sprints were won by Collett, Ely, Seidel and Lewis, with Chad Layton winning the B-Main.


FRIDAY, JUNE 6, 2008

Kenny Adams of Malibar, FL was one of fifty-two drivers chasing the $4,000 first place prize in the 3rd Annual URC Rislone Sprint Nationals and at the end of the twenty-five lap test, is was Adams who was standing in victory lane. "URC is a great organization and we appreciate that Rislone puts on this event each year", commented a joyous Adams as he and his crew celebrated in victory lane.

For Adams, who was at one time a URC rookie of the year, this marked his first win of 2008 and fifth career victory with the United Racing Company. Adams led the entire twenty-five laps but was challenged on several restarts by Fast Freddie Rahmer of Salfordsville, PA and third place finisher Chad Layton. In total, a purse of $20,000 was distributed with $4,000 going to the winner, tenth paid $1,000 and a very attractive $300 payoff was offered just to start this prestigious annual event. It was not a luck night for the previous winners of this event as both Pat Cannon and Ed Aikin failed to qualify.

In time trial qualification, Fred Rahmer set fast time of 17.600 and collected an extra $100 from Chubby of CnB Mushroom. Five heat race events were necessary to qualify for this event with victories going to Josh Weller, Dave Ely, Chad Layton, Brett Schoenly and Chuck Palmucci. The heat races were sponsored by Penske Shocks, ZEMCO, J&J, Racing Electronics and Joe Mar Fuel. The "C" main was won by Brian Seidel as Chris Coyle won the "B" Main.

A field of twenty-five cars started the Rislone Sprint Nationals with Adams taking the early lead. Before the field made it through turn one, the red was displayed for Aaron Ott who took a slow roll in turn one. Ott walked away uninjured and the field was quick to restart the event. With the green flag waiving, Adams again ran to hide as Trevor Lewis (driving the Scott McClaren owned sprint car) was in the chase and running in second. By lap two, Fred Rahmer was in the runner-up spot and trying to reel in the leader.

Adams, Rahmer and Lewis pretty much held equal distance with Chad Layton running in fourth and Kramer Williamson in fifth on lap four. URC's defending champion and current point leader Curt Michael moved into the top five by lap seven. Another driver on the move was Dave Ely, who started fourteenth and advanced to fifth by lap ten.

At the halfway point of the race, Adams remained the pace-setter with Rahmer second and waiting to make his move as Trevor Lewis, Chad Layton and Curt Michael followed in the top five. A big turning point of this race took place on lap seventeen when third place runner Trevor Lewis clipped the wall coming off turn four. Lewis hit the wall with great impact and nearly flipped, but an outstanding save returned the car to the ground and Lewis retired to the pit area.

On the restart, Rahmer took one last run at Adams, but once again, the Floridian was up to the challenge and easily held on to the lead. In the closing laps, all eyes were on Blane Heimbach who finished second in the "B" Main. At this stage of the race, Heimbach advanced some sixteen spots to earn the Fred's Trailer Parts hard charger of the night award.

With the checker flag waiving, Kenny Adams took the win with Fred Rahmer second, Chad Layton third, Curt Michael fourth and Dave Ely fifth. Making up the top ten were Blane Heimbach, JJ Grasso, Robbie Stillwaggon, Josh Weller and Kramer Williamson.


SATURDAY, MAY 31, 2008

ABBOTTSTOWN, PA, 5/31/08 - Sixteen-year-old Aaron Ott ran away from the field and captured his first career 20-lap 358 Sprint car feature in the Pigeon Hills. The race was a makeup from May 3.

Ott, of East Berlin held the point from the green flag and was never challenged in the win over Adam Wilt, Dale Hammaker, Ricky Stonebraker and Glenndon Forsythe.

Rounding out the top 10 were Bill Dietrich,  Gerard McIntyre, Jr., Todd Rittenhouse, Jr., Bob Anderson and Eric Tomecek.


SATURDAY, MAY 31, 2008

Tim Kaeding Roars to Victory at Placerville
By Richard Day

PLACERVILLE, CA (May 31) "Tim Kaeding motored around Mike Henry during the third lap and never looked back in Saturday's NMI Industrial Contractors "A" Feature at Placerville Speedway, beating Golden State Challenge King of California Series points leader Jonathan Allard under the checkered flag by a comfortable margin.
"I hope you fans enjoyed that one because it was fun to race at this place tonight," Kaeding yelled to the capacity crowd from victory lane. "I want to thank my car owner, Tom Rolfe, and this whole team for working their tails off and giving me a great car tonight."

