PA Speedweek Silver Spring 1999-06-30

Greg Hodnett Wins Silver Spring with Last Corner Pass

Ken Plotkin - motorsport.com - Motorsport News International

Mechanicsburg, PA, June 30 - Greg Hodnett qualified fastest and won the 30 lap $4000 feature in tonight's Pennsylvania Sprint Speedweek race at Silver Spring Speedway. In between, it was a tough night for a number of the Posse regulars. And it wasn't exactly easy for Hodnett.

Time trials went like clockwork, with all 27 entries taking their two laps in order. Hodnett topped the field, followed by Lance Dewease, Dave Ely, Jeff Shepard, Cris Eash and Keith Kauffman. Fred Rahmer did not live up to his nickname "Fast", and wound up with 18th fastest time.

Heat races almost went like clockwork. A mishap on the opening lap of Heat 1 left fourth-quick Shepard against the inside wall on the backstretch, with a damaged front end. After a full restart, the heat went green all the way, the win taken by Johnny Mackison Jr. Hodnett finished second after ten tough laps of moving up, including a last lap pass.

Heats 2 and 3 were all-green parades, won by pole sitters Dan Jones and Fred Rahmer. The B Main also went green for all 10 laps, led from flag to flag by the now-repaired Jeff Shepard.

The 30 lap feature lined up with Shepard and Ely on the front row, Dewease and Hodnett right behind them, and Rahmer back in row nine. On the green, Ely took the lead followed in orderly fashion by Greg Hodnett and the rest of the field.

On the fourth lap Keith Kauffman, who had been having a good evening until then, found himself against the pit entrance wall and out of the race. When the green flew again, Cris Eash began a strong move forward from his fifth place start. By lap 9 he was in second place, and moving in on leader Ely. A lap later, as the pair carved their way through lapped traffic, Cris overestimated the skill level of a slower car. He found himself almost airborne on the front stretch, and out of the race.

With Eash gone, Hodnett reclaimed second place. Rahmer was in the top 10. On the restart, Ely continued his strong run up front with Hodnett pacing him a few car lengths back. Rahmer gradually worked his way up. The crowd began to sense that Rahmer was somehow going to wind up on top of things.

Ely's evening came to an end on lap 17 when he jumped the turn 4 cushion and slid to a stop. Hodnett assumed the lead, with Lance Dewease in second and chasing him. They were followed by Jeff Shepard and Todd Shaffer. And Fred Rahmer, now in fifth.

Rahmer had claimed second place by lap 25, when a yellow set up a restart with Hodnett ahead of him in the lead and Dewease nipping at his heels in third. As they approached the cone, Hodnett tried the slow-and-accelerate trick, while Dewease tried the lay-back-and-jump trick. Rahmer made a good start, with no special tricks, and was in the lead as they emerged from turn 4 onto the front stretch. A "Well, we expected that" feeling went through the crowd.

For the next five laps, Hodnett chased Rahmer into turns 1 and 3, looking high exiting 2 and 4, only to find Rahmer occupying the outside line. On the final lap, Rahmer continued to cover the outside line. But Hodnett changed the script, using the low line out of four and taking the lead as they hit the front stretch and the checkered flag.

After the race, Greg said that he was surprised (or words to that effect) when Rahmer passed him on the restart, but that his car had gotten really tight and just could not turn. He was not surprised by his last corner pass of Fast Freddy.

"I had a lot of momentum. He was arcing the corner every lap, so I knew where he was going to go."

Hodnett and Rahmer were followed by Lance Dewease, Jeff Shepard, Todd Shaffer, Randy Wolfe, Jesse Wentz, Danny Jones, Brook Weibley and Shawn Keen rounding out the top 10.

