Lincoln Speedway report 2002-07-29

Duaine Smith makes first visit to victory lane; Brookens wins first-ever 600c micro sprint feature at Lincoln; McCann, Eash join visitors to winner's circle.

ABBOTTSTOWN, PA, 7/28/02 - With 151 cars in the pits and a heat index also in triple digits, Sunday night had all of the makings of a long evening at Lincoln Speedway.

However, Duaine Smith did his part to keep the program moving by scoring his first career Cindy Rowe Super Sportsman Tour victory on the Pigeon Hills oval.

Brother of Lincoln super sprint regular Mark Smith, the Harrisburg resident grabbed the lead from Paul Troutman off the fourth corner of the second lap and used the experience of his prior visits to Lincoln to never look back

"I've been here too many times in the 358s (sprints) and have gotten beaten by going to the bottom," Smith said. "When there's a cushion like that, you've just got to go to the top and just go."

By racing the final 12 laps non-stop, Smith saw clear track ahead of him and never reached lapped traffic, enabling him to have a seemingly easy drive to the checkered flag. But the day was hardly easy for Smith.

"We destroyed a car last week at Silver Springs (Speedway) on Saturday night. We got it back Friday night and worked all weekend. We were trying to get it done for last night, but we didn't make it. We actually loaded the car about quarter after 4 today, so it was a thrash to get here. Boy, do we need this," Smith said.

Leroy Martin chased Smith for nearly the entire race. Martin passed Troutman for the runner-up spot on the fifth circuit after the first caution flag waved when Dave Calaman's car hit the first- and second-turn wall and nearly flipped.

However, Smith kept command through another caution, this time for Steve Cannon's stopped car on the frontstretch, and eventually Dave Neuman passed Martin for second place right at the checkered flag. Ken Carberry charged from 12th starting spot to place fourth ahead of Kevin Nouse, Troutman, Frankie Herr, Smokey Snellbaker, Pat Cannon and Steve Wilbur.

Heats for the 36 super sportsmen were won by Steve Cannon, Martin, Billy Schoffstall and Smith. Twin consolations were taken by Tom Haxall and Joe Reneker.

In the limited late model program, Mechanicsburg's Scott McCann became the third different feature winner in the division's three appearances at Lincoln this season, but he never really knew just how close he might have come to losing. Charging from 17th starting spot, past feature winner Jeff Leiphart bulled his way toward the front, finally working his way into second spot with five laps remaining.

However, after another lap, Leiphart's car suffered a flat tire, forcing him to accept a 20th-place finish and allowing McCann to keep a lead, this time over another former feature winner, Bud Witmer, to the checkered flag. Carl Billet won a tight three-car duel for third place ahead of Jason Covert and Rusty Sites. Fred Harden, Tim Fedder, Carl Graves, Larry Baer and defending Lincoln thundercar champion Bobby Beard completed the top 10.

Heats for the 34 limited late models were won by Colby Frye, Witmer and Jake Jones, with Jake Lettick winning the consolation.

George Eash, who started third in the 24-car Silver Spring street stock field, needed three laps to get to the front of the 15-lap feature, which was a long time in the making after the division's original program was rained out after the heat races on May 27th. Eash endured three caution flags en route to his victory as he held off Rodney Clouser over the final half of the feature. Gregg Foster took third place ahead of Sam Gipe, Roger Leaman, Todd Bowersox, Mike Arnold, Scott Thunberg, Gerry Stutting and Craig Morgan.

Gary Johnston won the street stock consolation which completed qualifying for its feature after the heats had been conducted prior to the rainout on May 27th.

In the first-ever appearance of the 600cc micro-sprints to Lincoln, Fayetteville's Jimmy Brookens, a former 250cc micro sprint feature winner in the Pigeon Hills, led all 15 laps from his pole starting spot to claim the victory. Steve Owings, who started seventh in the field, worked his way to second place by the fifth lap, but was unable to catch Brookens despite five restarts along the way.

Owings took second spot at the end as he placed ahead of Chris Arnold, Mike Dicely, Randy West, Jim Young, Drew Heistand, Jim Callahan, George Ulmer, Duane Harbaugh and Pat Klose.

Heats for the 51 600cc micro-sprints were won by Young, Owings, West and Dicely. Twin consolations were captured by J.D. Eckert and Tim Iulg.

Lincoln Speedway comes back next weekend with YORK COUNTY RACING CLUB NIGHT, giving all card-carrying members a discount on grandstand admission. YCRC Night will feature all three Lincoln Speedway point divisions - the Cindy Rowe Auto Glass Super Sprints, Budweiser 358 Sprints & Miller Brothers Thundercars. Gates will open at 5:30 PM, with hot-laps getting underway at 7 PM and racing action taking the green at 7:30 PM.

-ls-