The victory was the second in two weeks for Kaeding, who won his second Dave Bradway Memorial at Silver Dollar Speedway May 17th. Despite skipping a pair of Golden State Challenge King of California Series events to race with the World of Outlaws, "TK" ranks fifth in the point standings and is the series' co-leader with 11 top-five finishes and three "A" Feature victories.

Kaeding passed Henry with a fantastic, last-lap slide job in the fourth corner to win the dash race for the privilege of starting the 30-lap main event on the pole. Henry raced around "TK" as the green flag fell in the "A" Feature, but the 2002 Golden State Challenge King of California Series champion drove the #10 Tom Rolfe Trucking Maxim into the lead two laps later.

Mid-race lapped traffic and several cautions during the final seven laps didn't faze Kaeding as he raced to the 37th victory of his Golden State Challenge King of California Series career.

"TK" was the eighth-fastest qualifier with a 10.628-second lap around the high-banked, quarter-mile oval .343 seconds off fast-qualifier Andy Forsberg's pace.


SATURDAY, MAY 31, 2008

ABBOTTSTOWN, PA, 5/31/08 - Fred Rahmer came to Lincoln Speedway on a mission Saturday night. And when the checkered flag fell on the 25-lap Cindy Rowe Auto Glass 410 Sprint car feature, the 10-time defending track champion was in victory lane for the fourth time this season.

"We got screwed last week and I should have won that race, but that's the way it goes," said Rahmer.  Rahmer had to outrun Cody Darrah before taking his 158th career Lincoln win. Darrah hounded the Salfordville driver over the final half of the race and fell just .344 seconds short at the checkered flag.

"Cody is a really good driver and he's forcing me to run harder," stated Rahmer, after the $3,000 paycheck, his eighth overall in 2008 competition aboard the Chad and Jen Clemens owned, Miller Brothers Chevrolet, Materials Handling Systems, Don Ott Racing Engines No. 51.

"When you look at the lineup for the feature, you know you are driving towards a crash. Some of the guys starting up front are out of control. You try and pick your way through but Cody's jamming it up through there and he's still young and dumb. It just makes me step it up a little bit but he's doing a really good job and we just gotta keep trying harder."

Adam Lawrence led the first three laps before Alan Krimes stopped in turn four.

On the restart, Jeff Busby spun coming down for the green flag resulting in TJ Stutts rolling his sprinter on the front stretch. Lawrence stayed out front until Doug Dodson took control on lap seventh with a move off the second corner. Darrah moved by Lawrence for second spot on lap eight as Rahmer followed into third spot a lap later.  Rahmer passed Darrah in turn four on lap 12 and then inherited the lead on lap 14 when Dodson slammed into the first turn wall while leading. Darrah applied pressure to Rahmer and despite a lap 19 caution for Krimes and Craig Keel, he was unable to make a pass and settled for the runner-up spot, a week before he graduates from Red Lion High School.

"Chad and Jen give me a great car and we've got a lot of good sponsors," said Rahmer. "Without them, we wouldn't be able to do this. You have to put a whole package together and we've been fortunate to be with the same people for a long time and that's what makes us successful But all I'm worried about is winning the next race. If everybody else would come with
that attitude, it would be one heck of an event."

Josh Wells crossed in the third spot with 14th starting Brian Montieth fourth and Chad Layton fifth. Layton had to start 23rd after his car wouldn't start on the initial push off for the feature.
Completing the top 10 were Niki Young, Brian Leppo, Cory Haas, Lawrence and Jim Siegel.
Heats for the 23 "410" sprints were won by Carber, Busby and Dodson.


MONDAY, MAY 26, 2008

Fred Rahmer set second quick time in the rain delayed Keystone Cup finally. Rahmer took the lead at the halfway point and raced his way to his first Port Royal Speedway victory of the season. With the victory Rahmer also clinched the 2008 Keystone Cup.