RACE RESULTS

Feature (30 Laps) - 1.  12-Greg Hodnett ($4,000 ); 2.  77-Fred Rahmer
($1,800); 3.  88H-Lance Dewease ($1,300); 4.  1-Jeff Shepard ($1,100); 5.
88-Todd Shaffer ($1,000); 6.  75W-Randy Wolfe ($800); 7.  2W-Jesse Wentz
($700); 8.  8J-Danny Jones ($600); 9.  32-Brook Weibley ($550); 10.
53-Shawn Keen ($500); 11.  7-Keith Kauffman ($450); 12.  65-Johnny Mackison
Jr.  ($400); 13.  X-Bobby Weaver ($350); 14.  3-Bob Bennett ($325); 15.
77T-Jess Thomas ($320); 16.  17K-Dave Berkheimer ($315); 17.  22M-Mark
Smith ($310)(DNF); 18 .  07-Jeff Rohrbaugh ($305)(DNF); 19.  12W-Troy
Fraker ($300)(DNF); 20.  77E-Dave Ely ($300)(DNF); 21.  55-Billy Pauch
($300)(DNF); 22.  92-Glendon Forsythe ($300)(DNF); 23.  17E-Cris Eash
($300)(DNF); 24.  94-Glendon Forsythe ($300)(DNF).  No Time

Lap Leaders - Dave Ely (1-16), Greg Hodnett (17-24), Fred Rahmer (25-29), Greg Hodnett (30)

1st Heat (10 Laps/6 to qualify) - 1.  65-Johnny Mackison Jr.; 2.  12-Greg
Hodnett; 3.  X-Bobby Weaver; 4.  32-Brook Weibley; 5.  22M-Mark Smith; 6.
94-Glendon Forsythe; 7.  92-Brian Gobrecht; 8.  17K-Dave Berkheimer; 9.
1-Jeff Shepard (DNF).  Time - 2:27.69

2nd Heat (10 Laps/6 tp qualify) - 1.  8J-Danny Jones; 2.  07-Jeff
Rohrbaugh; 3.  17E-Cris Eash; 4.  88-Todd Shaffer; 5.  2W-Jesse Wentz; 6.
88H-Lance Dewease; 7.  55-Billy Pauch; 8.  6W-Josh Wells; 9.  12W-Troy
Fraker (DNF).  Time - 2:27.63

3rd Heat (10 Laps/6 to qualify) - 1.  77-Fred Rahmer; 2.  7-Keith Kauffman;
3.  53-Shawn Keen; 4.  77E-Dave Ely; 5.  75W-Randy Wolfe; 6.  77T-Jesse
Thomas; 7.  3-Bob Bennett; 8.  48-Larry Miller (DNF); 9.  57-George Kulp
(DNF).  Time - 2:26.00

B-Main (10 Laps/6 to qualify) - 1.  1-Jeff Shepard; 2.  92-Brian Gobrecht;
3.  55-Billy Pauch; 4.  3-Bob Bennett; 5.  17K-Dave Berkheimer; 6.
12W-Troy Fraker; 7.  57-George Kulp; 8.  6W-Josh Wells; 9.  48-Larry
Miller.  Time - 2:27.50

Time Trials - 1.  Greg Hodnett, 12, 14.201 seconds; 2.  Lance Dewease, 88H,
14.241; 3.  Dave Ely, 77E, 14.246; 4.  Jeff Shepard, 1, 14.290; 5.  Cris
Eash, 17E, 14.294; 6.  Keith Kauffman, 7, 14.371; 7.  Brook Weibley, 32,
14.437; 8.  Todd Shaffer, 88, 14.509; 9.  Randy Wolfe, 75W, 14.536; 10.
Johnny Mackison Jr., 65, 14.593; 11.  Jeff Rohrbaugh, 07, 14.611; 12.
Shawn Keen, 53, 14.636; 13.  Brian Gobrecht, 92, 14.681; 14.  Billy Pauch,
55, 14.687; 15.  Bob Bennett, 3, 14.700; 16.  Bobby Weaver, X, 14.703; 17.
Danny Jone s, 8J, 14.716; 18.  Fred Rahmer, 77, 14.737; 19.  Mark Smith,
22M, 14.832; 20.  Jesse Wentz, 2W, 14.834; 21.  Jess Thomas, 77T, 14.874;
22.  Glendon Forsythe, 94, 15.065; 23.  Josh Wells, 6W, 15.368; 24.  George
Kulp, 57, 15.434; 25.  Dave Berkheimer, 17K, 15.458; 26.  Troy Fraker,
12W, 15.682; 27.  Larry Miller, 48, 17.271.