Central Pennsylvania summary 2004-04-11

Career win number 124 didn't come any easier than the first 123 for Fred Rahmer at Lincoln Speedway Saturday night.

The seven-time Lincoln champ from Salfordville battled for every position before getting his shot at race-long leader Chappy Knaack on the next-to-last lap. He grabbed the lead when Knaack bobbled exiting turn four of lap 24. The two smacked wheels and Knaack gathered it back in to hold on for second. But Rahmer drove away to the 1.85-second win, and the boo birds were there to greet him as he pulled into victory lane.

"Starting 11th or 12th is a lot tougher than starting at the front," said Rahmer upon exiting his Miller Brothers Chevrolet/Cadillac/Oldsmobile-Materials Handling Systems-Media Camping Center No.88H in victory lane. "He (Knaack) did a great job...he bobbled in lapped traffic...and I'm sorry about his luck."

Rahmer was running eighth when Sam Schlosberg got out of shape while running fifth and collected sixth-place Eric Stambaugh on lap ten.

"I'll tell you, the car that was probably gonna win the race was the #4, and he got taken out early. He was better than anybody all night long," said Rahmer and recognizing the performance of Eric Stambaugh, "He did a real good job, he just came up short. You gotta do what you gotta do, man."

Rahmer assumed sixth for the restart, drove by Becca Anderson on the first two turns when the green came back out, and slipped under Jeff Busby for fourth on turns one and two of lap 12.

A 16th-lap caution for a spinning Chris Knopp on turn two bunched the field for the restart, and Rahmer caught Brook Weibley for third on lap 18. It wasn't until lap 22 that Rahmer cleared runner-up Bobby Weaver. He quickly closed on the Jerry Karl No.38 of Knaack over the next two laps.

Weaver, who started beside Knaack on the outside of the front row, hung on for third, with Weibley fourth and a charging Doug Esh fifth. Completing the top ten were Cris Eash, Greg Hodnett, Eric Stambaugh (who came from the back after the ninth-lap spin), Anderson, and Busby.

"Back there in 11th or 12th...Hodnett, Eash, Esh, and I are back there banging each other...the first one through has the best chance of winning," explained Rahmer. "It's a good track, but it favors the guys off the front row right now."

"I'm just taking too long getting by these guys. I gotta get to the leaders for the win and I'm just taking too long as a driver to do it. I let everybody down last year, and I've gotta step my game up."

T.J. Stutts picked the first win of his Lincoln career in the 20-lap "358" sprint feature. Stutts started eighth and caught polesitter Will Urkuski for the lead on lap 11. From there, he drove away to a 4.54-second win over Brad McClelland and Cory Haas for his second win in as many nights and third win of the season (other wins coming at Selinsgrove and Trail-Way on Friday night).

Brad McClelland came from 11th to finish second to Stutts for the second night in-a-row with 2003 track champ Cory Haas advancing from 18th to finish third.

New Oxford's Bobby Rudisill, in only his second race back, led wire-to-wire for his eighth career Lincoln win in the 20-lap thundercar feature. In doing so, Rudisill became the seventh different winner in eight thundercar features this year.

OTHER WEEKEND RACING ACTION

GREG HODNETT CLAIMS EARLY BIRD THRILLER

Greg Hodnett drove from the tenth starting position to score a $6000 victory in the Early Bird Championship for sprint cars Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway.

Defending champion Lance Dewease started on the pole and set the early pace with Mark Smith in hot pursuit while Hodnett was working through the field.

Hodnett cracked the top five on lap eight, then two tours later passed Darren Eash for fourth place. The Memphis resident took third from Keith Kauffman on lap 20 just in time to watch Mark Smith execute a spectacular move through turns three and four to take the lead from Dewease.

Following a caution on lap 23 Dewease put a similar move on Smith and took the lead back. Now Smith had Hodnett to deal with for the runner-up spot. Hodnett drove by exiting turn four with four laps left and began to chase the leader.

When Dewease entered the first turn on the low side on lap 29 Hodnett changed lanes and drove around him for the lead.

Once in front the current Cindy Rowe Auto Glass point leader pulled away to win by 1.85 seconds at the finish.

Dewease settled for second and a $4000 payday. Smith was third, Keith Kauffman fourth and Fred Rahmer, who started 19th, completed the top five.

Darren Eash, Todd Shaffer, Doug Esh, Don Kreitz, Jr., and Todd Hestor finished in positions six through ten respectively.

Hodnett pushed his career win total to 27, which moved him into a 12th-place tie with the late Mitch Smith on the Grove's list of all-time sprint car feature winners. The victory was Hodnett's fifth in six starts at Williams Grove this year.

HESTOR REGISTERS SURPRISE PORT WIN

Todd Hestor was in the right place at the right time to pick up his first Port Royal win of the season in Saturday night's 410 sprint feature.

Race-leader Todd Shaffer suffered mechanical problems (rear-end) while enjoying a huge lead in the closing laps of the 25 lap feature, turning the lead over to second-place Hestor.