MONDAY, MAY 23, 2008

Curt Michael of Ocean View, DE was again the dominant force of URC, taking the win in the twenty-five lap URC feature event Saturday night at the Bridgeport Speedway. Sponsored by Fred's Trailer Parts Center the show was a crowd pleaser as Curt Michael enjoyed a flawless night, first winning his heat race which earned him the front row starting position in the feature event. Michael set the pace for the first eight laps before turning the lead over to Chris Coyle driving the BPG sponsored entry. Coyle ran to hide from the field, but several caution flags brought the field back together. A restart on lap seventeen, opened the door for Michael to retake the lead. In the final laps Coyle closed in on Michael, then on the final lap, he made an attempt to again take the lead. Charging off turn two, Michael had the fastest car and beat Coyle to the checker flag. For Michael, it was his second win of the season and thirty-seventh career URC victory. Michael earned $2,000 for the win plus an additional $50 for the LikeWise Construction fast time of the night.
A strong field of thirty-two URC sprints took part in the program with heat race victories going to Curt Michael, Scott Pursell and Chris Coyle as Mark Bitner won the Don Ott "B" Main.

In the twenty-five lap feature, Curt Michael was the early race leader with Jamie Bodo and Chris Coyle hot in the chase. On lap four, Coyle moved his BPG Racing #4 into second and set his sights on the leader. Coyle caught Michael on lap six, then with the help of some lapped cars, Coyle of Wilmington, DE made the pass for the lead on lap night. Like a bullet, Coyle ran to hide of the rest of the field. At the halfway point, the top five was Coyle, Michael, Robbie Stillwaggon, Jamie Bodo and Justin Collett.

The first caution of the race was displayed on lap fourteen for Joey Biasi , who stopped on the speedway. One lap later, Mares Stellfox stopped in turn four and the yellow was displayed again. A broken wheel on lap sixteen ended the night for Biasi with the yellow waiving again. The rash of caution flag came to an end and on the restart, Michael dove to the inside of Coyle to regain the lead position. Coyle tried to fight back, but this time, the #5g was quickest and ran to hide from the rest of the field.

With just five laps remaining, Coyle was again closing in on Curt Michael with Justin Collett in third, Randy West fourth and JJ Grasso now in fifth. Coyle was even closer as the two laps to go sign was displayed. With the white flag waiving, Coyle had just one chance at the win as he powered to the high groove going into turn on the checker flag lap. Michael and Coyle were side-by-side exiting turn two, Going down the backstretch, Michael powered ahead to easily take the lead and the victory. Collett finished third followed by Randy West and JJ Grasso. During post race teching Jamie Bodo (who finished fourteenth) was found to have illegal heads and was disqualified.


MONDAY, MAY 23, 2008

Quebec’s Alain Bergeron made a long trip well worth it on Friday night as he passed Jared Zimbardi for the feature win on the last circuit of the 20 lap Corr/Pak Merchandising Sprint Car feature during Round 2 of Friday Night Thunder presented by Iroquois Poker at Ohsweken Speedway. Cody MacPherson continued his hot start by picking up his second ESSO Thunderstock feature in a row, while 15 year old Mitchell Brown won his first feature in ESSO Mini-Stock action, and Lee Hils became the second winner in the new Fun Stock division.


SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 2008

Greg Hodnett grabbed the lead at the start and lead all 25 laps on his way to his first Port Royal Speedway victory of the season.


SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 2008

Five time defending URC Champion Curt Michael of Ocean View, DE was on a mission Saturday night as Taylor & Messick presented the Rislone URC Sprint Series at the Delaware International Speedway. Michael, driving the Valley Forge INC/Bill Gallagher owner 5g took the win in the twenty-five lap feature event to earn the $2,000 first prize money. This is just the second night for Michael in the 5g and without a doubt, he was quite impressive. Michael started tenth in the twenty-five car starting field, taking the lead on lap eleven. Once at the head of the pack, Michael was never challenged as he scored his first win of the new season for URC and his thirty-sixth career win. Randy West finished second followed by Joey Biasi, Brian Seidel and Robbie Stillwaggon. Justin Collett finished the race in fifth but was dis-qualified in post race teching due to an engine infraction.

A field of thirty-three URC Sprints turned out for the second event of 2008 with heat race victories going to Randy West, Joey Biasi and Mares Stellfox as JJ Grasso was the winner of the Don Ott "B" Main.

In the feature event, Randy West charged from his front row starting position to set the early pace with Joey Biasi and Seidel in the chase. By the second circuit, tenth place starter Curt Michael was already racing in fifth. One lap later, Michael moved into fourth, then on lap four the caution was displayed when Dave Betts came to a stop in turn three.

On the restart, West set the pace with Michael now in second. The battle between West and Michael went back-and-forth with Michael taking the lead on lap seven only to give the top spot back to West before crossing the line.

The second caution of the night was displayed when Davey Sammons spun (but continue to keeping running) on lap ten. However, the caution was thrown as a result of the spin. On the restart, Michael used the outside line to pass West for the final time in this event.

Curt Michael took the lead on lap eleven followed by West, Biasi, Justin Collett and Brian Seidel. The top five remained the same as the field cross the wire at the halfway point of the race. Also on the move was Robbie Stillwaggon, Chris Coyle and Ed Aikin as these three drivers were racing through heavy traffic and now in the top ten.

On lap eighteen, Seidel past Collett for the fourth spot. Chris Coyle, driving the BPG sprinter moved into fourth with just two laps remaining. As the field passed to take the white flag, Kramer Williamson and Mares Stellfox tangled in turn four with Stellfox flipping and coming to stop in the middle of the turn. Both drivers walked away uninjured and with badly damaged sprint cars.

The race resumed with just one to go and Michael bolted when the green flag was displayed. Coyle actually lost two spots on the final lap as Collett and Stillwaggon made a pass in turn two.

Coming down for the checker flag, Michael was all alone followed by Randy West, Joey Biasi, Brian Seidel (Justin Collett crossed the line in fifth but was later disqualified) with Robbie Stillwaggon earning the fifth spot. Making up the top ten were, Chris Coyle, Dave Ely, Kyle Purks, Ed Aikin and Kevin Welsh.


FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 2008

The PANCHO's RACING PRODUCTS J&J #30 house car Dominated the 410 Sprint Cars at Williams Grove Friday evening. Central PA Hot Shoe driver Doug "The Hammer" Esh was on a mission Friday as he started the night off by winning his heat race with a half lap lead over second place car. Dennis Kohler had the J&J chassis set up perfectly as Esh took the lead on the forth lap of the Feature and Never looked back enroute to his Dominating WIN. The team heaed to Lincoln Speedway Saturday evening to bring home a hard earned 4th place feature finish.

The Pancho's Racing Products/ Leach Motorsports #30 is rev'd up and looking forward to the rest of the season. We would like to Thank our very hard working and dedicated crew as well as our sponsors and the product sponsors such as J&J Auto Racing, WELD Racing, ButlerBuilt, Hoosier, ALLSTAR Performance, Simpson, Penske, Wings Unlimited, DMI, BullDog Rear ends, and Don Ott Racing Engines.


FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 2008

Todd Rittenhouse, Jr. and the McCabe/Rittenhouse Motorsports #23 team won the 20-lap limited (358 c.i.) Sprint A-Main this past Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway powered by Don Ott Racing Engines.

Rittenhouse took the early lead from the pole in the 358 feature, but lost it to John Westbrook on lap two. Rittenhouse was back in front on lap ten and rolled to his first victory at Williams Grove.


SATURDAY, APRIL 12, 2008

Dave Ely of West Lawn, PA was perfect on Saturday night when the United Racing Company opened their sixty-first season as the Nation's Oldest Traveling Sprint Car Organization at the Bridgeport Speedway. Ely, driving the Gene Franckowiak owned URC sprinter, was dominant in warm-ups, flawless on his way to winning his qualifying heat race then blistered all competitors to collect the $2,000 first place prize in the 25 lap URC feature event. Ely led all twenty-five laps and was pretty much uncontested for the entire distance. Ely now finds himself on top of the point chase in his quest to winning the URC Rislone Sprint Car Championship.

An outstanding field of thirty-five URC sprints turned out for the Bridgeport Speedway URC sprint series opener with a count of seven "rookie drivers" taking part in the show. The entire rookie field did an outstanding job with special recognition going to Brett Schoenly and Chuck Palmucci who qualified for the feature event. Schonely finished 14th in the feature and earned the Fred's Trailer Parts Hard Charger Award for advancing nine spots in the main event.

Three heat race events were presented with victories going to Mark Bitner, Dave Ely and Brian Seidel as Davey Sammons, driving the Palladino #99 won the Don Ott "B" Main.

In the twenty-five lap URC Rislone Sprint feature, Dave Ely earned the pole for winning the opening heat race of the night. At the drop of the green, Ely quickly established a commanding lead as Mark Bitner followed in second. Jason Clauss was holding down third as defending URC Champion Curt Michael (driving the Bill Gallagher owned 5G) was on a charge and racing in fourth by lap four.