Hestor then led the remaining laps to pick up his second overall win of 2004 over Mike Erdley, teammate Keith Kauffman, Mike Wagner and Chad Layton.

Steve Campbell picked up the win in late model action for his first Port win of the year while Todd Snook made it two-for-two in pro stocks.

John Stoll became the second different winner in as many races in four-cylinder stock action.

CARMEN PERIGO JR. WINS SECOND STRAIGHT SILVER SPRING SPORTSMAN FEATURE

Stoystown's Carmen Perigo Jr. Picked up his second win in a row in super sportsman action at Silver Spring Speedway Saturday night. Perigo came from his distant 17th starting spot to pass Joe Biasi in the fourth turn of the 19th lap for the lead while racing through lapped traffic and went on to record the win. Perigo's 22nd career sportsman win also vaulted him into the point lead in the battle for the track championship.

Dover's Bud Witmer edged out Mark Billet for the win in the 20 lap limited late model feature.

ANDERSON SIXTH DIFFERENT LATE MODEL WINNER AT HAGERSTOWN

Andy Anderson of Martinsburg, WV fought off Frankie Plessinger to notch his first win of the year in the 25-lap late model feature at Hagerstown Speedway Saturday night.

Anderson edged out Jeremy Miller, Plessinger, Gary Stuhler and Devin Friese to become the sixth different winner in 2004 at Hagerstown Speedway.

In other action, Larry Baer of Dover scored his first win of the year in the 20-lap late model sportsman feature and Kenny Dillon of Hanover held off Mike Warrenfeltz for his first win of the season in the 15-lap pure stock main event.

Scott Sipes won the 30-lap enduro dash.

TJ STUTTS GETS 1st TRAIL-WAY 358 SPRINT WIN OF 2004

T.J. Stutts started off his two-win weekend with a win in the 358 sprint feature at Trail-Way Speedway Friday night over Brad McClelland, Billy Dietrich, Mike Lehman and Mike Bittinger. Craig Wagaman picked up the win in thundercar action over polesitter Sam Gallagher and Jerry Bingaman. Chris Holston picked up his second win of the year in street stocks.

DUANE MAUSTELLER WINS CAREER FIRST IN SELINSGROVE 358 SPRINTS

Bloomsburg's Duane Mausteller wired the field for his first-ever 358 sprint car win in the 25-lap main event Saturday night at Selinsgrove Speedway.

Mausteller took the checkered 1.53 seconds ahead Larry Kelleher, Blane Heimbach, Ryan Bohlke and Rick Hench.

In late model action, Dale Kerstetter took the checkered 3.88 seconds ahead of Tony Adams for his first Selinsgrove win of 2004. It was his 33rd career win at the Snyder Count oval.

Matt Johnson of New Berlin won his second career pro stock race in there 15-lap feature while Chris Eckert of Auburn won his first career roadrunner race in the 12-lap main event.

BUCKWALTER/BROOKENS VICTORIOUS IN SATURDAY TRAIL-WAY MICRO SPRINT ACTION

Steve Buckwalter battled lapped traffic, along with Bill Laughman, to pick up his first 250cc micro sprint feature win of the 2004 season at Trail-way Speedway Saturday night while Jimmy Brookens lead from start-to-finish to pick up his second win of the 2004 season in 600cc micro sprint action

Bill Brown Sr. grabbed his 11th Trail-Way career win in classic car action. Ricky Burnham was the winner in six-cylinder starlite oval feature while Wayne Kopp was victorious in the four-cylinder starlite feature.

Jimmy Combs was the scramble car winner.

SEAM MICHAEL OPENS URC SEASON WITH BRIDGEPORT WIN

The United Racing Club (URC) opened their 57th season Saturday night at Bridgeport Speedway in New Jersey with 1997 and 1999 URC Champion Sean Michael of Allentown picking up the win.

Michael's 23rd career URC win came over Danny and Brian Seidel.

KINSER COMPLETES ELDORA SWEEP WITH LAST-LAP PASS

Danny Lasoski was less than a lap from winning his first World of Outlaws Sprint Series "A" Feature at Eldora Speedway Saturday when Steve Kinser stole his thunder.

"The King of the Outlaws" drove his No.11 Quaker State Maxim past Lasoski deep in the first corner of the final lap and went on to complete his two-race sweep of Outlaw action at the Rossburg, Ohio track.

The $12,000 victory, Kinser's 30th at Eldora and increased his advantage in the World of Outlaws Sprint Series standings to 83 points over Lasoski. Kinser has won both the Preliminary and "A" Features in two of the three double-feature events the series has run in 2004.

KINSER COPS WORLD OF OUTLAW ELDORA PRELIMINARY

Steve Kinser tracked down Tyler Walker in traffic, then pulled away to win the World of Outlaws 25 lap preliminary feature Friday night at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.

Kinser picked up the win over Danny Lasoski, Joey Saldana, Donny Schatz and Daryn Pittman.

-bill meyer-