The first caution of the race was displayed on lap seven when Adam Gordon and Jamie Bodo tangled in turn two. On the restart, Ely again ran to hide from the field with Bitner in a solid second as Curt Michael tried to reel in the leaders. Jason Clauss and Kyle Purks made up the top five as BPG sponsored sprint car of Chris Coyle was on a charge as well.

At the halfway point, Ely was on point followed by Bitner, Michaels, Jason Clauss and Coyle. The top three remained unchanged in the second half of the race. Then on lap twenty-one, the yellow was displayed when Randy West spun and came to a stop in turn three. On the restart, Tim Hogue came to a stop in turn four and the yellow flag was out again.

With just three laps remaining, Bitner and Michael had their last shot to take the wheel from Ely, but when the green flag fell, Ely was off like a flash. With the checker flag waiving, Ely took the win, his first of 2008 and ninth career URC victory. Bitner delivered a solid second place finish followed by Curt Michael, Chris Coyle and Jason Clauss.


SATURDAY, APRIL 12, 2008

Rick Lafferty lead every lap to win tonight's Feature at Port Royal and his first of the year. Rick Lafferty started on the poll and won the feature tonight over a hard charging Lance Dewease! Todd Shaffer, Cale Grubb and Alan Cole rounded out the top 5.


SATURDAY, APRIL 12, 2008

ABBOTTSTOWN, PA, 4/12/08 - "I just want to win every race I tow to. I know that's not going to happen, but that's the attitude you've got to take going to the track. There is no substitute for experience and good equipment and I've got both."

So said defending champ Fred Rahmer after storming to his third win of the year in the 25-lap "410" sprint car feature at Lincoln Speedway Saturday night.

Rahmer started in his traditional handicapped 12th-starting spot, with 2006 track champ Doug Esh to his left side. Both drivers wasted no time getting to the front.

While polesitter Cory Haas was leading the first nine laps, Esh advanced to third by the end of lap six. Rahmer followed the Pancho's Racing Products #30 through the early stages of the race, entering the top five after getting around Josh Wells just before a caution came out for a spinning Jeff Busby on lap seven.

On the restart, second-place Jim Siegel battled wheel-to-wheel with Haas for three laps before claiming the lead exiting turn two of lap 10. But one lap earlier, Rahmer made a key pass by sliding under Esh exiting turn four for third.

"It was a little dramatic getting into turn three there with Doug when I did a flyer on him, but if he would have gotten the lead first he'd be standing here," said Rahmer, "I couldn't allow that to happen...I bellied up to the bar and did the best I could." The ten-time track champ followed Siegel around Haas for second on lap ten. The race-winning pass came as the two raced down the backstretch on lap 13.

"Jimmy Siegel was running good around the top and the bottom just rubbered up. And if you don't get down there if you're the leader...man, sometimes it's better to be second moving around. I felt it starting to come in and I knew it was only a couple laps until it locked down. After that you couldn't even lap cars."

From there, it was all Rahmer, with Siegel finishing a distant second (2.74 seconds) despite a 23rd-lap caution for Cody Darrah, who came to a stop with a flat tire in turn four. Esh crossed third, with Haas ending a fine run in fourth and Nick Schlauch, Jr. crossing fifth. Completing the top ten were Alan Krimes, Brian Montieth, Wells, Niki Young, and Bob Howard. "Right now is my time. I've been through this before, and it can go away in a heartbeat," reflected Rahmer in victory lane, "So you've got to keep it all in perspective and keep working hard.."

"Fred (Putney) watering the track made it so you could run around on the top a bit...it opened the track up so that Doug (Esh) and I was able to run up top and a group of other guys," said Rahmer, "I was really surprised it rubbered up on the bottom...I didn't think I was going to win this one because we were way too tight at the beginning."

"But after last week I wanted to win bad," continued Rahmer, "I did my best last week and came up short. Last year I didn't have the year I should have, and I'm not going to let that happen again."

Heats for the 27 "410" sprints were won by John Rudisill, Haas and
Krimes, with Cris Eash winning the consolation.


FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 2008

Bryn Gohn reached victory lane in Friday night's 25-lap American Sprint Car Series Rebel Region feature event as Sprint Cars took to the clay at Ocala Speedway for the first time in over a decade. Gohn took advantage of Matt Tiffany's late misfortune and then outdueled Danny Martin, Jr., over the final two laps to snare his second career ASCS Regional win aboard Kenny Adams' Don Ott-powered B&W Trucking/Goodson Farms No. 4b Shaw


SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 2008

TK Takes Silver Dollar Points Lead with First Victory of '08
CHICO, CA (April 4) Tim Kaeding sure knows how to make his car owner proud.
"TK" rewarded Chico native Tom Rolfe with two gifts in one special performance Friday, on GP Development Night at Silver Dollar Speedway. Kaeding, who rejoined Tom Rolfe Racing last June, recorded his first victory of the season while taking the lead in the Feather Falls Casino championship series point standings.

Kaeding's 46th victory at the home of the Gold Cup Race of Champions definitely wasn't a Sunday drive. Starting inside the fourth row, the 1998 and 2001 Silver Dollar Speedway track champion drove the #10 J.F. McCray Plastering Maxim past Jonathan Allard and Roger Crockett for second place, only to hit a rut and drop back to fourth early in the 20-lap main event. "TK" and Allard were racing wheel-to-wheel down the back straightaway midway through the race when they collided with a slower car in turn three and spun off the high-banked, quarter-mile oval. While Allard sat helpless, Kaeding managed to keep the engine in the #10 running and continued racing in the third position. "TK" maneuvered around Crockett when the race resumed and charged past Jason York with two laps remaining to claim the $2,000 first prize.

"TK" was the ninth-fastest qualifier, just .347 seconds off fast-qualifier Tyler Walker's pace. He passed three cars on his way to a second-place finish behind Allard in the Fourth Heat Race.

Kaeding, who also leads the Golden State Challenge King of California Series point standings, is racing at Antioch Speedway Saturday.


SATURDAY, MARCH 29, 2008

PORT ROYAL, PA, 3/29/08 - Todd Shaffer won the season opener at Port Royal Speedway Saturday night with Jeff Shepard finishing in second. Todd Shaffer lead all 20 laps on his way to winning the season opener at Port Royal.

Feature Finish:

1)88- Shaffer, 2)1- Shepard, 3)55- Wagner, 4)35- Cole, 5)11- Erdley, 6)45- Brian Jr, 7)4- Hestor, 8)7- Kauffman, 9)2H- Hahn, 10)16H- Horst, 11)13- Brian, 12)9-Shultz, 13)7M- Smith, 14)0- Lafferty, 15)19G- Grubb, 16)4K- Kaytor, 17)71- Freeman, 18)22- Hodnett


SATURDAY, MARCH 29, 2008

ABBOTTSTOWN, PA, 3/29/08 - "Church over." That popular Rahmer quote was the first message placed by a fan on Lincoln Speedway’s "Pit Shack" message board immediately after the "410" sprint feature Saturday night.

There are those who didn’t think it was possible, but Fast Freddie Rahmer was even faster Saturday. The ten-time track champ padded his early-season points lead with a convincing win, then credited the victory to a new Winters Performance rear end he tested earlier in the week on the Lincoln surface.

"We got something brand new from Winters that there’s not another team has yet," said the happy winner in victory lane, "I’ve run a lot of laps here, but I don’t know that I’ve ever felt better."

Rahmer came from ninth starting spot to grab the lead from Alan Krimes with a bold outside move through turn three as the leaders were coming up on lapped traffic on lap 11. From there, he drove away to a 1.29-second win with a 25-lap non-stop time of 6 minutes, 24.850 seconds, his second Lincoln win of the year and 156th of his career in the Pigeon Hills.

Third-starting Pat Cooper led the first six laps before Krimes drove around him into the race lead on turns three and four of lap seven. Krimes looked strong in the early going, but couldn’t hold off the charging C&S Lawn & Landscape/Miller Brothers Automotive #51.

Though Rahmer controlled the rest of the event, Krimes held on for second, with Doug Esh, 13th-starting Chad Layton, and 16th-starting Lance Dewease completing the top five. Sixth through tenth were T.J. Stutts, Brian Montieth, Lucas Wolfe, Cody Darrah, and 18-starting Tim Shaffer.

"I just like winning from the back and taking it from somebody that’s got a shot off the pole," said the happy winner, "We’re just really happy with the way the car is going.’

"I got an ass-whooping last year, and I wasn’t havin’ it this year. We worked really hard and Chad and Jen (Clemens) gave us the stuff we needed. That was a pretty intensive race track and was actually a lot of fun."

"The clay they got on this race track is unbelievable," added Rahmer, "We were here testing this new rear end on Tuesday. I thought then it had something to it, but I’m telling you, it’s got some traction to it and it’s a lot safer, too. I broke my back last year at Knoxville, and anything I can do for the safety aspect of it I’m all about."

Heats for the 31 "410" sprints were won by Jeff Busby, Bobby Weaver and Esh, with John Westbrook winning the consolation.

To get all the latest news, results, schedule changes and rule changes, visit Lincoln Speedway’s website at http://www.lincolnspeedway.com to stay up-to-date on all the action or pending weather conditions at Central Pennsylvania’s "Premier" Saturday night race track - The Fabulous Lincoln Speedway.


SATURDAY, MARCH 28, 2008

MECHANICSBURG, PA -- Defending limited sprint champion Pat Cannon held off the charge of World of Outlaws star Tim Shaffer to win the 25-lap sprint car feature Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway.

Cannon started on the pole and beat Shaffer into the first turn to take the lead. He never faltered in lapped traffic and kept Shaffer at bay en route to the $3000 victory.

It was an historic occasion for Cannon who became the first driver to win in super sportsman cars, limited sprints and sprint cars, the three divisions that are regular attractions at Williams Grove.

Cannon, 29, of Etters, Pa., made his sprint car debut just a week earlier and was making his first feature start on Friday night. Car owner Zane Highlands, like his driver, had been in victory lane with sportsman and limited sprints, but Friday was also his first 410 sprint car victory.

Shaffer held off a determined Ryan Bohlke to finish second. Bohlke's third place effort was his best career finish at Williams Grove. Brian Montieth took third from Bohlke in the late stages, but couldn't hold the spot and settled for fourth.

Fred Rahmer came from the 12th starting position to complete the top five and increase his lead in the Cindy Rowe Auto Glass point standings. Brian Paulus, Don Kreitz, Jr., Lance Dewease, Chad Layton and Greg Hodnett finished in positions six through ten respectively. Cannon, Tim Shaffer and Todd Shaffer won heats for the 31 sprint cars in competition. Jeff Shepard won the consolation race.


SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 2008

ABBOTTSTOWN, PA, 3/21/08 - It was Lincoln career win number 22 for #22 on 3/22. Former World of Outlaw driver Greg Hodnett, who now calls Thomasville home, came from sixth starting spot to win his first feature event of the year over a field that included several World of Outlaw invaders that he used to race with every night.

Hodnett advanced from his outside third row starting spot to move around Ryan Taylor for the runner-up spot from Ryan Taylor on the third lap, then drove around race-long leader Pat Cooper for the lead in the first and second turns of a lap seven restart. From there, Hodnett drove away to a 2.58-second victory over Mark Smith, with Taylor holding on for third. Dollansky came from 12th-starting spot to cross fourth at the finish, with defending Lincoln champ Fred Rahmer coming from 18th-starting spot to finish fifth.

"We've had a few problems the past few weeks, but we capitalized on a decent starting position tonight, made it through a heat...all of the heats here are really, really tough...and that put us into position for the feature," said Hodnett upon exiting the Jim and Sandy Kline J&S Fabrication #22, "I was pretty good in the open when I didn't have to slow down. But when I started slowing down for lapped cars, I got a little fouled up. I didn't want to crash and everyone was going pretty hard, so I just tried to stay out of trouble and stay out front."

Sixth through tenth were Cris Eash, Chad Layton, 23rd-starting Brian Montieth (who got into the race as the first alternate when Brian Paulus and Stevie Smith both scratched from the field), Cooper, and Lucas Wolfe.

Rick Lafferty was uninjured when he lost the handle and smacked into the front stretch guardrail and flipped while running second on lap three. John Westbrook was also uninjured when he rolled onto his side in turn four of lap 21, bringing out the event's only other red flag.

Heats for the 34 "410" sprints were won by Jeff Busby, Cooper, Doug Esh and Lafferty, with TJ Stutts taking the consolation event.


SATURDAY, MARCH 15, 2008

ABBOTTSTOWN, PA, 3/15/08 -"We’re fortunate, it’s day racing and this don’t mean nothing...but if you’re here you might as well win them."

Defending 10-time track champion Fred Rahmer showed that you could still pass on a daytime track Saturday afternoon at Lincoln Speedway. Among his victims were early race leader Jim Siegel, World of Outlaw racer Daryn Pitman, and ultimately Chad Layton, who looked to be the car to beat.

Rahmer made his race-winning pass with a slingshot slide through turns one and two on a 15th-lap restart. From there, he raced away to his all-time win leading 155th career win in the 25-lap 410 sprint feature in the Pigeon Hills.
"Everything went our way...starting sixth ended up being an advantage because Chad (Layton) was running a really good pace around the top and I stayed on the bottom and found the rubber which came in," said Rahmer, "Getting the lead first isn’t always the hot set-up...(Layton) had to stay up there because he was going so good, but when the rubber came in it was ‘Church Over’."

"I knew when I found the rubber down there and if he stayed up there he was in trouble." "I knew it was going to be tough to pinch Chad off in (turn) two and he kept getting a run on me and nothing good was going to happen," said Rahmer on his move for the lead. "I said it was time to try something different."

Rahmer’s final margin of victory was 1.17 seconds, with Layton settling for second, Siegel getting by Pittman on the same lap nine restart to finish third. Pittman and T.J. Stutts completed the top five. Rounding out the top ten were Mike Bittinger, 15th-starting Brian Montieth, Michael Carber, Tim Shaffer (driving the Wainwright No.61), and Paul McMahan (piloting the Tom Buch No.13).


SUNDAY, MARCH 9, 2008

MECHANICSBURG, PA -- Following two weather related cancellations Williams Grove Speedway finally opened its 2008 racing season on Sunday afternoon and Fred Rahmer dominated the 25-lap sprint car feature.

Rahmer drew a zero for feature inversion which allowed him to start on the pole with World of Outlaws driver Lucas Wolfe alongside. Rahmer beat Wolfe into the first turn and set the early pace.

A restart with 12 laps complete allowed Wolfe to duck to the inside of Rahmer exiting the second corner. They raced side-by-side down the backstretch before Rahmer regained control. After that there would be no more challenges. Wolfe settled for second ahead of Chad Layton, who turned in an exciting performance charging from the 11th starting position.

Layton cracked the top five by lap 21, found the outside groove to his liking and drove by Lance Dewease for fourth place on lap 23. On the final tour Layton went to the outside again in turn two, gained some momentum, then switched lanes and took third from Mark Smith entering turn three.

Smith settled for fourth place and Dewease completed the top five. Greg Hodnett, Chris Meleason, Steve Buckwalter, Cody Darrah and Brian Leppo completed the top ten.

Heats for the 25 cars were won by Rahmer, Meleason and Wolfe. It was the fourth win in a Williams Grove opener for Rahmer, who tied Keith Kauffman for the most opening day victories.

Each time Rahmer has won the opener he has gone on to win the track championship, and he assured everyone in attendance that he would get his Clemens Racing Team a title. "I will win the championship," Rahmer proclaimed in victory lane. "That's one of our goals for this year."

The victory also marked the 75th of his illustrious career at Williams Grove where he is the all-time leading feature winner. Williams Grove Speedway will present another afternoon of sprint car racing on March 16 beginning at 2:00.


SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2008

Lucas Oil’s Ricky Logan drove his Ott powered J&J into victory lane twice in the same night at Powerbuilt Ruapuna Speedway in Christchurch, New Zealand. Logan was competing to win the prestigious Speedworx Gold Cup and the previously rained out, highly coveted NZ Sprintcar Grand Prix.

Logan and eight time NZ champion Kerry Jones started on the front row of the Grand Prix feature which was restarted a second time after two other cars were involved in a crash. Jones regained his position and took the lead on the restart. Two laps in with Logan breathing down his neck Jones spun out allowing Logan to assume the lead followed by the defending Grand Prix champion, Dean Brindle. Brindle passed Logan halfway into the race but was sent back following a yellow flag. Logan put some track between he and Brindle finishing the race as the new Grand Prix champion.

The second feature of the evening was the Gold Cup. Starting positions were decided by lap times in the Grand Prix and the top six were inverted. Logan had quick lap time and with the inversion started sixth. Kerry Jones lead initially but was passed by Dean Brindle halfway through the race. USA driver Steve Buckwater was running third with Logan up to fourth. Logan said” I could see third but no sight of first and second.“ Logan said “ At one point Buckwater got sideways and I had to get sideways to keep from hitting him and our wheels banged!” Logan went into the grass after a near crash with Buckwater regained control and back onto the track. Logan proceeded to pass Buckwater and Jones. Logan at that point, was on a fast and furious mission to overtake race leader Dean Brindle.

Logan like a hunter with his prey closed in on Brindle and blazed by him on the outside with two laps to go, taking the checkered flag for the second time that night, winning the